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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29412-8.txt b/29412-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f21aa3 --- /dev/null +++ b/29412-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21313 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom World, by Augustin Calmet + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Phantom World + or, The philosophy of spirits, apparitions, &c, &c. + +Author: Augustin Calmet + +Editor: Henry Christmas + +Release Date: July 14, 2009 [EBook #29412] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM WORLD *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Stephanie Eason and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This book was produced from scanned images of public +domain material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + THE + PHANTOM WORLD: + THE HISTORY + AND + PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS, APPARITIONS, + &c. &c. + + + FROM THE FRENCH OF AUGUSTINE CALMET. + + + WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES + BY THE + REV. HENRY CHRISTMAS, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., LIBRARIAN AND SECRETARY OF + SION COLLEGE. + + +Quemadmodùm multa fieri non posse, priusquam facta sunt, judicantur; +ita multa quoque, quĉ antiquitùs facta, quia nos ea non vidimus, neque +ratione assequimur, ex iis esse, quĉ fieri non potuerunt, judicamus. +Quĉ certè summa insipientia est.--PLIN. _Hist. Nat._ lib. vii. c. 1. + + + + TWO VOLUMES IN ONE. + + PHILADELPHIA: + A. HART, LATE CAREY & HART. + 1850. + + + + + PHILADELPHIA: + T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS. + + + + + TO + HENRY JAMES SLACK, ESQ., F.G.S. + &c. &c. &c. + + + + MY DEAR HENRY-- + +I inscribe these volumes with your name to record a friendship which +has lasted from our infancy, tain____________ suspicion, and darkened +by no shadow. + +So long as eminent talents can challenge admiration, varied and +extensive acquirements command respect, and unfeigned virtues ensure +esteem and regard, so long will you have no common claim to them all; +and none will pay the tribute more gladly than your affectionate + + Friend and Cousin, + HENRY CHRISTMAS. + + SION COLLEGE, _March, 1850._ + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Among the many phases presented by human credulity, few are more +interesting than those which regard the realities of the invisible +world. If the opinions which have been held on this subject were +written and gathered together they would form hundreds of volumes--if +they were arranged and digested they would form a few, but most +important. It is not merely because there is in almost every human +error a substratum of truth, and that the more important the subject +the more important the substratum, but because the investigation will +give almost a history of human aberrations, that this otherwise +unpromising topic assumes so high an interest. The superstitions of +every age, for no age is free from them, will present the popular +modes of thinking in an intelligible and easily accessible form, and +may be taken as a means of gauging (if the expression be permitted) +the philosophical and metaphysical capacities of the period. In this +light, the volumes here presented to the reader will be found of great +value, for they give a picture of the popular mind at a time or great +interest, and furnish a clue to many difficulties in the ecclesiastical +affairs of that era. In the time of Calmet, cases of demoniacal +possession, and instances of returns from the world of spirits, were +reputed to be of no uncommon occurrence. The church was continually +called on to exert her powers of exorcism; and the instances gathered +by Calmet, and related in this work, may be taken as fair specimens of +the rest. It is then, first, as a storehouse of facts, or reputed +facts, that Calmet compiled the work now in the reader's hands--as the +foundation on which to rear what superstructure of system they pleased; +and secondly, as a means of giving his own opinions, in a detached and +desultory way, as the subjects came under his notice. The value of the +first will consist in their _evidence_--and of this the reader will be +as capable of judging as the compiler; that of the second will depend +on their truth--and of this, too, we are as well, and in some respects +better, able to judge than Calmet himself. Those accustomed to require +rigid evidence will be but ill satisfied with the greater part of that +which will be found in this work; simple assertion for the most part +suffices--often first made long after the facts, or supposed facts, +related, and not unfrequently far off from the places where they were +alleged to have taken place. But these cases are often the _best_ +authenticated, for in the more modern ones there is frequently such an +evident mistake in the whole nature of the case, that all the +spiritual deductions made from it fall to the ground. + +Not a few instances of so-called demoniacal possession are capable of +being resolved into cataleptic trance, a state not unlike that +produced by mesmerism, and in which many of the same phenomena seem +naturally to display themselves; the well-known instance of the young +servant girl, related by Coleridge, who, though ignorant and uneducated, +could during her sleep-walking discourse learnedly in rabbinical +Hebrew, would furnish a case in point. The circumstance of her old +master having been in the habit of walking about the house at night, +reading from rabbinical books aloud and in a declamatory manner; the +impression made by the strange sounds upon her youthful imagination; +their accurate retention by a memory, which, however, could only +reproduce them in an abnormal condition--all teach us many most +interesting psychological facts, which, had this young girl fallen +into other hands, would have been useless in a philosophical point of +view, and would have been only used to establish the doctrine of +diabolical possession and ecclesiastical exorcism. We should have been +told how skilled was the fallen angel in rabbinical traditions, and +how wholesome a terror he entertained of the Jesuits, the Capuchins, +or the _Fratres Minimi_, as the case might be. Not a few of the most +remarkable cases of supposed _modern_ possession are to be accounted +for by involuntary or natural mesmerism. Indeed the same view seems to +be taken by a popular minister of the church (Mr. Mac Niel), in our +own day, viz., that mesmerism and diabolical possession are frequently +identical. Our difference with him is that we should consider the +cases called by the two names as all natural, and he would consider +them as all supernatural. And here, to avoid misconception, or rather +misinterpretation, let me at once observe, that I speak thus of +_modern_ and _recorded_ cases only, accepting _literally_ all related +in the New Testament, and not presuming to say that similar cases +_might_ not occur now. Calmet, however, may be supposed to have +collected all the most remarkable of modern times, and I am compelled +to say I believe not one of them. But when we pass from the evidence +of truth, in which they are so wanting, to the evidence of fraud and +collusion by which many are so characterized, we shall have less wonder +at the general spread of infidelity in times somewhat later, on all +subjects not susceptible of ocular demonstration. Where a system +claimed to be received as a whole, or not at all, it is hardly to be +wondered at that when some portion was manifestly wrong, its own +requirements should be complied with, and the whole rejected. The +system which required an implicit belief in such absurdities as those +related in these volumes, and placed them on a level with the most +awful verities of religion, might indeed make some interested use of +them in an age of comparative darkness, but certainly contained within +itself the seeds of destruction, and which could not fail to germinate +as soon as light fell upon them. The state of Calmet's own mind, as +revealed in this book, is curious and interesting. The belief _of the +intellect_ in much which he relates is evidently gone, the belief _of +the will_ but partially remains. There is a painful sense of +uncertainty as to whether certain things _ought_ not to be received +more fully than he felt himself able to receive them, and he gladly +follows in many cases the example of Herodotus of old, merely relating +stories without comment, save by stating that they had not fallen +under his own observation. + +The time, indeed, had hardly come to assert freedom of belief on +subjects such as these. Theology embraced philosophy, and the Holy +Inquisition defended the orthodoxy of both; and if the investigators +of Calmet's day were permitted to hold, with some limitation, the +Copernican theory, it was far otherwise with regard to the world of +spirits, and its connection with our own. The rotundity of the earth +affected neither shrines nor exorcisms; metaphysical truth might do +both one and the other; and the cry of "Great is Diana of the +Ephesians," was not raised in the capital of Asia Minor, till the +"craft by which we get our wealth" was proved to be in danger. + +Reflections such as these are painfully forced on us by the evident +fraud exhibited by many of the actors in the scenes of exorcism +narrated by Calmet, the vile purposes to which the services of the +church were turned, and the recklessness with which the supposed or +pretended evil, and equally pretended remedy, were used for political +intrigue or state oppression. + +Independent of these conclusions, there is something lamentable in a +state of the public mind, which was so little prone to examination as +to receive such a mass of superstition without sifting the wheat, for +such there undoubtedly is, from the chaff. Calmet's work contains +enough, had we the minor circumstances in each case preserved, to set +at rest many philosophic doubts, and to illustrate many physical +facts; and to those who desire to know what was believed by our +Christian forefathers, and why it was believed, the compilation is +absolutely invaluable. Calmet was a man of naturally cool, calm +judgment, possessed of singular learning, and was pious and truthful. +A short sketch of his life will not, perhaps, be unacceptable to the +reader. + +Augustine Calmet was born in the year 1672, at a village near +Commerci, in Lorraine. He early gave proofs of aptitude for study, and +an opportunity was speedily offered of devoting himself to a life of +learning. In his sixteenth year he became a Benedictine of the +Congregation of St. Vannes, and prosecuted his theological and such +philosophical studies as the time allowed with great success. He was +soon appointed to teach the younger portion of the community, and gave +in this employment such decided satisfaction to his superiors, that he +was soon marked for preferment. His chief study was the Scriptures; +and in the twenty-second year of his age, a period unusually early, in +an age when all benefices and beneficial employments were matters of +sale, he was appointed to be sub-prior of the monastery of Munster, in +Alsace, where he presided over an academy. This academy consisted of +ten or twelve monks, and its object was the investigation of +Scripture. Calmet was not idle in his new position; besides +communicating so much valuable information as to make his pupils the +best biblical scholars of the country, he made extensive collections +for his Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, and for his still +more celebrated work, the History of the Bible. These materials he +subsequently digested and arranged. The Commentary, a work of immense +value, was published in separate volumes from 1707 to 1716. His labors +attracted renewed and increased attention, and the offer of a +bishopric was made to him, which he unhesitatingly declined. + +In 1718, he was elected to the abbacy of St. Leopold, in Nancy; and +ten years afterwards, to that of Senones, where he spent the remainder +of his days. His writings are numerous--two have been already +mentioned--and so great was the popularity attained by his +Commentaries, that they have been translated into no fewer than six +languages within ten years. It exhibits a favorable aspect of the +author's mind, and gives a very high idea of his erudition. One cause +which tended greatly to its universal acceptability, was its singular +freedom from sectarian bitterness. Protestants as well as Romanists +may use it with equal satisfaction; and accordingly, it is considered +a work of standard authority in England as much as on the continent. + +In addition to these Commentaries, and his History of the Bible, and +Fragments, (the best edition of which latter work in English, is by +Isaac Taylor,) he wrote the "Ecclesiastical and Civil History of +Lorraine;" "A Catalogue of the Writers of Lorraine;" "Universal +History, Sacred and Profane;" a small collection of Reveries; and a +work entitled, "A Literal, Moral, and Historical Commentary on the +Rule of St. Benedict," a work which is full of curious information on +ancient customs, particularly ecclesiastical. He is among the few, +also, who have written on ancient music. He lived to a good old age; +and died regretted and much respected in 1757. + +Of all his works, the one presented here to the reader, is perhaps the +most popular; it went rapidly through many editions, and received from +the author's hand continual corrections and additions. To say that it +is characterized by uniform judgment, would be to give it a praise +somewhat different as well as somewhat greater than that which it +merits. It is a vast repertory of legends, more or less probable; some +of which have very little foundation--and some which Calmet himself +would have done well to omit, though _now_, as a picture of the belief +entertained in that day, they greatly add to the value of the book. +For the same reasons which have caused the retention of these +passages, no alterations have been made in the citations from +Scripture, which being translations from the Vulgate, necessarily +differ in phraseology from the version in use among ourselves. The +apocryphal books too are quoted, and the story of Bel and the Dragon +referred to as a part of the prophecy of Daniel; but what is of +consequence to observe, is, that _doctrines_ are founded on these +translations, and on those very points in which they differ from our +own. + +If the history of popery, and especially that form and development of +it exhibited in the monastic orders, be ever written, this work will +be of the greatest importance:--it will show the means by which +dominion was obtained over the minds of the ignorant; how the most +sacred mysteries were perverted; and frauds, which can hardly be +termed pious, used to support institutions which can scarcely be +called religious. That the spirits of the dead should be permitted to +return to earth, under circumstances the most grotesque, to support +the doctrines of masses for the dead, purgatory and propitiatory +penance; that demons should be exorcised to give testimony to the +merits of rival orders of monks and friars; that relics, many of them +supposititious, and many of the most disgusting and blasphemous +character, should have power to affect the eternal state of the +departed; and that _all_ saints, angels, demons, and the ghosts of the +departed, should support, with great variations indeed, the corrupt +dealings of a corrupt priesthood--form a creed worthy of the darkest +and most unworthy days of heathenism. + +There is, however, one excuse, or rather palliation, for the +superstition of that time. In periods of great public depravity--and +few epochs have been more depraved than that in which Calmet +lived--Satan has great power. With a ruler like the regent Duke of +Orleans, with a Church governor like Cardinal Dubois, it would appear +that the civil and ecclesiastical authority of France had sold itself, +like Ahab of old, to work wickedness; or, as the apostle says, "to +work all uncleanness with greediness." In an age so characterized, it +does not seem at all improbable that portentous events should from +time to time occur; that the servants of the devil should be +strengthened together with their master; that many should be given +over to strong delusions and to believe a lie; and that the evil part +of the invisible world should be permitted to ally itself more closely +with the men of an age so congenial. Real cases of demoniacal +possession might, perhaps, be met with, and though scarcely amenable +to the exorcisms of a clergy so corrupt as that of France in that day, +they would yet justify a belief in the reality of those cases got up +for the sake of filthy lucre, personal ambition, or private revenge. +If the public mind was prepared for a belief in such cases, there were +not wanting men to turn it to profitable account; and the quiet +student who believed the efficacy of the means used, and was scarcely +aware of the wickedness of the age in which he lived, might easily be +induced to credit the tales told him of demons expelled by the power +of a church, to which in the beginning an authority to do so had +undoubtedly been given, and whose awful corruptions were to him at +least greatly veiled. + +Calmet was a man of great integrity and considerable acumen, but he +passed an innocent and exemplary life in studious seclusion; he mixed +little with the world at large, resided remote "from courts, and +camps, and strife of war or peace;" and there appears occasionally in +his writings a kind of nervous apprehension lest the dogmas of the +church to which he was pledged should be less capable than he could +wish of satisfactory investigation. When he meets with tales like +those of the vampires or vroucolacas, which concern only what he +considered a heretical church, and with which, therefore, he might +deal according to his own will--apply to them the ordinary rules of +evidence, and treat them as mundane affairs--there he is +clear-sighted, critical and acute, and accordingly he discusses the +matter philosophically and logically, and concludes without fear of +sinning against the church, that the whole is delusion. When, on the +other hand, he has to deal with cases of demoniacal possession, in +countries under the rule of the Roman hierarchy, he contents himself +with the decisions of the scholastic divines and the opinions of the +fathers, and makes frequent references to the decrees of various +provincial parliaments. The effects of such a state of mind upon +scientific and especially metaphysical investigation, may be easily +imagined, and are to be traced more or less distinctly in every page +of the work before us. + +To conclude: books like this--the "Disquisitiones Magicĉ" of Delrio, +the "Demonomanie" of Bodin, the "Malleus Maleficarum" of Sprengel, and +the like, are at no time to be regarded merely as subjects of +amusement; they have their philosophical value; they have a still +greater historical value; and they show how far even upright minds may +be warped by imperfect education, and slavish deference to authority. + +The edition here followed is that of 1751, which contains the latest +corrections of the author, and several additional pieces, which are +all included in the present volumes. + + SION COLLEGE, LONDON WALL, + _April, 1850._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + PAGE + +PREFACE xv + +CHAPTER + +I. The Appearance of Good Angels proved by the Books of the + Old Testament 37 + +II. The Appearance of Good Angels proved by the Books of the + New Testament 38 + +III. Under what form have Good Angels appeared? 41 + +IV. Opinions of the Jews, Christians, Mahometans, and Oriental + Nations, concerning the Apparitions of Good Angels 44 + +V. Opinion of the Greeks and Romans on the Apparitions of + Good Genii 47 + +VI. The Apparition of Bad Angels proved by the Holy + Scriptures--Under what Form they have appeared 50 + +VII. Of Magic 57 + +VIII. Objections to the Reality of Magic 61 + +IX. Reply to the Objections 63 + +X. Examination of the Affair of Hocque, Magician 67 + +XI. Magic of the Egyptians and Chaldeans 70 + +XII. Magic among the Greeks and Romans 73 + +XIII. Examples which prove the Reality of Magic 75 + +XIV. Effects of Magic according to the Poets 81 + +XV. Of the Pagan Oracles 83 + +XVI. The Certainty of the Event predicted, is not always a + proof that the Prediction comes from God 86 + +XVII. Reasons which lead us to believe that the greater part + of the Ancient Oracles were only Impositions of the + Priests and Priestesses, who feigned that they were + inspired by God 89 + +XVIII. On Sorcerers and Sorceresses, or Witches 93 + +XIX. Instances of Sorcerers and Witches being, as they said, + transported to the Sabbath 98 + +XX. Story of Louis Gaufredi and Magdalen de la Palud, owned + by themselves to be a Sorcerer and Sorceress 102 + +XXI. Reasons which prove the Possibility of Sorcerers and + Witches being transported to the Sabbath 106 + +XXII. Continuation of the same Subject 111 + +XXIII. Obsession and Possession of the Devil 114 + +XXIV. The Truth and Reality of Possession and Obsession by + the Devil proved from Scripture 117 + +XXV. Examples of Real Possessions caused by the Devil 119 + +XXVI. Continuation of the same Subject 123 + +XXVII. Objections against the Obsessions and Possessions of + the Demon--Reply to the Objections 128 + +XXVIII. Continuation of Objections against Possessions, and + some Replies to those Objections 132 + +XXIX. Of Familiar Spirits 138 + +XXX. Some other Examples of Elves 142 + +XXXI. Spirits that keep Watch over Treasure 149 + +XXXII. Other instances of Hidden Treasures, which were guarded + by Good or Bad Spirits 153 + +XXXIII. Spectres which appear, and predict things unknown and + to come 156 + +XXXIV. Other Apparitions of Spectres 159 + +XXXV. Examination of the Apparition of a pretended Spectre 163 + +XXXVI. Of Spectres which haunt Houses 165 + +XXXVII. Other Instances of Spectres which haunt certain Houses 170 + +XXXVIII. Prodigious effects of Imagination in those Men or + Women who believe they hold Intercourse with the + Demon 172 + +XXXIX. Return and Apparitions of Souls after the Death of the + Body, proved from Scripture 176 + +XL. Apparitions of Spirits proved from History 180 + +XLI. More Instances of Apparitions 185 + +XLII. On the Apparitions of Spirits who imprint their Hands + on Clothes or on Wood 190 + +XLIII. Opinions of the Jews, Greeks, and Latins, concerning + the Dead who are left unburied 195 + +XLIV. Examination of what is required or revealed to the Living + by the Dead who return to Earth 201 + +XLV. Apparitions of Men still alive, to other living Men, + absent, and very distant from each other 204 + +XLVI. Arguments concerning Apparitions 216 + +XLVII. Objections against Apparitions, and Replies to those + Objections 221 + +XLVIII. Some other Objections and Replies 224 + +XLIX. The Secrets of Physics and Chemistry taken for + supernatural things 229 + +L. Conclusion of the Treatise on Apparitions 232 + +LI. Way of explaining Apparitions 235 + +LII. The difficulty of explaining the manner in which + Apparitions make their appearance, whatever system may + be proposed on the subject 237 + + + +DISSERTATION ON THE GHOSTS WHO RETURN TO EARTH BODILY, THE +EXCOMMUNICATED, THE OUPIRES OR VAMPIRES, VROUCOLACAS, ETC. 241 + +PREFACE 243 + +CHAPTER + +I. The Resurrection of a Dead Person is the Work of God only 247 + +II. Revival of Persons who were not really Dead 249 + +III. Resurrection of a Man who had been buried Three Years, + resuscitated by St. Stanislaus 251 + +IV. Can a Man really Dead appear in his own Body? 253 + +V. Revival or Apparition of a Girl who had been Dead some + Months 256 + +VI. A Woman taken Alive from her Tomb 259 + +VII. Revenans, or Vampires of Moravia 260 + +VIII. Dead Persons in Hungary who suck the Blood of the Living 262 + +IX. Narrative of a Vampire from the Jewish Letters, Letter 137 263 + +X. Other Instances of Revenans.--Continuation of the "Gleaner" 264 + +XI. Argument of the Author of the Jewish Letters, concerning + Revenans 266 + +XII. Continuation of the argument of the Dutch Gleaner 270 + +XIII. Narrative from the "Mercure Gallant" of 1693 and 1694 + on Revenans 272 + +XIV. Conjectures of the "Glaneur de Hollandais" 273 + +XV. Another Letter on Ghosts 276 + +XVI. Pretended Vestiges of Vampirism in Antiquity 278 + +XVII. Ghosts in Northern Countries 282 + +XVIII. Ghosts in England 283 + +XIX. Ghosts in Peru 284 + +XX. Ghosts in Lapland 285 + +XXI. Return of a Man who had been Dead some Months 285 + +XXII. Excommunicated Persons who went out of Churches 289 + +XXIII. Some Instances of the Excommunicated being rejected or + cast out of Consecrated Ground 291 + +XXIV. Instance of an Excommunicated Martyr being cast out of + the Ground 292 + +XXV. A Man cast out of the Church for having refused to pay + Tithes 293 + +XXVI. Instances of Persons who have given Signs of Life after + their Death, and have withdrawn themselves respectfully + to make room for more worthy Persons 294 + +XXVII. People who perform Pilgrimage after Death 296 + +XXVIII. Reasoning upon the Excommunicated who go out of + Churches 297 + +XXIX. Do the Excommunicated rot in the Earth? 300 + +XXX. Instances to show that the Excommunicated do not rot, and + that they appear to the Living 301 + +XXXI. Instances of these Returns to Earth of the Excommunicated 302 + +XXXII. A Vroucolacan exhumed in the presence of M. de + Tournefort 304 + +XXXIII. Has the Demon power to kill, and then to restore to + Life? 308 + +XXXIV. Examination of the Opinion that the Demon can restore + Animation to a Dead Body 310 + +XXXV. Instances of Phantoms which have appeared to the Living + and given many Signs of Life 313 + +XXXVI. Devoting People to Death, practised by the Heathens 314 + +XXXVII. Instances of dooming to Death among Christians 317 + +XXXVIII. Instances of Persons who have promised to give each + other News of themselves from the other World 321 + +XXXIX. Extracts from the Political Works of the Abbé de St. + Pierre 325 + +XL. Divers Systems to explain Ghosts 331 + +XLI. Divers Instances of Persons being Buried Alive 333 + +XLII. Instances of Drowned Persons who have come back to Life + and Health 335 + +XLIII. Instances of Women thought Dead who came to Life again 337 + +XLIV. Can these Instances be applied to the Hungarian Revenans? 339 + +XLV. Dead People who chew in their Graves and devour their own + Flesh 340 + +XLVI. Singular Example of a Hungarian Revenant 341 + +XLVII. Argument on this matter 343 + +XLVIII. Are the Vampires or Revenans really Dead? 344 + +XLIX. Instance of a Man named Curma being sent back to this + World 351 + +L. Instances of Persons who fall into Ecstatic Trances when + they will, and remain senseless 354 + +LI. Application of such Instances to Vampires 356 + +LII. Examination of the Opinion that the Demon fascinates the + Eyes of those to whom Vampires appear 360 + +LIII. Instances of Resuscitated Persons who relate what they + saw in the other World 361 + +LIV. The Traditions of the Pagans on the other Life, are + derived from the Hebrews and Egyptians 364 + +LV. Instances of Christians being Resuscitated and sent back + to this World.--Vision of Vetinus, a Monk of Augia 366 + +LVI. Vision of Bertholdas, related by Hincmar, Archbishop of + Rheims 368 + +LVII. Vision of St. Fursius 369 + +LVIII. Vision of a Protestant of York, and others 371 + +LIX. Conclusion of this Dissertation 374 + +LX. Moral Impossibility that Ghosts can come out of their Tombs 376 + +LXI. What is related of the Bodies of the Excommunicated who + walk out of Churches, is subject to very great + Difficulties (in Belief and Explanation) 378 + +LXII. Remarks on the Dissertation, concerning the Spirit which + came to St. Maur des Fossés 380 + +LXIII. Dissertation of an Anonymous Writer on what should be + thought of the Appearance of Spirits, on Occasion of + the Adventure at St. Maur, in 1706 387 + + Letter of the Marquis Maffei on Magic 407 + + Letter of the Reverend Father Dom Calmet, to M. Debure 440 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The great number of authors who have written upon the apparitions of +angels, demons, and disembodied souls is not unknown to me; and I do +not presume sufficiently on my own capacity to believe that I shall +succeed better in it than they have done, and that I shall enhance +their knowledge and their discoveries. I am perfectly sensible that I +expose myself to criticism, and perhaps to the mockery of many +readers, who regard this matter as done with, and decried in the minds +of philosophers, learned men, and many theologians. I must not reckon +either on the approbation of the people, whose want of discernment +prevents their being competent judges of this same. My aim is not to +foment superstition, nor to feed the vain curiosity of visionaries, +and those who believe without examination everything that is related +to them as soon as they find therein anything marvelous and +supernatural. I write only for reasonable and unprejudiced minds, +which examine things seriously and coolly; I speak only for those who +assent even to known truth but after mature reflection, who know how +to doubt of what is uncertain, to suspend their judgment on what is +doubtful, and to deny what is manifestly false. + +As for pretended freethinkers, who reject everything to distinguish +themselves, and to place themselves above the common herd, I leave +them in their elevated sphere; they will think of this work as they +may consider proper, and as it is not calculated for them, apparently +they will not take the trouble to read it. + +I undertook it for my own information, and to form to myself a just +idea of all that is said on the apparitions of angels, of the demon, +and of disembodied souls. I wished to see how far that matter was +certain or uncertain, true or false, known or unknown, clear or +obscure. + +In this great number of facts which I have collected I have endeavored +to make a choice, and not to heap together too great a multitude of +them, for fear that in the too numerous examples the doubtful might +not harm the certain, and in wishing to prove too much I might prove +absolutely nothing. There will, even amongst those I have cited, be +found some which will not easily be credited by many readers, and I +allow them to regard them as not related. + +I beg those readers, nevertheless, to discern justly amongst these +facts and instances; after which they can with me form their +opinion--affirm, deny, or remain in doubt. + +From the respect which every man owes to truth, and the veneration +which a Christian and a priest owes to religion, it appeared to me +very important to undeceive people respecting the opinion which they +have of apparitions, if they believe them all to be true; or to +instruct them and show them the truth and reality of a great number, +if they think them all false. It is always shameful to be deceived; +_____________________and in regard to religion, to believe on light +grounds, to remain wilfully in doubt, or to maintain oneself without +any reason in superstition and illusion; it is already much to know +how to doubt wisely, and not to form a decided opinion beyond what one +really knows. + +I never had any idea of treating profoundly the matter of apparitions; +I have treated of it, as it were, by chance, and occasionally. My +first and principal object was to discourse of the vampires of +Hungary. In collecting my materials on that subject, I found many +things concerning apparitions; the great number of these embarrassed +this treatise on vampires. I detached some of them, and thus have +composed this treatise on apparitions: there still remains a large +number of them, which I might have separated for the better +arrangement of this treatise. Many persons here have taken the +accessory for the principal, and have paid more attention to the first +part than to the second, which was, however, the first and the +principal in my design. For I own I have always been much struck with +what was related of the vampires or ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, and +Poland; of the vroucolacas of Greece; and of the excommunicated, who +are said not to rot. I thought I ought to bestow on it all the +attention in my power; and I have deemed it right to treat on this +subject in a particular dissertation. After having deeply studied it, +and obtaining as much information as I was able, I found little +solidity and certainty on the subject; which, joined to the opinion of +some prudent and respectable persons whom I consulted, had induced me +to give up my design entirely, and to renounce laboring on a subject +which is so contradictory, and embraces so much uncertainty. + +But looking at the matter in another point of view, I resumed my pen, +decided upon undeceiving the public, if I found that what was said of +it was absolutely false; showing that what is uttered on this subject +is uncertain, and that one ought to be very reserved in pronouncing on +these vampires, which have made so much noise in the world for a +certain time, and still divide opinions at this day, even in the +countries which are the scene of their pretended return, and where +they appear; or to show that what has been said and written on this +subject is not destitute of probability, and that the subject of the +return of vampires is worthy the attention of the curious and the +learned, and deserves to be seriously studied, to have the facts +related of it examined, and the causes, circumstances, and means +sounded deeply. + +I am then about to examine this question as a historian, philosopher, +and theologian. As a historian, I shall endeavor to discover the truth +of the facts; as a philosopher, I shall examine the causes and +circumstances; lastly, the knowledge or light of theology will cause +me to deduce consequences as relating to religion. Thus I do not write +in the hope of convincing freethinkers and pyrrhonians, who will not +allow the existence of ghosts or vampires, nor even of the apparitions +of angels, demons, and spirits; nor to intimidate those weak and +credulous, by relating to them extraordinary stories of apparitions. I +do not reckon either on curing the superstitious of their errors, nor +the people of their prepossessions; not even on correcting the abuses +which arise from this unenlightened belief, nor of doing away all the +doubts which may be formed on apparitions; still less do I pretend to +erect myself as a judge and censor of the works and sentiments of +others, nor to distinguish myself, make myself a name, or divert +myself, by spreading abroad dangerous doubts upon a subject which +concerns religion, and from which they might make wrong deductions +against the certainty of the Scriptures, and against the unshaken +dogmas of our creed. I shall treat it as solidly and gravely as it +merits; and I pray God to give me that knowledge which is necessary to +do it successfully. + +I exhort my reader to distinguish between the facts related, and the +manner in which they happened. The fact may be certain, and the way in +which it occurred unknown. Scripture relates certain apparitions of +angels and disembodied souls; these instances are indubitable and +found in the revelations of the holy books; but the manner in which +God operated the resurrections, or in which he permitted these +apparitions to take place, is hidden among his secrets. It is +allowable for us to examine them, to seek out the circumstances, and +propound some conjectures on the manner in which it all came to pass; +but it would be rash to decide upon a matter which God has not thought +proper to reveal to us. I say as much in proportion, concerning the +stories related by sensible, contemporary, and judicious authors, who +simply relate the facts without entering into the examination of the +circumstances, of which, perhaps, they themselves were not well +informed. + +It has already been objected to me, that I cited poets and authors of +little credit, in support of a thing so grave and so disputed as the +apparition of spirits: such authorities, they say, are more calculated +to cast a doubt on apparitions, than to establish the truth of them. + +But I cite those authors as witnesses of the opinions of nations; and +I count it not a small thing in the extreme license of opinions, which +at this day predominates in the world, amongst those even who make a +profession of Christianity, to be able to show that the ancient Greeks +and Romans thought that souls were immortal, that they subsisted after +the death of the body, and that there was another life, in which they +received the reward of their good actions, or the chastisement of +their crimes. + +Those sentiments which we read in the poets, are also repeated in the +fathers of the church, and the pagan and Christian historians; but as +they did not pretend to think them weighty, nor to approve them in +repeating them, it must not be imputed to me either, that I have any +intention of authorizing. For instance, what I have related of the +manes, or lares; of the evocation of souls after the death of the +body; of the avidity of these souls to suck the blood of the immolated +animals, of the shape of the soul separated from the body, of the +inquietude of souls which have no rest until their bodies are under +ground; of those superstitious statues of wax which are devoted and +consecrated under the name of certain persons whom the magicians +pretended to kill by burning and stabbing their effigies of wax; of +the transportation of wizards and witches through the air, and of +their assemblies of the Sabbath; all those things are related both in +the works of the philosophers and pagan historians, as well as in the +poets. + +I know the value of one and the other, and I esteem them as they +deserve; but I think that in treating this matter, it is important to +make known to our readers the ancient superstitions, the vulgar or +common opinions, and the prejudices of nations, to be able to refute +them, and bring back the figures to truths, by freeing them from what +poesy had added for the embellishment of the poem, and the amusement +of the reader. + +Moreover, I generally repeat this kind of thing, only when it is +apropos of certain facts avowed by historians, and by other grave and +rational authors; and sometimes rather as an ornament of the +discourse, or to enliven the matter, than to derive thence certain +proofs and consequences necessary for the dogma, or to certify the +facts and give weight to my recital. + +I know how little we must depend on what Lucian says on this subject; +he only speaks of it to make game of it. Philostratus, Jamblicus, and +some others, do not merit more consideration; therefore I quote them +only to refute them, or to show how far idle and ridiculous credulity +has been carried on these matters, which were laughed at by the most +sensible among the heathens themselves. + +The consequences which I deduce from all these stories, and these +poetical fictions, and the manner in which I speak of them in the +course of this dissertation, sufficiently vouch that esteem, and give +as true and certain only what is so in fact; and that I do not wish to +impose on my reader, by relating many things which I myself regard as +false, or as doubtful, or even as fabulous. But that ought to be +prejudicial to the dogma of the immortality of the soul, and to that +of another life, not to the truth of certain apparitions related in +Scripture, or proved elsewhere by good testimony. + +The first edition of this work having been printed in my absence, and +upon an incorrect copy, several misprints have occurred, and even +expressions and phrases displeasing and interrupted. I have tried to +remedy this in a second edition, and to cast light on those passages +which they noticed as demanding explanation, and correcting what might +offend scrupulous readers, and prevent the bad consequences which +might be derived from what I had said. I have even done more in this +third edition. I have retrenched several passages; others I have +suppressed; I have profited by the advice which has been given me; and +I have replied to the objections which have been made. + +People have complained that I took no part, and did not come to a +decision on several difficulties which I propose, and that I leave my +reader in uncertainty. + +I make but little defence against this reproach; I should require more +justification if I decided without a perfect knowledge of causes, for +one side of the question, at the risk of embracing an error, and of +falling into a still greater impropriety. There is wisdom in +suspending one's judgment till we have succeeded in finding the very +truth. + +I have also been told, that certain persons have made a joke of some +facts which I have related. If I have related them as certain, and +they afford just cause for pleasantry, let the condemnation pass; but +if I cited them as fabulous and false, they present no subject for +pleasantry; _Falsum non est de ratione faceti._ + +There are certain persons who delight in jesting on the most serious +things, and who spare nothing, either sacred or profane. The histories +of the Old and New Testament, the most sacred ceremonies of our +religion, the lives of the most respectable saints, are not safe from +their dull, tasteless pleasantry. + +I have been reproached for having related several false histories, +several doubtful facts, and several fabulous events. This is true; but +I give them for what they are. I have declared several times, that I +did not vouch for their truth, that I repeated them to show how false +and ridiculous they were, and to deprive them of the credit they might +have with the people; and if I had gone at length into their +refutation, I thought it right to let my reader have the pleasure of +refuting them, supposing him to possess enough good sense and +self-sufficiency, to form his own judgment upon them, and feel the +same contempt for such stories that I do myself. It is doing too much +honor to certain things to refute them seriously. + +But another objection, and a much more serious one, is said to be, +what I say of the illusions of the demon, leading some persons to +doubt of the truth of the apparitions related in Scripture, as well as +of the others suspected of falsehood. + +I answer, that the consequences deduced from principles are not right, +except when things are equal, and the subjects and circumstances the +same; without that there can be no application of principles. The +facts to which my reasoning applies are related by authors of small +authority, by ordinary or common-place historians, bearing no +character which deserves a belief of anything superhuman. I can, +without attacking their person or their merit, advance that they may +have been badly informed, prepossessed, and mistaken; that the spirit +of seduction may have been of the party; that the senses, the +imagination, and superstition, may have made them take that for truth, +which was only seeming. + +But, in regard to the apparitions related in the Holy Scriptures, they +borrow their infallible authority from the sacred and inspired authors +who wrote them; they are verified by the events which followed them, +by the execution or fulfilment of predictions made many ages +preceding; and which could neither be done, nor foreseen, nor +performed, either by the human mind, or by the strength of man, not +even by the angel of darkness. + +I am but little concerned at the opinion passed on myself and my +intentions in the publication of this treatise. Some have thought that +I did it to destroy the popular and common idea of apparitions, and to +make it appear ridiculous; and I acknowledge that those who read this +work attentively and without prejudice, will remark in it more +arguments for doubting what the people believe on this point, than +they will find to favor the contrary opinion. If I have treated this +subject seriously, it is only in what regards those facts in which +religion and the truth of Scripture is interested; those which are +indifferent I have left to the censure of sensible people, and the +criticism of the learned and of philosophical minds. + +I declare that I consider as true all the apparitions related in the +sacred books of the Old and New Testament; without pretending, +however, that it is not allowable to explain them, and reduce them to +a natural and likely sense, by retrenching what is too marvelous about +them, which might rebut enlightened persons. I think on that point I +may apply the principle of St. Paul;[1] "the letter killeth, and the +Spirit giveth life." + +As to the other apparitions and visions related in Christian, Jewish, +or heathen authors, I do my best to discern amongst them, and I exhort +my readers to do the same; but I blame and disapprove the outrageous +criticism of those who deny everything, and make difficulties of +everything, in order to distinguish themselves by their pretended +strength of mind, and to authorize themselves to deny everything, and +to dispute the most certain facts, and in general all that savors of +the marvelous, and which appears above the ordinary laws of nature. +St. Paul permits us to examine and prove everything: _Omnia probate_; +but he desires us to hold fast that which is good and true: _quod +bonum est tenete_.[2] + + +Footnotes: + +[1] 2 Cor. iii. 16. + +[2] 1 Thess. v. 21. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +Every body talks of apparitions of angels and demons, and of souls +separated from the body. The reality of these apparitions is +considered as certain by many persons, while others deride them and +treat them as altogether visionary. + +I have determined to examine this matter, just to see what certitude +there can be on this point; and I shall divide this Dissertation into +four parts. In the first, I shall speak of good angels; in the second, +of the appearance of bad angels; in the third, of the apparitions of +souls of the dead; and in the fourth, of the appearance of living men +to others living, absent, distant, and this unknown to those who +appear. I shall occasionally add something on magic, wizards, and +witches; on the Sabbath, oracles, and obsession and possession by +demons. + + + + +THE PHANTOM WORLD. + +CHAPTER I. + +THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE OLD +TESTAMENT. + + +The apparitions or appearances of good angels are frequently mentioned +in the books of the Old Testament. He who was stationed at the +entrance of the terrestrial Paradise[3] was a cherub, armed with a +flaming sword; those who appeared to Abraham, and who promised that he +should have a son;[4] those who appeared to Lot, and predicted to him +the ruin of Sodom, and other guilty cities;[5] he who spoke to Hagar +in the desert,[6] and commanded her to return to the dwelling of +Abraham, and to remain submissive to Sarah, her mistress; those who +appeared to Jacob, on his journey into Mesopotamia, ascending and +descending the mysterious ladder;[7] he who taught him how to cause +his sheep to bring forth young differently marked;[8] he who wrestled +with Jacob on his return from Mesopotamia,[9]--were angels of light, +and benevolent ones; the same as he who spoke with Moses from the +burning bush on Horeb,[10] and who gave him the tables of the law on +Mount Sinai. That Angel who takes generally the name of GOD, and +acts in his name, and with his authority;[11] who served as a guide to +the Hebrews in the desert, hidden during the day in a dark cloud, and +shining during the night; he who spoke to Balaam, and threatened to +kill his she-ass;[12] he, lastly, who contended with Satan for the +body of Moses;[13]--all these angels were without doubt good angels. + +We must think the same of him who presented himself armed to Joshua on +the plain of Jericho,[14] and who declared himself head of the army of +the Lord; it is believed, with reason, that it was the angel Michael. +He who showed himself to the wife of Manoah,[15] the father of Samson, +and afterwards to Manoah himself. He who announced to Gideon that he +should deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites.[16] The angel +Gabriel, who appeared to Daniel, at Babylon;[17] and Raphael who +conducted the young Tobias to Rages, in Media.[18] + +The prophecy of the Prophet Zechariah is full of visions of +angels.[19] In the books of the Old Testament the throne of the Lord +is described as resting on cherubim; and the God of Israel is +represented as having before his throne[20] seven principal angels, +always ready to execute his orders, and four cherubim singing his +praises, and adoring his sovereign holiness; the whole making a sort +of allusion to what they saw in the court of the ancient Persian +kings,[21] where there were seven principal officers who saw his face, +approached his person, and were called the eyes and ears of the king. + + +Footnotes: + +[3] Gen. iii. 24. + +[4] Gen. xviii. 1-3. + +[5] Gen. xix. + +[6] Gen. xxi. 17. + +[7] Gen. xxviii. 12. + +[8] Gen. xxxi. 10, 11. + +[9] Gen. xxxii. + +[10] Exod. iii. 6, 7. + +[11] Exod. iii. iv. + +[12] Numb. xxii. xxiii. + +[13] Jude 9. + +[14] Josh. v. 13. + +[15] Judges xiii. + +[16] Judges vi. vii. + +[17] Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21. + +[18] Tobit v. + +[19] Zech. v. 9, 10, 11, &c. + +[20] Psalm xvii. 10; lxxix. 2, &c. + +[21] Tobit xii. Zech. iv. 10. Rev. i. 4. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE NEW +TESTAMENT. + + +The books of the New Testament are in the same manner full of facts +which prove the apparition of good angels. The angel Gabriel appeared +to Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, and predicted to him the +future birth of the Forerunner.[22] The Jews, who saw Zachariah come +out of the temple, after having remained within it a longer time than +usual, having remarked that he was struck dumb, had no doubt but that +he had seen some apparition of an angel. The same Gabriel announced to +Mary the future birth of the Messiah.[23] When Jesus was born in +Bethlehem, the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the +night,[24] and declared to them that the Saviour of the world was born +at Bethlehem. There is every reason to believe that the star which +appeared to the Magi in the East, and which led them straight to +Jerusalem, and thence to Bethlehem, was directed by a good angel.[25] +St. Joseph was warned by a celestial spirit to retire into Egypt, with +the mother and the infant Christ, for fear that Jesus should fall into +the hands of Herod, and be involved in the massacre of the Innocents. +The same angel informed Joseph of the death of King Herod, and told +him to return to the land of Israel. + +After the temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness, angels came +and brought him food.[26] The demon tempter said to Jesus Christ that +God had commanded his angels to lead him, and to prevent him from +stumbling against a stone; which is taken from the 92d Psalm, and +proves the belief of the Jews on the article of guardian angels. The +Saviour confirms the same truth when he says that the angels of +children constantly behold the face of the celestial Father.[27] At +the last judgment, the good angels will separate the just,[28] and +lead them to the kingdom of heaven, while they will precipitate the +wicked into eternal fire. + +At the agony of Jesus Christ in the garden of Olives, an angel +descended from heaven to console him.[29] After his resurrection, +angels appeared to the holy women who had come to his tomb to embalm +him.[30] In the Acts of the Apostles, they appeared to the apostles as +soon as Jesus had ascended into heaven; and the angel of the Lord came +and opened the doors of the prison where the apostles were confined, +and set them at liberty.[31] In the same book, St. Stephen tells us +that the law was given to Moses by the ministration of angels;[32] +consequently, those were angels who appeared on Sinai and Horeb, and +who spoke to him in the name of God, as his ambassadors, and as +invested with his authority; also, the same Moses, speaking of the +angel of the Lord, who was to introduce Israel into the Promised Land, +says that "the name of God is in him."[33] St. Peter, being in prison, +is delivered from thence by an angel,[34] who conducted him the length +of a street, and disappeared. St. Peter, knocking at the door of the +house in which his brethren were, they could not believe that it was +he; they thought that it was his angel who knocked and spoke. St. +Paul, instructed in the school of the Pharisees, thought as they did +on the subject of angels; he believed in their existence, in +opposition to the Sadducees,[35] and supposed that they could appear. +When this apostle, having been arrested by the Romans, related to the +people how he had been overthrown at Damascus, the Pharisees, who were +present, replied to those who exclaimed against him--"How do we know, +if an angel or a spirit hath not spoken to him?" St. Luke says that a +Macedonian (apparently the angel of Macedonia) appeared to St. Paul, +and begged him to come and announce the Gospel in that country. + +St. John, in the Apocalypse, speaks of the seven angels who presided +over the churches in Asia. I know that these seven angels are the +bishops of these churches, but the ecclesiastical tradition will have +it that every church has its tutelary angel. In the same book, the +Apocalypse, are related divers appearances of angels. All Christian +antiquity has recognized them; the synagogue also has recognized them; +so that it may be affirmed that nothing is more certain than the +existence of good angels and their apparitions. + +I place in the number of apparitions, not only those of good or bad +angels, and the spirits of the dead who show themselves to the living, +but also those of the living who show themselves to the angels or +souls of the dead; whether these apparitions are seen in dreams, or +during sleep, or awaking; whether they manifest themselves to all +those who are present, or only to the persons to whom God judges +proper to manifest them. For instance, in the Apocalypse,[36] St. John +saw the four animals, and the four-and-twenty elders, who were clothed +in white garments and wore crowns of gold upon their heads, and were +seated on thrones around that of the Almighty, who prostrated +themselves before the throne of the Eternal, and cast their crowns at +his feet. + +And, elsewhere: "I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the +world,[37] who held back the four winds and prevented them from +blowing on the earth; then I saw another angel, who rose on the side +of the east, and who cried out to the four angels who had orders to +hurt the earth, Do no harm to the earth, or the sea, or the trees, +until we have impressed a sign on the foreheads of the servants of +God. And I heard that the number of those who received this sign (or +mark) was a hundred and forty-four thousand. Afterwards I saw an +innumerable multitude of all nations, tribes, people, and languages, +standing before the throne of the Most High, arrayed in white +garments, and having palms in their hands." + +And in the same book[38] St. John says, after having described the +majesty of the throne of God, and the adoration paid to him by the +angels and saints prostrate before him, one of the elders said to +him,--"Those whom you see covered with white robes, are those who have +suffered great trials and afflictions, and have washed their robes in +the blood of the Lamb; for which reason they stand before the throne +of God, and will do so night and day in his temple; and He who is +seated on the throne will reign over them, and the angel which is in +the midst of the throne will conduct them to the fountains of living +water." And, again,[39] "I saw under the altar of God the souls of +those who have been put to death for defending the Word of God, and +for the testimony which they have rendered; they cried with a loud +voice, saying, When, O Lord, wilt thou not avenge our blood upon those +who are on the earth?" &c. + +All these apparitions, and several others similar to them, which might +be related as being derived from the holy books as well as from +authentic histories, are true apparitions, although neither the angels +nor the martyrs spoken of in the Apocalypse came and presented +themselves to St. John; but, on the contrary, this apostle was +transported in spirit to heaven, to see there what we have just +related. These are apparitions which may be called passive on the part +of the angels and holy martyrs, and active on the part of the holy +apostle who saw them. + + +Footnotes: + +[22] Luke i. 10-12, &c. + +[23] Luke i. 26, 27, &c. + +[24] Luke ii. 9, 10. + +[25] Matt. ii. 13, 14, 20. + +[26] Matt. iv. 6, 11. + +[27] Matt. xviii. 16. + +[28] Matt. xiii. 45, 46. + +[29] Luke xxii. 43. + +[30] Matt. xxviii. John. + +[31] Acts v. 19. + +[32] Acts vii. 30, 35. + +[33] Exod. xxiii. 21. + +[34] Acts xii. 8, 9. + +[35] Rom. i. 18. 1 Cor. iv. 9; vi. 3; xii. 7. Gal. iii. 19. Acts xvi. +9; xxiii. 9. Rev. i. 11. + +[36] Rev. iv. 4, 10. + +[37] Rev. vii. 1-3, 9, &c. + +[38] Rev. vii. 13, 14. + +[39] Rev. vi. 9, 10. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +UNDER WHAT FORM HAVE GOOD ANGELS APPEARED? + + +The most usual form in which good angels appear, both in the Old +Testament and the New, is the human form. It was in that shape they +showed themselves to Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Manoah the +father of Samson, to David, Tobit, the Prophets; and in the New +Testament they appeared in the same form to the Holy Virgin, to +Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, to Jesus Christ after his +fast of forty days, and to him again in his agony in the Garden of +Olives. They showed themselves in the same form to the holy women +after the resurrection of the Saviour. The one who appeared to +Joshua[40] on the plain of Jericho appeared apparently in the guise of +a warrior, since Joshua asks him, "Art thou for us, or for our +adversaries?" + +Sometimes they hide themselves under some form which has resemblance +to the human shape, like him who appeared to Moses in the burning +bush,[41] and who led the Israelites in the desert in the form of a +cloud, dense and dark during the day, but luminous at night.[42] The +Psalmist tells us that God makes his angels serve as a piercing wind +and a burning fire, to execute his orders.[43] + +The cherubim, so often spoken of in the Scriptures, and who are +described as serving for a throne to the majesty of God, were +hieroglyphical figures, something like the sphinx of the Egyptians; +those which are described in Ezekiel[44] are like animals composed of +the figure of a man, having the wings of an eagle, the feet of an ox; +their heads were composed of the face of a man, an ox, a lion, and an +eagle, two of their wings were spread towards their fellows, and two +others covered their body; they were brilliant as burning coals, as +lighted lamps, as the fiery heavens when they send forth the +lightning's flash--they were terrible to look upon. + +The one who appeared to Daniel[45] was different from those we have +just described; he was in the shape of a man, covered with a linen +garment, and round his loins a girdle of very fine gold; his body was +shining as a chrysolite, his face as a flash of lightning; his eyes +darted fire like a lamp; his arms and all the lower part of his body +was like brass melted in the furnace; his voice was loud as that of a +multitude of people. + +St. John, in the Apocalypse,[46] saw around the throne of the Most +High four animals, which doubtless were four angels; they were covered +with eyes before and behind. The first resembled a lion, the second an +ox, the third had the form of a man, and the fourth was like an eagle +with outspread wings; each of them had six wings, and they never +ceased to cry night and day, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who +was, and is, and is to come." + +The angel who was placed at the entrance of the terrestrial paradise +was armed with a shining sword,[47] as well as the one who appeared to +Balaam,[48] and who threatened, or was near killing both himself and +his ass; and so, apparently, was the one who showed himself to Joshua +in the plain of Jericho,[49] and the angel who appeared to David, +ready to smite all Israel. The angel Raphael guided the young Tobias +to Ragès under the human form of a traveler.[50] The angel who was +seen by the holy woman at the sepulchre of the Saviour, who overthrew +the large stone which closed the mouth of the tomb, and who was seated +upon it, had a countenance which shone like lightning, and garments +white as snow.[51] + +In the Acts of the Apostles,[52] the angel who extricated them from +prison, and told them to go boldly and preach Jesus Christ in the +temple, also appeared to them in a human form. The manner in which he +delivered them from the dungeon is quite miraculous; for the chief +priests having commanded that they should appear before them, those +who were sent found the prison securely closed, the guards wide awake; +but having caused the doors to be opened, they found the dungeon +empty. How could an angel without opening, or any fracture of the +doors, thus extricate men from prison without either the guards or the +jailer perceiving anything of the matter? The thing is beyond any +known powers of nature; but it is no more impossible than to see our +Saviour, after his resurrection, invested with flesh and bones, as he +himself says, come forth from his sepulchre, without opening it, and +without breaking the seals,[53] enter the chamber wherein were the +apostles without opening the doors,[54] and speak to the disciples +going to Emmaus without making himself known to them; then, after +having opened their eyes, disappear and become invisible.[55] During +the forty days that he remained upon earth till his ascension, he +drank and ate with them, he spoke to them, he appeared to them; but he +showed himself only to those witnesses who were pre-ordained by the +eternal Father to bear testimony to his resurrection. + +The angel who appeared to the centurion Cornelius, a pagan, but +fearing God, answered his questions, and discovered to him unknown +things, which things came to pass. + +Sometimes the angels, without assuming any visible shape, give proofs +of their presence by intelligible voices, by inspirations, by sensible +effects, by dreams, or by revelations of things unknown, whether +future or past. Sometimes by striking with blindness, or infusing a +spirit of uncertainty or stupidity in the minds of those whom God +wills should feel the effects of his wrath; for instance, it is said +in the Scriptures that the Israelites heard no distinct speech, and +beheld no form on Horeb when God spoke to Moses and gave him the +Law.[56] + +The angel who might have killed Balaam's ass was not at first +perceived by the prophet;[57] Daniel was the only one who beheld the +angel Gabriel, who revealed to him the mystery of the great empires +which were to succeed each other.[58] + +When the Lord spoke for the first time to Samuel, and predicted to him +the evils which he would inflict on the family of the high-priest Eli, +the young prophet saw no visible form; he only heard a voice, which he +at first mistook for that of the high-priest Eli, not being yet +accustomed to distinguish the voice of God from that of a man. + +The angels who guided Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah were +at first perceived under a human form by the inhabitants of the city; +but afterwards these same angels struck the men with blindness, and +thus prevented them from finding the door of Lot's house, into which +they would have entered by force. + +Thus, then, angels do not always appear under a visible or sensible +form, nor in a figure uniformly the same; but they give proofs of +their presence by an infinity of different ways--by inspirations, by +voices, by prodigies, by miraculous effects, by predictions of the +future, and other things hidden and impenetrable to the human mind. + +St. Cyprian relates that an African bishop, falling ill during the +persecution, earnestly requested to have the viaticum administered to +him; at the same time he saw, as it were, a young man, with a majestic +air, and shining with such extraordinary lustre that the eyes of +mortals could not have beheld him without terror; nevertheless, the +bishop was not alarmed. This angel said to him, angrily, and in a +menacing tone, "You fear to suffer. You do not wish to leave this +world. What would you have me do for you?" (or "What can I do for +you?") The good bishop comprehended that these words alike regarded +him and the other Christians who feared persecution and death. The +bishop talked to them, encouraged them, and exhorted them to arm +themselves with patience to support the tortures with which they were +threatened. He received the communion, and died in peace. We shall +find in different histories an infinite number of other apparitions of +angels under a human form. + + +Footnotes: + +[40] Josh. v. 29. + +[41] Exod. iii. 3, 44. + +[42] Exod. xiii. xiv. + +[43] Psalm civ. 4. + +[44] Ezek. i. 4, 6. + +[45] Dan. x. 5. + +[46] Rev. iv. 7, 8. + +[47] Gen. iii. 24. + +[48] Numb. xxii. 22, 23. + +[49] 1 Chron. xxi. 16. + +[50] Tobit v. 5. + +[51] Matt. xxviii. 3. + +[52] Acts ii. + +[53] Matt. xxviii. 1, 2. + +[54] John xix. 20. + +[55] Luke xxiii. 15-17, &c. + +[56] Deut. iv. 15. + +[57] Numb. xii. 22, 23. + +[58] Dan. x. 7, 8. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, CHRISTIANS, MAHOMETANS, AND ORIENTAL NATIONS +CONCERNING THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD ANGELS. + + +After what we have just related from the books of the Old and New +Testament, it cannot be disavowed that the Jews in general, the +apostles, the Christians, and their disciples have commonly believed +in the apparitions of good angels. The Sadducees, who denied the +existence and the apparition of angels, were commonly considered by +the Jews as heretics, and as supporting an erroneous doctrine. Jesus +Christ refutes them in the Gospel. The Jews of our days believe +literally what is related in the Old Testament, concerning the angels +who appeared to Abraham, Lot, and other patriarchs. It was the belief +of the Pharisees and of the apostles in the time of our Saviour, as +may be seen by the writings of the apostles and by the whole of the +Gospel. + +The Mahometans believe, as do the Jews and Christians, that good +angels appear to men sometimes under a human form; that they appeared +to Abraham and Lot; that they punished the inhabitants of Sodom; that +the archangel Gabriel appeared to Mahomet, and revealed to him all +that is laid down in his Koran: that the genii are of a middle nature, +between man and angel;[59] that they eat, drink, beget children; that +they die, and can foresee things to come. In consequence of this +principle or idea, they believe that there are male and female genii; +that the males, whom the Persians call by the name of _Dives_, are +bad, very ugly, and mischievous, making war against the _Peris_, who +are the females. The Rabbis will have it that these genii were born of +Adam alone, without any concurrence of his wife Eve, or of any other +woman, and that they are what we call _ignis fatuii_ (or wandering +lights). + +The antiquity of these opinions touching the corporality of angels +appears in several _old_ writers, who, deceived by the apocryphal book +which passes under the name of the _Book of Enoch_, have explained of +the angels what is said in Genesis,[60] "_That the children of God, +having seen the daughters of men, fell in love with their beauty, +wedded them, and begot giants of them._" Several of the ancient +Fathers[61] have adopted this opinion, which is now given up by +everybody, with the exception of some new writers, who desire to +revive the idea of the corporality of angels, demons, and souls--an +opinion which is absolutely incompatible with that of the Catholic +church, which holds that angels are of a nature entirely distinct from +matter. + +I acknowledge that, according to their system, the affair of +apparitions could be more easily explained; it is easier to conceive +that a corporeal substance should appear, and render itself visible to +our eyes, than a substance purely spiritual; but this is not the place +to reason on a philosophical question, on which different hypotheses +could be freely grounded, and to choose that which should explain +these appearances in the most plausible manner, even though it answer +in the most satisfactory manner the question asked, and the objections +formed against the facts, and against the proposed manner of stating +them. + +The question is resolved, and the matter decided. The church and the +Catholic schools hold that angels, demons, and reasonable souls, are +disengaged from all matter; the same church and the same school hold +it as certain that good and bad angels, and souls separated from the +body, sometimes appear by the will and with the permission of God: +there we must stop; as to the manner of explaining these apparitions, +we must, without losing sight of the certain principle of the +immateriality of these substances, explain them according to the +analogy of the Christian and Catholic faith, acknowledged sincerely +that in this matter there are certain depths which we cannot sound, +and confine our mind and information within the limits of that +obedience which we owe to the authority of the church, that can +neither err nor deceive us. + +The apparitions of good angels and of guardian angels are frequently +mentioned in the Old as in the New Testament. When the Apostle St. +Peter had left the prison by the assistance of an angel, and went and +knocked at the door where the brethren were, they believed that it was +his angel and not himself who knocked.[62] And when Cornelius the +Centurion prayed to God in his own house, an angel (apparently his +good angel) appeared to him, and told him to send and fetch Peter, who +was then at Joppa.[63] + +St. Paul desires that at church no woman should appear among them +without her face being veiled, because of the angels;[64] doubtless +from respect to the good angels who presided in these assemblies. The +same St. Paul reassures those who were with him in danger of almost +inevitable shipwreck, by telling them that his angel had appeared to +him[65] and assured him that they should arrive safe at the end of +their voyage. + +In the Old Testament, we likewise read of several apparitions of +angels, which can hardly be explained but as of guardian angels; for +instance, the one who appeared to Hagar in the wilderness, and +commanded her to return and submit herself to Sarah her mistress;[66] +and the angel who appeared to Abraham, as he was about to immolate +Isaac his son, and told him that God was satisfied with his +obedience;[67] and when the same Abraham sent his servant Eleazer into +Mesopotamia, to ask for a wife for his son Isaac, he told him that the +God of heaven, who had promised to give him the land of Canaan, would +send his angel[68] to dispose all things according to his wishes. +Examples of similar apparitions of tutelary angels, derived from the +Old Testament, might here be multiplied, but the circumstance does not +require a greater number of proofs. + +Under the new dispensation, the apparitions of good angels, of +guardian spirits, are not less frequent in most authentic stories; +there are few saints to whom God has not granted similar favors: we +may cite, in particular, St. Frances, a Roman lady of the sixteenth +century, who saw her guardian angel, and he talked to her, instructed +her, and corrected her. + + +Footnotes: + +[59] D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. _Perith. Dives_, 785. Idem, 243, p. 85. + +[60] Gen. vi. 2. + +[61] Joseph. Antiq. lib. i. c. 4. Philo, De Gigantibus. Justin. Apol. +Turtul. de Animâ. _Vide_ Commentatores in Gen. iv. + +[62] Acts xii. 15. + +[63] Acts x. 2, 3. + +[64] 1 Cor. xi. 10. + +[65] Acts xxvii. 21, 22. + +[66] Gen. xvi. 9. + +[67] Gen. xxii. 11, 17. + +[68] Gen. xxiv. 7. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +OPINION OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS ON THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD GENII. + + +Jamblichus, a disciple of Porphyry,[69] has treated the matter of +genii and their apparition more profoundly than any other author of +antiquity. It would seem, to hear him discourse, that he knew both the +genii and their qualities, and that he had with them the most intimate +and continual converse. He affirms that our eyes are delighted by the +appearance of the gods, that the apparitions of the archangels are +terrible; those of angels are milder; but when demons and heroes +appear, they inspire terror; the archontes, who preside over this +world, cause at the same time an impression of grief and fear. The +apparition of souls is not quite so disagreeable as that of heroes. In +the appearance of the gods there is order and mildness, confusion and +disorder in that of demons, and tumult in that of the archontes. + +When the gods show themselves, it seems as if the heavens, the sun and +moon, were all about to be annihilated; one would think that the earth +could not support their presence. On the appearance of an archangel, +there is an earthquake in every part of the world; it is preceded by a +stronger light than that which accompanies the apparition of the +angels; at the appearance of a demon it is less strong, and diminishes +still more when it is a hero who shows himself. + +The apparitions of the gods are very luminous; those of angels and +archangels less so; those of demons are dark, but less dark than those +of heroes. The archontes, who preside over the brightest things in +this world, are luminous; but those which are occupied only with what +is material, are dark. When souls appear, they resemble a shade. He +continues his description of these apparitions, and enters into +tiresome details on the subject; one would say, to hear him, that that +there was a most intimate and habitual connection between the gods, +the angels, the demons, and the souls separated from the body, and +himself. But all this is only the work of his imagination; he knew no +more than any other concerning a matter which is above the reach of +man's understanding. He had never seen any apparitions of gods or +heroes, or archontes; unless we say that there are veritable demons +which sometimes appear to men. But to discern them one from the other, +as Jamblichus pretends to do, is mere illusion. + +The Greeks and Romans, like the Hebrews and Christians, acknowledged +two sorts of genii, some good and beneficent, the others bad, and +causing evil. The ancients even believed that every one of us received +at our birth a good and an evil genius; the former procured us +happiness and prosperity, the latter engaged us in unfortunate +enterprises, inspired us with unruly desires, and cast us into the +worst misfortunes. They assigned genii, not only to every person, but +also to every house, every city, and every province.[70] These genii +are considered as good, beneficent,[71] and worthy of the worship of +those who invoke them. They were represented sometimes under the form +of a serpent, sometimes as a child or a youth. Flowers, incense, +cakes, and wine were offered to them.[72] Men swore by the names of +the genii.[73] It was a great crime to perjure one's self after having +sworn by the genius of the emperor, says Tertullian;[74] _Citius apud +vos per omnes Deos, quàm per unicum Genium Cĉsaris perjuratur._ + +We often see on medals the inscription, GENIO POPULI ROMANI; and +when the Romans landed in a country, they failed not to salute and +adore its genius, and to offer him sacrifices.[75] In short, there was +neither kingdom, nor province, nor town, nor house, nor door, nor +edifice, whether public or private, which had not its genius.[76] + +We have seen above what Jamblichus informs us concerning apparitions +of the gods, genii, good and bad angels, heroes, and the archontes who +preside over the government of the world. + +Homer, the most ancient of Greek writers, and the most celebrated +theologian of Paganism, relates several apparitions both of gods and +heroes, and also of the dead. In the Odyssey,[77] he represents +Ulysses going to consult the sorcerer Tiresias; and this diviner +having prepared a grave or trench full of blood to evoke the manes, +Ulysses draws his sword to prevent them from coming to drink this +blood, for which they thirst; but which they were not allowed to taste +before they had answered the questions put to them. They believed also +that the souls of the dead could not rest, and that they wandered +around their dead bodies so long as the corpse remained uninhumed. + +Even after they were interred, food was offered them; above everything +honey was given, as if leaving their tomb they came to taste what was +offered them.[78] They were persuaded that the demons loved the smoke +of sacrifices, melody, the blood of victims, and intercourse with +women; that they were attached for a time to certain spots and certain +edifices which they infested. They believed that souls separated from +the gross and terrestrial body, preserved after death one more subtile +and elastic, having the form of that they had quitted; that these +bodies were luminous, and like the stars; that they retained an +inclination for those things which they had loved during their life on +earth, and that often they appeared gliding around their tombs. + +To bring back all this to the matter here treated of, that is to say, +to the appearance of good angels, we may note, that in the same manner +that we attach to the apparitions of good angels the idea of tutelary +spirits of kingdoms, provinces, and nations, and of each of us in +particular--as, for instance, the Prince of the kingdom of Persia, or +the angel of that nation, who resisted the archangel Gabriel during +twenty-one days, as we read in Daniel;[79] the angel of Macedonia, who +appeared to St. Paul,[80] and of whom we have spoken before; the +archangel St. Michael, who is considered as the chief of the people of +God and the armies of Israel;[81] and the guardian angels deputed by +God to guide us and guard us all the days of our life--so we may say +that the Greeks and Romans, being Gentiles, believed that certain +sorts of spirits, which they imagined were good and beneficent, +protected their kingdoms, provinces, towns, and private houses. + +They paid them a superstitious and idolatrous worship, as to domestic +divinities; they invoked them, offered them a kind of sacrifice and +offerings of incense, cakes, honey, and wine, &c.--but not bloody +sacrifices.[82] + +The Platonicians taught that carnal and voluptuous men could not see +their genii, because their mind was not sufficiently pure, nor enough +disengaged from sensual things; but that men who were wise, moderate, +and temperate, and who applied themselves to serious and sublime +subjects, could see them; as Socrates, for instance, who had his +familiar genius, whom he consulted, to whose advice he listened, and +whom he beheld, at least with the eyes of the mind. + +If the oracles of Greece and other countries are reckoned in the +number of apparitions of bad spirits, we may also recollect the good +spirits who have announced things to come, and have assisted the +prophets and inspired persons, whether in the Old Testament or the +New. The angel Gabriel was sent to Daniel[83] to instruct him +concerning the vision of the four great monarchies, and the +accomplishment of the seventy weeks, which were to put an end to the +captivity. The prophet Zechariah says expressly that _the angel who +appeared unto him_[84] revealed to him what he must say--he repeats it +in five or six places; St. John, in the Apocalypse,[85] says the same +thing, that God had sent his angel to inspire him with what he was to +say to the Churches. Elsewhere[86] he again makes mention of the angel +who talked with him, and who took in his presence the dimensions of +the heavenly Jerusalem. And again, St. Paul in his Epistle to the +Hebrews,[87] "If what has been predicted by the angels may pass for +certain." + +From all we have just said, it results that the apparitions of good +angels are not only possible, but also very real; that they have often +appeared, and under diverse forms; that the Hebrews, Christians, +Mahometans, Greeks, and Romans have believed in them; that when they +have not sensibly appeared, they have given proofs of their presence +in several different ways. We shall examine elsewhere how we can +explain the kind of apparition, whether of good or bad angels, or +souls separated from the body. + + +Footnotes: + +[69] Jamblic. lib. ii. cap. 3 & 5. + +[70] + "Quod te per Genium, dextramque Deosque Penates, + Obsecro et obtestor."--_Horat._ lib. i. Epist. 7. 94. + + ----"Dum cunctis supplex advolveris aris, + Ei mitem Genium Domini prĉsentis adoras." + _Stac._ lib. v. Syl. I. 73. + + +[71] Antiquitée expliquée, tom. i. + +[72] Perseus, Satire ii. + +[73] Senec. Epist. 12. + +[74] Tertull. Apol. c. 23. + +[75] + "Troja vale, rapimur, clamant; dant oscula terrĉ + Troades."--_Ovid. Metam._, lib. xiii. 421. + +[76] + "Quamquam cur Genium Romĉ, mihi fingitis unum? + Cùm portis, domibus; thermis, stabulis soleatis, + Assignare suos Genios?"--_Prudent. contra Symmach._ + +[77] Odyss. XI. sub. fin. _Vid._ Horat. lib. i. Satire 7, &c. + +[78] Virgil. Ĉneid. I. 6. August. Serm. 15. de SS. et Quĉst. 5. in +Deut. i. 5 c. 43. _Vide_ Spencer, de Leg. Hebrĉor. Ritual. + +[79] Dan. x. 13. + +[80] Acts xvi. 9. + +[81] Josh. v. 13. Dan. x. 13, 21; xii. 1. Judg. v. 6. Rev. xii. 7 + +[82] _Forsitan quis quĉrat, quid causĉ sit, ut merum fundendum sit +genio_, non hostiam faciendam putaverint.... _Scilicet ut die natali +munus_ annale genio solverent, manum à coede ac sanguine +abstinerent.--Censorin. de Die Natali, c. 2. Vide Taffin de Anno +Sĉcul. + +[83] Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21. + +[84] Zech. i. 10, 13, 14, 19; ii. 3, 4; iv. 1, 4, 5; v. 5, 10. + +[85] Rev. i. 1. + +[86] Rev. x. 8, 9, &c.; xi. 1, 2, 3, &c. + +[87] Heb. ii. 2. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE APPARITION OF BAD ANGELS PROVED BY THE HOLY SCRIPTURES--UNDER WHAT +FORM THEY HAVE APPEARED. + + +The books of the Old and New Testament, together with sacred and +profane history, are full of relations of the apparition of bad +spirits. The first, the most famous, and the most fatal apparition of +Satan, is that of the appearance of this evil spirit to Eve, the first +woman,[88] in the form of a serpent, which animal served as the +instrument of that seducing demon in order to deceive her and induce +her to sin. Since that time he has always chosen to appear under that +form rather than any other; so in Scripture he is often termed _the +Old Serpent_;[89] and it is said that the infernal dragon fought +against the woman who figured or represented the church; that the +archangel St. Michael vanquished him and cast him down from heaven. He +has often appeared to the servants of God in the form of a dragon, and +he has caused himself to be adored by unbelievers in this form, in a +great number of places: at Babylon, for instance, they worshiped a +living dragon,[90] which Daniel killed by making it swallow a ball or +bolus, composed of ingredients of a mortally poisonous nature. The +serpent was consecrated to Apollo, the god of physic and of oracles; +and the pagans had a sort of divination by means of serpents, which +they called _Ophiomantia_. + +The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans worshiped serpents, and regarded +them as divine.[91] They brought to Rome the serpent of Epidaurus, to +which they paid divine honors. The Egyptians considered vipers as +divinities.[92] The Israelites adored the brazen serpent elevated by +Moses in the desert,[93] and which was in after times broken in pieces +by the holy king Hezekiah.[94] + +St. Augustine[95] assures us that the Manichĉans regarded the serpent +as the Christ, and said that this animal had opened the eyes of Adam +and Eve by the bad counsel which he gave them. We almost always see +the form of the serpent in the magical figures[96] _Akraxas_ and +_Abrachadabra_, which were held in veneration among the Basilidian +heretics, who, like the Manichĉans, acknowledge two principles in all +things--the one good, the other bad; _Abraxas_ in Hebrew signifies +_that bad principle_, or the father of evil; _ab-ra-achad-ab-ra_, _the +father of evil_, _the sole father of evil_, or the only bad +principle. + +St. Augustine[97] remarks that no animal has been more subject to the +effects of enchantment and magic than the serpent, as if to punish him +for having seduced the first woman by his imposture. + +However, the demon has usually assumed the human form when he would +tempt mankind; it was thus that he appeared to Jesus Christ in the +desert;[98] that he tempted him and told him to change the stones into +bread that he might satisfy his hunger; that he transported him, the +Saviour, to the highest pinnacle of the temple, and showed him all the +kingdoms of the world, and offered him the enjoyment of them. + +The angel who wrestled with Jacob at Peniel,[99] on his return from +his journey into Mesopotamia, was a bad angel, according to some +ancient writers; others, as Severus Sulpicius[100] and some Rabbis, +have thought that it was the angel of Esau, who had come to combat +with Jacob; but the greater number believe that it was a good angel. +And would Jacob have asked him for his blessing had he deemed him a +bad angel? But however that fact may be taken, it is not doubtful that +the demon has appeared in a human form. + +Several stories, both ancient and modern, are related which inform us +that the demon has appeared to those whom he wished to seduce, or who +have been so unhappy as to invoke his aid, or make a compact with him, +as a man taller than the common stature, dressed in black, and with a +rough ungracious manner; making a thousand fine promises to those to +whom he appeared, but which promises were always deceitful, and never +followed by a real effect. I can even believe that they beheld what +existed only in their own confused and deranged ideas. + +At Molsheim,[101] in the chapel of St. Ignatius in the Jesuits' +church, may be seen a celebrated inscription, which contains the +history of a young German gentleman, named Michael Louis, of the house +of Boubenhoren, who, having been sent by his parents when very young +to the court of the Duke of Lorraine, to learn the French language, +lost all his money at cards: reduced to despair, he resolved to give +himself to the demon, if that bad spirit would or could give him some +good money; for he doubted that he would only furnish him with +counterfeit and bad coin. As he was meditating on this idea, suddenly +he beheld before him a youth of his own age, well made, well dressed, +who, having asked him the cause of his uneasiness, presented him with +a handful of money, and told him to try if it was good. He desired him +to meet him at that place the next day. + +Michael returned to his companions, who were still at play, and not +only regained all the money he had lost, but won all that of his +companions. Then he went in search of his demon, who asked as his +reward three drops of his blood, which he received in an acorn-cup; +after which, presenting a pen to Michael, he desired him to write what +he should dictate. He then dictated some unknown words, which he made +him write on two different bits of paper,[102] one of which remained +in the possession of the demon, the other was inserted in Michael's +arm, at the same place whence the demon had drawn the blood. And the +demon said to him, "I engage myself to serve you during seven years, +after which you will unreservedly belong to me." + +The young man consented to this, though with a feeling of horror; and +the demon never failed to appear to him day and night under various +forms, and taught him many unknown and curious things, but which +always tended to evil. The fatal termination of the seven years was +approaching, and the young man was then about twenty years old. He +returned to his father's house, when the demon to whom he had given +himself inspired him with the idea of poisoning his father and mother, +of setting fire to their château, and then killing himself. He tried +to commit all these crimes, but God did not allow him to succeed in +these attempts. The gun with which he wished to kill himself missed +fire twice, and the poison did not take effect on his father and +mother. + +More and more uneasy, he revealed to some of his father's domestics +the miserable state in which he found himself, and entreated them to +procure him some succor. At the same time the demon seized him, and +bent his body back, so that he was near breaking his bones. His +mother, who had adopted the heresy of Suenfeld, and had induced her +son to follow it also, not finding in her sect any help against the +demon that possessed or obseded him, was constrained to place him in +the hands of some monks. But he soon withdrew from them and retired to +Islade, from whence he was brought back to Molsheim by his brother, a +canon of Wurzburg, who put him again into the hands of fathers of the +society. Then it was that the demon made still more violent efforts +against him, appearing to him in the form of ferocious animals. One +day, amongst others, the demon, wearing the form of a hairy savage, +threw on the ground a schedule, or compact, different from the true +one which he had extorted from the young man, to try by means of this +false appearance to withdraw him from the hands of those who kept him, +and prevent his making his general confession. At last they fixed on +the 20th of October, 1603, as the day for being in the Chapel of St. +Ignatius, and to cause to be brought the true schedule containing the +compact made with the demon. The young man there made profession of +the Catholic and orthodox faith, renounced the demon, and received the +holy sacrament. Then, uttering horrible cries, he said he saw as it +were two he-goats of immeasurable size, which, holding up their +forefeet (standing on their hindlegs), held between their claws, each +one separately, one of the schedules or agreements. But as soon as the +exorcisms were begun, and the priests invoked the name of St. +Ignatius, the two he-goats fled away, and there came from the left arm +or hand of the young man, almost without pain, and without leaving any +scar, the compact, which fell at the feet of the exorcist. + +There now wanted only the second compact, which had remained in the +power of the demon. They recommenced their exorcisms, and invoked St. +Ignatius, and promised to say a mass in honor of the saint; at the +same moment there appeared a tall stork, deformed and badly made, who +let fall the second schedule from his beak, and they found it on the +altar. + +The pope, Paul V., caused information of the truth of these facts to +be taken by the commissionary-deputies, M. Adam, Suffragan of +Strasburg, and George, Abbot of Altorf, who were juridically +interrogated, and who affirmed that the deliverance of this young man +was principally due, after God, to the intercession of St. Ignatius. + +The same story is related rather more at length in Bartoli's Life of +St. Ignatius Loyola. + +Melancthon owns[103] that he has seen several spectres, and conversed +with them several times; and Jerome Cardan affirms that his father, +Fassius Cardanus, saw demons whenever he pleased, apparently in a +human form. Bad spirits sometimes appear also under the figure of a +lion, a dog, or a cat, or some other animal--as a bull, a horse, or a +raven; for the pretended sorcerers and sorceresses relate that at the +(witches') Sabbath he is seen under several different forms of men, +animals, and birds; whether he takes the shape of these animals, or +whether he makes use of the animals themselves as instruments to +deceive or harm, or whether he simply affects the senses and +imagination of those whom he has fascinated and who give themselves to +him; for in all the appearances of the demon we must always be on our +guard, and mistrust his stratagems and malice. St. Peter[104] tells us +that Satan is always roaming round about us, like a roaring lion, +seeking whom he may devour. And St. Paul, in more places than +one,[105] warns us to mistrust the snares of the devil, and to hold +ourselves on our guard against him. + +Sulpicius Severus,[106] in the life of St. Martin, relates a few +examples of persons who were deceived by apparitions of the demon, who +transformed himself into an angel of light. A young man of very high +rank, and who was afterwards elevated to the priesthood, having +devoted himself to God in a monastery, imagined that he held converse +with angels; and as they would not believe him, he said that the +following night God would give him a white robe, with which he would +appear amongst them. In fact, at midnight the monastery was shaken as +with an earthquake, the cell of the young man was all brilliant with +light, and they heard a noise like that of many persons going to and +fro, and speaking. + +After that, coming forth from his cell, he showed to the brothers (of +the convent) the tunic with which he was clothed: it was made of a +stuff of admirable whiteness, shining as purple, and so +extraordinarily fine in texture that they had never seen anything like +it, and could not tell from what substance it was woven. + +They passed the rest of the night in singing psalms of thanksgiving, +and in the morning they wished to conduct him to St. Martin. He +resisted as much as he could, saying that he had been expressly +forbidden to appear in his presence. As they were pressing him to +come, the tunic vanished, which led every one present to suppose that +the whole thing was an illusion of the demon. + +Another solitary suffered himself to be persuaded that he was Eli; +another that he was St. John the Evangelist. One day, the demon wished +to mislead St. Martin himself, appearing to him, having on a royal +robe, wearing on his head a rich diadem, ornamented with gold and +precious stones, golden sandals, and all the apparel of a great +prince. Addressing himself to Martin, he said to him, "Acknowledge me, +Martin; I am Jesus Christ, who, wishing to descend to earth, have +resolved to manifest myself to thee first of all." St. Martin remained +silent at first, fearing some snare; and the phantom having repeated +to him that he was the Christ, Martin replied: "My Lord Jesus Christ +did not say that he should come clothed in purple and decked with +diamonds. I shall not acknowledge him unless he appears in that same +form in which he suffered death, and unless I see the marks of his +cross and passion." + +At these words the demon disappeared; and Sulpicius Severus affirms +that he relates this as he heard it from the mouth of St. Martin +himself. A little before this, he says that Satan showed himself to +him sometimes under the form of Jupiter, or Mercury, or Venus, or +Minerva; and sometimes he was to reproach Martin greatly because, by +baptism, he had converted and regenerated so many great sinners. But +the saint despised him, drove him away by the sign of the cross, and +answered him that baptism and repentance effaced all sins in those who +were sincere converts. + +All this proves the malice, envy, and fraud of the devil against the +saints, on the one side; and on the other, the weakness and +uselessness of his efforts against the true servants of God, and that +it is but too true he often appears in a visible form. + +In the histories of the saints we sometimes see that he hides himself +under the form of a woman, to tempt pious hermits and lead them into +evil; sometimes in the form of a traveler, a priest, a monk, or an +_angel of light_,[107] to mislead simple minded people, and cause them +to err; for everything suits his purpose, provided he can exercise his +malice and hatred against men. + +When Satan appeared before the Lord in the midst of his holy angels, +and asked permission of God to tempt Job,[108] and try his patience +through everything that was dearest to that holy man, he doubtless +presented himself in his natural state, simply as a spirit, but full +of rage against the saints, and in all the deformity of his sin and +rebellion. + +But when he says, in the Books of Kings, _that he will be a lying +spirit in the mouth of false prophets_,[109] and that God allows him +to put in force his ill-will, we must not imagine that he shows +himself corporeally to the eyes of the false prophets of King Ahab; he +only inspired the falsehood in their minds--they believed it, and +persuaded the king of the same. Amongst the visible appearances of +Satan may be placed mortalities, wars, tempests, public and private +calamities, which God sends upon nations, provinces, cities, and +families, whom the Almighty causes to feel the terrible effects of his +wrath and just vengeance. Thus the exterminating angel kills the +first-born of the Egyptians.[110] The same angel strikes with death +the inhabitants of the guilty cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.[111] He +does the same with Onan, who committed an abominable action.[112] _The +wicked man seeks only division and quarrels_, says the sage; _and the +cruel angel shall be sent against him_.[113] And the Psalmist, +speaking of the plagues which the Lord inflicted upon Egypt, says that +he sent evil angels among them. + +When David, in a spirit of vanity, caused his people to be numbered, +God showed him an angel hovering over Jerusalem, ready to smite and +destroy it. I do not say decidedly whether it was a good or a bad +angel, since it is certain that sometimes the Lord employs good angels +to execute his vengeance against the wicked. But it is thought that it +was the devil who slew eighty-five thousand men of the army of +Sennacherib. And in the Apocalypse, those are also evil angels who +pour out on the earth the phials of wrath, and caused all the scourges +set down in that holy book. + +We shall also place amongst the appearances and works of Satan false +Christs, false prophets, Pagan oracles, magicians, sorcerers, and +sorceresses, those who are inspired by the spirit of Python, the +obsession and possession of demons, those who pretend to predict the +future, and whose predictions are sometimes fulfilled; those who make +compacts with the devil to discover treasures and enrich themselves; +those who make use of charms; evocations by means of magic; +enchantment; the being devoted to death by a vow; the deceptions of +idolatrous priests, who feigned that their gods ate and drank and had +commerce with women--all these can only be the work of Satan, and must +be ranked with what the Scripture calls _the depths of Satan_.[114] We +shall say something on this subject in the course of the treatise. + + +Footnotes: + +[88] Gen. iii. 1, 23. + +[89] Rev. xii. 9. + +[90] Bel and the Dragon. + +[91] Wisd. xi. 16. + +[92] Elian. Hist. Animal. + +[93] Numb. xxi. 2 Kings xviii. 4. + +[94] On this subject, see a work of profound learning, and as +interesting as profound, on "The Worship of the Serpent," by the Rev. +John Bathurst Deane, M. A. F. S. A. + +[95] Aug. tom. viii. pp. 28, 284. + +[96] _Ab-racha_, pater _mali_, or pater _malus_. + +[97] August. de Gen. ad Lit. 1. ii. c. 18. + +[98] Matt. iv. 9, 10, &c. + +[99] Gen. xxxii. 24, 25. + +[100] Sever. Sulpit. Hist. Sac. + +[101] A small city or town of the Electorate of Cologne, situated on a +river of the same name. + +[102] There were in all ten letters, the greater part of them Greek, +but which formed no (apparent) sense. They were to be seen at +Molsheim, in the tablet which bore a representation of this miracle. + +[103] Lib. de Anima. + +[104] 1 Pet. iii. 8. + +[105] Eph. vi. 11. 1 Tim. iii. 7. + +[106] Sulpit. Sever. Vit. St. Martin, b. xv. + +[107] 2 Cor. xi. 14. + +[108] Job i. 6-8. + +[109] 1 Kings xxii. 21. + +[110] Exod. ix. 6. + +[111] Gen. xviii. 13, 14. + +[112] Gen. xxxviii. + +[113] Prov. xvii. 11. + +[114] Rev. ii. 24. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +OF MAGIC. + + +Many persons regard magic, magicians, witchcraft, and charms as fables +and illusions, the effects of imagination in weak minds, who, +foolishly persuaded of the excessive power possessed by the devil, +attribute to him a thousand things which are purely natural, but the +physical reasons for which are unknown to them, or which are the +effects of the art of certain charlatans, who make a trade of imposing +on the simple and ignorant. These opinions are supported by the +authority of the principal parliaments of the kingdom, who acknowledge +neither magicians nor sorcerers, and who never punish those accused of +magic, or sorcery, unless they are convicted also of some other +crimes. As, in short, the more they punish and seek out magicians and +sorcerers, the more they abound in a country; and, on the contrary, +experience proves that in places where nobody believes in them, none +are to be found, the most efficacious means of uprooting this fancy is +to despise and neglect it. + +It is said that magicians and sorcerers themselves, when they fall +into the hands of judges and inquisitors, are often the first to +maintain that magic and sorcery are merely imaginary, and the effect +of popular prejudices and errors. Upon that footing, Satan would +destroy himself, and overthrow his own empire, if he were thus to +decry magic, of which he is himself the author and support. If the +magicians really, and of their own good will, independently of the +demon, make this declaration, they betray themselves most lightly, and +do not make their cause better; since the judges, notwithstanding +their disavowal, prosecute them, and always punish them without mercy, +being well persuaded that it is only the fear of execution and the +hope of remaining unpunished which makes them say so. + +But would it not rather be a stratagem of the evil spirit,[115] who +endeavors to render the reality of magic doubtful, to save from +punishment those who are accused of it, and to impose on the judges, +and make them believe that magicians are only madmen and +hypochondriacs, worthy rather of compassion than chastisement? We must +then return to the deep examination of the question, and prove that +magic is not a chimera, neither has it aught to do with reason. We can +neither rest on a sure foundation, nor derive any certain argument for +or against the reality of magic, either from the opinion of pretended +_esprits forts_, who deny because they think proper to do so, and +because the proofs of the contrary do not appear to them sufficiently +clear or demonstrative; nor from the declaration of the demon, of +magicians and sorcerers, who maintain that magic and sorcery are only +the effects of a disturbed imagination; nor from minds foolishly and +vainly prejudiced on the subject, that these declarations are produced +simply by the fear of punishment; nor by the subtilty of the malignant +spirit, who wishes to mask his play, and cast dust in the eyes of the +judges and witnesses, by making them believe that what they regard +with so much horror, and what they so vigorously prosecute, is +anything but a punishable crime, or at least a crime deserving of +punishment. + +We must then prove the reality of magic by the Holy Scriptures, by the +authority of the Church, and by the testimony of the most grave and +sensible writers; and, lastly, show that it is not true that the most +famous parliaments acknowledge neither sorcerers nor magicians. + +The teraphim which Rachael, the wife of Jacob, brought away secretly +from the house of Laban, her father,[116] were doubtless superstitious +figures, to which Laban's family paid a worship, very like that which +the Romans rendered to their household gods, _Penates_ and _Lares_, +and whom they consulted on future events. Joshua[117] says very +distinctly that Terah, the father of Abraham, adored strange gods in +Mesopotamia. And in the prophets Hosea and Zechariah,[118] the Seventy +translate _teraphim_ by the word _oracles_. Zechariah and Ezekiel[119] +show that the Chaldeans and the Hebrews consulted these _teraphim_ to +learn future events. + +Others believe that they were talismans or preservatives; everybody +agrees as to their being superstitious figures (or idols) which were +consulted in order to find out things unknown, or that were to come to +pass. + +The patriarch Joseph, speaking to his own brethren according to the +idea which they had of him in Egypt, says to them:[120] "Know ye not +that in all the land there is not a man who equals me in the art of +divining and predicting things to come?" And the officer of the same +Joseph, having found in Benjamin's sack Joseph's cup which he had +purposely hidden in it, says to them:[121] "It is the cup of which my +master makes use to discover hidden things." + +By the secret of their art, the magicians of Pharaoh imitated the true +miracles of Moses; but not being able like him to produce gnats +(English version _lice_), they were constrained to own that the finger +of God was in what Moses had hitherto achieved.[122] + +After the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, God expressly forbids +his people to practice any sort of magic or divination.[123] He +condemns to death magicians, and those who make use of charms. + +Balaam, the diviner, being invited by Balak, the king, to come and +devote the Israelites to destruction, God put blessings into his mouth +instead of curses;[124] and this bad prophet, amongst the blessings +which he bestows on Israel, says there is among them neither augury, +nor divination, nor magic. + +In the time of the Judges, the Idol of Micah was consulted as a kind +of oracle.[125] Gideon made, in his house and his city, an Ephod, +accompanied by a superstitious image, which was for his family, and to +all the people, the occasion of scandal and ruin.[126] + +The Israelites went sometimes to consult Beelzebub, god of Ekron,[127] +to know if they should recover from their sickness. The history of the +evocation of Samuel by the witch of Endor[128] is well known. I am +aware that some difficulties are raised concerning this history. I +shall deduce nothing from it here, except that this woman passed for a +witch, that Saul esteemed her such, and that this prince had +exterminated the magicians in his own states, or, at least, that he +did not permit them to exercise their art. + +Manasses, king of Judah,[129] is blamed for having introduced idolatry +into his kingdom, and particularly for having allowed there diviners, +aruspices, and those who predicted things to come. King Josiah, on the +contrary, destroyed all these superstitions.[130] + +The prophet Isaiah, who lived at the same time, says that they wished +to persuade the Jews then in captivity at Babylon to address +themselves, as did other nations, to diviners and magicians; but they +ought to reject these pernicious counsels, and leave those +abominations to the Gentiles, who knew not the Lord. Daniel[131] +speaks of the magicians, or workers of magic among the Chaldeans, and +of those amongst them who interpreted dreams, and predicted things to +come. + +In the New Testament, the Jews accused Jesus Christ of casting out +devils in the name of Beelzebub, the prince of the devils;[132] but he +refutes them by saying, that being come to destroy the empire of +Beelzebub, it was not to be believed that Beelzebub would work +miracles to destroy his own power or kingdom.[133] St. Luke speaks of +Simon the sorcerer, who had for a long time bewitched the inhabitants +of Samaria with his sorceries; and also of a certain Bar-Jesus of +Paphos, who professed sorcery, and boasted he could predict future +events.[134] St. Paul, when at Ephesus, caused a number of books of +magic to be burned.[135] Lastly, the Psalmist,[136] and the author of +the Book of Ecclesiasticus,[137] speak of charms with which they +enchanted serpents. + +In the Acts of the Apostles,[138] the young girl of the town of +Philippi, who was a Pythoness, for several successive days rendered +testimony to Paul and Silas, saying that they were "_the servants of +the Most High, and that they announced to men the way of salvation_." +Was it the devil who inspired her with these words, to destroy the +fruit of the preaching of the Apostles, by making the people believe +that they acted in concert with the spirit of evil? Or was it the +Spirit of God which put these words into the mouth of this young girl, +as he put into the mouth of Balaam prophecies concerning the Messiah? +There is reason to believe that she spoke through the inspiration of +the evil spirit, since St. Paul imposed silence on her, and expelled +the spirit of Python, by which she had been possessed, and which had +inspired the predictions she uttered, and the knowledge of hidden +things. In what way soever we may explain it, it will always follow +that magic is not a chimera, that this maiden was possessed by an evil +spirit, and that she predicted and revealed things hidden and to come, +and brought her _masters considerable gain by soothsaying_; for those +who consulted her would, doubtless, not have been so foolish as to pay +for these predictions, had they not experienced the truth of them by +their success and by the event. + +From all this united testimony, it results that magic, enchantments, +sorcery, divination, the interpretation of dreams, auguries, oracles, +and the magical figures which announced things to come, are very real, +since they are so severely condemned by God, and that He wills that +those who practice them should be punished with death. + + +Footnotes: + +[115] _Vide_ Bodin Preface. + +[116] Gen. xxxi. 19. + +[117] Josh. xxiv. 2-4. + +[118] Hosea ii. 4, &c. Zech. v. 2. + +[119] Zech. x. 2. Ezek. xxi. 21. + +[120] Gen. xliv. 15. + +[121] Gen. xliv. 5. + +[122] Exod. vii. 10-12. Exod. viii. 19. + +[123] Exod. xxii. 18. + +[124] Numb. xxii., xxiii. + +[125] Judg. xvii. 1, 2. + +[126] Judg. viii. 27. + +[127] 2 Kings i. 2, 2. + +[128] 1 Sam. xxviii. 7, _et seq._ + +[129] 2 Kings xxi. 16. + +[130] 2 Kings xxii. 24. + +[131] Dan. iv. 6, 7. + +[132] Matt. x. 25; xii. 24, 25. + +[133] Luke xi. 15, 18, 19. + +[134] Acts viii. 11; xiii. 6. + +[135] Acts xix. 19. + +[136] Psalm lvii. + +[137] Ecclus. xii. 13. + +[138] Acts xvi. 16, 17. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +OBJECTIONS TO THE REALITY OF MAGIC. + + +I shall not fail to be told that all these testimonies from Scripture +do not prove the reality of magic, sorcery, divination, and the rest; +but only that the Hebrews and Egyptians--I mean the common people +among them--believe that there were people who had intercourse with +the Divinity, or with good and bad angels, to predict the future, +explain dreams, devote their enemies to the direst misfortunes, cause +maladies, raise storms, and call forth the souls of the dead; if there +was any reality in all this, it was not in the things themselves, but +in their imaginations and prepossessions. + +Moses and Joseph were regarded by the Egyptians as great magicians. +Rachel, it appears, believed that the teraphim of her father Laban +were capable of giving her information concerning things hidden and to +come. The Israelites might consult the idol of Micha, and Beelzebub +the god of Ekron; but the sensible and enlightened people of those +days, like similar persons in our own, considered all this as the +sport and knavery of pretended magicians, who derived much emolument +from maintaining these prejudices among the people. + +Moses most wisely ordained the penalty of death against those persons +who abused the simplicity of the ignorant to enrich themselves at +their expense, and turned away the people from the worship of the true +God, in order to keep up among them such practices as were +superstitious and contrary to true religion. + +Besides, it was necessary to good order, the interests of the +commonwealth and of true piety, to repress those abuses which are in +opposition to them, and to punish with extreme severity those who draw +away the people from the true and legitimate worship due to God, lead +them to worship the devil, and place their confidence in the creature, +in prejudice to the right of the Creator; inspiring them with vain +terrors where there is nothing to fear, and maintaining their minds in +the most dangerous errors. If, amongst an infinite number of false +predictions, or vain interpretations of dreams, some of them are +fulfilled, either this is occasioned by chance or it is the work of +the devil, who is often permitted by God to deceive those whose +foolishness and impiety lead them to address themselves to him and +place their confidence in him, all which the wise lawgiver, animated +by the Divine Spirit, justly repressed by the most rigorous +punishment. + +All histories and experience on this subject demonstrate that those +who make use of the art of magic, charms, and spells, only employ +their art, their secret, and their power to corrupt and mislead; for +crime and vice; thus they cannot be too carefully sought out, or too +severely punished. + +We may add that what is often taken for black or diabolical magic is +nothing but natural magic, or art and cleverness on the part of those +who perform things which appear above the force of nature. How many +marvelous effects are related of the divining rod, sympathetic powder, +phosphoric lights, and mathematical secrets! How much knavery is now +well known in the priests of idols, and in those of Babylon, who made +the people believe that the god Bel drank and ate; that a large living +dragon was a divinity; that the god Anubis desired to have certain +women, who were thus deceived by the priests; that the ox Apis gave +out oracles, and that the serpent of Alexander of Abonotiche knew the +sickness, and gave remedies to the patient without opening the billet +which contained a description of the illness! We may possibly speak +more fully on this subject hereafter. + +In short, the most judicious and most celebrated Parliaments have +recognized neither magicians nor sorcerers; at least, they have not +condemned them to death unless they were convicted of other crimes, +such as theft, bad practices, poisoning, or criminal seduction--for +instance, in the affair of Gofredi, a priest of Marseilles, who was +condemned by the Parliament of Aix to be torn with hot pincers, and +burnt alive. The heads of that company, in the account which they +render to the chancellor of this their sentence, testify that this +curé was in truth accused of sorcery, but that he had been condemned +to the flames as guilty, and convicted of spiritual incest with his +penitent, Madelaine de la Palu. From all this it is concluded that +there is no reality in what is called magic. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +REPLY TO THE OBJECTIONS. + + +In answer to these, I allow that there is indeed very often a great +deal of illusion, prepossession, and imagination in all that is termed +magic and sorcery; and sometimes the devil by false appearances +combines with them to deceive the simple; but oftener, without the +evil spirit being any otherwise a party to it, wicked, corrupt, and +interested men, artful and deceptive, abuse the simplicity both of men +and women, so far as to persuade them that they possess supernatural +secrets for interpreting dreams and foretelling things to come, for +curing maladies, and discovering secrets unknown to any one. I can +easily agree to all that. All kinds of histories are full of facts +which demonstrate what I have just said. The devil has a thousand +things imputed to him in which he has no share; they give him the +honor of predictions, revelations, secrets, and discoveries, which are +by no means the effect of his power, or penetration; as in the same +manner he is accused of having caused all sorts of evils, tempests, +and maladies, which are purely the effect of natural but unknown +causes. + +It is very true that there are really many persons who are persuaded +of the power of the devil, of his influence over an infinite number of +things, and of the effects which they attribute to him; that they have +consulted him to learn future events, or to discover hidden things; +that they have addressed themselves to him for success in their +projects, for money, or favor, or to enjoy their criminal pleasures. +All this is very real. Magic, then, is not a simple chimera, since so +many persons are infatuated with the power of charms and convicted of +holding commerce with the devil, to procure a number of effects which +pass for supernatural. Now it is the folly, the vain credulity, the +prepossession of such people that the law of God interdicts, that +Moses condemns to death, and that the Christian Church punishes by its +censures, and which the secular judges repress with the greatest +rigor. If in all these things there was nothing but a diseased +imagination, weakness of the brain, or popular prejudices, would they +be treated with so much severity? Do we put to death hypochondriacs, +maniacs, or those who imagine themselves ill? No; they are treated +with compassion, and every effort is made to cure them. But in the +other case it is impiety, or superstition, or vice in those who +consult, or believe they consult, the devil, and place their +confidence in him, against which the laws are put in force and ordain +chastisement. + +Even if we could deny and contest the reality of augurs, diviners, and +magicians, and look on all these kind of persons as seducers, who +abuse the simplicity of those who betake themselves to them, could we +deny the reality of the magicians of Pharaoh, that of Simon, of +Bar-Jesus, of the Pythoness of the Acts of the Apostles? Did not the +first-mentioned perform many wonders before Pharaoh? Did not Simon the +magician rise into the air by means of the devil? Did not St. Paul +impose silence on the Pythoness of the city of Philippi in +Macedonia?[139] Will it be said that there was any collusion between +St. Paul and the Pythoness? Nothing of the kind can be maintained by +any reasonable argument. + +A small volume was published at Paris, in 1732, by a new author, who +conceals himself under the two initials M. D.; it is entitled, +_Treatise on Magic, Witchcraft, Possessions, Obsessions and Charms; in +which their truth and reality are demonstrated_. He shows that he +believes there are magicians; he shows by Scripture, both in the Old +and New Testament, and by the authority of the ancient fathers, some +passages from whose works are cited in that of Father Debrio, entitled +_Disquisitiones Magicĉ_. He proves it by the rituals of all the +dioceses, and by the examinations which are found in the printed +"Hours," wherein they suppose the existence of sorcerers and +magicians. + +The civil laws of the emperors, whether pagan or Christian, those of +the kings of France, both ancient and modern, jurisconsult, +physicians, historians both sacred and profane, concur in maintaining +this truth. In all kinds of writers we may remark an infinity of +stories of magic, spells and sorcery. The Parliaments of France, and +the tribunals of justice in other nations, have recognized magicians, +the pernicious effects of their art, and condemned them personally to +the most rigorous punishments. + +He relates at full length[140] the remonstrances made to King Louis +XIV., in 1670, by the Parliament at Rouen, to prove to that monarch +that it was not only the Parliament of Rouen, but also all the other +Parliaments of the kingdom, which followed the same rules of +jurisprudence in what concerns magic and sorcery; that they +acknowledged the existence of such things and condemn them. This +author cites several facts, and several sentences given on this matter +in the Parliaments of Paris, Aix, Toulouse, Rennes, Dijon, &c. &c.; +and it was upon these remonstrances that the same king, in 1682, made +his declaration concerning the punishment of various crimes, and in +particular of sorcery, diviners or soothsayers, magicians, and similar +crimes. + +He also cites the treaty of M. de la Marre, commissary at the +_châtelet_ of Paris, who speaks largely of magic, and proves its +reality, origin, progress, and effects. Would it be possible that the +sacred authors, laws divine and human, the greatest men of antiquity, +jurisconsults, the most enlightened historians, bishops in their +councils, the Church in her decisions, her practices and prayers, +should have conspired to deceive us, and to condemn those who practice +magic, sorcery, spells, and crimes of the same nature, to death, and +the most rigorous punishments, if they were merely illusive, and the +effect only of a diseased and prejudiced imagination? Father le Brun, +of the Oratoire, who has written so well upon the subject of +superstitions, substantiates the fact that the Parliament of Paris +recognizes that there are sorcerers, and that it punishes them +severely when they are convicted. He proves it by a decree issued in +1601 against some inhabitants of Campagne accused of witchcraft. The +decree wills that they shall be sent to the Conciergerie by the +subaltern judges on pain of being deprived of their charge. It +supposes that they must be rigorously punished, but it desires that +the proceedings against them for their discovery and punishment may be +exact and regular. + +M. Servin, advocate-general and councillor of state, fully proves from +the Old and New Testament, from tradition, laws and history, that +there are diviners, enchanters, and sorcerers, and refutes those who +would maintain the contrary. He shows that magicians and those who +make use of charms, ought to be punished and held in execration; but +he adds that no punishment must be inflicted till after certain and +evident proofs have been obtained; and this is what must be strictly +attended to by the Parliament of Paris, for fear of punishing madmen +for guilty persons, and taking illusions for realities. + +The Parliament leaves it to the Church to inflict excommunication, +both on men and women who have recourse to charms, and who believe +they go in the night to nocturnal assemblies, there to pay homage to +the devil. The Capitularies of the kings[141] recommend the pastors to +instruct the faithful on the subject of what is termed the Sabbath; at +any rate they do not command that these persons should receive +corporeal punishment, but only that they should be undeceived and +prevented from misleading others in the same manner. + +And there the Parliament stops, so long as the case goes no farther +than simply misleading; but when it goes so far as to injure others, +the kings have often commanded the judges to punish these persons with +fines and banishment. The Ordonnances of Charles VIII. in 1490, and of +Charles IX. in the States of Orleans in 1560, express themselves +formally on this point, and they were renewed by King Louis XIV. in +1682. The third article of these Ordonnances bears, that if it should +happen "_there were persons to be found wicked enough to add impiety +and sacrilege to superstition, those who shall be convicted of these +crimes shall be punished with death_." + +When, therefore, it is evident that some person has inflicted injury +on his neighbor by malpractices, the Parliament punishes them +rigorously, even to the pain of death, conformably to the ancient +Capitularies of the kingdom,[142] and the royal Ordonnances. Bodin, +who wrote in 1680, has collected a great number of decrees, to which +may be added those which the reverend Father le Brun reports, given +since that time. + +He afterwards relates a remarkable instance of a man named Hocque, who +was condemned to the galleys, the 2d of September, 1687, by sentence +of the High Court of Justice at Passy, for having made use of +malpractices towards animals, and having thus killed a great number in +Champagne. Hocque died suddenly, miserably, and in despair, after +having discovered, when drunken with wine, to a person named Beatrice, +the secret which he made use of to kill the cattle; he was not +ignorant that the demon would cause his death to revenge the discovery +which he had made of this spell. + +Some of the accomplices of this wretched man were condemned to the +galleys by divers decrees; others were condemned to be hanged and +burnt, by order of the Baillé of Passy, the 26th of October, 1691, +which sentence was confirmed by decree of the Parliament of Paris, the +18th of December, 1691. From all which we deduce that the Parliament +of Paris acknowledges that the spells by which people do injury to +their neighbors ought to be rigorously punished; that the devil has +very extensive power, which he too often exercises over men and +animals, and that he would exercise it oftener, and with greater +extension and fury, if he were not limited and hindered by the power +of God, and that of good angels, who set bounds to his malice. St Paul +warns us[143] to put on the armor of God, to be able to resist the +snares of the devil: for, adds he, "we have not to war against flesh +and blood: but against princes and powers, against the bad spirits who +govern this dark world, against the spirits of malice who reign in the +air." + + +Footnotes: + +[139] Acts xvi. 10. + +[140] Page 31, _et seq._ + +[141] Capitular. R. xiii de Sortilegiis et Sorciariis, 2 col. 36. + +[142] Capitular. in 872, x. 2. col. 230. + +[143] Eph. vi. 12. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +EXAMINATION OF THE AFFAIR OF HOCQUE, MAGICIAN. + + +Monsieur de St. André, consulting physician in ordinary to the king, +in his sixth letter[144] against magic, maintains that in the affair +of Hocque which has been mentioned, there was neither magic, nor +sorcery, nor any operation of the demon; that the venomous drug which +Hocque placed in the stables, and by means of which he caused the +death of the cattle stalled therein, was nothing but a poisonous +compound, which, by its smell and the diffusion of its particles, +poisoned the animals and caused their death; it required only for +these drugs to be taken away for the cattle to be safe, or else to +keep the cattle from the stable in which the poison was placed. The +difficulty laid in discovering where these poisonous drugs were +hidden; the shepherds, who were the authors of the mischief, taking +all sorts of precautions to conceal them, knowing that their lives +were in danger if they should be discovered. + +He further remarks that these _gogues_ or poisoned drugs lose their +effects after a certain time, unless they are renewed or watered with +something to revive them and make them ferment again. If the devil had +any share in this mischief, the drug would always possess the same +virtue, and it would not be necessary to renew it and refresh it to +restore it to its pristine power. + +In all this, M. de St. André supposes that if the demon had any power +to deprive animals of their lives, or to cause them fatal maladies, he +could do so independently of secondary causes; which will not be +easily granted him by those who hold that God alone can give life and +death by an absolute power, independently of all secondary causes and +of any natural agent. The demon might have revealed to Hocque the +composition of this fatal and poisonous drug--he might have taught him +its dangerous effects, after which the venom acts in a natural way; it +recovers and resumes its pristine strength when it is watered; it acts +only at a certain distance, and according to the reach of the +corpuscles which exhale from it. All these effects have nothing +supernatural in them, nor which ought to be attributed to the demon; +but it is credible enough that he inspired Hocque with the pernicious +design to make use of a dangerous drug, which the wretched man knew +how to make up, or the composition of which was revealed to him by the +evil spirit. + +M. de St. André continues, and says that there is nothing in the death +of Hocque which ought to be attributed to the demon; it is, says he, a +purely natural effect, which can proceed from no other cause than the +venomous effluvia which came from the poisonous drug when it was taken +up, and which were carried towards the malefactor by those which +proceeded from his own body while he was preparing it, and placing it +in the ground, which remained there and were preserved in that spot, +so that none of them had been dissipated. + +These effluvia proceeding from the person of Hocque, then finding +themselves liberated, returned to whence they originated, and drew +with them the most malignant and corrosive particles of the charge or +drug, which acted on the body of this shepherd as they did on those of +the animals who smelled them. He confirms what he has just said, by +the example of sympathetic powder which acts upon the body of a +wounded person, by the immersion of small particles of the blood, or +the pus of the wounded man upon whom it is applied, which particles +draw with them the spirit of the drugs of which it (the powder) is +composed, and carry them to the wound. + +But the more I reflect on this pretended evaporation of the venomous +effluvia emanating from the poisoned drug, hidden at Passy en Brie, +six leagues from Paris, which are supposed to come straight to Hocque, +shut up at la Tournelle, borne by the animal effluvia proceeding from +this malefactor's body at the time he made up the poisonous drug and +put it in the ground, so long before the dangerous composition was +discovered; the more I reflect on the possibility of these +evaporations the less I am persuaded of them. I could wish to have +proofs of this system, and not instances of the very doubtful and very +uncertain effects of sympathetic powder, which can have no place in +the case in question. It is proving the obscure by the obscure, and +the uncertain by the uncertain; and even were we to admit generally +some effects of the sympathetic powder, they could not be applicable +here; the distance between the places is too great, and the time too +long; and what sympathy can be found between this shepherd's poisonous +drug and his person for it to be able to return to him who is +imprisoned at Paris, when the _gogue_ is discovered at Passy? + +The account composed and printed on this event bears, that the fumes +of the wine which Hocque had drank having evaporated, and he +reflecting on what Beatrice had made him do, began to agitate himself, +howled, and complained most strangely, saying that Beatrice had taken +him by surprise, that it would occasion his death, and that he must +die the instant that _Bras-de-fer_--another shepherd, to whom Beatrice +had persuaded Hocque to write word to take off the poisoned drug which +he had scattered on the ground at Passy--should take away the dose. He +attacked Beatrice, whom he wanted to strangle; and even excited the +other felons who were with him in prison and condemned to the galleys, +to maltreat her, through the pity they felt for the despair of Hocque, +who, at the time the dose was taken off the land, had died in a +moment, in strange convulsions, and agitating himself like one +possessed. + +M. de St. André would again explain all this by supposing Hocque's +imagination being struck with the idea of his dying, which he was +persuaded would happen at the time they carried away the poison, had a +great deal to do with his sufferings and death. How many people have +been known to die at the time they had fancied they should, when +struck with the idea of their approaching death. The despair and +agitation of Hocque had disturbed the mass of his blood, altered the +humors, deranged the motion of the effluvia, and rendered them much +susceptible of the actions of the vapors proceeding from the poisonous +composition. + +M. de St. André adds that, if the devil had any share in this kind of +mischievous spell, it could only be in consequence of some compact, +either expressed or tacit, that as soon as the poison should be taken +up, he who had put it there should die immediately. Now, what +likelihood is there that the person who should make this compact with +the devil should have made use of such a stipulation, which would +expose him to a cruel and inevitable death? + +1. We may reply that fright can cause death; but that it is not +possible for it to produce it at a given time, nor can he who falls +into a paroxysm of grief say that he shall die at such a moment; the +moment of death is not in the power of man in similar circumstances. + +2. That so corrupt a character as Hocque, a man who, without +provocation, and to gratify his ill-will, kills an infinite number of +animals, and causes great damage to innocent persons, is capable of +the greatest excess, may give himself up to the evil spirit, by +implicated or explicit compacts, and engage, on pain of losing his +life, never to take off the charge he had thrown upon a village. He +believed he should risk nothing by this stipulation, since he was free +to take it away or to leave it, and it was not probable that he should +ever lightly thus expose himself to certain death. That the demon had +some share in this virtue of the poisonous composition is very likely, +when we consider the circumstances of its operations, and those of the +death and despair of Hocque. This death is the just penalty of his +crimes, and of his confidence in the exterminating angel to whom he +had yielded himself. + +It is true that impostors, weak minds, heated imaginations, ignorant +and superstitious persons have been found who have taken for black +magic, and operations of the demon, what was quite natural, and the +effect of some subtilty of philosophy or mathematics, or even an +illusion of the senses, or a secret which deceives the eye and the +senses. But to conclude from thence that there is no magic at all, and +that all that is said about it is pure prejudice, ignorance, and +superstition, is to conclude what is general from what is particular, +and to deny what is true and certain, because it is not easy to +distinguish what is true from what is false, and because men will not +take the trouble to examine into causes. It is far easier to deny +everything than to enter upon a serious examination of facts and +circumstances. + + +Footnotes: + +[144] M. de St. André, Letter VI. on the subject of Magic, &c. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MAGIC OF THE EGYPTIANS AND CHALDEANS. + + +All pagan antiquity speaks of magic and magicians, of magical +operations, and of superstitious, curious, and diabolical books. +Historians, poets, and orators are full of things which relate to this +matter: some believe in it, others deny it; some laugh at it, others +remain in uncertainty and doubt. Are they bad spirits, or deceitful +men, impostors and charlatans, who, by the subtilties of their art, +make the ignorant believe that certain natural effects are produced by +supernatural causes? That is the point on which men differ. But in +general the name of magic and magician is now taken in these days in +an odious sense, for an art which produces marvelous effects, that +appear above the common course of nature, and that by the operation of +the bad spirit. + +The author of the celebrated book of Enoch, which had so great a +vogue, and has been cited by some ancient writers[145] as inspired +Scripture, says that the eleventh of the watchers, or of those angels +who were in love with women, was called Pharmacius, or Pharmachus; +that he taught men, before the flood, enchantments, spells, magic +arts, and remedies against enchantments. St. Clement, of Alexandria, +in his recognitions, says that Ham, the son of Noah, received that art +from heaven, and taught it to Misraim, his son, the father of the +Egyptians. + +In the Scripture, the name of _Mage_ or _Magus_ is never used in a +good sense as signifying philosophers who studied astronomy, and were +versed in divine and supernatural things, except in speaking of the +Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ at Bethlehem.[146] Everywhere else +the Scriptures condemn and abhor magic and magicians.[147] They +severely forbid the Hebrews to consult such persons and things. They +speak with abhorrence of _Simon and of Elymas_, well-known magicians, +in the Acts of the Apostles;[148] and of the magicians of Pharaoh, who +counterfeited by their illusions the true miracles of Moses. It seems +likely that the Israelites had taken the habit in Egypt, where they +then were, of consulting such persons, since Moses forbids them in so +many different places, and so severely, either to listen to them or to +place confidence in their predictions. + +The Chevalier Marsham shows very clearly that the school for magic +among the Egyptians is the most ancient ever known in the world; that +from thence it spread amongst the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, the +Greeks and Persians. St. Paul informs us that Jannès and Jambrès, +famous magicians of the time of Pharaoh, resisted Moses. Pliny +remarks, that anciently, there was no science more renowned, or more +in honor, than that of magic: _Summam litterarum claritatem gloriamque +ex ea scientia antiquitùs et penè semper petitam._ + +Porphyry[149] says that King Darius, son of Hystaspes, had so high an +idea of the art of magic that he caused to be engraved on the +mausoleum of his father Hystaspes, "_That he had been the chief and +the master of the Magi of Persia_." + +The embassy that Balak, King of the Moabites, sent to Balaam the son +of Beor, who dwelt in the mountains of the East, towards Persia and +Chaldea,[150] to entreat him to come and curse and devote to death the +Israelites who threatened to invade his country, shows the antiquity +of magic, and of the magical superstitions of that country. For will +it be said that these maledictions and inflictions were the effect of +the inspiration of the good Spirit, or the work of good angels? I +acknowledge that Balaam was inspired by God in the blessings which he +gave to the people of the Lord, and in the prediction which he made of +the coming of the Messiah; but we must acknowledge, also, the extreme +corruption of his heart, his avarice, and all that he would have been +capable of doing, if God had permitted him to follow his bad +inclination and the inspiration of the evil spirit. + +Diodorus of Sicily,[151] on the tradition of the Egyptians, says that +the Chaldeans who dwelt at Babylon and in Babylonia were a kind of +colony of the Egyptians, and that it was from these last that the +sages, or Magi of Babylon, learned the astronomy which gave such +celebrity. + +We see, in Ezekiel,[152] the King of Babylon, marching against his +enemies at the head of his army, stop short where two roads meet, and +mingle the darts, to know by magic art, and the flight of these +arrows, which road he must take. In the ancients, this manner of +consulting the demon by divining wands is known--the Greeks call it +_Rhabdomanteia_. + +The prophet Daniel speaks more than once of the magicians of Babylon. +King Nebuchadnezzar, having been frightened in a dream, sent for the +Magi, or magicians, diviners, aruspices, and Chaldeans, to interpret +the dream he had had. + +King Belshazzar in the same manner convoked the magicians, Chaldeans, +and aruspices of the country, to explain to him the meaning of these +words which he saw written on the wall: _Mene_, _Tekel_, _Perez_. All +this indicates the habit of the Babylonians to exercise magic art, and +consult magicians, and that this pernicious art was held in high +repute among them. We read in the same prophet of the trickery made +use of by the priests to deceive the people, and make them believe +that their gods lived, ate, drank, spoke, and revealed to them hidden +things. + +I have already mentioned the Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ; +there is no doubt that they came from Chaldea or the neighboring +country, but differing from those of whom we have just spoken, by +their piety, and having studied the true religion. + +We read in books of travels that superstition, magic, and fascinations +are still very common in the East, both among the fire-worshipers +descended from the ancient Chaldeans, and among the Persians, +sectaries of Mohammed. St. Chrysostom had sent into Persia a holy +bishop, named Maruthas, to have the care of the Christians who were in +that country; the King Isdegerde having discovered him, treated him +with much consideration. The Magi, who adore and keep up the perpetual +fire, which is regarded by the Persians as their principal divinity, +were jealous at this, and concealed underground an apostate, who, +knowing that the king was to come and pay his adoration to the +(sacred) fire, was to cry out from the depth of his cavern that the +king must be deprived of his throne because he esteemed the Christian +priest as a friend of the gods. The king was alarmed at this, and +wished to send Maruthas away; but the latter discovered to him the +imposture of the priests; he caused the ground to be turned up where +the man's voice had been heard, and there they found him from whom it +proceeded. + +This example, and those of the Babylonish priests spoken of by Daniel, +and that of some others, who, to satisfy their irregular passions, +pretended that their God required the company of certain women, proved +that what is usually taken for the effect of the black art is only +produced by the knavishness of priests, magicians, diviners, and all +kinds of persons who impose on the simplicity and credulity of the +people; I do not deny that the devil sometimes takes part in it, but +more rarely than is imagined. + + +Footnotes: + +[145] Apud Syncell. + +[146] Matt. iii. 1, 7, 36. + +[147] Lev. xix. 31; xx. + +[148] Acts viii. 9; xiii. 8. + +[149] Porph. de Abstinent. lib. iv. § 16. Vid. et Ammian. Marcell. +lib. xxiii. + +[150] Numb. xxiii. 1-3. + +[151] Diodor. Sicul. lib. i. p. 5. + +[152] Ezek. xxi. 21. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +MAGIC AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS. + + +The Greeks have always boasted that they received the art of magic +from the Persians, or the Bactrians. They affirm that Zoroaster +communicated it to them; but when we wish to know the exact time at +which Zoroaster lived, and when he taught them these pernicious +secrets, they wander widely from the truth, and even from probability; +some placing Zoroaster 600 years before the expedition of Xerxes into +Greece, which happened in the year of the world 3523, and before Jesus +Christ 477; others 500 years before the Trojan war; others 5000 years +before that famous war; others 6000 years before that great event. +Some believe that Zoroaster is the same as Ham, the son of Noah. +Lastly, others maintain that there were several Zoroasters. What +appears indubitably true is, that the worship of a plurality of gods, +as also magic, superstition, and oracles, came from the Egyptians and +Chaldeans, or Persians, to the Greeks, and from the Greeks to the +Latins. + +From the time of Homer,[153] magic was quite common among the Greeks. +That poet speaks of the cure of wounds, and of blood staunched by the +secrets of magic, and by enchantment. St. Paul, when at Ephesus, +caused to be burned there books of magic and curious secrets, the +value of which amounted to the sum of 50,000 pieces of silver.[154] We +have before said a few words concerning Simon the magician, and the +magician Elymas, known in the Acts of the Apostles.[155] Pindar +says[156] that the centaur Chiron cured several enchantments. When +they say that Orpheus rescued from hell his wife Eurydice, who had +died from the bite of a serpent, they simply mean that he cured her by +the power of charms.[157] The poets have employed magic verses to make +themselves beloved, and they have taught them to others for the same +purpose; they may be seen in Theocritus, Catullus, and Virgil. +Theophrastus affirms that there are magical verses which cure +sciatica. Cato mentions (or repeats) some against luxations.[158] +Varro admits that there are some powerful against the gout. + +The sacred books testify that enchanters have the secret of putting +serpents to sleep, and of charming them, so that they can never either +bite again or cause any more harm.[159] The crocodile, that terrible +animal, fears even the smell and voice of the Tentyriens.[160] Job, +speaking of the leviathan, which we believe to be the crocodile, says, +"Shall the enchanter destroy it?"[161] And in Ecclesiasticus, "Who +will pity the enchanter that has been bitten by the serpent?"[162] + +Everybody knows what is related of the Marsi, people of Italy, and of +the Psyllĉ, who possessed the secret of charming serpents. One would +say, says St. Augustine,[163] that these animals understand the +languages of the Marsi, so obedient are they to their orders; we see +them come out of their caverns as soon as the Marsian has spoken. All +this can only be done, says the same father, by the power of the +malignant spirit, whom God permits to exercise this empire over +venomous reptiles, above all, the serpent, as if to punish him for +what he did to the first woman. In fact, it may be remarked that no +animal is more exposed to charms, and the effects of magic art, than +the serpent. + +The laws of the Twelve Tables forbid the charming of a neighbor's +crops, _qui fruges excantâsset_. Valerius Flaccus quotes authors who +affirm that when the Romans were about to besiege a town, they +employed their priests to evoke the divinity who presided over it, +promising him a temple in Rome, either like the one dedicated to him +in the besieged place, or on a rather larger scale, and that the +proper worship should be paid to him. Pliny says that the memory of +these evocations is preserved among the priests. + +If that which we have just related, and what we read in ancient and +modern writers, is at all real, and produces the effects attributed to +it, it cannot be doubted that there is something supernatural in it, +and that the devil has a great share in the matter. + +The Abbot Trithemius speaks of a sorceress who, by means of certain +beverages, changed a young Burgundian into a beast. + +Everybody knows the fable of Circé, who changed the soldiers or +companions of Ulysses into swine. We know also the fable of the Golden +Ass, by Apuleius, which contains the account of a man metamorphosed +into an ass. I bring forward these things merely as what they are, +that is to say, simply poetic fictions. + +But it is very credible that these fictions are not destitute of some +foundation, like many other fables, which contain not only a hidden +and moral sense, but which have also some relation to an event really +historical: for instance, what is said of the Golden Fleece carried +away by Jason; of the Wooden Horse, made use of to surprise the city +of Troy; the Twelve Labors of Hercules; the metamorphoses related by +Ovid. All fabulous as those things appear in the poets, they have, +nevertheless, their historical truth. And thus the pagan poets and +historians have travestied and disguised the stories of the Old +Testament, and have attributed to Bacchus, Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, +and Hercules, what is related of Noah, Moses, Aaron, Samson, and +Jonah, &c. + +Origen, writing against Celsus, supposes the reality of magic, and +says that the Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ at Bethlehem, +wishing to perform their accustomed operations, not being able to +succeed, a superior power preventing the effect and imposing silence +on the demon, they sought out the cause, and beheld at the same time a +divine sign in the heavens, whence they concluded that it was the +Being spoken of by Balaam, and that the new King whose birth he had +predicted, was born in Judea, and immediately they resolved to go and +seek him. Origen believes that magicians, according to the rules of +their art, often foretell the future, and that their predictions are +followed by the event, unless the power of God, or that of the angels, +prevents the effect of their conjurations, and puts them to +silence.[164] + + +Footnotes: + +[153] Homer, Iliad, IV. + +[154] Acts xix. 19. + +[155] Acts viii. 9; xiii. 8. + +[156] Pind. Od. iv. + +[157] Plin. I. 28. + +[158] Cato de Rerustic. c. 160. + +[159] Psalm lvii. Jer. vii. 17. Eccles. x. 11. + +[160] Plin. lib. viii. c. 50. + +[161] Job xl. 25. + +[162] Ecclus. xii. 13. + + "Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis."--_Virgil_, Ecl. viii. + + "Vipereas rumpo verbis et carmine fauces."--_Ovid._ + +[163] Plin. lib. xxviii. + +[164] The fables of Jason and many others of the same class are said +by Fortuitus Comes to have a reference to alchemy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +EXAMPLES WHICH PROVE THE REALITY OF MAGIC. + + +St. Augustine[165] remarks that not only the poets, but the historians +even, relate that Diomede, of whom the Greeks have made a divinity, +had not the happiness to return to his country with the other princes +who had been at the siege of Troy; that his companions were changed +into birds, and that these birds have their dwelling in the environs +of the Temple of Diomede, which is situated near Mount Garganos; that +these birds caress the Greeks who come to visit this temple, but fly +at and peck the strangers who arrive there. + +Varro, the most learned of Romans, to render this more credible, +relates what everybody knows about Circé, who changed the companions +of Ulysses into beasts; and what is said of the Arcadians, who, after +having drawn lots, swam over a certain lake, after which they were +metamorphosed into wolves, and ran about in the forests like other +wolves. If during the time of their transmutation they did not eat +human flesh, at the end of nine years they repassed the same lake, and +resumed their former shape. + +The same Varro relates of a certain Demenotas that, having tasted the +flesh of a child which the Arcadians had immolated to their god Lycĉa, +he had also been changed into a wolf, and ten years after he had +resumed his natural form, had appeared at the Olympic games, and won +the prize for pugilism. + +St. Augustine testifies that in his time many believed that these +transformations still took place, and some persons even affirmed that +they had experienced them in their own persons. He adds that, when in +Italy, he was told that certain women gave cheese to strangers who +lodged at their houses, when these strangers were immediately changed +into beasts of burden, without losing their reason, and carried the +loads which were placed upon them; after which they returned to their +former state. He says, moreover, that a certain man, named +Prĉstantius, related that his father, having eaten of this magic +cheese, remained lying in bed, without any one being able to awaken +him for several days, when he awoke, and said that he had been changed +into a horse, and had carried victuals to the army; and the thing was +found to be true, although it appeared to him to be only a dream. + +St. Augustine, reasoning on all this, says that either these things +are false, or else so extraordinary that we cannot give faith to them. +It is not to be doubted that God, by his almighty power, can do +anything that he thinks proper, but that the devil, who is of a +spiritual nature, can do nothing without the permission of God, whose +decrees are always just; that the demon can neither change the nature +of the spirit, or the body of a man, to transform him into a beast; +but that he can only act upon the fancy or imagination of a man, and +persuade him that he is what he is not, or that he appears to others +different from what he is; or that he remains in a deep sleep, and +believes during that slumber that he is bearing loads which the devil +carries for him; or that he (the devil) fascinates the eyes of those +who believe they see them borne by animals, or by men metamorphosed +into animals. + +If we consider it only a change arising from fancy or imagination, as +it happens in the disorder called lycanthropy, in which a man believes +himself changed into a wolf, or into any other animal, as +Nebuchadnezzar, who believed himself changed into an ox, and acted for +seven years as if he had really been metamorphosed into that animal, +there would be nothing in that more marvelous than what we see in +hypochondriacs, who persuade themselves that they are kings, generals, +popes, and cardinals; that they are snow, glass, pottery, &c. Like him +who, being alone at the theatre, believed that he beheld there actors +and admirable representations; or the man who imagined that all the +vessels which arrived at the port of Pireus, near Athens, belonged to +him; or, in short, what we see every day in dreams, and which appear +to us very real during our sleep. In all this, it is needless to have +recourse to the devil, or to magic, fascination, or illusion; there +is nothing above the natural order of things. But that, by means of +certain beverages, certain herbs, and certain kinds of food, a person +may disturb the imagination, and persuade another that he is a wolf, a +horse, or an ass, appears more difficult of explanation, although we +are aware that plants, herbs, and medicaments possess great power over +the bodies of men, and are capable of deranging the brain, +constitution, and imagination. We have but too many examples of such +things. + +Another circumstance which, if true, deserves much reflection, is that +of Apollonius of Tyana, who, being at Ephesus during a great plague +which desolated the city, promised the Ephesians to cause the pest to +cease the very day on which he was speaking to them, and which was +that of his second arrival in their town. He assembled them at the +theatre, and ordered them to stone to death a poor old man, covered +with rags, who asked alms. "Strike," cried he, "that enemy of the +gods! heap stones upon him." They could not make up their minds to do +so, for he excited their pity, and asked mercy in the most touching +manner. But Apollonius pressed it so much, that at last they slew him, +and amassed over him an immense heap of stones. A little while after +he told them to take away these stones, and they would see what sort +of an animal they had killed. They found only a great dog, and were +convinced that this old man was only a phantom who had fascinated +their eyes, and caused the pestilence in their town. + +We here see five remarkable things:--1st. The demon who causes the +plague in Ephesus; 2d. This same demon, who, instead of a dog, causes +the appearance of a man; 3d. The fascination of the senses of the +Ephesians, who believe that they behold a man instead of a dog; 4th. +The proof of the magic of Apollonius, who discovers the cause of this +pestilence; 5th. And who makes it cease at the given time. + +Ĉneas Sylvius Picolomini, who was afterwards Pope by the name of Pius +II., writes, in his History of Bohemia, that a woman predicted to a +soldier of King Wratislaus, that the army of that prince would be cut +in pieces by the Duke of Bohemia, and that, if this soldier wished to +avoid death, he must kill the first person he should meet on the road, +cut off their ears, and put them in his pocket; that with the sword he +had used to pierce them he must trace on the ground a cross between +his horse's legs; that he must kiss it, and then take flight. All this +the young soldier performed. Wratislaus gave battle, lost it, and was +killed. The young soldier escaped; but on entering his house, he found +that it was his wife whom he had killed and run his sword through, and +whose ears he had cut off. + +This woman was, then, strangely disguised and metamorphosed, since +her husband could not recognize her, and she did not make herself +known to him in such perilous circumstances, when her life was in +danger. These two were, then, apparently magicians; both she who made +the prediction, and the other on whom it was exercised. God permits, +on this occasion, three great evils. The first magician counsels the +murder of an innocent person; the young man commits it on his own wife +without knowing her; and the latter dies in a state of condemnation, +since by the secrets of magic she had rendered it impossible to +recognize her. + +A butcher's wife of the town of Jena, in the duchy of Wiemar in +Thuringia,[166] having refused to let an old woman have a calf's head +for which she offered very little, the old woman went away grumbling +and muttering. A little time after this the butcher's wife felt +violent pains in her head. As the cause of this malady was unknown to +the cleverest physicians, they could find no remedy for it; from time +to time a substance like brains came from this woman's left ear, and +at first it was supposed to be her own brain. But as she suspected +that old woman of having cast a spell upon her on account of the +calf's head, they examined the thing more minutely, and they saw that +these were calf's brains; and what strengthened this opinion was that +splinters of calf's-head bones came out with the brains. This disorder +continued some time; at last the butcher's wife was perfectly cured. +This happened in 1685. M. Hoffman, who relates this story in his +dissertation _on the Power of the Demon over Bodies_, printed in 1736, +says that the woman was perhaps still alive. + +One day they brought to St. Macarius the Egyptian, a virtuous woman +who had been transformed into a mare by the pernicious arts of a +magician. Her husband, and all those who saw her, thought that she +really was changed into a mare. This woman remained three days and +three nights without tasting any food, proper either for man or horse. +They showed her to the priests of the place, who could apply no +remedy. + +Then they led her to the cell of St. Macarius, to whom God had +revealed that she was to come; his disciples wanted to send her back, +thinking that it was a mare. They informed the saint of her arrival, +and the subject of her journey. "He said to them, You are downright +animals yourselves, thinking you see what is not; that woman is not +changed, but your eyes are fascinated. At the same time he sprinkled +holy water on the woman's head, and all present beheld her in her +former state. He gave her something to eat, and sent her away safe and +sound with her husband. As he sent her away the saint said to her, Do +not keep from church, for this has happened to you for having been +five weeks without taking the sacrament of our Lord, or attending +divine service." + +St. Hilarion, much in the same manner, cured by virtue of holy water a +young girl, whom a magician had rendered most violently amorous of a +young man. The demon who possessed her cried aloud to St. Hilarion, +"You make me endure the most cruel torments, for I cannot come out +till the young man who caused me to enter shall unloose me, for I am +enchained under the threshold of the door by a band of copper covered +with magical characters, and by the tow which envelops it." Then St. +Hilarion said to him, "Truly your power is very great, to suffer +yourself to be bound by a bit of copper and a little thread;" at the +same time, without permitting these things to be taken from under the +threshold of the door, he chased away the demon and cured the girl. + +In the same place, St. Jerome relates that one Italicus, a citizen of +Gaza and a Christian, who brought up horses for the games in the +circus, had a pagan antagonist who hindered and held back the horses +of Italicus in their course, and gave most extraordinary celerity to +his own. Italicus came to St. Hilarion, and told him the subject he +had for uneasiness. The saint laughed and said to him, "Would it not +be better to give the value of your horses to the poor rather than +employ them in such exercises?" "I cannot do as I please," said +Italicus; "it is a public employment which I fill, because I cannot +help it, and as a Christian I cannot employ malpractices against those +used against me." The brothers, who were present, interceded for him; +and St. Hilarion gave him the earthen vessel out of which he drank, +filled it with water, and told him to sprinkle his horses with it. +Italicus not only sprinkled his horses with this water, but likewise +his stable and chariot all over; and the next day the horses and +chariot of this rival were left far behind his own; which caused the +people to shout in the theatre, "Marnas is vanished--Jesus Christ is +victorious!" And this victory of Italicus produced the conversion of +several persons at Gaza. + +Will it be said that this is only the effect of imagination, +prepossession, or the trickery of a clever charlatan? How can you +persuade fifty people that a woman who is present before their eyes +can be changed into a mare, supposing that she has retained her own +natural shape? How was it that the soldier mentioned by Ĉneas Sylvius +did not recognize his wife, whom he pierced with his sword, and whose +ears he cut off? How did Apollonius of Tyana persuade the Ephesians to +kill a man, who really was only a dog? How did he know that this dog, +or this man, was the cause of the pestilence which afflicted Ephesus? +It is then very credible that the evil spirit often acts on bodies, on +the air, the earth, and on animals, and produces effects which appear +above the power of man. + +It is said that in Lapland they have a school for magic, and that +fathers send their children to it, being persuaded that magic is +necessary to them, that they may avoid falling into the snares of +their enemies, who are themselves great magicians. They make the +familiar demons, whose services they command, pass as an inheritance +to their children, that they may make use of them to overcome the +demons of other families who are adverse to their own. They often make +use of a certain kind of drum for their magical operations; for +instance, if they wish to know what is passing in a foreign country, +one amongst them beats this drum, placing upon it at the part where +the image of the sun is represented, a quantity of pewter rings +attached together with a chain of the same metal; then they strike the +drum with a forked hammer made of bone, so that these rings move; at +the same time they sing distinctly a song, called by the Laplanders +_Jonk_; and all those of their nation who are present, men and women, +add their own songs, expressing from time to time the name of the +place whence they desire to have news. + +The Laplander having beaten the drum for some time, places it on his +head in a certain manner, and falls down directly motionless on the +ground, and without any sign of life. All the men and all the women +continue singing, till he revives; if they cease to sing, the man +dies, which happens also if any one tries to awaken him by touching +his hand or his foot. They even keep the flies from him, which by +their humming might awaken him and bring him back to life. + +When he is recovered he replies to the questions they ask him +concerning the place he has been at. Sometimes he does not awake for +four-and-twenty hours, sometimes more, sometimes less, according to +the distance he has gone; and in confirmation of what he says, and of +the distance he has been, he brings back from the place he has been +sent to the token demanded of him, a knife, a ring, shoes, or some +other object.[167] + +These same Laplanders make use also of this drum to learn the cause of +any malady, or to deprive their enemies of their life or their +strength. Moreover, amongst them are certain magicians, who keep in a +kind of leathern game-bag magic flies, which they let loose from time +to time against their enemies or against their cattle, or simply to +raise tempests and hurricanes. They have also a sort of dart which +they hurl into the air, and which causes the death of any one it falls +upon. They have also a sort of little ball called _tyre_, almost +round, which they send in the same way against their enemies to +destroy them; and if by ill luck this ball should hit on its way some +other person, or some animal, it will inevitably cause its death. + +Who can be persuaded that the Laplanders who sell fair winds, raise +storms, relate what passes in distant places, where they go, as they +say, in the spirit, and bring back things which they have found +there--who can persuade themselves that all this is done without the +aid of magic? It has been said that in the circumstance of Apollonius +of Tyana, they contrived to send away the man all squalid and +deformed, and put in his place a dog which was stoned, or else they +substituted a dead dog. All which would require a vast deal of +preparation, and would be very difficult to execute in sight of all +the people: it would, perhaps, be better to deny the fact altogether, +which certainly does appear very fabulous, than to have recourse to +such explanations. + + +Footnotes: + +[165] Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. xviii. c. 16-18. + +[166] Frederici Hoffman, de Diaboli Potentia in Corpora, p. 382. + +[167] See John Schesser, _Laponia_, printed at Frankfort in 4to. an. +1673, chap. xi. entitled, _De sacris Magicis et Magia Laponia_, p. +119, and following. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +EFFECTS OF MAGIC ACCORDING TO THE POETS. + + +Were we to believe what is said by the poets concerning the effects of +magic, and what the magicians boast of being able to perform by their +spells, nothing would be more marvelous than their art, and we should +be obliged to acknowledge that the power of the demon was greatly +shown thereby. Pliny[168] relates that Appian evoked the spirit of +Homer, to learn from him which was his country, and who were his +parents. Philostratus says[169] that Apollonius of Tyana went to the +tomb of Achilles, evoked his manes, and implored them to cause the +figure of that hero to appear to him; the tomb trembled, and +afterwards he beheld a young man, who at first appeared about five +cubits, or seven feet and a half high--after which, the phantom +dilated to twelve cubits, and appeared of a singular beauty. +Apollonius asked him some frivolous questions, and as the young man +jested indecently with him, he comprehended that he was possessed by a +demon; this demon he expelled, and cured the young man. But all this +is fabulous. + +Lactantius,[170] refuting the philosophers Democritus, Epicurus, and +Dicearchus, who denied the immortality of the soul, says they would +not dare to maintain their opinion before a magician, who, by the +power of his art, and by his spells, possessed the secret of bringing +souls from Hades, of making them appear, speak, and foretell the +future, and give certain signs of their presence. + +St. Augustine,[171] always circumspect in his decisions, dare not +pronounce whether magicians possess the power of evoking the spirits +of saints by the might of their enchantments. But Tertullian[172] is +bolder, and maintains that no magical art has power to bring the souls +of the saints from their rest; but that all the necromancers can do is +to call forth some phantoms with a borrowed shape, which fascinate the +eyes, and make those who are present believe that to be a reality +which is only appearance. In the same place he quotes Heraclius, who +says that the Nasamones, people of Africa, pass the night by the tombs +of their near relations to receive oracles from the latter; and that +the Celts, or Gauls, do the same thing in the mausoleums of great men, +as related by Nicander. + +Lucan says[173] that the magicians, by their spells, cause thunder in +the skies unknown to Jupiter; that they tear the moon from her sphere, +and precipitate her to earth; that they disturb the course of nature, +prolong the nights, and shorten the days; that the universe is +obedient to their voice, and that the world is chilled as it were when +they speak and command.[174] They were so well persuaded that the +magicians possessed power to make the moon come down from the sky, and +they so truly believed that she was evoked by magic art whenever she +was eclipsed, that they made a great noise by striking on copper +vessels, to prevent the voice which pronounced enchantments from +reaching her.[175] + +These popular opinions and poetical fictions deserve no credit, but +they show the force of prejudice.[176] It is affirmed that, even at +this day, the Persians think they are assisting the moon when eclipsed +by striking violently on brazen vessels, and making a great uproar. + +Ovid[177] attributes to the enchantments of magic the evocation of the +infernal powers, and their dismissal back to hell; storms, tempests, +and the return of fine weather. They attributed to it the power of +changing men into beasts by means of certain herbs, the virtues of +which are known to them.[178] + +Virgil[179] speaks of serpents put to sleep and enchanted by the +magicians. And Tibullus says that he has seen the enchantress bring +down the stars from heaven, and turn aside the thunderbolt ready to +fall upon the earth--and that she has opened the ground and made the +dead come forth from their tombs. + +As this matter allows of poetical ornaments, the poets have vied with +each other in endeavoring to adorn their pages with them, not that +they were convinced there was any truth in what they said; they were +the first to laugh at it when an opportunity presented itself, as well +as the gravest and wisest men of antiquity. But neither princes nor +priests took much pains to undeceive the people, or to destroy their +prejudices on those subjects. The Pagan religion allowed them, nay, +authorized them, and part of its practices were founded on similar +superstitions. + + +Footnotes: + +[168] Plin. lib. iii. c. 2. + +[169] Philost. Vit. Apollon. + +[170] Lactant. lib. vi. Divin. Instit. c. 13. + +[171] Aug. ad Simplic. + +[172] Tertull. de Animâ, c. 57. + +[173] Lucan. Pharsal. lib. vi. 450, _et seq._ + +[174] + "Cessavere vices rerum, dilataque longa, + Hĉsit nocte dies; legi non paruit ĉther; + Torpuit et prĉceps audito carmine mundus; + Et tonat ignaro coelum Jove." + +[175] + "Cantat et e curro tentat deducere Lunam + Et faceret, si non ĉra repulsa sonent." + _Tibull._ lib. i. Eleg. ix. 21. + +[176] Pietro della Valle, Voyage. + +[177] + ".... Obscurum verborum ambage nervorum + Ter novies carmen magico demurmurat ore. + Jam ciet infernas magico stridore catervas, + Jam jubet aspersum lacte referre pedem. + Cùm libet, hĉc tristi depellit nubila coelo; + Cùm libet, ĉstivo provocat orbe nives." + _Ovid. Metamorph._ 14. + +[178] + "Naïs nam ut cantu, nimiumque potentibus herbis + Verterit in tacitos juvenilia corpora pisces." + +[179] + "Vipereo generi et graviter spirantibus hydris + Spargere qui somnos cantuque manque solebat," + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +OF THE PAGAN ORACLES. + + +If it were well proved that the oracles of pagan antiquity were the +work of the evil spirit, we could give more real and palpable proofs +of the apparition of the demon among men than these boasted oracles, +which were given in almost every country in the world, among the +nations which passed for the wisest and most enlightened, as the +Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians, Syrians, even the Hebrews, Greeks, and +Romans. Even the most barbarous people were not without their oracles. + +In the pagan religion there was nothing esteemed more honorable, or +more complacently boasted of. + +In all their great undertakings they had recourse to the oracle; by +that was decided the most important affairs between town and town, or +province and province. The manner in which the oracles were rendered +was not everywhere the same. It is said[180] the bull Apis, whose +worship was anciently established in Egypt, gave out his oracles on +his receiving food from the hand of him who consulted. If he received +it, say they, it was considered a good omen; if he refused it, this +was a bad augury. When this animal appeared in public, he was +accompanied by a troop of children, who sang hymns in his honor; after +which these boys were filled with sacred enthusiasm, and began to +predict future events. If the bull went quietly into his lodge, it was +a happy sign;[181] if he came out, it was the contrary. Such was the +blindness of the Egyptians. + +There were other oracles also in Egypt:[182] as those of Mercury, +Apollo, Hercules, Diana, Minerva, Jupiter Ammon, &c., which last was +consulted by Alexander the Great. But Herodotus remarks that in his +time there were neither priests nor priestesses who uttered oracles. +They were derived from certain presages, which they drew by chance, or +from the movements of the statues of the gods, or from the first voice +which they heard after having consulted. Pausanias says[183] that he +who consults whispers in the ear of Mercury what he requires to know, +then he stops his ears, goes out of the temple, and the first words +which he hears from the first person he meets are held as the answer +of the god. + +The Greeks acknowledge that they received from the Egyptians both the +names of their gods and their most ancient oracles; amongst others +that of Dodona, which was already much resorted to in the time of +Homer,[184] and which came from the oracle of Jupiter of Thebes: for +the Egyptian priests related that two priestesses of that god had been +carried off by Phoenician merchants, who had sold them, one into +Libya and the other into Greece.[185] Those of Dodona related that two +black doves had flown from Thebes of Egypt--that the one which had +stopped at Dodona had perched upon a beech-tree, and had declared in an +articulate voice that the gods willed that an oracle of Jupiter should +be established in this place; and that the other, having flown into +Lybia, had there formed or founded the oracle of Jupiter Ammon. These +origins are certainly very frivolous and very fabulous. The Oracle of +Delphi is more recent and more celebrated. Phemonoé was the first +priestess of Delphi, and began in the time of Acrisius, twenty-seven +years before Orpheus, Musĉus, and Linus. She is said to have been the +inventress of hexameters. + +But I think I can remark vestiges of oracles in Egypt, from the time +of the patriarch Joseph, and from the time of Moses. The Hebrews had +dwelt for 215 years in Egypt, and having multiplied there exceedingly, +had begun to form a separate people and a sort of republic. They had +imbibed a taste for the ceremonies, the superstitions, the customs, +and the idolatry of the Egyptians. + +Joseph was considered the cleverest diviner and the greatest expounder +of dreams in Egypt. They believed that he derived his oracles from the +inspection of the liquor which he poured into his cup. Moses, to cure +the Hebrews of their leaning to the idolatry and superstitions of +Egypt, prescribed to them laws and ceremonies which favored his +design; the first, diametrically opposite to those of the Egyptians; +the second, bearing some resemblance to theirs in appearance, but +differing both in their aim and circumstances. + +For instance, the Egyptians were accustomed to consult diviners, +magicians, interpreters of dreams, and augurs; all which things are +forbidden to the Hebrews by Moses, on pain of rigorous punishment; but +in order that they might have no room to complain that their religion +did not furnish them with the means of discovering future events and +hidden things, God, with condescension worthy of reverential +admiration, granted them the _Urim and Thummim_, or the Doctrine and +the Truth, with which the high-priest was invested according to the +ritual in the principal ceremonies of religion, and by means of which +he rendered oracles, and discovered the will of the Most High. When +the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle were constructed, the Lord, +consulted by Moses,[186] gave out his replies from between the two +cherubim which were placed upon the mercy-seat above the ark. All +which seems to insinuate that, from the time of the patriarch Joseph, +there had been oracles and diviners in Egypt, and that the Hebrews +consulted them. + +God promised his people to raise up a prophet[187] among them, who +should declare to them his will: in fact, we see in almost all ages +among them, prophets inspired by God; and the true prophets reproached +them vehemently for their impiety, when instead of coming to the +prophets of the Lord, they went to consult strange oracles,[188] and +divinities equally powerless and unreal. + +We have spoken before of the teraphim of Laban, of the idols or +pretended oracles of Micah and Gideon. King Saul, who, apparently by +the advice of Samuel, had exterminated diviners and magicians from the +land of Israel, desired in the last war to consult the Lord, who would +not reply to him. He then afterwards addressed himself to a witch, who +promised him she would evoke Samuel for him. She did, or feigned to do +so, for the thing offers many difficulties, into which we shall not +enter here. + +The same Saul having consulted the Lord on another occasion, to know +whether he must pursue the Philistines whom he had just defeated, God +refused also to reply to him,[189] because his son Jonathan had tasted +some honey, not knowing that the king had forbidden his army to taste +anything whatever before his enemies were entirely overthrown. + +The silence of the Lord on certain occasions, and his refusal to +answer sometimes when He was consulted, are an evident proof that He +usually replied, and that they were certain of receiving instructions +from Him, unless they raised an obstacle to it by some action which +was displeasing to Him. + + +Footnotes: + +[180] Plin. lib. viii. c. 48. + +[181] Herodot. lib. ix. + +[182] _Vide_ Joan. Marsham, Sĉc. iv. pp. 62, 63. + +[183] Pausan. lib. vii. p. 141. + +[184] Homer, Iliad, xii. 2, 235. + +[185] Herodot. lib. ii. c. 52, 55. + +[186] Exod. xxv. 22. + +[187] Deut. xviii. 13. + +[188] 2 Kings i. 2, 3, 16, &c. + +[189] 1 Sam. xiv. 24. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE CERTAINTY OF THE EVENT PREDICTED IS NOT ALWAYS A PROOF THAT THE +PREDICTION COMES FROM GOD. + + +Moses had foreseen that so untractable and superstitious a people as +the Israelites would not rest satisfied with the reasonable, pious, +and supernatural means which he had procured them for discovering +future events, by giving them prophets and the oracle of the +high-priest. He knew that there would arise among them false prophets +and seducers, who would endeavor by their illusions and magical +secrets to mislead them into error; whence it was that he said to +them:[190] "If there should arise among you a prophet, or any one who +boasts of having had a dream, and he foretells a wonder, or anything +which surpasses the ordinary power of man, and what he predicts shall +happen; and after that he shall say unto you, Come, let us go and +serve the strange gods, which you have not known; you shall not +hearken unto him, because the Lord your God will prove you, to see +whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your +soul." + +Certainly, nothing is more likely to mislead us than to see what has +been foretold by any one come to pass. + +"Show the things that are to come," says Isaiah,[191] "that we may +know that ye are gods. Let them come, let them foretell what is to +happen, and what has been done of old, and we will believe in them," +&c. _Idoneum testimonium divinationis_, says Turtullian,[192] _veritas +divinationis_. And St. Jerome,[193] _Confitentur magi, confitentur +arioli, et omnis scientia sĉcularis litteraturĉ, prĉescientiam +futurorum non esse hominum, sed Dei_. + +Nevertheless, we have just seen that Moses acknowledges that false +prophets can predict things which will happen. And the Saviour warns +us in the Gospel that at the end of the world several false prophets +will arise, who will seduce many[194]--"They shall shew great signs +and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive +even the elect." It is not, then, precisely either the successful +issue of the event which decides in favor of the false prophet--nor +the default of the predictions made by true prophets which proves that +they are not sent by God. + +Jonah was sent to foretell the destruction of Nineveh,[195] which did +not come to pass; and many other threats of the prophets were not put +into execution, because God, moved by the repentance of the sinful, +revoked or commuted his former sentence. The repentance of the +Ninevites guarantied them against the last misfortune. + +Isaiah had distinctly foretold to King Hezekiah[196] that he would not +recover from his illness: "Set thine house in order, for thou shalt +die, and not live." Nevertheless, God, moved with the prayer of this +prince, revoked the sentence of death; and before the prophet had left +the court of the king's house, God commanded him to return and tell +the king that God would add yet fifteen years to his life. + +Moses assigns the mark of a true prophet to be, when he leads us to +God and his worship--and the mark of a false prophet is, when he +withdraws us from the Lord, and inclines us to superstition and +idolatry. Balaam was a true prophet, inspired by God, who foretold +things which were followed up by the event; but his morals were very +corrupt, and he was extremely self-interested. He did everything he +could to deserve the recompense promised him by the king of Moab, and +to curse and immolate Israel.[197] God did not permit him to do so; he +put into his mouth blessings instead of curses; he did not induce the +Israelites to forsake the Lord; but he advised the Moabites to seduce +the people of God, and cause them to commit fornication, and to worship +the idols of the country, and by that means to irritate God against +them, and draw upon them the effects of his vengeance. Moses caused the +chiefs among the people, who had consented to this crime, to be hung; +and caused to perish the Midianites who had led the Hebrews into it. +And lastly, Balaam, who was the first cause of this evil, was also +punished with death.[198] + +In all the predictions of diviners or oracles, when they are followed +by fulfilment, we can hardly disavow that the evil spirit intervenes, +and discovers the future to those who consult him. St. Augustine, in +his book _de Divinatione Dĉmonum_,[199] or of predictions made by the +evil spirit, when they are fulfilled, supposes that the demons are of +an aërial nature, and much more subtile than bodies in general; +insomuch that they surpass beyond comparison the lightness both of men +and the swiftest animals, and even the flight of birds, which enables +them to announce things that are passing in very distant places, and +beyond the common reach of men. Moreover, as they are not subject to +death as we are, they have acquired infinitely more experience than +even those who possess the most among mankind, and are the most +attentive to what happens in the world. By that means they can +sometimes predict things to come, announce several things at a +distance, and do some wonderful things; which has often led mortals to +pay them divine honors, believing them to be of a nature much more +excellent than their own. + +But when we reflect seriously on what the demons predict, we may +remark that often they announce nothing but what they are to do +themselves.[200] For God permits them, sometimes, to cause maladies, +corrupt the air, and produce in it qualities of an infectious nature, +and to incline the wicked to persecute the worthy. They perform these +operations in a hidden manner, by resources unknown to mortals, and +proportionate to the subtilty of their own nature. They can announce +what they have foreseen must happen by certain natural tokens unknown +to men, like as a physician foresees by the secret of his art the +symptoms and the consequences of a malady which no one else can. Thus, +the demon, who knows our constitution and the secret tendency of our +humors, can foretell the maladies which are the consequences of them. +He can also discover our thoughts and our secret wishes by certain +external motions, and by certain expressions we let fall by chance, +whence he infers that men would do or undertake certain things +consequent upon these thoughts or inclinations. + +But his predictions are far from being comparable with those revealed +to us by God, through his angels, or the prophets; these are always +certain and infallible, because they have for their principle God, who +is truth; while the predictions of the demons are often deceitful, +because the arrangements on which they are founded can be changed and +deranged, when they least expect it, by unforeseen and unexpected +circumstances, or by the authority of superior powers overthrowing the +first plans, or by a peculiar disposition of Providence, who sets +bounds to the power of the prince of darkness. Sometimes, also, demons +purposely deceive those who have the weakness to place confidence in +them. But, usually, they throw the fault upon those who have taken on +themselves to interpret their discourses and predictions. + +So says St. Augustine;[201] and although we do not quite agree with +him, but hold the opinion that souls, angels and demons are disengaged +from all matter or substance, still we can apply his reasoning to evil +spirits, even upon the supposition that they are immaterial--and own +that sometimes they can predict the future, and that their predictions +may be fulfilled; but that is not a proof of their being sent by God, +or inspired by his Spirit. Even were they to work miracles, we must +anathematize them as soon as they turn us from the worship of the true +God, or incline us to irregular lives. + + +Footnotes: + +[190] Deut. xiii. 1, 2. + +[191] Isaiah xli. 22, 23. + +[192] Tertull. Apolog. c. 20. + +[193] Hieronym. in Dan. + +[194] Matt. xxiv. 11, 24. + +[195] Jonah i. 2. + +[196] Kings xx. 1. Isai. xxxviii. 1. + +[197] Numb. xxii. xxiii. xxiv. + +[198] Numb. xxxi. 8. + +[199] Aug. de Divinat. Dĉmon. c. 3, pp. 507, 508, _et seq._ + +[200] Idem. c. 5. + +[201] S. August. in his Retract. lib. ii. c. 30, owns that he advanced +this too lightly. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +REASONS WHICH LEAD US TO BELIEVE THAT THE GREATER PART OF THE ANCIENT +ORACLES WERE ONLY IMPOSITIONS OF THE PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES, WHO +FEIGNED THAT THEY WERE INSPIRED BY GOD. + + +If it is true, as has been thought by many, both among the ancients +and the moderns, that the oracles of pagan antiquity were only +illusions and deceptions on the part of the priests and priestesses, +who said that they were possessed by the spirit of Python, and filled +with the inspiration of Apollo, who discovered to them internally +things hidden and past, or present and future, I must not place them +here in the rank of evil spirits. The devil has no other share in the +matter than he has always in the crimes of men, and in that multitude +of sins which cupidity, ambition, interest, and self-love produce in +the world; the demon being always ready to seize an occasion to +mislead us, and draw us into irregularity and error, employing all +our passions to lead us into these snares. If what he has foretold is +followed by fulfilment, either by chance, or because he has foreseen +certain circumstances unknown to men, he takes to himself all the +credit of it, and makes use of it to gain our confidence and +conciliate credit for his predictions; if the thing is doubtful, and +he knows not what the issue of it will be, the demon, the priest, or +priestess will pronounce an equivocal oracle, in order that at all +events they may appear to have spoken true. + +The ancient legislators of Greece, the most skillful politicians, and +generals of armies, dexterously made use of the prepossession of the +people in favor of oracles, to persuade them what they had concerted +was approved of by the gods, and announced by the oracle. These things +and these oracles were often followed by success, not because the +oracle had predicted or ordained it, but because the enterprise being +well concerted and well conducted, and the soldiers also perfectly +persuaded that God was on their side, fought with more than ordinary +valor. Sometimes they gained over the priestess by the aid of +presents, and thus disposed her to give favorable replies. Demosthenes +haranguing at Athens against Philip, King of Macedon, said that the +priestess of Delphi _Philipized_, and only pronounced oracles +conformable to the inclinations, advantage, and interest of that +prince. + +Porphyry, the greatest enemy of the Christian name,[202] makes no +difficulty of owning that these oracles were dictated by the spirit of +falsehood, and that the demons are the true authors of enchantments, +philtres, and spells; that they fascinate or deceive the eyes by the +spectres and phantoms which they cause to appear; that they +ambitiously desire to pass for gods; that their aërial and spiritual +bodies are nourished by the smell and smoke of the blood and fat of +the animals which are immolated to them; and that the office of +uttering oracles replete with falsehood, equivocation, and deceit has +devolved upon them. At the head of these demons he places _Hecate and +Serapis_. Jamblichus, another pagan author, speaks of them in the same +manner, and with as much contempt. + +The ancient fathers who lived so near the times when these oracles +existed, several of whom had forsaken paganism and embraced +Christianity, and who consequently knew more about the oracles than we +can, speak of them as things invented, governed, and maintained by the +demons. The most sensible among the heathens do not speak of them +otherwise, but also they confess that often the malice, imposition, +servility and interest of the priests had great share in the matter, +and that they abused the simplicity, credulity and prepossessions of +the people. + +Plutarch says,[203] that a governor of Cilicia having sent to consult +the oracle of Mopsus, as he was going to Malle in the same country, +the man who carried the billet fell asleep in the temple, where he saw +in a dream a handsome looking man, who said to him the single word +_black_. He carried this reply to the governor, whose mysterious +question he knew nothing about. Those who heard this answer laughed at +it, not knowing what was in the billet: but the governor having opened +it showed them these words written in it; _shall I immolate to thee a +black ox or a white one?_ and that the oracle had thus answered his +question without opening the note. But who can answer for their not +having deceived the bearer of the billet in this case, as did +Alexander of Abonotiche, a town of Paphlagonia, in Asia Minor. This +man had the art to persuade the people of his country that he had with +him the god Esculapius, in the shape of a tame serpent, who pronounced +oracles, and replied to the consultations addressed to him on divers +diseases without opening the billets they placed on the altar of the +temple of this pretended divinity; after which, without opening them, +they found the next morning the reply written below. All the trick +consisted in the seal being raised artfully by a heated needle, and +then replaced after having written the reply at the bottom of the +note, in an obscure and enigmatical style, after the manner of other +oracles. At other times he used mastic, which being yet soft, took the +impression of the seal, then when that was hardened he put on another +seal with the same impression. He received about ten sols (five pence) +per billet, and this game lasted all his life, which was a long one; +for he died at the age of seventy, being struck by lightning, near the +end of the second century of the Christian era: all which may be found +more at length in the book of Lucian, entitled _Pseudo Manes_, or _the +false Diviner_. The priest of the oracle of Mopsus could by the same +secret open the billet of the governor who consulted him, and showing +himself during the night to the messenger, declared to him the +above-mentioned reply. + +Macrobius[204] relates that the Emperor Trajan, to prove the oracle of +Heliopolis in Phoenicia, sent him a well-sealed letter in which +nothing was written; the oracle commanded that a blank letter should +also be sent to the emperor. The priests of the oracle were much +surprised at this, not knowing the reason of it. Another time the same +emperor sent to consult this same oracle to know whether he should +return safe from his expedition against the Parthians. The oracle +commanded that they should send him some branches of a knotted vine, +which was sacred in his temple. Neither the emperor nor any one else +could guess what that meant; but his body, or rather his bones, having +been brought to Rome after his death, which happened during his journey, +it was supposed that the oracle had intended to predict his death, and +designate his fleshless bones, which somewhat resemble the branches of a +vine. + +It is easy to explain this quite otherwise. If he had returned +victorious, the vine being the source of wine which rejoices the heart +of man, and is agreeable to both gods and men, would have typified his +victory--and if the expedition had proved fruitless, the wood of the +vine, which is useless for any kind of work, and only good for burning +as firewood, might in that case signify the inutility of this +expedition. It is allowed that the artifice, malice, and inventions of +the heathen priests had much to do with the oracles; but are we to +infer from this that the demon had no part in the matter? + +We must allow that as by degrees the light of the Gospel was spread in +the world, the reign of the demon, ignorance, corruption of morals, +and crime, diminished. The priests who pretended to predict, by the +inspiration of the evil spirit, things concealed from mortal +knowledge, or who misled the people by their illusions and impostures, +were obliged to confess that the Christians imposed silence on them, +either by the empire they exercised over the devil, or else by +discovering the malice and knavishness of the priests, which the +people had not dared to sound, from a blind respect which they had for +this mystery of iniquity. + +If in our days any one would deny that in former times there were +oracles which were rendered by the inspiration of the demon, we might +convince him of it by what is still practiced in Lapland, and by what +missionaries[205] relate, that in India the demon reveals things +hidden and to come, not by the mouth of idols, but by that of the +priests, who are present when they interrogate either the statues or +the demon. And they remark that there the demon becomes mute and +powerless, in proportion as the light of the Gospel is spread among +these nations. Thus then the silence of the oracles may be +attributed--1. To a superhuman cause, which is the power of Jesus +Christ, and the publication of the Gospel. 2. Mankind are become less +superstitious, and bolder in searching out the cause of these +pretended revelations. 3. To their having become less credulous, as +Cicero says.[206] 4. Because princes have imposed silence on the +oracles, fearing that they might inspire the nation with rebellious +principles. For which reason, Lucan says, that princes feared to +discover the future.[207] + +Strabo[208] conjectures that the Romans neglected them because they +had the Sibylline books, and their auspices (aruspices, or +haruspices), which stood them instead of oracles. M. Vandale +demonstrates that some remains of the oracles might yet be seen under +the Christian emperors. It was then only in process of time that +oracles were entirely abolished; and it may be boldly asserted that +sometimes the evil spirit revealed the future, and inspired the +ministers of false gods, by permission of the Almighty, who wished to +punish the confidence of the infidels in their idols. It would be +going too far, if we affirmed that all that was said of the oracles +was only the effect of the artifices or the malice of the priests, who +always imposed on the credulity of mankind. Read on this subject the +learned reply of Father Balthus to the treatises of MM. Vandale and +Fontenelle. + + +Footnotes: + +[202] Porphr. apud Euseb. de Prĉpar. Evang. lib, iv. c. 5, 6. + +[203] Plutarch, de Defectu Oracul. p. 434. + +[204] Macrob. Saturnal. lib. i. c. 23. + +[205] Lettres édifiantes, tom. x. + +[206] Cicero, de Divinat. lib. ii. c. 57. + +[207] + "Reges timent futura + Et superos vetant loqui." + _Lucan_, Pharsal. lib. v. p. 112. + +[208] Strabo, lib. xvii. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +ON SORCERERS AND SORCERESSES, OR WITCHES. + + +The empire of the devil nowhere shines forth with more lustre than in +what is related of the Sabbath (witches' sabbath or assembly), where +he receives the homage of those of both sexes who have abandoned +themselves to him. It is there, the wizards and witches say, that he +exercises the greatest authority, and appears in a visible form, but +always hideous, misshapen, and terrible; always during the night in +out-of-the-way places, and arrayed in a manner more gloomy than gay, +rather sad and dull, than majestic and brilliant. If they pay their +adoration in that place to the prince of darkness, he shows himself +there in a despicable posture, and in a base, contemptible and hideous +form; if people eat there, the viands of the feast are dirty, insipid, +and destitute of solidity and substance--they neither satisfy the +appetite, nor please the palate; if they dance there, it is without +order, without skill, without propriety. + +To endeavor to give a description of the infernal sabbath, is to aim +at describing what has no existence and never has existed, except in +the craving and deluded imagination of sorcerers and sorceresses: the +paintings we have of it are conceived after the reveries of those who +fancy they have been transported through the air to the sabbath, both +in body and soul. + +People are carried thither, say they, sitting on a broom-stick, +sometimes on the clouds or on a he-goat. Neither the place, the time, +nor the day when they assemble is fixed. It is sometimes in a lonely +forest, sometimes in a desert, usually on the Wednesday or the +Thursday night; the most solemn of all is that of the eve of St. John +the Baptist: they there distribute to every sorcerer the ointment with +which he must anoint himself when he desires to go to the sabbath, and +the spell-powder he must make use of in his magic operations. They +must all appear together in this general assembly, and he who is +absent is severely ill-used both in word and deed. As to the private +meetings, the demon is more indulgent to those who are absent for some +particular reason. + +As to the ointment with which they anoint themselves, some authors, +amongst others, John Baptista Porta, and John Wierius,[209] boast that +they know the composition. Amongst other ingredients there are many +narcotic drugs, which cause those who make use of it to fall into a +profound slumber, during which they imagine that they are carried to +the sabbath up the chimney, at the top of which they find a tall black +man,[210] with horns, who transports them where they wish to go, and +afterwards brings them back again by the same chimney. The accounts +given by these people, and the description which they give of their +assemblies, are wanting in unity and uniformity. + +The demon, their chief, appears there, either in the shape of a +he-goat, or as a great black dog, or as an immense raven; he is seated +on an elevated throne, and receives there the homage of those present +in a way which decency does not allow us to describe. In this +nocturnal assembly they sing, they dance, they abandon themselves to +the most shameful disorder; they sit down to table, and indulge in +good cheer; while at the same time they see on the table neither knife +nor fork, salt nor oil; they find the viands devoid of savor, and quit +the table without their hunger being satisfied. + +One would imagine that the attraction of a better fortune, and a wish +to enrich themselves, drew thither men and women. The devil never +fails to make them magnificent promises, at least the sorcerers say +so, and believe it, deceived, without doubt, by their imagination; but +experience shows us that these people are always ragged, despised, and +wretched, and usually end their lives in a violent and dishonorable +manner. + +When they are admitted for the first time to the sabbath, the demon +inscribes their name and surname on his register, which he makes them +sign; then he makes them forswear cream and baptism, makes them +renounce Jesus Christ and his church; and, to give them a distinctive +character and make them known for his own, he imprints on their bodies +a certain mark with the nail of the little finger of one of his hands; +this mark, or character, thus impressed, renders the part insensible to +pain. They even pretend that he impresses this character in three +different parts of the body, and at three different times. The demon +does not impress these characters, say they, before the person has +attained the age of twenty-five. + +But none of these things deserve the least attention. There may happen +to be in the body of a man, or a woman, some benumbed part, either +from illness, or the effect of remedies, or drugs, or even naturally; +but that is no proof that the devil has anything to do with it. There +are even persons accused of magic and sorcery, on whom no part thus +characterized has been found, nor yet insensible to the touch, however +exact the search. Others have declared that the devil has never made +any such marks upon them. Consult on this matter the second letter of +M. de St. André, Physician to the King, in which he well develops what +has been said about these characters of sorcerers. + +The word sabbath, taken in the above sense, is not to be found in +ancient writers; neither the Hebrews nor the Egyptians, the Greeks nor +the Latins have known it. + +The thing itself, I mean the _sabbath_ taken in the sense of a +nocturnal assembly of persons devoted to the devil, is not remarked in +antiquity, although magicians, sorcerers, and witches are spoken of +often enough--that is to say, people who boasted that they exercised a +kind of power over the devil, and by his means, over animals, the air, +the stars, and the lives and fortunes of men. + +Horace[211] makes use of the word _coticia_ to indicate the nocturnal +meetings of the magicians--_Tu riseris coticia_; which he derives from +_Cotys_, or _Cotto_, Goddess of Vice, who presided in the assemblies +which were held at night, and where the Bacchantes gave themselves up +to all sorts of dissolute pleasures; but this is very different from +the witches' sabbath. + +Others derive this term from _Sabbatius_, which is an epithet given to +the god Bacchus, whose nocturnal festivals were celebrated in +debauchery. Arnobius and Julius Firmicus Maternus inform us that in +these festivals they slipped a golden serpent into the bosoms of the +initiated, and drew it downwards; but this etymology is too +far-fetched: the people who gave the name of _sabbath_ to the +assemblies of the sorcerers wished apparently to compare them in +derision to those of the Jews, and to what they practiced in their +synagogues on sabbath days. + +The most ancient monument in which I have been able to remark any +express mention of the nocturnal assemblies of the sorcerers is in the +Capitularies,[212] wherein it is said that women led away by the +illusions of the demons, say that they go in the night with the +goddess Diana and an infinite number of other women, borne through the +air on different animals, that they go in a few hours a great +distance, and obey Diana as their queen. It was, therefore, to the +goddess Diana, or the Moon, and not to Lucifer, that they paid homage. +The Germans call witches' dances what we call the sabbath. They say +that these people assemble on Mount Bructere. + +The famous Agobard,[213] Archbishop of Lyons, who lived under the +Emperor Louis the Debonair, wrote a treatise against certain +superstitious persons in his time, who believed that storms, hail, and +thunder were caused by certain sorcerers whom they called tempesters +(_tempestarios_, or storm-brewers), who raised the rain in the air, +caused storms and thunder, and brought sterility upon the earth. They +called these extraordinary rains _aura lavatitia_, as if to indicate +that they were raised by magic power. In this place the people still +call these violent rains _alvace_. There were even persons +sufficiently prejudiced to boast that they knew of _tempêtiers_, who +had to conduct the tempests where they choose, and to turn them aside +when they pleased. Agobard interrogated some of them, but they were +obliged to own that they had not been present at the things they +related. + +Agobard maintains that this is the work of God alone; that in truth, +the saints, with the help of God, have often performed similar +prodigies; but that neither the devil nor sorcerers can do anything +like it. He remarks that there were among his people superstitious +persons who would pay very punctually what they called _canonicum_, +which was a sort of tribute which they offered to these +tempest-brewers (_tempêtiers_), that they might not hurt them, while +they refused the tithe to the priest and alms to the widow, orphan, +and other indigent persons. + +He adds that he had of late found people sufficiently foolish enough +to spread a report that Grimaldus, Duke of Benevento, had sent persons +into France, carrying certain powders which they had scattered over +the fields, mountains, meadows, and springs, and had thus caused the +death of an immense number of animals. Several of these persons were +taken up, and they owned that they carried such powders about with +them and though they made them suffer various tortures, they could not +force them to retract what they had said. + +Others affirmed that there was a certain country named Mangonia, +where there were vessels which were borne through the air and took +away the productions; that certain wizards had cut down trees to carry +them to their country. He says, moreover, that one day three men and a +woman were presented to him, who, they said, had fallen from these +ships which floated in the air. They were kept some days in +confinement, and at last having been confronted with their accusers, +the latter were obliged, after contesting the matter, and making +several depositions, to avow that they knew nothing certain concerning +their being carried away, or of their pretended fall from the ship in +the sky. + +Charlemagne[214] in his Capitularies, and the authors of his time, +speak also of these wizard tempest-brewers, enchanters, &c., and +commanded that they should be reprimanded and severely chastised. + +Pope Gregory IX.[215] in a letter addressed to the Archbishop of +Mayence, the Bishop of Hildesheim, and Doctor Conrad, in 1234, thus +relates the abominations of which they accused the heretic +_Stadingians_. "When they receive," says he, "a novice, and when he +enters their assemblies for the first time, he sees an enormous toad, +as big as a goose, or bigger. Some kiss it on the mouth, some kiss it +behind. Then the novice meets a pale man with very black eyes, and so +thin that he is only skin and bones. He kisses him, and feels that he +is cold as ice. After this kiss, the novice easily forgets the +Catholic faith; afterwards they hold a feast together, after which a +black cat comes down behind a statue, which usually stands in the room +where they assemble. + +"The novice first of all kisses the cat on the back, then he who +presides over the assembly, and the others who are worthy of it. The +imperfect receive only a kiss from the master; they promise obedience; +after which they extinguish the lights, and commit all sorts of +disorders. They receive every year, at Easter, the Lord's Body, and +carry it in their mouth to their own houses, when they cast it away. +They believe in Lucifer, and say that the Master of Heaven has +unjustly and fraudulently thrown him into hell. They believe also that +Lucifer is the creator of celestial things, that will re-enter into +glory after having thrown down his adversary, and that through him +they will gain eternal bliss." This letter bears date the 13th of +June, 1233. + + +Footnotes: + +[209] Joan. Vier. lib. ii. c. 7. + +[210] A remarkably fine print on this subject was published at Paris +some years ago; if we remember right, it was suppressed. + +[211] Horat. Epodon. xviii. 4. + +[212] "Quĉdam sceleratĉ mulieres dĉmonum illusionibus et +phantasmatibus seductĉ, credunt se et profitentur nocturnis horis cum +Dianâ Paganorum deâ et innumerâ multitudine mulierum equitare super +quasdam bestias et multa terrarum spalia intempestĉ noctis silentio +pertransire ejusque jussionibus veluti dominĉ obedire."--Baluz. +Capitular. fragment. c. 13. Vide et Capitul. Herardi, Episc. Turon. + +[213] Agobard de Grandine. + +[214] Vide Baluzii in Agobard. pp. 68, 69. + +[215] Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. xvii. p. 53, ann. 1234. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +INSTANCES OF SORCERERS AND WITCHES BEING, AS THEY SAID, TRANSPORTED TO +THE SABBATH. + + +All that is said about witches going to the sabbath is treated as a +fable, and we have several examples which prove that they do not stir +from their bed or their chamber. It is true that some of them anoint +themselves with a certain grease or unguent, which makes them sleepy, +and renders them insensible; and during this swoon they fancy that +they go to the sabbath, and there see and hear what every one says is +there seen and heard. + +We read, in the book entitled _Malleus Maleficorum_, or the _Hammer of +the Sorcerers_, that a woman who was in the hands of the Inquisitors +assured them that she repaired really and bodily whither she would, +and that even were she shut up in prison and strictly guarded, and let +the place be ever so far off. + +The Inquisitors ordered her to go to a certain place, to speak to +certain persons, and bring back news of them; she promised to obey, +and was directly locked up in a chamber, where she lay down, extended +as if dead; they went into the room, and moved her; but she remained +motionless, and without the least sensation, so that when they put a +lighted candle to her foot and burnt it she did not feel it. A little +after, she came to herself, and gave an account of the commission they +had given her, saying she had had a great deal of trouble to go that +road. They asked her what was the matter with her foot; she said it +hurt her very much since her return, and knew not whence it came. + +Then the Inquisitors declared to her what had happened; that she had +not stirred from her place, and that the pain in her foot was caused +by the application of a lighted candle during her pretended absence. +The thing having been verified, she acknowledged her folly, asked +pardon, and promised never to fall into it again. + +Other historians relate[216] that, by means of certain drugs with +which both wizards and witches anoint themselves, they are really and +corporally transported to the sabbath. Torquemada relates, on the +authority of Paul Grilland, that a husband suspecting his wife of being +a witch, desired to know if she went to the sabbath, and how she managed +to transport herself thither. He watched her so narrowly, that he saw +her one day anoint herself with a certain unguent, and then take the +form of a bird and fly away, and he saw her no more till the next +morning, when he found her by his side. He questioned her very much, +without making her own anything; at last he told her what he had himself +seen, and by dint of beating her with a stick, he constrained her to +tell him her secret, and to take him with her to the sabbath. + +Arrived at this place, he sat down to table with the others; but as +all the viands which were on the table were very insipid, he asked for +some salt; they were some time before they brought any; at last, +seeing a salt-cellar, he said--"God be praised, there is some salt at +last!" At the same instant, he heard a very great noise, all the +company disappeared, and he found himself alone and naked in a field +among the mountains. He went forward and found some shepherds; he +learned that he was more than three leagues from his dwelling. He +returned thither as he could, and, having related the circumstance to +the Inquisitors, they caused the woman and several others, her +accomplices, to be taken up and chastised as they deserved. + +The same author relates that a woman, returning from the sabbath and +being carried through the air by the evil spirit, heard in the morning +the bell for the _Angelus_. The devil let her go immediately, and she +fell into a quickset hedge on the bank of a river; her hair fell +disheveled over her neck and shoulders. She perceived a young lad who +after much entreaty came and took her out and conducted her to the +next village, where her house was situated; it required most pressing +and repeated questions on the part of the lad, before she would tell +him truly what had happened to her; she made him presents, and begged +him to say nothing about it, nevertheless the circumstance got spread +abroad. + +If we could depend on the truth of these stories, and an infinite +number of similar ones, which books are full of, we might believe that +sometimes sorcerers are carried bodily to the sabbath; but on +comparing these stories with others which prove that they go thither +only in mind and imagination, we may say boldly, that what is related +of wizards and witches who go or think they go to the sabbath, is +usually only illusion on the part of the devil, and seduction on the +part of those of both sexes who fancy they fly and travel, while they +in reality do not stir from their places. The spirit of malice and +falsehood being mixed up in this foolish prepossession, they confirm +themselves in their follies and engage others in the same impiety; for +Satan has a thousand ways of deceiving mankind and of retaining them +in error. Magic, impiety, enchantments, are often the effects of a +diseased imagination. It rarely happens that these kind of people do +not fall into every excess of licentiousness, irreligion, and theft, +and into the most outrageous consequences of hatred to their +neighbors. + +Some have believed that demons took the form of the sorcerers and +sorceresses who were supposed to be at the sabbath, and that they +maintained the simple creatures in their foolish belief, by appearing +to them sometimes in the shape of those persons who were reputed +witches, while they themselves were quietly asleep in their beds. But +this belief contains difficulties as great, or perhaps greater, than +the opinion we would combat. It is far from easy to understand that +the demon takes the form of pretended sorcerers and witches, that he +appears under this shape, that he eats, drinks, and travels, and does +other actions to make simpletons believe that sorcerers go to the +sabbath. What advantage does the devil derive from making idiots +believe these things, or maintaining them in such an error? +Nevertheless it is related[217] that St. Germain, Bishop of Auxerre, +traveling one day, and passing through a village in his diocese, after +having taken some refreshment there, remarked that they were preparing +a great supper, and laying out the table anew; he asked if they +expected company, and they told him it was for those good women who go +by night. St. Germain well understood what was meant, and resolved to +watch to see the end of this adventure. + +Some time after he beheld a multitude of demons who came in the form +of men and women, and sat down to table in his presence. St. Germain +forbade them to withdraw, and calling the people of the house, he +asked them if they knew those persons: they replied, that they were +such and such among their neighbors: "Go," said he, "and see if they +are in their houses:" they went, and found them asleep in their beds. +The saint conjured the demons, and obliged them to declare that it is +thus they mislead mortals, and make them believe that there are +sorcerers and witches who go by night to the sabbath; they obeyed, and +disappeared, greatly confused. + +This history may be read in old manuscripts, and is to be found in +Jacques de Varasse, Pierre de Noëls, in St. Antonine, and in old +Breviaries of Auxerre, as well printed, as manuscript. I by no means +guarantee the truth of this story; I think it is absolutely +apocryphal; but it proves that those who wrote and copied it believed +that these nocturnal journeys of sorcerers and witches to the sabbath, +were mere illusions of the demon. In fact, it is hardly possible to +explain all that is said of sorcerers and witches going to the +sabbath, without having recourse to the ministry of the demon; to which +we must add a disturbed imagination, with a mind misled, and foolishly +prepossessed, and, if you will, a few drugs which affect the brain, +excite the humors, and produce dreams relative to impressions already +in their minds. + +In John Baptist Porta Cardan, and elsewhere, may be found the +composition of those ointments with which witches are said to anoint +themselves, to be able to transport themselves to the sabbath; but the +only real effect they produce is to send them to sleep, disturb their +imagination, and make them believe they are going long journeys, while +they remain profoundly sleeping in their beds. + +The fathers of the council of Paris, of the year 829, confess that +magicians, wizards, and people of that kind, are the ministers and +instruments of the demon in the exercise of their diabolical art; that +they trouble the minds of certain persons by beverages calculated to +inspire impure love; that they are persuaded they can disturb the sky, +excite tempests, send hail, predict the future, ruin and destroy the +fruit, and take away the milk of cattle belonging to one person, in +order to give it to cattle the property of another. + +The bishops conclude that all the rigor of the laws enacted by princes +against such persons ought to be put in force against them, and so +much the more justly, that it is evident they yield themselves up to +the service of the devil. + +Spranger, in the _Malleus Maleficorum_, relates, that in Suabia, a +peasant who was walking in his fields with his little girl, a child +about eight years of age, complained of the drought, saying, "Alas! +when will God give us some rain?" Immediately the little girl told him +that she could bring him some down whenever he wished it. He +answered,--"And who has taught you that secret?" "My mother," said +she, "who has strictly forbidden me to tell any body of it." + +"And what did she do to give you this power?" + +"She took me to a master, who comes to me as many times as I call +him." + +"And have you seen this master?" + +"Yes," said she, "I have often seen men come to my mother's house; she +has devoted me to one of them." + +After this dialogue, the father asked her how she could do to make it +rain upon his field only. She asked but for a little water; he led her +to a neighboring brook, and the girl having called the water in the +name of him to whom she had been devoted by her mother, they beheld +directly abundance of rain falling on the peasant's field. + +The father, convinced that his wife was a sorceress, accused her +before the judges, who condemned her to be burnt. The daughter was +baptized and vowed to God, but she then lost the power of making it +rain at her will. + + +Footnotes: + +[216] Alphons. à Castro ex Petro Grilland. Tract. de Hĉresib. + +[217] Bolland, 5 Jul. p. 287. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +STORY OF LOUIS GAUFREDI AND MAGDALEN DE LA PALUD, OWNED BY THEMSELVES +TO BE A SORCERER AND SORCERESS. + + +This is an unheard-of example; a man and woman who declared themselves +to be a sorcerer and sorceress. Louis Gaufredi, Curé of the parish of +Accouls, at Marseilles,[218] was accused of magic, and arrested at the +beginning of the year 1611. Christopher Gaufredi, his uncle, of +Pourrieres, in the neighborhood of Beauversas, sent him, six months +before he (Christopher) died, a little paper book, in 16mo., with six +leaves written upon; at the bottom of every leaf were two verses in +French, and in the other parts were characters or ciphers, which +contained magical mysteries. Louis Gaufredi at first thought very +little of this book, and kept it for five years. + +At the end of that time, having read the French verses, the devil +presented himself under a human shape, and by no means deformed, and +told him that he was come to fulfil all his wishes, if he would give +_him_ credit for all his good works. Gaufredi agreed to the condition. +He asked of the demon that he might enjoy a great reputation for +wisdom and virtue among persons of probity, and that he might inspire +with love all the women and young girls he pleased, by simply +breathing upon them. + +Lucifer promised him all this in writing, and Gaufredi very soon saw +the perfect accomplishment of his designs. He inspired with love a +young lady named Magdalen, the daughter of a gentleman whose name was +Mandole de la Palud. This girl was only nine years old, when Gaufredi, +on pretence of devotion and spirituality, gave her to understand that, +as her spiritual father, he had a right to dispose of her, and +persuaded her to give herself to the devil; and some years afterwards, +he obliged her to give a schedule, signed with her own blood, to the +devil, to deliver herself up to him still more. It is even said that +he made her give from that time seven or eight other schedules. + +After that, he breathed upon her, inspired her with a violent passion +for himself, and took advantage of her; he gave her a familiar demon, +who served her and followed her everywhere. One day he transported her +to the witches' sabbath, held on a high mountain near Marseilles; she +saw there people of all nations, and in particular Gaufredi, who held +there a distinguished rank, and who caused characters to be impressed +or stamped on her head and in several other parts of her body. This girl +afterwards became a nun of the order of St. Ursula, and passed for being +possessed by the devil. + +Gaufredi also inspired several other women with an irregular passion, +by breathing on them; and this diabolical power lasted for six years. +For at last they found out that he was a sorcerer and magician; and +Mademoiselle de Mandole having been arrested by the Inquisition, and +interrogated by father Michael Jacobin, owned a great part of what we +have just told, and during the exorcisms discovered several other +things. She was then nineteen years of age. + +All this made Gaufredi known to the Parliament of Provence. They +arrested him; and proceedings against him commenced February, 1611. +They heard in particular the deposition of Magdalen de la Palud, who +gave a complete history of the magic of Gaufredi, and the abominations +he had committed with her. That for the last fourteen years he had +been a magician, and head of the magicians; and if he had been taken +by the justiciary power, the devil would have carried him body and +soul to hell. + +Gaufredi had voluntarily gone to prison; and from the first +examination which he underwent, he denied everything and represented +himself as an upright man. But from the depositions made against him, +it was shown that his heart was very corrupted, and that he had +seduced Mademoiselle de Mandole, and other women whom he confessed. +This young lady was heard juridically the 21st of February, and gave +the history of her seduction, of Gaufredi's magic, and of the sabbath +whither he had caused her to be transported several times. + +Some time after this, being confronted with Gaufredi, she owned that +he was a worthy man, and that all which had been reported against him +was imaginary, and retracted all she herself had avowed. Gaufredi on +his part acknowledged his illicit connection with her, denied all the +rest, and maintained that it was the devil, by whom she was possessed, +that had suggested to her all she had said. He owned that, having +resolved to reform his life, Lucifer had appeared to him, and +threatened him with many misfortunes; that in fact he had experienced +several; that he had burnt the magic book in which he had placed the +schedules of Mademoiselle de la Palud and his own, which he had made +with the devil; but that when he afterwards looked for them, he was +much astonished not to find them. He spoke at length concerning the +sabbath, and said there was, near the town of Nice, a magician, who +had all sorts of garments ready for the use of the sorcerers; that on +the day of the sabbath, there is a bell weighing a hundred pounds, +four ells in width, and with a clapper of wood, which made the sound +dull and lugubrious. He related several horrors, impieties, and +abominations which were committed at the sabbath. He repeated the +schedule which Lucifer had given him, by which he bound himself to +cast a spell on those women who should be to his taste. + +After this exposition of the things related above, the +attorney-general drew his conclusions: As the said Gaufredi had been +convicted of having divers marks in several parts of his body, where +if pricked he has felt no pain, neither has any blood come; that he +has been illicitly connected with Magdalen de la Palud, both at church +and in her own house, both by day and by night, by letters in which +were amorous or love characters, invisible to any other but herself; +that he had induced her to renounce her God and her Church--and that +she had received on her body several diabolical characters; that he +has owned himself to be a sorcerer and a magician; that he had kept by +him a book of magic, and had made use of it to conjure and invoke the +evil spirit; that he has been with the said Magdalen to the sabbath, +where he had committed an infinite number of scandalous, impious and +abominable actions, such as having worshiped Lucifer:--for these +causes, the said attorney-general requires that the said Gaufredi be +declared attainted and convicted of the circumstances imputed to him, +and as reparation of them, that he be previously degraded from sacred +orders by the Lord Bishop of Marseilles, his diocesan, and afterwards +condemned to make honorable amends one audience day, having his head +and feet bare, a cord about his neck, and holding a lighted taper in +his hands--to ask pardon of God, the king, and the court of +justice--then, to be delivered into the hands of the executioner of +the high court of law, to be taken to all the chief places and +cross-roads of this city of Aix, and torn with red-hot pincers in all +parts of his body; and after that, in the _Place des Jacobins_, burned +alive, and his ashes scattered to the wind; and before being executed, +let the question be applied to him, and let him be tormented as +grievously as can be devised, in order to extract from him the names +of his other accomplices. Deliberated the 18th of April, 1611, and the +decree in conformity given the 29th of April, 1611. + +The same Gaufredi having undergone the question ordinary and +extraordinary, declared that he had seen at the sabbath no person of +his acquaintance except Mademoiselle de Mandole; that he had seen +there also certain monks of certain orders, which he did not name, +neither did he know the names of the monks. That the devil anointed +the heads of the sorcerers with certain unguents, which quite effaced +every thing from their memory. + +Notwithstanding this decree of the Parliament of Provence, many people +believed that Gaufredi was a sorcerer only in imagination; and the +author from whom we derive this history says, that there are some +parliaments, amongst others the Parliament of Paris, which do not +punish sorcerers when no other crimes are combined with magic; and +that experience has proved that, in not punishing sorcerers, but +simply treating them as madmen, it has been seen in time that they +were no longer sorcerers, because they no longer fed their imagination +with these ideas; while in those places where sorcerers were burnt, +they saw nothing else, because everybody was strengthened in this +prejudice. That is what this writer says. + +But we cannot conclude from thence that God does not sometimes permit +the demon to exercise his power over men, and lead them to the excess +of malice and impiety, and shed darkness over their minds and +corruption in their hearts, which hurry them into an abyss of disorder +and misfortune. The demon tempted Job[219] by the permission of God. +The messenger of Satan and the thorn in the flesh wearied St. +Paul;[220] he asked to be delivered from them; but he was told that +the grace of God would enable him to resist his enemies, and that +virtue was strengthened by infirmities and trials. Satan took +possession of the heart of Judas, and led him to betray Jesus Christ +his Master to the Jews his enemies.[221] The Lord wishing to warn his +disciples against the impostors who would appear after his ascension, +says that, by God's permission, these impostors would work such +miracles as might mislead the very elect themselves,[222] were it +possible. He tells them elsewhere,[223] that Satan has asked +permission of God to sift them as wheat, but that He has prayed for +them that their faith may be steadfast. + +Thus then with permission from God, the devil can lead men to commit +such excesses as we have just seen in Mademoiselle de la Palud and in +the priest Louis Gaufredi, perhaps even so far as really to take them +through the air to unknown spots, and to what is called the witches' +sabbath; or, without really conducting them thither, so strike their +imagination and mislead their senses, that they think they move, see, +and hear, when they do not stir from their places, see no object and +hear no sound. + +Observe, also, that the Parliament of Aix did not pass any sentence +against even that young girl, it being their custom to inflict no +other punishment on those who suffered themselves to be seduced and +dishonored than the shame with which they were loaded ever after. In +regard to the curé Gaufredi, in the account which they render to the +chancellor of the sentence given by them, they say that this curé was +in truth accused of sorcery; but that he had been condemned to the +flames, as being arraigned and convicted of spiritual incest with +Magdalen de la Palud, his penitent.[224] + + +Footnotes: + +[218] Causes Célèbres, tom. vi. p. 192. + +[219] Job i. 12, 13, 22. + +[220] 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8. + +[221] John xiii. 2. + +[222] Matt. xxiv. 5. + +[223] Luke xxi. + +[224] The attentive reader of this horrible narrative will hardly fail +to conclude that Gaufredi's fault was chiefly his seduction of +Mademoiselle de la Palud, and that the rest was the effect of a heated +imagination. The absurd proportions of the "_Sabbath_" bell will be +sufficient to show this. If the bell were metallic, it would have +weighed many tons, and a _wooden_ bell of such dimensions, even were +it capable of sounding, would weigh many hundred weight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +REASONS WHICH PROVE THE POSSIBILITY OF SORCERERS AND WITCHES BEING +TRANSPORTED TO THE SABBATH. + + +All that has just been said is more fitted to prove that the going of +sorcerers and witches to the sabbath is only an illusion and a +deranged imagination on the part of these persons, and malice and +deceit on that of the devil, who misleads them, and persuades them to +yield themselves to him, and renounce true religion, by the lure of +vain promises that he will enrich them, load them with honors, +pleasures, and prosperity, rather than to convince us of the reality +of the corporeal transportation of these persons to what they call the +sabbath. + +Here are some arguments and examples which seem to prove, at least, +that the transportation of sorcerers to the sabbath is not impossible; +for the impossibility of this transportation is one of the strongest +objections which is made to the opinion that supposes it. + +There is no difficulty in believing that God may allow the demon to +mislead men, and carry them on to every excess of irregularity, error, +and impiety; and that he may also permit him to perform some things +which to us appear astonishing, and even miraculous; whether the devil +achieves them by natural power, or by the supernatural concurrence of +God, who employs the evil spirit to punish his creature, who has +willingly forsaken Him to yield himself up to his enemy. The prophet +Ezekiel was transported through the air from Chaldea, where he was a +captive, to Judea, and into the temple of the Lord, where he saw the +abominations which the Israelites committed in that holy place; and +thence he was brought back again to Chaldea by the ministration of +angels, as we shall relate in another chapter. + +We know by the Gospel that the devil carried our Saviour to the +highest point of the temple at Jerusalem.[225] We know also that the +prophet Habakkuk[226] was transported from Judea to Babylon, to carry +food to Daniel in the lion's den. St. Paul informs us that he was +carried up to the third heaven, and that he heard ineffable things; +but he owns that he does not know whether it was in the body or only +in the spirit. He therefore doubted not the possibility of a man's +being transported in body and soul through the air. The deacon St. +Philip was transported from the road from Gaza to Azotus in a very +little time by the Spirit of God.[227] We learn by ecclesiastical +history, that Simon the magician was carried by the demon up into the +air, whence he was precipitated, through the prayers of St. Peter. +John the Deacon,[228] author of the life of St. Gregory the Great, +relates that one Farold having introduced into the monastery of St. +Andrew, at Rome, some women who led disorderly lives, in order to +divert himself there with them, and offer insult to the monks, that +same night Farold having occasion to go out, was suddenly seized and +carried up into the air by demons, who held him there suspended by his +hair, without his being able to open his mouth to utter a cry, till +the hour of matins, when Pope St. Gregory, the founder and protector +of that monastery, appeared to him, reproached him for his profanation +of that holy place, and foretold that he would die within the +year--which did happen. + +I have been told by a magistrate, as incapable of being deceived by +illusions as of imposing any such on other people,[229] that on the +16th of October, 1716, a carpenter, who inhabited a village near Bar, +in Alsace, called Heiligenstein, was found at five o'clock in the +morning in the garret of a cooper at Bar. This cooper having gone up +to fetch the wood for his trade that he might want to use during the +day, and having opened the door, which was fastened with a bolt _on +the outside_, perceived a man lying at full length upon his stomach, +and fast asleep. He recognized him, and having asked him what he did +there, the carpenter in the greatest surprise told him he knew neither +by what means, nor by whom, he had been taken to that place. + +The cooper not believing this, told him that assuredly he was come +thither to rob him, and had him taken before the magistrate of Bar, +who having interrogated him concerning the circumstance just spoken +of, he related to him with great simplicity, that, having set off +about four o'clock in the morning to come from Heiligenstein to +Bar--there being but a quarter of an hour's distance between those two +places--he saw on a sudden, in a place covered with verdure and grass, +a magnificent feast, brightly illuminated, where a number of persons +were highly enjoying themselves with a sumptuous repast and by dancing; +that two women of his acquaintance, inhabitants of Bar, having asked him +to join the company, he sat down to table and partook of the good cheer, +for a quarter of an hour at the most; after that, one of the guests +having cried out "_Citò, Citò_," he found himself carried away gently +to the cooper's garret, without knowing how he had been transported there. + +This is what he declared in presence of the magistrate. The most +singular circumstance of this history is, that hardly had the +carpenter deposed what we read, than those two women of Bar who had +invited him to join their feast hung themselves, each in her own +house. + +The superior magistrates, fearing to carry things so far as to +compromise perhaps half the inhabitants of Bar, judged prudently that +they had better not inquire further; they treated the carpenter as a +visionary, and the two women who hung themselves were considered as +lunatics; thus the thing was hushed up, and the matter ended. + +If this is what they call the witches' sabbath, neither the carpenter, +nor the two women, nor apparently the other guests at the festival, +had need to come mounted on a demon; they were too near their own +dwellings to have recourse to superhuman means in order to have +themselves transported to the place of meeting. We are not informed +how these guests repaired to this feast, nor how they returned each +one to their home; the spot was so near the town, that they could +easily go and return without any extraneous assistance. + +But if secrecy was necessary, and they feared discovery, it is very +probable that the demon transported them to their homes through the +air before it was day, as he had transported the carpenter to the +cooper's garret. Whatever turn may be given to this event, it is +certainly difficult not to recognize a manifest work of the evil +spirit in the transportation of the carpenter through the air, who +finds himself, without being aware of it, in a well-fastened garret. +The women who hung themselves, showed clearly that they feared +something still worse from the law, had they been convicted of magic +and witchcraft. And had not their accomplices also, whose names must +have been declared, as much to fear? + +William de Neubridge relates another story, which bears some +resemblance to the preceding. A peasant having heard, one night as he +was passing near a tomb, a melodious concert of different voices, drew +near, and finding the door open, put in his head, and saw in the +middle a grand feast, well lighted, and a well-covered table, round +which were men and women making merry. One of the attendants having +perceived him, presented him with a cup filled with liquor; he took +it, and having spilled the liquor, he fled with the cup to the first +village, where he stopped. If our carpenter had done the same, instead +of amusing himself at the feast of the witches of Bar, he would have +spared himself much uneasiness. + +We have in history several instances of persons full of religion and +piety, who, in the fervor of their orisons, have been taken up into +the air, and remained there for some time. We have known a good monk, +who rises sometimes from the ground, and remains suspended without +wishing it, without seeking to do so, especially on seeing some +devotional image, or on hearing some devout prayer, such as "_Gloria +in excelsis Deo_." I know a nun to whom it has often happened in spite +of herself to see herself thus raised up in the air to a certain +distance from the earth; it was neither from choice, nor from any wish +to distinguish herself, since she was truly confused at it. Was it by +the ministration of angels, or by the artifice of the seducing spirit, +who wished to inspire her with sentiments of vanity and pride? Or was +it the natural effect of Divine love, or fervor of devotion in these +persons? + +I do not observe that the ancient fathers of the desert, who were so +spiritual, so fervent, and so great in prayer, experienced similar +ecstasies. These risings up in the air are more common among our new +saints, as we may see in the Life[230] of St. Philip of Neri, where +they relate his ecstasies and his elevations from earth into the air, +sometimes to the height of several yards, and almost to the ceiling of +his room, and this quite involuntarily. He tried in vain to hide it +from the knowledge of those present, for fear of attracting their +admiration, and feeling in it some vain complacency. The writers who +give us these particulars do not say what was the cause, whether these +ecstatic elevations from the ground were produced by the fervor of the +Holy Spirit, or by the ministry of good angels, or by a miraculous +favor of God, who desired thus to do honor to his servants in the eyes +of men. God had moreover favored the same St. Philip de Neri, by +permitting him to see the celestial spirits and even the demons, and +to discover the state of holy spirits, by supernatural knowledge. + +St. John Columbino, teacher of the Jesuits, made use of St. Catherine +Columbine,[231] a maiden of extraordinary virtue, for the +establishment of nuns of his order. It is related of her, that +sometimes she remained in a trance, and raised up two yards from the +ground, motionless, speechless, and insensible. + +The same thing is said of St. Ignatius de Loyola,[232] who remained +entranced by God, and raised up from the ground to the height of two +feet, while his body shone like light. He has been seen to remain in +a trance insensible, and almost without respiration, for eight days +together. + +St. Robert de Palentin[233] rose also from the ground, sometimes to +the height of a foot and a half, to the great astonishment of his +disciples and assistants. We see similar trances and elevations in the +Life of St. Bernard Ptolomei, teacher of the congregation of Notre +Dame of Mount Olivet;[234] of St. Philip Benitas, of the order of +Servites; of St. Cajetanus, founder of the Théatins;[235] of St. +Albert of Sicily, confessor, who, during his prayers, rose three +cubits from the ground; and lastly of St. Dominic, the founder of the +order of Preaching Brothers.[236] + +It is related of St. Christina,[237] Virgin at S. Tron, that being +considered dead, and carried into the church in her coffin, as they +were performing for her the usual service, she arose suddenly, and +went as high as the beams of the church, as lightly as a bird. Being +returned into the house with her sisters, she related to them that she +had been led first to purgatory, and thence to hell, and lastly to +paradise, where God had given her the choice of remaining there, or of +returning to this world and doing penance for the souls she had seen +in purgatory. She chose the latter, and was brought back to her body +by the holy angels. From that time she could not bear the effluvia of +the human body, and rose up into trees and on the highest towers with +incredible lightness, there to watch and pray. She was so light in +running that she outran the swiftest dogs. Her parents tried in vain +all they could do to stop her, even to loading her with chains, but +she always escaped from them. So many other almost incredible things +are related of this saint, that I dare not repeat them here. + +M. Nicole, in his letters, speaks of a nun named Seraphina, who, in +her ecstasies, rose from the ground with so much impetuosity that five +or six of the sisters could hardly hold her down. + +This doctor, reasoning on the fact,[238] says, that it proves nothing +at all for Sister Seraphina; but the thing well verified proves God +and the devil--that is to say, the whole of religion; that the +circumstance being proved, is of very great consequence to religion; +that the world is full of certain persons who believe only what cannot +be doubted; that the great heresy of the world is no longer Calvinism +and Lutheranism, but atheism. There are all sorts of atheists--some +real, others pretended; some determined, others vacillating, and +others tempted to be so. We ought not to neglect this kind of people; +the grace of God is all-powerful; we must not despair of bringing them +back by good arguments, and by solid and convincing proofs. Now, if +these facts are certain, we must conclude that there is a God, or bad +angels who imitate the works of God, and perform by themselves or +their subordinates works capable of deceiving even the elect. + +One of the oldest instances I remark of persons thus raised from the +ground without any one touching them, is that of St. Dunstan, +Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 988, and who, a little time +before his death, as he was going up stairs to his apartment, +accompanied by several persons, was observed to rise from the ground; +and as all present were astonished at the circumstance, he took +occasion to speak of his approaching death.[239] + +Trithemius, speaking of St. Elizabeth, Abbess of Schonau, in the +diocese of Treves, says that sometimes she was in an ecstatic trance, +so that she would remain motionless and breathless during a long time. +In these intervals, she learned, by revelation and by the intercourse +she had with blessed spirits, admirable things; and when she revived, +she would discourse divinely, sometimes in German, her native +language, sometimes in Latin, though she had no knowledge of that +language. Trithemius did not doubt her sincerity and the truth of her +discourse. She died in 1165. + +St. Richard, Abbot of S. Vanne de Verdun, appeared in 1036 elevated +from the ground while he was saying mass in presence of the Duke +Galizon, his sons, and a great number of lords and soldiers. + +In the last century, the reverend Father Dominic Carme Déchaux, was +raised from the ground before the King of Spain, the queen, and all +the court, so that they had only to blow upon his body to move it +about like a soap-bubble.[240] + + +Footnotes: + +[225] Matt. iv. 5. + +[226] Dan. xiv. 33, 34. Douay Version. + +[227] Acts viii. 40. + +[228] Joan. Diacon. Vit. Gregor. Mag. + +[229] Lettre de M. G. P. R., 5th October, 1746. + +[230] On the 26th of May, of the Bollandists, c. xx. n. 356, 357. + +[231] Acta S. J. Bolland. 3 Jul. p. 95. + +[232] Ibid. 31 Jul. pp. 432, 663. + +[233] Acta S. J. Bolland, 21 Aug. pp. 469, 481. + +[234] Ibid. 18 Aug. p. 503. + +[235] Ibid. 17 Aug. p. 255. + +[236] Ibid. 4 Aug. p. 405. + +[237] Vita S. Christina. 24 Jul. Bolland. pp. 652, 653. + +[238] Nicole, tom. i. Letters, pp. 203, 205. Letter xlv. + +[239] Vita Sancti Dunstani, xi. 42. + +[240] It is worthy of remark, that in the cases which Calmet refers to +of persons in his own time, and of his own acquaintance, being thus +raised from the ground, he in no instance states himself to have been +a witness of the wonder. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT. + + +We cannot reasonably dispute the truth of these ecstatic trances, the +elevations of the body of some saints to a certain distance from the +ground, since these circumstances are supported by so many witnesses. +To apply this to the matter we here treat of, might it not be said +that sorcerers and witches, by the operation of the demon, and with +God's permission, by the help of a lively and subtile temperament, are +rendered light and rise into the air, where their heated imagination +and prepossessed mind lead them to believe that they have done, seen, +and heard, what has no reality except in their own brain? + +I shall be told that the parallel I make between the actions of +saints, which can only be attributed to angels and the operation of +the Holy Spirit, or to the fervor of their charity and devotion, with +what happens to wizards and witches, is injurious and odious. I know +how to make a proper distinction between them: do not the books of the +Old and New Testament place in parallel lines the true miracles of +Moses with those of the magicians of Pharaoh; those of antichrist and +his subordinates with those of the saints and apostles; and does not +St. Paul inform us that the angel of darkness often transforms himself +into an angel of light? + +In the first edition of this work, we spoke very fully of certain +persons, who boast of having what they call "the garter," and by that +means are able to perform with extraordinary quickness, in a very few +hours, what would naturally take them several days journeying. Almost +incredible things are related on that subject; nevertheless, the +details are so circumstantial, that it is hardly possible there should +not be some foundation for them; and the demon may transport these +people in a forced and violent manner which causes them a fatigue +similar to what they would have suffered, had they really performed +the journey with more than ordinary rapidity. + +For instance, the two circumstances related by Torquemada: the first +of a poor scholar of his acquaintance, a clever man, who at last rose +to be physician to Charles V.; when studying at Guadaloupe, was +invited by a traveler who wore the garb of a monk, and to whom he had +rendered some little service, to mount up behind him on his horse, +which seemed a sorry animal and much tired; he got up and rode all +night, without perceiving that he went at an extraordinary pace, but +in the morning he found himself near the city of Granada; the young +man went into the town, but the conductor passed onwards. + +Another time, the father of a young man, known to the same Torquemada, +and the young man himself, were going together to Granada, and passing +through the village of Almeda, met a man on horseback like themselves +and going the same way; after having traveled two or three leagues +together, they halted, and the cavalier spread his cloak on the grass, +so that there was no crease in the mantle; they all placed what +provisions they had with them on this extended cloak, and let their +horses graze. They drank and ate very leisurely, and having told +their servants to bring their horses, the cavalier said to them, +"Gentlemen, do not hurry, you will reach the town early"--at the same +time he showed them Granada, at not a quarter of an hour's distance +from thence. + +Something equally marvelous is said of a canon of the cathedral of +Beauvais. The chapter of that church had been charged for a long time +to acquit itself of a certain personal duty to the Church of Rome; the +canons having chosen one of their brethren to repair to Rome for this +purpose, the canon deferred his departure from day to day, and set off +after matins on Christmas day--arrived that same day at Rome, +acquitted himself there of his commission, and came back from thence +with the same dispatch, bringing with him the original of the bond, +which obliged the canons to send one of their body to make this +offering in person. However fabulous and incredible this story may +appear, it is asserted that there are authentic proofs of it in the +archives of the cathedral; and that upon the tomb of the canon in +question may still be seen the figures of demons engraved at the four +corners in memory of this event. They even affirm that the celebrated +Father Mabillon saw the authentic voucher. + +Now, if this circumstance and the others like it are not absolutely +fabulous, we cannot deny that they are the effects of magic, and the +work of the evil spirit. + +Peter, the venerable Abbot of Cluny,[241] relates so extraordinary a +thing which happened in his time, that I should not repeat it here, +had it not been seen by the whole town of Mâcon. The count of that +town, a very violent man, exercised a kind of tyranny over the +ecclesiastics, and against whatever belonged to them, without +troubling himself either to conceal his violence, or to find a +pretext for it; he carried it on with a high hand and gloried in it. +One day, when he was sitting in his palace in company with several +nobles and others, they beheld an unknown person enter on horseback, +who advanced to the count and desired him to follow him. The count +rose and followed him, and having reached the door, he found there a +horse ready caparisoned; he mounts it, and is immediately carried up +into the air, crying out, in a terrible tone to those who were +present, "Here, help me!" All the town ran out at the noise, but they +soon lost sight of him; and no doubt was entertained that the devil +had flown away with him to be the companion of his tortures, and to +bear the pain of his excesses and his violence. + +It is, then, not absolutely impossible that a person may be raised +into the air and transported to some very high and distant place, by +order or by permission of God, by good or evil spirits; but we must +own that the thing is of rare occurrence, and that in all that is +related of sorcerers and witches, and their assemblings at the +witches' sabbath, there is an infinity of stories, which are false, +absurd, ridiculous, and even destitute of probability. M. Remi, +attorney-general of Lorraine, author of a celebrated work entitled +_Demonology_, who tried a great number of sorcerers and sorceresses, +with which Lorraine was then infested, produces hardly any proof +whence we can infer the truth and reality of witchcraft, and of +wizards and witches being transported to the sabbath. + + +Footnotes: + +[241] Petrus Venerab. lib. ii. de Miraculis, c. 1, p. 1299. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +OBSESSION AND POSSESSION OF THE DEVIL. + + +It is with reason that obsessions and possessions of the devil are +placed in the rank of apparitions of the evil spirit among men. We +call it _obsession_ when the demon acts externally against the person +whom he besets, and _possession_ when he acts internally, agitates +them, excites their ill humor, makes them utter blasphemy, speak +tongues they have never learnt, discovers to them unknown secrets, and +inspires them with the knowledge of the obscurest things in philosophy +or theology. Saul was agitated and possessed by the evil spirit,[242] +who at intervals excited his melancholy humor, and awakened his +animosity and jealousy against David, or who, on occasion of the +natural movement or impulsion of these dark moods, seized him, +agitated him, and disturbed from his usual tenor of mind. Those whom +the Gospel speaks of as being possessed,[243] and who cried aloud that +Jesus was the Christ, and that he was come to torment them before the +time, that he was the Son of God, are instances of possession. But the +demon Asmodeus, who beset Sara, the daughter of Raguel,[244] and who +killed her first seven husbands; those spoken of in the Gospel, who +were simply struck with maladies or incommodities which were thought +to be incurable; those whom the Scripture sometimes calls _lunatics_, +who foamed at the mouth, who were convulsed, who fled the presence of +mankind, who were violent and dangerous, so that they were obliged to +be chained to prevent them from striking and maltreating other people; +these kinds of persons were simply beset, or obseded by the devil. + +Opinions are much divided on the matter of obsessions and possessions +of the devil. The hardened Jews, and the ancient enemies of the +Christian religion, convinced by the evidence of the miracles which +they saw worked by Jesus Christ, by his apostles, and by Christians, +dared neither dispute their truth nor their reality; but they +attributed them to magic, to the prince of the devils, or to the +virtue of certain herbs, or of certain natural secrets. + +St. Justin,[245] Tertullian, Lactantius, St. Cyprian, Minutius, and +the other fathers of the first ages of the church, speak of the power +which the Christian exorcists exercised over the possessed, so +confidently and so freely, that we can doubt neither the certainty nor +the evidence of the thing. They call upon their adversaries to bear +witness, and pique themselves on making the experiment in their +presence, and of forcing to come out of the bodies of the possessed, +to declare their names, and acknowledge that those they adore in the +pagan temples are but devils. + +Some opposed to the true miracles of the Saviour those of their false +gods, their magicians, and their heroes of paganism, such as those of +Esculapius, and the famous Apollonius of Tyana. The pretended +freethinkers dispute them in our days upon philosophical principles; +they attribute them to a diseased imagination, the prejudices of +education, and hidden springs of the constitution; they reduce the +expressions of Scripture to hyperbole; they maintain that Jesus Christ +condescended to the understanding of the people, and their +prepossessions or prejudices; that demons being purely spiritual +substances could not by themselves act immediately upon bodies; and +that it is not at all probable God should work miracles to allow of +their doing so. + +If we examine closely those who have passed for being possessed, we +shall not perhaps find one amongst them, whose mind had not been +deranged by some accident, or whose body was not attacked by some +infirmity either known or hidden, which had caused some ferment in the +blood or the brain, and which, joined to prejudice, or fear, had given +rise to what was termed in their case obsession or possession. + +The possession of King Saul is easily explained by supposing that he +was naturally an atrabilarian, and that in his fits of melancholy he +appeared mad, or furious; therefore they sought no other remedy for +his illness than music, and the sound of instruments proper to enliven +or calm him. Several of the obsessions and possessions noted in the +New Testament were simple maladies, or fantastic fancies, which made +it believed that such persons were possessed by the devil. The +ignorance of the people maintained this prejudice, and their being +totally unacquainted with physics and medicine served to strengthen +such ideas. + +In one it was a sombre and melancholy temper, in another the blood was +too fevered and heated; here the bowels were burnt up with heat, there +a concentration of diseased humor, which suffocated the patient, as it +happens with those subject to epilepsy and hypochondria, who fancy +themselves gods, kings, cats, dogs, and oxen. There were others, who, +disturbed at the remembrance of their crimes, fell into a kind of +despair, and into fits of remorse, which irritated their mind and +constitution, and made them believe that the devil pursued and beset +them. Such, apparently, were those women who followed Jesus Christ, +and who had been delivered by him from the unclean spirits that +possessed them, and partly so Mary Magdalen, from whom he expelled +seven devils. The Scripture often speaks of the spirit of impurity, of +the spirit of falsehood, of the spirit of jealousy; it is not +necessary to have recourse to a particular demon to excite these +passions in us; St. James[246] tells us that we are enough tempted by +our own concupiscence, which leads us to evil, without seeking after +external causes. + +The Jews attributed the greater part of their maladies to the demon: +they were persuaded that they were a punishment for some crime either +known or unrevealed. Jesus Christ and his apostles wisely supposed +these prejudices, without wishing to attack them openly and reform the +old opinions of the Jews; they cured the diseases, and chased away the +evil spirits who caused them, or who were said to cause them. The real +and essential effect was the cure of the patient; no other thing was +required to confirm the mission of Jesus Christ, his divinity, and the +truth of the doctrine which he preached. Whether he expelled the +demon, or not, is not essentially necessary to his first design; it is +certain that he cured the patient either by expelling the devil, if it +be true that this evil spirit caused the malady, or by replacing the +inward springs and humors in their regular and natural state, which is +always miraculous, and proves the Divinity of the Saviour. + +Although the Jews were sufficiently credulous concerning the +operations of the evil spirit, they at the same time believed that in +general the demons who tormented certain persons were nothing else +than the souls of some wretches, who, fearing to repair to the place +destined for them, took possession of the body of some mortal whom +they tormented and endeavored to deprive of life.[247] + +Josephus the historian[248] relates that Solomon composed some charms +against maladies, and some formulĉ of exorcism to expel evil spirits. +He says, besides, that a Jew named Eleazar cured in the presence of +Vespasian some possessed persons by applying under their nose a ring, +in which was enchased a root, pointed out by that prince. They +pronounced the name of Solomon with a certain prayer, and an exorcism; +directly, the person possessed fell on the ground, and the devil left +him. The generality of common people among the Jews had not the least +doubt that Beelzebub, prince of the devils, had the power to expel +other demons, for they said that Jesus Christ only expelled them in +the name of Beelzebub.[249] We read in history that sometimes the +pagans expelled demons; and the physicians boast of being able to cure +some possessed persons, as they cure hypochondriacs, and imaginary +disorders. + +These are the most plausible things that are said against the reality +of the possessions and obsessions of the devil. + + +Footnotes: + +[242] 1 Sam. xvi. 23. + +[243] Matt. viii. 16; x. 11; xviii. 28. + +[244] Tob. iii. 8. + +[245] Justin. Dialog. cum supplem. Tertull. de Corona Militis, c. 11; +and Apolog. c. 23; Cyp. ad Demetriam, &c.; Minutius, in Octavio, &c. + +[246] James i. 14. + +[247] Joseph. Antiq. lib. vii. c. 25. + +[248] Ibid. lib. viii. c. 2. + +[249] Matt. xii. 24. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE TRUTH AND REALITY OF POSSESSION AND OBSESSION BY THE DEVIL PROVED +FROM SCRIPTURE. + + +But the possibility, the verity and reality of the obsessions and +possessions of the devil are indubitable, and proved by the Scripture +and by the authority of the Church, the Fathers, the Jews, and the +pagans. Jesus Christ and the apostles believed this truth, and taught +it publicly. The Saviour gives us a proof of his mission that he cures +the possessed; he refutes the Pharisees, who asserted that he expelled +the demons only in the name of Beelzebub; and maintains that he expels +them by the virtue of God.[250] He speaks to the demons; he threatens +them, and puts them to silence. Are these equivocal marks of the +reality of obsessions? The apostles do the same, as did the early +Christians their disciples. All this was done before the eyes of the +heathen, who could not deny it, but who eluded the force and evidence +of these things, by attributing this power to other demons, or to +certain divinities, more powerful than ordinary demons; as if the +kingdom of Satan were divided, and the evil spirit could act against +himself, or as if there were any collusion between Jesus Christ and +the demons whose empire he had just destroyed. + +The seventy disciples on their return from their mission came to Jesus +Christ[251] to give him an account of it, and tell him that the demons +themselves are obedient to them. After his resurrection,[252] the +Saviour promises to his apostles that they shall work miracles in his +name, _that they shall cast out devils_, and receive the gift of +tongues. All which was literally fulfilled. + +The exorcisms used at all times in the Church against the demons are +another proof of the reality of possessions; they show that at all +times the Church and her ministers have believed them to be true and +real, since they have always practiced these exorcisms. The ancient +fathers defied the heathen to produce a demoniac before the +Christians; they pride themselves on curing them, and expelling the +demon. The Jewish exorcists employed even the name of Jesus Christ to +cure demoniacs;[253] they found it efficacious in producing this +effect; it is true that sometimes they employed the name of Solomon, +and some charms said to have been invented by that prince, or roots +and herbs to which they attributed the same virtues, like as a clever +physician by the secret of his art can cure a hypochondriac or a +maniac, or a man strongly persuaded that he is possessed by the devil, +or as a wise confessor will restore the mind of a person disturbed by +remorse, and agitated by the reflection of his sins, or the fear of +hell. But we are speaking now of real possessions and obsessions which +are cured only by the power of God, by the name of Jesus Christ, and +by exorcisms. The son of Sceva, the Jewish priest,[254] having +undertaken to expel a devil in the name of Jesus Christ, whom Paul +preached, the demoniac threw himself upon him, and would have +strangled him, saying that he knew Jesus Christ, and Paul, but that +for him, he feared him not. We must then distinguish well between +possessions and possessions, exorcists and exorcists. There may be +found demoniacs who counterfeit the possessed, to excite compassion +and obtain alms. There may even be exorcists who abuse the name and +power of Jesus Christ to deceive the ignorant; and how do I know that +there are not even impostors to be found, who would place pretended +possessed persons in the way, in order to pretend to cure them, and +thus gain a reputation? + +I do not enter into longer details on this matter; I have treated it +formerly in a particular dissertation on the subject, printed apart +with other dissertations on Scripture, and I have therein replied to +the objections which were raised on this subject. + + +Footnotes: + +[250] Luke viii. 21. + +[251] Luke x. 17. + +[252] Mark xvi. 27. + +[253] Mark ix. 36-38. Acts xi. 14. + +[254] Acts xix. 14. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +EXAMPLES OF REAL POSSESSIONS CAUSED BY THE DEVIL. + + +We must now report some of the most famous instances of the possession +and obsession of the demon. Every body is talking at this time of the +possession (by the devil) of the nuns of Loudun, on which such +different opinions were given, both at the time and since. Martha +Broissier, daughter of a weaver of Romorantin,[255] made as much noise +in her time; but Charles Miron, Bishop of Orleans, discovered the +fraud, by making her drink holy water as common water; by making them +present to her a key wrapped up in red silk, which was said to be a +piece of the true cross; and in reciting some lines from Virgil, which +Martha Broissier's demon took for exorcisms, agitating her very much +at the approach of the hidden key, and at the recital of the verses +from Virgil. Henri de Gondi, Cardinal Bishop of Paris, had her +examined by five of the faculty; three were of opinion that there was +a great deal of imposture and a little disease. The parliament took +notice of the affair, and nominated eleven physicians, who reported +unanimously that there was nothing demoniacal in this matter. + +In the reign of Charles IX.[256] or a little before, a young woman of +the town of Vervins, fifteen or sixteen years of age, named Nicola +Aubry, had different apparitions of a spectre, who called itself her +grandfather, and asked her for masses and prayers for the repose of +his soul.[257] Very soon after, she was transported to different +places by this spectre, and sometimes even was carried out of sight, +and from the midst of those who watched over her. + +Then, they had no longer any doubt that it was the devil, which they +had a great deal of trouble to make her believe. The Bishop of Laon +gave his power (of attorney) for conjuring the spirit, and commanded +them to see that the proces-verbaux were exactly drawn up by the +notaries nominated for that purpose. The exorcisms lasted more than +three months, and only serve to prove more and more the fact of the +possession. The poor sufferer was torn from the hands of nine or ten +men, who could hardly retain their hold of her; and on the last day of +the exorcisms sixteen could not succeed in so doing. She had been +lying on the ground, when she stood upright and stiff as a statue, +without those who held her being able to prevent it. She spoke divers +languages, revealed the most secret things, announced others at the +moment they were being done, although at a great distance; she +discovered to many the secret of their conscience, uttered at once +three different voices, or tones, and spoke with her tongue hanging +half a foot out of her mouth. After some exorcisms had been made at +Vervins, they took her to Laon, where the bishop undertook her. He had +a scaffolding erected for this purpose in the cathedral. Such immense +numbers of people went there, that they saw in the church ten or +twelve thousand persons at a time; some even came from foreign +countries. Consequently, France could not be less curious; so the +princes and great people, and those who could not come there +themselves, sent persons who might inform them of what passed. The +Pope's nuncios, the parliamentary deputies, and those of the +university were present. + +The devil, forced by the exorcisms, rendered such testimony to the +truth of the Catholic religion, and, above all, to the reality of the +holy eucharist, and at the same time to the falsity of Calvinism, that +the irritated Calvinists no longer kept within bounds. From the time +the exorcisms were made at Vervins, they wanted to kill the possessed, +with the priest who exorcised her, in a journey they made her take to +Nôtre Dame de Liesse. At Laon, it was still worse; as they were the +strongest in numbers there, a revolt was more than once apprehended. +They so intimidated the bishop and the magistrates, that they took +down the scaffold, and did not have the general procession usually +made before exorcisms. The devil became prouder thereupon, insulted +the bishop, and laughed at him. On the other hand, the Calvinists +having obtained the suppression of the procession, and that she should +be put in prison to be more nearly examined, Carlier, a Calvinist +doctor, suddenly drew from his pocket something which was averred to +be a most violent poison, which he threw into her mouth, and she kept +it on her stomach whilst the convulsion lasted, but she threw it up of +herself when she came to her senses. + +All these experiments decided them on recommencing the processions, +and the scaffold was replaced. Then the outraged Calvinists conceived +the idea of a writing from M. de Montmorency, forbidding the +continuation of the exorcisms, and enjoining the king's officers to be +vigilant. Thus they abstained a second time from the procession, and +again the devil triumphed at it. Nevertheless, he discovered to the +bishop the trick of this suppositious writing, named those who had +taken part in it, and declared that he had again gained time by this +obedience of the bishop to the will of man rather than that of God. +Besides that, the devil had already protested publicly that it was +against his own will that he remained in the body of this woman; that +he had entered there by the order of God; that it was to convert the +Calvinists or to harden them, and that he was very unfortunate in +being obliged to act and speak against himself. + +The chapter then represented to the bishop that it would be proper to +make the processions and the conjurations twice a-day, to excite still +more the devotion of the people. The prelate acquiesced in it, and +everything was done with the greatest _éclât_, and in the most +orthodox manner. The devil declared again more than once that he had +gained time; once because the bishop had not confessed himself; +another time because he was not fasting; and lastly, because it was +requisite that the chapter and all the dignitaries should be present, +as well as the court of justice and the king's officers, in order that +there might be sufficient testimony; that he was forced to warn the +bishop thus of his duty, and that accursed was the hour when he +entered into the body of this person; at the same time, he uttered a +thousand imprecations against the church, the bishop, and the clergy. + +Thus, at the last day of possession, everybody being assembled in the +afternoon, the bishop began the last conjurations, when many +extraordinary things took place; amongst others, the bishop desiring +to put the holy eucharist near the lips of this poor woman, the devil +in some way seized hold of his arm, and at the same moment raised this +woman up, as it were, out of the hands of sixteen men who were holding +her. But at last, after much resistance, he came out, and left her +perfectly cured, and thoroughly sensible of the goodness of God. The +_Te Deum_ was sung to the sound of all the bells in the town; nothing +was heard among the Catholics but acclamations of joy, and many of the +Calvinists were converted, whose descendants still dwell in the town. +Florimond de Raimond, counselor of the parliament of Bordeaux, had the +happiness to be of the number, and has written the history of it. For +nine days they made the procession, to return thanks to God; and they +founded a perpetual mass, which is celebrated every year on the 8th of +February, and they represented this story in _bas-relief_ round the +choir, where it may be seen at this day. + +In short, God, as if to put the finishing stroke to so important a +work, permitted that the Prince of Condé, who had just left the +Catholic religion, should be misled on this subject by those of his +new communion. He sent for the poor woman, and also the Canon +d'Espinois, who had never forsaken her during all the time of the +exorcisms. He interrogated them separately, and at several different +times, and made every effort, not to discover if they had practiced +any artifice, but to find out if there was any in the whole affair. He +went so far as to offer the canon very high situations if he would +change his religion. But what can you obtain in favor of heresy from +sensible and upright people, to whom God has thus manifested the power +of his church? All the efforts of the prince were useless; the +firmness of the canon, and the simplicity of the poor woman, only +served to prove to him still more the certainty of the event which +displeased him, and he sent them both home. + +Yet a return of ill-will caused him to have this woman again arrested, +and he kept her in one of his prisons until her father and mother +having entreated an inquiry into this injustice to King Charles IX., +she was set at liberty by order of his majesty.[258] + +An event of such importance, and so carefully attested, both on the +part of the bishop and the chapter, and on that of the magistrates, +and even by the violence of the Calvinistic party, ought not to be +buried in silence. King Charles IX., on making his entry into Laon +some time after, desired to be informed about it by the dean of the +cathedral, who had been an ocular witness of the affair. His majesty +commanded him to give publicity to the story, and it was then printed, +first in French, then in Latin, Spanish, Italian, and German, with the +approbation of the Sorbonne, supported by the rescripts of Pope Pius +V. and Gregory XIII. his successor. And they made after that a pretty +exact abridgment of it, by order of the Bishop of Laon, printed under +the title of _Le Triomphe du S. Sacrament sur le Diable_. + +These are facts which have all the authenticity that can be desired, +and such as a man of honor cannot with any good-breeding affect to +doubt, since he could not after that consider any facts as certain +without being in shameful contradiction with himself.[259] + + +Footnotes: + +[255] Jean de Lorres, sur l'an 1599. Thuan. Hist. l. xii. + +[256] Charles IX. died in 1574. + +[257] This story is taken from a book entitled "Examen et Discussion +Critique de l'Histoire des Diables de Loudun, &c., par M. de la +Ménardaye." A Paris, chez de Bure l'Ainé, 1749. + +[258] Trésor et entière Histoire de la Victime du Corps de Dieu, +presentée au Pape, au Roi, au Chancelier de France, au Premier +Président. A Paris, 4to. chez Chesnau. 1578. + +[259] This account is one of the many in which the theory of +possession was made use of to impugn the Protestant faith. The +simplicity and credulity of Calmet are very remarkable.--EDITOR. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT. + + +There was in Lorraine, about the year 1620, a woman, possessed (by the +devil), who made a great noise in the country, but whose case is much +less known among foreigners. I mean Mademoiselle Elizabeth de +Ranfaing, the story of whose possession was written and printed at +Nancy, in 1622, by M. Pichard, a doctor of medicine, and physician in +ordinary to their highnesses of Lorraine. Mademoiselle de Ranfaing was +a very virtuous person, through whose agency God established a kind of +order of nuns _of the Refuge_, the principal object of which is to +withdraw from profligacy the girls or women who have fallen into +libertinism. M. Pichard's work was approved by doctors of theology, +and authorized by M. de Porcelets, Bishop of Toul, and in an assembly +of learned men whom he sent for to examine the case, and the reality +of the possession. It was ardently attacked and loudly denied by a +monk of the Minimite order, named Claude Pithoy, who had the temerity +to say that he would pray to God to send the devil into himself, in +case the woman whom they were exorcising at Nancy was possessed; and +again, that God was not God if he did not command the devil to seize +his body, if the woman they exorcised at Nancy was really possessed. + +M. Pichard refutes him fully; but he remarks that persons who are weak +minded, or of a dull and melancholy character, heavy, taciturn, +stupid, and who are naturally disposed to frighten and disturb +themselves, are apt to fancy that they see the devil, that they speak +to him, and even that they are possessed by him; above all, if they +are in places where others are possessed, whom they see, and with whom +they converse. He adds that, thirteen or fourteen years ago, he +remarked at Nancy a great number of this kind, and with the help of +God he cured them. He says the same thing of atrabilarians, and women +who suffer from _furor uterine_, who sometimes do such things and +utter such cries, that any one would believe they were possessed. + +Mademoiselle Ranfaing having become a widow in 1617, was sought in +marriage by a physician named Poviot. As she would not listen to his +addresses, he first of all gave her philtres to make her love him, +which occasioned strange derangements in her health. At last he gave +her some magical medicaments (for he was afterwards known to be a +magician, and burnt as such by a judicial sentence). The physicians +could not relieve her, and were quite at fault with her extraordinary +maladies. After having tried all sorts of remedies, they were obliged +to have recourse to exorcisms. + +Now these are the principal symptoms which made it believed that +Mademoiselle Ranfaing was really possessed. They began to exorcise her +the 2d September, 1619, in the town of Remirémont, whence she was +transferred to Nancy; there she was visited and interrogated by +several clever physicians, who, after having minutely examined the +symptoms of what happened to her, declared that the casualties they +had remarked in her had no relation at all with the ordinary course of +known maladies, and could only be the result of diabolical possession. + +After which, by order of M. de Porcelets, Bishop of Toul, they +nominated for the exorcists M. Viardin, a doctor of divinity, +counselor of state of the Duke of Lorraine, a Jesuit and Capuchin. +Almost all the monks in Nancy, the said lord bishop, the Bishop of +Tripoli, suffragan of Strasburg, M. de Sancy, formerly ambassador from +the most Christian king at Constantinople, and then priest of the +_Oratoire_, Charles de Lorraine, Bishop of Verdun; two doctors of the +Sorbonne sent on purpose to be present at the exorcisms, often +exorcised her in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and she always replied +pertinently to them, she who could hardly read Latin. + +They report the certificate given by M. Nicolas de Harley, very well +skilled in the Hebrew tongue, who avowed that Mademoiselle Ranfaing +was really possessed, and had answered him from the movement of his +lips alone, without his having pronounced any words, and had given +several proofs of her possession. The Sieur Garnier, a doctor of the +Sorbonne, having also given her several commands in Hebrew, she +replied pertinently, but in French, saying that the compact was made +that he should speak only in the usual tongue. The demon added, "Is it +not enough that I show thee that I understand what thou sayest?" The +same M. Garnier, speaking to him in Greek, inadvertently put one case +for another; the possessed, or rather the devil, said to him, "_Thou +hast committed an error._" The doctor said to him in Greek, "Point out +my fault;" the devil replied, "_Let it suffice thee that I point out +an error; I shall tell thee no more concerning it._" The doctor +telling him in Greek to hold his tongue, he answered, "Thou commandest +me to hold my tongue, and I will not do so." + +M. Midot Ecolâtre de Toul said to him in the same language, "Sit +down;" he replied, "I will not sit down." M. Midot said to him +moreover in Greek, "Sit down on the ground and obey;" but as the demon +was going to throw the possessed by force on the ground, he said to +him in the same tongue, "Do it gently;" he did so. He said in Greek, +"Put out the right foot;" he extended it; he said also in the same +language, "Cause her knees to be cold," the woman replied that she +felt them very cold. + +The Sieur Mince, a doctor of the Sorbonne, holding a cross in his +hand, the devil whispered to him in Greek, "Give me the cross," which +was heard by some persons who were near him. M. Mince desired to make +the devil repeat the same sentence; he answered, "I will not repeat it +all in Greek;" but he simply said in French, "Give me," and in Greek, +"the cross." + +The Reverend Father Albert, Capuchin, having ordered him in Greek to +make the sign of the cross seven times with his tongue, in honor of +the seven joys of the Virgin, he made the sign of the cross three +times with his tongue, and then twice with his nose; but the holy man +told him anew to make the sign of the cross seven times with his +tongue; he did so; and having been commanded in the same language to +kiss the feet of the Lord Bishop of Toul, he prostrated himself and +kissed his feet. + +The same father having observed that the demon wished to overturn the +_Bénitier_, or basin of holy water which was there, he ordered him to +take the holy water and not spill it, and he obeyed. The Father +commanded him to give marks of the possession; he answered, "The +possession is sufficiently known;" he added in Greek, "I command thee +to carry some holy water to the governor of the town." The demon +replied, "It is not customary to exorcise in that tongue." The father +answered in Latin, "It is not for thee to impose laws on us; but the +church has power to command thee in whatever language she may think +proper." + +Then the demon took the basin of holy water and carried it to the +keeper of the Capuchins, to the Duke Eric of Lorraine, to the Counts +of Brionne, Remonville, la Vaux, and other lords. + +The physician, M. Pichard, having told him in a sentence, partly +Hebrew, and partly Greek, to cure the head and eyes of the possessed +woman; hardly had he finished speaking the last words, when the demon +replied: "Faith, we are not the cause of it; her brain is naturally +moist: that proceeds from her natural constitution;" then M. Pichard +said to the assembly, "Take notice, gentlemen, that he replies to +Greek and Hebrew at the same time." "Yes," replied the demon, "you +discover the pot of roses, and the secret; I will answer you no more." +There were several questions and replies in foreign languages, which +showed that he understood them very well. + +M. Viardin having asked him in Latin, "Ubi censebaris quandò mane +oriebaris?" He replied, "Between the seraphim." They said to him, "Pro +signo exhibe nobis patibulum fratris Cephĉ;" the devil extended his +arms in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. They said to him, "Applica +carpum carpo;" he did so, placing the wrist of one hand over the +other; then, "Admove tarsum tarso et metatarsum metatarso;" he crossed +his feet and raised them one upon the other. Then afterwards he said, +"Excita in calcaneo qualitatem congregantem heterogenea;" the +possessed said she felt her heel cold; after which, "Reprĉsenta nobis +labarum Venetorum;" he made the figure of the cross. Afterwards they +said, "Exhibe nobis videntum Deum benè precantem nepotibus ex +salvatore Egypti;" he crossed his arms as did Jacob on giving his +blessing to the sons of Joseph; and then, "Exhibe crucem +conterebrantem stipiti," he represented the cross of St. Peter. The +exorcist having by mistake said, "Per eum qui adversus te prĉliavit," +the demon did not give him time to correct himself; he said to him, "O +the ass! instead of _prĉliatus est_." He was spoken to in Italian and +German, and he always answered accordingly. + +They said to him one day, "Sume encolpium ejus qui hodiè functus est +officio illius de quo cecinit Psaltes: pro patribus tuis nati sunt +tibi filii;" he went directly and took the cross hanging round the +neck and resting on the breast of the Prince Eric de Lorraine, who +that same day had filled the office of bishop in giving orders, +because the Bishop of Toul was indisposed. He discovered secret +thoughts, and heard words that were said in the ear of some persons +which he was not possibly near enough to overhear, and declared that +he had known the mental prayer that a good priest had made before the +holy sacrament. + +Here is a trait still more extraordinary. They said to the demon, +speaking Latin and Italian in the same sentence: "Adi scholastrum +seniorem et osculare ejus pedes, la cui scarpa ha più di sugaro;" that +very moment he went and kissed the foot of the Sieur Juillet, ecolâtre +of St. George, the Elder of M. Viardin, ecolâtre of the Primitiale. M. +Juillet's right foot was shorter than the left, which obliged him to +wear a shoe with a cork heel (or raised by a piece of cork, called in +Italian _sugaro_). + +They proposed to him very difficult questions concerning the Trinity, +the Incarnation, the holy sacrament of the altar, the grace of God, +free will, the manner in which angels and demons know the thoughts of +men, &c., and he replied with much clearness and precision. She +discovered things unknown to everybody, and revealed to certain +persons, but secretly and in private, some sins of which they had been +guilty. + +The demon did not obey the voice only of the exorcists; he obeyed even +when they simply moved their lips, or held their hand, or a +handkerchief, or a book upon the mouth. A Calvinist having one day +mingled secretly in the crowd, the exorcist, who was warned of it, +commanded the demon to go and kiss his feet; he went immediately, +rushing through the crowd. + +An Englishman having come from curiosity to the exorcist, the devil +told him several particulars relating to his country and religion. He +was a Puritan; and the Englishman owned that everything he had said +was true. The same Englishman said to him in his language, "As a proof +of thy possession, tell me the name of my master who formerly taught +me embroidery;" he replied, "William." They commanded him to recite +the _Ave Maria_; he said to a Huguenot gentleman who was present, "Do +you say it, if you know it; for they don't say it amongst your +people." M. Pichard relates several unknown and hidden things which +the demon revealed, and that he performed several feats which it is +not possible for any person, however agile and supple he may be, to +achieve by natural strength or power; such as crawling on the ground +without making use of hands or feet, appearing to have the hair +standing erect like serpents. + +After all the details concerning the exorcisms, marks of possession, +questions and answers of the possessed, M. Pichard reports the +authentic testimony of the theologians, physicians, of the bishops +Eric of Lorraine, and Charles of Lorraine, Bishop of Verdun, of +several monks of every order, who attest the said possession to be +real and veritable; and lastly, a letter from the Rev. Father Cotton, +a Jesuit, who certifies the same thing. The said letter bears date the +5th of June, 1621, and is in reply to the one which the Prince Eric of +Lorraine had written to him. + +I have omitted a great many particulars related in the recital of the +exorcisms, and the proofs of the possession of Mademoiselle de +Ranfaing. I think I have said enough to convince any persons who are +sincere and unprejudiced that her possession is as certain as these +things can be. The affair occurred at Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, +in the presence of a great number of enlightened persons, two of whom +were of the house of Lorraine, both bishops, and well informed; in +presence and by the orders of my Lord de Porcelets, Bishop of Toul, a +most enlightened man, and of distinguished merit; of two doctors of +the Sorbonne, called thither expressly to judge of the reality of the +possession; in presence of people of the so-called Reformed religion, +and much on their guard against things of this kind. It has been seen +how far Father Pithoy carried his temerity against the possession in +question; he has been reprimanded by his diocesan and his superiors, +who have imposed silence on him. + +Mademoiselle de Ranfaing is known to be personally a woman of +extraordinary virtue, prudence, and merit. No reason can be imagined +for her feigning a possession which has pained her in a thousand ways. +The consequence of this terrible trial has been the establishment of a +kind of religious order, from which the church has received much +edification, and from which God has providentially derived glory. + +M. Nicolas de Harlay Sancy and M. Viardin are persons highly to be +respected both for their personal merit, their talent, and the high +offices they have filled; the first having been French ambassador at +Constantinople, and the other resident of the good Duke Henry at the +Court of Rome; so that I do not think I could have given an instance +more fit to convince you of there being real and veritable possessions +than this of Mademoiselle de Ranfaing. + +I do not relate that of the nuns of Loudun, on which such various +opinions have been given, the reality of which was doubted at the very +time, and is very problematical to this day. Those who are curious to +know the history of that affair will find it very well detailed in a +book I have already cited, entitled, "Examen et Discussion Critique de +l'Histoire des Diables de Loudun, &c., par M. de la Ménardaye," à +Paris, chez de Bure Ainé, 1749. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE OBSESSIONS AND POSSESSIONS OF THE DEMON--REPLY +TO THE OBJECTIONS. + + +Several objections may be raised against the obsessions and +possessions of demons; nothing is subject to greater difficulties than +this matter, but Providence constantly and uniformly permits the +clearest and most certain truths of religion to remain enveloped in +some degree of obscurity; that facts the best averred and the most +indubitable should be subject to doubts and contradictions; that the +most evident miracles should be disputed by some incredulous persons +on account of circumstances which appear to them doubtful and +disputable. + +All religion has its lights and shadows; God has permitted it to be so +in order that the just may have somewhat to exercise their faith in +believing, and the impious and incredulous persist in their wilful +impiety and incredulity. The greatest mysteries of Christianity are to +the one subjects of scandal, and to the others means of salvation; +the one regarding the mystery of the cross as folly, and the others as +the work of sublimest wisdom, and of the most admirable power of God. +Pharaoh hardened his heart when he saw the wonders wrought by Moses; +but the magicians of Egypt were at last obliged to recognize in them +the hand of God. The Hebrews on sight of these wonders take confidence +in Moses and Aaron, and yield themselves to their guidance, without +fearing the dangers to which they may be exposed. + +We have already remarked that the demon often seems to act against his +own interest, and destroy his own empire, by saying that everything +which is related of the return of spirits, the obsessions and +possessions of the demon, of spells, magic, and sorcery, are only +tales wherewith to frighten children; that they all have no existence +except in weak and prejudiced minds. How can it serve the demon to +maintain this, and destroy the general opinion of nations on all these +things? If in all there is only falsehood and illusion, what does he +gain by undeceiving people? and if there is any truth in them, why +decry his own work, and take away the credit of his subordinates and +his own operations? + +Jesus Christ in the Gospel refutes those who said that he expelled +devils in the name of Beelzebub;[260] he maintains that the accusation +is unfounded, because it was incredible that Satan should destroy his +own work and his own empire. The reasoning is doubtless solid and +conclusive, above all to the Jews, who thought that Jesus Christ did +not differ from other exorcists who expelled demons, unless it was +that he commanded the prince of devils, while the others commanded +only the subaltern demons. Now, on this supposition, the prince of the +demons could not expel his subalterns without destroying his own +empire, without decrying himself, and without ruining the reputation +of those who only acted by his orders. + +It may be objected to this argument, that Jesus Christ supposed, as +did the Jews, that the demons whom he expelled really possessed those +whom he cured, in whatever manner he might cure them; and consequently +that the empire of the demons subsisted, both in Beelzebub, the prince +of the demons, and in the other demons who were subordinate to him, +and who obeyed his orders; thus, his empire was not entirely +destroyed, supposing that Jesus Christ expelled them in the name of +Beelzebub; that subordination, on the contrary, supposed that power or +empire of the prince of the demons, and strengthened it. + +But Jesus Christ not only expelled demons by his own authority, +without ever making mention of Beelzebub; he expelled them in spite of +themselves, and sometimes they loudly complained that he was come to +torment them before the time.[261] There was neither collusion between +him and them, nor subordination similar to that which might be +supposed to exist between Beelzebub and the other demons. + +The Lord pursued them, not only in expelling them from bodies, but +also in overthrowing their bad maxims, by establishing doctrines and +maxims quite contrary to their own; he made war upon every vice, +error, and falsehood; he attacked the demon face to face, everywhere, +unflinchingly; thus, it cannot be said that he spared him, or was in +collusion with him. If the devil will sometimes pass off as chimeras +and illusions all that is said of apparitions, obsessions and +possessions, magic and sorcery; and if he appears so absolutely to +overthrow his reign, even so far as to deny the most marked and +palpable effects of his own power and presence, and impute them to the +weakness of mind of men and their foolish prejudices; in all this he +can only gain advantage for himself: for, if he can persuade people of +the truth of what he advances, his power will only be more solidly +confirmed by it, since it will no longer be attacked, and he will be +left to enjoy his conquests in peace, and the ecclesiastical and +secular powers interested in repressing the effects of his malice and +cruelty will no longer take the trouble to make war upon him, and +caution or put the nations on their guard against his stratagems and +ambuscades. It will close the mouth of parliaments, and stay the hand +of judges and powers; and the simple people will become the sport of +the demon, who will not cease continuing to tempt, persecute, corrupt, +deceive, and cause the perdition of those who shall no longer mistrust +his snares and his malice. The world will relapse into the same state +as when under paganism, given up to error, to the most shameful +passions, and will even deny or doubt those truths which shall be the +best attested, and the most necessary to our salvation. + +Moses in the Old Testament well foresaw that the evil spirit would set +every spring to work, to lead the Israelites into error and unruly +conduct; he foresaw that in the midst of the chosen people he would +instigate seducers, who would predict to them the hidden future, which +predictions would come true and be followed up. He always forbids +their listening to any prophet or diviners who wished to mislead them +to impiety or idolatry. + +Tertullian, speaking of the delusions performed by demons, and the +foresight they have of certain events, says,[262] that being spiritual +in their nature, they find themselves in a moment in any place they +may wish, and announce at a distance what they have seen and heard. +All this is attributed to the Divinity, because neither the cause nor +the manner is known; often, also, they boast of causing events, which +they do but announce; and it is true that often they are themselves +the authors of the evils they predict, but never of any good. +Sometimes they make use of the knowledge they have derived from the +predictions of the prophets respecting the designs of God, and they +utter them as coming from themselves. As they are spread abroad in the +air, they see in the clouds what must happen, and thus foretell the +rain which they were aware of before it had been felt upon earth. As +to maladies, if they cure them, it is because they have occasioned +them; they prescribe remedies which produce effect, and it is believed +that they have cured maladies simply because they have not continued +them. _Quia desinunt lĉdere, curasse credentur._ + +The demon can then foresee the future and what is hidden, and discover +them by means of his votaries; he can also doubtlessly do wonderful +things which surpass the usual and known powers of nature; but it is +never done except to deceive us, and lead us into disorder and +impiety. And even should he wear the semblance of leading to virtue +and practising those things which are praiseworthy and useful to +salvation, it would only be to win the confidence of such as would +listen to his suggestions, to make them afterward fall into +misfortune, and engage them in some sin of presumption or vanity: for +as he is a spirit of malice and lies, it little imports to him by what +means he surprises us, and establishes his reign among us. + +But he is very far from always foreseeing the future, or succeeding +always in misleading us; God has set bounds to his malice. He often +deceives himself, and often makes use of disguise and perversion, that +he may not appear to be ignorant of what he is ignorant of, or he will +appear unwilling to do what God will not allow him to do; his power is +always bounded, and his knowledge limited. Often, also, he will +mislead and deceive through malice, because he is the father of +falsehood. He deceives men, and rejoices when he sees them doing +wrong; but not to lose his credit amongst those who consult him +directly or indirectly, he lays the fault on those who undertake to +interpret his words, or the equivocal signs which he has given. For +instance, if he is consulted whether to begin an enterprise, or give +battle, or set off on a journey, if the thing succeeds, he takes all +the glory and merit to himself; if it does not succeed, he imputes it +to the men who have not well understood the sense of his oracle, or to +the aruspices, who have made mistakes in consulting the entrails of +the immolated animals, or the flight of birds, &c. + +We must not, then, be surprised to find so many contradictions, +doubts, and difficulties, in the matter of apparitions, angels, +demons, and spirits. Man naturally loves to distinguish himself from +the common herd, and rise above the opinions of the people; it is a +sort of fashion not to suffer one's self to be drawn along by the +torrent, and to desire to sound and examine everything. We know that +there is an infinity of prejudices, errors, vulgar opinions, false +miracles, illusions, and seductions in the world; we know that many +things are attributed to the devil which are purely natural, or that a +thousand apocryphal stories are related. It is then right to hold +one's self on one's guard, in order not to be deceived. It is very +important for religion to distinguish between true and false miracles, +certain or uncertain events, and works wrought by the hand of God, +from those which are the work of the seducing spirit. + +In all that he does, the demon mixes up a great many illusions amid +some truths, in order that the difficulty of discerning the true from +the false may make mankind take the side which pleases them most, and +that the incredulous may always have some points to maintain them in +their incredulity. Although the apparitions of spirits, angels, and +demons, and their operations, may not, perhaps, always be miraculous, +nevertheless, as the greater part appear above the common course of +nature, many of the persons of whom we have just spoken, without +giving themselves the trouble to examine the things, and seek for the +causes of them, the authors, and the circumstances, boldly take upon +themselves to deny them all. It is the shortest way, but neither the +most sensible nor the most rational; for in what is said on this +subject, there are effects which can be reasonably attributed to the +Almighty power of God alone, who acts immediately, or makes secondary +causes act to his glory, for the advancement of religion, and the +manifestation of the truth; and other effects there are, which bear +visibly the character of illusion, impiety, and seduction, and in +which it would seem that, instead of the finger of God, we can observe +only the marks of the spirit of deceit and falsehood. + + +Footnotes: + +[260] Matt. xii. 24-27. Luke xi. 15-18. + +[261] Matt. viii. 29. + +[262] Tertullian does not say so much in the passage cited; on the +contrary, he affirms that we are ignorant of their nature: _substantia +ignoratur_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +CONTINUATION OF OBJECTIONS AGAINST POSSESSIONS, AND SOME REPLIES TO +THOSE OBJECTIONS. + + +We read in works, published and printed, composed by Catholic authors +of our days,[263] that it is proved by reason, that possessions of the +demon are naturally impossible, and that it is not true, in regard to +ourselves and our ideas, that the demon can have any natural power +over the corporeal world; that as soon as we admit in the created +wills a power to act upon bodies, and to move them, it is impossible +to set bounds to it, and that this power is truly infinite. + +They maintain that the demon can act upon our souls simply by means of +suggestion; that it is impossible the demon should be the physical +cause of the least external effect; that all the Scripture tells us of +the snares and stratagems of Satan signifies nothing more than the +temptations of the flesh and concupiscence; and that to seduce us, the +demon requires only mental suggestions. His is a moral, not a physical +power; in a word, _that the demon can do neither good nor harm; that +his might is nought_; that we do not know if God has given to any +other spirit than the soul of man the power to move the body; that, on +the contrary, we ought to presume that the wisdom of God has willed +that pure spirits should have no commerce with the body; they maintain +moreover that the pagans never knew what we call bad angels and +demons. + +All these propositions are certainly contrary to Scripture, to the +opinions of the Fathers, and to the tradition of the Catholic Church. +But these gentlemen do not trouble themselves about that; they affirm +that the sacred writers have often expressed themselves according to +the opinions of their time, whether because the necessity of making +themselves understood forced them to conform to it, or that they +themselves had adopted those opinions. There is, say they, more +likelihood that several infirmities which the Scripture has ascribed +to the demon had simply a natural cause; that in these places the +sacred authors have spoken according to vulgar opinions; the error of +this language is of no importance. + +The prophets of Saul, and Saul himself, were never what are properly +termed Prophets; they might be attacked with those (fits) which the +pagans call _sacred_. You must be asleep when you read, not to see +that the temptation of Eve is only an allegory. It is the same with +the permission given by God to Satan to tempt Job. Why wish to explain +the whole book of Job literally, and as a true history, since its +beginning is only a fiction? It is anything but certain that Jesus +Christ was transported by the demon to the highest pinnacle of the +temple. + +The Fathers were prepossessed on one side by the reigning ideas of the +philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato on the influences of mean +intelligences, and on the other hand by the language of the holy +books, which to conform to popular opinions often ascribed to the +demon effects which were purely natural. We must then return to the +doctrine of reason to decide on the submission which we ought to pay +to the authority of the Scriptures and the Fathers concerning the +power of the demons. + +The uniform method of the Holy Fathers in the interpretations of the +Old Testament is human opinion, whence one can appeal to the tribunal +of reason. They go so far as to say that the sacred authors were +informed of the Metempsychosis, as the author of the Book of Wisdom, +chap. viii. 19, 20: "I was an innocent child, and I received a good +spirit; and as I was already good, I entered into an uncorrupted +body." + +Persons of this temper will certainly not read this work of ours, or, +if they do read it, it will be with contempt or pity. I do not think +it necessary to refute those paradoxes here; the Bishop of Senez has +done it with his usual erudition and zeal, in a long letter printed at +Utrecht in 1736. I do not deny that the sacred writers may sometimes +have spoken in a popular manner, and in accordance with the prejudice +of the people. But it is carrying things too far to reduce the power +of the demon to being able to act upon us only by means of suggestion; +and it is a presumption unworthy of a philosopher to decide on the +power of spirits over bodies, having no knowledge, either by +revelation or by reason, of the extent of the power of angels and +demons over matter and human bodies. We may exceed due measure by +granting them excessive power, as well as in not according them +enough. But it is of infinite importance to Religion to discern justly +between what is natural, or supernatural, in the operations of angels +and demons, that the simple may not be left in error, nor the wicked +triumph over the truth, and make a bad use of their own wit and +knowledge, to render doubtful what is certain, and deceiving both +themselves and others by ascribing to chance or illusion of the +senses, or a vain prepossession of the mind, what is said of the +apparitions of angels, demons, and deceased persons; since it is +certain that several of these apparitions are quite true, although +there may be a great number of others that are very uncertain, and +even manifestly false. + +I shall therefore make no difficulty in owning that even miracles, at +least things that appear such, the prediction of future events, +movements of the body which appear beyond the usual powers of nature, +to speak and understand foreign languages unknown before, to penetrate +the thoughts, discover concealed things, to be raised up, and +transported in a moment from one place to another, to announce truths, +lead a good life externally, preach Jesus Christ, decry magic and +sorcery, make an outward profession of virtue; I readily own that all +these things may not prove invincibly that all who perform them are +sent by God, or that these operations are real miracles; yet we cannot +reasonably suppose the demon to be mixed up in them by God's +permission, or that the demons or the angels do not act upon those +persons who perform prodigies, and foretell things to come, or who can +penetrate the thoughts of the heart, or that God himself does not +produce these effects by the immediate action of his justice or his +might. + +The examples which have been cited, or which may be cited hereafter, +will never prove that man can of himself penetrate the sentiments of +another, or discover his secret thoughts. The wonders worked by the +magicians of Pharaoh were only illusion; they appeared, however, to be +true miracles, and passed for such in the eyes of the King of Egypt +and all his court. Balaam, the son of Beor, was a true Prophet, +although a man whose morals were very corrupt. + +Pomponatius writes that the wife of Francis Maigret, savetier of +Mantua, spoke divers languages, and was cured by Calderon, a +physician, famous in his time, who gave her a potion of Hellebore. +Erasmus says also[264] that he had seen an Italian, a native of +Spoletta, who spoke German very well, although he had never been in +Germany; they gave him a medicine which caused him to eject a quantity +of worms, and he was cured so as not to speak German any more. + +Le Loyer, in his _Book of Spectres_,[265] avows that all those things +appear to him much to be doubted. He rather believes Fernel, one of +the gravest physicians of his age, who maintains[266] that there is +not such power in medicine, and brings forward as an instance the +history of a young gentleman, the son of a Knight of the Order, who +being seized upon by the demon, could be cured neither by potions, by +medicines, nor by diet (_i. e._ fasting), but who was cured by the +conjurations and exorcisms of the church. + +As to the reality of the return of souls, or spirits, and their +apparitions, the Sorbonne, the most celebrated school of theology in +France, has always believed that the spirits of the defunct returned +sometimes, either by the order and power of God, or by his permission. +The Sorbonne confessed this in its decisions of the year 1518, and +still more positively the 23d of January, 1724. _Nos respondemus +vestrĉ petitioni animas defunctorum divinitus, seu divinâ virtute, +ordinatione aut permissione interdum ad vivas redire exploratum esse._ +Several jurisconsults and several sovereign companies have decreed +that the apparition of a deceased person in a house could suffice to +break up the lease. We may count it for much, to have proved to +certain persons that there is a God whose providence extends over all +things past, present, and to come; that there is another life, that +there are good and bad spirits, rewards for good works, and +punishments after this life for sins; that Jesus Christ has ruined the +power of Satan; that he exercised in himself, in his apostles, and +continues to exercise in the ministers of his church, an absolute +empire over the infernal powers; that the devil is now chained; he may +bark and threaten, but he can bite only those who approach him, and +voluntarily give themselves up to him. + +We have seen in these parts a woman who followed a band of mountebanks +and jugglers, who stretched out her legs in such an extraordinary +manner, and raised up her feet to her head, before and behind, with as +much suppleness as if she had neither nerves nor joints. There was +nothing supernatural in all that; she had exercised herself from +extreme youth in these movements, and had contracted the habit of +performing them. + +St. Augustine[267] speaks of a soothsayer whom he had known at +Carthage, an illiterate man, who could discover the secrets of the +heart, and replied to those who consulted him on secret and unknown +affairs. He had himself made an experiment on him, and took to witness +St. Alypius, Licentius, and Trygnius, his interlocutors, in his +dialogue against the Academicians. They, like him, had consulted +Albicerius, and had admired the certainty of his replies. He gives us +an instance--a spoon which had been lost. They told him that some one +had lost something; and he instantly, without hesitation, replied that +such a thing was lost, that such a one had taken it, and had hid it in +such a place, which was found to be quite true. + +They sent him a certain quantity of pieces of silver; he who was +charged to carry them had taken away some of them. He made the person +return them, and perceived the theft before the money had been shown +to him. St. Augustine was present. A learned and distinguished man, +named Flaccianus, wishing to buy a field, consulted the soothsayer, +who declared to him the name of the land, which was very +extraordinary, and gave him all the details of the affair in question. +A young student, wishing to prove Albicerius, begged of him to declare +to him what he was thinking of; he told him he was thinking of a verse +of Virgil; and, as he then asked him which verse it was, the diviner +repeated it instantly, though he had never studied the Latin language. + +This Albicerius was a scoundrel, as St. Augustine says, who calls him +_flagitiosum hominem_. The knowledge which he had of hidden things was +not, doubtless, a gift of heaven, any more than the Pythonic spirit +which animated that maid in the Acts of the Apostles whom St. Paul +obliged to keep silence.[268] It was then the work of the evil spirit. + +The gift of tongues, the knowledge of the future, and power to divine +the thoughts of others, are always adduced, and with reason, as solid +proofs of the presence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit; but if the +demon can sometimes perform the same things, he does it to mislead and +induce sin, or simply to render true prophecies doubtful; but never to +lead to truth, the fear and love of God, and the edification of those +around. God may allow such corrupt men as Balaam, and such rascals as +Albicerius, to have some knowledge of the future, and secret things, +and even of the hidden thoughts of men; but he never permits their +criminality to remain unrevealed to the end, and so become a +stumbling-block for simple or worthy people. The malice of these +hypocritical and corrupt men will be made manifest sooner or later by +some means; their malice and depravity will be found out, by which it +will be judged, either that they are inspired only by the evil spirit, +or that the Holy Spirit makes use of their agency to foretell some +truth, as he prophesied by Balaam, and by Caïphas. Their morals and +their conduct will throw discredit on them, and oblige us to be +careful in discerning between their true predictions and their bad +example. We have seen hypocrites who died with the reputation of being +worthy people, and who at bottom were scoundrels--as for instance, +that curé, the director of the nuns of Louviers, whose possession was +so much talked of. + +Jesus Christ, in the Gospel, tells us to be on our guard against +wolves in sheep's clothing; and, elsewhere, he tells us that there +will be false Christs and false prophets, who will prophesy in his +name, and perform wonders capable of deceiving the very elect +themselves, were it possible. But he refers us to their works to +distinguish them. + +To apply all these things to the possessed nuns of Loudun, and to +Mademoiselle de Ranfaing, even to that girl whose hypocrisy was +unmasked by Mademoiselle Acarie, I appeal to their works, and their +conduct both before and after. + + * * * * * + +God will not allow those who sincerely seek the truth to be deceived. + +A juggler will guess which card you have touched, or even simply +thought of; but it is known that there is nothing supernatural in +that, and that it is done by the combination of the cards according to +mathematical rules. We have seen a deaf man who understood what they +wished to say to him by simply observing the motion of the lips of +those who spoke. There is nothing more miraculous in this than in two +persons conversing together by signs upon which they have agreed. + + +Footnotes: + +[263] See the letter of the Bishop of Senez, printed at Utrecht, in +1736, and the works that he therein cites and refutes. + +[264] Erasm. Orat. de laudibus Medicinĉ. + +[265] Le Loyer, lib. de Spec. cap. ii. p. 288. + +[266] Fernel, de abditis Rerum Causis, lib. ii. c. 26. + +[267] August. contra Academic. lib. ii. art. 17, 18. + +[268] Acts xvi. 16. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +OF FAMILIAR SPIRITS. + + +If all that is related of spirits which are perceived in houses, in +the cavities of mountains, and in mines, is certain, we cannot disavow +that they also must be placed in the rank of apparitions of the evil +spirit; for, although they usually do neither wrong nor violence to +any one, unless they are irritated or receive abusive words; +nevertheless we do not read that they lead to the love or fear of God, +to prayer, piety, or acts of devotion; it is known, on the contrary, +that they show a distaste to those things, so that we shall place them +in earnest among the spirits of darkness. + +I do not find that the ancient Hebrews knew anything of what we call +_esprits follets_, or familiar spirits, which infest houses, or attach +themselves to certain persons, to serve them, watch over and warn +them, and guard them from danger; such as the demon of Socrates, who +warned him to avoid certain misfortunes. Some other examples are also +related of persons who said they had similar genii attached to their +persons. + +The Jews and Christians confess that every one of us has his good +angel, who guides him from his early youth.[269] Several of the +ancients have thought that we have also our evil angel, who leads us +into error. The Psalmist[270] says distinctly that God has commanded +his angels to guide us in all our ways. But this is not what we +understand here under the name of _esprits follets_. + +The prophets in some places speak of _fauns_, or _hairy men_, or +_satyrs_, who have some resemblance to our elves. + +Isaiah,[271] speaking of the state to which Babylon shall be reduced +after her destruction, says that the ostriches shall make it their +dwelling, and that the hairy men, _pilosi_, the satyrs, and goats, +shall dance there. And elsewhere the same prophet says,[272] +_Occurrent dĉmonia onocentauris et pilosus clamabit alter ad alterum_, +by which clever interpreters understand spectres which appear in the +shape of goats. Jeremiah calls them _fauns_--the dragons with the +fauns, which feed upon figs. But this is not the place for us to go +more fully into the signification of the terms of the original; it +suffices for us to show that in the Scripture, at least in the +Vulgate, are found the names of _lamiĉ_, _fauns_, and _satyrs_, which +have some resemblance to _esprits follets_. + +Cassian,[273] who had studied deeply the lives of the fathers of the +desert, and who had been much with the hermits or anchorites of Egypt, +speaking of divers sorts of demons, mentions some which they commonly +called _fauns_ or _satyrs_, which the pagans regard as kinds of +divinities of the fields or groves, who delighted, not so much in +tormenting or doing harm to mankind, as in deceiving and fatiguing +them, diverting themselves at their expense, and sporting with their +simplicity.[274] + +Pliny[275] the younger had a freed-man named Marcus, a man of letters, +who slept in the same bed with his brother, who was younger than +himself. It seemed to him that he saw a person sitting on the same +bed, who was cutting off his hair from the crown of his head. When he +awoke, he found his head shorn of hair, and his hair thrown on the +ground in the middle of the chamber. A little time after, the same +thing happened to a youth who slept with several others at a school. +This one saw two men dressed in white come in at the window, who cut +off his hair as he slept, and then went out by the same window: on +awaking, he found his hair scattered about on the floor. To what can +these things be attributed, if not to an elf? + +Plotinus,[276] a Platonic philosopher, had, it is said, a familiar +demon, who obeyed him from the moment he called him, and was superior +in his nature to the common genii; he was of the order of gods, and +Plotinus paid continual attention to this divine guardian. This it was +which led him to undertake a work on the demon which belongs to each +of us in particular. He endeavors to explain the difference between +the genii which watch over men. + +Trithemius, in his Chronicon Hirsauginse,[277] under the year 1130, +relates that in the diocese of Hildesheim, in Saxony, they saw for +some time a spirit which they called in German _heidekind_, as if they +would say _rural genius_, _heide_ signifying vast country, _kind_, +child (or boy). He appeared sometimes in one form, sometimes in +another; and sometimes, without appearing at all, he did several +things by which he proved both his presence and his power. He chose +sometimes to give very important advice to those in power; and often +he has been seen in the bishop's kitchen, helping the cooks and doing +sundry jobs. + +A young scullion, who had grown familiar with him, having offered him +some insults, he warned the head cook of it, who made light of it, or +thought nothing about it; but the spirit avenged himself cruelly. This +youth having fallen asleep in the kitchen, the spirit stifled him, +tore him to pieces, and roasted him. He carried his fury still further +against the officers of the kitchen, and the other officers of the +prince. The thing went on to such a point that they were obliged to +proceed against him by (ecclesiastical) censures, and to constrain him +by exorcisms to go out of the country. + +I think I may put amongst the number of elves the spirits which are +seen, they say, in mines and mountain caves. They appear clad like the +miners, run here and there, appear in haste as if to work and seek the +veins of mineral ore, lay it in heaps, draw it out, turning the wheel +of the crane; they seem to be very busy helping the workmen, and at +the same time they do nothing at all. + +These spirits are not mischievous, unless they are insulted and +laughed at; for then they fall into an ill humor, and throw things at +those who offend them. One of these genii, who had been addressed in +injurious terms by a miner, twisted his neck and placed his head the +hind part before. The miner did not die, but remained all his life +with his neck twisted and awry. + +George Agricola,[278] who has treated very learnedly on mines, metals, +and the manner of extracting them from the bowels of the earth, +mentions two or three sorts of spirits which appear in mines. Some are +very small, and resemble dwarfs or pygmies; the others are like old +men dressed like miners, having their shirts tucked up, and a leathern +apron round their loins; others perform, or seem to perform, what they +see others do, are very gay, do no harm to any one, but from all their +labors nothing real results. + +In other mines are seen dangerous spirits, who ill-use the workmen, +hunt them away, and sometimes kill them, and thus constrain them to +forsake mines which are very rich and abundant. For instance, at +Anneberg, in a mine called Crown of Rose, a spirit in the shape of a +spirited, snorting horse, killed twelve miners, and obliged those who +worked the mine to abandon the undertaking, though it brought them in +a great deal. In another mine, called St. Gregory, in Siveberg, there +appeared a spirit whose head was covered with a black hood, and he +seized a miner, raised him up to a considerable height, then let him +fall, and hurt him extremely. + +Olaus Magnus[279] says that, in Sweden and other northern countries, +they saw formerly familiar spirits, which, under the form of men or +women, waited on certain persons. He speaks of certain nymphs dwelling +in caverns and in the depths of the forest, who announce things to +come; some are good, others bad; they appear and speak to those who +consult them. Travelers and shepherds also often see during the night +divers phantoms which burn the spot where they appear, so that +henceforward neither grass nor verdure are seen there. + +He says that the people of Finland, before their conversion to +Christianity, sold the winds to sailors, giving them a string with +three knots, and warning them that by untying the first knot they +would have a gentle and favorable wind, at the second knot a stronger +wind, and at the third knot a violent and dangerous gale. He says, +moreover, that the Bothnians, striking on an anvil hard blows with a +hammer, upon a frog or a serpent of brass, fall down in a swoon, and +during this swoon they learn what passes in very distant places. + +But all those things have more relation to magic than to familiar +spirits; and if what is said about them be true, it must be ascribed +to the evil spirit. + +The same Olaus Magnus[280] says that in mines, above all in silver +mines, from which great profit may be expected, six sorts of demons +may be seen, who under divers forms labor at breaking the rocks, +drawing the buckets, and turning the wheels; who sometimes burst into +laughter, and play different tricks; all of which are merely to +deceive the miners, whom they crush under the rocks, or expose to the +most imminent dangers, to make them utter blasphemy, and swear and +curse. Several very rich mines have been obliged to be disused through +fear of these dangerous spirits. + +Notwithstanding all that we have just related, I doubt very much if +there are any spirits in mountain caves or in mines. I have +interrogated on the subject people of the trade and miners by +profession, of whom there is a great number in our mountains, the +Vosges, who have assured me that all which is related on that point is +fabulous; that if sometimes they see these elves or grotesque figures, +it must be attributed to a heated and prepossessed imagination; or +else that the circumstance is so rare that it ought not to be repeated +as something usual or common. + +A new "Traveler in the Northern Countries," printed at Amsterdam, in +1708, says that the people of Iceland are almost all conjurers or +sorcerers; that they have familiar demons, whom they call _troles_, +who wait upon them as servants, and warn them of the accidents or +illnesses which are to happen to them; they awake them to go a-fishing +when the season is favorable, and if they go for that purpose without +the advice of these genii, they do not succeed. There are some persons +among these people who evoke the dead, and make them appear to those +who wish to consult them: they also conjure up the appearance of the +absent far from the spot where they dwell. + +Father Vadingue relates, after an old manuscript legend, that a lady +named Lupa had had during thirteen years a familiar demon, who served +her as a waiting-woman, and led her into many secret irregularities, +and induced her to treat her servants with inhumanity. God gave her +grace to see her fault, and to do penance for it, by the intercession +of St. François d'Assise and St. Anthony of Padua, to whom she had +always felt particular devotion. + +Cardan speaks of a bearded demon of Niphus, who gave him lessons of +philosophy. + +Agrippa had a demon who waited upon him in the shape of a dog. This +dog, says Paulus Jovius, seeing his master about to expire, threw +himself into the Rhone. + +Much is said of certain spirits[281] which are kept confined in rings, +that are bought, sold, or exchanged. They speak also of a crystal +ring, in which the demon represented the objects desired to be seen. + +Some also speak highly of those enchanted mirrors,[282] in which +children see the face of a robber who is sought for; others will see +it in their nails; all which can only be diabolical illusions. + +Le Loyer relates[283] that when he was studying the law at Thoulouse, +he was lodged near a house where an elf never ceased all the night to +draw water from the well, making the pulley creak all the while; at +other times, he seemed to drag something heavy up the stairs; but he +very rarely entered the rooms, and then he made but little noise. + + +Footnotes: + +[269] Matt. xviii. 10. + +[270] Psalm xc. 11. + +[271] Isai. xiii. 22. Pilosi saltabunt ibi. + +[272] Isai. xxxiv. 15. + +[273] Cassian, Collat. vii. c. 23. + +[274] "Quos seductores et joculatores esse manifestum est, cùm +nequaquam tormentis eorum, quos prĉtereuntes potuerint decipere, +oblectentur, sed de risu tantum modò et illusione contenti, fatigare +potiùs, studeant, quám nocere." + +[275] Plin. i. 7. Epist. 27, suiv. + +[276] Life of Plotin. art. x. + +[277] Chron. Hirsaug. ad ann. 1130. + +[278] Geo. Agricola, de Mineral. Subterran. p. 504. + +[279] Olaus Mag. lib. iii. Hist. 5, 9-14. + +[280] Olaus Mag. lib. vi. c. 9. + +[281] Le Loyer, p. 474. + +[282] Ibid. liv. ii. p. 258. + +[283] Ibid, p. 550. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +SOME OTHER EXAMPLES OF ELVES. + + +On the 25th of August, 1746, I received a letter from a very worthy +man, the curé of the parish of Walsche, a village situated in the +mountains of Vosges, in the county of Dabo, or Dasburg, in Lower +Alsatia, Diocese of Metz. In this letter, he tells me that the 10th of +June, 1740, at eight o'clock in the morning, he being in his kitchen, +with his niece and the servant, he saw on a sudden an iron pot that +was placed on the ground turn round three or four times, without its +being set in motion by any one. A moment after, a stone, weighing +about a pound, was thrown from the next room into the same kitchen, in +presence of the same persons, without their seeing the hand which +threw it. The next day, at nine o'clock in the morning, some panes of +glass were broken, and through these panes were thrown some stones, +with what appeared to them supernatural dexterity. The spirit never +hurt anybody, and never did anything in the night time, but always +during the day. The curé employed the prayers marked out in the ritual +to bless his house, and thenceforth the genius broke no more panes of +glass; but he continued to throw stones at the curé's people, without +hurting them, however. If they fetched water from the fountain, he +threw stones into the bucket; and afterwards he began to serve in the +kitchen. One day, as the servant was planting some cabbages in the +garden, he pulled them up as fast as she planted them, and laid them +in a heap. It was in vain that she stormed, threatened, and swore in +the German style; the genius continued to play his tricks. + +One day, when a bed in the garden had been dug and prepared, the spade +was found thrust two feet deep into the ground, without any trace +being seen of him who had thus stuck it in; but they observed that on +the spade was a riband, and by the spade were two pieces of two soles, +which the girl had locked up the evening before in a little box. +Sometimes he took pleasure in displacing the earthenware and pewter, +and putting it either all round the kitchen, or in the porch, or even +in the cemetery, and always in broad daylight. One day he filled an +iron pot with wild herbs, bran, and leaves of trees, and, having put +some water in it, carried it to the ally or walk in the garden; +another time he suspended it to the pot-hook over the fire. The +servant having broken two eggs into a little dish for the curé's +supper, the genius broke two more into it in his presence, the maid +having merely turned to get some salt. The curé having gone to say +mass, on his return found all his earthenware, furniture, linen, +bread, milk, and other things scattered about over the house. + +Sometimes the spirit would form circles on the paved floor, at one +time with stones, at another with corn or leaves, and in a moment, +before the eyes of all present, all was overturned and deranged. Tired +with these games, the curé sent for the mayor of the place, and told +him he was resolved to quit the parsonage house. Whilst this was +passing, the curé's niece came in, and told them that the genius had +torn up the cabbages in the garden, and had put some money in a hole +in the ground. They went there, and found things exactly as she had +said. They picked up the money, which what the curé had put away in a +place not locked up; and in a moment after they found it anew, with +some liards, two by two, scattered about the kitchen. + +The agents of the Count de Linange being arrived at Walsche, went to +the curé's house, and persuaded him that it was all the effect of a +spell; they told him to take two pistols, and fire them off at the +place where he might observe there were any movements. The genius at +the same moment threw out of the pocket of one of these officers two +pieces of silver; and from that time he was no longer perceived in the +house. + +The circumstances of two pistols terminating the scenes with which the +elf had disturbed the good curé, made him believe that this tormenting +imp was no other than a certain bad parishioner, whom the curé had +been obliged to send away from his parish, and who to revenge himself +had done all that we have related. If that be the case, he had +rendered himself invisible, or he had had credit enough to send in his +stead a familiar genius who puzzled the curé for some weeks; for, if +he were not bodily in this house, what had he to fear from any pistol +shot which might have been fired at him? And if he was there bodily, +how could he render himself invisible? + +I have been told several times that a monk of the Cistercian order had +a familiar genius who attended upon him, arranged his chamber, and +prepared everything ready for him when he was coming back from the +country. They were so accustomed to this, that they expected him home +by these signs, and he always arrived. It is affirmed of another monk +of the same order that he had a familiar spirit, who warned him, not +only of what passed in the house, but also of what happened out of it; +and one day he was awakened three times, and warned that some monks +were quarreling, and were ready to come to blows; he ran to the spot, +and put an end to the dispute. + +St. Sulpicius Severus[284] relates that St. Martin often had +conversations with the Holy Virgin, and other saints, and even with +the demons and false gods of paganism; he talked with them, and +learned from them many secret things. One day, when a council was +being held at Nîmes, where he had not thought proper to be present, +but the decisions of which he desired to know, being in a boat with +St. Sulpicius, but apart from others, as usual with him, an angel +appeared, and informed him what had passed in this assembly of +bishops. Inquiry was made as to the day and hour when the council was +held, and it was found to be at the same hour at which the angel had +appeared to Martin. + +We have been told several times that a young ecclesiastic, in a +seminary at Paris, had a genius who waited upon him, and arranged his +room and his clothes. One day, when the superior was passing by the +chamber of the seminarist, he heard him talking with some one; he +entered, and asked who he was conversing with. The youth affirmed that +there was no one in his room, and, in fact, the superior could neither +see nor discover any one there. Nevertheless, as he had heard their +conversation, the young man owned that for some years he had been +attended by a familiar genius, who rendered him every service that a +domestic could have done, and had promised him great advantages in +the ecclesiastical profession. The superior pressed him to give some +proofs of what he said. He ordered the genius to set a chair for the +superior; the genius obeyed. Information of this was sent to the +archbishop, who did not think proper to give it publicity. The young +clerk was sent away, and this singular adventure was buried in +silence. + +Bodin[285] speaks of a person of his acquaintance who was still living +at the time he wrote, which was in 1588. This person had a familiar +who from the age of thirty-seven had given him good advice respecting +his conduct, sometimes to correct his faults, sometimes to make him +practice virtue, or to assist him; resolving the difficulties which he +might find in reading holy books, or giving him good counsel upon his +own affairs. He usually rapped at his door at three or four o'clock in +the morning to awaken him; and as that person mistrusted all these +things, fearing that it might be an evil angel, the spirit showed +himself in broad day, striking gently on a glass bowl, and then upon a +bench. When he desired to do anything good and useful, the spirit +touched his right ear; but if it was anything wrong and dangerous, he +touched his left ear; so that from that time nothing occurred to him +of which he was not warned beforehand. Sometimes he heard his voice; +and one day, when he found his life in imminent danger, he saw his +genius, under the form of a child of extraordinary beauty, who saved +him from it. + +William, Bishop of Paris,[286] says that he knew a rope-dancer who had +a familiar spirit which played and joked with him, and prevented him +from sleeping, throwing something against the wall, dragging off the +bed-clothes, or pulling him about when he was in bed. We know by the +account of a very sensible person that it has happened to him in the +open country, and in the day time, to feel his cloak and boots pulled +at, and his hat thrown down; then he heard the bursts of laughter and +the voice of a person deceased and well known to him, who seemed to +rejoice at it. + +The discovery of things hidden or unknown, which is made in dreams, or +otherwise, can hardly be ascribed to anything but to familiar spirits. +A man who did not know a word of Greek came to M. de Saumaise, senior, +a counselor of the Parliament of Dijon, and showed him these words, +which he had heard in the night, as he slept, and which he wrote down +in French characters on awaking: "_Apithi ouc osphraine tén sén +apsychian_." He asked him what that meant. M. de Saumaise told him it +meant, "Save yourself; do you not perceive the death with which you +are threatened?" Upon this hint, the man removed, and left his house, +which fell down the following night.[287] + +The same story is related, with a little difference, by another +author, who says that the circumstance happened at Paris;[288] that +the genius spoke in Syriac, and that M. de Saumaise being consulted, +replied, "Go out of your house, for it will fall in ruins to-day, at +nine o'clock in the evening." It is but too much the custom in +reciting stories of this kind to add a few circumstances by way of +embellishment. + +Gassendi, in the Life of M. Peiresch, relates that M. Peiresch, going +one day to Nismes, with one of his friends, named M. Rainier, the +latter, having heard Peiresch talking in his sleep in the night, waked +him, and asked him what he said. Peiresch answered him, "I dreamed +that, being at Nismes, a jeweler had offered me a medal of Julius +Cĉsar, for which he asked four crowns, and as I was going to count him +down his money, you waked me, to my great regret." They arrived at +Nismes, and going about the town, Peiresch recognized the goldsmith +whom he had seen in his dream; and on his asking him if he had nothing +curious, the goldsmith told him he had a gold medal, or coin, of +Julius Cĉsar. Peiresch asked him how much he esteemed it worth; he +replied, four crowns. Peiresch paid them, and was delighted to see his +dream so happily accomplished. + +Here is a dream much more singular than the preceding, although a +little in the same style.[289] A learned man of Dijon, after having +wearied himself all day with an important passage in a Greek poet, +without being able to comprehend it at all, went to bed thinking of +this difficulty. During his sleep, his genius transported him in +spirit to Stockholm, introduced him into the palace of Queen +Christina, conducted him into the library, and showed him a small +volume, which was precisely what he sought. He opened it, read in it +ten or twelve Greek verses, which absolutely cleared up the difficulty +which had so long beset him; he awoke, and wrote down the verses he +had seen at Stockholm. On the morrow, he wrote to M. Descartes, who +was then in Sweden, and begged of him to look in such a place, and in +such a _division_ of the library, if the book, of which he sent him +the description, were there, and if the Greek verses which he sent him +were to be read in it. + +M. Descartes replied that he had found the book in question; and also +the verses he had sent were in the place he pointed out; that one of +his friends had promised him a copy of that work, and he would send it +him by the first opportunity. + +We have already said something of the spirit, or familiar genius of +Socrates, which prevented him from doing certain things, but did not +lead him to do others. It is asserted[290] that, after the defeat of +the Athenian army, commanded by Laches, Socrates, flying like the +others, with this Athenian general, and being arrived at a spot where +several roads met, Socrates would not follow the road taken by the +other fugitives; and when they asked him the reason, he replied, +because his genius drew him away from it. The event justified his +foresight. All those who had taken the other road were either killed +or made prisoners by the enemy's cavalry. + +It is doubtful whether the elves, of which so many things are related, +are good or bad spirits; for the faith of the church admits nothing +between these two kinds of genii. Every genius is either good or bad; +but as there are in heaven many mansions, as the Gospel says,[291] and +as there are among the blessed, various degrees of glory, differing +from each other, so we may believe that there are in hell various +degrees of pain and punishment for the damned and the demons. + +But are they not rather magicians, who render themselves invisible, +and divert themselves in disquieting the living? Why do they attach +themselves to certain spots, and certain persons, rather than to +others? Why do they make themselves perceptible only during a certain +time, and that sometimes a short space? + +I could willingly conclude that what is said of them is mere fancy and +prejudice; but their reality has been so often experienced by the +discourse they have held, and the actions they have performed in the +presence of many wise and enlightened persons, that I cannot persuade +myself that among the great number of stories related of them there +are not at least some of them true. + +It may be remarked that these elves never lead one to anything good, +to prayer, or piety, to the love of God, or to godly and serious +actions. If they do no other harm, they leave hurtful doubts about the +punishments of the damned, on the efficacy of prayer and exorcisms; if +they hurt not those men or animals which are found on the spot where +they may be perceived, it is because God sets bounds to their malice +and power. The demon has a thousand ways of deceiving us. All those to +whom these genii attach themselves have a horror of them, mistrust and +fear them; and it rarely happens that these familiar demons do not +lead them to a dangerous end, unless they deliver themselves from them +by grave acts of religion and penance. + +There is the story of a spirit, "which," says he who wrote it to me, +"I no more doubt the truth of than if I had been a witness of it." +Count Despilliers, the father, being a young man, and captain of +cuirassiers, was in winter quarters in Flanders. One of his men came +to him one day to beg that he would change his landlord, saying that +every night there came into his bed-room a spirit, which would not +allow him to sleep. The Count Despilliers sent him away, and laughed +at his simplicity. Some days after, the same horseman came back and +made the same request to him; the only reply of the captain would +have been a volley of blows with a stick, had not the soldier avoided +them by a prompt flight. At last, he returned a third time to the +charge, and protested to his captain that he could bear it no longer, +and should be obliged to desert if his lodgings were not changed. +Despilliers, who knew the soldier to be brave and reasonable, said to +him, with an oath, "I will go this night and sleep with you, and see +what is the matter." + +At ten o'clock in the evening, the captain repaired to his soldier's +lodging, and having laid his pistols ready primed upon the table, he +lay down in his clothes, his sword by his side, with his soldier, in a +bed without curtains. About midnight he heard something which came +into the room, and in a moment turned the bed upside down, covering +the captain and the soldier with the mattress and paillasse. +Despilliers had great trouble to disengage himself and find again his +sword and pistols, and he returned home much confounded. The +horse-soldier had a new lodging the very next day, and slept quietly +in the house of his new host. + +M. Despilliers related this adventure to any one who would listen to +it. He was an intrepid man, who had never known what it was to fall +back before danger. He died field-marshal of the armies of the Emperor +Charles VI. and governor of the fortress of Ségedin. His son has +confirmed this adventure to me within a short time, as having heard it +from his father. + +The person who writes to me adds: "I doubt not that spirits sometimes +return; but I have found myself in a great many places which it was +said they haunted. I have even tried several times to see them, but I +have never seen any. I found myself once with more than four thousand +persons, who all said they saw the spirit; I was the only one in the +assembly who saw nothing." So writes me a very worthy officer, this +year, 1745, in the same letter wherein he relates the affair of M. +Despilliers. + + +Footnotes: + +[284] St. Sulpit. Sever. Dialog. ii. c. 14, 15. + +[285] Bodin Demonomania, lib. ii. c. 2. + +[286] Guillelm. Paris, 2 Part. quĉst. 2, c. 8. + +[287] Grot. Epist. Part. ii. Ep. 405. + +[288] They affirm that it happened at Dijon, in the family of the MM. +Surmin, in which a constant tradition has perpetuated the memory of +the circumstance. + +[289] Continuation of the Count de Gabalis, at the Hague, 1708, p. 55. + +[290] Cicero, de Divinat. lib. i. + +[291] John xiv. 2. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +SPIRITS THAT KEEP WATCH OVER TREASURE. + + +Everybody acknowledges that there is an infinity of riches buried in +the earth, or lost under the waters by shipwrecks; they fancy that the +demon, whom they look upon as the god of riches, the god _Mammon_, the +Pluto of the pagans, is the depositary, or at least the guardian, of +these treasures. He said to Jesus Christ,[292] when he tempted him in +the wilderness, showing to him all the kingdoms of the earth, and +their glory: "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall +down and worship me." We know also that the ancients very often +interred vast treasures in the tombs of the dead; either that the dead +might make use of them in the other world, or that their souls might +keep guard over them in those gloomy places. Job seems to make +allusion to this ancient custom, when he says,[293] "Would to God I +had never been born: I should now sleep with the kings and great ones +of the earth, who built themselves solitary places; like unto those +who seek for treasure, and are rejoiced when they find a tomb;" +doubtless because they hope to find great riches therein. + +There were very precious things in the tomb of Cyrus. Semiramis caused +to be engraved on her own mausoleum that it contained great riches. +Josephus[294] relates that Solomon placed great treasures in the tomb +of David his father; and that the High-Priest Hyrcanus, being besieged +in Jerusalem by King Antiochus, took thence three thousand talents. He +says, moreover, that years after, Herod the Great having caused this +tomb to be searched, took from it large sums. We see several laws +against those who violate sepulchres to take out of them the precious +things they contain. The Emperor Marcianus[295] forbade that riches +should be hidden in tombs. If such things have been placed in the +mausoleums of worthy and holy persons, and if they have been +discovered through the revelation of the good spirits of persons who +died in the faith and grace of God, we cannot conclude from those +things that all hidden treasures are in the power of the demon, and +that he alone knows anything of them; the good angels know of them; +and the saints may be much more faithful guardians of them than the +demons, who usually have no power to enrich, or to deliver from the +horrors of poverty, from punishment and death itself, those who yield +themselves to them in order to receive some reward from them. + +Melancthon relates[296] that the demon informed a priest where a +treasure was hid; the priest, accompanied by one of his friends, went +to the spot indicated; they saw there a black dog lying on a chest. +The priest, having entered to take out the treasure, was crushed and +smothered under the ruins of the cavern. + +M. Remy[297], in his Demonology, speaks of several persons whose +causes he had heard in his quality of Lieutenant-General of Lorraine, +at the time when that country swarmed with wizards and witches; those +amongst them who believed they had received money from the demon, +found nothing in their purses but bits of broken pots, coals, or +leaves of trees, or other things equally vile and contemptible. + +The Reverend Father Abram, a Jesuit, in his manuscript History of the +University of Pont à Mousson, reports that a youth of good family, but +small fortune, placed himself at first to serve in the army among the +valets and serving men: from thence his parents sent him to school, +but not liking the subjection which study requires, he quitted the +school and returned to his former kind of life. On his way he met a +man dressed in a silk coat, but ill-looking, dark, and hideous, who +asked him where he was going to, and why he looked so sad: "I am able +to set you at your ease," said this man to him, "if you will give +yourself to me." + +The young man, believing that he wished to engage him as a servant, +asked for time to reflect upon it; but beginning to mistrust the +magnificent promises which he made him, he looked at him more +narrowly, and having remarked that his left foot was divided like that +of an ox, he was seized with affright, made the sign of the cross, and +called on the name of Jesus, when the spectre directly disappeared. + +Three days after, the same figure appeared to him again, and asked him +if he had made up his mind; the young man replied that he did not want +a master. The spectre said to him, "Where are you going?" "I am going +to such a town," replied he. At that moment the demon threw at his +feet a purse which chinked, and which he found filled with thirty or +forty Flemish crowns, amongst which were about twelve which appeared +to be gold, newly coined, and as if from the stamps of the coiner. In +the same purse was a powder, which the spectre said was of a very +subtile quality. + +At the same time, he gave him abominable counsels to satisfy the most +shameful passions; and exhorted him to renounce the use of holy water, +and the adoration of the host--which he called in derision that little +cake. The boy was horrified at these proposals, and made the sign of +the cross on his heart; and at the same time he felt himself thrown +roughly down on the ground, where he remained for half an hour, half +dead. Having got up again, he returned home to his mother, did +penance, and changed his conduct. The pieces of money which looked +like gold and newly coined, having been put in the fire, were found to +be only of copper. + +I relate this instance to show that the demon seeks only to deceive +and corrupt even those to whom he makes the most specious promises, +and to whom he seems to give great riches. + +Some years ago, two monks, both of them well informed and prudent men, +consulted me upon a circumstance which occurred at Orbé, a village of +Alsatia, near the Abbey of Pairis. Two men of that place told them +that they had seen come out of the ground a small box or casket, which +they supposed was full of money, and having a wish to lay hold of it, +it had retreated from them and hidden itself again under ground. This +happened to them more than once. + +Theophanes, a celebrated and grave Greek historiographer, under the +year of our era 408, relates that Cabades, King of Persia, being +informed that between the Indian country and Persia there was a castle +called Zubdadeyer, which contained a great quantity of gold, silver, +and precious stones, resolved to make himself master of it; but these +treasures were guarded by demons, who would not permit any one to +approach it. He employed some of the magi and some Jews who were with +him to conjure and exorcise them; but their efforts were useless. The +king bethought himself of the God of the Christians--prayed to him, +and sent for the bishop who was at the head of the Christian church in +Persia, and begged of him to use his efforts to obtain for him these +treasures, and to expel the demons by whom they were guarded. The +prelate offered the holy sacrifice, participated in it, and going to +the spot, drove away the demons who were guardians of these riches, +and put the king in peaceable possession of the castle. + +Relating this story to a man of some rank,[298] he told me, that in +the Isle of Malta, two knights having hired a slave, who boasted that +he possessed the secret of evoking demons, and forcing them to +discover the most hidden secrets, they led him into an old castle, +where it was thought that treasures were concealed. The slave +performed his evocations, and at last the demon opened a rock whence +issued a coffer. The slave would have taken hold of it, but the coffer +went back into the rock. This occurred more than once; and the slave, +after vain efforts, came and told the knights what had happened to +him; but he was so much exhausted that he had need of some +restorative; they gave him refreshment, and when he had returned they +after a while heard a noise. They went into the cave with a light, to +see what had happened, and they found the slave lying dead, and all +his flesh full of cuts as of a penknife, in form of a cross; he was so +covered with them that there was not room to place a finger where he +was not thus marked. The knights carried him to the shore, and threw +him into the sea with a great stone hung round his neck. We could name +these persons and note the dates, were it necessary. + +The same person related to us, at that same time, that about ninety +years before, an old woman of Malta was warned by a genius that there +was a great deal of treasure in her cellar, belonging to a knight of +high consideration, and desired her to give him information of it; she +went to his abode, but could not obtain an audience. The following +night the same genius returned, and gave her the same command; and as +she refused to obey, he abused her, and again sent her on the same +errand. The next day she returned to seek this lord, and told the +domestics that she would not go away until she had spoken to the +master. She related what had happened to her; and the knight resolved +to go to her dwelling, accompanied by people with the proper +instruments for digging; they dug, and very shortly there sprung up +such a quantity of water from the spot where they inserted their +pickaxes that they were obliged to give up the undertaking. + +The knight confessed to the Inquisitor what he had done, and received +absolution for it; but he was obliged to inscribe the fact we have +recounted in the Registers of the Inquisition. + +About sixty years after, the canons of the Cathedral of Malta, wishing +for a wider space before their church, bought some houses which it was +necessary to pull down, and amongst others that which had belonged to +that old woman. As they were digging there, they found the treasure, +consisting of a good many gold pieces of the value of a ducat, bearing +the effigy of the Emperor Justinian the First. The Grand Master of the +Order of Malta affirmed that the treasure belonged to him as sovereign +of the isle; the canons contested the point. The affair was carried to +Rome; the grand master gained his suit, and the gold was brought to +him, amounting in value to about sixty thousand ducats; but he gave +them up to the cathedral. + +Some time afterwards, the knight of whom we have spoken, who was then +very aged, remembered what had happened to himself, and asserted that +the treasure ought to belong to him; he made them lead him to the +spot, recognized the cellar where he had formerly been, and pointed +out in the Register of the Inquisition what had been written therein +sixty years before. They did not permit him to recover the treasure; +but it was a proof that the demon knew of and kept watch over this +money. The person who told me this story has in his possession three +or four of these gold pieces, having bought them of the canons. + + +Footnotes: + +[292] Matt. iv. 8. + +[293] Job iii. 13, 14, 22. + +[294] Joseph. Ant. lib. xiii. + +[295] Martian. lib. iv. + +[296] Le Loyer, liv. ii. p. 495. + +[297] Remy, Demonol. c. iv. Ann. 1605. + +[298] M. le Chevalier Guiot de Marre. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +OTHER INSTANCES OF HIDDEN TREASURES WHICH WERE GUARDED BY GOOD OR BAD +SPIRITS. + + +We read in a new work that a man, Honoré Mirable, having found in a +garden near Marseilles a treasure consisting of several Portuguese +pieces of gold, from the indication given him by a spectre, which +appeared to him at eleven o'clock at night, near the _Bastide_, or +country house called _du Paret_, he made the discovery of it in +presence of the woman who farmed the land of this _Bastide_, and the +farm-servant named Bernard. When he first perceived the treasure +buried in the earth, and wrapt up in a bundle of old linen, he was +afraid to touch it, for fear it should be poisoned and cause his +death. He raised it by means of a hook made of a branch of the almond +tree, and carried it into his room, where he undid it without any +witness, and found in it a great deal of gold; to satisfy the wishes +of the spirit who had appeared to him, he caused some masses to be +said for him. He revealed his good fortune to a countryman of his, +named Anquier, who lent him forty livres, and gave him a note by which +he acknowledged he owed him twenty thousand livres and receipted the +payment of the forty livres lent; this note bore date the 27th +September, 1726. + +Some time after, Mirable asked Anquier to pay the note. Anquier denied +everything. A great lawsuit ensued; informations were taken and +perquisitions held in Anquier's house; sentence was given on the 10th +of September, 1727, importing that Anquier should be arrested, and +have the question applied to him. An appeal was made to the Parliament +of Aix. Anquier's note was declared a forgery. Bernard, who was said +to have been present at the discovery of the treasure, was not cited +at all; the other witnesses only deposed from hearsay; Magdalen +Caillot alone, who was present, acknowledged having seen the packet +wrapped round with linen, and had heard a ringing as of pieces of gold +or silver, and had seen one of them, a piece about as large as a piece +of two liards. + +The Parliament of Aix issued its decree the 17th of February, 1728, by +which it ordained that Bernard, farming servant at the _Bastide du +Paret_, should be heard; he was heard on different days, and deposed +that he had seen neither treasure, nor rags, nor gold pieces. Then +came another decree of the 2d of June, 1728, which ordered that the +attorney-general should proceed by way of ecclesiastical censures on +the facts resulting from these proceedings. + +The indictment was published, fifty-three witnesses were heard; +another sentence of the 18th of February, 1729, discharged Anquier +from the courts and the lawsuit; condemned Mirable to the galleys to +perpetuity after having previously undergone the question; and Caillot +was to pay a fine of ten francs. Such was the end of this grand +lawsuit. If we examine narrowly these stories of spectres who watch +over treasures, we shall doubtless find, as here, a great deal of +superstition, deception, and fancy. + +Delrio relates some instances of people who have been put to death, or +who have perished miserably as they searched for hidden treasures. In +all this we may perceive the spirit of lying and seduction on the part +of the demon, bounds set to his power, and his malice arrested by the +will of God; the impiety of man, his avarice, his idle curiosity, the +confidence which he places in the angel of darkness, by the loss of +his wealth, his life, and his soul. + +John Wierus, in his work entitled "_De Prĉstigiis Dĉmonum_," printed +at Basle in 1577, relates that in his time, 1430, the demon revealed +to a certain priest at Nuremberg some treasures hidden in a cavern +near the town, and enclosed in a crystal vase. The priest took one of +his friends with him as a companion; they began to dig up the ground +in the spot designated, and they discovered in a subterranean cavern a +kind of chest, near which a black dog was lying; the priest eagerly +advanced to seize the treasure, but hardly had he entered the cavern, +than it fell in, crushed the priest, and was filled up with earth as +before. + +The following is extracted from a letter, written from Kirchheim, +January 1st, 1747, to M. Schopfflein, Professor of History and +Eloquence at Strasburg. "It is now more than a year ago that M. +Cavallari, first musician of my serene master, and by birth a +Venetian, desired to have the ground dug up at Rothenkirchen, a league +from hence, and which was formerly a renowned abbey, and was destroyed +in the time of the Reformation. The opportunity was afforded him by an +apparition, which showed itself more than once at noonday to the wife +of the Censier of Rothenkirchen, and above all, on the 7th of May for +two succeeding years. She swears, and can make oath, that she has seen +a venerable priest in pontifical garments embroidered with gold, who +threw before her a great heap of stones; and although she is a +Lutheran, and consequently not very credulous in things of that kind, +she thinks nevertheless that if she had had the presence of mind to +put down a handkerchief or an apron, all the stones would have become +money. + +"M. Cavallari then asked leave to dig there, which was the more +readily granted, because the tithe or tenth part of the treasure is +due to the sovereign. He was treated as a visionary, and the matter of +treasure was regarded as an unheard-of thing. In the mean time, he +laughed at the anticipated ridicule, and asked me if I would go halves +with him. I did not hesitate a moment to accept this offer; but I was +much surprised to find there were some little earthen pots full of +gold pieces, all these pieces finer than the ducats of the fourteenth +and fifteenth century generally are. I have had for my share 666, +found at three different times. There are some of the Archbishops of +Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, of the towns of Oppenheim, Baccarat, +Bingen, and Coblentz; there are some also of the Palatine Rupert, of +Frederic, Burgrave of Nuremberg, some few of Wenceslaus, and one of +the Emperor Charles IV., &c." + +This shows that not only the demons, but also the saints, are +sometimes guardians of treasure; unless you will say that the devil +had taken the shape of the prelate. But what could it avail the demon +to give the treasure to these gentlemen, who did not ask him for it, +and scarcely troubled themselves about him? I have seen two of these +pieces in the hands of M. Schopfflein. + +The story we have just related is repeated, with a little difference, +in a printed paper, announcing a lottery of pieces found at +Rothenkirchen, in the province of Nassau, not far from Donnersberg. +They say in this, that the value of these pieces is twelve livres ten +sols, French money. The lottery was to be publicly drawn the first of +February, 1750. Every ticket cost six livres of French money. I repeat +these details only to prove the truth of the circumstance. + +We may add to the preceding what is related by Bartholinus in his book +on the cause of the contempt of death shown by the ancient Danes, +(lib. ii. c. 2.) He relates that the riches concealed in the tombs of +the great men of that country were guarded by the shades of those to +whom they belonged, and that these shades or these demons spread +terror in the souls of those who wished to take away those treasures, +either by pouring forth a deluge of water, or by flames which they +caused to appear around the monuments which enclosed those bodies and +those treasures. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +SPECTRES WHICH APPEAR, AND PREDICT THINGS UNKNOWN AND TO COME. + + +Both in ancient and modern writers, we find an infinite number of +stories of spectres. We have not the least doubt that their +apparitions are the work of the demon, if they are real. Now, it +cannot be denied that there is a great deal of illusion and falsehood +in all that is related by them. We shall distinguish two sorts of +spectres: those which appear to mankind to hurt or deceive them, or to +announce things to come, fortunate or unfortunate as circumstances may +occur; the other spectres infest certain houses, of which they have +made themselves masters, and where they are seen and heard. We shall +treat of the latter in another chapter; and show that the greater +number of these spectres and apparitions may be suspected of +falsehood. + +Pliny the younger, writing to his friend Sura on the subject of +apparitions, testifies that he is much inclined to believe them true; +and the reason he gives, is what happened to Quintus Curtius Rufus, +who, having gone into Africa in the train of the quĉstor or treasurer +for the Romans, walking one day towards evening under a portico, saw a +woman of uncommon height and beauty, who told him that she was Africa, +and assured him that he would one day return into that same country as +proconsul. This promise inspired him with high hopes; and by his +intrigues, and help of friends, whom he had bribed, he obtained the +quĉstorship, and afterwards was prĉtor, through the favor of the +Emperor Tiberius. + +This dignity having veiled the obscurity and baseness of his birth, he +was sent proconsul to Africa, where he died, after having obtained the +honors of the triumph. It is said that, on his return to Africa, the +same person who had predicted his future grandeur appeared to him +again at the moment of his landing at Carthage. + +These predictions, so precise, and so exactly followed up, made Pliny +the younger believe that predictions of this kind are never made in +vain. The story of Curtius Rufus was written by Tacitus, long enough +before Pliny's time, and he might have taken it from Tacitus. + +After the fatal death of Caligula, who was massacred in his palace, he +was buried half burnt in his own gardens. The princesses, his sisters, +on their return from exile, had his remains burnt with ceremony, and +honorably inhumed; but it was averred that before this was done, those +who had to watch over the gardens and the palace had every night been +disturbed by phantoms and frightful noises. + +The following instance is so extraordinary that I should not repeat it +if the account were not attested by more than one writer, and also +preserved in the public monuments of a considerable town of Upper +Saxony: this town is Hamelin, in the principality of Kalenberg, at the +confluence of the rivers Hamel and Weser. + +In the year 1384, this town was infested by such a prodigious +multitude of rats that they ravaged all the corn which was laid up in +the granaries; everything was employed that art and experience could +invent to chase them away, and whatever is usually employed against +this kind of animals. At that time there came to the town an unknown +person, of taller stature than ordinary, dressed in a robe of divers +colors, who engaged to deliver them from that scourge for a certain +recompense, which was agreed upon. + +Then he drew from his sleeve a flute, at the sound of which all the +rats came out of their holes and followed him; he led them straight to +the river, into which they ran and were drowned. On his return he +asked for the promised reward, which was refused him, apparently on +account of the facility with which he had exterminated the rats. The +next day, which was a fête day, he chose the moment when the elder +inhabitants of the burgh were at church, and by means of another flute +which he began to play, all the boys in the town above the age of +fourteen, to the number of a hundred and thirty, assembled around him: +he led them to the neighboring mountain, named Kopfelberg, under which +is a sewer for the town, and where criminals are executed; these boys +disappeared and were never seen afterwards. + +A young girl, who had followed at a distance, was witness of the +matter, and brought the news of it to the town. + +They still show a hollow in this mountain, where they say that he made +the boys go in. At the corner of this opening is an inscription, which +is so old that it cannot now be deciphered; but the story is +represented on the panes of the church windows; and it is said, that +in the public deeds of this town it is still the custom to put the +dates in this manner--_Done in the year ----, after the disappearance +of our children._[299] + +If this recital is not wholly fabulous, as it seems to be, we can only +regard this man as a spectre and an evil genius, who, by God's +permission, punished the bad faith of the burghers in the persons of +their children, although innocent of their parents' fault. It might +be, that a man could have some natural secret to draw the rats +together and precipitate them into the river; but only diabolical +malice would cause so many innocent children to perish, out of revenge +on their fathers. + +Julius Cĉsar[300] having entered Italy, and wishing to pass the +Rubicon, perceived a man of more than ordinary stature, who began to +whistle. Several soldiers having run to listen to him, this spectre +seized the trumpet of one of them, and began to sound the alarm, and +to pass the river. Cĉsar at that moment, without further deliberation, +said, "Let us go where the presages of the gods and the injustice of +our enemies call upon us to advance." + +The Emperor Trajan[301] was extricated from the town of Antioch by a +phantom, which made him go out at a widow, in the midst of that +terrible earthquake which overthrew almost all the town. The +philosopher Simonides[302] was warned by a spectre that his house was +about to fall; he went out of it directly, and soon after it fell +down. + +The Emperor Julian, the apostate, told his friends that at the time +when his troops were pressing him to accept the empire, being at +Paris, he saw during the night a spectre in the form of a woman, as +the genius of an empire is depicted, who presented herself to remain +with him; but she gave him notice that it would be only for a short +time. The same emperor related, moreover, that writing in his tent a +little before his death, his familiar genius appeared to him, leaving +the tent with a sad and afflicted air. Shortly before the death of the +Emperor Constans, the same Julian had a vision in the night, of a +luminous phantom, who pronounced and repeated to him, more than once, +four Greek verses, importing that when Jupiter should be in the sign +of the water-pot, or Aquarius, and Saturn in the 25th degree of the +Virgin, Constans would end his life in Asia in a shocking manner. + +The same Emperor Julian takes Jupiter[303] to witness that he has +often seen Esculapius, who cured him of his sicknesses. + + +Footnotes: + +[299] See Vagenseil _Opera liborum Juvenil._ tom. ii. p. 295, the +Geography of Hubner, and the Geographical Dictionary of la Martinière, +under the name Hamelen. + +[300] Sueton. in Jul. Cĉsar. + +[301] Dio. Cassius. lib. lxviii. + +[302] Diogen. Laert. in Simon. Valer. Maxim. lib. xxiii. + +[303] Julian, apud Cyrill. Alex. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +OTHER APPARITIONS OF SPECTRES. + + +Plutarch, whose gravity and wisdom are well known, often speaks of +spectres and apparitions. He says, for instance, that at the famous +battle of Marathon against the Persians, several soldiers saw the +phantom of Thesus, who fought for the Greeks against the enemy. + +The same Plutarch, in the life of Sylla, says that that general saw in +his sleep the goddess whom the Romans worshiped according to the rites +of the Cappadocians (who were fire-worshipers), whether it might be +Bellona or Minerva, or the moon. This divinity presented herself +before Sylla, and put into his hand a kind of thunderbolt, telling him +to launch it against his enemies, whom she named to him one after the +other; at the same time that he struck them, he saw them fall and +expire at his feet. There is reason to believe that this same goddess +was Minerva, to whom, as to Jupiter Paganism attributes the right to +hurl the thunderbolt; or rather that it was a demon. + +Pausanias, general of the Lacedemonians,[304] having inadvertently +killed Cleonice, a daughter of one of the first families of Byzantium, +was tormented night and day by the ghost of that maiden, who left him +no repose, repeating to him angrily a heroic verse, the sense of which +was, _Go before the tribunal of justice, which punishes crime and +awaits thee. Insolence is in the end fatal to mortals_. + +Pausanias, always disturbed by this image, which followed him +everywhere, retired to Heraclea in Elis, where there was a temple +served by priests who were magicians, called _Psychagogues_, that is +to say, who profess to evoke the souls of the dead. There Pausanias, +after having offered the customary libations and funeral effusions, +called upon the spirit of Cleonice, and conjured her to renounce her +anger against him. Cleonice at last appeared, and told him that very +soon, when he should be arrived at Sparta, he would be freed from his +woes, wishing apparently by these mysterious words to indicate that +death which awaited him there. + +We see there the custom of evocations of the dead distinctly pointed +out, and solemnly practiced in a temple consecrated to these +ceremonies; that demonstrates at least the belief and custom of the +Greeks. And if Cleonice really appeared to Pausanias and announced his +approaching death, can we deny that the evil spirit, or the spirit of +Cleonice, is the author of this prediction, unless indeed it were a +trick of the priests, which is likely enough, and as the ambiguous +reply given to Pausanias seems to insinuate. + +Pausanias the historian[305] writes that, 400 years after the battle +of Marathon, every night a noise was heard there of the neighing of +horses, and cries like those of soldiers exciting themselves to +combat. Plutarch speaks also of spectres which were seen, and +frightful howlings that were heard in some public baths, where they +had put to death several citizens of Chĉronea, his native place; they +had even been obliged to shut up these baths, which did not prevent +those who lived near from continuing to hear great noises, and seeing +from time to time spectres. + +Dion the philosopher, the disciple of Plato, and general of the +Syracusans, being one day seated, towards the evening, very full of +thought, in the portico of his house, heard a great noise, then +perceived a terrible spectre of a woman of monstrous height, who +resembled one of the furies, as they are depicted in tragedies; there +was still daylight, and she began to sweep the house. Dion, quite +alarmed, sent to beg his friends to come and see him, and stay with +him all night; but this woman appeared no more. A short time +afterwards, his son threw himself down from the top of the house, and +he himself was assassinated by conspirators. + +Marcus Brutus, one of the murderers of Julius Cĉsar, being in his tent +during a night which was not very dark, towards the third hour of the +night, beheld a monstrous and terrific figure enter. "Who art thou? a +man or a God? and why comest thou here?" The spectre answered, "I am +thine evil genius. Thou shalt see me at Philippi!" Brutus replied +undauntedly, "I will meet thee there." And on going out, he went and +related the circumstance to Cassius, who being of the sect of +Epicurus, and a disbeliever in that kind of apparition, told him that +it was mere imagination; that there were no genii or other kind of +spirits which could appear unto men, and that even did they appear, +they would have neither the human form nor the human voice, and could +do nothing to harm us. Although Brutus was a little reassured by this +reasoning, still it did not remove all his uneasiness. + +But the same Cassius, in the campaign of Philippi, and in the midst of +the combat, saw Julius Cĉsar, whom he had assassinated, who came up to +him at full gallop: which frightened him so much that at last he threw +himself upon his own sword. Cassius of Parma, a different person from +him of whom we have spoken above, saw an evil genius, who came into +his tent, and declared to him his approaching death. + +Drusus, when making war on the Germans (Allemani) during the time of +Augustus, desiring to cross the Elbe, in order to penetrate farther +into the country, was prevented from so doing by a woman of taller +stature than common, who appeared to him and said, "Drusus, whither +wilt thou go? wilt thou never be satisfied? Thy end is near--go back +from hence." He retraced his steps, and died before he reached the +Rhine, which he desired to recross. + +St. Gregory of Nicea, in the Life of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, says +that, during a great plague which ravaged the city of Neocesarea, +spectres were seen in open day, who entered houses, into which they +carried certain death. + +After the famous sedition which happened at Antioch, in the time of +the Emperor Theodosius, they beheld a kind of fury running about the +town, with a whip, which she lashed about like a coachman who hastens +on his horses. + +St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, being at Trèves, entered a house, where +he found a spectre which frightened him at first. Martin commanded him +to leave the body which he possessed: instead of going out (of the +place), he entered the body of another man who was in the same +dwelling; and throwing himself upon those who were there, began to +attack and bite them. Martin threw himself across his way, put his +fingers in his mouth, and defied him to bite him. The demoniac +retreated, as if a bar of red-hot iron had been placed in his mouth, +and at last the demon went out of the body of the possessed, not by +the mouth but behind. + +John, Bishop of Atria, who lived in the sixth century, in speaking of +the great plague which happened under the Emperor Justinian, and which +is mentioned by almost all the historians of that time, says that they +saw boats of brass, containing black men without heads, which sailed +upon the sea, and went towards the places where the plague was +beginning its ravages; that this infection having depopulated a town +of Egypt, so that there remained only seven men and a boy ten years of +age, these persons, wishing to get away from the town with a great +deal of money, fell down dead suddenly. + +The boy fled without carrying anything with him, but at the gate of +the town he was stopped by a spectre, who dragged him, in spite of his +resistance, into the house where the seven dead men were. Some time +after, the steward of a rich man having entered therein, to take away +some furniture belonging to his master, who had gone to reside in the +country, was warned by the same boy to go away--but he died suddenly. +The servants who had accompanied the steward ran away, and carried the +news of all this to their master. + +The same Bishop John relates that he was at Constantinople during a +very great plague, which carried off ten, twelve, fifteen, and sixteen +thousand persons a-day, so that they reckon that two hundred thousand +persons died of this malady--he says, that during this time demons +were seen running from house to house, wearing the habits of +ecclesiastics or monks, and who caused the death of those whom they +met therein. + +The death of Carlostadt was accompanied by frightful circumstances, +according to the ministers of Basle, his colleagues, who bore witness +to it at the time. They[306] relate, that at the last sermon which +Carlostadt preached in the temple of Basle, a tall black man came and +seated himself near the consul. The preacher perceived him, and +appeared disconcerted at it. When he left the pulpit, he asked who +that stranger was who had taken his seat next to the chief magistrate; +no one had seen him but himself. When he went home, he heard more news +of the spectre. The black man had been there, and had caught up by the +hair the youngest and most tenderly loved of his children. After he +had thus raised the child from the ground, he appeared disposed to +throw him down so as to break his head; but he contented himself with +ordering the boy to warn his father that in three days he should +return, and he must hold himself in readiness. The child having +repeated to his father what had been said to him, Carlostadt was +terrified. He went to bed in alarm, and in three days he expired. +These apparitions of the demon's, by Luther's own avowal, were pretty +frequent, in the case of the first reformers. + +These instances of the apparitions of spectres might be multiplied to +infinity; but if we undertook to criticise them, there is hardly one +of them very certain, or proof against a serious and profound +examination. Here follows one, which I relate on purpose because it +has some singular features, and its falsehood has at last been +acknowledged.[307] + + +Footnotes: + +[304] Plutarch in Cimone. + +[305] Pausanias, lib. i. c. 324. + +[306] Moshovius, p. 22. + +[307] See the following chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +EXAMINATION OF THE APPARITION OF A PRETENDED SPECTRE. + + +Business[308] having led the Count d'Alais[309] to Marseilles, a most +extraordinary adventure happened to him there: he desired Neuré to +write to our philosopher (Gassendi) to know what he thought of it; +which he did in these words: the count and countess being come to +Marseilles, saw, as they were lying in bed, a luminous spectre; they +were both wide awake. In order to be sure that it was not some +illusion, they called their valets de chambre; but no sooner had +these appeared with their flambeaux, than the spectre disappeared. +They had all the openings and cracks which they found in the chamber +stopped up, and then went to bed again; but hardly had the valets de +chambre retired than it appeared again. + +Its light was less shining than that of the sun; but it was brighter +than that of the moon. Sometimes this spectre was of an angular form, +sometimes a circle, and sometimes an oval. It was easy to read a +letter by the light it gave; it often changed its place, and sometimes +appeared on the count's bed. It had, as it were, a kind of little +bucklers, above which were characters imprinted. Nevertheless, nothing +could be more agreeable to the sight; so that instead of alarming, it +gave pleasure. It appeared every night whilst the count stayed at +Marseilles. This prince, having once cast his hands upon it, to see if +it was not something attached to the bed curtain, the spectre +disappeared that night, and reappeared the next. + +Gassendi being consulted upon this circumstance, replied on the 13th +of the same month. He says, in the first place, that he knows not what +to think of this vision. He does not deny that this spectre might be +sent from God to tell them something. What renders this idea probable +is the great piety of them both, and that this spectre had nothing +frightful in it, but quite the contrary. What deserves our attention +still more is this, that if God had sent it, he would have made known +why he sent it. God does not jest; and since it cannot be understood +what is to be hoped or feared, followed up or avoided, it is clear +that this spectre cannot come from him; otherwise his conduct would be +less praiseworthy than that of a father, or a prince, or a worthy, or +even a prudent man, who, being informed of somewhat which greatly +concerned those in subjection to them, would not content themselves +with warning them enigmatically. + +If this spectre is anything natural, nothing is more difficult than to +discover it, or even to find any conjecture which may explain it. +Although I am well persuaded of my ignorance, I will venture to give +my idea. Might it not be advanced that this light has appeared because +the eye of the count was internally affected, or because it was so +externally? The eye may be so internally in two ways. First, if the +eye was affected in the same manner as that of the Emperor Tiberius +always was when he awoke in the night and opened his eyes; a light +proceeded from them, by means of which he could discern objects in the +dark by looking fixedly at them. I have known the same thing happen to +a lady of rank. Secondly, if his eyes were disposed in a certain +manner, as it happens to myself when I awake: if I open my eyes, they +perceive rays of light though there has been none. No one can deny +that some flash may dart from our eyes which represents objects to +us--which objects are reflected in our eyes, and leave their traces +there. It is known that animals which prowl by night have a piercing +sight, to enable them to discern their prey and carry it off; that the +animal spirit which is in the eye, and which may be shed from it, is +of the nature of fire, and consequently lucid. It may happen that the +eyes being closed during sleep, this spirit heated by the eyelids +becomes inflamed, and sets some faculty in motion, as the imagination. +For, does it not happen that wood of different kinds, and fish bones, +produce some light when their heat is excited by putrefaction? Why +then may not the heat excited in this confined spirit produce some +light? He proves afterwards that imagination alone may do it. + +The Count d'Alais having returned to Marseilles, and being lodged in +the same apartment, the same spectre appeared to him again. Neuré +wrote to Gassendi that they had observed that this spectre penetrated +into the chamber by the wainscot; which obliged Gassendi to write to +the count to examine the thing more attentively; and notwithstanding +this discovery, he dare not yet decide upon it. He contents himself +with encouraging the count, and telling him that if this apparition is +from God, he will not allow him to remain long in expectation, and +will soon make known his will to him; and also, if this vision does +not come from him, he will not permit it to continue, and will soon +discover that it proceeds from a natural cause. Nothing more is said +of this spectre any where. + +Three years afterwards, the Countess d'Alais avowed ingenuously to the +count that she herself had caused this farce to be played by one of +her women, because she did not like to reside at Marseilles; that her +woman was under the bed, and that she from time to time caused a +phosphoric light to appear. The Count d'Alais related this himself to +M. Puger of Lyons, who told it, about thirty-five years ago, to M. +Falconet, a medical doctor of the Royal Academy of Belle-Lettres, from +whom I learnt it. Gassendi, when consulted seriously by the count, +answered like a man who had no doubt of the truth of this apparition; +so true it is that the greater number of these extraordinary facts +require to be very carefully examined before any opinion can be passed +upon them. + + +Footnotes: + +[308] Vie de Gassendi, tom. i. p. 258. + +[309] Alais is a town in Lower Languedoc, the lords of which bear the +title of prince, since this town has passed into the House of +Angoulême and De Conty. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +OF SPECTRES WHICH HAUNT HOUSES. + + +There are several kinds of spectres or ghosts which haunt certain +houses, make noises, appear there, and disturb those who live in them: +some are sprites, or elves, which divert themselves by troubling the +quiet of those who dwell there; others are spectres or ghosts of the +dead, who molest the living until they have received sepulture: some +of them, as it is said, make the place their purgatory; others show +themselves or make themselves heard, because they have been put to +death in that place, and ask that their death may be avenged, or that +their bodies may be buried. So many stories are related concerning +those things that now they are not cared for, and nobody will believe +any of them. In fact, when these pretended apparitions are thoroughly +examined into, it is easy to discover their falsehood and illusion. + +Now, it is a tenant who wishes to decry the house in which he resides, +to hinder others from coming who would like to take his place; then a +band of coiners have taken possession of a dwelling, whose interest it +is to keep their secret from being found out; or a farmer who desires +to retain his farm, and wishes to prevent others from coming to offer +more for it; in this place it will be cats or owls, or even rats, +which by making a noise frighten the master and domestics, as it +happened some years ago at Mosheim, where large rats amused themselves +in the night by moving and setting in motion the machines with which +the women bruise hemp and flax. An honest man who related it to me, +desiring to behold the thing nearer, mounted up to the garret armed +with two pistols, with his servant armed in the same manner. After a +moment of silence, they saw the rats begin their game; they let fire +upon them, killed two, and dispersed the rest. The circumstance was +reported in the country and served as an excellent joke. + +I am about to relate some of these spectral apparitions upon which the +reader will pronounce judgment for himself. Pliny[310] the younger +says that there was a very handsome mansion at Athens which was +forsaken on account of a spectre which haunted it. The philosopher +Athenodorus, having arrived in the city, and seeing a board which +informed the public that this house was to be sold at a very low +price, bought it and went to sleep there with his people. As he was +busy reading and writing during the night, he heard on a sudden a +great noise, as if of chains being dragged along, and perceived at the +same time something like a frightful old man loaded with iron chains, +who drew near to him. Athenodorus continuing to write, the spectre +made him a sign to follow him; the philosopher in his turn made signs +to him to wait, and continued to write; at last he took his light and +followed the spectre, who conducted him into the court of the house, +then sank into the ground and disappeared. + +Athenodorus, without being frightened, tore up some of the grass to +mark the spot, and on leaving it, went to rest in his room. The next +day he informed the magistrates of what had happened; they came to the +house and searched the spot he designated, and there found the bones +of a human body loaded with chains. They caused him to be properly +buried, and the dwelling house remained quiet. + +Lucian[311] relates a very similar story. There was, says he, a house +at Corinth which had belonged to one Eubatides, in the quarter named +Cranaüs: a man named Arignotes undertook to pass the night there, +without troubling himself about a spectre which was said to haunt it. +He furnished himself with certain magic books of the Egyptians to +conjure the spectre. Having gone into the house at night with a light, +he began to read quietly in the court. The spectre appeared in a +little while, taking sometimes the shape of a dog, then that of a +bull, and then that of a lion. Arignotes very composedly began to +pronounce certain magical invocations, which he read in his books, and +by their power forced the spectre into a corner of the court, where he +sank into the earth and disappeared. + +The next day Arignotes sent for Eubatides, the master of the house, +and having had the ground dug up where the phantom had disappeared, +they found a skeleton, which they had properly interred, and from that +time nothing more was seen or heard. + +It is Lucian, that is to say, the man in the world the least credulous +concerning things of this kind, who makes Arignotes relate this event. +In the same passage he says that Democritus, who believed in neither +angels, nor demons, nor spirits, having shut himself up in a tomb +without the city of Athens, where he was writing and studying, a party +of young men, who wanted to frighten him, covered themselves with +black garments, as the dead are represented, and having taken hideous +disguises, came in the night, shrieking and jumping around the place +where he was; he let them do what they liked, and without at all +disturbing himself, coolly told them to have done with their jesting. + +I know not if the historian who wrote the life of St. Germain +l'Auxerrois[312] had in his eye the stories we have just related, and +if he did not wish to ornament the life of the saint by a recital very +much like them. The saint traveling one day through his diocese, was +obliged to pass the night with his clerks in a house forsaken long +before on account of the spirits which haunted it. The clerk who read +to him during the night saw on a sudden a spectre, which alarmed him +at first; but having awakened the holy bishop, the latter commanded +the spectre in the name of Jesus Christ to declare to him who he was, +and what he wanted. The phantom told him that he and his companion had +been guilty of several crimes; that having died and been interred in +that house, they disturbed those who lodged there until the burial +rites should have been accorded them. St. Germain commanded him to +point out where their bodies were buried, and the spectre led him +thither. The next day he assembled the people in the neighborhood; +they sought amongst the ruins of the building where the brambles had +been disturbed, and they found the bones of two men thrown in a heap +together, and also loaded with chains; they were buried, prayers were +said for them, and they returned no more. + +If these men were wretches dead in crime and impenitence, all this can +be attributed only to the artifice of the devil, to show the living +that the reprobate take pains to procure rest for their bodies by +getting them interred, and to their souls by getting them prayed for. +But if these two men were Christians who had expiated their crimes by +repentance, and who died in communion with the church, God might +permit them to appear, to ask for clerical sepulture and those prayers +which the church is accustomed to say for the repose of defunct +persons who die while yet some slight fault remains to be expiated. + +Here is a fact of the same kind as those which precede, but which is +attended by circumstances which may render it more credible. It is +related by Antonio Torquemada, in his work entitled _Flores Curiosas_, +printed at Salamanca in 1570. He says that a little before his own +time, a young man named Vasquez de Ayola, being gone to Bologna with +two of his companions to study the law there, and not having found +such a lodging in the town as they wished to have, lodged themselves +in a large and handsome house, which was abandoned by everybody, +because it was haunted by a spectre which frightened away all those +who wished to live in it; they laughed at such discourse, and took up +their abode there. + +At the end of a month, as Ayola was sitting up alone in his chamber, +and his companions sleeping quietly in their beds, he heard at a +distance a noise as of several chains dragged along upon the ground, +and the noise advanced towards him by the great staircase; he +recommended himself to God, made the sign of the cross, took a shield +and sword, and having his taper in his hand, he saw the door opened by +a terrific spectre that was nothing but bones, but loaded with chains. +Ayola conjured him, and asked him what he wished for; the phantom +signed to him to follow, and he did so; but as he went down the +stairs, his light blew out; he went back to light it, and then +followed the spirit, which led him along a court where there was a +well. Ayola feared that he might throw him into it, and stopped short. +The spectre beckoned to him to continue to follow him; they entered +the garden, where the phantom disappeared. Ayola tore up some handfuls +of grass upon the spot, and returning to the house, related to his +companions what had happened. In the morning he gave notice of this +circumstance to the Principals of Bologna. + +They came to reconnoitre the spot, and had it dug up; they found there +a fleshless body, but loaded with chains. They inquired who it could +be, but nothing certain could be discovered, and the bones were +interred with suitable obsequies, and from that time the house was +never disquieted by such visits. Torquemada asserts that in his time +there were still living at Bologna and in Spain some who had been +witnesses of the fact; and that on his return to his own country, +Ayola was invested with a high office, and that his son, before this +narration was written, was President in a good city of the kingdom (of +Spain). + +Plautus, still more ancient than either Lucian or Pliny, composed a +comedy entitled "Mostellaria," or "Monstellaria," a name derived from +"Monstrum," or "Monstellum," from a monster, a spectre, which was said +to appear in a certain house, and which on that account had been +deserted. We agree that the foundation of this comedy is only a fable, +but we may deduce from it the antiquity of this idea among the Greeks +and Romans. + +The poet[313] makes this pretended spirit say that, having been +assassinated about sixty years before by a perfidious comrade who had +taken his money, he had been secretly interred in that house; that the +god of Hades would not receive him on the other side of Acheron, as he +had died prematurely; for which reason he was obliged to remain in +that house of which he had taken possession. + + "Hĉc mihi dedita habitatio; + Nam me Acherontem recipere noluit, + Quia prĉmaturè vitâ careo." + + +The pagans, who had the simplicity to believe that the Lamiĉ and evil +spirits disquieted those who dwelt in certain houses and certain +rooms, and who slept in certain beds, conjured them by magic verses, +and pretended to drive them away by fumigations composed of sulphur +and other stinking drugs, and certain herbs mixed with sea water. +Ovid, speaking of Medea, that celebrated magician, says[314]-- + + "Terque senem flammâ, ter aquâ, ter sulphure lustrat." + +And elsewhere he adds eggs:-- + + "Adveniat quĉ lustret anus lectumque locumque, + Deferat et tremulâ sulphur et ova manu." + + +In addition to this they adduce the instance of the archangel +Raphael,[315] who drove away the devil Asmodeus from the chamber of +Sarah by the smell of the liver of a fish which he burnt upon the +fire. But the instance of Raphael ought not to be placed along with +the superstitious ceremonies of magicians, which were laughed at by +the pagans themselves; if they had any power, it could only be by the +operation of the demon with the permission of God; whilst what is told +of the archangel Raphael is certainly the work of a good spirit, sent +by God to cure Sarah the daughter of Raguel, who was as much +distinguished by her piety as the magicians are degraded by their +malice and superstition. + + +Footnotes: + +[310] Plin. junior, Epist. ad Suram. lib. vii. cap. 27. + +[311] In Philo pseud. p. 840. + +[312] Bolland, 31 Jul. p. 211. + +[313] Plaut. Mostell. act. ii. v. 67. + +[314] Vide Joan. Vier. de Curat. Malific. c. 215. + +[315] Tob. viii. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +OTHER INSTANCES OF SPECTRES WHICH HAUNT CERTAIN HOUSES. + + +Father Pierre Thyree,[316] a Jesuit, relates an infinite number of +anecdotes of houses haunted by ghosts, spirits, and demons; for +instance, that of a tribune, named Hesperius, whose house was infested +by a demon who tormented the domestics and animals, and who was driven +away, says St. Augustin,[317] by a good priest of Hippo, who offered +therein the divine sacrifice of the body of our Lord. + +St. Germain,[318] Bishop of Capua, taking a bath in one particular +quarter of the town, found there Paschaus, a deacon of the Roman +Church, who had been dead some time, and who began to wait upon him, +telling him that he underwent his purgatory in that place for having +favored the party of Laurentius the anti-pope, against Pope Symachus. + +St. Gregory of Nicea, in the life of St. Gregory of Neocĉsarea, says +that a deacon of this holy bishop, having gone into a bath where no +one dared go after a certain hour in the evening, because all those +who had entered there had been put to death, beheld spectres of all +kinds, which threatened him in a thousand ways, but he got rid of them +by crossing himself and invoking the name of Jesus. + +Alexander ab Alexandro,[319] a learned Neapolitan lawyer of the +fifteenth century, says that all the world knows that there are a +number of houses at Rome so much out of repute on account of the +ghosts which appear in them every night that nobody dares to inhabit +them. Nicholas Tuba, his friend, a man well known for his probity and +veracity, who came once with some of his comrades to try if all that +was said of those houses was true, would pass the night in one of them +with Alexander. As they were together, wide awake, and with plenty of +light, they beheld a horrible spectre, which frightened them so much +by its terrific voice and the great noise which it made, that they +hardly knew what they did, nor what they said; "and by degrees, as we +approached," says he, "with the light, the phantom retreated; at last, +after having thrown all the house into confusion, it disappeared +entirely." + +I might also relate here the spectre noticed by Father Sinson the +Jesuit, which he saw, and to which he spoke at Pont-à-Mousson, in the +cloister belonging to those fathers; but I shall content myself with +the instance which is reported in the _Causes Célèbres_,[320] and +which may serve to undeceive those who too lightly give credit to +stories of this kind. + +At the Château d' Arsillier, in Picardy, on certain days of the year, +towards November, they saw flames and a horrible smoke proceeding +thence. Cries and frightful howlings were heard. The bailiff, or +farmer of the château, had got accustomed to this uproar, because he +himself caused it. All the village talked of it, and everybody told +his own story thereupon. The gentleman to whom the château belonged, +mistrusting some contrivance, came there near All-saints' day with two +gentlemen his friends, resolved to pursue the spirit, and fire upon it +with a brace of good pistols. A few days after they arrived, they +heard a great noise above the room where the owner of the château +slept; his two friends went up thither, holding a pistol in one hand +and a candle in the other; and a sort of black phantom with horns and +a tail presented itself, and began to gambol about before them. + +One of them fired off his pistol; the spectre, instead of falling, +turns and skips before him: the gentleman tries to seize it, but the +spirit escapes by the back staircase; the gentleman follows it, but +loses sight of it, and after several turnings, the spectre throws +itself into a granary, and disappears at the moment its pursuer +reckoned on seizing and stopping it. A light was brought, and it was +remarked that where the spectre had disappeared there was a trapdoor, +which had been bolted after it entered; they forced open the trap, +and found the pretended spirit. He owned all his artifices, and that +what had rendered him proof against the pistol shot was buffalo's hide +tightly fitted to his body. + +Cardinal de Retz,[321] in his Memoirs, relates very agreeably the +alarm which seized himself and those with him on meeting a company of +black Augustine friars, who came to bathe in the river by night, and +whom they took for a troop of quite another description. + +A physician, in a dissertation which he has given on spirits or +ghosts, says that a maid servant in the Rue St. Victor, who had gone +down into the cellar, came back very much frightened, saying she had +seen a spectre standing upright between two barrels. Some persons who +were bolder went down, and saw the same thing. It was a dead body, +which had fallen from a cart coming from the Hôtel-Dieu. It had slid +down by the cellar window (or grating), and had remained standing +between two casks. All these collective facts, instead of confirming +one another, and establishing the reality of those ghosts which appear +in certain houses, and keep away those who would willingly dwell in +them, are only calculated, on the contrary, to render such stories in +general very doubtful; for on what account should those people who +have been buried and turned to dust for a long time find themselves +able to walk about with their chains? How do they drag them? How do +they speak? What do they want? Is it sepulture? Are they not interred? +If they are heathens and reprobates, they have nothing to do with +prayers. If they are good people, who died in a state of grace, they +may require prayers to take them out of purgatory; but can that be +said of the spectres spoken of by Pliny and Lucian? It is the devil, +who sports with the simplicity of men? Is it not ascribing to him most +excessive power, by making him the author of all these apparitions, +which we conceive he cannot cause without the permission of God? And +we can still less imagine that God will concur in the deceptions and +illusions of the demon. There is then reason to believe that all the +apparitions of this kind, and all these stories, are false, and must +be absolutely rejected, as more fit to keep up the superstition and +idle credulity of the people than to edify and instruct them. + + +Footnotes: + +[316] Thyrĉi Demoniaci cum locis infestis. + +[317] S. Aug. de Civ. lib. xxii. 8. + +[318] S. Greg. Mag. Dial. cap. 39. + +[319] Alexander ab Alexandro, lib. v. 23. + +[320] Causes Célèbres, tom. xi. p. 374. + +[321] Mém. de Cardinal de Retz, tom. i. pp. 43, 44 + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +PRODIGIOUS EFFECTS OF IMAGINATION IN THOSE MEN OR WOMEN WHO BELIEVE +THEY HOLD INTERCOURSE WITH THE DEMON. + + +As soon as we admit it as a principle that angels and demons are +purely spiritual substances, we must consider, not only as chimerical +but also as impossible, all personal intercourse between a demon and a +man, or a woman, and consequently regard as the effect of a depraved +or deranged imagination all that is related of demons, whether incubi +or succubi, and of the _ephialtes_ of which such strange tales are +told. + +The author of the Book of Enoch, which is cited by the fathers, and +regarded as canonical Scripture by some ancient writers, has taken +occasion, from these words of Moses,[322] "The children of God, seeing +the daughters of men, who were of extraordinary beauty, took them for +wives, and begat the giants of them," of setting forth that the +angels, smitten with love for the daughters of men, wedded them, and +had by them children, which are those giants so famous in +antiquity.[323] Some of the ancient fathers have thought that this +irregular love of the angels was the cause of their fall, and that +till then they had remained in the just and due subordination which +they owed to their Creator. + +It appears from Josephus that the Jews of his day seriously +believed[324] that the angels were subject to these weaknesses like +men. St. Justin Martyr[325] thought that the demons were the fruit of +this commerce of the angels with the daughters of men. + +But these ideas are now almost entirely given up, especially since the +belief in the spirituality of angels and demons has been adopted. +Commentators and the fathers have generally explained the passage in +Genesis which we have quoted as relating to the children of Seth, to +whom the Scripture gives the name of _children of God_, to distinguish +them from the sons of Cain, who were the fathers of those here called +_the daughters of men_. The race of Seth having then formed alliances +with the race of Cain, by means of those marriages before alluded to, +there proceeded from these unions powerful, violent, and impious men, +who drew down upon the earth the terrible effects of God's wrath, +which burst forth at the universal deluge. + +Thus, then, these marriages between the _children of God_ and the +_daughters of men_ have no relation to the question we are here +treating; what we have to examine is--if the demon can have personal +commerce with man or woman, and if what is said on that subject can be +connected with the apparitions of evil spirits amongst mankind, which +is the principal object of this dissertation. + +I will give some instances of those persons who have believed that +they held such intercourse with the demon. Torquemada relates, in a +detailed manner, what happened in his time, and to his knowledge, in +the town of Cagliari, in Sardinia, to a young lady, who suffered +herself to be corrupted by the demon; and having been arrested by the +Inquisition, she suffered the penalty of the flames, in the mad hope +that her pretended lover would come and deliver her. + +In the same place he speaks of a young girl who was sought in marriage +by a gentleman of good family; when the devil assumed the form of this +young man, associated with the young lady for several months, made her +promises of marriage, and took advantage of her. She was only +undeceived when the young lord who sought her in marriage informed her +that he was absent from town, and more than fifty leagues off, the day +that the promise in question had been given, and that he never had the +slightest knowledge of it. The young girl, thus disabused, retired +into a convent, and did penance for her double crime. + +We read in the life of St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux,[326] that a +woman of Nantes, in Brittany, saw, or thought she saw the demon every +night, even when lying by her husband. She remained six years in this +state; at the end of that period, having her disorderly life in +horror, she confessed herself to a priest, and by his advice began to +perform several acts of piety, as much to obtain pardon for her crime +as to deliver herself from her abominable lover. But when the husband +of this woman was informed of the circumstance, he left her, and would +never see her again. + +This unhappy woman was informed by the devil himself that St. Bernard +would soon come to Nantes, but she must mind not to speak to him, for +this abbot could by no means assist her; and if she did speak to him, +it would be a great misfortune to her; and that from being her lover, +he who warned her of it would become her most ardent persecutor. + +The saint reassured this woman, and desired her to make the sign of +the cross on herself on going to bed, and to place next her in the bed +the staff which he gave her. "If the demon comes," said he, "let him +do what he can." The demon came; but, without daring to approach the +bed, he threatened the woman greatly, and told her that after the +departure of St. Bernard he would come again to torment her. + +On the following Sunday, St. Bernard repaired to the Cathedral church, +with the Bishop of Nantes and the Bishop of Chartres, and having +caused lighted tapers to be given to all the people, who had assembled +in a great crowd, the saint, after having publicly related the +abominable action of the demon, exorcised and anathematized the evil +spirit, and forbade him, by the authority of Jesus Christ, ever again +to approach that woman, or any other. Everybody extinguished their +tapers, and the power of the demon was annihilated. + +This example and the two preceding ones, related in so circumstantial +a manner, might make us believe that there is some reality in what is +said of demons incubi and succubi; but if we deeply examine the facts, +we shall find that an imagination strongly possessed, and violent +prejudice, may produce all that we have just repeated. + +St. Bernard begins by curing the woman's mind, by giving her a stick, +which she was to place by her side in the bed. This staff sufficed for +the first impression; but to dispose her for a complete cure, he +exorcises the demon, and then anathematizes him, with all the _éclat_ +he possibly could: the bishops are assembled in the cathedral, the +people repair thither in crowds; the circumstance is recounted in +pompous terms; the evil spirit is threatened; the tapers are +extinguished--all of them striking ceremonies: the woman is moved by +them, and her imagination is restored to a healthy tone. + +Jerome Cardan[327] relates two singular examples of the power of +imagination in this way; he had them from Francis Pico de Mirandola. +"I know," says the latter, "a priest, seventy-five years of age, who +lived with a pretended woman, whom he called Hermeline, with whom he +slept, conversed, and conducted in the streets as if she had been his +wife. He alone saw her, or thought he saw her, so that he was looked +upon as a man who had lost his senses. This priest was named Benedict +Beïna. He had been arrested by the Inquisition, and punished for his +crimes; for he owned that in the sacrifice of the mass he did not +pronounce the sacramental words, that he had given the consecrated +wafer to women to make use of in sorcery, and that he had sucked the +blood of children. He avowed all this while undergoing the question. + +Another, named Pineto, held converse with a demon, whom he kept as his +wife, and with whom he had intercourse for more than forty years. This +man was still living in the time of Pico de Mirandola. + +Devotion and spirituality, when too contracted and carried to excess, +have also their derangements of imagination. Persons so affected often +believe they see, hear, and feel, what passes only in their brain, and +which takes all its reality from their prejudices and self-love. This +is less mistrusted, because the object of it is holy and pious; but +error and excess, even in matters of devotion, are subject to very +great inconveniences, and it is very important to undeceive all those +who give way to this kind of mental derangement. + +For instance, we have seen persons eminent for their devotion, who +believed they saw the Holy Virgin, St. Joseph, the Saviour, and their +guardian angel, who spoke to them, conversed with them, touched the +wounds of the Lord, and tasted the blood which flowed from his side +and his wounds. Others thought they were in company with the Holy +Virgin and the Infant Jesus, who spoke to them and conversed with +them; in idea, however, and without reality. + +In order to cure the two ecclesiastics of whom we have spoken, gentler +and perhaps more efficacious means might have been made use of than +those employed by the tribunal of the Inquisition. Every day +hypochondriacs, or maniacs, with fevered imaginations, diseased +brains, or with the viscera too much heated, are cured by simple and +natural remedies, either by cooling the blood, and creating a +diversion in the humors thereof, or by striking the imagination +through some new device, or by giving so much exercise of body and +mind to those who are afflicted with such maladies of the brain that +they may have something else to do or to think of, than to nourish +such fancies, and strengthen them by reflections daily recurring, and +having always the same end and object. + + +Footnotes: + +[322] Gen. vi. 1, 2. + +[323] Athenagorus and Clem. Alex. lib. iii. & v. Strom. & lib. ii. +Pedagog. + +[324] Joseph. Antiq. lib. i. c. 4. + +[325] Justin. Apolog. utroque. + +[326] Vita St. Bernard, tom. i. lib. 20. + +[327] Cardan, de Variet. lib. xv. c. lxxx. p. 290. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +RETURN AND APPARITIONS OF SOULS AFTER THE DEATH OF THE BODY, PROVED +FROM SCRIPTURE. + + +The dogma of the immortality of the soul, and of its existence after +its separation from the body which it once animated, being taken for +indubitable, and Jesus Christ having invincibly established it against +the Sadducees, the return of souls and their apparition to the +living, by the command or permission of God, can no longer appear so +incredible, nor even so difficult. + +It was a known and received truth among the Jews in the time of our +Saviour; he assumed it as certain, and never pronounced a word which +could give any one reason to think that he disapproved of, or +condemned it; he only warned us that in common apparitions spirits +have neither flesh nor bones, as he had himself after his +resurrection. If St. Thomas doubted of the reality of the resurrection +of his Master, and the truth of his appearance, it was because he was +aware that those who suppose they see apparitions of spirits are +subject to illusion; and that one strongly prepossessed will often +believe he beholds what he does not see, and hear that which he hears +not; and even had Jesus Christ appeared to his apostles, that would +not prove that he was resuscitated, since a spirit can appear, while +its body is in the tomb and even corrupted or reduced to dust and +ashes. + +The apostles doubted not of the possibility of the apparition of +spirits: when they saw the Saviour coming towards them, walking upon +the waves of the Lake of Gennesareth,[328] they at first believed that +it was a phantom. + +After St. Peter had left the prison by the aid of an angel, and came +and knocked at the door of the house where the brethren were +assembled, the servant whom they sent to open it, hearing Peter's +voice, thought it was his spirit, or an angel[329] who had assumed his +form and voice. The wicked rich man, being in the flames of hell, +begged of Abraham to send Lazarus to earth, to warn his brothers[330] +not to expose themselves to the danger of falling like him in the +extreme of misery: he believed, without doubt, that souls could return +to earth, make themselves visible, and speak to the living. + +In the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, Moses, who had been dead for +ages, appeared on Mount Tabor with Elias, conversing with Jesus Christ +then transfigured.[331] After the resurrection of the Saviour, several +persons, who had long been dead, arose from their graves, went into +Jerusalem and appeared unto many.[332] + +In the Old Testament, King Saul addresses himself to the witch of +Endor, to beg of her to evoke for him the soul of Samuel;[333] that +prophet appeared and spoke to Saul. I know that considerable +difficulties and objections have been formed as to this evocation and +this apparition of Samuel. But whether he appeared or not--whether the +Pythoness did really evoke him, or only deluded Saul with a false +appearance--I deduce from it that Saul and those with him were +persuaded that the spirits of the dead could appear to the living, and +reveal to them things unknown to men. + +St. Augustine, in reply to Simplicius, who had proposed to him his +difficulties respecting the truth of this apparition, says at +first,[334] that it is no more difficult to understand that the demon +could evoke Samuel by the help of a witch than it is to comprehend how +that Satan could speak to God, and tempt the holy man Job, and ask +permission to tempt the apostles; or that he could transport Jesus +Christ himself to the highest pinnacle of the Temple of Jerusalem. + +We may believe also that God, by a particular dispensation of his +will, may have permitted the demon to evoke Samuel, and make him +appear before Saul, to announce to him what was to happen to him, not +by virtue of magic, not by the power of the demon alone, but solely +because God willed it, and ordained it thus to be. + +He adds that it may be advanced that it is not Samuel who appears to +Saul, but a phantom, formed by the illusive power of the demon, and by +the force of magic; and that the Scripture, in giving the name of +Samuel to this phantom, has made use of ordinary language, which gives +the name of things themselves to that which is but their image or +representation in painting or in sculpture. + +If it should be asked how this phantom could discover the future, and +predict to Saul his approaching death, we may likewise ask how the +demon could know Jesus Christ for God alone, while the Jews knew him +not, and the girl possessed with a spirit of divination, spoken of in +the Acts of the Apostles,[335] could bear witness to the apostles, and +undertake to become their advocate in rendering good testimony to +their mission. + +Lastly, St. Augustine concludes by saying that he does not think +himself sufficiently enlightened to decide whether the demon can, or +cannot, by means of magical enchantments, evoke a soul after the death +of the body, so that it may appear and become visible in a corporeal +form, which may be recognized, and capable of speaking and revealing +the hidden future. And if this potency be not accorded to magic and +the demon, we must conclude that all which is related of this +apparition of Samuel to Saul is an illusion and a false apparition +made by the demon to deceive men. + +In the books of the Maccabees,[336] the High-Priest Onias, who had +been dead several years before that time, appeared to Judas Maccabĉus, +in the attitude of a man whose hands were outspread, and who was +praying for the people of the Lord: at the same time the Prophet +Jeremiah, long since dead, appeared to the same Maccabĉus; and Onias +said to him, "Behold that holy man, who is the protector and friend of +his brethren; it is he who prays continually for the Lord's people, +and for the holy city of Jerusalem." So saying, he put into the hands +of Judas a golden sword, saying to him, "Receive this sword as a gift +from heaven, by means of which you shall destroy the enemies of my +people Israel." + +In the same second book of the Maccabees,[337] it is related that in +the thickest of the battle fought by Timotheus, general of the armies +of Syria, against Judas Maccabĉus, they saw five men as if descended +from heaven, mounted on horses with golden bridles, who were at the +head of the army of the Jews, two of them on each side of Judas +Maccabĉus, the chief captain of the army of the Lord; they shielded +him with their arms, and launched against the enemy such fiery darts +and thunderbolts that they were blinded and mortally afraid and +terrified. + +These five armed horsemen, these combatants for Israel, are apparently +no other than Mattathias, the father of Judas Maccabĉus,[338] and +four of his sons, who were already dead; there yet remained of his +seven sons but Judas Maccabĉus, Jonathan, and Simon. We may also +understand it as five angels, who were sent by God to the assistance +of the Maccabees. In whatever way we regard it, these are not doubtful +apparitions, both on account of the certainty of the book in which +they are related, and the testimony of a whole army by which they +were seen. + +Whence I conclude, that the Hebrews had no doubt that the spirits of +the dead could return to earth, that they did return in fact, and that +they discovered to the living things beyond our natural knowledge. +Moses expressly forbids the Israelites to consult the dead.[339] But +these apparitions did not show themselves in solid and material +bodies; the Saviour assures us of it when he says, "Spirits have +neither flesh nor bones." It was often only an aërial figure which +struck the senses and the imagination, like the images which we see in +sleep, or that we firmly believe we hear and see. The inhabitants of +Sodom were struck with a species of blindness,[340] which prevented +them from seeing the door of Lot's house, into which the angels had +entered. The soldiers who sought for Elisha were in the same way +blinded in some sort,[341] although they spoke to him they were +seeking for, who led them into Samaria without their perceiving him. +The two disciples who went on Easter-day to Emmaus, in company with +Jesus Christ their Master, did not recognize him till the breaking of +the bread.[342] + +Thus, the apparitions of spirits to mankind are not always in a +corporeal form, palpable and real; but God, who ordains or permits +them, often causes the persons to whom these apparitions appear, to +behold, in a dream or otherwise, those spirits which speak to, warn, +or threaten them; who makes them see things as if present, which in +reality are not before their eyes, but only in their imagination; +which does not prove these visions and warnings not to be sent from +God, who, by himself, or by the ministration of his angels, or by +souls disengaged from the body, inspired the minds of men with what he +judges proper for them to know, whether in a dream, or by external +signs, or by words, or else by certain impressions made on their +senses, or in their imagination, in the absence of every external +object. + +If the apparitions of the souls of the dead were things in nature and +of their own choice, there would be few persons who would not come +back to visit the things or the persons which have been dear to them +during this life. St. Augustine says it of his mother, St. +Monica,[343] who had so tender and constant an affection for him, and +who, while she lived, followed him and sought him by sea and land. +The bad rich man would not have failed, either, to come in person to +his brethren and relations to inform them of the wretched condition in +which he found himself in hell. It is a pure favor of the mercy or the +power of God, and which he grants to very few persons, to make their +appearance after death; for which reason we should be very much on our +guard against all that is said, and all that we find written on the +subject in books. + + +Footnotes: + +[328] Matt. vi. 16. Mark vi. 43. + +[329] Acts xii. 13, 14. + +[330] Luke xxi. 14, 15. + +[331] Luke ix. 32. + +[332] Matt. xxvii. 34. + +[333] 1 Sam. xxviii. 7, ad finem. + +[334] Augustin de Diversis Quĉst. ad Simplicium, Quĉst. cxi. + +[335] Acts xxvi. 17. + +[336] Macc. x. 29. + +[337] 2 Macc. x. 29. + +[338] 1 Macc. xi. 1. + +[339] Deut. xviii. 11. + +[340] Gen. xix. 11. + +[341] 2 Kings vi. 19. + +[342] Luke xxvi. 16. + +[343] Aug. de Curâ gerendâ pro Mortuis, c. xiii. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +APPARITIONS OF SPIRITS PROVED FROM HISTORY. + + +St. Augustine[344] acknowledges that the dead have often appeared to +the living, have revealed to them the spot where their body remained +unburied, and have shown them that where they wished to be interred. +He says, moreover, that a noise was often heard in churches where the +dead were inhumed, and that dead persons have been seen often to enter +the houses wherein they dwelt before their decease. + +We read that in the Council of Elvira,[345] which was held about the +year 300, it was forbidden to light tapers in the cemeteries, that the +souls of the saints might not be disturbed. The night after the death +of Julian the Apostate, St. Basil[346] had a vision in which he +fancied he saw the martyr, St. Mercurius, who received an order from +God to go and kill Julian. A little time afterwards the same saint +Mercurius returned and cried out, "Lord, Julian is pierced and wounded +to death, as thou commandedst me." In the morning St. Basil announced +this news to the people. + +St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who suffered martyrdom in 107,[347] +appeared to his disciples, embracing them, and standing near them; and +as they persevered in praying with still greater fervor, they saw him +crowned with glory, as if in perspiration, coming from a great combat, +environed with light. + +After the death of St. Ambrose, which happened on Easter Eve, the same +night in which they baptized neophytes, several newly baptized +children saw the holy bishop,[348] and pointed him out to their +parents, who could not see him because their eyes were not +purified--at least says St. Paulinus, a disciple of the saint, and who +wrote his life. + +He adds that on the day of his death the saint appeared to several +holy persons dwelling in the East, praying with them and giving them +the imposition of hands; they wrote to Milan, and it was found, on +comparing the dates, that this occurred on the very day he died. These +letters were still preserved in the time of Paulinus, who wrote all +these things. This holy bishop was also seen several times after his +death praying in the Ambrosian church at Milan, which he promised +during his life that he would often visit. During the siege of Milan, +St. Ambrose appeared to a man of that same city, and promised that the +next day succor would arrive, which happened accordingly. A blind man +having learnt in a vision that the bodies of the holy martyrs Sicineus +and Alexander would come by sea to Milan, and that Bishop Ambrose was +going to meet them, he prayed the same bishop to restore him to sight, +in a dream. Ambrose replied; "Go to Milan; come and meet my brethren; +they will arrive on such a day, and they will restore you to sight." +The blind man went to Milan, where he had never been before, touched +the shrine of the holy martyrs, and recovered his eyesight. He himself +related the circumstance to Paulinus. + +The lives of the saints are full of apparitions of deceased persons; +and if they were collected, large volumes might be filled. St. +Ambrose, of whom we have just spoken, discovered after a miraculous +fashion the bodies of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius,[349] and those +of St. Nazairius and St. Celsus. + +Evodius, Bishop of Upsal in Africa,[350] a great friend of St. +Augustine, was well persuaded of the reality of apparitions of the +dead, from his own experience, and he relates several instances of +such things which happened in his own time; as that of a good widow to +whom a deacon appeared who had been dead for four years. He was +accompanied by several of the servants of God, of both sexes, who were +preparing a palace of extraordinary beauty. This widow asked him for +whom they were making these preparations; he replied that it was for +the youth who died the preceding day. At the same time, a venerable +old man, who was in the same palace, commanded two young men, arrayed +in white, to take the deceased young man out of his grave and conduct +him to this place. As soon as he had left the grave, fresh roses and +rose-beds sprang up; and the young man appeared to a monk, and told +him that God had received him into the number of his elect, and had +sent him to fetch his father, who in fact died four days after of slow +fever. + +Evodius asks himself diverse questions on this recital: If the soul on +quitting its (mortal) body does not retain a certain subtile body, +with which it appears, and by means of which it is transported from +one spot to another? If the angels even have not a certain kind of +body?--for if they are incorporeal, how can they be counted? And if +Samuel appeared to Saul, how could it take place if Samuel had no +members? He adds, "I remember well that Profuturus, Privatus and +Servitus, whom I had known in the monastery here, appeared to me, and +talked with me after their decease; and what they told me, happened. +Was it their soul which appeared to me, or was it some other spirit +which assumed their form?" He concludes from this that the soul is not +absolutely bodiless, since God alone is incorporeal.[351] + +St. Augustine, who was consulted on this matter by Evodius, does not +think that the soul, after the death of the body, is clothed with any +material substantial form; but he confesses that it is very difficult +to explain how an infinite number of things are done, which pass in +our minds, as well in our sleep as when we are awake, in which we seem +to see, feel, and discourse, and do things which it would appear could +be done only by the body, although it is certain that nothing bodily +occurs. And how can we explain things so unknown, and so far beyond +anything that we experience every day, since we cannot explain even +what daily experience shows us.[352] Evodius adds that several persons +after their decease have been going and coming in their houses as +before, both day and night; and that in churches where the dead were +buried, they often heard a noise in the night as of persons praying +aloud. + +St. Augustine, to whom Evodius writes all this, acknowledges that +there is a great distinction to be made between true and false +visions, and that he could wish he had some sure means of discerning +them correctly. The same saint relates on this occasion a remarkable +story, which has much connection with the matter we are treating upon. +A physician named Gennadius, a great friend of St. Augustine's, and +well known at Carthage for his great talent and his kindness to the +poor, doubted whether there was another life. One day he saw, in a +dream, a young man who said to him, "Follow me;" he followed him in +spirit, and found himself in a city, where, on his right hand, he +heard most admirable melody; he did not remember what he heard on his +left. + +Another time he saw the same young man, who said to him, "Do you know +me?" "Very well," answered he. "And whence comes it that you know me?" +He related to him what he had showed him in the city whither he had +led him. The young man added, "Was it in a dream, or awake, that you +saw all that?" "In a dream?" he replied. The young man then asked, +"Where is your body now?" "In my bed," said he. "Do you know that now +you see nothing with the eyes of your body?" "I know it," answered he. +"Well, then, with what eyes do you behold me?" As he hesitated, and +knew not what to reply, the young man said to him, "In the same way +that you see and hear me now that your eyes are shut, and your senses +asleep; thus after death you will live, you will see, you will hear, +but with eyes of the spirit; so doubt not that there is another life +after the present one." + +The great St. Anthony, one day when he was wide awake, saw the soul of +the hermit St. Ammon being carried into heaven in the midst of choirs +of angels. Now, St. Ammon died that same day, at five days' journey +from thence, in the desert of Nitria. The same St. Anthony saw also +the soul of St. Paul Hermitus ascending to heaven surrounded by choirs +of angels and prophets. St. Benedict beheld the spirit of St. Germain, +Bishop of Capua, at the moment of his decease, who was carried into +heaven by angels. The same saint saw the soul of his sister, St. +Scholastica, rising to heaven in the form of a dove. We might multiply +such instances without end. They are true apparitions of souls +separated from their bodies. + +St. Sulpicius Severus, being at some distance from the city of Tours, +and ignorant of what was passing there, fell one morning into a light +slumber; as he slept he beheld St. Martin, who appeared to him in a +white garment, his countenance shining, his eyes sparkling, his hair +of a purple color; it was, nevertheless, very easy to recognise him by +his air and his face. St. Martin showed himself to him with a smiling +countenance, and holding in his hand the book which St. Sulpicius +Severus had composed upon his life. Sulpicius threw himself at his +feet, embraced his knees, and implored his benediction, which the +saint bestowed upon him. All this passed in a vision; and as St. +Martin rose into the air, Sulpicius Severus saw still in the spirit +the priest Clarus, a disciple of the saint, who went the same way and +rose towards heaven. At that moment Sulpicius awoke, and a lad who +served him, on entering, told him that two monks who were just arrived +from Tours, had brought word that St. Martin was dead. + +The Baron de Coussey, an old and respectable magistrate, has related +to me more than once that, being at more than sixty leagues from the +town where his mother died the night she breathed her last, he was +awakened by the barking of a dog which laid at the foot of his bed; +and at the same moment he perceived the head of his mother environed +by a great light, who, entering by the window into his chamber, spoke +to him distinctly, and announced to him various things concerning the +state of his affairs. + +St. Chrysostom, in his exile,[353] and the night preceding his death, +saw the martyr St. Basilicus, who said to him--"Courage, brother John; +to-morrow we shall be together." The same thing was foretold to a +priest who lived in the same place. St. Basilicus said to him, +"Prepare a place for my brother John; for, behold, he is coming." + +The discovery of the body of St. Stephen, the first martyr, is very +celebrated in the Church; this occurred in the year 415. St. Gamaliel, +who had been the master of St. Paul before his conversion, appeared to +a priest named Lucius, who slept in the baptistery of the Church at +Jerusalem to guard the sacred vases, and told him that his own body +and that of St. Stephen the proto-martyr were interred at +Caphargamala, in the suburb named Dilagabis; that the body of his son +named Abibas, and that of Nicodemus, reposed in the same spot. Lucius +had the same vision three times following, with an interval of a few +days between. John, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who was then at the +Council of Dioscopolis, repaired to the spot, made the discovery and +translation of the relics, which were transported to Jerusalem, and a +great number of miracles were performed there. + +Licinius, being in his tent,[354] thinking of the battle he was to +fight on the morrow, saw an angel, who dictated to him a form of +prayer which he made his soldiers learn by heart, and by means of +which he gained the victory over the Emperor Maximian. + +Mascezel, general of the Roman troops which Stilicho sent into Africa +against Gildas, prepared himself for this war, in imitation of +Theodosius the Great, by prayer and the intervention of the servants +of God. He took with him in his vessel some monks, whose only +occupation during the voyage was to pray, fast, and sing psalms. +Gildas had an army of seventy thousand men; Mascezel had but five +thousand, and did not think he could without rashness attempt to +compete with an enemy so powerful and so far superior in the number of +his forces. As he was pondering uneasily on these things, St. Ambrose, +who died the year before, appeared to him by night, holding a staff in +his hand, and struck the ground three times, crying, "Here, here, +here!" Mascezel understood that the saint promised him the victory in +that same spot three days after. In fact, the third day he marched +upon the enemy, offering peace to the first whom he met; but an ensign +having replied to him very arrogantly, he gave him a severe blow with +his sword upon his arm, which made his standard swerve; those who were +afar off thought that he was yielding, and that he lowered his +standard in sign of submission, and they hastened to do the same. +Paulinus, who wrote the life of St. Ambrose, assures us that he had +these particulars from the lips of Mascezel himself; and Orosius heard +them from those who had been eye-witnesses of the fact. + +The persecutors having inflicted martyrdom on seven Christian +virgins,[355] one of them appeared the following night to St. +Theodosius of Ancyra, and revealed to him the spot where herself and +her companions had been thrown into the lake, each one with a stone +tied around her neck. As Theodosius and his people were occupied in +searching for their bodies, a voice from heaven warned Theodosius to +be on his guard against the traitor, meaning to indicate Polycronius, +who betrayed Theodosius, and was the occasion of his being arrested +and martyred. + +St. Potamienna,[356] a Christian virgin who suffered martyrdom at +Alexandria, appeared after her death to several persons, and was the +cause of their conversion to Christianity. She appeared in particular +to a soldier named Basilidus, who, as he was conducting her to the +place of execution, had protected her from the insults of the +populace. This soldier, encouraged by Potamienna, who in a vision +placed a garland upon his head, was baptized, and received the crown +of martyrdom. + +St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neocĉsarea in Pontus, being +greatly occupied with certain theological difficulties, raised by +heretics concerning the mysteries of religion, and having passed great +part of the night in studying those matters, saw a venerable old man +enter his room, having by his side a lady of august and divine form; +he comprehended that these were the Holy Virgin and St. John the +Evangelist. The Virgin exhorted St. John to instruct the bishop, and +dissipate his embarrassment, by explaining clearly to him the mystery +of the Trinity and the Divinity of the Verb or Word. He did so, and +St. Gregory wrote it down instantly. It is the doctrine which he left +to his church, and which they have to this very day. + + +Footnotes: + +[344] Aug. de Curâ gerend. pro Mortuis, c. x. + +[345] Concil. Eliber, auno circiter 300. + +[346] Amplilo. vita S. Basil. and Chronic. Alex. p. 692. + +[347] Acta sincera Mart. pp. 11, 22. Edit. 1713. + +[348] Paulin. vit. S. Ambros. n. 47, 48. + +[349] Ambros. Epist. 22, p. 874; vid. notes, ibid. + +[350] Evod. Upsal. apud Aug. Epist. clviii. Idem, Aug. Epist. clix. + +[351] "Animan igitur omni corpore carere omnino non posse, illud, ut +puto, ostendit quia Deus solus omni corpore semper caret." + +[352] "Quid se prĉcipitat de rarissimis aut inexpertis quasi definitam +ferre sententiam, cum quotidiana et continua non solvat?" + +[353] Palladius, Dialog, de Vita Chrysost. c. xi. + +[354] Lactant. de Mort. Persec. c. 46. + +[355] Acta sincera Martyr. passion. S. Theodos. M. pp. 343, 344. + +[356] Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. c. 8. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +MORE INSTANCES OF APPARITIONS. + + +Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, relates that a good priest named +Stephen, having received the confession of a lord named Guy, who was +mortally wounded in a combat, this lord appeared to him completely +armed some time after his death, and begged of him to tell his brother +Anselm to restore an ox which he Guy had taken from a peasant, whom he +named, and repair the damage which he had done to a village which did +not belong to him, and which he had taxed with undue charges; that he +had forgotten to declare these two sins in his last confession, and +that he was cruelly tormented for it. "And as assurance of the truth +of what I tell you," added he, "when you return home, you will find +that you have been robbed of the money you intended for your expenses +in going to St. Jacques." The curé, on his return to his house, found +his money gone, but could not acquit himself of his commission, +because Anselm was absent. A few days after, Guy appeared to him +again, and reproached him for having neglected to perform what he had +asked of him. The curé excused himself on account of the absence of +Anselm; and at length went to him and told him what he was charged to +do. Anselm answered him harshly that he was not obliged to do penance +for his brother's sins. + +The dead man appeared a third time, and implored the curé to assist +him in this extremity; he did so, and restored the value of the ox; +but as the rest exceeded his power, he gave alms, and recommended Guy +to the worthy people of his acquaintance; and he appeared no more. + +Richer, a monk of Senones,[357] speaks of a spirit which returned in +his time, in the town of Epinal, about the year 1212, in the house of +a burgess named Hugh de la Cour, and who, from Christmas to Midsummer, +did a variety of things in that same house, in sight of everybody. +They could hear him speak, they could see all he did, but nobody could +see him. He said he belonged to Cléxenteine, a village seven leagues +from Epinal; and what is also remarkable is that, during the six +months he was heard about the house, he did no harm to any one. One +day, Hugh having ordered his domestic to saddle his horse, and the +valet being busy about something else, deferred doing it, when the +spirit did his work, to the great astonishment of all the household. +Another time, when Hugh was absent, the spirit asked Stephen, the +son-in-law of Hugh, for a penny, to make an offering of it to St. +Goëric, the patron saint of Epinal. Stephen presented him with an old +denier of Provence; but the spirit refused it, saying he would have a +good denier of Thoulouse. Stephen placed on the threshold of the door +a Thoulousian denier, which disappeared immediately; and the following +night, a noise, as of a man who was walking therein, was heard in the +church of St. Goëric. + +Another time, Hugh having bought some fish to make his family a +repast, the spirit transported the fish to the garden which was behind +the house, put half of it on a tile (_scandula_), and the rest in a +mortar, where it was found again. Another time, Hugh desiring to be +bled, told his daughter to get ready some bandages. Immediately the +spirit went into another room, and fetched a new shirt, which he tore +up into several bandages, presented them to the master of the house, +and told him to choose the best. Another day, the servant having +spread out some linen in the garden to dry, the spirit carried it all +up stairs, and folded them more neatly than the cleverest laundress +could have done. + +A man named Guy de la Torre,[358] who died at Verona in 1306, at the +end of eight days spoke to his wife and the neighbors of both sexes, +to the prior of the Dominicians, and to the professor of theology, who +asked him several questions in theology, to which he replied very +pertinently. He declared that he was in purgatory for certain +unexpatiated sins. They asked him how he possibly could speak, not +having the organs of the voice; he replied that souls separated from +the body have the faculty of forming for themselves instruments of the +air capable of pronouncing words; he added that the fire of hell acted +upon spirits, not by its natural virtue, but by the power of God, of +which that fire is the instrument. + +Here follows another remarkable instance of an apparition, related by +M. d'Aubigné. "I affirm upon the word of the king[359] the second +prodigy, as being one of the three stories which he reiterated to us, +his hair standing on end at the time, as we could perceive. This one +is, that the queen having gone to bed at an earlier hour than usual, +and there being present at her _coucher_, amongst other persons of +note, the king of Navarre,[360] the Archbishop of Lyons, the Ladies de +Retz, de Lignerolles, and de Sauve, two of whom have since confirmed +this conversation. As she was hastening to bid them good night, she +threw herself with a start upon her bolster, put her hands before her +face, and crying out violently, she called to her assistance those who +were present, wishing to show them, at the foot of the bed, the +Cardinal (de Lorraine), who extended his hand towards her; she cried +out several times, 'M. the Cardinal, I have nothing to do with you.' +The King of Navarre at the same time sent out one of his gentlemen, +who brought back word that he had expired at that same moment." + +I take from Sully's Memoirs,[361] which have just been reprinted in +better order than they were before, another singular fact, which may +be related with these. We still endeavor to find out what can be the +nature of that illusion, seen so often and by the eyes of so many +persons in the Forest of Fontainebleau; it was a phantom surrounded by +a pack of hounds, whose cries were heard, while they might be seen at +a distance, but all disappeared if any one approached. + +The note of M. d'Ecluse, editor of these Memoirs, enters into longer +details. He observes that M. de Peréfixe makes mention of this +phantom; and he makes him say, with a hoarse voice, one of these three +sentences: Do you expect me? or, Do you hear me? or, Amend yourself. +"And they believe," says he, "that these were sports of sorcerers, or +of the malignant spirit." The Journal of Henry IV., and the Septenary +Chronicle, speak of them also, and even assert that this phenomenon +alarmed Henry IV. and his courtiers very much. And Peter Matthew says +something of it in his History of France, tom. ii. p. 68. Bongars +speaks of it as others do,[362] and asserts that it was a hunter who +had been killed in this forest in the time of Francis I. But now we +hear no more of this spectre, though there is still a road in this +forest which retains the name of the _Grand Veneur_, in memory, it is +said, of this visionary scene. + +A Chronicle of Metz,[363] under the date of the year 1330, relates the +apparition of a spirit at Lagni sur Marne, six leagues from Paris. It +was a good lady, who after her death spoke to more than twenty +people--her father, sister, daughter, and son-in-law, and to her other +friends--asking them to have said for her particular masses, as being +more efficacious than the common mass. As they feared it might be an +evil spirit, they read to it the beginning of the Gospel of St. John; +and they made it say the _Pater_, _credo_, and _confiteor_. She said +she had beside her two angels, one bad and one good; and that the good +angel revealed to her what she ought to say. They asked her if they +should go and fetch the Holy Sacrament from the altar. She replied it +was with them, for her father, who was present, and several others +among them, had received it on Christmas day, which was the Tuesday +before. + +Father Taillepied, a Cordelier, and professor of theology at +Rouen,[364] who composed a book expressly on the subject of +apparitions, which was printed at Rouen in 1600, says that one of his +fraternity with whom he was acquainted, named Brother Gabriel, +appeared to several monks of the convent at Nice, and begged of them +to satisfy the demand of a shopkeeper at Marseilles, of whom he had +taken a coat he had not paid for. On being asked why he made so much +noise, he replied that it was not himself, but a bad spirit who wished +to appear instead of him, and prevent him from declaring the cause of +his torment. + +I have been told by two canons of St. Diez, in our neighborhood, that +three months after the death of M. Henri, canon of St. Diez, of their +brotherhood, the canon to whom the house devolved, going with one of +his brethren, at two o'clock in the afternoon, to look at the said +house, and see what alterations it might suit him to make in it, they +went into the kitchen, and both of them saw in the next room, which +was large and very light, a tall ecclesiastic of the same height and +figure as the defunct canon, who, turning towards them, looked them in +the face for two minutes, then crossed the said room, and went up a +little dark staircase which led to the garret. + +These two gentlemen, being much frightened, left the house instantly, +and related the adventure to some of the brotherhood, who were of +opinion that they ought to return and see if there was not some one +hidden in the house; they went, they sought, they looked everywhere, +without finding any one. + +We read in the History of the Bishops of Mans,[365] that in the time +of Bishop Hugh, who lived in 1135, they heard, in the house of Provost +Nicholas, a spirit who alarmed the neighbors and those who lived in +the house, by uproar and frightful noises, as if he had thrown +enormous stones against the walls, with a force which shook the roof, +walls, and ceilings; he transported the dishes and the plates from one +place to another, without their seeing the hand which moved them. This +genius lighted a candle, though very far from the fire. Sometimes, +when the meat was placed on the table, he would scatter bran, ashes, +or soot, to prevent them from touching any of it. Amica, the wife of +the Provost Nicholas, having prepared some thread to be made into +cloth, the spirit twisted and raveled it in such a way that all who +saw it could not sufficiently admire the manner in which it was done. + +Priests were called in, who sprinkled holy water everywhere, and +desired all those who were there to make the sign of the cross. +Towards the first and second night, they heard as it were the voice of +a young girl, who, with sighs that seemed drawn from the bottom of her +heart, said, in a lamentable and sobbing voice, that her name was +Garnier; and addressing itself to the provost, said, "Alas! whence do +I come? from what distant country, through how many storms, dangers, +through snow, cold, fire, and bad weather, have I arrived at this +place! I have not received power to harm any one--but prepare +yourselves with the sign of the cross against a band of evil spirits, +who are here only to do you harm; have a mass of the Holy Ghost said +for me, and a mass for those defunct; and you, my dear sister-in-law, +give some clothes to the poor, for me." + +They asked this spirit several questions on things past and to come, +to which it replied very pertinently; it explained even the salvation +and damnation of several persons; but it would not enter into any +argument, nor yet into conference with learned men, who were sent by +the Bishop of Mans; this last circumstance is very remarkable, and +casts some suspicion on this apparition. + + +Footnotes: + +[357] Richer Senon. in Chronic. m. (Hoc non exstat in impresso). + +[358] Herman Contraet. Chronic. p. 1006. + +[359] D'Aubigné, Hist. Univ. lib. ii. c. 12. Ap. 1574. + +[360] Henry IV. + +[361] Mém. de Sully, in 4to. tom. i. liv. x. p. 562, note 26. Or Edit. +in 12mo. tom. iii. p. 321, note 26. + +[362] Bongars, Epist. ad Camerarium. + +[363] Chronic. Metens. Anno, 1330. + +[364] Taillepied, Traité de l'Apparition des Esprits, c. xv. p. 173. + +[365] Anecdote Mabill, p. 320. Edition in fol. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +ON THE APPARITIONS OF SPIRITS WHO IMPRINT THEIR HANDS ON CLOTHES OR ON +WOOD. + + +Within a short time, a work composed by a Father Prémontré, of the +Abbey of Toussaints, in the Black Forest, has been communicated to me. +His work is in manuscript, and entitled, "Umbra Humberti, hoc est +historia memorabilis D. Humberti Birkii, mirâ post mortem apparitione, +per A. G. N." + +This Humbert Birck was a burgess of note, in the town of Oppenheim, +and master of a country house called Berenbach; he died in the month +of November, 1620, a few days before the feast of St. Martin. On the +Saturday which followed his funeral, they began to hear certain noises +in the house where he had lived with his first wife; for at the time +of his death he had married again. + +The master of this house, suspecting that it was his brother-in-law +who haunted it, said to him, "If you are Humbert, my brother-in-law, +strike three times against the wall." At the same time, they heard +three strokes only, for ordinarily he struck several times. Sometimes, +also, he was heard at the fountain where they went for water, and he +frightened all the neighborhood; he did not always utter articulate +sounds, but he would knock repeatedly, make a noise, or a groan, or a +shrill whistle, or sounds as a person in lamentation; all this lasted +for six months, and then it suddenly ceased. At the end of a year he +made himself heard more loudly than ever. The master of the house, and +his domestics, the boldest amongst them, at last asked him what he +wished for, and in what they could help him? He replied, but in a +hoarse, low tone, "Let the curé come here next Saturday with my +children." The curé being indisposed, could not go thither on the +appointed day; but he went on the Monday following, accompanied by a +good many people. + +Humbert received notice of this, and he answered in a very +intelligible manner. They asked him if he required any masses to be +said? He asked for three. Then they wished to know if alms should be +given in his name? He said, "I wish them to give eight measures of +corn to the poor, and that my widow may give something to all my +children." He afterwards ordered that what had been badly distributed +in his succession, which amounted to about twenty florins, should be +set aside. They asked why he infested that house rather than another? +He answered that he was forced to it by conjuration and maledictions. +Had he received the sacraments of the Church? "I received them from +the curé, your predecessor." He was made to say the _Pater_ and the +_Ave_; he recited them with difficulty, saying that he was prevented +by an evil spirit, who would not let him tell the curé many other +things. + +The curé, who was named Prémontré, of the abbey of Toussaints, came to +the monastery on Tuesday the 12th of January, 1621, in order to take +the opinion of the Superior on this singular affair; they let him have +three monks to help him with their counsels. They all repaired to the +house wherein Humbert continued his importunity; for nothing that he +had requested had as yet been executed. A great number of those who +lived near were assembled in the house. The master of it told Humbert +to rap against the wall; he knocked very gently: then the master +desired him to go and fetch a stone and knock louder; he deferred a +little, as if he had been to pick up a stone, and gave a stronger blow +upon the wall: the master whispered in his neighbor's ear as softly as +he could that he should rap seven times, and directly he rapped seven +times. He always showed great respect to the priests, and did not +reply to them so boldly as to the laity; and when he was asked +why--"It is," said he, "because they have with them the Holy +Sacrament." However, they had it no otherwise than because they had +said mass that day. The next day the three masses which he had +required were said, and all was disposed for a pilgrimage, which he +had specified in the last conversation they had with him; and they +promised to give alms for him the first day possible. From that time +Humbert haunted them no more. + +The same monk, Prémontré, relates that on the 9th of September, 1625, +a man named John Steinlin died at a place called Altheim, in the +diocese of Constance. Steinlin was a man in easy circumstances, and a +common-councilman of his town. Some days after his death he appeared +during the night to a tailor, named Simon Bauh, in the form of a man +surrounded by a sombre flame, like that of lighted sulphur, going and +coming in his own house, but without speaking. Bauh, who was +disquieted by this sight, resolved to ask him what he could do to +serve him. He found an opportunity to do so the 17th of November in +the same year, 1625; for, as he was reposing at night near his stove, +a little after eleven o'clock, he beheld this spectre environed by +fire like sulphur, who came into his room, going and coming, shutting +and opening the windows. The tailor asked him what he desired. He +replied, in a hoarse, interrupted voice, that he could help very much, +if he would; "but," added he, "do not promise me to do so, if you are +not resolved to execute your promises." "I will execute them, if they +are not beyond my power," replied he. + +"I wish, then," replied the spirit, "that you would cause a mass to be +said in the chapel of the Virgin at Rotembourg; I made a vow to that +intent during my life, and I have not acquitted myself of it. +Moreover, you must have two masses said at Altheim, the one of the +Defunct and the other of the Virgin; and as I did not always pay my +servants exactly, I wish that a quarter of corn should be distributed +to the poor." Simon promised to satisfy him on all these points. The +spectre held out his hand, as if to ensure his promise; but Simon, +fearing that some harm might happen to himself, tendered him the board +which come to hand, and the spectre having touched it, left the print +of his hand with the four fingers and thumb, as if fire had been +there, and had left a pretty deep impression. After that, he vanished +with so much noise that it was heard three houses off. + +I related in the first edition of this dissertation on the return of +spirits, an adventure which happened at Fontenoy on the Moselle, where +it was affirmed that a spirit had in the same manner made the +impression of its hand on a handkerchief, and had left the impress of +the hand and of the palm well marked. The handkerchief is in the hands +of one Casmar, a constable living at Toul, who received it from his +uncle, the curé of Fontenoy; but, on a careful investigation of the +thing, it was found that a young blacksmith, who courted a young girl +to whom the handkerchief belonged, had forged an iron hand to print it +on the handkerchief, and persuade people of the reality of the +apparition. + +At St. Avold, a town of German Lorraine, in the house of the curé, +named M. Royer de Monelos, there was something very similar which +appears to have been performed by a servant girl, sixteen years of +age, who heard and saw, as she said, a woman who made a great noise in +the house; but she was the only person who saw and heard her, although +others heard also the noise which was made in the house. They saw also +the young servant, as it were, pushed, dragged, and struck by the +spirit, but never saw it, nor yet heard his voice. This contrivance +began on the night of the 31st of January, 1694, and finished about +the end of February the same year. The curé conjured the spirit in +German and French. He made no reply to the exorcisms in French but +sighs; and as they terminated the German exorcism, saying, "Let every +spirit praise the Lord," the girl said that the spirit had said, "And +me also;" but she alone heard it. + +Some monks of the abbey were requested to come also and exorcise the +spirit. They came, and with them some burgesses of note of St. Avold; +and neither before nor after the exorcisms did they see or hear +anything, except that the servant girl seemed to be pushed violently, +and the doors were roughly knocked at. By dint of exorcisms they +forced the spirit, or rather the servant who alone heard and saw it, +to declare that she was neither maid nor wife; that she was called +Claire Margaret Henri; that a hundred and fifty years ago she had died +at the age of twenty, after having lived servant at the curé of St. +Avold's first of all for eight years, and that she had died at +Guenviller of grief and regret for having killed her own child. At +last, the servant maintaining that she was not a good spirit, she said +to her, "Give me hold of your petticoat (or skirt)." She would do no +such thing; at the same time the spirit said to her, "Look at your +petticoat; my mark is upon it." She looked and saw upon her skirt the +five fingers of the hand so distinctly that it did not appear possible +for any living creature to have marked them better. This affair lasted +about two months; and at this day, at St. Avold, as in all the +country, they talk of the spirit of St. Avold as of a game played by +that girl, in concert, doubtless, with some persons who wished to +divert themselves by puzzling the good curé with his sisters, and all +those who fell into the trap. They printed at Cusson's, at Nancy, in +1718, a relation of this event, which at first gained credence with a +number of people, but who were quite undeceived in the end. + +I shall add to this story that which is related by Philip +Melancthon,[366] whose testimony in this matter ought not to be +doubted. He says that his aunt having lost her husband when she was +enceinte and near her time, she saw one day, towards evening, two +persons come into her house; one of them wore the form of her deceased +husband, the other that of a tall Franciscan. At first she was +frightened, but her husband reassured her, and told her that he had +important things to communicate to her; at the same time he begged the +Franciscan to pass into the next room, whilst he imparted his wishes +to his wife. Then he begged of her to have some masses said for the +relief of his soul, and tried to persuade her to give her hand without +fear; as she was unwilling to give it, he assured her she would feel +no pain. She gave him her hand, and her hand felt no pain when she +withdrew it, but was so blackened that it remained discolored all her +life. After that, the husband called in the Franciscan; they went out, +and disappeared. Melancthon believes that these were two spectres; he +adds that he knows several similar instances related by persons worthy +of credit. + +If these two men were only spectres, having neither flesh nor bones, +how could one of them imprint a black color on the hand of this widow? +How could he who appeared to the tailor Bauh imprint his hand on the +board which he presented to him? If they were evil genii, why did they +ask for masses and order restitution? Does Satan destroy his own +empire, and does he inspire the living with the idea of doing good +actions and of fearing the pains which the sins of the wicked are +punished by God? + +But on looking at the affair in another light, may not the demon in +this kind of apparitions, by which he asks for masses and prayers, +intend to foment superstition, by making the living believe that +masses and prayers made for them after their death would free them +from the pains of hell, even if they died in habitual crime and +impenitence? Several instances are cited of rascals who have appeared +after their death, asking for prayers like the bad rich man, and to +whom prayers and masses can be of no avail from the unhappy state in +which they died. Thus, in all this, Satan seeks to establish his +kingdom, and not to destroy it or diminish it. + +We shall speak hereafter, in the Dissertation on Vampires, of +apparitions of dead persons who have been seen, and acted like living +ones in their own bodies. + +The same Melancthon relates that a monk came one day and rapped loudly +at the door of Luther's dwelling, asking to speak to him; he entered +and said, "I entertained some popish errors upon which I shall be very +glad to confer with you." "Speak," said Luther. He at first proposed +to him several syllogisms, to which he easily replied; he then +proposed others, that were more difficult. Luther, being annoyed, +answered him hastily, "Go, you embarrass me; I have something else to +do just now besides answering you." However, he rose and replied to +his arguments. At the same time, having remarked that the pretended +monk had hands like the claws of a bird, he said to him, "Art not thou +he of whom it is said, in Genesis, 'He who shall be born of woman +shall break the head of the serpent?'" The demon added, "But _thou_ +shalt engulf them all." At these words the confused demon retired +angrily and with much fracas; he left the room infested with a very +bad smell, which was perceptible for some days. + +Luther, who assumes so much the _esprit fort_, and inveighs with so +much warmth against private masses wherein they pray for the souls of +the defunct,[367] maintains boldly that all the apparitions of spirits +which we read in the lives of the saints, and who ask for masses for +the repose of their souls, are only illusions of Satan, who appears to +deceive the simple, and inspire them with useless confidence in the +sacrifice of the mass. Whence he concludes that it is better at once +to deny absolutely that there is any purgatory. + +He, then, did not deny either apparitions or the operations of the +devil; and he maintained that Ecolampadius died under the blows of the +devil,[368] whose efforts he could not rebut; and, speaking of +himself, he affirms that awaking once with a start in the middle of +the night, the devil appeared, to argue against him, when he was +seized with moral terror. The arguments of the demon were so pressing +that they left him no repose of mind; the sound of his powerful voice, +his overwhelming manner of disputing when the question and the reply +were perceived at once, left him no breathing time. He says again that +the devil can kill and strangle, and without doing all that, press a +man so home by his arguments that it is enough to kill one; "as I," +says he, "have experienced several times." After such avowals, what +can we think of the doctrine of this chief of the innovators? + + +Footnotes: + +[366] Philipp. Melancth. Theolog. c. i. Oper. fol. 326, 327. + +[367] Martin Luther, de Abroganda Missa Privata, part. ii. + +[368] Ibid. tom. vii. 226. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, GREEKS, AND LATINS CONCERNING THE DEAD WHO ARE +LEFT UNBURIED. + + +The ancient Hebrews, as well as the greater number of other nations, +were very careful in burying their dead. That appears from all +history; we see in the Scripture how much attention the patriarchs +paid in that respect to themselves and those belonging to them; we +know what praises are bestowed on the holy man Tobit, whose principal +devotion consisted in giving sepulture to the dead. + +Josephus the historian[369] says that the Jews refused burial only to +those who committed suicide. Moses commanded them[370] to give +sepulture the same day and before sunset to any who were executed and +hanged on a tree; "because," says he, "he who is hung upon the tree is +accursed of God; you will take care not to pollute the land which the +Lord your God has given you." That was practiced in regard to our +Saviour, who was taken down from the cross the same day that he had +been crucified, and a few hours after his death. + +Homer,[371] speaking of the inhumanity of Achilles, who dragged the +body of Hector after his car, says that he dishonored and outraged the +earth by this barbarous conduct. The Rabbis write that the soul is not +received into heaven until the gross body is interred, and entirely +consumed. They believe, moreover, that after death the souls of the +wicked are clothed with a kind of covering with which they accustom +themselves to suffer the torments which are their due; and that the +souls of the just are invested with a resplendent body and a luminous +garment, with which they accustom themselves to the glory which awaits +them. + +Origen[372] acknowledges that Plato, in his Dialogue of the Soul, +advances that the images and shades of the dead appeared sometimes +near their tombs. Origen concludes from that, that those shades and +those images must be produced by some cause; and that cause, according +to him, can only be that the soul of the dead is invested with a +subtile body like that of light, on which they are borne as in a car, +where they appear to the living. Celsus maintained that the +apparitions of Jesus Christ after his resurrection were only the +effects of an imagination smitten and prepossessed, which formed to +itself the object of its illusions according to its wishes. Origen +refutes this solidly by the recital of the evangelists, of the +appearance of our Saviour to Thomas, who would not believe it was +truly our Saviour until he had seen and touched his wounds; it was +not, then, purely the effect of his imagination. + +The same Origen,[373] and Theophylact after him, assert that the Jews +and pagans believe that the soul remained for some time near the body +it had formerly animated; and that it is to destroy that futile +opinion that Jesus Christ, when he would resuscitate Lazarus, cries +with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth;" as if he would call from a +distance the soul of this man who had been dead three days. + +Tertullian places the angels in the category of extension,[374] in +which he places God himself, and maintains that the soul is corporeal. +Origen believes also that the soul is material, and has a form;[375] +an opinion which he may have taken from Plato. Arnobius, Lactantius, +St. Hilary, several of the ancient fathers, and some theologians, have +been of the same opinion; and Grotius is displeased with those who +have absolutely spiritualized the angels, demons and souls separated +from the body. + +The Jews of our days[376] believe that after the body of a man is +interred, his spirit goes and comes, and departs from the spot where +it is destined to visit his body, and to know what passes around him; +that it is wandering during a whole year after the death of the body, +and that it was during that year of delay that the Pythoness of Endor +evoked the soul of Samuel, after which time the evocation would have +had no power over his spirit. + +The pagans thought much in the same manner upon it. Lucan introduces +Pompey, who consults a witch, and commands her to evoke the soul of a +dead man to reveal to him what success he would meet with in his war +against Cĉsar; the poet makes this woman say, "Shade, obey my spells, +for I evoke not a soul from gloomy Tartarus, but one which hath gone +down thither a little while since, and which is still at the gate of +hell."[377] + +The Egyptians[378] believed that when the spirit of an animal is +separated from its body by violence, it does not go to a distance, but +remains near it. It is the same with the soul of a man who has died a +violent death; it remains near the body--nothing can make it go away; +it is retained there by sympathy; several have been seen sighing near +their bodies which were interred. The magicians abuse their power over +such in their incantations; they force them to obey, when they are +masters of the dead body, or even part of it. Frequent experience +taught them that there is a secret virtue in the body, which draws +towards it the spirit which has once inhabited it; wherefore those who +wish to receive or become the receptacles of the spirits of such +animals as know the future, eat the principle parts of them, as the +hearts of crows, moles, or hawks. The spirit of these creatures enters +into them at the moment they eat this food, and makes them give out +oracles like divinities. + +The Egyptians believed[379] that when the spirit of a beast is +delivered from its body, it is rational and predicts the future, gives +oracles, and is capable of all that the soul of man can do when +disengaged from the body--for which reason they abstained from eating +the flesh of animals, and worshiped the gods in the form of beasts. + +At Rome and at Metz there were colleges of priests consecrated to the +service of the manes,[380] lares, images, shades, spectres, Erebus, +Avernus or hell, under the protection of the god Sylvanus; which +demonstrates that the Latins and the Gauls recognized the return of +souls and their apparition, and considered them as divinities to whom +sacrifices should be offered to appease them and prevent them from +doing harm. Nicander confirms the same thing, when he says that the +Celts or the Gauls watched near the tombs of their great men to derive +from them knowledge concerning the future. + +The ancient northern nations were fully persuaded that the spectres +which sometimes appear are no other than the souls of persons lately +deceased, and in their country they knew no remedy so proper to put a +stop to this kind of apparition as to cut off the head of the dead +person, or to impale him, or pierce him through the body with a stake, +or to burn it, as is now practiced at this day in Hungary and Moravia +with regard to vampires. + +The Greeks, who had derived their religion and theology from the +Egyptians and Orientals, and the Latins, who took it from the Greeks, +believed that the souls of the dead sometimes appeared to the living; +that the necromancers evoked them, and thus obtained answers +concerning the future, and instructions relating to the time present. +Homer, the greatest theologian, and perhaps the most curious of the +Grecian writers, relates several apparitions, both of gods and heroes, +and of men after their death. + +In the Odyssey,[381] Ulysses goes to consult the diviner Tyresias; and +this sorcerer having prepared a grave full of blood to evoke the +manes, Ulysses draws his sword, and prevents them from coming to drink +this blood, for which they appear to thirst, and of which they would +not permit them to taste before they had replied to what was asked of +them; they (the Greeks and Latins) believed also that souls were not +at rest, and that they wandered around the corpses, so long as they +remained uninhumed.[382] When they gave burial to a body, they called +that _animam condere_,[383] to cover the soul, put it under the earth +and shelter it. They called it with a loud voice, and offered it +libations of milk and blood. They also called that ceremony, hiding +the shades,[384] sending them with their body under ground. + +The sybil, speaking to Ĉneas, shows him the manes or shades wandering +on the banks of the Acheron; and tells him that they are souls of +persons who have not received sepulture, and who wander about for a +hundred years.[385] + +The philosopher Sallust[386] speaks of the apparitions of the dead +around their tombs in dark bodies; he tries to prove thereby the dogma +of the metempsychosis. + +Here is a singular instance of a dead man, who refuses the rite of +burial, acknowledging himself unworthy of it. Agathias relates[387] +that some pagan philosophers, not being able to relish the dogma of +the unity of a God, resolved to go from Constantinople to the court of +Chosroes, King of Persia, who was spoken of as a humane prince, and +one who loved learning. Simplicius of Silicia, Eulamius the Phrygian, +Protanus the Lydian, Hermenes and Philogenes of Phoenicia, and +Isidorus of Gaza, repaired then to the court of Chosroes, and were +well received there; but they soon perceived that that country was +much more corrupt than Greece, and they resolved to return to +Constantinople, where Justinian then reigned. + +As they were on their way, they found an unburied corpse, took pity on +it, and had it put in the ground by their own servants. The following +night this man appeared to one of them, and told him not to inter him, +who was not worthy of receiving sepulture; for the earth abhorred one +who had defiled his own mother. The next day they found the same +corpse cast out of the ground, and they comprehended that it was +defiled by incest, which rendered it unworthy of the honor of +receiving burial, although such crimes were known in Persia, and did +not excite the same horror there as in other countries. + +The Greeks and Latins believed that the souls of the dead came and +tasted what was presented on their tombs, especially honey and wine; +that the demons loved the smoke and odor of sacrifices, melody, the +blood of victims, commerce with women; that they were attached for a +time to certain spots or to certain edifices, which they haunted, and +where they appeared; that souls separated from their terrestrial body, +retained after death a subtile one, flexible, aërial, which preserved +the form of that they once had animated during their life; that they +haunted those who had done them wrong and whom they hated. Thus Virgil +describes Dido, in a rage, threatening to haunt the perfidious +Ĉneas.[388] + +When the spirit of Patroclus appeared to Achilles,[389] it had his +voice, his shape, his eyes, his garments, but not his palpable body. +When Ulysses went down to the infernal regions, he saw there the +divine Hercules,[390] that is to say, says Homer, his likeness; for he +himself is with the immortal gods, seated at their feast. Ĉneas +recognized his wife Creüsa, who appeared to him in her usual form, +only taller and more majestic.[391] + +We might cite a quantity of passages from the ancient poets, even from +the fathers of the church, who believed that spirits often appeared to +the living. Tertullian[392] believes that the soul is corporeal, and +that it has a certain figure. He appeals to the experience of those to +whom the ghosts of dead persons have appeared, and who have seen them +sensibly, corporeally, and palpably, although of an aërial color and +consistency. He defines the soul[393] a breath sent from God, +immortal, and having body and form. Speaking of the fictions of the +poets, who have asserted that souls were not at rest while their +bodies remain uninterred, he says all this is invented only to inspire +the living with that care which they ought to take for the burial of +the dead, and to take away from the relations of the dead the sight of +an object which would only uselessly augment their grief, if they kept +it too long in their houses; _ut instantiâ funeris et honor corporum +servetur et moeror affectuum temperetur_. + +St. Irenĉus[394] teaches, as a doctrine received from the Lord, that +souls not only subsist after the death of the body--without however +passing from one body into another, as those will have it who admit +the metempsychosis--but that they retain the form and remain near this +body, as faithful guardians of it, and remember naught of what they +have done or not done in this life. These fathers believed, then, in +the return of souls, their apparition, and their attachment to their +body; but we do not adopt their opinion on the corporeality of souls; +we are persuaded that they can appear with God's permission, +independently of all matter and of any corporeal substance which may +belong to them. + +As to the opinion of the soul being in a state of unrest while its +body is not interred, that it remains for some time near the tomb of +the body, and appears there in a bodily form; those are opinions which +have no solid foundation, either in Scripture or in the traditions of +the Church, which teach us that directly after death the soul is +presented before the judgment-seat of God, and is there destined to +the place that its good or bad actions have deserved. + + +Footnotes: + +[369] Joseph Bell. Jud. lib. iii c. 25. + +[370] Deut. xxi. 23. + +[371] Homer, Iliad, XXIV. + +[372] Origenes contra Celsum, p. 97. + +[373] Origenes in Joan. ix. &c. Theophylac. ibid. + +[374] Tertull. lib. de Anima. + +[375] Origenes contra Cels. lib. ii. + +[376] Bereseith Rabbĉ. c. 22. Vide Menasse de Resurrect. Mort. + +[377] + "Parete precanti + Non in Tartareo latitantem poscimus antro, + Assuetamque diù tenebris; modò luce fugatâ + Descendentem animam primo pallentis hiatu + Hĉret adhuc orci." + _Lucan, Pharsal._ 16. + +[378] Porphyr. de Abstin. lib. ii. art. 47. + +[379] Demet. lib. iv. art. 10. + +[380] Gruter, p. lxiii. Mauric. Hist. de Metz, preface, p. 15. + +[381] Homer, Odyss. sub finem. Horat. lib. i. satyr. 8. Aug. de Civit. +Dei, lib. vii. c. 35. Clem. Alex. Pĉdag. lib. ii. c. 1. Prudent. +lib. iv. contra Symmach. Tertull. de Anim. Lactantius, lib. iii. + +[382] Virgil, Ĉn. iii. 150, _et seq._ + + "Proptereà jacet exanimum tibi corpus amici, + Heu nescis! totamque incestat funere classem. + Sedibus hunc refer ante suis et conde sepulcre." + +[383] + "Animamque sepulchro + Condimus, et magnâ supremum voce ciemus." + +[384] + "Romulus ut tumulo fraternas condidit umbras, + Et malè veloci justa soluta Remo." + +[385] + "Hĉc omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataque turba est. + Centum errant annos, volitantque hĉc littora circum." + +[386] Sallust. Philos. c. 19, 20. + +[387] Stolust. lib. ii. de Bella Persico, sub fin. + +[388] + "Sequar atris ignibus absens; + Et cum frigida mors animĉ subduxerit artus, + Omnibus umbra lecis adero: dubis, improbe, poenas." + +[389] Homer, Iliad, XXIII. + +[390] Ibid. Odyss. V. + +[391] + "Infelix simulacrum etque ipsius umbra Creüsĉ + Visa mihi ante oculos, et notâ major imago." _Virgil, Ĉneid_ I. + +[392] Tertull. de Anim. + +[393] Ibid. + +[394] Iren. lib. ii. c. 34. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +EXAMINATION OF WHAT IS REQUIRED OR REVEALED TO THE LIVING BY THE DEAD +WHO RETURN TO EARTH. + + +The apparitions which are seen are those of good angels, or of demons, +or the spirits of the dead, or of living persons to others still +living. + +Good angels usually bring only good news, and announce nothing but +what is fortunate; or if they do announce any future misfortunes, it +is to persuade men to prevent them, or turn them aside by repentance, +or to profit by the evils which God sends them by exercising their +patience, and showing submission to his orders. + +Bad angels generally foretell only misfortune; wars, the effect of the +wrath of God on nations; and often even they execute the evils, and +direct the wars and public calamities which desolate kingdoms, +provinces, cities, and families. The spectres whose appearance to +Brutus, Cassius, and Julian the Apostate we have related, are only +bearers of the fatal orders of the wrath of God. If they sometimes +promise any prosperity to those to whom they appear, it is only for +the present time, never for eternity, nor for the glory of God, nor +for the eternal salvation of those to whom they speak. It only extends +to a temporal fortune, always of short duration, and very often +deceitful. + +The souls of the defunct, if these be Christians, ask very often that +the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ should be offered, +according to the observation of St. Gregory the Great;[395] and, as +experience shows, there is hardly any apparition of a Christian that +does not ask for masses, pilgrimages, restitutions, or that alms +should be distributed, or that they would satisfy those to whom the +deceased died indebted. They also often give salutary advice for the +salvation or correction of the morals, or good regulation of families. +They reveal the state in which certain persons find themselves in the +other world, in order to relieve their pain, or to put the living on +their guard, that the like misfortune may not befall them. They talk +of hell, paradise, purgatory, angels, demons, of the Supreme Judge, of +the rigor of his judgments, of the goodness he exercises towards the +just, and the rewards with which he crowns their good works. + +But we must greatly mistrust those apparitions which ask for masses, +pilgrimages and restitution. St. Paul warns us that the demon often +transforms himself into an angel of light;[396] and St. John[397] +warns us to distrust the "depths of Satan," his illusions, and +deceitful appearances; that spirit of malice and falsehood is found +among the true prophets to put into the mouth of the false prophets +falsehood and error. He makes a wrong use of the text of the +Scriptures, of the most sacred ceremonies, even of the sacraments and +prayers of the church, to seduce the simple, and win their confidence, +to share as much as in him lies the glory which is due to the Almighty +alone, and to appropriate it to himself. How many false miracles has +he not wrought? How many times has he foretold future events? What +cures has he not operated? How many holy actions has he not counseled? +How many enterprises, praiseworthy in appearance, has he not inspired, +in order to draw the faithful into his snare? + +Boden, in his Demonology,[398] cites more than one instance of demons +who have requested prayers, and have even placed themselves in the +posture of persons praying over a grave, to point out that the dead +persons wanted prayers. Sometimes it will be the demon in the shape of +a wretch dead in crime, who will come and ask for masses, to show that +his soul is in purgatory, and has need of prayers, although it may be +certain that he finally died impenitent, and that prayers are useless +for his salvation. All this is only a stratagem of a demon, who seeks +to inspire the wicked with foolish and dangerous confidence in their +being saved, notwithstanding their criminal life and their +impenitence; and that they can obtain salvation by means of a few +prayers, and a few alms, which shall be made after their death; not +regarding that these good works can be useful only to those who died +in a state of grace, although stained by some venial fault, since the +Scripture informs us[399] that nothing impure will enter the kingdom +of heaven. + +It is believed that the reprobate can sometimes return to earth by +permission, as persons dead in idolatry, and consequently in sin, and +excluded from the kingdom of God, have been seen to come to life +again, be converted, and receive baptism. St. Martin was as yet only +the simple abbot of his monastery of Ligugé,[400] when, in his +absence, a catechumen who had placed himself under his discipline to +be instructed in the truths of the Christian religion died without +having been baptized. He had been three days deceased when the saint +arrived. He sent everybody away, prayed over the dead man, +resuscitated him, and administered to him the baptismal rite. + +This catechumen related that he had been led before the tribunal of +the Supreme Judge, who had condemned him to descend into the darkness +with an infinity of other persons condemned like himself; but that two +angels having represented to the Judge that it was this man for whom +St. Martin interceded, God commanded the two angels to bring him back +to earth, and restore him to Martin. This is an instance which proves +what I have just said, that the reprobate can return to life, do +penance, and receive baptism. + +But as to what some have affirmed of the salvation of Falconila, +procured by St. Thecla, of that of Trajan, saved by the prayers of St. +Gregory, pope, and of some others who died heathens, this is all +entirely contrary to the faith of the church and to the holy +Scripture, which teach us that without faith it is impossible to +please God, and that he who believes not and has not received baptism +is already judged and condemned. Thus the opinions of those who accord +salvation to Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, &c., because it may appear to +them that they lived in a praiseworthy manner, according to the rules +of a merely human and philosophical morality, must be considered as +rash, erroneous, false, and dangerous. + +Philip, Chancellor of the Church of Paris, maintained that it was +permitted to one man to hold a plurality of benefices. Being on his +death-bed, he was visited by William, Bishop of Paris, who died in +1248. This prelate urged the chancellor to give up all his benefices +save one only; he refused, saying that he wished to try if the holding +a plurality of livings was so wrong as it was said to be; and in this +disposition of mind he died in 1237. + +Some days after his decease, Bishop William, or Guillaume, praying by +night, after matins, in his cathedral, beheld before him the hideous +and frightful figure of a man. He made the sign of the cross, and said +to him, "If you are sent by God, speak." He spoke, and said: "I am +that wretched chancellor, and have been condemned to eternal +punishment." The bishop having asked him the cause, he replied, "I am +condemned, first, for not having distributed the superfluity of my +benefices; secondly, for having maintained that it was allowable to +hold several at once; thirdly, for having remained for several days in +the guilt of incontinence." + +The story was often preached by Bishop William to his clerks. It is +related by the Bishop Albertus Magnus, who was a cotemporary, in his +book on the sacraments; by William Durand, Bishop of Mande, in his +book _De Modo celebrandi Concilia_; and in Thomas de Cantimpré, in his +work _Des Abeilles_. He believed, then, that God sometimes permitted +the reprobate to appear to the living. + +Here is an instance of the apparition of a man and woman who were in a +state of reprobation. The Prince of Ratzivil,[401] in his Journey to +Jerusalem, relates that when in Egypt he bought two mummies, had them +packed up, and secretly as possible conveyed on board his vessel, so +that only himself and his two servants were aware of it; the Turks +making a great difficulty of allowing mummies to be carried away, +because they fancy that the Christians make use of them for magical +operations. When they were at sea, there arose at sundry times such a +violent tempest that the pilot despaired of saving the vessel. A good +Polish priest, of the suite of the Prince de Ratzivil, recited the +prayers suitable to the circumstance; but he was tormented, he said, +by two hideous black spectres, a man and a woman, who were on each +side of him, and threatened to take away his life. It was thought at +first that terror disturbed his mind. + +A calm coming on, he appeared tranquil; but very soon, the storm +beginning again, he was more tormented than before, and was only +delivered from these haunting spectres when the two mummies, which he +had not seen, were thrown into the sea, and neither himself nor the +pilot knew of their being in the ship. I will not deny the fact, which +is related by a prince incapable of desiring to impose on any one. But +how many reflections may we make on this event! Were they the souls of +these two pagans, or two demons who assumed their form? What interest +could the demon have in not permitting these bodies to come under the +power of the Christians? + + +Footnotes: + +[395] Greg. Mag. lib. iv. Dialog. c. 55. + +[396] Cor. xi. 14. + +[397] Rev. xxi. 14. + +[398] Bodin, Dĉmon. tom. iii. c. 6. + +[399] Rev. xxi. 27. + +[400] Sulpit. Sever. Vita St. Martin. c. 5. + +[401] Ratzivil, Peregrin, Jerosol. p. 218. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +APPARITIONS OF MEN STILL ALIVE, TO OTHER LIVING MEN, ABSENT, AND VERY +DISTANT FROM EACH OTHER. + + +We find in all history, both sacred and profane, ancient and modern, +an infinite number of examples of the apparition of persons alive to +other living persons. The prophet Ezekiel says of himself,[402] "I was +seated in my house, in the midst of the elders of my people, when on a +sudden a hand, which came from a figure shining like fire, seized me +by the hair; and the spirit transported me between heaven and earth, +and took me to Jerusalem, where he placed me near the inner gate, +which looks towards the north, where I saw the idol of jealousy" +(apparently Adonis), "and I there remarked the majesty of the Lord, as +I had seen it in the field; he showed me the idol of jealousy, to +which the Israelites burned incense; and the angel of the Lord said to +me: Thou seest the abominations which the children of Israel commit, +in turning away from my sanctuary; thou shalt see still greater. + +"And having pierced the wall of the temple, I saw figures of reptiles +and animals, the abominations and idols of the house of Israel, and +seventy men of the elders of Israel, who were standing before these +figures, each one bearing a censer in his hand; after that the angel +said to me, Thou shalt see yet something yet more abominable; and he +showed me women who were mourning for Adonis. Lastly, having +introduced me into the inner court of the temple, I saw twenty men +between the vestibule and the altar, who turned their back upon the +temple of the Lord, and stood with their faces to the _east_, and paid +adoration to the rising sun." + +Here we may remark two things; first, that Ezekiel is transported from +Chaldĉa to Jerusalem, through the air between heaven and earth by the +hand of an angel; which proves the possibility of transporting a +living man through the air to a very great distance from the place +where he was. + +The second is, the vision or apparition of those prevaricators who +commit even within the temple the greatest abominations, the most +contrary to the majesty of God, the sanctity of the spot, and the law +of the Lord. After all these things, the same angel brings back +Ezekiel into Chaldĉa; but it was not until after God had showed him +the vengeance he intended to exercise upon the Israelites. + +It will, perhaps, be said that all this passed only in a vision; that +Ezekiel thought that he was transported to Jerusalem and afterwards +brought back again to Babylon; and that what he saw in the temple he +saw only by revelation. I reply, that the text of this prophet +indicates a real removal, and that he was transported by the hair of +his head between heaven and earth. He was brought back from Jerusalem +in the same way. + +I do not deny that the thing might have passed in a vision, and that +Ezekiel might have seen in spirit what was passing in the temple of +Jerusalem. But I shall still deduce from it a consequence which is +favorable to my design, that is, the possibility of a living man being +carried through the air to a very great distance from the place he was +in, or at least that a living man can imagine strongly that he is +being carried from one place to another, although this transportation +may be only imaginary and in a dream or vision, as they pretend it +happens in the transportation of sorcerers to the witches' sabbath. + +In short, there are true appearances of the living to others who are +also alive. How is this done? The thing is not difficult to explain in +following the recital of the prophet, who is transferred from Chaldĉa +into Judea in his own body by the ministration of angels; but the +apparitions related in St. Augustine and in other authors are not of +the same kind: the two persons who see and converse with each other go +not from their places; and the one who appears knows nothing of what +is passing in regard to him to whom he appears, and to whom he +explains several things of which he did not even think at that moment. + +In the third book of Kings, Obadiah, steward of king Ahab, having met +the prophet Elijah, who had for some time kept himself concealed, +tells him that king Ahab had him sought for everywhere, and that not +having been able to discover him anywhere, had gone himself to seek +him out. Elijah desired him to go and tell the king that Elijah had +appeared; but Obadiah replied, "See to what you expose me; for if I go +and announce to Ahab that I have spoken to you, the spirit of God will +transport you into some unknown place, and the king, not finding you, +will put me to death." + +There again is an instance which proves the possibility of the +transportation of a living man to a very distant spot. The same +prophet, being on Mount Carmel, was seized by the Spirit of God, which +transported him thence to Jezreel in very little time, not through the +air, but by making him walk and run with a promptitude that was quite +extraordinary. + +In the Gospel, Elias[403] appeared with Moses on Mount Tabor, at the +transfiguration of the Saviour. Moses had long been dead; but the +Church believes that Elijah (or Elias) is still living. In the Acts of +the Apostles,[404] Annanias appeared to St. Paul, and put his hands on +him in a vision before he arrived at his house in Damascus. + +Two men of the court of the Emperor Valens, wishing to discover by the +aid of magical secrets who would succeed that emperor,[405] caused a +table of laurel-wood to be made into a tripod, on which they placed a +basin made of divers metals. On the border of this basin were +engraved, at some distance from each other, the twenty-four letters of +the Greek alphabet. A magician with certain ceremonies approached the +basin, and holding in his hand a ring suspended by a thread, suffered +it at intervals to fall upon the letters of the alphabet whilst they +were rapidly turning the table; the ring falling on the different +letters formed obscure and enigmatical verses like those pronounced by +the oracle of Delphi. + +At last they asked what was the name of him who should succeed to the +Emperor Valens? The ring touched the four letters [Greek: THEOD], +which they interpreted of Theodosius, the second secretary of the +Emperor Valens. Theodosius was arrested, interrogated, convicted, and +put to death; and with him all the culprits or accomplices in this +operation; search was made for all the books of magic, and a great +number were burnt. The great Theodosius, of whom they thought not at +all, and who was at a great distance from the court, was the person +designated by these letters. In 379, he was declared Augustus by the +Emperor Gratian, and in coming to Constantinople in 380, he had a +dream, in which it seemed to him that Melitus, Bishop of Antioch, whom +he had never seen, and knew only by reputation, invested him with the +imperial mantle and placed the diadem on his head. + +They were then assembling the Eastern bishops to hold the Council of +Constantinople. Theodosius begged that Melitus might not be pointed +out to him, saying that he should recognize him by the signs he had +seen in his dream. In fact, he distinguished him amongst all the other +bishops, embraced him, kissed his hands, and looked upon him ever +after as his father. This was a distinct apparition of a living +man.[406] + +St. Augustine relates[407] that a certain man saw, in the night before +he slept, a philosopher, who was known to him, enter his house, and +who explained to him some of Plato's opinions which he would not +explain to him before. This apparition of the Platonician was merely +fantastic; for the person to whom he had appeared having asked him why +he would not explain to him at his house what he had come to explain +to him when at home, the philosopher replied, "I did not do so, but I +dreamt I did so." Here, then, are two persons both alive, one of whom, +in his sleep and dreaming, speaks to another who is wide awake, and +sees him only in imagination. + +The same St. Augustine[408] acknowledges in the presence of his people +that he had appeared to two persons who had never seen him, and knew +him only by reputation, and that he advised them to come to Hippo, to +be there cured by the merit of the martyr St. Stephen:--they came +there, and recovered their health. + +Evodius, teaching rhetoric at Carthage,[409] and finding himself +puzzled concerning the sense of a passage in the books of the Rhetoric +of Cicero, which he was to explain the next day to his scholars, was +much disquieted when he went to bed, and could hardly get to sleep. +During his sleep he fancied he saw St. Augustine, who was then at +Milan, a great way from Carthage, who was not thinking of him at all, +and was apparently sleeping very quietly in his bed at Milan, who came +to him and explained the passage in question. St. Augustine avows that +he does not know how it happens; but in whatever way it may occur, it +is very possible for us to see in a dream a dead person as we see a +living one, without either one or the other knowing how, when, or +where, these images are formed in our mind. It is also possible that a +dead man may appear to the living without being aware of it, and +discover to them secrets and hidden things, the result of which +reveals their truth and reality. When a living man appears in a dream +to another man, we do not say that his body or his spirit have +appeared, but simply that such a one has appeared to him. Why can we +not say that the dead appear without body and without soul, but simply +that their form presents itself to the mind and imagination of the +living person? + +St. Augustine, in the book which he has composed on the care which we +ought to take of the dead,[410] says that a holy monk, named John, +appeared to a pious woman, who ardently desired to see him. The +saintly doctor reasons a great deal on this apparition;--whether this +solitary foresaw what would happen to him; if he went in spirit to +this woman; if it is his angel or his spirit in his bodily form which +appeared to her in her sleep, as we behold in our dreams absent +persons who are known to us. We should be able to speak to the monk +himself, to know from himself how that occurred, if by the power of +God, or by his permission; for there is little appearance that he did +it by any natural power. + +It is said that St. Simeon Stylites[411] appeared to his disciple St. +Daniel, who had undertaken the journey to Jerusalem, where he would +have to suffer much for Jesus Christ's sake. St. Benedict[412] had +promised to comply with the request of some architects, who had begged +him to come and show them how he wished them to build a certain +monastery; the saint did not go to them bodily, but he went thither in +spirit, and gave them the plan and design of the house which they were +to construct. These men did not comprehend that it was what he had +promised them, and came to him again to ask what were his intentions +relative to this edifice: he said to them, "I have explained it to you +in a dream; you can follow the plan which you have seen." + +The Cĉsar Bardas, who had so mightily contributed to the deposition of +St. Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinople, had a vision, which he thus +related to Philothes his friend. "I thought I was that night going in +procession to the high church with the Emperor Michael. When we had +entered and were near the ambe, there appeared two eunuchs of the +chamber, with a cruel and ferocious mien, one of whom, having bound +the emperor, dragged him out of the choir on the right side; the other +dragged me in the same manner to the left. Then I saw on a sudden an +old man seated on the throne of the sanctuary. He resembled the image +of St. Peter, and two terrific men were standing near him, who looked +like provosts. I beheld, at the knees of St. Peter, St. Ignatius +weeping, and crying aloud, 'You have the keys of the kingdom of +heaven; if you know the injustice which has been done me, console my +afflicted old age.' + +"St. Peter replied, 'Point out the man who has used you ill.' +Ignatius, turning round, pointed to me, saying, 'That is he who has +done me most wrong.' St. Peter made a sign to the one at his right, +and placing in his hand a short sword, he said to him aloud, 'Take +Bardas, the enemy of God, and cut him in pieces before the vestibule.' +As they were leading me to death, I saw that he said to the emperor, +holding up his hand in a threatening manner, 'Wait, unnatural son!' +after which I saw them cut me absolutely in pieces." + +This took place in 866. The year following, in the month of April, the +emperor having set out to attack the Isle of Crete, was made so +suspicious of Bardas, that he resolved to get rid of him. He +accompanied the Emperor Michael in this expedition. Bardas, seeing the +murderers enter the emperor's tent, sword in hand, threw himself at +his feet to ask his pardon; but they dragged him out, cut him in +pieces, and in derision carried some of his members about at the end +of a pike. This happened the 29th of April, 867. + +Roger, Count of Calabria and Sicily, besieging the town of Capua, one +named Sergius, a Greek by birth, to whom he had given the command of +200 men, having suffered himself to be bribed, formed the design of +betraying him, and of delivering the army of the count to the Prince +of Capua, during the night. It was on the 1st of March that he was to +execute his intention. St. Bruno, who then dwelt in the Desert of +Squilantia, appeared to Count Roger, and told him to fly to arms +promptly, if he would not be oppressed by his enemies. The count +starts from his sleep, commands his people to mount their horses and +see what is going on in the camp. They met the men belonging to +Sergius, with the Prince of Capua, who having perceived them retired +promptly into the town; those of Count Roger took 162 of them, from +whom they learned all the secret of the treason. Roger went, on the +29th of July following, to Squilantia, and having related to Bruno +what had happened to him, the saint said to him, "It was not I who +warned you; it was the angel of God, who is near princes in time of +war." Thus Count Roger relates the affair himself, in a privilege +granted to St. Bruno. + +A monk[413] named Fidus, a disciple of St. Euthymius, a celebrated +abbot in Palestine, having been sent by Martyrius, the patriarch of +Jerusalem, on an important mission concerning the affairs of the +church, embarked at Joppa, and was shipwrecked the following night; he +supported himself above water for some time by clinging to a piece of +wood, which he found by chance. Then he invoked the help of St. +Euthymius, who appeared to him walking on the sea, and who said to +him, "Know that this voyage is not pleasing to God, and will be of no +utility to the mother of the Churches, that is to say, to Jerusalem. +Return to him who sent you, and tell him from me not to be uneasy at +the separation of the schismatics--union will take place ere long; for +you, you must go to my laurel grove, and you must build there a +monastery." + +Having said this, he enveloped Fidus in his mantle, and Fidus found +himself immediately at Jerusalem, and in his house, without knowing +how he came there; he related it all to the Patriarch Martyrius, who +remembered the prediction of St. Euthymius concerning the building in +the laurel grove a monastery. + +Queen Margaret, in her memoirs, asserts that God protects the great in +a particular manner, and that he lets them know, either in dreams or +otherwise, what is to happen to them. "As Queen Catherine de Medicis, +my mother," says she, "who the night before that unhappy day dreamt +she saw the king, Henry II., my father, wounded in the eye, as it +really happened; when she awoke she several times implored the king +not to tilt that day. + +"The same queen being dangerously ill at Metz, and having around her +bed the king (Charles IX.), my sister, and brother of Lorraine, and +many ladies and princesses, she cried out as if she had seen the +battle of Jarnac fought: 'See how they fly! my son has the victory! Do +you see the Prince of Condè dead in that hedge?' All those who were +present fancied she was dreaming; but the night after, M. de Losse +brought her the news. 'I knew it well,' said she; 'did I not behold it +the day before yesterday?'" + +The Duchess Philippa, of Gueldres, wife of the Duke of Lorraine, René +II., being a nun at St. Claire du Pont-à-Mousson, saw during her +orisons the unfortunate battle of Pavia. She cried out suddenly, "Ah! +my sisters, my dear sisters, for the love of God, say your prayers; my +son De Lambesc is dead, and the king (Francis I.) my cousin is made +prisoner." Some days after, news of this famous event, which happened +the day on which the duchess had seen it, was received at Nancy. +Certainly, neither the young Prince de Lambesc nor the king Francis I. +had any knowledge of this revelation, and they took no part in it. It +was, then, neither their spirit nor their phantoms which appeared to +the princess; it was apparently their angel, or God himself, who by +his power struck her imagination, and represented to her what was +passing at that moment. + +Mezeray affirms that he had often heard people of quality relate that +the duke (Charles the Third) of Lorraine, who was at Paris when King +Henry II. was wounded with the splinter of a lance, of which he died, +told the circumstance often of a lady who lodged in his hotel having +seen in a dream, very distinctly, that the king had been struck and +brought to the ground by a blow from a lance. + +To these instances of the apparition of living persons to other living +persons in their sleep, we may add an infinite number of other +instances of apparitions of angels and holy personages, or even of +dead persons, to the living when asleep, to give them instructions, +warn them of dangers which menace them, inspire them with salutary +counsel relative to their salvation, or to give them aid; thick +volumes might be composed on such matters. I shall content myself with +relating here some examples of those apparitions drawn from profane +authors. + +Xerxes, king of Persia, when deliberating in council whether he should +carry the war into Greece, was strongly dissuaded from it by +Artabanes, his paternal uncle. Xerxes took offence at this liberty, +and uttered some very disobliging words to him. The following night he +reflected seriously on the arguments of Artabanes, and changed his +resolution. When he was asleep, he saw in a dream a man of +extraordinary size and beauty, who said to him, "You have then +renounced your intention of making war on the Greeks, although you +have already given orders to the Persian chiefs to assemble your army. +You have not done well to change your resolve, even should no one be +of your opinion. Go forward; believe me. Follow your first design." +Having said this, the vision disappeared. The next day he again +assembled his council, and without speaking of his dream, he testified +his regret for what he said in his rage the preceding day to his uncle +Artabanes, and declared that he had renounced his design of making war +upon the Greeks. Those who composed the council, transported with joy, +prostrated themselves before him, and congratulated him upon it. + +The following night he had a second time the same vision, and the same +phantom said to him, "Son of Darius, thou hast then abandoned thy +design of declaring war against the Greeks, regardless of what I said +to thee. Know that if thou dost not instantly undertake this +expedition, thou wilt soon be reduced to a situation as low as that in +which thou now findest thyself elevated." The king directly rose from +his bed, and sent in all haste for Artabanes, to whom he related the +two dreams which he had had two nights consecutively. He added, "I +pray you to put on my royal ornaments, sit down on my throne, and then +lie down in my bed. If the phantom which appeared to me appears to you +also, I shall believe that the thing is ordained by the decrees of the +gods, and I shall yield to their commands." + +Artabanes would in vain have excused himself from putting on the royal +ornaments, sitting on the king's throne, and lying down in his bed, +alleging that all those things would be useless if the gods had +resolved to let him know their will; that it would even be more likely +to exasperate the gods, as if he desired to deceive them by external +appearances. As for the rest, dreams in themselves deserve no +attention, and usually they are only the consequences and +representations of what is most strongly in the mind when awake. + +Xerxes did not yield to his arguments, and Artabanes did what the king +desired, persuaded that if the same thing should occur more than once, +it would be a proof of the will of the gods, of the reality of the +vision, and the truth of the dream. He then laid down in the king's +bed, and the same phantom appeared to him, and said, "It is you, then, +who prevent Xerxes from executing his resolve and accomplishing what +is decreed by fate. I have already declared to the king what he has to +fear if he disobeys my orders." At the same time it appeared to +Artabanes that the spectre would burn his eyes with a red-hot iron. He +directly sprang from the couch, and related to Xerxes what had +appeared to him and what had been said to him, adding, "I now +absolutely change my opinion, since it pleases the gods that we should +make war, and that the Greeks be threatened with great misfortunes; +give your orders and dispose everything for this war:"--which was +executed immediately. + +The terrible consequences of this war, which was so fatal to Persia, +and at last caused the overthrow of that famous monarchy, leads us to +judge that this apparition, if a true one, was announced by an evil +spirit, hostile to that monarchy, sent by God to dispose things for +events predicted by the prophets, and the succession of great empires +predestined by the decrees of the Almighty. + +Cicero remarks that two Arcadians, who were traveling together, +arrived at Megara, a city of Greece, situated between Athens and +Corinth. One of them, who could claim hospitality in the town, was +lodged at a friend's, and the other at an inn. After supper, he who +was at a friend's house retired to rest. In his sleep, it seemed to +him that the man whom he had left at the inn appeared to him, and +implored his help, because the innkeeper wanted to kill him. He arose +directly, much alarmed at this dream, but having reassured himself, +and fallen asleep again, the other again appeared to him, and told him +that since he had not had the kindness to aid him, at least he must +not leave his death unpunished; that the innkeeper, after having +killed him, had hidden his body in a wagon, and covered it over with +dung, and that he must not fail to be the next morning at the opening +of the city gate, before the wagon went forth. Struck with this new +dream, he went early in the morning to the city gate, saw the wagon, +and asked the driver what he had got under the manure. The carter took +flight directly, the body was extricated from the wagon, and the +innkeeper arrested and punished. + +Cicero relates also some other instances of similar apparitions which +occurred in sleep; one is of Sophocles, the other of Simonides. The +former saw Hercules in a dream, who told him the name of a robber who +had taken a golden patera from his temple. Sophocles neglected this +notice, as an effect of disturbed sleep; but Hercules appeared to him +a second time, and repeated to him the same thing, which induced +Sophocles to denounce the robber, who was convicted by the Areopagus, +and from that time the temple was dedicated to Hercules the Revealer. + +The dream or apparition of Simonides was more useful to himself +personally. He was on the point of embarking, when he found on the +shore the corpse of an unknown person, as yet without sepulture. +Simonides had him interred, from humanity. The next night the dead man +appeared to Simonides, and, through gratitude, counseled him not to +embark in the vessel then riding in the harbor, because he would be +shipwrecked if he did. Simonides believed him, and a few days after, +he heard of the wreck of the vessel in which he was to have embarked. + +John Pico de la Mirandola assures us in his treatise, _De Auro_, that +a man, who was not rich, finding himself reduced to the last +extremity, and without any resources either to pay his debts or +procure nourishment for a numerous family in a time of scarcity, +overcome with grief and uneasiness, fell asleep. At the same time, one +of the blessed appeared to him in a dream, taught him by some +enigmatical words the means of making gold, and pointed out to him at +the same moment the water he must make use of to succeed in it. On his +awaking, he took some of that water, and made gold of it, in small +quantity, indeed, but enough to maintain his family. He made some +twice with iron, and three times with orpiment. "He has convinced me +by my own eyes," says Pico de la Mirandola, "that the means of making +gold artificially is not a falsehood, but a true art." + +Here is another sort of apparition of one living man to another, which +is so much the more singular, because it proves at once the might of +spells, and that a magician can render himself invisible to several +persons, while he discovers himself to one man alone. The fact is +taken from the Treatise on Superstitions, of the reverend father Le +Brun,[414] and is characterized by all which can render it +incontestible. On Friday, the first day of May, 1705, about five +o'clock in the evening, Denis Misanger de la Richardière, eighteen +years of age, was attacked with an extraordinary malady, which began +by a sort of lethargy. They gave him every assistance that medicine +and surgery could afford. He fell afterwards into a kind of furor or +convulsion, and they were obliged to hold him, and have five or six +persons to keep watch over him, for fear that he should throw himself +out of the windows, or break his head against the wall. The emetic +which they gave him made him throw up a quantity of bile, and for four +or five days he remained pretty quiet. + +At the end of the month of May, they sent him into the country to take +the air; and some other circumstances occurred, so unusual, that they +judged he must be bewitched. And what confirmed this conjecture was +that he never had any fever, and retained all his strength, +notwithstanding all the pains and violent remedies which he had been +made to take. They asked him if he had not had some dispute with a +shepherd, or some other person suspected of sorcery or malpractices. + +He declared that on the 18th of April preceding, when he was going +through the village of Noysi on horseback for a ride, his horse +stopped short in the midst of the _Rue Feret_, opposite the chapel, +and he could not make him go forward, though he touched him several +times with the spur. There was a shepherd standing leaning against the +chapel, with his crook in his hand, and two black dogs at his side. +This man said to him, "Sir, I advise you to return home, for your +horse will not go forward." The young La Richardière, continuing to +spur his horse, said to the shepherd, "I do not understand what you +say." The shepherd replied, in a low tone, "I will make you +understand." In effect, the young man was obliged to get down from his +horse, and lead it back by the bridle to his father's dwelling in the +same village. Then the shepherd cast a spell upon him, which was to +take effect on the 1st of May, as was afterwards known. + +During this malady, they caused several masses to be said in different +places, especially at St. Maur des Fossés, at St. Amable, and at St. +Esprit. Young La Richardière was present at some of these masses +which were said at St. Maur; but he declared that he should not be +cured till Friday, the 26th of June, on his return from St. Maur. On +entering his chamber, the key of which he had in his pocket, he found +there that shepherd, seated in his arm-chair, with his crook, and his +two black dogs. He was the only person who saw him; none other in the +house could perceive him. He said even that this man was called Damis, +although he did not remember that any one had before this revealed his +name to him. He beheld him all that day, and all the succeeding night. +Towards six o'clock in the evening, as he felt his usual sufferings, +he fell on the ground, exclaiming that the shepherd was upon him, and +crushing him; at the same time he drew his knife, and aimed five blows +at the shepherd's face, of which he retained the marks. The invalid +told those who were watching over him that he was going to be very +faint at five different times, and begged of them to help him, and +move him violently. The thing happened as he had predicted. + +On Friday, the 26th of June, M. de la Richardière, having gone to the +mass at St. Maur, asserted that he should be cured on that day. After +mass, the priest put the stole upon his head and recited the Gospel of +St. John, during which prayer the young man saw St. Maur standing, and +the unhappy shepherd at his left, with his face bleeding from the five +knife-wounds which he had given him. At that moment, the youth cried +out, unintentionally, "A miracle! a miracle!" and asserted that he was +cured, as in fact he was. + +On the 29th of June, the same M. de la Richardière returned to Noysi, +and amused himself with shooting. As he was shooting in the vineyards, +the shepherd presented himself before him; he hit him on the head with +the butt-end of his gun. The shepherd cried out, "Sir, you are killing +me!" and fled. The next day, this man presented himself again before +him, and asked his pardon, saying, "I am called Damis; it was I who +cast a spell over you which was to have lasted a year. By the aid of +masses and prayers which have been said for you, you have been cured +at the end of eight weeks. But the charm has fallen back upon myself, +and I can be cured of it only by a miracle. I implore you then to pray +for me." + +During all these reports, the _maré chausée_ had set off in pursuit of +the shepherd; but he escaped them, having killed his two dogs and +thrown away his crook. On Sunday, the 13th of September, he came to M. +de la Richardière, and related to him his adventure; that after having +passed twenty years without approaching the sacraments, God had given +him grace to confess himself at Troyes; and that after divers delays +he had been admitted to the holy communion. Eight days after, M. de la +Richardière received a letter from a woman who said she was a relation +of the shepherd's, informing him of his death, and begging him to +cause a requiem mass to be said for him, which was done. + +How many difficulties may we make about this story! How could this +wretched shepherd cast the spell without touching the person? How +could he introduce himself into young M. de la Richardière's chamber +without either opening or forcing the door? How could he render +himself visible to him alone, whilst none other beheld him? Can one +doubt of his corporeal presence, since he received five cuts from a +knife in his face, of which he afterwards bore the marks, when, by the +merit of the holy mass and the intercession of the saints, the spell +was taken off? How could St. Maur appear to him in his Benedictine +habit, having the wizard on his left hand? If the circumstance is +certain, as it appears, who shall explain the manner in which all +passed or took place? + + +Footnotes: + +[402] Ezek. viii. 1, 2, &c. + +[403] Matt. xvii. 3. + +[404] Acts ix. 10. + +[405] Acts ix. 2. + +[406] Ammian. Marcell. lib. xix. Sozomen. lib. vi. c. 35. + +[407] Aug. lib. viii. de Civit. c. 18. + +[408] Aug. Serm. cxxiii. pp. 1277, 1278. + +[409] Aug. de curâ gerendâ pro Mortuis, c. 11, 12. + +[410] Aug. de curâ gerend. pro Mort. c. xxvii. p. 529. + +[411] Vita Daniel Stylit. xi. Decemb. + +[412] Gregor. lib. ii. Dialog. c. xxii. + +[413] Vita Sancti Euthym. pp. 86, 87. + +[414] Le Brun, Traité des Superstit. tom. i. pp. 281, 282, et seq. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +ARGUMENTS CONCERNING APPARITIONS. + + +After having spoken at some length upon apparitions, and after having +established the truth of them, as far as it has been possible for us +to do so, from the authority of the Scripture, from examples, and by +arguments, we must now exercise our judgment on the causes, means, and +reasons for these apparitions, and reply to the objections which may +be made to destroy the reality of them, or at least to raise doubts on +the subject. + +We have supposed that apparitions were the work of angels, demons, or +souls of the defunct; we do not talk of the appearance of God himself; +his will, his operations, his power, are above our reach; we +acknowledge that he can do all that he wills to do, that his will is +all-powerful, and that he places himself, when he chooses, above the +laws which he has made. As to the apparitions of the living to others +also living, they are of a different nature from what we propose to +examine in this place; we shall not fail to speak of them hereafter. + +Whatever system we may follow on the nature of angels, or demons, or +souls separated from the body; whether we consider them as purely +spiritual substances, as the Christian church at this day holds; +whether we give them an aërial body, subtile, and invisible, as many +have taught; it appears almost as difficult to render palpable, +perceptible, and thick a subtile and aërial body, as it is to condense +the air, and make it seem like a solid and perceptible body; as, when +the angels appeared to Abraham and Lot, the angel Raphael to Tobias, +whom he conducted into Mesopotamia; or when the demon appeared to +Jesus Christ, and led him to a high mountain, and on the pinnacle of +the Temple at Jerusalem; or when Moses appeared with Elias on Mount +Tabor: for those apparitions are certain from Scripture. + +If you will say that these apparitions were seen only in the +imagination and mind of those who saw, or believed they saw angels, +demons, or souls separated from the body, as it happens every day in +our sleep, and sometimes when awake, if we are strongly occupied with +certain objects, or struck with certain things which we desire +ardently or fear exceedingly--as when Ajax, thinking he saw Ulysses +and Agamemnon, or Menelaüs, threw himself upon some animals, which he +killed, thinking he was killing those two men his enemies, and whom he +was dying with the desire to wreak his vengeance upon--on this +supposition, the apparition will not be less difficult to explain. +There was neither prepossession nor disturbed imagination, nor any +preceding emotion, which led Abraham to figure to himself that he saw +three persons, to whom he gave hospitality, to whom he spoke, who +promised him the birth of a son, of which he was scarcely thinking at +that time. The three apostles who saw Moses conversing with Jesus +Christ on Mount Tabor were not prepared for that appearance; there was +no emotion of fear, love, revenge, ambition, or any other passion +which struck their imagination, to dispose them to see Moses; as +neither was there in Abraham, when he perceived the three angels who +appeared to him. + +Often in our sleep we see, or we believe we see, what has struck our +attention very much when awake; sometimes we represent to ourselves in +sleep things of which we have never thought, which even are repugnant +to us, and which present themselves to our mind in spite of ourselves. +None bethink themselves of seeking the causes of these kinds of +representations; they are attributed to chance, or to some disposition +of the humors of the blood or of the brain, or even of the way in +which the body is placed in bed; but nothing like that is applicable +to the apparitions of angels, demons, or spirits, when these +apparitions are accompanied and followed by converse, predictions and +real effects preceded and predicted by those which appear. + +If we have recourse to a pretended fascination of the eyes or the +other senses, which sometimes make us believe that we see and hear +what we do not, or that we neither see nor hear what is passing before +our eyes, or which strikes our ears; as when the soldiers sent to +arrest Elisha spoke to him and saw him before they recognized him, or +when the inhabitants of Sodom could not discover Lot's door, although +it was before their eyes, or when the disciples of Emmaus knew not +that it was Jesus Christ who accompanied them and expounded the +Scriptures; they opened their eyes and knew him _only by the breaking +of bread_. + +That fascination of the senses which makes us believe that we see what +we do not see, or that suspension of the exercise and natural +functions of our senses which prevents us from seeing and recognizing +what is passing before our eyes, is all of it hardly less miraculous +than to condense the air, or rarefy it, or give solidity and +consistence to what is purely spiritual and disengaged from matter. + +From all this, it follows that no apparition can take place without a +sort of miracle, and without a concurrence, both extraordinary and +supernatural, of the power of God who commands, or causes, or permits +an angel, or a demon, or a disembodied soul to appear, act, speak, +walk, and perform other functions which belong only to an organized +body. + +I shall be told that it is useless to recur to the miraculous and the +supernatural, if we have acknowledged in spiritual substances a +natural power of showing themselves, whether by condensing the air, or +by producing a massive and palpable body, or in raising up some dead +body, to which these spirits give life and motion for a certain time. + +I own it all; but I dare maintain that that is not possible either to +angel or demon, nor to any spiritual substance whatsoever. The soul +can produce in herself thoughts, will, and wishes; she can give her +impulsion to the movements of her body, and repress its sallies and +agitations; but how does she do that? Philosophy can hardly explain +it, but by saying that by virtue of the union between herself and the +body, God, by an effect of his wisdom, has given her power to act upon +the humors, its organs, and impress them with certain movements; but +there is reason to believe that the soul performs all that only as an +occasional cause, and that it is God as the first, necessary, +immediate, and essential cause, which produces all the movements of +the body that are made in a natural way. + +Neither angel nor demon has more privilege in this respect over matter +than the soul of man has over its own body. They can neither modify +matter, change it, nor impress it with action and motion, save by the +power of God, and with his concurrence both necessary and immediate; +our knowledge does not permit us to judge otherwise; there is no +physical proportion between the spirit and the body; those two +substances cannot act mutually and immediately one upon the other; +they can act only occasionally, by determining the first cause, in +virtue of the laws which wisdom has judged it proper to prescribe to +herself for the reciprocal action of the creatures upon each other, to +give them being, to preserve it, and perpetuate movement in the mass +of matter which composes the universe, in himself giving life to +spiritual substances, and permitting them with his concurrence, as the +First Cause, to act, the body on the soul, and the soul on the body, +one on the other, as secondary causes. + +Porphyry, when consulted by Anebo, an Egyptian priest, if those who +foretell the future and perform prodigies have more powerful souls, or +whether they receive power from some strange spirit, replies that, +according to appearance, all these things are done by means of certain +evil spirits that are naturally knavish, and take all sorts of shapes, +and do everything that one sees happen, whether good or evil; but that +in the end they never lead men to what is truly good. + +St. Augustine,[415] who cites this passage of Porphyry, lays much +stress on his testimony, and says that every extraordinary thing which +is done by certain tones of the voice, by figures or phantoms, is +usually the work of the demon, who sports with the credulity and +blindness of men; that everything marvellous which is transacted in +nature, and has no relation to the worship of the true God, ought to +pass for an illusion of the devil. The most ancient Fathers of the +Church, Minutius Felix, Arnobius, St. Cyprian, attribute equally all +these kinds of extraordinary effects to the evil spirit. + +Tertullian[416] had no doubt that the apparitions which are produced +by magic, and by the evocation of souls, which, forced by +enchantments, come out, say they, from the depth of hell (or Hades), +are but pure illusions of the demon, who causes to appear to those +present a fantastical form, which fascinates the eyes of those who +think they see what they see not; "which is not more difficult for the +demon," says he, "than to seduce and blind the souls which he leads +into sin. Pharaoh thought he saw real serpents produced by his +magicians: it was mere illusion. The truth of Moses devoured the +falsehood of these impostors." + +Is it more easy to cause the fascination of the eyes of Pharaoh and +his servants than to produce serpents, and can it be done without +God's concurring thereto? And how can we reconcile this concurrence +with the wisdom, independence, and truth of God? Has the devil in this +respect a greater power than an angel and a disembodied soul? And if +once we open the door to this fascination, everything which appears +supernatural and miraculous will become uncertain and doubtful. It +will be said that the wonders related in the Old and New Testament are +in this respect, in regard both to those who are witnesses of them, +and those to whom they happened, only illusions and fascinations: and +whither may not these premises lead? It leads us to doubt everything, +to deny everything; to believe that God in concert with the devil +leads us into error, and fascinates our eyes and other senses, to make +us believe that we see, hear, and know what is neither present to our +eyes, nor known to our mind, nor supported by our reasoning power, +since by that the principles of reasoning are overthrown. + +We must, then, have recourse to the solid and unshaken principles of +religion, which teach us-- + +1. That angels, demons, and souls disembodied are pure spirit, free +from all matter. + +2. That it is only by the order or permission of God that spiritual +substances can appear to men, and seem to them to be true and tangible +bodies, in which and by which they perform what they are seen to do. + +3. That to make these bodies appear, and make them act, speak, walk, +eat, &c, they must produce tangible bodies, either by condensing the +air or substituting other terrestrial, solid bodies, capable of +performing the functions we speak of. + +4. That the way in which this production and apparition of a +perceptible body is achieved is absolutely unknown to us; that we have +no proof that spiritual substances have a natural power of producing +this kind of change when it pleases them, and that they cannot produce +them independently of God. + +5. That although there may be often a great deal of illusion, +prepossession, and imagination in what is related of the operations +and apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls, there is +still some reality in many of these things; and we cannot reasonably +doubt of them all, and still less deny them all. + +6. That there are apparitions which bear about them the character and +proof of truth, from the quality of him who relates them; from the +circumstances which accompany them; from the events following those +apparitions that announce things to come; which perform things +impossible to the natural strength of man, and too much in opposition +to the interest of the demon, and his malicious and deceitful +character, for us to be able to suspect him to be the author or +contriver of them. In short, these apparitions are certified by the +belief, the prayers, and the practice of the church, which recognizes +them, and supposes their reality. + +7. That although what appears miraculous is not so always, we must at +least usually perceive in it _some_ illusion and operation of the +demon; consequently, that the demon can, with the permission of God, +do many things which surpass our knowledge, and the natural power +which we suppose him to have. + +8. That those who wish to explain them by fascination of the eyes and +other senses, do not resolve the difficulty, and throw themselves into +still greater embarrassment than those who admit simply that +apparitions appear by the order or the permission of God. + + +Footnotes: + +[415] Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. x. c. 11, 12. + +[416] Tertull. de Animâ, c. 57. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +OBJECTIONS AGAINST APPARITIONS, AND REPLIES TO THOSE OBJECTIONS. + + +The greatest objection that can be raised against the apparitions of +angels, demons, and disembodied souls, takes its rise in the nature of +these substances, which being purely spiritual, cannot appear with +evident, solid, and palpable bodies, nor perform those functions which +belong only to matter, and living or animated bodies. + +For, either spiritual substances are united to the bodies which appear +or not. If they are not united to them, how can they move them, and +cause them to act, walk, speak, reason, and eat? If they are united to +them, then they form but one individual; and how can they separate +themselves from them, after being united to them? Do they take them +and leave them at will, as we lay aside a habit or a mask? That would +be to suppose that they are at liberty to appear or disappear, which +is not the case, since all apparitions are solely by the order or +permission of God. Are those bodies which appear only instruments +which the angels, demons, or souls make use of to affright, warn, +chastise, or instruct the person or persons to whom they appear? This +is, in fact, the most rational thing that can be said concerning these +apparitions; the exorcisms of the church fall directly on the agent +and cause of these apparitions, and not on the phantom which appears, +nor on the first author, which is God, who orders and permits it. + +Another objection, both very common and very striking, is that which +is drawn from the multitude of false stories and ridiculous reports +which are spread amongst the people, of the apparitions of spirits, +demons, and elves, of possessions and obsessions. + +It must be owned that, out of a hundred of these pretended +appearances, hardly two will be found to be true. The ancients are not +more to be credited on that point than the moderns, since they were, +at least, equally as credulous as people are in our own age, or rather +they were more credulous than we are at this day. + +I grant that the foolish credulity of the people, and the love of +everything that seems marvelous and extraordinary, have produced an +infinite number of false histories on the subject we are now treating +of. There are here two dangers to avoid: a too great credulity, and an +excessive difficulty in believing what is above the ordinary course of +nature; as likewise, we must not conclude what is general from what is +particular, or make a general case of a particular one, nor say that +all is false because some stories are so; also, we must not assert +that such a particular history is a mere invention, because there are +many stories of this latter kind. It is allowable to examine, prove, +and select; we must never form our judgment but with knowledge of the +case; a story may be false in many of its circumstances (as related), +but true in its foundation. + +The history of the deluge, and that of the passage across the Red Sea, +are certain in themselves, and in the simple and natural recital given +of them by Moses. The profane historians, and some Hebrew writers, and +even Christians, have added some embellishment which must militate +against the story in itself. Josephus the historian has much +embellished the history of Moses; Christian authors have added much to +that of Josephus; the Mahometans have altered several points of the +sacred history of the Old and New Testament. Must we, on this account, +consider these histories as problematical? The life of St. Gregory +Thaumaturgus is full of miracles, as are also those of St. Martin and +St. Bernard. St. Augustine relates several miraculous cures worked by +the relics of St. Stephen. Many extraordinary things are related in +the life of St. Ambrose. Why not give faith to them after the +testimony of these great men, and that of their disciples, who had +lived with them, and had been witnesses of a good part of what they +relate? + +It is not permitted us to dispute the truth of the apparitions noted +in the Old and New Testament; but we may be permitted to explain them. +For instance, it is said that the Lord appeared to Abraham in the +valley of Mamre;[417] that he entered Abraham's tent, and that he +promised him the birth of a son; also, it is allowed that he received +three angels, who went from thence to Sodom. St. Paul[418] notices it +expressly in his Epistle to the Hebrews; _angelis hospitio receptis_. +It is also said that the Lord appeared unto Moses, and gave him the +law; and St. Stephen, in the Acts,[419] informs us that it was an +angel who spoke to him from the burning bush, and on Mount Horeb; and +St. Paul, writing to the Galatians, says, that the law was given by +angels.[420] + +Sometimes, the name of angel of the Lord is taken for a prophet, a man +filled with his Spirit, and deputed by him. It is certain that the +Hebrew _malae_ and the Greek _angelos_ bear the same signification as +our _envoy_. For instance, at the beginning of the Book of +Judges,[421] it is said that there came an angel of the Lord from +Gilgal to the place of tears (or Bochim), and that he there reproved +the Israelites for their infidelity and ingratitude. The ablest +commentators[422] think that this _angel of the Lord_ is no other than +Phineas, or the then high priest, or rather a prophet, sent expressly +to the people assembled at Gilgal. + +In the Scripture, the prophets are sometimes styled angels of the +Lord.[423] "Here is what saith the envoy of the Lord, amongst the +envoys of the Lord," says Haggai, speaking of himself. + +The prophet Malachi, the last of the lesser prophets, says that "the +Lord will send his angel, who will prepare the way before his +face."[424] This angel is St. John the Baptist, who prepares the way +for Jesus Christ, who is himself styled the Angel of the Lord--"And +soon the Lord whom ye demand, and the so much desired Angel of the +Lord, will come into his temple." This same Saviour is designated by +Moses under the name of a prophet:[425] "The Lord will raise up in the +midst of your nation, a prophet like myself." The name of angel is +given to the prophet Nathan, who reproved David for his sin. I do not +pretend, by these testimonies, to deny that the angels have often +appeared to men; but I infer from them that sometimes these angels +were only prophets or other persons, raised up and sent by God to his +people. + +As to apparitions of the demon, it is well to observe that in +Scripture the greater part of public calamities and maladies are +attributed to evil spirits; for example, it is said that Satan +inspired David[426] with the idea of numbering his people; but in +another place it is simply said that the anger of the Lord was +inflamed[427] against Israel, and led David to cause his subjects to +be numbered. There are several other passages in the Holy Books, where +they relate what the demon said and what he did, in a popular manner, +by the figure termed prosopopoeia; for instance, the conversation +between Satan and the first woman,[428] and the discourse which the +demon holds in company with the good angels before the Lord, when he +talks to him of Job,[429] and obtains permission to tempt and afflict +him. In the New Testament, it appears that the Jews attributed to the +malice of the demon and to his possession almost all the maladies with +which they were afflicted. In St. Luke,[430] the woman who was bent +and could not raise herself up, and had suffered this for eighteen +years, "had," says the evangelist, "a spirit of infirmity;" and Jesus +Christ, after having healed her, says "that Satan held her bound for +eighteen years;" and in another place, it is said that a lunatic or +epileptic person was possessed by the demon. It is clear, from what is +said by St. Matthew and St. Luke,[431] that he was attacked by +epilepsy. The Saviour cured him of this evil malady, and by that means +took from the demon the opportunity of tormenting him still more; as +David, by dissipating with the sound of his harp the sombre melancholy +of Saul, delivered him from the evil spirit, who abused the power of +those inclinations which he found in him, to awaken his jealousy +against David. All this means, that we often ascribed to the demon +things of which he is not guilty, and that we must not lightly adopt +all the prejudices of the people, nor take literally all that is +related of the works of Satan. + + +Footnotes: + +[417] Gen. xviii. 10. + +[418] Heb. xiii. 2. + +[419] Acts vii. 30, 33. + +[420] Gal. iii. + +[421] Judges ii. 1. + +[422] Vide commentar. in Judic. ii. + +[423] Hagg. i. 13. + +[424] Malac. iii. 1. + +[425] Deut. xviii. 18. + +[426] Chron. xxi. 1. + +[427] 2 Sam. xxiv. 1. + +[428] Gen. iii. 2, 3. + +[429] Job i. 7-9. + +[430] Luke xiii. 16. + +[431] Matt. xvii. 14. Luke ix. 37. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +SOME OTHER OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES. + + +In order to combat the apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied +souls, we still bring forward the effects of a prepossessed fancy, +struck with an idea, and of a weak and timid mind, which imagine they +see and hear what subsists only in idea; we advert to the inventions +of the malignant spirits, who like to make sport of and to delude us; +we call to our assistance the artifices of the charlatans, who do so +many things which pass for supernatural in the eyes of the ignorant. +Philosophers, by means of certain glasses, and what are called magic +lanterns, by optical secrets, sympathetic powders, by their +phosphorus, and lately by means of the electrical machine, show us an +infinite number of things which the simpletons take for magic, because +they know not how they are produced. + +Eyes that are diseased do not see things as others see them, or else +behold them differently. A drunken man will see objects double; to one +who has the jaundice, they will appear yellow; in the obscurity, +people fancy they see a spectre, when they see only the trunk of a +tree. + +A mountebank will appear to eat a sword; another will vomit coals or +pebbles; one will drink wine and send it out again at his forehead; +another will cut off his companion's head, and put it on again. You +will think you see a chicken dragging a beam. The mountebank will +swallow fire and vomit it forth, he will draw blood from fruit, he +will send from his mouth strings of iron nails, he will put a sword on +his stomach and press it strongly, and instead of running into him, it +will bend back to the hilt; another will run a sword through his body +without wounding himself; you will sometimes see a child without a +head, then a head without a child, and all of them alive. That appears +very wonderful; nevertheless, if it were known how all those things +are done, people would only laugh, and be surprised that they could +wonder at and admire such things. + +What has not been said for and against the divining-rod of Jacques +Aimar? Scripture proves to us the antiquity of divination by the +divining-rod, in the instance of Nebuchadnezzar,[432] and in what is +said of the prophet Hosea.[433] Fable speaks of the wonders wrought by +the golden rod of Mercury. The Gauls and Germans also used the rod for +divination; and there is reason to believe that often God permitted +that the rods should make known by their movements what was to happen; +for that reason they were consulted. Every body knows the secret of +Circé's wand, which changed men into beasts. I do not compare it with +the rod of Moses, by means of which God worked so many miracles in +Egypt; but we may compare it with those of the magicians of Pharaoh, +which produced so many marvelous effects. + +Albertus Magnus relates that there had been seen in Germany two +brothers, one of whom passing near a door securely locked, and +presenting his left side, would cause it to open of itself; the other +brother had the same virtue in the right side. St. Augustine says that +there are men[434] who move their two ears one after another, or both +together, without moving their heads; others, without moving it also, +make all the skin of their head with the hair thereon come down over +their forehead, and put it back as it was before; some imitate so +perfectly the voices of animals, that it is almost impossible not to +mistake them. We have seen men speak from the hollow of the stomach, +and make themselves heard as if speaking from a distance, although +they were close by. Others swallow an incredible quantity of different +things, and by tightening their stomachs ever so little, throw up +whole, as from a bag, whatever they please. Last year, in Alsatia, +there was seen and heard a German who played on two French horns at +once, and gave airs in two parts, the first and the second, at the +same time. Who can explain to us the secret of intermitting fevers, of +the flux and reflux of the sea, and the cause of many effects which +are certainly all natural? + +Galen relates[435] that a physician named Theophilus, having fallen +ill, fancied that he saw near his bed a great number of musicians, +whose noise split his head and augmented his illness. He cried out +incessantly for them to send those people away. Having recovered his +health and good sense, he perfectly well remembered all that had been +said to him; but he could not get those players on musical instruments +out of his head, and he affirmed that they tired him to death. + +In 1629, Desbordes, valet-de-chambre of Charles IV., Duke of Lorraine, +was accused of having hastened the death of the Princess Christina of +Salms, wife of Duke Francis II., and mother of the Duke Charles IV., +and of having inflicted maladies on different persons, which maladies +the doctors attribute to evil spells. Charles IV. had conceived +violent suspicions against Desbordes, since one day when in a +hunting-party this valet-de-chambre had served a grand dinner to the +duke and his company, without any other preparation than having to +open a box with three shelves; and to wind up the wonders, he had +ordered three robbers, who were dead and hung to a gibbet, to come +down from it, and come and make their bow to the duke, and then to go +back and resume their place at the gallows. It was said, moreover, +that on another occasion he had commanded the personages in a piece of +tapestry to detach themselves from it, and to come and present +themselves in the middle of the room. + +Charles IV. was not very credulous; nevertheless, he allowed Desbordes +to be tried. He was, it is said, convicted of magic, and condemned to +the flames; but I have since been assured[436] that he made his +escape; and some years after, on presenting himself before the duke, +and clearing himself, he demanded the restitution of his property, +which had been confiscated; but he recovered only a very small part of +it. Since the adventure of Desbordes, the partisans of Charles IV. +wished to cast a doubt on the validity of the baptism of the Duchess +Nichola, his wife, because she had been baptized by Lavallée, Chantre +de St. George, a friend of Desbordes, and like him convicted of +several crimes, which drew upon him similar condemnation. From a doubt +of the baptism of the duchess, they wished to infer the invalidity of +her marriage with Charles, which was then the grand business of +Charles IV. + +Father Delrio, a Jesuit, says that the magician called Trois-Echelles, +by his enchantments, detached in the presence of King Charles IX. the +rings or links of a collar of the Order of the King, worn by some +knights who were at a great distance from him; he made them come into +his hand, and after that replaced them, without the collar appearing +deranged. + +John Faust Cudlingen, a German, was requested, in a company of gay +people, to perform in their presence some tricks of his trade; he +promised to show them a vine loaded with grapes, ripe and ready to +gather. They thought, as it was then the month of December, he could +not execute his promise. He strongly recommended them not to stir +from their places, and not to lift up their hands to cut the grapes, +unless by his express order. The vine appeared directly, covered with +leaves and loaded with grapes, to the great astonishment of all +present; every one took up his knife, awaiting the order of Cudlingen +to cut some grapes; but after having kept them for some time in that +expectation, he suddenly caused the vine and the grapes to disappear: +then every one found himself armed with his knife and holding his +neighbor's nose with one hand, so that if they had cut off a bunch +without the order of Cudlingen, they would have cut off one another's +noses. + +We have seen in these parts a horse which appeared gifted with wit and +discernment, and to understand what his master said. All the secret +consisted in the horse's having been taught to observe certain motions +of his master; and from these motions he was led to do certain things +to which he was accustomed, and to go to certain persons, which he +would never have done but for the sign or motion which he saw his +master make. + +A hundred other similar facts might be cited, which might pass for +magical operations, if we did not know that they are simple +contrivances and tricks of art, performed by persons well exercised in +such things. It may be that sometimes people have ascribed to magic +and the evil spirit operations like those we have just related, and +that what have been taken for the spirits of deceased persons were +often arranged on purpose by young people to frighten passers-by. They +will cover themselves with white or black, and show themselves in a +cemetery in the posture of persons requesting prayers; after that they +will be the first to exclaim that they have seen a spirit: at other +times it will be pick-pockets, or young men, who will hide their +amorous intrigues, or their thefts and knavish tricks, under this +disguise. + +Sometimes a widow, or heirs, from interested motives, will publicly +declare that the deceased husband appears in his house, and is in +torment; that he has asked or commanded such and such things, or such +and such restitutions. I own that this may happen, and does happen +sometimes; but it does not follow that spirits never return. The +return of souls is infinitely more rare than the common people +believe; I say the same of pretended magical operations and +apparitions of the demon. + +It is remarked that the greater the ignorance which prevails in a +country, the more superstition reigns there; and that the spirit of +darkness there exercises greater power, in proportion as the nations +we plunged in irregularity, and into deeper moral darkness. Louis +Vivez[437] testifies that, in the newly-discovered countries in +America, nothing is more common than to see spirits which appear at +noonday, not only in the country, but in towns and villages, speaking, +commanding, sometimes even striking men. Olaüs Magnus, Archbishop of +Upsal, who has written on the antiquities of the northern nations, +observes that in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Finmark, and Lapland, they +frequently see spectres or spirits, which do many wonderful things; +that there are even some amongst them who serve as domestics to men, +and take the horses and other cattle to pasture. + +The Laplanders, even at this day, as well those who have remained in +idolatry as those who have embraced Christianity, believe the +apparition of the manes or ghosts, and offer them a kind of sacrifice. +I believe that prepossession, and the prejudices of childhood, have +much more to do with this belief than reason and experience. In +effect, among the Tartars, where barbarism and ignorance reign as much +as in any country in the world, they talk neither of spirits nor of +apparitions, no more than among the Mahometans, although they admit +the apparitions of angels made to Abraham and the patriarchs, and that +of the Archangel Gabriel to Mahomet himself. + +The Abyssinians, a very rude and ignorant people, believe neither in +sorcerers, nor spells, nor magicians; they say that it is giving too +much power to the demon, and by that they fall into the error of the +Manichĉans, who admit two principles, the one of good, which is God, +and the other of evil, which is the devil. The Minister Becker, in his +work entitled "The Enchanted World," (Le Monde Enchanté,) laughs at +apparitions of spirits and evil angels, and ridicules all that is said +of the effects of magic: he maintains that to believe in magic is +contrary to Scripture and religion. + +But whence comes it, then, that the Scriptures forbid us to consult +magicians, and that they make mention of Simon the magician, of +Elymas, another magician, and of the works of Satan? What will become +of the apparitions of angels, so well noted in the Old and New +Testaments? What will become of the apparitions of Onias to Judas +Maccabeus, and of the devil to Jesus Christ himself, after his fast of +forty days? What will be said of the apparition of Moses at the +transfiguration of the Saviour; and an infinity of other appearances +made to all kinds of persons, and related by wise, grave, and +enlightened authors? Are the apparitions of devils and spirits more +difficult to explain and conceive than those of angels, which we +cannot rationally dispute without overthrowing the entire Scriptures, +and practices and belief of the churches? + +Does not the apostle tell us that the angel of darkness transforms +himself into an angel of light? Is not the absolute renunciation of +all belief in apparitions assaulting Christianity in its most sacred +authority, in the belief of another life, of a church still subsisting +in another world, of rewards for good actions, and of punishments for +bad ones; the utility of prayers for the dead, and the efficacy of +exorcisms? We must then in these matters keep the medium between +excessive credulity and extreme incredulity; we must be prudent, +moderate, and enlightened; we must, according to the advice of St. +Paul, test everything, examine everything, yield only to evidence and +known truth. + + +Footnotes: + +[432] Ezek. xxi. 21. + +[433] Hosea iv. 12. + +[434] Aug. lib. xiv. de Civit. Dei, c. 24. + +[435] Galen. de Differ. Sympt. + +[436] By M. Fransquin Chanoine de Taul. + +[437] Ludov. Vives, lib. i. de Veritate Fidei, p. 540. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +THE SECRETS OF PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY TAKEN FOR SUPERNATURAL THINGS. + + +It is possible to allege against my reasoning the secrets of physics +and chemistry, which produce an infinity of wonderful effects, and +appear beyond the power of natural agency. We have the composition of +a phosphorus, with which they write; the characters do not appear by +daylight, but in the dark we see them shine; with this phosphorus, +figures can be traced which would surprise and even alarm during the +night, as has been done more than once, apparently to cause +maliciously useless fright. _La poudre ardente_ is another phosphorus, +which, provided it is exposed to the air, sheds a light both by night +and by day. How many people have been frightened by those little worms +which are found in certain kinds of rotten wood, and which give a +brilliant flame by night. + +We have the daily experience of an infinite number of things, all of +them natural, which appear above the ordinary course of nature,[438] +but which have nothing miraculous in them, and ought not to be +attributed to angels or demons; for instance, teeth and noses taken +from other persons, and applied to those who have lost similar parts; +of this we find many instances in authors. These teeth and noses fall +off directly when the person from whom they were taken dies, however +great the distance between these two persons may be. + +The presentiments experienced by certain persons of what happens to +their relations and friends, and even of their own death, are not at +all miraculous. There are many instances of persons who are in the +habit of feeling these presentiments, and who in the night, even when +asleep, will say that such a thing has happened, or is about to +happen; that such messengers are coming, and will announce to them +such and such things. + +There are dogs that have the sense of smelling so keen that they scent +from a good distance the approach of any person who has done them good +or harm. This has been proved many times, and can only proceed from +the diversity of organs in those animals, some of which have the scent +much keener than others, and upon which the spirits which exhale from +other bodies act more quickly and at a greater distance than in +others. Certain persons have such an acute sense of hearing that they +can hear what is whispered even in another chamber, of which the door +is well closed. They cite as an example of this, a certain Marie +Bucaille, to whom it was thought that her guardian angel discovered +what was said at a great distance from her. + +Others have the smell so keen that they distinguish by the odor all +the men and animals they have ever seen, and scent their approach a +long way off. Blind persons pretty often possess this faculty, as well +as that of discerning the color of different stuffs by the touch, from +horse-hair to playing-cards. + +Others discern by the taste everything that composes a ragoût, better +than the most expert cook could do. Others possess so piercing a sight +that at the first glance they can distinguish the most confused and +distant objects, and remark the least change which takes place in +them. + +There are both men and women who, without intending to hurt, do a +great deal of harm to children, and all the tender and delicate +animals which they look at attentively, or which they touch. This +happens particularly in hot countries; and many examples might be +cited of it; from which arises what both ancients and moderns call +fascination (or the evil eye); hence the precautions which were taken +against these effects by amulets and preservatives, which were +suspended to children's necks. + +There have been known to be men from whose eyes there proceeded such +venomous spirits that they did harm to everybody or thing they looked +at, even to the breast of nurses, which they caused to dry up--to +plants, flowers, the leaves of trees, which were seen to wither and +fall off. They dare not enter any place till they had warned the +people beforehand to send away the children and nurses, new-born +animals, and, generally speaking, everything which they could infect +by their breath or their looks. + +We should laugh, and with reason, at those who, to explain all these +singular effects, should have recourse to charms, spells, to the +operations of demons, or of good angels. The evaporation of +corpuscles, or atoms, or the insensible perspiration of the bodies +which produce all these effects, suffice to account for it. We have +recourse neither to miracles, nor to superior causes, above all when +these effects are produced near, and at a short distance; but when the +distance is great, the exhalation of the spirits, or essence, and of +insensible corpuscles, does not equally satisfy us, no more than when +we meet with things and effects which go beyond the known force of +nature, such as foretelling future events, speaking unknown languages, +_i. e._, languages unknown to the speaker, to be in such ecstasy that +the person is beyond earthly feeling, to rise up from the ground, and +remain so a long time. + +The chemists demonstrate that the ____________________ or a sort of +restoration or resurrection of animals, insects, and plants, is +possible and natural. When the ashes of a plant are placed in a phial, +these ashes rise, and arrange themselves as much as they can in the +form which was first impressed on them by the Author of Nature. + +Father Schol, a Jesuit, affirms that he has often seen a rose which +was made to arise from its ashes every time they wished to see it +done, by means of a little heat. + +The secret of a mineral water has been found by means of which a dead +plant which has its root can be made green again, and brought to the +same state as if it were growing in the ground. Digby asserts that he +has drawn from dead animals, which were beaten and bruised in a +mortar, the representation of these animals, or other animals of the +same species. + +Duchesne, a famous chemist, relates that a physician of Cracow +preserved in phials the ashes of almost every kind of plant, so that +when any one from curiosity desired to see, for instance, a rose in +these phials, he took that in which the ashes of the rose-bush were +preserved, and placing it over a lighted candle, as soon as it felt a +little warmth, they saw the ashes stir and rise like a little dark +cloud, and, after some movements, they represented a rose as beautiful +and fresh as if newly gathered from the rose-tree. + +Gaffard assures us that M. de Cleves, a celebrated chemist, showed +every day plants drawn from their own ashes. David Vanderbroch affirms +that the blood of animals contains the idea of their species as well +as their seed; he relates on this subject the experiment of M. +Borelli, who asserts that the human blood, when warm, is still full of +its spirits or sulphurs, acid and volatile, and that, being excited in +cemeteries and in places where great battles are fought by some heat +in the ground, the phantoms or ideas of the persons who are there +interred are seen to rise; that we should see them as well by day as +by night, were it not for the excess of light which prevents us even +from seeing the stars. He adds that by this means we might behold the +idea, and represent by a lawful and natural necromancy the figure or +phantom of all the great men of antiquity, our friends and our +ancestors, provided we possess their ashes. + +These are the most plausible objections intended to destroy or obviate +all that is said of the apparitions of spirits. Whence some conclude +that these are either very natural phenomena and exhalations produced +by the heat of the earth imbued with blood and the volatile spirit of +the dead, above all, those dead by violence; or that they are the +consequences of a stricken and prepossessed fancy, or simply illusions +of the mind, or sports of persons who like to divert themselves by the +panics into which they terrify others; or, lastly, movements produced +naturally by men, rats, monkeys, and other animals; for it is true +that the oftener we examine into what have been taken for apparitions, +nothing is found that is real, extraordinary, or supernatural; but to +conclude from thence that all the apparitions and operations +attributed to angels, spirits or souls, and demons are chimerical, is +carrying things to excess; it is to conclude that we mistake always, +because we mistake often. + + +Footnotes: + +[438] M. de S. André, Lett. iii. sur les Maléfices. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +CONCLUSION OF THE TREATISE ON APPARITIONS. + + +After having made this exposition of my opinion concerning the +apparitions of angels, demons, souls of the dead, and even of one +living person to another, and having spoken of magic, of oracles, of +obsessions and possessions of the demon; of sprites and familiar +spirits; of sorcerers and witches; of spectres which predict the +future; of those which haunt houses--after having stated the +objections which are made against apparitions, and having replied to +them in as weighty a manner as I possibly could, I think I may +conclude that although this matter labors still under very great +difficulties, as much respecting the foundation of the thing--I mean +as regards the truth and reality of apparitions in general--as for the +way in which they are made, still we cannot reasonably disallow that +there may be true apparitions of all the kinds of which we have +spoken, and that there may be also a great number very disputable, and +some others which are manifestly the work of knavery, of +maliciousness, of the art of charlatans, and flexibility of those who +play sleight of hand tricks. + +I acknowledge, moreover, that imagination, prepossession, simplicity, +superstition, excess of credulity, and weakness of mind have given +rise to several stories which are related; that ignorance of pure +philosophy has caused to be taken for miraculous effects, and black +magic, what is the simple effect of white magic, and the secrets of a +philosophy hidden from the ignorant and common herd of men. Moreover, +I confess that I see insurmountable difficulties in explaining the +manner or properties of apparitions, whether we admit with several +ancients that angels, demons, and disembodied souls have a sort of +subtile transparent body of the nature of air, whether we believe them +purely spiritual and disengaged from all matter, visible, gross, or +subtile. + +I lay down as a principle that to explain the affair of apparitions, +and to give on this subject any certain rules, we should-- + +1st. Know perfectly the nature of spirits, angels and souls, and +demons. We should know whether souls by nature are so spiritualized +that they have no longer any relation to matter; or if they have, +again, any alliance with an aërial, subtile, invisible body, which +they still govern after death; or whether they exert any power over +the body they once animated, to impel it to certain movements, as the +soul which animates us gives to our bodies such impulsions as she +thinks proper; or whether the soul determines simply by its will, as +occasional or secondary cause, the first cause, which is God, to put +in motion the machine which it once animated. + +2d. If after death the soul still retains that power over its own +body, or over others; for instance, over the air and other elements. + +3d. If angels and demons have respectively the same power over +sublunary bodies--for instance, to thicken air, inflame it, produce in +it clouds and storms; to make phantoms appear in it; to spoil or +preserve fruits and crops; to cause animals to perish, produce +maladies, excite tempests and shipwrecks at sea; or even to fascinate +the eyes and deceive the other senses. + +4th. If they can do all these things naturally, and by their own +virtue, as often as they think proper; or if there must be a +particular order, or at least permission from God, for them to do what +we have just said. + +5th. Lastly, we should know exactly what power is possessed by these +substances which we suppose to be purely spiritual, and how far the +power of the angels, demons, and souls separated from their gross +bodies, extends, in regard to the apparitions, operations and +movements attributed to them. For whilst we are ignorant of the power +which the Creator has given or left to disembodied souls, or to +demons, we can in no way define what is miraculous, or prescribe the +just bound to which may extend, or within which may be limited, the +natural operations of spirits, angels, and demons. + +If we accord the demon the faculty of fascinating our eyes when it +pleases him, or of disposing the air so as to form the appearance of a +phantom, or phenomenon; or of restoring movement to a body which is +dead but not entirely corrupted; or of disturbing the living by ill +dreams, or terrific representations, we should no longer admire many +things which we admire at present, nor regard as miracles certain +cures and certain apparitions, if they are only the natural effects of +the power of souls, angels and demons. + +If a man invested with his body produced such effects of himself, we +should say with reason that they are supernatural operations, because +they exceed the known ordinary and natural power of the living man; +but if a man held commerce with a spirit, an angel, or a demon, whom +by virtue of some compact, explicit or implicit, he commanded to +perform certain things which would be above his natural powers, but +not beyond the powers of the spirit whom he commanded, would the +effect resulting from it be miraculous or supernatural? No, without +doubt, supposing that the spirit which produced the result did nothing +that was above his natural powers and faculties. + +But would it be a miracle if a man had anything to do with an angel or +a demon, and that he should make an explicit and implicit compact with +them, to oblige them on certain conditions, and with certain +ceremonies, to produce effects which would appear externally, and in +our minds, to be beyond the power of man? For instance, in the +operations of certain magicians who boast of having an explicit +compact with the devil, and who by this means raise tempests, or go +with extraordinary haste when they walk, or cause the death of +animals, and to men incurable maladies; or who enchant arms; or in +other operations, as in the use of the divining rod, and in certain +remedies against the maladies of men and horses, which having no +natural proportion to these maladies do not fail to cure them, +although those who use these remedies protest that they have never +thought of contracting any alliance with the devil. + +To reply to this question, the difficulty always recurs to know if +there is between living and mortal man a proportion or natural +relation, which renders him capable of contracting an alliance with +the angel or the demon, by virtue of which these spirits obey him and +exert, under his empire over them, by virtue of the preceding compact, +a power which is natural to them; for if in all that there is nothing +beyond the ordinary force of nature, either on the side of man, or on +that of angels and demons, there is nothing miraculous in one or the +other; neither is there either in God's permitting secondary causes to +act according to their natural faculties, of which he is nevertheless +always the principle, and the absolute master, to limit, stop, +suspend, extend, or augment them, according to his good pleasure. + +But as we know not, and it seems even impossible that we should know +by the light of reason, the nature and natural extent of the power of +angels, demons, and disembodied souls, it seems that it would be rash +to decide in this matter, as deriving consequences of causes by their +effects, or effects by causes. For instance, to say that souls, +demons, and angels have sometimes appeared to men--_then_ they have +naturally the faculty of returning and appearing, is a bold and rash +proposition. For it is very possible that angels and demons appear +only by the particular will of God, and not in consequence of his +general will, and by virtue of his natural and physical concurrence +with his creatures. + +In the first case, these apparitions are miraculous, as being above +the natural power of the agents in question; in the second case, there +is nothing supernatural in them except the permission which God rarely +grants to souls to return, to angels and demons to appear, and to +produce the effects of which we have spoken. + +According to these principles we may advance without temerity-- + +1st. That angels and demons have often appeared unto men, that souls +separated from the body have often returned, and that both the one and +the other may do the same thing again. + +2d. That the manner of these apparitions, and of these returns to +earth, is perfectly unknown, and given up by God to the discussions +and researches of mankind. + +3d. That there is some likelihood that these kinds of apparitions are +not absolutely miraculous on the part of the good and evil angels, but +that God allows them sometimes to take place, for reasons the +knowledge of which is reserved to himself alone. + +4th. That no certain rule on this point can be given, nor any +demonstrative argument formed, for want of knowing perfectly the +nature and extent of the power of the spiritual beings in question. + +5th. That we should reason upon those apparitions which appear in +dreams otherwise than upon those which appear when we are awake; +differently also upon apparitions wearing solid bodies, speaking, +walking, eating and drinking, and those which seem like a shade, or a +nebulous and aërial body. + +6th. Thus it would be rash to lay down principles, and raise uniform +arguments, and all these things in common, every species of apparition +demanding its own particular explanation. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +WAY OF EXPLAINING APPARITIONS. + + +Apparitions in dreams, for instance, that of the angel[439] who told +St. Joseph to carry the infant Jesus into Egypt because King Herod +wished to put him to death; there are two things appertaining to this +apparition--the first is, the impression made on the mind of St. +Joseph that an angel appeared to him; the second is, the prediction or +revelation of the ill-will of Herod. Both these are above the ordinary +powers of our nature, but we know not if they be above the power of +angels; it is certain that it could not have been done except by the +will and command of God. + +The apparitions of a spirit, or of an angel and a demon, which show +themselves clothed in an apparent body, and only as a shadow or a +phantom, as that of the angel who showed himself to Manoah the father +of Samson, and vanished with the smoke of the sacrifice, and of him +who extricated St. Peter from prison, and disappeared in the same way +after having conducted him the length of a street; the bodies which +these angels assumed, and which we suppose to have been only apparent +and aërial, present great difficulties; for either those bodies were +their own, or they were assumed or borrowed. + +If those forms were their own, and we suppose with several ancient and +some new writers that angels, demons, and even human souls have a kind +of subtile, transparent, and aërial body, the difficulty lies in +knowing how they can condense the transparent body, and render it +visible when it was before invisible; for if it was always and +naturally evident to the senses and visible, there would be another +kind of continual miracle to render it invisible, and hide it from our +sight; and if of its nature it is invisible, what might can render it +visible? On whatever side we regard this object it seems equally +miraculous, whether to make evident to the senses that which is purely +spiritual, or to render invisible that which in its nature is palpable +and corporeal. + +The ancient fathers of the church, who gave to angels subtile bodies +of an airy nature, explained, according to their principles, more +easily the predictions made by the demons, and the wonderful +operations which they cause in the air, in the elements, in our +bodies, and which are far beyond what the cleverest and the most +learned men can know, predict, and perform. They likewise conceived +more easily that evil angels can cause maladies, render the air impure +and contagious, that they inspire the wicked with wrong thoughts and +unjust desires, that they can penetrate our thoughts and wishes, that +they foresee tempests and changes in the air, and derangements in the +seasons; all that can be explained with much more facility on the +hypothesis that demons have bodies composed of very fine and subtile +air. + +St. Augustine[440] had written that they could also discover what is +passing in our mind, and at the bottom of our heart, not only by our +words, but also by certain signs and movements, which escape from the +most circumspect; but reflecting on what he had advanced in this +passage, he retracted, and owned that he had spoken too affirmatively +upon a subject but little known, and that the manner in which the evil +angels penetrate our thoughts is a very hidden thing, and very +difficult for men to discover and explain; thus he preferred +suspending his judgment upon it, and remaining in doubt. + + +Footnotes: + +[439] Matt. ii. 13,14. + +[440] S. Aug. lib. ii. retract. c. 30. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +THE DIFFICULTY OF EXPLAINING THE MANNER IN WHICH APPARITIONS MAKE +THEIR APPEARANCE, WHATEVER SYSTEM MAY BE PROPOSED ON THE SUBJECT. + + +The difficulty is much greater, if we suppose that these spirits are +absolutely disengaged from any kind of matter; for how can they +assemble about them a certain quantity of matter, clothe themselves +with it, give it a human form, which can be discerned; is capable of +acting, speaking, conversing, eating and drinking, as did the angels +who appeared to Abraham,[441] and the one who appeared to the young +Tobias,[442] and conducted him to Ragés! Is all that accomplished by +the natural power of these spirits? Has God bestowed on them this +power in creating them, and has he engaged himself by virtue of his +natural laws, and by a consequence of his acting intimately and +essentially on the creature, in his quality of Creator, to impress on +occasion at the will of these spirits certain motions in the air, and +in the bodies which they would move, condense, and cause to act, in +the same manner proportionally that he has willed by virtue of the +union of the soul with a living body, that that soul should impress on +that body motions proportioned to its own will, although, naturally, +there is no natural proportion between matter and spirit, and, +according to the laws of physics, the one cannot act upon the other, +unless the first cause, the Creator, has chosen to subject himself to +create this movement, and to produce these effects at the will of man, +movements which without that would pass for superhuman (supernatural). + +Or shall we say, with some new philosophers,[443] that although we may +have ideas of matter and thought, perhaps we shall never be capable of +knowing whether a being purely material thinks or not, because it is +impossible for us to discover by the contemplative powers of our own +minds without revelation, if God has not given to some collections of +matter, disposed as he thinks proper, the power to perceive and to +think, or whether he has joined and united to the matter thus +arranged, an immaterial substance which thinks? Now in relation to our +notions, it is not less easy for us to conceive that God can add to +our idea of matter the faculty of thinking, since we know not in what +thought consists, and to what species of substance that Almighty being +has judged proper to grant this faculty, which could exist in no +created being except by virtue of the goodness and the will of the +Creator. + +This system certainly embraces great absurdities, and greater to my +mind than those it would fain avoid. We conceive clearly that matter +is divisible, and capable of motion; but we do not conceive that it is +capable of thought, nor that thought can consist of a certain +configuration or a certain motion of matter. And even could thought +depend on an arrangement, or on a certain subtility, or on a certain +motion of matter, as soon as that arrangement should be disturbed, or +the motion interrupted, or this heap of subtile matter dispersed, +thought would cease to be produced, and consequently that which +constitutes man, or the reasoning animal, would no longer subsist; +thus all the economy of our religion, all our hopes of a future life, +all our fears of eternal punishment would vanish; even the principles +of our philosophy would be overthrown. + +God forbid that we should wish to set bounds to the almighty power of +God; but that all-powerful Being having given us as a rule of our +knowledge the clearness of the ideas which we form of everything, and +not being permitted to affirm that which we know but indistinctly, it +follows that we ought not to assert that thought can be attributed to +matter. If the thing were known to us through revelation, and taught +by the authority of the Scriptures, then we might impose silence on +human reason, and make captive our judgment in obedience to faith; but +it is owned that the thing is not at all revealed; neither is it +demonstrated, either by its cause, or by its effects. It must, then, +be considered as a simple system, invented to do away certain +difficulties which result from the opinion opposed to it. + +If the difficulty of explaining how the soul acts upon our bodies +appears so great, how can we comprehend that the soul itself should be +material and extended? In the latter case will it act upon itself, and +give itself the impulsion to think, or will this movement or impulsion +be thought itself, or will it produce thought? Will this thinking +matter think on always, or only at times; and when it has ceased to +think, who will make it think anew? Will it be God, will it be itself? +Can so simple an agent as the soul act upon itself, and reproduce it +in some sort by thinking, after it has ceased to think? + +My reader will say that I leave him here embarrassed, and that instead +of giving him any light on the subject of the apparition of spirits, I +cast doubt and uncertainty on the subject. I own it; but I better like +to doubt prudently, than to affirm that which I know not. And if I +hold by what my religion teaches me concerning the nature of souls, +angels, and demons, I shall say that being purely spiritual, it is +impossible that they should appear clothed with a body except through +a miracle; always in the supposition that God has not created them +naturally capable of these operations, with subordination to his +sovereignly powerful will, which but rarely allows them to use this +faculty of showing themselves corporeally to mortals. + +If sometimes angels have eaten, spoken, acted, walked, like men, it +was not from any need they had to drink or eat to sustain themselves +and to be able to live, but to execute the designs of God, whose will +it was that they should appear to men acting, drinking, and eating, as +the angel Raphael observes,[444]--"When I was staying with you, I was +there by the will of God; I seemed to you to eat and drink, but for my +part I make use of an invisible nourishment which is unknown to men." + +It is true that we know not what may be the food of angels who are +substances which are purely spiritual, nor what became of that food +which Raphael and the angels that Abraham entertained in his tent, +took, or seemed to take, in the company of men. But there are so many +other things in nature which are unknown and incomprehensible to us, +that we may very well console ourselves for not knowing how it is that +the apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls are made to +appear. + + +Footnotes: + +[441] Gen. xviii. + +[442] Tob. xii. 19. + +[443] M. Lock. de Intellectu Human. lib. iv. c. 3. + +[444] Tob. xii. 18, 19. + + + + +DISSERTATION + +ON THE GHOSTS WHO RETURN TO EARTH BODILY, +THE EXCOMMUNICATED, +THE OUPIRES OR VAMPIRES, VROUCOLACAS, ETC. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Every age, every nation, every country has its prejudices, its +maladies, its customs, its inclinations, which characterize them, and +which pass away, and succeed to one another; often that which has +appeared admirable at one time, becomes pitiful and ridiculous at +another. We have seen that in some ages all was turned towards a +certain kind of devotion, of studies and of exercises. It is known +that, for more than one century, the prevailing taste of Europe was +the journey to Jerusalem. Kings, princes, nobles, bishops, +ecclesiastics, monks, all pressed thither in crowds. The pilgrimages +to Rome were formerly very frequent and very famous. All that is +fallen away. We have seen provinces over-run with flagellants, and now +none of them remain except in the brotherhoods of penitents which are +still found in several parts. + +We have seen in these countries jumpers and dancers, who every moment +jumped and danced in the streets, squares or market-places, and even +in the churches. The convulsionaries of our own days seem to have +revived them; posterity will be surprised at them, as we laugh at them +now. Towards the end of the sixteenth and at the beginning of the +seventeenth century, nothing was talked of in Lorraine but wizards and +witches. For a long time we have heard nothing of them. When the +philosophy of M. Descartes appeared, what a vogue it had! The ancient +philosophy was despised; nothing was talked of but experiments in +physics, new systems, new discoveries. M. Newton appears; all minds +turn to him. The system of M. Law, bank notes, the rage of the Rue +Quinquampoix, what movements did they not cause in the kingdom? A sort +of convulsion had seized on the French. In this age, a new scene +presents itself to our eyes, and has done for about sixty years in +Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland: they see, it is said, men who +have been dead for several months, come back to earth, talk, walk, +infest villages, ill use both men and beasts, suck the blood of their +near relations, make them ill, and finally cause their death; so that +people can only save themselves from their dangerous visits and their +hauntings by exhuming them, impaling them, cutting off their heads, +tearing out the heart, or burning them. These _revenans_ are called by +the name of oupires or vampires, that is to say, leeches; and such +particulars are related of them, so singular, so detailed, and +invested with such probable circumstances and such judicial +information, that one can hardly refuse to credit the belief which is +held in those countries, that these _revenans_ come out of their tombs +and produce those effects which are proclaimed of them. + +Antiquity certainly neither saw nor knew anything like it. Let us read +through the histories of the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and +the Latins; nothing approaching to it will be met with. + +It is true that we remark in history, though rarely, that certain +persons after having been some time in their tombs and considered as +dead, have returned to life. We shall see even that the ancients +believed that magic could cause death and evoke the souls of the dead. +Several passages are cited, which prove that at certain times they +fancied that sorcerers sucked the blood of men and children, and +caused their death. They saw also in the twelfth century in England +and Denmark, some _revenans_ similar to those of Hungary. But in no +history do we read anything so usual or so pronounced, as what is +related to us of the vampires of Poland, Hungary, and Moravia. + +Christian antiquity furnishes some instances of excommunicated persons +who have visibly come out of their tombs and left the churches, when +the deacon commanded the excommunicated, and those who did not partake +of the communion, to retire. For several centuries nothing like this +has been seen, although it is known that the bodies of several +excommunicated persons who died while under sentence of +excommunication and censure of the Church are buried in churches. + +The belief of the modern Greeks, who will have it that the bodies of +the excommunicated do not decay in their tombs or graves, is an +opinion which has no foundation, either in antiquity, in good +theology, or even in history. This idea seems to have been invented by +the modern Greek schismatics, only to authorize and confirm them in +their separation from the church of Rome. Christian antiquity +believed, on the contrary, that the incorruptibility of a body was +rather a probable mark of the sanctity of the person and a proof of +the particular protection of God, extended to a body which during its +lifetime had been the temple of the Holy Spirit, and of one who had +retained in justice and innocence the mark of Christianity. + +The vroucolacas of Greece and the Archipelago are again _revenans_ of +a new kind. We can hardly persuade ourselves that a nation so witty as +the Greeks could fall into so extraordinary an opinion. Ignorance or +prejudice, must be extreme among them since neither an ecclesiastic +nor any other writer has undertaken to undeceive them. + +The imagination of those who believe that the dead chew in their +graves, with a noise similar to that made by hogs when they eat, is so +ridiculous that it does not deserve to be seriously refuted. I +undertake to treat here on the matter of the _revenans_ or vampires of +Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland, at the risk of being criticised +however I may discuss it; those who believe them to be true, will +accuse me of rashness and presumption, for having raised a doubt on +the subject, or even of having denied their existence and reality; +others will blame me for having employed my time in discussing this +matter which is considered as frivolous and useless by many sensible +people. Whatever may be thought of it, I shall be pleased with myself +for having sounded a question which appeared to me important in a +religious point of view. For if the return of vampires is real, it is +of import to defend it, and prove it; and if it is illusory, it is of +consequence to the interests of religion to undeceive those who +believe in its truth, and destroy an error which may produce dangerous +effects. + + + + + DISSERTATION + + ON THE GHOSTS WHO RETURN TO EARTH BODILY, + THE EXCOMMUNICATED, + THE OUPIRES OR VAMPIRES, VROUCOLACAS, ETC. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE RESURRECTION OF A DEAD PERSON IS THE WORK OF GOD ONLY. + + +After having treated in a separate dissertation on the matter of the +apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls, the connection +of the subject invites me to speak also of the ghosts and +excommunicated persons, whom, it is said, the earth rejects from her +bosom; of the vampires of Hungary, Silesia, Bohemia, Moravia, and +Poland; and of the vroucolacas of Greece. I shall report first of all, +what has been said and written of them; then I shall deduce some +consequences, and bring forward the reasons or arguments that may be +adduced for, and against, their existence and reality. + +The _revenans_ of Hungary, or vampires, which form the principal +object of this dissertation, are men who have been dead a considerable +time, sometimes more, sometimes less; who leave their tombs, and come +and disturb the living, sucking their blood, appearing to them, making +a racket at their doors, and in their houses, and lastly, often +causing their death. They are named vampires, or oupires, which +signifies, they say, in Sclavonic, a leech. The only way to be +delivered from their haunting, is to disinter them, cut off their +head, impale them, burn them, or pierce their heart. + +Several systems have been propounded to explain the return, and these +apparitions of the vampires. Some persons have denied and rejected +them as chimerical, and as an effect of the prepossession and +ignorance of the people of those countries, where they are said to +come back or return. + +Others have thought that these people were not really dead, but that +they had been interred alive, and returned naturally to themselves, +and came out of their tombs. + +Others believe that these people are very truly dead, but that God, by +a particular permission, or command, permits or commands them to come +back to earth, and resume for a time their own body; for when they are +exhumed, their bodies are found entire, their blood vermilion and +fluid, and their limbs supple and pliable. + +Others maintain that it is the demon who causes these _revenans_ to +appear, and by their means does all the harm he occasions both men and +animals. + +In the supposition that vampires veritably resuscitate, we may raise +an infinity of difficulties on the subject. How is this resurrection +accomplished? It is by the strength of the _revenant_, by the return +of his soul into his body? Is it an angel, is it a demon who +reanimates it? Is it by the order, or by the permission of God that he +resuscitates? Is this resurrection voluntary on his part, and by his +own choice? Is it for a long time, like that of the persons who were +restored to life by Jesus Christ? or that of persons resuscitated by +the Prophets and Apostles? Or is it only momentary, and for a few days +and a few hours, like the resurrection operated by St. Stanislaus upon +the lord who had sold him a field; or that spoken of in the life of +St. Macarius of Egypt, and of St. Spiridion, who made the dead to +speak, simply to bear testimony to the truth, and then left them to +sleep in peace, awaiting the last, the judgment day. + +First of all, I lay it down as an undoubted principle, that the +resurrection of a person really dead is effected by the power of God +alone. No man can either resuscitate himself, or restore another man +to life, without a visible miracle. + +Jesus Christ resuscitated himself, as he had promised he would; he did +it by his own power; he did it with circumstances which were all +miraculous. If he had returned to life as soon as he was taken down +from the cross, it might have been thought that he was not quite dead, +that there remained yet in him some remains of life, that they might +have been revived by warming him, or by giving him cordials and +something capable of bringing him back to his senses. + +But he revives only on the third day. He had, as it were, been killed +after his death, by the opening made in his side with a lance, which +pierced him to the heart, and would have put him to death, if he had +not then been beyond receiving it. + +When he resuscitated Lazarus,[445] he waited until he had been four +days in the tomb, and began to show corruption; which is the most +certain mark that a man is really deceased, without a hope of +returning to life, except by supernatural means. + +The resurrection which Job so firmly expected,[446] and that of the +man who came to life, on touching the body of the prophet Elisha in +his tomb;[447] and the child of the widow of Shunem, whom the same +Elisha restored to life;[448] that army of skeletons, whose +resurrection was predicted by Ezekiel,[449] and which in spirit he saw +executed before his eyes, as a type and pledge as the return of the +Hebrews from their captivity at Babylon;--in short, all the +resurrections related in the sacred books of the Old and New +Testament, are manifestly miraculous effects, and attributed solely to +the Almighty power of God. Neither angels, nor demons, nor men, the +holiest and most favored of God, could by their own power restore to +life a person really dead. They can do it by the power of God alone, +who when he thinks proper so to do, is free to grant this favor to +their prayers and intercession. + + +Footnotes: + +[445] John xi. 39. + +[446] Job xxi. 25. + +[447] 1 Kings xiii. 21, 22. + +[448] 2 Kings iv. + +[449] Ezek. xxxvii. 1, 2, 3. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ON THE REVIVAL OF PERSONS WHO WERE NOT REALLY DEAD. + + +The resuscitation of some persons who were believed to be dead, and +who were not so, but simply asleep, or in a lethargy; and of those who +were supposed to be dead, having been drowned, and who came to life +again through the care taken of them, or by medical skill. Such +persons must not pass for being really resuscitated; they were not +dead, or were so only in appearance. + +We intend to speak in this place of another order of resuscitated +persons, who had been buried sometimes for several months, or even +several years; who ought to have been suffocated in their graves, had +they been interred alive, and in whom are still found signs of life: +the blood in a liquid state, the flesh entire, the complexion fine and +florid, the limbs flexible and pliable. Those persons who return +either by night or by day, disturb the living, suck their blood, kill +them, appear in their clothes, in their families, sit down to table, +and do a thousand other things; then return to their graves without +any one seeing how they re-enter them. This is a kind of momentary +resurrection, or revival; for whereas the other dead persons spoken of +in Scripture have lived, drank, eaten and conversed with other men +after their return to life, as Lazarus, the brother of Mary and +Martha,[450] and the son of the widow of Shunem, resuscitated by +Elisha.[451] These appeared during a certain time, in certain places, +in certain circumstances; and appear no more as soon as they have been +impaled, or burned, or have had their heads cut off. + +If this last order of resuscitated persons were not really dead, there +is nothing wonderful in their revisiting the world, except the manner +in which it is done, and the circumstances by which that return is +accompanied. Do these _revenans_ simply awaken from their sleep, or do +they recover themselves like those who fall down in syncope, in +fainting fits, or in swoons, and who at the end of a certain time come +naturally to themselves when the blood and animal spirits have resumed +their natural course and motion. + +But how can they come out of their graves without opening the earth, +and how re-enter them again without its appearing? Have we ever seen +lethargies, or swoons, or syncopes last whole years together? If +people insist on these resurrections being real ones, did we ever see +dead persons resuscitate themselves, and by their own power? + +If they are not resuscitated by themselves, is it by the power of God +that they have left their graves? What proof is there that God has +anything to do with it? What is the object of these resurrections? Is +it to show forth the works of God in these vampires? What glory does +the Divinity derive from them? If it is not God who drags them from +their graves, is it an angel? is it a demon? is it their own spirit? +Can the soul when separated from the body re-enter it when it will, +and give it new life, were it but for a quarter of an hour? Can an +angel or a demon restore a dead man to life? Undoubtedly not, without +the order, or at least the permission of God. This question of the +natural power of angels and demons over human bodies has been examined +in another place, and we have shown that neither revelation nor reason +throws any certain light on the subject. + + +Footnotes: + +[450] 1 John xii. 2. + +[451] 2 Kings viii. 5. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +REVIVAL OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN INTERRED FOR THREE YEARS, AND WAS +RESUSCITATED BY ST. STANISLAUS. + + +All the lives of the saints are full of resurrections of the dead; +thick volumes might be composed on the subject. + +These resurrections have a manifest relation to the matter which we +are here treating of, since it relates to persons who are dead, or +held to be so, who appear bodily and animated to the living, and who +live after their return to life. I shall content myself with relating +the history of St. Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, who restored to life +a man that had been dead for three years, attended by such singular +circumstances, and in so public a manner, that the thing is beyond the +severest criticism. If it is really true, it must be regarded as one +of the most unheard of miracles which are read of in history. They +assert that the life of this saint was written either at the time of +martyrdom,[452] or a short time afterwards, by different well-informed +authors; for the martyrdom of the saint, and, above all, the +restoration to life of the dead man of whom we are about to speak, +were seen and known by an infinite number of persons, by all the court +of king Boleslaus. And this event having taken place in Poland, where +vampires are frequently met with even in our days, it concerns, for +that reason, more particularly the subject we are treating. + +The bishop, St. Stanislaus, having bought of a gentleman, named +Pierre, an estate situated on the banks of the Vistula, in the +territory of Lublin, for the profit of his church at Cracow, gave the +price of it to the seller, in the presence of witnesses, and with the +solemnities requisite in that country, but without written deeds, for +they then wrote but seldom in Poland on the occasion of sales of this +kind; they contented themselves with having witnesses. Stanislaus took +possession of this estate by the king's authority, and his church +enjoyed it peaceably for about three years. + +In the interim, Pierre, who had sold it, happened to die. The king of +Poland, Boleslaus, who had conceived an implacable hatred against the +holy bishop, because he had freely reproved him for his excesses, +seeking occasion to cause him trouble, excited against him the three +sons of Pierre, and his heirs, and told them to claim the estate which +their father had sold, on pretence of its not having been paid for. He +promised to support their demand, and to cause it to be restored to +them. Thus these three gentlemen had the bishop cited to appear before +the king, who was then at Solech, occupied in rendering justice under +some tents in the country, according to the ancient custom of the +land, in the general assembly of the nation. The bishop was cited +before the king, and maintained that he had bought and paid for the +estate in question. The day was beginning to close, and the bishop ran +great risk of being condemned by the king and his counselors. +Suddenly, as if inspired by the Divine Spirit, he promised the king to +bring him in three days Pierre, of whom he had bought it, and the +condition was accepted mockingly, as a thing impossible to be +executed. + +The holy bishop repairs to Pictravin, remains in prayer, and keeps +fast with his household for three days; on the third day he goes in +his pontifical robes, accompanied by his clergy and a multitude of +people, causes the grave-stone to be raised, and makes them dig until +they found the corpse of the defunct all fleshless and corrupted. The +saint commands him to come forth and bear witness to the truth before +the king's tribunal. He rises; they cover him with a cloak; the saint +takes him by the hand, and leads him alive to the feet of the king. No +one had the boldness to interrogate him; but he took the word, and +declared that he had in good faith sold the estate to the prelate, and +that he had received the value of it; after which he severely +reprimanded his sons, who had so maliciously accused the holy bishop. + +Stanislaus asked Pierre if he wished to remain alive to do penance. He +thanked him, and said he would not anew expose himself to the danger +of sinning. Stanislaus reconducted him to his tomb, and being arrived +there, he again fell asleep in the Lord. It may be supposed that such +a scene had an infinite number of witnesses, and that all Poland was +quickly informed of it. The king was only the more irritated against +the saint. He some time after killed him with his own hand, as he was +coming from the altar, and had his body cut into seventy-two parts, in +order that they might never more be collected together in order to pay +them the worship which was due to them as the body of a martyr for the +truth and for pastoral liberty. + +Now then let us come to that which is the principal subject of these +researches, the vampires, or _revenans_, of Hungary, Moravia, and +similar ones, which appear only for a little time in their natural +bodies. + + +Footnotes: + +[452] The reverend fathers the Bollandists, believed that the life of +St. Stanislaus, which they had printed, was very old, and nearly of +the time of the martyrdom of the saint; or at least that it was taken +from a life by an author almost his cotemporary, and original. But +since the first edition of this dissertation it has been observed to +me that the thing was by no means certain; that M. Baillet, on the 7th +of May, in the critical table of authors, asserts that the life of St. +Stanislaus was only written 400 years after his death, from uncertain +and mutilated memoirs. And in the life of the saint he owns that it is +only the tradition of the writers of the country which can render +credible the account of the resurrection of Pierre. The Abbé Fleuri, +tom. xiii. of the Ecclesiastical History, l. 62, year 1079, does not +agree either to what is written in that life or to what has followed +it. At any rate, the miracle of the resurrection of Pierre is related +as certain in a discourse of John de Polemac, delivered at the Council +of Constance, 1433; tom. xii. Councils, p. 1397. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +CAN A MAN WHO IS REALLY DEAD APPEAR IN HIS OWN BODY? + + +If what is related of vampires were certainly true, the question here +proposed would be frivolous and useless; they would reply to us +directly--In Hungary, Moravia, and Poland, persons who were dead and +interred a long time, have been seen to return, to appear, and torment +men and animals, suck their blood, and cause their death. + +These persons come back to earth in their own bodies; people see them, +know them, exhume them, try them, impale them, cut off their heads, +burn them. It is then not only possible, but very true and very real, +that they appear in their own bodies. + +It might be added in support of this belief, that the Scriptures +themselves give instances of these apparitions: for example, at the +Transfiguration of our Saviour, Elias and Moses appeared on Mount +Tabor,[453] there conversing with Jesus Christ. We know that Elias is +still alive. I do not cite him as an instance; but in regard to Moses, +his death is not doubtful; and yet he appeared bodily talking with +Jesus Christ. The dead who came out of their graves at the +resurrection of the Saviour,[454] and who appeared to many persons in +Jerusalem, had been in their sepulchres for several years; there was +no doubt of their being dead; and nevertheless they appeared and bore +testimony to the resurrection of the Saviour. + +When Jeremiah appeared to Judas Maccabĉus,[455] and placed in his hand +a golden sword, saying to him, "Receive this sword as a gift from God, +with which you will vanquish the enemies of my people of Israel;" it +was apparently this prophet in his own person who appeared to him and +made him that present, since by his mien he was recognized as the +prophet Jeremiah. + +I do not speak of those persons who were really restored to life by a +miracle, as the son of the widow of Shunem resuscitated by Elijah; nor +of the dead man who, on touching the coffin of the same prophet, rose +upon his feet and revived; nor of Lazarus, to whom Jesus Christ +restored life in a way so miraculous and striking. Those persons +lived, drank, ate, and conversed with mankind, after, as before their +death and resurrection. + +It is not of such persons that we now speak. I speak, for instance, of +Pierre resuscitated by Stanislaus for a few hours; of those persons of +whom I made mention in the treatise on the Apparitions of Spirits, who +appeared, spoke, and revealed hidden things, and whose resurrection +was but momentary, and only to manifest the power of God, in order to +bear witness to truth and innocence, or to maintain the credit of the +church against obstinate heretics, as we read in various instances. + +St. Martin, being newly made Archbishop of Tours, conceived some +suspicions against an altar which the bishops his predecessors had +erected to a pretended martyr, of whom they knew neither the name nor +the history, and of whom none of the priests or ministers of the +chapel could give any certain account. He abstained for some time from +going to this spot, which was not far from the city; but one day he +repaired thither accompanied by a few monks, and having prayed, he +besought God to let him know who it was that was interred there. He +then perceived on his left a hideous and dirty-looking apparition; and +having commanded it to tell him who he was, the spectre declared his +name, and confessed to him that he was a robber, who had been put to +death for his crimes and acts of violence, and that he had nothing in +common with the martyrs. Those who were present heard distinctly what +he said, but saw no one. St. Martin had the tomb overthrown, and cured +the ignorant people of their superstitions. + +The philosopher Celsus, writing against the Christians, maintained +that the apparitions of Jesus Christ to his apostles were not real, +but that they were simply shadowy forms which appeared. Origen, +retorting his reasoning, tells him[456] that the pagans give an +account of various apparitions of Ĉsculapius and Apollo, to which they +attribute the power of predicting future events. If these appearances +are admitted to be real, because they are attested by some, why not +receive as true those of Jesus Christ, which are related by ocular +witnesses, and believed by millions of persons? + +He afterwards relates this history. Aristeus, who belonged to one of +the first families of Proconnesus, having one day entered a foulon +shop, died there suddenly. The __________ having locked the door, ran +directly to inform the relations of the deceased; but as the report +was instantly spread in the town, a man of Cyzica, who came from +Astacia, affirmed that it could not be, because he had met Aristeus on +the road from Cyzica, and had spoken to him, which he loudly +maintained before all the people of Proconnesus. + +Thereupon the relations arrive at the foulon's, with all the necessary +apparatus for carrying away the body; but when they entered the house, +they could not find Aristeus there, either dead or alive. Seven years +after, he showed himself in the very town of Proconnesus; made there +those verses which are termed Arimaspean, and then disappeared for the +second time. Such is the story related of him in those places. + +Three hundred and forty years after that event, the same Aristeus +showed himself in Metapontus, in Italy, and commanded the Metapontines +to build an altar to Apollo, and afterwards to erect a statue in honor +of Aristeus of Proconnesus, adding that they were the only people of +Italy whom Apollo had honored with his presence; as for himself who +spoke to them, he had accompanied that god in the form of a crow; and +having thus spoken he disappeared. + +The Metapontines sent to consult the oracle of Delphi concerning this +apparition; the Delphic oracle told them to follow the counsel which +Aristeus had given them, and it would be well for them; in fact, they +did erect a statue to Apollo, which was still to be seen there in the +time of Herodotus;[457] and at the same time, another statue to +Aristeus, which stood in a small plantation of laurels, in the midst +of the public square of Metapontus. Celsus made no difficulty of +believing all that on the word of Herodotus, though Pindar and he +refused credence to what the Christians taught of the miracles wrought +by Jesus Christ, related in the Gospel and sealed with the blood of +martyrs. Origen adds, What could Providence have designed in +performing for this Proconnesian the miracles we have just mentioned? +What benefit could mankind derive from them? Whereas, what the +Christians relate of Jesus Christ serves to confirm a doctrine which +is beneficial to the human race. We must, then, either reject this +story of Aristeus as fabulous, or ascribe all that is told of it as +the work of the evil spirit. + + +Footnotes: + +[453] Matt. ix. 34. + +[454] Matt. xxvii. 53. + +[455] Macc. xiv. 14, 15. + +[456] Origen. contra Celsum, lib. i. pp. 123, 124. + +[457] Herodot. lib. iv. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +REVIVAL OR APPARITION OF A GIRL WHO HAD BEEN DEAD SOME MONTHS. + + +Phlegonus, freed-man of the Emperor Adrian,[458] in the fragment of +the book which he wrote on wonderful things, says that at Tralla, in +Asia, a certain man named Machates, an innkeeper, was connected with a +girl named Philinium, the daughter of Demostrates and Chariton. This +girl being dead, and placed in her grave, continued to come every +night for six months to see her gallant, to drink, eat, and sleep with +him. One day this girl was recognized by her nurse, when she was +sitting by Machates. The nurse ran to give notice of this to Chariton, +the girl's mother, who, after making many difficulties, came at last +to the inn; but as it was very late, and everybody gone to bed, she +could not satisfy her curiosity. However, she recognized her +daughter's clothes, and thought she recognized the girl herself in bed +with Machates. She returned the next morning, but having missed her +way, she no longer found her daughter, who had already withdrawn. +Machates related everything to her; how, since a certain time, she had +come to him every night; and in proof of what he said, he opened his +casket and showed her the gold ring which Philinium had given him, and +the band with which she covered her bosom, and which she had left with +him the preceding night. + +Chariton, who could no longer doubt the truth of the circumstance, now +gave way to cries and tears; but as they promised to inform her the +following night, when Philinium should return, she went away home. In +the evening the girl came back as usual, and Machates sent directly to +let her father and mother know, for he began to fear that some other +girl might have taken Philinium's clothes from the sepulchre, in order +to deceive him by the illusion. + +Demostrates and Chariton, on arriving, recognized their daughter and +ran to embrace her; but she cried out, "Oh, father and mother, why +have you grudged me my happiness, by preventing me from remaining +three days longer with this innkeeper without injury to any one? for I +did not come here without permission from the gods, that is to say, +from the demon, since we cannot attribute to God, or to a good spirit, +a thing like that. Your curiosity will cost you dear." At the same +time, she fell down stiff and dead, and extended on the bed. + +Phlegon, who had some command in the town, stayed the crowd and +prevented a tumult. The next day, the people being assembled at the +theatre, they agreed to go and inspect the vault in which Philinium, +who had died six months before, had been laid. They found there the +corpses of her family arranged in their places, but they found not the +body of Philinium. There was only an iron ring, which Machates had +given her, with a gilded cup, which she had also received from him. +Afterwards they went back to the dwelling of Machates, where the body +of the girl remained lying on the ground. + +They consulted a diviner, who said that she must be interred beyond +the limits of the town; they must appease the furies and terrestrial +Mercury, make solemn funeral ceremonies to the god Manes, and +sacrifice to Jupiter Hospitaller, to Mercury, and Mars. Phlegon adds, +speaking to him to whom he was writing: "If you think proper to inform +the emperor of it, write to me, that I may send you some of those +persons who were eye-witnesses of all these things." + +Here is the fact circumstantially related, and invested with all the +marks which can make it pass for true. Nevertheless, how numerous are +the difficulties it presents! Was this young girl really dead, or only +sleeping? Was her resurrection effected by her own strength and will, +or was it a demon who restored her to life? It appears that it cannot +be doubted that it was her own body; all the circumstances noted in +the recital of Phlegon persuade us of it. If she was not dead, and all +she did was merely a game and a play which she performed to satisfy +her passion for Machates, there is nothing in all this recital very +incredible. We know what illicit love is capable of, and how far it +may lead any one who is devoured by a violent passion. The same +Phlegon says that a Syrian soldier of the army of Antiochus, after +having been killed at Thermopylĉ, appeared in open day in the Roman +camp, where he spoke to several persons. + +Haralde, or Harappe, a Dane, who caused himself to be buried at the +entrance of his kitchen, appeared after his death, and was wounded by +one Olaüs Pa, who left the iron of his lance in the wound. This Dane, +then, appeared bodily. Was it his soul which moved his body, or a +demon which made use of this corpse to disturb and frighten the +living? Did he do this by his own strength, or by the permission of +God? And what glory to God, what advantage to men, could accrue from +these apparitions? Shall we deny all these facts, related in so +circumstantial a manner by enlightened authors, who have no interest +in deceiving us, nor any wish to do so? + +St. Augustine relates that, during his abode at Milan,[459] a young +man had a suit instituted against him by a person who repeated his +demand for a debt already paid the young man's father, but the receipt +for which could not be found. The ghost of the father appeared to the +son, and informed him where the receipt was which occasioned him so +much trouble. + +St. Macarius, the Egyptian, made a dead man[460] speak who had been +interred some time, in order to discover a deposit which he had +received and hidden unknown to his wife. The dead man declared that +the money was slipt down at the foot of his bed. + +The same St. Macarius, not being able to refute in any other way a +heretic Eunomian, according to some, or Hieracitus, according to +others, said to him, "Let us go to the grave of a dead man, and ask +him to inform us of the truth which you will not agree to." The +heretic dared not present himself at the grave; but St. Macarius went +thither, accompanied by a multitude of persons. He interrogated the +dead, who replied from the depth of the tomb, that if the heretic had +appeared in the crowd he should have arisen to convince him, and to +bear testimony to the truth. St. Macarius commanded him to fall asleep +again in the Lord, till the time when Jesus Christ should awaken him +in his place at the end of the world. + +The ancients, who have related the same fact, vary in some of the +circumstances, as is usual enough when those things are related only +from memory. + +St. Spiridion, Bishop of Trinitontis, in Egypt,[461] had a daughter +named Irene, who lived in virginity till her death. After her decease, +a person came to Spiridion and asked him for a deposit which he had +confided to Irene unknown to her father. They sought in every part of +the house, but could find nothing. At last Spiridion went to his +daughter's tomb, and calling her by her name, asked her where the +deposit was. She declared the same, and Spiridion restored it. + +A holy abbot named Erricles resuscitated for a moment a man who had +been killed,[462] and of whose death they accused a monk who was +perfectly innocent. The dead man did justice to the accused, and the +Abbot Erricles said to him, "Sleep in peace, till the Lord shall come +at the last day to resuscitate you to all eternity." + +All these momentary resurrections may serve to explain how the +_revenans_ of Hungary come out of their graves, then return to them, +after having caused themselves to be seen and felt for some time. But +the difficulty will always be to know, 1st, If the thing be true; 2d, +If they can resuscitate themselves; and, 3d, If they are really dead, +or only asleep. In what way soever we regard this circumstance, it +always appears equally impossible and incredible. + + +Footnotes: + +[458] Phlegon. de Mirabilib. 18. Gronov. Antiq. Grĉc. p. 2694. + +[459] Aug. de Curâ pro Mortuis. + +[460] Rosweid. vit. P. P. lib. ii. p. 480. + +[461] Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. 11. + +[462] Vit. P. P. lib. ii. p. 650. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A WOMAN TAKEN ALIVE FROM HER GRAVE. + + +We read in a new work, a story which has some connection with this +subject. A shopkeeper of the Rue St. Honoré, at Paris, had promised +his daughter to one of his friends, a shopkeeper like himself, +residing also in the same street. A financier having presented himself +as a husband for this young girl, was accepted instead of the young +man to whom she had been promised. The marriage was accomplished, and +the young bride falling ill, was looked upon as dead, enshrouded and +interred. The first lover having an idea that she had fallen into a +lethargy or a trance, had her taken out of the ground during the +night; they brought her to herself and he espoused her. They crossed +the channel, and lived quietly in England for some years. At the end +of ten years, they returned to Paris, where the first husband having +recognized his wife in a public walk, claimed her in a court of +justice; and this was the subject of a great law suit. + +The wife and her (second) husband defended themselves on the ground +that death had broken the bonds of the first marriage. The first +husband was even accused of having caused his wife to be too +precipitately interred. The lovers foreseeing that they might be +non-suited, again withdrew to a foreign land, where they ended their +days. This circumstance is so singular that our readers will have some +difficulty in giving credence to it. I only give it as it is told. It +is for those who advance the fact to guarantee and prove it. + +Who can say that, in the story of Phlegon, the young Philinium was not +thus placed in the vault without being dead, and that every night she +came to see her lover Machates? That was much easier for her than +would have been the return of the Parisian woman, who had been +enshrouded, buried, and remained covered with earth, and enveloped in +linen, during a pretty long time. + +The other example related in the same work, is of a girl who fell into +a trance and was regarded as dead, and became enceinte during this +interval, without knowing the author of her pregnancy. It was a monk, +who, having made himself known, asserted that his vows should be +annulled, he having been forced into the sacred profession. A great +lawsuit ensued upon it, of which the documents are preserved to this +day. The monk obtained a dispensation from his vows, and married the +young girl. + +This instance may be adduced with that of Philinium, and the young +woman of the Rue St. Honoré. It is possible that these persons might +not be dead, and consequently not restored to life. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +LET US NOW EXAMINE THE FACT OF THE REVENANS OR VAMPIRES OF MORAVIA. + + +I have been told by the late Monsieur de Vassimont, counsellor of the +Chamber of the Counts of Bar, that having been sent into Moravia by +his late Royal Highness Leopold, first Duke of Lorraine, for the +affairs of my Lord the Prince Charles his brother, Bishop of Olmutz +and Osnaburgh, he was informed by public report that it was common +enough in that country to see men who had died some time before, +present themselves in a party, and sit down to table with persons of +their acquaintance without saying anything; but that nodding to one of +the party, he would infallibly die some days afterwards. This fact was +confirmed by several persons, and amongst others by an old curé, who +said he had seen more than one instance of it. + +The bishops and priests of the country consulted Rome on so +extraordinary a fact; but they received no answer, because, +apparently, all those things were regarded there as simple visions, or +popular fancies. They afterwards bethought themselves of taking up the +corpses of those who came back in that way, of burning them, or of +destroying them in some other manner. Thus they delivered themselves +from the importunity of these spectres, which are now much less +frequently seen than before. So said that good priest. + +These apparitions have given rise to a little work, entitled _Magia +Posthuma_, printed at Olmutz, in 1706, composed by Charles Ferdinand +de Schertz, dedicated to Prince Charles, of Lorraine, Bishop of Olmutz +and Osnaburgh. The author relates that, in a certain village, a woman +being just dead, who had taken all her sacraments, she was buried in +the usual way in the cemetery. Four days after her decease, the +inhabitants of this village heard a great noise and extraordinary +uproar, and saw a spectre, which appeared sometimes in the shape of a +dog, sometimes in the form of a man, not to one person only, but to +several, and caused them great pain, grasping their throats, and +compressing their stomachs, so as to suffocate them. It bruised almost +the whole body, and reduced them to extreme weakness, so that they +became pale, lean and attenuated. + +The spectre attacked even the animals, and some cows were found +debilitated and half dead. Sometimes it tied them together by their +tails. These animals gave sufficient evidence by their bellowing of +the pain they suffered. The horses seemed overcome with fatigue, all +in a perspiration, principally on the back; heated, out of breath, +covered with foam, as they are after a long and rough journey. These +calamities lasted several months. + +The author whom I have mentioned examines the affair in a lawyer-like +way, and reasons much on the fact and the law. He asks if, supposing +that those disturbances, those noises and vexations proceeded from +that person who is suspected of causing them, they can burn her, as is +done to other ghosts who do harm to the living. He relates several +instances of similar apparitions, and of the evils which ensued; as of +a shepherd of the village of Blow, near the town of Kadam, in Bohemia, +who appeared during some time, and called certain persons, who never +failed to die within eight days after. The peasants of Blow took up +the body of this shepherd, and fixed it in the ground with a stake +which they drove through it. + +This man, when in that condition, derided them for what they made him +suffer, and told them they were very good to give him thus a stick to +defend himself from the dogs. The same night he got up again, and by +his presence alarmed several persons, and strangled more amongst them +than he had hitherto done. Afterwards, they delivered him into the +hands of the executioner, who put him in a cart to carry him beyond +the village and there burn him. This corpse howled like a madman, and +moved his feet and hands as if alive. And when they again pierced him +through with stakes he uttered very loud cries, and a great quantity +of bright vermilion blood flowed from him. At last he was consumed, +and this execution put an end to the appearance and hauntings of this +spectre. + +The same has been practiced in other places, where similar ghosts have +been seen; and when they have been taken out of the ground they have +appeared red, with their limbs supple and pliable, without worms or +decay; but not without a great stink. The author cites divers other +writers, who attest what he says of these spectres, which still +appear, he says, pretty often in the mountains of Silesia and Moravia. +They are seen by night and by day; the things which once belonged to +them are seen to move themselves and change their place without being +touched by any one. The only remedy for these apparitions is to cut +off the heads and burn the bodies of those who come back to haunt +people. + +At any rate, they do not proceed to this without a form of justicial +law. They call for and hear the witnesses; they examine the arguments; +they look at the exhumed bodies, to see if they can find any of the +usual marks which lead them to conjecture that they are the parties +who molest the living, as the mobility and suppleness of the limbs, +the fluidity of the blood, and the flesh remaining uncorrupted. If all +these marks are found, then these bodies are given up to the +executioner, who burns them. It sometimes happens that the spectres +appear again for three or four days after the execution. Sometimes the +interment of the bodies of suspicious persons is deferred for six or +seven weeks. When they do not decay, and their limbs remain as supple +and pliable as when they were alive, then they burn them. It is +affirmed as certain that the clothes of these persons move without any +one living touching them; and within a short time, continues our +author, a spectre was seen at Olmutz, which threw stones, and gave +great trouble to the inhabitants. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DEAD PERSONS IN HUNGARY WHO SUCK THE BLOOD OF THE LIVING. + + +About fifteen years ago, a soldier who was billeted at the house of a +Haidamagne peasant, on the frontiers of Hungary, as he was one day +sitting at table near his host, the master of the house saw a person +he did not know come in and sit down to table also with them. The +master of the house was strangely frightened at this, as were the rest +of the company. The soldier knew not what to think of it, being +ignorant of the matter in question. But the master of the house being +dead the very next day, the soldier inquired what it meant. They told +him that it was the body of the father of his host, who had been dead +and buried for ten years, which had thus come to sit down next to him, +and had announced and caused his death. + +The soldier informed the regiment of it in the first place, and the +regiment gave notice of it to the general officers, who commissioned +the Count de Cabreras, captain of the regiment of Alandetti infantry, +to make information concerning this circumstance. Having gone to the +place, with some other officers, a surgeon and an auditor, they heard +the depositions of all the people belonging to the house, who attested +unanimously that the ghost was the father of the master of the house, +and that all the soldier had said and reported was the exact truth, +which was confirmed by all the inhabitants of the village. + +In consequence of this, the corpse of this spectre was exhumed, and +found to be like that of a man who has just expired, and his blood +like that of a living man. The Count de Cabreras had his head cut off, +and caused him to be laid again in his tomb. He also took information +concerning other similar ghosts, amongst others, of a man dead more +than thirty years, who had come back three times to his house at meal +time. The first time he had sucked the blood from the neck of his own +brother, the second time from one of his sons, and the third from one +of the servants in the house; and all three died of it instantly and +on the spot. Upon this deposition the commissary had this man taken +out of his grave, and finding that, like the first, his blood was in a +fluid state, like that of a living person, he ordered them to run a +large nail into his temple, and then to lay him again in the grave. + +He caused a third to be burnt, who had been buried more than sixteen +years, and had sucked the blood and caused the death of two of his +sons. The commissary having made his report to the general officers, +was deputed to the court of the emperor, who commanded that some +officers, both of war and justice, some physicians and surgeons, and +some learned men, should be sent to examine the causes of these +extraordinary events. The person who related these particulars to us +had heard them from Monsieur the Count de Cabreras, at Fribourg en +Brigau, in 1730. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ACCOUNT OF A VAMPIRE, TAKEN FROM THE JEWISH LETTERS (LETTRES JUIVES); +LETTER 137. + + +This is what we read in the "Lettres Juives," new edition, 1738, +Letter 137. + +We have just had in this part of Hungary a scene of vampirism, which +is duly attested by two officers of the tribunal of Belgrade, who went +down to the places specified; and by an officer of the emperor's +troops at Graditz, who was an ocular witness of the proceedings. + +In the beginning of September there died in the village of Kivsiloa, +three leagues from Graditz, an old man who was sixty-two years of age. +Three days after he had been buried, he appeared in the night to his +son, and asked him for something to eat; the son having given him +something, he ate and disappeared. The next day the son recounted to +his neighbors what had happened. That night the father did not appear; +but the following night he showed himself, and asked for something to +eat. They know not whether the son gave him anything or not; but the +next day he was found dead in his bed. On the same day, five or six +persons fell suddenly ill in the village, and died one after the other +in a few days. + +The officer or bailiff of the place, when informed of what had +happened, sent an account of it to the tribunal of Belgrade, which +dispatched to the village two of these officers and an executioner to +examine into this affair. The imperial officer from whom we have this +account repaired thither from Graditz, to be witness of a circumstance +which he had so often heard spoken of. + +They opened the graves of those who had been dead six weeks. When they +came to that of the old man, they found him with his eyes open, having +a fine color, with natural respiration, nevertheless motionless as the +dead; whence they concluded that he was most evidently a vampire. The +executioner drove a stake into his heart; they then raised a pile and +reduced the corpse to ashes. No mark of vampirism was found either on +the corpse of the son or on the others. + +Thanks be to God, we are by no means credulous. We avow that all the +light which physics can throw on this fact discovers none of the +causes of it. Nevertheless, we cannot refuse to believe that to be +true which is juridically attested, and by persons of probity. We will +here give a copy of what happened in 1732, and which we inserted in +the Gleaner (_Glaneur_), No. XVIII. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +OTHER INSTANCES OF GHOSTS--CONTINUATION OF THE GLEANER. + + +In a certain canton of Hungary, named in Latin _Oppida Heidanum_, +beyond the Tibisk, _vulgo_ Teiss, that is to say, between that river +which waters the fortunate territory of Tokay and Transylvania, the +people known by the name of _Heyducqs_[463] believe that certain dead +persons, whom they call vampires, suck all the blood from the living, +so that these become visibly attenuated, whilst the corpses, like +leeches, fill themselves with blood in such abundance that it is seen +to come from them by the conduits, and even oozing through the pores. +This opinion has just been confirmed by several facts which cannot be +doubted, from the rank of the witnesses who have certified them. We +will here relate some of the most remarkable. + +About five years ago, a certain Heyducq, inhabitant of Madreiga, named +Arnald Paul, was crushed to death by the fall of a wagonload of hay. +Thirty days after his death four persons died suddenly, and in the +same manner in which according to the tradition of the country, those +die who are molested by vampires. They then remembered that this +Arnald Paul had often related that in the environs of Cassovia, and on +the frontiers of Turkish Servia, he had often been tormented by a +Turkish vampire; for they believe also that those who have been +passive vampires during life become active ones after their death, +that is to say, that those who have been sucked suck also in their +turn; but that he had found means to cure himself by eating earth from +the grave of the vampire, and smearing himself with his blood; a +precaution which, however, did not prevent him from becoming so after +his death, since, on being exhumed forty days after his interment, +they found on his corpse all the indications of an arch-vampire. His +body was red, his hair, nails, and beard had all grown again, and his +veins were replete with fluid blood, which flowed from all parts of +his body upon the winding-sheet which encompassed him. The hadnagi, or +bailli of the village, in whose presence the exhumation took place, +and who was skilled in vampirism, had, according to custom, a very +sharp stake driven into the heart of the defunct Arnald Paul, and +which pierced his body through and through, which made him, as they +say, utter a frightful shriek, as if he had been alive: that done, +they cut off his head, and burnt the whole body. After that they +performed the same on the corpses of the four other persons who died +of vampirism, fearing that they in their turn might cause the death of +others. + +All these performances, however, could not prevent the recommencement +of these fatal prodigies towards the end of last year, that is to say, +five years after, when several inhabitants of the same village +perished miserably. In the space of three months, seventeen persons of +different sexes and different ages died of vampirism; some without +being ill, and others after languishing two or three days. It is +reported, amongst other things, that a girl named Stanoska, daughter +of the Heyducq Jotiützo, who went to bed in perfect health, awoke in +the middle of the night all in a tremble, uttering terrible shrieks, +and saying that the son of the Heyducq Millo who had been dead nine +weeks, had nearly strangled her in her sleep. She fell into a languid +state from that moment, and at the end of three days she died. What +this girl had said of Millo's son made him known at once for a +vampire: he was exhumed, and found to be such. The principal people of +the place, with the doctors and surgeons, examined how vampirism could +have sprung up again after the precautions they had taken some years +before. + +They discovered at last, after much search, that the defunct Arnald +Paul had killed not only the four persons of whom we have spoken, but +also several oxen, of which the new vampires had eaten, and amongst +others the son of Millo. Upon these indications they resolved to +disinter all those who had died within a certain time, &c. Amongst +forty, seventeen were found with all the most evident signs of +vampirism; so they transfixed their hearts and cut off their heads +also, and then cast their ashes into the river. + +All the informations and executions we have just mentioned were made +juridically, in proper form, and attested by several officers who were +garrisoned in the country, by the chief surgeons of the regiments, and +by the principal inhabitants of the place. The verbal process of it +was sent towards the end of last January to the Imperial Counsel of +War at Vienna, which had established a military commission to examine +into the truth of all these circumstances. + +Such was the declaration of the Hadnagi Barriarar and the ancient +Heyducqs; and it was signed by Battuer, first lieutenant of the +regiment of Alexander of Wurtemburg, Clickstenger, surgeon-in-chief of +the regiment of Frustemburch, three other surgeons of the company, and +Guoichitz, captain at Stallach. + + +Footnotes: + +[463] This story is apparently the same which we related before under +the name of Haidamaque, and which happened in 1729 or 1730. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +ARGUMENTS OF THE AUTHOR OF THE "LETTRES JUIVES," ON THE SUBJECT OF +THESE PRETENDED GHOSTS. + + +There are two different ways of effacing the opinion concerning these +pretended ghosts, and showing the impossibility of the effects which +are made to be produced by corpses entirely deprived of sensation. The +first is, to explain by physical causes all the prodigies of +vampirism; the second is, to deny totally the truth of these stories; +and the latter means, without doubt, is the surest and the wisest. But +as there are persons to whom the authority of a certificate given by +people in a certain place appears a plain demonstration of the +reality of the most absurd story, before I show how little they ought +to rely on the formalities of the law in matters which relate solely +to philosophy, I will for a moment suppose that several persons do +really die of the disease which they term vampirism. + +I lay down at first this principle, that it may be that there are +corpses which, although interred some days, shed fluid blood through +the conduits of their body. I add, moreover, that it is very easy for +certain people to fancy themselves sucked by vampires, and that the +fear caused by that fancy should make a revolution in their frame +sufficiently violent to deprive them of life. Being occupied all day +with the terror inspired by these pretended ghosts or _revenans_, is +it very extraordinary, that during their sleep the idea of these +phantoms should present itself to their imagination and cause them +such violent terror? that some of them die of it instantaneously, and +others a short time afterwards? How many instances have we not seen of +people who expired with fright in a moment? and has not joy itself +sometimes produced an equally fatal effect? + +I have seen in the Leipsic journals[464] an account of a little work +entitled, _Philosophicĉ et Christianĉ Cogitationes de Vampiriis, à +Joanne Christophoro Herenbergio_; "Philosophical and Christian +Thoughts upon Vampires, by John Christopher Herenberg," at +Gerolferliste, in 1733, in 8vo. The author names a pretty large number +of writers who have already discussed this matter; he speaks, _en +passant_, of a spectre which appeared to him at noonday. He maintains +that the vampires do not cause the death of the living, and that all +that is said about them ought to be attributed only to the troubled +fancy of the invalids; he proves by divers experiments that the +imagination is capable of causing very great derangements in the body, +and the humors of the body; he shows that in Sclavonia they impaled +murderers, and drove a stake through the heart of the culprit; that +they used the same chastisement for vampires, supposing them to be the +authors of the death of those whose blood they were said to suck. He +gives some examples of this punishment exercised upon them, the one in +the year 1337, and the other in 1347. He speaks of the opinion of +those who believe that the dead eat in their tombs; a sentiment of +which he endeavors to prove the antiquity by the authority of +Tertullian, at the beginning of his book on the Resurrection, and by +that of St. Augustine, b. viii. c. 27, on the City of God, and in +Sermon xv. on the Saints. + +Such are nearly the contents of the work of M. Herenberg on vampires. +The passage of Tertullian[465] which he cites, proves very well that +the pagans offered food to their dead, even to those whose bodies had +been burned, believing that their spirits regaled themselves with it: +_Defunctis parentant, et quidem impensissimo studio, pro moribus eorum +pro temporibus esculentorum, ut quos sentire quicquam negant escam +desiderare proesumant._ This concerns only the pagans. + +But St. Augustine, in several places, speaks of the custom of the +Christians, above all those of Africa, of carrying to the tombs meats +and wine, which they placed upon them as a repast of devotion, and to +which the poor were invited, in whose favor these offerings were +principally instituted. This practice is founded on the passage of the +book of Tobit;--"Place your bread and wine on the sepulchre of the +just, and be careful not to eat or drink of it with sinners." St. +Monico, the mother of St. Augustine,[466] having desired to do at +Milan what she had been accustomed to do in Africa, St. Ambrose, +bishop of Milan, testified that he did not approve of this practice, +which was unknown in his church. The holy woman restrained herself to +carrying thither a basket full of fruits and wine, of which she +partook very soberly with the women who accompanied her, leaving the +rest for the poor. St. Augustine remarks, in the same passage, that +some intemperate Christians abused these offerings by drinking wine to +excess: _Ne ulla occasio se ingurgitandi daretur ebriosis._ + +St. Augustine,[467] however, by his preaching and remonstrances, did +so much good, that he entirely uprooted this custom, which was common +throughout the African Church, and the abuse of which was too general. +In his books on the City of God,[468] he avows that this usage is +neither general nor approved in the Church, and that those who +practice it content themselves with offering this food upon the tombs +of the martyrs, in order that through their merits these offerings +should be sanctified; after which they carry them away, and make use +of them for their own nourishment and that of the poor: _Quicumque +suas epulas eò deferant, quad quidem à melioribus Christianis non fit, +et in plerisque terrarum nulla talis est consuetudo; tamen quicumque +id faciunt, quas cùm appossuerint, orant, et auferunt, ut vescantur +vel ex eis etiam indigentibus largiantur._ It appears, from two +sermons which have been attributed to St. Augustine,[469] that in +former times this custom had crept in at Rome, but did not subsist +there any time, and was blamed and condemned. + +Now, if it were true that the dead could eat in their tombs, and that +they had a wish or occasion to eat, as is believed by those of whom +Tertullian speaks, and as it appears may be inferred from the custom +of carrying fruit and wine to be placed on the graves of martyrs and +other Christians, I think even that I have good proof that in certain +places they placed near the bodies of the dead, whether buried in the +cemeteries or the churches, meat, wine, and other liquors. I have in +our study several vases of clay and glass, and even plates, where may +be seen small bones of pig and fowls, all found deep underground in +the church of the Abbey of St. Mansuy, near the town of Toul. + +It has been remarked to me that these vestiges found in the ground +were plunged in virgin earth which had never been disturbed, and near +certain vases or urns filled with ashes, and containing some small +bones which the flames could not consume; and as it is known that the +Christians did not burn their dead, and that these vases we are +speaking of are placed beneath the disturbed earth, in which the +graves of Christians are found, it has been inferred, with much +semblance of probability, that these vases with the food and beverage +buried near them, were intended not for Christians but for heathens. +The latter, then, at least, believed that the dead ate in the other +life. There is no doubt that the ancient Gauls[470] were persuaded of +this; they are often represented on their tombs with bottles in their +hands, and baskets and other comestibles, or drinking vessels and +goblets;[471] they carried with them even the contracts and bonds for +what was due to them, to have it paid to them in Hades. _Negotiorum +ratio, etiam exactio crediti deferebatur ad inferos._ + +Now, if they believed that the dead ate in their tombs, that they +could return to earth, visit, console, instruct, or disturb the +living, and predict to them their approaching death, the return of +vampires is neither impossible nor incredible in the opinion of these +ancients. + +But as all that is said of dead men who eat in their graves and out of +their graves is chimerical and beyond all likelihood, and the thing is +even impossible and incredible, whatever may be the number and quality +of those who have believed it, or appeared to believe it, I shall +always say that the return (to earth) of the vampires is +unmaintainable and impracticable. + + +Footnotes: + +[464] Supplem. ad visu Erudit. Lips. an. 1738, tom. ii. + +[465] Tertull. de Resurrect. initio. + +[466] Aug. Confess. lib. vi. c. 2. + +[467] Aug. Epist. 22, ad Aurel. Carthag. et Epist. 29, ad Alipi. Item +de Moribus Eccl. c. 34. + +[468] Aug. lib. viii. de Civit. Dei, c. 27. + +[469] Aug. Serm. 35, de Sanctis, nunc in Appendice, c. 5. Serm. cxc. +cxci. p. 328. + +[470] Antiquité expliquée, tom. iv. p. 80. + +[471] Mela. lib. ii. c. 4. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +CONTINUATION OF THE ARGUMENT OF THE "DUTCH GLEANERS," OR "GLANEUR +HOLLANDAIS." + + +On examining the narrative of the death of the pretended martyrs of +vampirism, I discover the symptoms of an epidemical fanaticism; and I +see clearly that the impression made upon them by fear is the true +cause of their being lost. A girl named Stanoska, say they, daughter +of the Heyducq Sovitzo, who went to bed in perfect health, awoke in +the middle of the night all in a tremble, and shrieking dreadfully, +saying that the son of the Heyducq Millo, who had been dead for nine +weeks, had nearly strangled her in her sleep. From that moment she +fell into a languishing state, and at the end of three days died. + +For any one who has eyes, however little philosophical they may be, +must not this recital alone clearly show him that this pretended +vampirism is merely the result of a stricken imagination? There is a +girl who awakes and says that some one wanted to strangle her, and who +nevertheless has not been sucked, since her cries have prevented the +vampire from making his repast. She apparently was not so served +afterwards either, since, doubtlessly, they did not leave her by +herself during the other nights; and if the vampire had wished to +molest her, her moans would have warned those of it who were present. +Nevertheless, she dies three days afterwards. Her fright and lowness, +her sadness and languor, evidently show how strongly her imagination +had been affected. + +Those persons who find themselves in cities afflicted with the plague, +know by experience how many people lose their lives through fear. As +soon as a man finds himself attacked with the least illness, he +fancies that he is seized with the epidemical disease, which idea +occasions him so great a sensation, that it is almost impossible for +the system to resist such a revolution. The Chevalier de Maifin +assured me, when I was at Paris, that being at Marseilles during the +contagion which prevailed in that city, he had seen a woman die of the +fear she felt at a slight illness of her servant, whom she believed +attacked with the pestilence. This woman's daughter was sick and near +dying. + +Other persons who were in the same house went to bed, sent for a +doctor, and assured him they had the plague. The doctor, on arriving, +visited the servant, and the other patients, and none of them had the +epidemical disorder. He tried to calm their minds, and ordered them to +rise, and live in their usual way; but his care was useless as +regarded the mistress of the family, who died in two days of the +fright alone. + +Reflect upon the second narrative of the death of a passive vampire, +and you will see most evident proofs of the terrible effects of fear +and prejudice. (See the preceding chapter.) This man, three days after +he was buried, appears in the night to his son, asks for something to +eat, eats, and disappears. On the morrow, the son relates to his +neighbors what had happened to him. That night the father does not +appear; but the following night they find the son dead in his bed. Who +cannot perceive in these words the surest marks of prepossession and +fear? The first time these act upon the imagination of the pretended +victim of vampirism they do not produce their entire effect, and not +only dispose his mind to be more vividly struck by them; that also +does not fail to happen, and to produce the effect which would +naturally follow. + +Notice well that the dead man did not return on the night of the day +that his son communicated his dream to his friends, because, according +to all appearances, these sat up with him, and prevented him from +yielding to his fear. + +I now come to those corpses full of fluid blood, and whose beard, hair +and nails had grown again. One may dispute three parts of these +prodigies, and be very complaisant if we admit the truth of a few of +them. All philosophers know well enough how much the people, and even +certain historians, enlarge upon things which appear but a little +extraordinary. Nevertheless, it is not impossible to explain their +cause physically. + +Experience teaches us that there are certain kinds of earth which will +preserve dead bodies perfectly fresh. The reasons of this have been +often explained, without my giving myself the trouble to make a +particular recital of them. There is at Thoulouse a vault in a church +belonging to some monks, where the bodies remain so entirely perfect +that there are some which have been there nearly two centuries, and +appear still living. + +They have been ranged in an upright posture against the wall, and are +clothed in the dress they usually wore. What is very remarkable is, +that the bodies which are placed on the other side of this same vault +become in two or three days the food of worms. + +As to the growth of the nails, the hair and the beard, it is often +perceived in many corpses. While there yet remains a great deal of +moisture in the body, it is not surprising that during some time we +see some augmentation in those parts which do not demand a vital +spirit. + +The fluid blood flowing through the canals of the body seems to form a +greater difficulty; but physical reasons may be given for this. It +might very well happen that the heat of the sun warming the nitrous +and sulphureous particles which are found in those earths that are +proper for preserving the body, those particles having incorporated +themselves in the newly interred corpses, ferment, decoagulate, and +melt the curdled blood, render it liquid, and give it the power of +flowing by degrees through all the channels. + +This opinion appears so much the more probable from its being +confirmed by an experiment. If you boil in a glass or earthen vessel +one part of chyle, or milk, mixed with two parts of cream of tartar, +the liquor will turn from white to red, because the tartaric salt will +have rarified and entirely dissolved the most oily part of the milk, +and converted it into a kind of blood. That which is formed in the +vessels of the body is a little redder, but it is not thicker; it is, +then, not impossible that the heat may cause a fermentation which +produces nearly the same effects as this experiment. And this will be +found easier, if we consider that the juices of the flesh and bones +resemble chyle very much, and that the fat and marrow are the most +oily parts of the chyle. Now all these particles in fermenting must, +by the rule of the experiment, be changed into a kind of blood. Thus, +besides that which has been discoagulated and melted, the pretended +vampires shed also that blood which must be formed from the melting of +the fat and marrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +NARRATION EXTRACTED FROM THE "MERCURE GALENT" OF 1693 AND 1694, +CONCERNING GHOSTS. + + +The public memorials of the years 1693 and 1694 speak of _oupires_, +vampires or ghosts, which are seen in Poland, and above all in Russia. +They make their appearance from noon to midnight, and come and suck the +blood of living men or animals in such abundance that sometimes it flows +from them at the nose, and principally at the ears, and sometimes the +corpse swims in its own blood oozed out in its coffin.[472] It is said +that the vampire has a sort of hunger, which makes him eat the linen +which envelops him. This reviving being, or _oupire_, comes out of his +grave, or a demon in his likeness, goes by night to embrace and hug +violently his near relations or his friends, and sucks their blood so +much as to weaken and attenuate them, and at last cause their death. +This persecution does not stop at one single person; it extends to the +last person of the family, if the course be not interrupted by cutting +off the head or opening the heart of the ghost, whose corpse is found in +his coffin, yielding, flexible, swollen, and rubicund, although he may +have been dead some time. There proceeds from his body a great quantity +of blood, which some mix up with flour to make bread of; and that bread +eaten in ordinary protects them from being tormented by the spirit, +which returns no more. + + +Footnotes: + +[472] V. Moréri on the word _stryges_. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +CONJECTURES OF THE "GLANEUR DE HOLLANDE," DUTCH GLEANER, IN 1733.--NO. +IX. + + +The Dutch Gleaner, who is by no means credulous, supposes the truth of +these facts as certain, having no good reason for disputing them, and +reasons upon them in a way which shows he thinks lightly of the +matter; he asserts that the people, amongst whom vampires are seen, +are very ignorant and very credulous, so that the apparitions we are +speaking of are only the effects of a prejudiced fancy. The whole is +occasioned and augmented by the bad nourishment of these people, who, +the greater part of their time, eat only bread made of oats, roots, +and the bark of trees--aliments which can only engender gross blood, +which is consequently much disposed to corruption, and produces dark +and bad ideas in the imagination. + +He compares this disease to the bite of a mad dog, which communicates +its venom to the person who is bitten; thus, those who are infected by +vampirism communicate this dangerous poison to those with whom they +associate. Thence the wakefulness, dreams, and pretended apparitions +of vampires. + +He conjectures that this poison is nothing else than a worm, which +feeds upon the purest substance of man, constantly gnaws his heart, +makes the body die away, and does not forsake it even in the depth of +the grave. It is certain that the bodies of those who have been +poisoned, or who die of contagion, do not become stiff after their +death, because the blood does not congeal in the veins; on the +contrary, it rarifies and bubbles much the same as in vampires, whose +beard, hair, and nails grow, whose skin is rosy, who appear to have +grown fat, on account of the blood which swells and abounds in them +everywhere. + +As to the cry uttered by the vampires when the stake is driven through +their heart, nothing is more natural; the air which is there confined, +and thus expelled with violence, necessarily produces that noise in +passing through the throat. Dead bodies often do as much without being +touched. He concludes that it is only an imagination that is deranged +by melancholy or superstition, which can fancy that the malady we have +just spoken of can be produced by vampire corpses, which come and suck +away, even to the last drop, all the blood in the body. + +A little before, he says that in 1732 they discovered again some +vampires in Hungary, Moravia, and Turkish Servia; that this phenomenon +is too well averred for it to be doubted; that several German +physicians have composed pretty thick volumes in Latin and German on +this matter; that the Germanic Academies and Universities still +resound with the names of Arnald Paul, of Stanoska, daughter of +Sovitzo, and of the Heyducq Millo, all famous vampires of the quarter +of Médreiga, in Hungary. + +Here is a letter which has been written to one of my friends, to be +communicated to me; it is on the subject of the ghosts of +Hungary;[473] the writer thinks very differently from the Gleaner on +the subject of vampires. + +"In reply to the questions of the Abbé dom Calmet concerning vampires, +the undersigned has the honor to assure him that nothing is more true +or more certain than what he will doubtless have read about it in the +deeds or attestations which have been made public, and printed in all +the Gazettes in Europe. But amongst all these public attestations +which have appeared, the Abbé must fix his attention as a true and +notorious fact on that of the deputation from Belgrade, ordered by his +late Majesty Charles VI., of glorious memory, and executed by his +Serene Highness the late Duke Charles Alexander of Wirtemberg, then +Viceroy or Governor of the kingdom of Servia; but I cannot at present +cite the year or the day, for want of papers which I have not now by +me. + +"That prince sent off a deputation from Belgrade, half consisting of +military officers and half of civil, with the auditor-general of the +kingdom, to go to a village where a famous vampire, several years +deceased, was making great havoc amongst his kin; for note well, that +it is only in their family and amongst their own relations that these +blood-suckers delight in destroying our species. This deputation was +composed of men and persons well known for their morality and even +their information, of irreproachable character; and there were even +some learned men amongst the two orders: they were put to the oath, +and accompanied by a lieutenant of the grenadiers of the regiment of +Prince Alexander of Wirtemberg, and by twenty-four grenadiers of the +said regiment. + +"All that were most respectable, and the duke himself, who was then at +Belgrade, joined this deputation in order to be ocular spectators of +the veracious proof about to be made. + +"When they arrived at the place, they found that in the space of a +fortnight the vampire, uncle of five persons, nephews and nieces, had +already dispatched three of them and one of his own brothers. He had +begun with his fifth victim, the beautiful young daughter of his +niece, and had already sucked her twice, when a stop was put to this +sad tragedy by the following operations. + +"They repaired with the deputed commissaries to a village not far from +Belgrade, and that publicly, at night-fall, and went to the vampire's +grave. The gentleman could not tell me the time when those who had +died had been sucked, nor the particulars of the subject. The persons +whose blood had been sucked found themselves in a pitiable state of +languor, weakness, and lassitude, so violent is the torment. He had +been interred three years, and they saw on this grave a light +resembling that of a lamp, but not so bright. + +"They opened the grave, and found there a man as whole and apparently +as sound as any of us who were present; his hair, and the hairs on his +body, the nails, teeth, and eyes as firmly fast as they now are in +ourselves who exist, and his heart palpitating. + +"Next they proceeded to draw him out of his grave, the body in truth +not being flexible, but wanting neither flesh nor bone; then they +pierced his heart with a sort of round, pointed, iron lance; there +came out a whitish and fluid matter mixed with blood, but the blood +prevailing more than the matter, and all without any bad smell. After +that they cut off his head with a hatchet, like what is used in +England at executions; there came out also a matter and blood like +what I have just described, but more abundantly in proportion to what +had flowed from the heart. + +"And after all this they threw him back again into his grave, with +quicklime to consume him promptly; and thenceforth his niece, who had +been twice sucked, grew better. At the place where these persons are +sucked a very blue spot is formed; the part whence the blood is drawn +is not determinate, sometimes it is in one place and sometimes in +another. It is a notorious fact, attested by the most authentic +documents, and passed or executed in sight of more than 1,300 persons, +all worthy of belief. + +"But I reserve, to satisfy more fully the curiosity of the learned +Abbé dom Calmet, the pleasure of detailing to him more at length what +I have seen with my own eyes on this subject, and will give it to the +Chevalier de St. Urbain to send to him; too glad in that, as in +everything else, to find an occasion of proving to him that no one is +with such perfect veneration and respect as his very humble, and very +obedient servant, L. de Beloz, ci-devant Captain in the regiment of +his Serene Highness the late Prince Alexander of Wirtemberg, and his +Aid-de-Camp, and at this time first Captain of grenadiers in the +regiment of Monsieur the Baron Trenck." + + +Footnotes: + +[473] There is reason to believe that this is only a repetition of +what has already been said in Chapter X. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +ANOTHER LETTER ON GHOSTS. + + +In order to omit nothing which can throw light on this matter, I shall +insert here the letter of a very honest man, who is well informed +respecting ghosts. This letter was written to a relation. + +"You wish, my dear cousin, to be exactly informed of what takes place +in Hungary concerning ghosts who cause the death of many people in +that country. I can write to you learnedly upon it, for I have been +several years in those quarters, and I am naturally curious. I have +heard in my lifetime an infinite number of stories, true, or pretended +to be such, concerning spirits and sorceries, but out of a thousand I +have hardly believed a single one. We cannot be too circumspect on +this point without running the risk of being duped. Nevertheless, +there are certain facts so well attested that one cannot help +believing them. As to the ghosts of Hungary, the thing takes place in +this manner: A person finds himself attacked with languor, loses his +appetite, grows visibly thinner, and, at the end of eight or ten days, +sometimes a fortnight, dies, without fever, or any other symptom than +thinness and drying up of the blood. + +"They say in that country that it is a ghost which attaches itself to +such a person and sucks his blood. Of those who are attacked by this +malady the greater part think they see a white spectre which follows +them everywhere as the shadow follows the body. When we were quartered +among the Wallachians, in the ban of Temeswar, two horsemen of the +company in which I was cornet, died of this malady, and several +others, who also were attacked by it, would have died in the same +manner, if a corporal of our company had not put a stop to the +disorder by employing the remedy used by the people of the country in +such case. It is very remarkable, and although infallible, I never +read it in any ritual. This is it:-- + +"They choose a boy young enough to be certain that he is innocent of +any impurity; they place him on an unmutilated horse, which has never +stumbled, and is absolutely black. They make him ride about the +cemetery and pass over all the graves; that over which the animal +refuses to pass, in spite of repeated blows from a switch that is +delivered to his rider, is reputed to be filled by a vampire. They +open this grave, and find therein a corpse as fat and handsome as if +he were a man happily and quietly sleeping. They cut the throat of +this corpse with the stroke of a spade, and there flows forth the +finest vermilion blood in a great quantity. One might swear that it +was a healthy living man whose throat they were cutting. That done, +they fill up the grave, and we may reckon that the malady will cease, +and that all those who had been attacked by it will recover their +strength by degrees, like people recovering from a long illness, and +who have been greatly extenuated. That happened precisely to our +horsemen who had been seized with it. I was then commandant of the +company, my captain and my lieutenant being absent. I was piqued at +that corporal's having made the experiment without me, and I had all +the trouble in the world to resist the inclination I felt to give him +a severe caning--a merchandize which is very cheap in the emperor's +troops. I would have given the world to be present at this operation; +but I was obliged to make myself contented as it was." + +A relation of this same officer has written me word, the 17th of +October, 1746, that his brother, who has served during twenty years in +Hungary, and has very curiously examined into everything which is said +there concerning ghosts, acknowledges that the people of that country +are more credulous and superstitious than other nations, and they +attribute the maladies which happen to them to spells. That as soon as +they suspect a dead person of having sent them this illness, they +inform the magistrate of it, who, on the deposition of some witnesses, +causes the dead body to be exhumed. They cut off the head with a +spade, and if a drop of blood comes from it, they conclude that it is +the blood which he has sucked from the sick person. But the person who +writes appears to me very far from believing what is thought of these +things in that country. + +At Warsaw, a priest having ordered a saddler to make him a bridle for +his horse, died before the bridle was made, and as he was one of those +whom they call vampires in Poland, he came out of his grave dressed as +the ecclesiastics usually are when inhumed, took his horse from the +stable, mounted it, and went in the sight of all Warsaw to the +saddler's shop, where at first he found only the saddler's wife, who +was frightened, and called her husband; he came, and the priest having +asked for his bridle, he replied, "But you are dead, Mr. Curé." To +which he answered, "I am going to show you I am not," and at the same +time struck him so hard that the poor saddler died a few days after, +and the priest returned to his grave. + +The steward of Count Simon Labienski, starost of Posnania, being dead, +the Countess Dowager de Labienski wished, from gratitude for his +services, to have him inhumed in the vault of the lords of that +family. This was done; and some time after, the sexton, who had the +care of the vault, perceived that there was some derangement in the +place, and gave notice of it to the ________, who desired, according to +the received custom in Poland, that the steward's head might be cut +off, which was done in the presence of several persons, and amongst +others of the Sieur Jouvinski, a Polish officer, and governor of the +young Count Simon Labienski, who saw that when the sexton took this +corpse out of his tomb to cut off his head, he ground his teeth, and +the blood came from him as fluidly as that of a person who died a +violent death, which caused the hair of all those who were present to +stand on end; and they dipped a white pocket-handkerchief in the blood +of this corpse, and made all the family drink some of the blood, that +they might not be tormented. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +PRETENDED VESTIGES OF VAMPIRISM IN ANTIQUITY. + + +Some learned men have thought they discovered some vestiges of +vampirism in the remotest antiquity; but all that they say of it does +not come near what is related of the vampires. The lamiĉ, the strigĉ, +the sorcerers whom they accused of sucking the blood of living +persons, and of thus causing their death, the magicians who were said +to cause the death of new-born children by charms and malignant +spells, are nothing less than what we understand by the name of +vampires; even were it to be owned that these lamiĉ and strigĉ have +really existed, which we do not believe can ever be well proved. + +I own that these terms are found in the versions of Holy Scripture. +For instance, Isaiah, describing the condition to which Babylon was to +be reduced after her ruin, says that she shall become the abode of +satyrs, lamiĉ, and strigĉ (in Hebrew, _lilith_). This last term, +according to the Hebrews, signifies the same thing, as the Greeks +express by _strix_ and _lamiĉ_, which are sorceresses or magicians, +who seek to put to death new-born children. Whence it comes that the +Jews are accustomed to write in the four corners of the chamber of a +woman just delivered, "Adam, Eve, begone from hence _lilith_." + +The ancient Greeks knew these dangerous sorceresses by the name of +_lamiĉ_, and they believed that they devoured children, or sucked away +all their blood till they died.[474] + +The Seventy, in Isaiah, translate the Hebrew _lilith_ by _lamia_. +Euripides and the Scholiast of Aristophanes also make mention of it as +a fatal monster, the enemy of mortals. Ovid, speaking of the strigĉ, +describes them as dangerous birds, which fly by night, and seek for +infants to devour them and nourish themselves with their blood.[475] + +These prejudices had taken such deep root in the minds of the +barbarous people that they put to death persons suspected of being +strigĉ, or sorceresses, and of eating people alive. Charlemagne, in +his Capitularies, which he composed for his new subjects,[476] the +Saxons, condemns to death those who shall believe that a man or a +woman are sorcerers (striges esse) and eat living men. He condemns in +the same manner those who shall have them burnt, or give their flesh +to be eaten, or shall eat of it themselves. + +Wherein it may be remarked, first of all, that they believed there +were people who ate men alive; that they killed and burnt them; that +sometimes their flesh was eaten, as we have seen that in Russia they +eat bread kneaded with the blood of vampires; and that formerly their +corpses were exposed to wild beasts, as is still done in countries +where these ghosts are found, after having impaled them, or cut off +their head. + +The laws of the Lombards, in the same way, forbid that the servant of +another person should be put to death as a witch, _strix_, or _masca_. +This last word, _masca_, whence _mask_, has the same signification as +the Latin _larva_, a spirit, a phantom, a spectre. + +We may class in the number of ghosts the one spoken of in the +Chronicle of Sigibert, in the year 858. + +Theodore de Gaza[477] had a little farm in Campania, which he had +cultivated by a laborer. As he was busy digging up the ground, he +discovered a round vase, in which were the ashes of a dead man; +directly, a spectre appeared to him, who commanded him to put this +vase back again in the ground, with what it contained, or if he did +not do so he would kill his eldest son. The laborer gave no heed to +these threats, and in a few days his eldest son was found dead in his +bed. A little time after, the same spectre appeared to him again, +reiterating the same order, and threatening to kill his second son. +The laborer gave notice of all this to his master, Theodore de Gaza, +who came himself to his farm, and had everything put back into its +place. This spectre was apparently a demon, or the spirit of a pagan +interred in that spot. + +Michael Glycas[478] relates that the emperor Basilius, having lost his +beloved son, obtained by means of a black monk of Santabaren, power to +behold his said son, who had died a little while before; he saw him, +and held him embraced a pretty long time, until he vanished away in +his arms. It was, then, only a phantom which appeared in his son's +form. + +In the diocese of Mayence, there was a spirit that year which made +itself manifest first of all by throwing stones, striking against the +walls of a house, as if with strong blows of a mallet; then talking, +and revealing unknown things; the authors of certain thefts, and other +things fit to spread the spirit of discord among the neighbors. At +last he directed his fury against one person in particular, whom he +liked to persecute and render odious to all the neighborhood, +proclaiming that he it was who excited the wrath of God against all +the village. He pursued him in every place, without giving him the +least moment of relaxation. He burnt all his harvest collected in his +house, and set fire to all the places he entered. + +The priests exorcised, said their prayers, dashed holy water about. +The spirit threw stones at them, and wounded several persons. After +the priests had withdrawn, they heard him bemoaning himself, and +saying that he had hidden himself under the hood of a priest, whom he +named, and accused of having seduced the daughter of a lawyer of the +place. He continued these troublesome hauntings for three years, and +did not leave off till he had burnt all the houses in the village. + +Here follows an instance which bears connection with what is related +of the ghosts of Hungary, who come to announce the death of their near +relations. Evodius, Bishop of Upsala, in Africa, writes to St. +Augustine, in 415,[479] that a young man whom he had with him, as a +writer, or secretary, and who led a life of rare innocence and purity, +having just died at the age of twenty-two, a virtuous widow saw in a +dream a certain deacon who, with other servants of God, of both sexes, +ornamented a palace which seemed to shine as if it were of silver. +She asked who they were preparing it for, and they told her it was for +a young man who died the day before. She afterwards beheld in the same +palace an old man, clad in white, who commanded two persons to take +this young man out of his tomb and lead him to heaven. + +In the same house where this young man died, an aged man, half asleep, +saw a man with a branch of laurel in his hand, upon which something +was written. + +Three days after the death of the young man, his father, who was a +priest named Armenius, having retired to a monastery to console +himself with the saintly old man, Theasus, Bishop of Manblosa, the +deceased son appeared to a monk of this monastery, and told him that +God had received him among the blessed, and that he had sent him to +fetch his father. In effect, four days after, his father had a slight +degree of fever, but it was so slight that the physician assured him +there was nothing to fear. He nevertheless took to his bed, and at the +same time, as he was yet speaking, he expired. + +It was not of fright that he died, for it does not appear that he knew +anything of what the monk had seen in his dream. + +The same bishop, Evodius, relates that several persons had been seen +after their death to go and come in their houses as during their +lifetime, either in the night, or even in open day. "They say also," +adds Evodius, "that in the places where bodies are interred, and +especially in the churches, they often hear a noise at a certain hour +of the night like persons praying aloud. I remember," continues +Evodius, "having heard it said by several, and, amongst others, by a +holy priest, who was witness to these apparitions, that they had seen +coming out of the baptistry a great number of these spirits, with +shining bodies of light, and had afterwards heard them pray in the +middle of the church." The same Evodius says, moreover, that +Profuturus, Privus, and Servilius, who had lived very piously in the +monastery, had talked with himself since their death, and what they +had told him had come to pass. + +St. Augustine, after having related what Evodius said, acknowledges +that a great distinction is to be made between true and false visions, +and testifies that he could wish to have some sure means of justly +discerning between them. + +But who shall give us the knowledge necessary for such discerning, so +difficult and yet so requisite, since we have not even any certain and +demonstrative marks by which to discern infallibly between true and +false miracles, or to distinguish the works of the Almighty from the +illusions of the angel of darkness. + + +Footnotes: + +[474] + "Neu pransĉ lamiĉ vivum puerum ex trahat alvo." + _Horat. Art. Poet._ 340. + +[475] + "Carpere dicuntur lactentia viscera rostris, + Et plenum poco sanguine guttur habent, + Est illis strigibus nomen." + +[476] Capitul. Caroli Magni pro partibus Saxoniĉ, i. 6:--"Si quis à +Diabolo deceptus crediderit secundùm morem Paganorum, virum aliquem +aut foeminam strigem esse, et homines comedere; et propter hoc ipsum +incenderit, vel carnem ejus ad comedendum dederit, vel ipsam comederit +capitis sententià puniatur." + +[477] Le Loyer, des Spectres, lib. ii. p. 427. + +[478] Mich. Glycas, part iv. Annal. + +[479] Aug. Epist. 658, and Epist. 258, p. 361. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +OF GHOSTS IN THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES. + + +Thomas Bartholin, the son, in his treatise entitled "_Of the Causes of +the contempt of Death felt by the Ancient Danes while yet Gentiles_," +remarks[480] that a certain Hordus, an Icelander, saw spectres with +his bodily eyes, fought against them and resisted them. These +thoroughly believed that the spirits of the dead came back with their +bodies, which they afterwards forsook and returned to their graves. +Bartholinus relates in particular that a man named Asmond, son of +Alfus, having had himself buried alive in the same sepulchre with his +friend Asvitus, and having had victuals brought there, was taken out +from thence some time after covered with blood, in consequence of a +combat he had been obliged to maintain against Asvitus, who had +haunted him and cruelly assaulted him. + +He reports after that what the poets teach concerning the vocation of +spirits by the power of magic, and of their return into bodies which +are not decayed although a long time dead. He shows that the Jews have +believed the same--that the souls came back from time to time to +revisit their dead bodies during the first year after their decease. +He demonstrates that the ancient northern nations were persuaded that +persons recently deceased often made their bodily appearance; and he +relates some examples of it: he adds that they attacked these +dangerous spectres, which haunted and maltreated all who had any +fields in the neighborhood of their tombs; that they cut off the head +of a man named Gretter, who also returned to earth. At other times +they thrust a stake through the body and thus fixed them to the +ground. + + "Nam ferro secui mox caput ejus, + Perfodique nocens stipite corpus." + +Formerly, they took the corpse from the tomb and reduced it to ashes; +they did thus towards a spectre named Gardus, which they believed the +author of all the fatal apparitions that had appeared during the +winter. + + +Footnotes: + +[480] Thomas Bartolin, de Causis Contemptûs Mortis à Danis, lib. ii. +c. 2. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +GHOSTS IN ENGLAND. + + +William of Malmsbury says[481] that in England they believed that the +wicked came back to earth after their death, and were brought back in +their own bodies by the devil, who governed them and caused them to +act; _Nequam hominis cadaver post mortem dĉmone agente discurrere._ + +William of Newbridge, who flourished after the middle of the twelfth +century, relates that in his time was seen in England, in the county +of Buckingham, a man who appeared bodily, as when alive, three +succeeding nights to his wife, and after that to his nearest +relatives. They only defended themselves from his frightful visits by +watching and making a noise when they perceived him coming. He even +showed himself to a few persons in the day time. Upon that, the Bishop +of Lincoln assembled his council, who told him that similar things had +often happened in England, and that the only known remedy against this +evil was to burn the body of the ghost. The bishop was averse to this +opinion, which appeared cruel to him: he first of all wrote a schedule +of absolution, which was placed on the body of the defunct, which was +found in the same state as if he had been buried that very day; and +from that time they heard no more of him. + +The author of this narrative adds, that this sort of apparitions would +appear incredible, if several instances had not occurred in his time, +and if they did not know several persons who believed in them. + +The same Newbridge says, in the following chapter, that a man who had +been interred at Berwick, came out of his grave every night and caused +great confusion in all the neighborhood. It was even said that he had +boasted that he should not cease to disturb the living till they had +reduced him to ashes. Then they selected ten bold and vigorous young +men, who took him up out of the ground, cut his body to pieces, and +placed it on a pile, whereon it was burned to ashes; but beforehand, +some one amongst them having said that he could not be consumed by +fire until they had torn out his heart, his side was pierced with a +stake, and when they had taken out his heart through the opening, they +set fire to the pile; he was consumed by the flames and appeared no +more. + +The pagans also believed that the bodies of the dead rested not, +neither were they safe from magical evocations, so long as they +remained unconsumed by fire, or undecayed underground. + + "Tali tua membra sepulchro, + Talibus exuram Stygio cum carmine Sylvis, + Ut nullos cantata Magos exaudiat umbra," + +said an enchantress, in Lucan, to a spirit she evoked. + + +Footnotes: + +[481] William of Malms. lib. ii. c. 4. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +GHOSTS IN PERU. + + +The instance we are about to relate occurred in Peru, in the country +of the Ititans. A girl named Catharine died at the age of sixteen an +unhappy death, and she had been guilty of several sacrilegious +actions. Her body immediately after her decease was so putrid that +they were obliged to put it out of the dwelling in the open air, to +escape from the bad smell which exhaled from it. At the same time they +heard as it were dogs howling; and a horse which before then was very +gentle began to rear, to prance, strike the ground with its feet, and +break its bonds; a young man who was in bed was pulled out of bed +violently by the arm; a servant maid received a kick on the shoulder, +of which she bore the marks for several days. All that happened before +the body of Catharine was inhumed. Some time afterwards, several +inhabitants of the place saw a great quantity of tiles and bricks +thrown down with a great noise in the house where she died. The +servant of the house was dragged about by the foot, without any one +appearing to touch her, and that in the presence of her mistress and +ten or twelve other women. + +The same servant, on entering a room to fetch some clothes, perceived +Catharine, who rose up to seize hold of an earthen pot; the girl ran +away directly, but the spectre took the vase, dashed it against the +wall, and broke it into a thousand pieces. The mistress, who ran +thither on hearing the noise, saw that a quantity of bricks were +thrown against the wall. The next day an image of the crucifix fixed +against the wall was all on a sudden torn from its place in the +presence of them all, and broken into three pieces. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +GHOSTS IN LAPLAND. + + +Vestiges of these ghosts are still found in Lapland, where it is said +they see a great number of spectres, who appear among those people, +speak to them, and eat with them, without their being able to get rid +of them; and as they are persuaded that these are the manes or shades +of their relations who thus disturb them, they have no means of +guarding against their intrusions more efficacious than to inter the +bodies of their nearest relatives under the hearthstone, in order, +apparently, that there they may be sooner consumed. In general, they +believe that the manes, or spirits, which come out of bodies, or +corpses, are usually malevolent till they have re-entered other +bodies. They pay some respect to the spectres, or demons, which they +believe roam about rocks, mountains, lakes, and rivers, much as in +former times the Romans paid honor to the fauns, the gods of the +woods, the nymphs, and the tritons. + +Andrew Alciat[482] says that he was consulted concerning certain women +whom the Inquisition had caused to be burnt as witches for having +occasioned the death of some children by their spells, and for having +threatened the mothers of other children to kill these also; and in +fact they did die the following night of disorders unknown to the +physicians. Here we again see those strigĉ, or witches, who delight in +destroying children. + +But all this relates to our subject very indirectly. The vampires of +which we are discoursing are very different from all those just +mentioned. + + +Footnotes: + +[482] Andr. Alciat. Parergon Juris, viii. c. 22. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +REAPPEARANCE OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN DEAD FOR SOME MONTHS. + + +Peter, the venerable[483] abbot of Clugni, relates the conversation +which he had in the presence of the bishops of Oleron and of Osma, in +Spain, together with several monks, with an old monk named Pierre +d'Engelbert, who, after living a long time in his day in high +reputation for valor and honor, had withdrawn from the world after the +death of his wife, and entered the order of Clugni. Peter the +Venerable having come to see him, Pierre d'Engelbert related to him +that one day when in his bed and wide awake, he saw in his chamber, +whilst the moon shone very brightly, a man named Sancho, whom he had +several years before sent at his own expense to the assistance of +Alphonso, king of Arragon, who was making war on Castile. Sancho had +returned safe and sound from this expedition, but some time after he +fell sick and died in his house. + +Four months after his death, Sancho showed himself to Pierre +d'Engelbert, as we have said. Sancho was naked, with the exception of +a rag for mere decency round him. He began to uncover the burning +wood, as if to warm himself, or that he might be more distinguishable. +Peter asked him who he was. "I am," replied he, in a broken and hoarse +voice, "Sancho, your servant." "And what do you come here for?" "I am +going," said he, "into Castile, with a number of others, in order to +expiate the harm we did during the last war, on the same spot where it +was committed: for my own part, I pillaged the ornaments of a church, +and for that I am condemned to take this journey. You can assist me +very much by your good works; and madame, your spouse, who owes me yet +eight sols for the remainder of my salary, will oblige me infinitely +if she will bestow them on the poor in my name." Peter then asked him +news of one Pierre de Fais, his friend, who had been dead a short +time. Sancho told him that he was saved. + +"And Bernier, our fellow-citizen, what is become of him?" "He is +damned," said he, "for having badly performed his office of judge, and +for having troubled and plundered the widow and the innocent." + +Peter added, "Could you tell me any news of Alphonso, king of Arragon, +who died a few years ago?" + +Then another spectre, that Peter had not before seen, and which he now +observed distinctly by the light of the moon, seated in the recess of +the window, said to him--"Do not ask him for news of King Alphonso; he +has not been with us long enough to know anything about him. I, who +have been dead five years, can give you news of him. Alphonso was with +us for some time, but the monks of Clugni extricated him from thence. +I know not where he is now." Then, addressing himself to his +companion, Sancho, "Come," said he, "let us follow our companions; it +is time to set off." Sancho reiterated his entreaties to Peter, his +lord, and went out of the house. + +Peter waked his wife who was lying by him, and who had neither seen +nor heard anything of all this dialogue, and asked her the question, +"Do not you owe something to Sancho, that domestic who was in our +service, and died a little while ago?" She answered, "I owe him still +eight sols." From this, Peter had no more doubt of the truth of what +Sancho had said to him, gave these eight sols to the poor, adding a +large sum of his own, and caused masses and prayers to be said for the +soul of the defunct. Peter was then in the world and married; but when +he related this to Peter the Venerable, he was a monk of Clugni. + +St. Augustine relates that Sylla,[484] on arriving at Tarentum, +offered there sacrifices to the gods, that is to say, to the demons; +and having observed on the upper part of the liver of the victim a +sort of crown of gold, the aruspice assured him that this crown was +the presage of a certain victory, and told him to eat alone that liver +whereon he had seen the crown. + +Almost at the same moment, a servitor of Lucius Pontius came to him +and said, "Sylla, I am come from the goddess Bellona. The victory is +yours; and as a proof of my prediction, I announce to you that, ere +long, the capitol will be reduced to ashes." At the same time, this +man left the camp in great haste, and on the morrow he returned with +still more eagerness, and affirmed that the capitol had been burnt, +which was found to be true. + +St. Augustine had no doubt but that the demon who had caused the crown +of gold to appear on the liver of the victim had inspired this +diviner, and that the same bad spirit having foreseen the +conflagration of the capitol had announced it after the event by that +same man. + +The same holy doctor relates,[485] after Julius Obsequens, in his Book +of Prodigies, that in the open country of Campania, where some time +after the Roman armies fought with such animosity during the civil +war, they heard at first loud noises like soldiers fighting; and +afterwards several persons affirmed that they had seen for some days +two armies, who joined battle; after which they remarked in the same +part as it were vestiges of the combatants, and the marks of horses' +feet, as if the combat had really taken place there. St. Augustine +doubts not that all this was the work of the devil, who wished to +reassure mankind against the horrors of civil warfare, by making them +believe that their gods being at war amongst themselves, mankind need +not be more moderate, nor more touched by the evils which war brings +with it. + +The abbot of Ursperg, in his Chronicle, year 1123, says that in the +territory of Worms they saw during many days a multitude of armed men, +on foot and on horseback, going and coming with great noise, like +people who are going to a solemn assembly. Every day they marched, +towards the hour of noon, to a mountain, which appeared to be their +place of rendezvous. Some one in the neighborhood bolder than the +rest, having guarded himself with the sign of the cross, approached +one of these armed men, conjuring him in the name of God to declare +the meaning of this army, and their design. The soldier or phantom +replied, "We are not what you imagine; we are neither vain phantoms, +nor true soldiers; we are the spirits of those who were killed on this +spot a long time ago. The arms and horses which you behold are the +instruments of our punishment, as they were of our sins. We are all on +fire, though you can see nothing about us which appears inflamed." It +is said that they remarked in this company the Count Emico, who had +been killed a few years before, and who declared that he might be +extricated from that state by alms and prayers. + +Trithemius, in his _Annales Hirsauginses_, year 1013,[486] asserts +that there was seen in broad day, on a certain day in the year, an +army of cavalry and infantry, which came down from a mountain and +ranged themselves on a neighboring plain. They were spoken to and +conjured to speak, and they declared themselves to be the spirits of +those who a few years before had been killed, with arms in their +hands, in that same spot. + +The same Trithemius relates elsewhere[487] the apparition of the Count +of Spanheim, deceased a little while before, who appeared in the +fields with his pack of hounds. This count spoke to his curé, and +asked his prayers. + +Vipert, Archdeacon of the Church of Toul, cotemporary author of the +Life of the holy Pope Leo IX., who died 1059, relates[488] that, some +years before the death of this holy pope, an infinite multitude of +persons, habited in white, was seen to pass by the town of Narni, +advancing from the eastern side. This troop defiled from the morning +until three in the afternoon, but towards evening it notably +diminished. At this sight all the population of the town of Narni +mounted upon the walls, fearing they might be hostile troops, and saw +them defile with extreme surprise. + +One burgher, more resolute than the others, went out of the town, and +having observed in the crowd a man of his acquaintance, called to him +by name, and asked him the meaning of this multitude of travelers: he +replied, "We are spirits which not having yet expiated all our sins, +and not being as yet sufficiently pure to enter the kingdom of heaven, +we are going into holy places in a spirit of repentance; we are now +coming from visiting the tomb of St. Martin, and we are going straight +to Notre-Dame de Farse." The man was so frightened at this vision that +he was ill for a twelvemonth--it was he who recounted the circumstance +to Pope Leo IX. All the town of Narni was witness to this procession, +which took place in broad day. + +The night preceding the battle which was fought in Egypt between Mark +Antony and Cĉsar,[489] whilst all the city of Alexandria was in +extreme uneasiness in expectation of this action, they saw in the city +what appeared a multitude of people, who shouted and howled like +bacchanals, and they heard a confused sound of instruments in honor of +Bacchus, as Mark Antony was accustomed to celebrate this kind of +festivals. This troop, after having run through the greater part of +the town, went out of it by the door leading to the enemy, and +disappeared. + +That is all which has come to my knowledge concerning the vampires and +ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland, and of the other +ghosts of France and Germany. We will explain our opinion after this +on the reality, and other circumstances of these sorts of revived and +resuscitated beings. Here follows another species, which is not less +marvelous--I mean the excommunicated, who leave the church and their +graves with their bodies, and do not re-enter till after the sacrifice +is completed. + + +Footnotes: + +[483] Betrus Venerab. Abb. Cluniac. de miracul. lib. i. c. 28. p. +1293. + +[484] Lib. ii. de Civ. Dei, cap. 24. + +[485] Aug. lib. ii. de Civ. Dei, c. 25. + +[486] Trith. Chron. Hirs. p. 155, ad an. 1013. + +[487] Idem, tom. ii. Chron. Hirs. p. 227. + +[488] Vita S. Leonis Papĉ. + +[489] Plutarch, in Anton. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS WHO GO OUT OF THE CHURCHES. + + +St. Gregory the Great relates[490] that St. Benedict having threatened +to excommunicate two nuns, these nuns died in that state. Some time +after, their nurse saw them go out of the church, as soon as the +deacon had cried out, "Let all those who do not receive the communion +withdraw." The nurse having informed St. Benedict of the circumstance, +that saint sent an oblation, or a loaf, in order that it might be +offered for them in token of reconciliation; and from that time the +two nuns remained in quiet in their sepulchres. + +St. Augustine says[491] that the names of martyrs were recited in the +diptychs not to pray for them, and the names of the virgin nuns +deceased to pray for them. "Perhibet prĉclarissimum testimonium +ecclesiastica auctoritas, in quâ fidelibus notum est quo loco martyres +et que defunctĉ sanctimoniales ad altaris sacramenta recitantur." It +was then, perhaps, when they were named at the altar, that they left +the church. But St. Gregory says expressly, that it was when the +deacon cried aloud, "Let those who do not receive the communion +retire." + +The same St. Gregory relates that a young priest of the same St. +Benedict,[492] having gone out of his monastery without leave and +without receiving the benediction of the abbot, died in his +disobedience, and was interred in consecrated ground. The next day +they found his body out of the grave: the relations gave notice of it +to St. Benedict, who gave them a consecrated wafer, and told them to +place it with proper respect on the breast of the young priest; it was +placed there, and the earth no more rejected him from her bosom. + +This usage, or rather this abuse, of placing the holy wafer in the +grave with the dead, is very singular; but it was not unknown to +antiquity. The author of the Life of St. Basil[493] the Great, given +under the name of St. Amphilochus, says that that saint reserved the +third part of a consecrated wafer to be interred with him; he received +it and expired while it was yet in his mouth; but some councils had +already condemned this practice, and others have since then proscribed +it, as contrary to the institutions of Jesus Christ.[494] + +Still, they did not omit in a few places putting holy wafers in the +tombs or graves of some persons who were remarkable for their +sanctity, as in the tomb of St. Othmar, abbot of St. Gal,[495] wherein +were found under his head several round leaves, which were indubitably +believed to be the Host. + +In the Life of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarn,[496] we read that a +quantity of consecrated wafers were found on his breast. Amalarius +cites of the Venerable Bede, that a holy wafer was placed on the +breast of this saint before he was inhumed; "oblata super sanctum +pectus positâ."[497] This particularity is not noted in Bede's +History, but in the second Life of St. Cuthbert. Amalarius remarks +that this custom proceeds doubtless from the Church of Rome, which had +communicated it to the English; and the Reverend Father Menard[498] +maintains that it is not this practice which is condemned by the +above-mentioned Councils, but that of giving the communion to the dead +by insinuating the holy wafer into their mouths. However it may be +regarding this practice, we know that Cardinal Humbert,[499] in his +reply to the ____________ of the patriarch Michael Cerularius, +reproves the Greeks for burying the Host, when there remained any of +it after the communion of the faithful. + + +Footnotes: + +[490] Greg. Magn. lib. ii. Dialog. c. 23. + +[491] Aug. de St. Virgin. c. xlv. 364. + +[492] Greg. lib. ii. Dialog. c. 34. + +[493] Amphil. in Vit. S. Basilii. + +[494] Vide Balsamon. ad Canon. 83. Concil. in Trullo, et Concil. +Carthagin. III. c. 6. Hippon. c. 5. Antissiod. c. 12. + +[495] Vit. S. Othmari, c. 3. + +[496] Vit. S. Cuthberti, lib. iv. c. 2. apud Bolland. 26 Martii. + +[497] Amalar. de Offic. Eccles. lib. iv. c. 41. + +[498] Menard. not. in Sacrament. S. Greg. Magn. pp. 484, 485. + +[499] Humbert. Card. Bibliot. P. P. lib. xviii. et tom. iv. Concil. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +SOME OTHER INSTANCES OF EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS BEING CAST OUT OF +CONSECRATED GROUND. + + +We see again in history, several other examples of the dead bodies of +excommunicated persons being cast out of consecrated earth; for +instance, in the life of St. Gothard, Bishop of Hildesheim,[500] it is +related that this saint having excommunicated certain persons for +their rebellion and their sins, they did not cease, in spite of his +excommunications, to enter the church, and remain there though +forbidden by the saint, whilst even the dead, who had been interred +there years since, and had been placed there without their sentence of +excommunication being removed, obeyed him, arose from their tombs, and +left the church. After mass, the saint, addressing himself to these +rebels, reproached them for their hardness of heart, and told them +those dead people would rise against them in the day of judgment. At +the same time, going out of the church, he gave absolution to the +excommunicated dead, and allowed them to re-enter it, and repose in +their graves as before. The Life of St. Gothard was written by one of +his disciples, a canon of his cathedral; and this saint died on the +4th of May, 938. + +In the second Council, held at Limoges,[501] in 1031, at which a great +many bishops, abbots, priests and deacons were present, they reported +the instances which we had just cited from St. Benedict, to show the +respect in which sentences of excommunication, pronounced by +ecclesiastical superiors, were held. Then the Bishop of Cahors, who +was present, related a circumstance which had happened to him a short +time before. "A cavalier of my diocese, having been killed in +excommunication, I would not accede to the prayers of his friends, who +implored to grant him absolution; I desired to make an example of him, +in order to inspire others with fear. But he was interred by soldiers +or gentlemen (_milites_) without my permission, without the presence +of the priests, in a church dedicated to St. Peter. The next morning +his body was found out of the ground, and thrown naked far from the +spot; his grave remaining entire, and without any sign of having been +touched. The soldiers or gentlemen (_milites_) who had interred him, +having opened the grave, found in it only the linen in which he had +been wrapped; they buried him again, and covered him with an enormous +quantity of earth and stones. The next day they found the corpse +outside the tomb, without its appearing that any one had worked at it. +The same thing happened five times; at last they buried him as they +could, at a distance from the cemetery, in unconsecrated ground; which +filled the neighboring seigneurs with so much terror that they all +came to me to make their peace. That is a fact, invested with +everything which can render it incontestable." + + +Footnotes: + +[500] Vit. S. Gothardi, Sĉcul. vi. Bened. parte c. p. 434. + +[501] Tom. ix. Concil. an 1031, p. 702. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +AN INSTANCE OF AN EXCOMMUNICATED MARTYR BEING CAST OUT OF THE EARTH. + + +We read in the _menées_ of the Greeks, on the 15th of October, that a +monk of the Desert of Sheti, having been excommunicated by him who had +the care of his conduct, for some act of disobedience, he left the +desert, and came to Alexandria, where he was arrested by the governor +of the city, despoiled of his conventual habit, and ardently solicited +to sacrifice to false gods. The solitary resisted nobly, and was +tormented in various ways, until at last they cut off his head, and +threw his body outside of the city, to be devoured by dogs. The +Christians took it away in the night, and having embalmed it and +enveloped it in fine linen, they interred it in the church as a +martyr, in an honorable place; but during the holy sacrifice, the +deacon having cried aloud, as usual, that the catechumens and those +who did not take the communion were to withdraw, they suddenly beheld +the martyr's tomb open of itself, and his body retire into the +vestibule of the church; after the mass, it returned to its sepulchre. + +A pious person having prayed for three days, learnt by the voice of an +angel that this monk had incurred excommunication for having disobeyed +his superior, and that he would remain bound until that same superior +had given him absolution. Then they went to the desert directly, and +brought the saintly old man, who caused the coffin of the martyr to +be opened, and absolved him, after which he remained in peace in his +tomb. + +This instance appears to me rather suspicious. 1. In the time that the +Desert of Sheti was peopled with solitary monks, there were no longer +any persecutors at Alexandria. They troubled no one there, either +concerning the profession of Christianity, or on the religious +profession--they would sooner have persecuted these idolators and +pagans. The Christian religion was then dominant and respected +throughout all Egypt, above all, in Alexandria. 2. The monks of Sheti +were rather hermits than cenobites, and a monk had no authority there +to excommunicate his brother. 3. It does not appear that the monk in +question had deserved excommunication, at least major excommunication, +which deprives the faithful of the entry of the church, and the +participation of the holy mysteries. The bearing of the Greek text is +simply, that he remained obedient for some time to his spiritual +father, but that having afterwards fallen into disobedience, he +withdrew from the hands of the old man without any legitimate cause, +and went away to Alexandria. All that deserves doubtlessly even major +excommunication, if this monk had quitted his profession and retired +from the monastery to lead a secular life; but at that time the monks +were not, as now, bound by vows of stability and obedience to their +regular superiors, who had not a right to excommunicate them with +grand excommunication. We will speak of this again by-and-by. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +A MAN REJECTED FROM THE CHURCH FOR HAVING REFUSED TO PAY TITHES. + + +John Brompton, Abbot of Sornat in England,[502] says that we may read +in very old histories that St. Augustin, the Apostle of England, +wishing to persuade a gentleman to pay the tithes, God permitted that +this saint having said before all the people, before the commencement +of the mass, that no excommunicated person should assist at the holy +sacrifice, they saw a man who had been interred for 150 years leave +the church. + +After mass, St. Augustin, preceded by the cross, went to ask this dead +man why he went out? The dead man replied that it was because he had +died in a state of excommunication. The saint asked him, where was the +sepulchre of the priest who had pronounced against him the sentence +of excommunication? They went thither; St. Augustin commanded him to +rise; he came to life, and avowed that he had excommunicated the man +for his crimes, and particularly for his obstinacy in refusing to pay +tithes; then, by order of St. Augustin, he gave him absolution, and +the dead man returned to his tomb. The priest entreated the saint to +permit him also to return to his sepulchre, which was granted him. +This story appears to me still more suspicious than the preceding one. +In the time of St. Augustin, the Apostle of England, there was no +obligation as yet to pay tithes on pain of excommunication, and much +less a hundred and fifty years before that time--above all in England. + + +Footnotes: + +[502] John Brompton, Chronic. vide ex Bolland. 26 Maii, p. 396. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE SHOWN SIGNS OF LIFE AFTER THEIR DEATH, +AND WHO HAVE DRAWN BACK FROM RESPECT, TO MAKE ROOM OR GIVE PLACE TO +SOME WHO WERE MORE WORTHY THAN THEMSELVES. + + +Tertullian relates[503] an instance to which he had been witness--_de +meo didici_. A woman who belonged to the church, to which she had been +given as a slave, died in the prime of life, after being once married +only, and that for a short time, was brought to the church. Before +putting her in the ground, the priest offering the sacrifice and +raising his hands in prayer, this woman, who had her hands extended at +her side, raised them at the same time, and put them together as a +supplicant; then, when the peace was given, she replaced herself in +her former position. + +Tertullian adds that another body, dead, and buried in a cemetery, +withdrew on one side to give place to another corpse which they were +about to inter near it. He relates these instances as a suite to what +was said by Plato and Democritus, that souls remained some time near +the dead bodies they had inhabited, which they preserved sometimes +from corruption, and often caused their hair, beard, and nails to grow +in their graves. Tertullian does not approve of the opinion of these; +he even refutes them pretty well; but he owns that the instances I +have just spoken of are favorable enough to that opinion, which is +also that of the Hebrews, as we have before seen. + +It is said that after the death of the celebrated Abelard,[504] who +was interred at the Monastery of the Paraclete, the Abbess Heloisa, +his spouse, being also deceased, and having requested to be buried in +the same grave, at her approach Abelard extended his arms and received +her into his bosom: _elevatis brachiis illam recepit, et ita eam +amplexatus brachia sua strinxit_. This circumstance is certainly +neither proved nor probable; the Chronicle whence it is extracted had +probably taken it from some popular rumor. + +The author of the Life of St. John the Almoner,[505] which was written +immediately after his death by Leontius, Bishop of Naples, a town in +the Isle of Cyprus, relates that St. John the Almoner being dead at +Amatunta, in the same island, his body was placed between that of two +bishops, who drew back on each side respectfully to make room for him +in sight of all present; _non unus, neque decem, neque centum +viderunt, sed omnis turba, quĉ convenit ad ejus sepulturam_, says the +author cited. Metaphrastes, who had read the life of the saint in +Greek, repeats the same fact. + +Evagrius de Pont[506] says, that a holy hermit named Thomas, and +surnamed Salus, because he counterfeited madness, dying in the +hospital of Daphné, near the city of Antioch, was buried in the +strangers' cemetery, but every day he was found out of the ground at a +distance from the other dead bodies, which he avoided. The inhabitants +of the place informed Ephraim, Bishop of Antioch, of this, and he had +him solemnly carried into the city and honorably buried in the +cemetery, and from that time the people of Antioch keep the feast of +his translation. + +John Mosch[507] reports the same story, only he says that it was some +women who were buried near Thomas Salus, who left their graves through +respect for the saint. + +The Hebrews ridiculously believe that the Jews who are buried without +Judea will roll underground at the last day, to repair to the Promised +Land, as they cannot come to life again elsewhere than in Judea. + +The Persians recognize also a transporting angel, whose care it is to +assign to dead bodies the place and rank due to their merits: if a +worthy man is buried in an infidel country, the transporting angel +leads him underground to a spot near one of the faithful, while he +casts into the sewer the body of any infidel interred in holy ground. +Other Mahometans have the same notion; they believe that the +transporting angel placed the body of Noah, and afterwards that of +Ali, in the grave of Adam. I relate these fantastical ideas only to +show their absurdity. As to the other stories related in this same +chapter, they must not be accepted without examination, for they +require confirmation. + + +Footnotes: + +[503] Tertull. de Animo, c. 5. p. 597. Edit. Pamelii. + +[504] Chronic. Turon. inter opera Abĉlardi, p. 1195. + +[505] Bolland. tom. ii. p. 315, 13 Januar. + +[506] Evagrius Pont. lib. iv. c. 53. + +[507] Jean Mosch. pras. spirit. c. 88. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +OF PERSONS WHO PERFORM A PILGRIMAGE AFTER THEIR DEATH. + + +A scholar of the town of Saint Pons, near Narbonne,[508] having died +in a state of excommunication, appeared to one of his friends, and +begged of him to go to the city of Rhodes, and ask the bishop to grant +him absolution. He set off in snowy weather; the spirit, who +accompanied him without being seen by him showed him the road and +cleared away the snow. On arriving at Rhodes, he asked and obtained +for his friend the required absolution, when the spirit reconducted +him to Saint Pons, gave him thanks for this service, and took leave, +promising to testify to him his gratitude. + +Here follows a letter written to me on the 5th of April, 1745, and +which somewhat relates to what we have just seen. "Something has +occurred here within the last few days, relatively to your +Dissertation upon Ghosts, which I think I ought to inform you of. A +man of Letrage, a village a few miles from Remiremont, lost his wife +at the beginning of February last, and married again the week before +Lent. At eleven o'clock in the evening of his wedding-day, his wife +appeared and spoke to his new spouse; the result of the conversation +was to oblige the bride to perform seven pilgrimages for the defunct. +From that day, and always at the same hour, the defunct appeared, and +spoke in presence of the curé of the place and several other persons; +on the 15th of March, at the moment that the bride was preparing to +repair to St. Nicholas, she had a visit from the defunct, who told her +to make haste, and not to be alarmed at any pain or trouble which she +might undergo on her journey. + +This woman with her husband and her brother and sister-in-law, set off +on their way, not expecting that the dead wife would be of the party; +but she never left them until they were at the door of the Church of +St. Nicholas. These good people, when they were arrived at two +leagues' distance from St. Nicholas, were obliged to put up at a +little inn called the Barracks. There the wife found herself so ill, +that the two men were obliged to carry her to the burgh of St. +Nicholas. Directly she was under the church porch, she walked easily, +and felt no more pain. This fact has been reported to me by the +sacristan and the four persons. The last thing that the defunct said +to the bride was, that she should neither speak to nor appear to her +again until half the pilgrimages should be accomplished. The simple +and natural manner in which these good people related this fact to us +makes me believe that it is certain. + +It is not said that this young woman had incurred excommunication, but +apparently she was bound by a vow or promise which she had made, to +accomplish these pilgrimages, which she imposed upon the other young +wife who succeeded her. Also, we see that she did not enter the Church +of St. Nicholas; she only accompanied the pilgrims to the church door. + +We may here add the instance of that crowd of pilgrims who, in the +time of Pope Leo IX., passed at the foot of the wall of Narne, as I +have before related, and who performed their purgatory by going from +pilgrimage to pilgrimage. + + +Footnotes: + +[508] Melchior. lib. de Statu Mortuorum. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +ARGUMENT CONCERNING THE EXCOMMUNICATED WHO QUIT CHURCHES. + + +All that we have just reported concerning the bodies of persons who +had been excommunicated leaving their tombs during mass, and returning +into them after the service, deserves particular attention. + +It seems that a thing which passed before the eyes of a whole +population in broad day, and in the midst of the most redoubtable +mysteries, can be neither denied nor disputed. Nevertheless, it may be +asked, How these bodies came out? Were they whole, or in a state of +decay? naked, or clad in their own dress, or in the linen and bandages +which had enveloped them in the tomb? Where, also, did they go? + +The cause of their forthcoming is well noted; it was the major +excommunication. This penalty is decreed only to mortal sin.[509] +Those persons had, then, died in the career of deadly sin, and were +consequently condemned and in hell; for if there is naught in question +but a minor excommunication, why should they go out of the church +after death with such terrible and extraordinary circumstances, since +that ecclesiastical excommunication does not deprive one absolutely +of communion with the faithful, or of entrance to church? + +If it be said that the crime was remitted, but not the penalty of +excommunication, and that these persons remained excluded from church +communion until after their absolution, given by the ecclesiastical +judge, we ask if a dead man can be absolved and be restored to +communion with the church, unless there are unequivocal proofs of his +repentance and conversion preceding his death. + +Moreover, the persons just cited as instances do not appear to have +been released from crime or guilt, as might be supposed. The texts +which we have cited sufficiently note that they died in their guilt +and sins; and what St. Gregory the Great says in the part of his +Dialogues there quoted, replying to his interlocutor, Peter, supposes +that these nuns had died without doing penance. + +Besides, it is a constant rule of the church that we cannot +communicate or have communion with a dead man, whom we have not had +any communication with during his lifetime. "Quibus viventibus non +communicavimus, mortuis, communicare non possumus," says Pope St. +Leo.[510] At any rate, it is allowed that an excommunicated person who +has given signs of sincere repentance, although there may not have +been time for him to confess himself, can be reconciled to the +church[511] and receive ecclesiastical sepulture after his death. But, +in general, before receiving absolution from sin, they must have been +absolved from the censures and excommunication, if such have been +incurred: "Absolutio ab excommunicatione debet prĉcedere absolutionem +à peccatis; quia quandiu aliquis est excommunicatus, non potest +recipere aliquod Ecclesiĉ Sacramentum," says St. Thomas.[512] + +Following this decision, it would have been necessary to absolve these +persons from their excommunication, before they could receive +absolution from the guilt of their sins. Here, on the contrary, they +are supposed to be absolved from their sins as to their criminality, +in order to be able to receive absolution from the censures of the +church. + +I do not see how these difficulties can be resolved. + +1. How can you absolve the dead? 2. How can you absolve him from +excommunication before he has received absolution from sin? 3. How can +he be absolved without asking for absolution, or its appearing that he +hath requested it? 4. How can people be absolved who died in mortal +sin, and without doing penance? 5. Why do these excommunicated persons +return to their tombs after mass? 6. If they dared not stay in the +church during the mass, when were they? + +It appears certain that the nuns and the young monk spoken of by St. +Gregory died in their sins, and without having received absolution +from them. St. Benedict, probably, was not a priest, and had not +absolved them as regards their guilt. + +It may be said that the excommunication spoken of by St. Gregory was +not major, and in that case the holy abbot could absolve them; but +would this minor and regular excommunication deserve that they should +quit the church in so miraculous and public a manner? The persons +excommunicated by St. Gothard, and the gentleman mentioned at the +Council of Limoges, in 1031, had died unrepentant, and under sentence +of excommunication; consequently in mortal sin; and yet they are +granted peace and absolution after their death, at the simple entreaty +of their friends. + +The young solitary spoken of in the _acta sanctorum_ of the Greeks, +who after having quitted his cell through incontinency and +disobedience, had incurred excommunication, could he receive the crown +of martyrdom in that state? And if he had received it, was he not at +the same time reconciled to the church? Did he not wash away his fault +with his blood? And if his excommunication was only regular and minor, +would he deserve after his martyrdom to be excluded from the presence +of the holy mysteries? + +I see no other way of explaining these facts, if they are as they are +related, than by saying that the story has not preserved the +circumstances which might have deserved the absolution of these +persons, and we must presume that the saints--above all, the bishops +who absolved them--knew the rules of the church, and did nothing in +the matter but what was right and conformable to the canons. + +But it results from all that we have just said, that as the bodies of +the wicked withdraw from the company of the holy through a principle +of veneration and a feeling of their own unworthiness, so also the +bodies of the holy separate themselves from the wicked, from opposite +motives, that they may not appear to have any connection with them, +even after death, or to approve of their bad life. In short, if what +is just related be true, the righteous and the saints feel deference +for one another, and honor each other ever in the other world; which +is probable enough. + +We are about to see some instances which seem to render equivocal and +uncertain, as a proof of sanctity, the uncorrupted state of the body +of a just man, since it is maintained that the bodies of the +excommunicated do not rot in the earth until the sentence of +excommunication pronounced against them be taken off. + + +Footnotes: + +[509] Concil. Meli. in Can. Nemo. 41, n. 43. D. Thom. iv. distinct. +18, 9. 2, art. 1. quĉstiuncula in corpore, &c. + +[510] S. Leo canone Commun. 1. a. 4. 9. 2. See also Clemens III. in +Capit. Sacris, 12. de Sepult. Eccl. + +[511] Eveillon, traité des Excommunicat. et Manitoires. + +[512] D. Thom. in iv. Sentent. dist. 1. qu. 1. art. 3. quĉstiunc. 2. +ad. 2. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +DO THE EXCOMMUNICATED ROT IN THE GROUND? + + +It is a very ancient opinion that the bodies of the excommunicated do +not decompose; it appears in the Life of St Libentius, Archbishop of +Bremen, who died on the 4th of January, 1013. That holy prelate having +excommunicated some pirates, one of them died, and was buried in +Norway; at the end of seventy years they found his body entire and +without decay, nor did it fall to dust until after absolution received +from Archbishop Alvaridius. + +The modern Greeks, to authorize their schism, and to prove that the +gift of miracles, and the power of binding and unbinding, subsist in +their church even more visibly and more certainly than in the Latin +and Roman church, maintain that amongst themselves the bodies of those +who are excommunicated do not decay, but become swollen +extraordinarily, like drums, and can neither be corrupted nor reduced +to ashes till after they have received absolution from their bishops +or their priests. They relate divers instances of this kind of dead +bodies, found uncorrupted in their graves, and which are afterwards +reduced to ashes as soon as the excommunication is taken off. They do +not deny, however, that the uncorrupted state of a body is sometimes a +mark of sanctity,[513] but they require that a body thus preserved +should exhale a good smell, be white or reddish, and not black, +offensive and swollen. + +It is affirmed that persons who have been struck dead by lightning do +not decay, and for that reason the ancients neither burnt them nor +buried them. That is the opinion of the physician Zachias; but Paré, +after Comines, thinks that the reason they are not subject to +corruption is because they are, as it were, embalmed by the sulphur of +the thunderbolt, which serves them instead of salt. + +In 1727, they discovered in the vault of an hospital near Quebec the +unimpaired corpses of five nuns, who had been dead for more than +twenty years; and these corpses, though covered with quicklime, still +contained blood. + + +Footnotes: + +[513] Goar, not. in Eucholog. p. 688. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +INSTANCES TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE EXCOMMUNICATED DO NOT DECAY, AND +THAT THEY APPEAR TO THE LIVING. + + +The Greeks relate[514] that under the Patriarch of Constantinople +Manuel, or Maximus, who lived in the fifteenth century, the Turkish +Emperor of Constantinople wished to know the truth of what the Greeks +asserted concerning the uncorrupted state of those who died under +sentence of excommunication. The patriarch caused the tomb of a woman +to be opened; she had had a criminal connection with an archbishop of +Constantinople; her body was whole, black, and much swollen. The Turks +shut it up in a coffin, sealed with the emperor's seal; the patriarch +said his prayer, gave absolution to the dead woman, and at the end of +three days the coffin or box being opened they found the body fallen +to dust. + +I see no miracle in this: everybody knows that bodies which are +sometimes found quite whole in their tombs fall to dust as soon as +they are exposed to the air. I except those which have been well +embalmed, as the mummies of Egypt, and bodies which are buried in +extremely dry spots, or in an earth replete with nitre and salt, which +dissipate in a short time all the moisture there may be in the dead +bodies, either of men or animals; but I do not understand that the +Archbishop of Constantinople could validly absolve after death a +person who died in deadly sin and bound by excommunication. They +believe also that the bodies of these excommunicated persons often +appear to the living, whether by day or by night, speaking to them, +calling them, and molesting them. Leon Allatius enters into long +details on this subject; he says that in the Isle of Chio the +inhabitants do not answer to the first voice that calls them, for fear +that it should be a spirit or ghost; but if they are called twice, it +is not a vroucolaca,[515] which is the name they give those spectres. +If any one answers to them at the first sound, the spectre disappears; +but he who has spoken to it infallibly dies. + +There is no other way of guarding against these bad genii than by +taking up the corpse of the person who has appeared, and burning it +after certain prayers have been recited over it; then the body is +reduced to ashes, and appears no more. They have then no doubt that +these are the bodies of criminal and malevolent men, which come out of +their graves and cause the death of those who see and reply to them; +or that it is the demon, who makes use of their bodies to frighten +mortals, and cause their death. + +They know of no means more certain to deliver themselves from being +infested by these dangerous apparitions than to burn and hack to +pieces these bodies, which served as instruments of malice, or to tear +out their hearts, or to let them putrefy before they are buried, or to +cut off their heads, or to pierce their temples with a large nail. + + +Footnotes: + +[514] Vide Malva. lib. i. Turco-grĉcia, pp. 26, 27. + +[515] Vide Bolland. mense Augusto, tom. ii. pp. 201-203, et Allat. +Epist. ad Zachiam, p. 12. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +INSTANCE OF THE REAPPEARANCES OF THE EXCOMMUNICATED. + + +Ricaut, in the history he has given us of the present state of the +Greek church, acknowledges that this opinion, that the bodies of +excommunicated persons do not decay, is general, not only among the +Greeks of the present day, but also among the Turks. He relates a fact +which he heard from a Candiote caloyer, who had affirmed the thing to +him on oath; his name was Sophronius, and he was well known and highly +respected at Smyrna. A man who died in the Isle of Milo, had been +excommunicated for some fault which he had committed in the Morea, and +he was interred without any funeral ceremony in a spot apart, and not +in consecrated ground. His relations and friends were deeply moved to +see him in this plight; and the inhabitants of the isle were every +night alarmed by baneful apparitions, which they attributed to this +unfortunate man. + +They opened his grave, and found his body quite entire, with the veins +swollen with blood. After having deliberated upon it, the caloyers +were of opinion that they should dismember the body, hack it to +pieces, and boil it in wine; for it is thus they treat the bodies of +_revenans_. + +But the relations of the dead man, by dint of entreaties, succeeded in +deferring this execution, and in the mean time sent in all haste to +Constantinople, to obtain the absolution of the young man from the +patriarch. Meanwhile, the body was placed in the church, and every day +prayers were offered up for the repose of his soul. One day when the +caloyer Sophronius, above mentioned, was performing divine service, +all on a sudden a great noise was heard in the coffin; they opened it, +and found his body decayed as if he had been dead seven years. They +observed the moment when the noise was heard, and it was found to be +precisely at that hour that his absolution had been signed by the +patriarch. + +M. le Chevalier Ricaut, from whom we have this narrative, was neither +a Greek, nor a Roman Catholic, but a staunch Anglican; he remarks on +this occasion that the Greeks believe that an evil spirit enters the +bodies of the excommunicated, and preserves them from putrefaction, by +animating them, and causing them to act, nearly as the soul animates +and inspires the body. + +They imagine, moreover, that these corpses eat during the night, walk +about, digest what they have eaten, and really nourish themselves--that +some have been found who were of a rosy hue, and had their veins still +fully replete with the quantity of blood; and although they had been +dead forty days, have ejected, when opened, a stream of blood as +bubbling and fresh as that of a young man of sanguine temperament would +be; and this belief so generally prevails that every one relates facts +circumstantially concerning it. + +Father Theophilus Reynard, who has written a particular treatise on +this subject, maintains that this return of the dead is an indubitable +fact, and that there are very certain proofs and experience of the +same; but that to pretend that those ghosts who come to disturb the +living are always those of excommunicated persons, and that it is a +privilege of the schismatic Greek church to preserve from decay those +who incurred excommunication, and have died under censure of their +church, is an untenable assumption; since it is certain that the +bodies of the excommunicated decay like others, and there are some +which have died in communion with the church, whether the Greek or the +Latin, who remain uncorrupted. Such are found even among the Pagans, +and amongst animals, of which the dead bodies are sometimes found in +an uncorrupted state, both in the ground, and in the ruins of old +buildings.[516] + + +Footnotes: + +[516] See, concerning the bodies of the excommunicated which are +affirmed to be exempt from decay, Father Goar, Ritual of the Greeks, +pp. 687, 688; Matthew Paris, History of England, tom. ii. p. 687; Adam +de Brême, c. lxxv.; Albert de Stade, on the year 1050, and Monsieur du +Cange, Glossar. Latinit. at the word _imblocatus_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +VROUCOLACA EXHUMED IN PRESENCE OF MONSIEUR DE TOURNEFORT. + + +Monsieur Pitton de Tournefort relates the manner in which they exhumed +a pretended vroucolaca, in the Isle of Micon, where he was on the 1st +of January, 1701. These are his own words: "We saw a very different +scene, (in the same Isle of Micon,) on the occasion of one of those +dead people, whom they believe to return to earth after their +interment. This one, whose history we shall relate, was a peasant of +Micon, naturally sullen and quarrelsome; which is a circumstance to be +remarked relatively to such subjects; he was killed in the country, no +one knows when, or by whom. Two days after he had been inhumed in a +chapel in the town, it was rumored that he was seen by night walking +very fast; that he came into the house, overturning the furniture, +extinguishing the lamps, throwing his arms around persons from behind, +and playing a thousand sly tricks. + +"At first people only laughed at it; but the affair began to be +serious, when the most respectable people in the place began to +complain: the priests even owned the fact, and doubtless they had +their reasons. People did not fail to have masses said; nevertheless +the peasant continued to lead the same life without correcting +himself. After several assemblies of the principal men of the city, +with priests and monks, it was concluded that they must, according to +some ancient ceremonial, await the expiration of nine days after +burial. + +"On the tenth day a mass was said in the chapel where the corpse lay, +in order to expel the demon which they believed to have inclosed +himself therein. This body was taken up after mass, and they began to +set about tearing out his heart; the butcher of the town, who was old, +and very awkward, began by opening the belly instead of the breast; he +felt for a long time in the entrails without finding what he sought. +At last some one told him that he must pierce the diaphragm; then the +heart was torn out, to the admiration of all present. The corpse, +however, gave out such a bad smell, that they were obliged to burn +incense; but the vapor, mixed with the exhalations of the carrion, +only augmented the stink, and began to heat the brain of these poor +people. + +"Their imagination, struck with the spectacle, was full of visions; +some one thought proper to say that a thick smoke came from this body. +We dared not say that it was the vapor of the incense. They only +exclaimed "Vroucolacas," in the chapel, and in the square before it. +(This is the name which they give to these pretended _Revenans_.) The +rumor spread and was bellowed in the street, and the noise seemed +likely to shake the vaulted roof of the chapel. Several present +affirmed that the blood of this wretched man was quite vermilion; the +butcher swore that the body was still quite warm; whence it was +concluded that the dead man was very wrong not to be quite dead, or, +to express myself better, to suffer himself to be reanimated by the +devil. This is precisely the idea of a vroucolaca; and they made this +name resound in an astonishing manner. At this time there entered a +crowd of people, who protested aloud that they clearly perceived this +body was not stiff when they brought it from the country to the church +to bury it, and that consequently it was a true vroucolaca; this was +the chorus. + +"I have no doubt that they would have maintained it did not stink, if +we had not been present; so stupefied were these poor people with the +circumstance, and infatuated with the idea of the return of the dead. +For ourselves, who got next to the corpse in order to make our +observations exactly, we were ready to die from the offensive odor +which proceeded from it. When they asked us what we thought of this +dead man, we replied that we believed him thoroughly dead; but as we +wished to cure, or at least not to irritate their stricken fancy, we +represented to them that it was not surprising if the butcher had +perceived some heat in searching amidst entrails which were decaying; +neither was it extraordinary that some vapor had proceeded from them; +since such will issue from a dunghill that is stirred up; as for this +pretended red blood, it still might be seen on the butcher's hands +that it was only a very foetid mud. + +"After all these arguments, they bethought themselves of going to the +marine, and burning the heart of the dead man, who in spite of this +execution was less docile, and made more noise than before. They +accused him of beating people by night, of breaking open the doors and +even terraces, of breaking windows, tearing clothes, and emptying jugs +and bottles. He was a very thirsty dead man; I believe he only spared +the consul's house, where I was lodged. In the mean time I never saw +anything so pitiable as the state of this island. + +"Everybody seemed to have lost their senses. The most sensible people +appeared as phrenzied as the others; it was a veritable brain fever, +as dangerous as any mania or madness. Whole families were seen to +forsake their houses, and coming from the ends of the town, bring +their flock beds to the market-place to pass the night there. Every +one complained of some new insult; you heard nothing but lamentations +at night-fall; and the most sensible people went into the country. + +"Amidst such a general prepossession we made up our minds to say +nothing; we should not only have been considered as absurd, but as +infidels. How can you convince a whole people of error? Those who +believed in their own minds that we had our doubts of the truth of the +fact, came and reproached us for our incredulity, and pretended to +prove that there were such things as vroucolacas, by some authority +which they derived from Father Richard, a Jesuit missionary. It is +Latin, said they, and consequently you ought to believe it. We should +have done no good by denying this consequence. They every morning +entertained us with the comedy of a faithful recital of all the new +follies which had been committed by this bird of night; he was even +accused of having committed the most abominable sins. + +"The citizens who were most zealous for the public good believed that +they had missed the most essential point of the ceremony. They said +that the mass ought not to be celebrated until after the heart of this +wretched man had been torn out; they affirmed that with that +precaution they could not have failed to surprise the devil, and +doubtless he would have taken care not to come back again; instead of +which had they begun by saying mass, he would have had, said they, +plenty of time to take flight, and to return afterwards at his +leisure. + +"After all these arguments they found themselves in the same +embarrassment as the first day it began; they assembled night and +morning; they reasoned upon it, made processions which lasted three +days and three nights; they obliged the priests to fast; they were +seen running about in the houses with the asperser or sprinkling brush +in their hands, sprinkling holy water and washing the doors with it; +they even filled the mouth of that poor vroucolaca with holy water. We +so often told the administration of the town that in all Christendom +people would not fail in such a case to watch by night, to observe all +that was going forward in the town, that at last they arrested some +vagabonds, who assuredly had a share in all these disturbances. +Apparently they were not the principal authors of them, or they were +too soon set at liberty; for two days after, to make themselves amends +for the fast they had kept in prison, they began again to empty the +stone bottles of wine belonging to those persons who were silly enough +to forsake their houses at night. Thus, then, they were again obliged +to have recourse to prayers. + +"One day as certain orisons were being recited, after having stuck I +know not how many naked swords upon the grave of this corpse, which +was disinterred three or four times a day, according to the caprice of +the first comer, an Albanian, who chanced to be at Mico accidentally, +bethought himself of saying in a sententious tone, that it was very +ridiculous to make use of the swords of Christians in such a case. Do +you not see, blind as ye are, said he, that the hilt of these swords, +forming a cross with the handle, prevents the devil from coming out of +that body? why do you not rather make use of the sabres of the Turks? +The advice of this clever man was of no use; the vroucolaca did not +appear more tractable, and everybody was in a strange consternation; +they no longer knew to which saint to pay their vows; when, with one +voice, as if the signal word had been given, they began to shout in +all parts of the town that they had waited too long: that the +vroucolaca ought to be burnt altogether; that after that, they would +defy the devil to return and ensconce himself there; that it would be +better to have recourse to that extremity than to let the island be +deserted. In fact, there were whole families who were packing up in +the intention of retiring to Sira or Tina. + +"So they carried the vroucolaca, by order of the administration, to +the point of the Island of St. George, where they had prepared a great +pile made up with a mixture of tow, for fear that wood, however dry it +might be, would not burn quickly enough by itself. The remains of this +unfortunate corpse were thrown upon it and consumed in a very little +time; it was on the first day of January, 1701. We saw this fire as we +returned from Delos: it might be called a real _feu de joie_; since +then, there have been no more complaints against the vroucolaca. They +contented themselves with saying that the devil had been properly +caught that time, and they made up a song to turn him into ridicule. + +"Throughout the Archipelago, the people are persuaded that it is only +the Greeks of the Greek church whose corpses are reanimated by the +devil. The inhabitants of the Isle of Santorin have great +apprehensions of these bugbears; those of Maco, after their visions +were dissipated, felt an equal fear of being punished by the Turks and +by the Bishop of Tina. None of the papas would be present at St. +George when this body was burned, lest the bishop should exact a sum +of money for having disinterred and burned the dead body without his +permission. As for the Turks, it is certain that at their first visit +they did not fail to make the community of Maco pay the price of the +blood of this poor devil, who in every way became the abomination and +horror of his country. After this, must we not own that the Greeks of +to-day are not great Greeks, and that there is only ignorance and +superstition among them?"[517] + +So says Monsieur de Tournefort. + + +Footnotes: + +[517] This took place nearly a hundred and fifty years ago. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +HAS THE DEMON POWER TO CAUSE ANY ONE TO DIE AND THEN TO RESTORE THE +DEAD TO LIFE? + + +Supposing the principle which we established as indubitable at the +commencement of this dissertation--that God alone is the sovereign +arbitrator of life and death; that he alone can give life to men, and +restore it to them after he has taken it from them--the question that +we here propose appears unseasonable and absolutely frivolous, since +it concerns a supposition notoriously impossible. + +Nevertheless, as some learned men have believed that the demon has +power to restore life, and to preserve from corruption, for a time, +certain bodies which he makes use of to delude mankind and frighten +them, as it happens with the ghosts of Hungary, we shall treat of it +in this place, and relate a remarkable instance furnished by Monsieur +Nicholas Remy, procureur-general of Lorraine, and which occurred in +his own time;[518] that is to say, in 1581, at Dalhem, a village +situated between the Moselle and the Sare. A goatherd of this village, +named Pierron, a married man and father of a boy, conceived a violent +passion for a girl of the village. One day, when his thoughts were +occupied with this young girl, she appeared to him in the fields, or +the demon in her likeness. Pierron declared his love to her; she +promised to reply to it on condition that he would give himself up to +her, and obey her in all things. Pierron consented to this, and +consummated his abominable passion with this spectre. Some time +afterwards, Abrahel, which was the name assumed by the demon, asked of +him as a pledge of his love, that he would sacrifice to her his only +son, and gave him an apple for this boy to eat, who, on tasting it, +fell down dead. The father and mother, in despair at this fatal and to +both unexpected accident, uttered lamentations, and were inconsolable. + +Abrahel appeared again to the goatherd, and promised to restore the +child to life if the father would ask this favor of him by paying him +the kind of adoration due only to God. The peasant knelt down, +worshiped Abrahel, and immediately the boy began to revive. He opened +his eyes; they warmed him, chafed his limbs, and at last he began to +walk and to speak. He was the same as before, only thinner, paler, and +more languid; his eyes heavy and sunken, his movements slower and less +free, his mind duller and more stupid. At the end of a year, the demon +that had animated him quitted him with a great noise; the youth fell +backwards, and his body, which was foetid and stunk insupportably, was +dragged with a hook out of his father's house, and buried in a field +without any ceremony. + +This event was reported at Nancy, and examined into by the +magistrates, who informed themselves exactly of the circumstance, +heard the witnesses, and found that the thing was such as has been +related. For the rest, the story does not say how the peasant was +punished, nor whether he was so at all. Perhaps his crime with the +demon could not be proved; to that there was probably no witness. In +regard to the death of his son, it was difficult to prove that he was +the cause of it. + +Procopius, in his secret history of the Emperor Justinian, seriously +asserts that he is persuaded, as well as several other persons, that +that emperor was a demon incarnate. He says the same thing of the +Empress Theodora his wife. Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that +the souls of the wicked enter the bodies of the possessed, whom they +torment, and cause to act and speak. + +We see by St. Chrysostom that in his time many Christians believed +that the spirits of persons who died a violent death were changed into +demons, and that the magicians made use of the spirit of a child they +had killed for their magical operations, and to discover the future. +St. Philastrius places among heretics those persons who believed that +the souls of worthless men were changed into demons. + +According to the system of these authors, the demon might have entered +into the body of the child of the shepherd Pierron, moved it and +maintained it in a kind of life whilst his body was uncorrupted and +the organs underanged; it was not the soul of the boy which animated +it, but the demon which replaced his spirit. + +Philo believed that as there are good and bad angels, there are also +good and bad souls or spirits, and that the souls which descend into +the bodies bring to them their own good or bad qualities. + +We see by the Gospel that the Jews of the time of our Saviour believed +that one man could be animated by several souls. Herod imagined that +the spirit of John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded, had entered into +Jesus Christ,[519] and worked miracles in him. Others fancied that +Jesus Christ was animated by the spirit of Elias,[520] or of Jeremiah, +or some other of the ancient prophets. + + +Footnotes: + +[518] Art. ii. p. 14. + +[519] Mark vi. 16, 17. + +[520] Matt. xvi. 14. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION WHICH CONCLUDES THAT THE DEMON CAN RESTORE +MOTION TO A DEAD BODY. + + +We cannot approve these opinions of Jews which we have just shown. +They are contrary to our holy religion, and to the dogmas of our +schools. But we believe that the spirit which once inspired Elijah, +for instance, rested on Elisha, his disciple; and that the Holy Spirit +which inspired the first animated the second also, and even St. John +the Baptist, who, according to the words of Jesus Christ, came in the +power of Elijah to prepare a highway for the Messiah. Thus, in the +prayers of the Church, we pray to God to fill his faithful servants +with the spirit of the saints, and to inspire them with a love for +that which they loved, and a detestation of that which they hated. + +That the demon, and even a good angel by the permission or commission +of God, can take away the life of a man appears indubitable. The angel +which appeared to Zipporah,[521] as Moses was returning from Midian to +Egypt, and threatened to slay his two sons because they were not +circumcised; as well as the one who slew the first-born of the +Egyptians,[522] and the one who is termed in Scripture _the Destroying +Angel_, and who slew the Hebrew murmurers in the wilderness;[523] and +the angel who was near slaying Balaam and his ass;[524] the angel who +killed the soldiers of Sennacherib, he who smote the first seven +husbands of Sara, the daughter of Raguel;[525] and, finally, the one +with whom the Psalmist menaces his enemies, all are instances in proof +of this.[526] + +Does not St. Paul, speaking to the Corinthians of those who took the +Communion unworthily,[527] say that the demon occasioned them +dangerous maladies, of which many died? Will it be believed that those +whom the same Apostle delivered over to Satan[528] suffered nothing +bodily; and that Judas, having received from the Son of God a bit of +bread dipped in the dish,[529] and Satan having entered into him, that +bad spirit did not disturb his reason, his imagination, and his heart, +until at last he led him to destroy himself, and to hang himself in +despair? + +We may believe that all these angels were evil angels, although it +cannot be denied that God employs sometimes the good angels also to +exercise his vengeance against the wicked, as well as to chastise, +correct, and punish those to whom God desires to be merciful; as he +sends his Prophets to announce good and bad tidings, to threaten +punishment, and excite to repentance. + +But nowhere do we read that either the good or the evil angels have of +their own authority alone either given life to any person or restored +it. This power is reserved to God alone.[530] The demon, according to +the Gospel,[531] in the last days, and before the last Judgment, will +perform, either by his own power or that of Antichrist and his +subordinates, such wonders as would, were it possible, lead the elect +themselves into error. From the time of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, +Satan raised up false Christs and false Apostles, who performed many +seeming miracles, and even resuscitated the dead. At least, it was +maintained that they had resuscitated some: St. Clement of Alexandria +and Hegesippus make mention of a few resurrections operated by Simon +the magician;[532] it is also said that Apollonius of Thyana brought +to life a girl they were carrying to be buried. If we may believe +Apuleius,[533] Asclepiades, meeting a funeral convoy, resuscitated the +body they were carrying to the pile. It is asserted that Ĉsculapius +restored to life Hippolytus, the son of Theseus; also Glaucus, the son +of Minos, and Campanes, killed at the assault of Thebes, and Admetus, +King of Phera in Thessaly. Elian[534] attests that the same Ĉsculapius +joined on again the head of a woman to her corpse, and restored her to +life. + +But if we possessed the certainty of all these events which we have +just cited--I mean to say, were they attested by ocular witnesses, +well-informed and disinterested, which is not the case--we ought to +know the circumstances attending these events, and then we should be +better able to dispute or assent to them. For there is every +appearance that the dead people resuscitated by Ĉsculapius were only +persons who were dangerously ill, and restored to health by that +skillful physician. The girl revived by Apollonius of Thyana was not +really dead; even those who were carrying her to the funeral pile had +their doubts if she were deceased. What is said of Simon the magician +is anything but certain; and even if that impostor by his magical +secrets could have performed some wonders on dead persons, it should +be imputed to his delusions and to some artifice, which may have +substituted living bodies or phantoms for the dead bodies which he +boasted of having recalled to life. In a word, we hold it as +indubitable that it is God only who can impart life to a person really +dead, either by power proceeding immediately from himself, or by means +of angels or of demons, who perform his behests. + +I own that the instance of that boy of Dalhem is perplexing. Whether +it was the spirit of the child that returned into his body to animate +it anew, or the demon who replaced his soul, the puzzle appears to me +the same; in all this circumstance we behold only the work of the evil +spirit. God does not seem to have had any share in it. Now, if the +demon can take the place of a spirit in a body newly dead, or if he +can make the soul by which it was animated before death return into +it, we can no longer dispute his power to restore a kind of life to a +dead person; which would be a terrible temptation for us, who might be +led to believe that the demon has a power which religion does not +permit us to think that God shares with any created being. + +I would then say, supposing the truth of the fact, of which I see no +room to doubt, that God, to punish the abominable crime of the father, +and to give an example of his just vengeance to mankind, permitted the +demon to do on this occasion what he perhaps had never done, nor ever +will again--to possess a body, and serve it in some sort as a soul, +and give it action and motion whilst he could retain the body without +its being too much corrupted. + +And this example applies admirably to the ghosts of Hungary and +Moravia, whom the demon will move and animate--will cause to appear +and disturb the living, so far as to occasion their death. I say all +this under the supposition that what is said of the vampires is true; +for if it all be false and fabulous, it is losing time to seek the +means of explaining it. + +For the rest, several of the ancients, as Tertullian[535] and +Lactantius, believed that the demons were the only authors of all the +magicians do when they evoke the souls of the dead. They cause +borrowed bodies or phantoms to appear, say they, and fascinate the +eyes of those present, to make them believe that to be real which is +only seeming. + + +Footnotes: + +[521] Exod. iv. 24, 25. + +[522] Exod. xii. 12. + +[523] 1 Cor. x. 10; Judith viii. 25. + +[524] Numb. xxii. + +[525] Tob. iii. 7. + +[526] Psa. xxxiv. 7. + +[527] 1 Cor. xi. 30. + +[528] 1 Tim. i. 20. + +[529] John xiii. + +[530] 1 Sam. ii. 6. + +[531] Matt. xxiv. 24. + +[532] Clem. Alex. Itinerario; Hegesippus de Excidio Jerusalem, c. 2. + +[533] Apulei Flondo. lib. ii. + +[534] Ĉlian, de Animalib. lib. ix. c. 77. + +[535] Tertull. de Anim. c. 22. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +INSTANCES OF PHANTOMS WHICH HAVE APPEARED TO BE ALIVE, AND HAVE GIVE +MANY SIGNS OF LIFE. + + +Le Loyer, in his book upon spectres, maintains[536] that the demon can +cause the possessed to make extraordinary and involuntary movements. +He can then, if allowed by God, give motion to a dead and insensible +man. + +He relates the instance of Polycrites, a magistrate of Ĉtolia, who +appeared to the people of Locria nine or ten months after his death, +and told them to show him his child, which being born monstrous, they +wished to burn with its mother. The Locrians, in spite of the +remonstrance of the spectre of Polycrites, persisting in their +determination, Polycrites took his child, tore it to pieces and +devoured it, leaving only the head, while the people could neither +send him away nor prevent him; after that, he disappeared. The +Ĉtolians were desirous of sending to consult the Delphian oracle, but +the head of the child began to speak, and foretold the misfortunes +which were to happen to their country and to his own mother. + +After the battle between King Antiochus and the Romans, an officer +named Buptages, left dead on the field of battle, with twelve mortal +wounds, rose up suddenly, and began to threaten the Romans with the +evils which were to happen to them through the foreign nations who +were to destroy the Roman empire. He pointed out in particular, that +armies would come from Asia, and desolate Europe, which may designate +the irruption of the Turks upon the domains of the Roman empire. + +After that, Buptages climbed up an oak tree, and foretold that he was +about to be devoured by a wolf, which happened. After the wolf had +devoured the body, the head again spoke to the Romans, and forbade +them to bury him. All that appears very incredible, and was not +accomplished in fact. It was not the people of Asia, but those of the +north, who overthrew the Roman empire. + +In the war of Augustus against Sextus Pompey, son of the great +Pompey,[537] a soldier of Augustus, named Gabinius, had his head cut +off by order of young Pompey, so that it only held on to the neck by a +narrow strip of flesh. Towards evening they heard Gabinius lamenting; +they ran to him, and he said that he had returned from hell to reveal +very important things to Pompey. Pompey did not think proper to go to +him, but he sent one of his men, to whom Gabinius declared that the +gods on high had decreed the happy destiny of Pompey, and that he +would succeed in all his designs. Directly Gabinius had thus spoken, +he fell down dead and stiff. This pretended prediction was falsified +by the facts. Pompey was vanquished, and Cĉsar gained all the +advantage in this war. + +A certain female juggler had died, but a magician of the band put a +charm under her armpits, which gave her power to move; but another +wizard having looked at her, cried out that it was only vile carrion, +and immediately she fell down dead, and appeared what she was in fact. + +Nicole Aubri, a native of Vervius, being possessed by several devils, +one of these devils, named Baltazo, took from the gibbet the body of a +man who had been hanged near the plain of Arlon, and in this body went +to the husband of Nicole Aubri, promising to deliver his wife from her +possession if he would let him pass the night with her. The husband +consulted the schoolmaster, who practiced exorcising, and who told him +on no account to grant what was asked of him. The husband and Baltazo +having entered the church, the woman who was possessed called him by +his name, and immediately this Baltazo disappeared. The schoolmaster +conjuring the possessed, Beelzebub, one of the demons, revealed what +Baltazo had done, and that if the husband had granted what he asked, +he would have flown away with Nicole Aubri, both body and soul. + +Le Loyer again relates[538] four other instances of persons whom the +demon had seemed to restore to life, to satisfy the brutal passion of +two lovers. + + +Footnotes: + +[536] Le Loyer, des Spectres, lib. ii. pp. 376, 392, 393. + +[537] Pliny, lib. vii. c. 52. + +[538] Le Loyer, pp. 412-414. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +DEVOTING TO DEATH, A PRACTICE AMONG THE PAGANS. + + +The ancient heathens, both Greeks and Romans, attributed to magic and +to the demon the power of occasioning the destruction of any person by +a manner of devoting them to death, which consisted in forming a waxen +image as much as possible like the person whose life they wished to +take. They devoted him or her to death by their magical secrets: then +they burned the waxen statue, and as that by degrees was consumed, so +the doomed person became languid and at last died. Theocritus[539] +makes a woman transported with love speak thus: she invokes the image +of the shepherd, and prays that the heart of Daphnis, her beloved, may +melt like the image of wax which represents him. + +Horace[540] brings forward two enchantresses, who evoke the shades to +make them announce the future. First of all, the witches tear a sheep +with their teeth, shedding the blood into a grave, in order to bring +those spirits from whom they expect an answer; then they place next to +themselves two statues, one of wax, the other of wool; the latter is +the largest, and mistress of the other. The waxen image is at its +feet, as a suppliant, and awaiting only death. After divers magical +ceremonies, the waxen image was inflamed and consumed. + +He speaks of this again elsewhere; and after having with a mocking +laugh made his complaints to the enchantress Canidia, saying that he +is ready to make her honorable reparation, he owns that he feels all +the effects of her too-powerful art, as he himself has experienced it +to give motion to waxen figures, and bring down the moon from the +sky.[541] + +Virgil also speaks[542] of these diabolical operations, and these +waxen images, devoted by magic art. + +There is reason to believe that these poets only repeat these things +to show the absurdity of the pretended secrets of magic, and the vain +and impotent ceremonies of sorcerers. + +But it cannot be denied that, idle as all these practices may be, they +have been used in ancient times; that many have put faith in them, and +foolishly dreaded those attempts. + +Lucian relates the effects[543] of the magic of a certain Hyperborean, +who, having formed a Cupid with clay, infused life into it, and sent +it to fetch a girl named Chryseïs, with whom a young man had fallen +in love. The little Cupid brought her, and on the morrow, at dawn of +day, the moon, which the magician had brought down from the sky, +returned thither. Hecate, whom he had evoked from the bottom of hell, +fled away, and all the rest of the scene disappeared. Lucian, with +great reason, ridicules all this, and observes that these magicians, +who boast of having so much power, ordinarily exercise it only upon +contemptible people, and are such themselves. + +The oldest instances of this dooming are those which are set down in +Scripture, in the Old Testament. God commands Moses to devote to +anathema the Canaanites of the kingdom of Arad.[544] He devotes also +to anathema all the nations of the land of Canaan.[545] Balac, King of +Moab,[546] sends to the diviner Balaam to engage him to curse and +devote the people of Israel. "Come," says he to him, by his messenger, +"and curse me Israel; for I know that those whom you have cursed and +doomed to destruction shall be cursed, and he whom you have blessed +shall be crowned with blessings." + +We have in history instances of these devotings and maledictions, and +evocations of the tutelary gods of cities by magic art. The ancients +kept very secret the proper names of towns,[547] for fear that if they +came to the knowledge of the enemy, they might make use of them in +their invocations, which to their mind had no might unless the proper +name of the town was expressed. The usual names of Rome, Tyre, and +Carthage, were not their true and secret names. Rome, for instance, +was called Valentia, a name known to very few persons, and Valerius +Soranus was severely punished for having revealed it. + +Macrobius[548] has preserved for us the formula of a solemn devoting +or dooming of a city, and of imprecations against her, by devoting her +to some hurtful and dangerous demon. We find in the heathen poets a +great number of these invocations and magical doomings, to inspire a +dangerous passion, or to occasion maladies. It is surprising that +these superstitious and abominable practices should have gained +entrance among Christians, and have been dreaded by persons who ought +to have known their vanity and impotency. + +Tacitus relates[549] that at the death of Germanicus, who was said to +have been poisoned by Piso and Plautina, there were found in the +ground and in the walls bones of human bodies, doomings, and charms, +or magic verses, with the name of Germanicus engraved upon thin plates +of lead steeped in corrupted blood, half-burnt ashes, and other +charms, by virtue of which it was believed that spirits could be +evoked. + + +Footnotes: + +[539] Theocrit Idyl. ii. + +[540] + "Lanea et effigies erat, altera cerea major + Lanea, que poenis compesceret inferiorem. + Cerea suppliciter stabat, servilibus ut quĉ + Jam peritura modis.... + Et imagine cereâ + Largior arserit ignis." + +[541] + "An quĉ movere cereas imagines, + Ut ipse curiosus, et polo + Deripere lunam." + +[542] + "Limus ut hic durescit, et hĉc ut cera liquescit. + Uno eodemque igni; sic nostro Daphnis amore."--_Virgil, Eclog._ + +[543] Lucian in Philops. + +[544] Numb. xxi. 3. + +[545] Deut. vii. 2, 3; xii. 1-3, &c. + +[546] Numb. xxii. 5, &c. + +[547] Peir. lib. iii. c. 5; xxviii. c. 2. + +[548] Macrobius, lib. iii. c. 9. + +[549] Tacit. Ann. lib. ii. art. 69. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +INSTANCES OF DEVOTING OR DOOMING AMONGST CHRISTIANS. + + +Hector Boëthius,[550] in his History of Scotland, relates that Duffus, +king of that country, falling ill of a disorder unknown to the +physicians, was consumed by a slow fever, passed his nights without +sleep, and insensibly wasted away; his body melted in perspiration +every night; he became weak, languid, and in a dying state, without, +however, his pulse undergoing any alteration. Everything was done to +relieve him, but uselessly. His life was despaired of, and those about +him began to suspect some evil spell. In the mean time, the people of +Moray, a county of Scotland, mutinied, supposing that the king must +soon sink under his malady. + +It was whispered abroad that the king had been bewitched by some +witches who lived at Forres, a little town in the north of Scotland. +People were sent there to arrest them, and they were surprised in +their dwellings, where one of them was basting an image of King +Duffus, made of wax, turning on a wooden spit before a large fire, +before which she was reciting certain magical prayers; and she +affirmed that as the figure melted the king would lose his strength, +and at last he would die when the figure should be entirely melted. +These women declared that they had been hired to perform these evil +spells by the principal men of the county of Moray, who only awaited +the king's decease to burst into open revolt. + +These witches were immediately arrested and burnt at the stake. The +king was much better, and in a few days he perfectly recovered his +health. This account is found also in the History of Scotland by +Buchanan, who says he heard it from his elders. + +He makes the King Duffus live in 960, and he who has added notes to +the text of these historians, says that this custom of melting waxen +images by magic art, to occasion the death of certain persons, was not +unknown to the Romans, as appears from Virgil and Ovid; and of this we +have related a sufficient number of instances. But it must be owned +that all which is related concerning it is very doubtful; not that +wizards and witches have not been found who have attempted to cause +the death of persons of high rank by these means, and who attributed +the effect to the demon, but there is little appearance that they ever +succeeded in it. If magicians possessed the secret of thus occasioning +the death of any one they pleased, where is the prince, prelate, or +lord who would be safe? If they could thus roast them slowly to death, +why not kill them at once, by throwing the waxen image in the fire? +Who can have given such power to the devil? Is it the Almighty, to +satisfy the revenge of an insignificant woman, or the jealousy of +lovers of either sex? + +M. de St. André, physician to the king, in his Letters on Witchcraft, +would explain the effects of these devotings, supposing them to be +true, by the evaporation of animal spirits, which, proceeding from the +bodies of the wizards or witches, and uniting with the atoms which +fall from the wax, and the atoms of the fire, which render them still +more pungent, should fly towards the person they desire to bewitch, +and cause in him or her sensations of heat or pain, more or less +violent according to the action of the fire. But I do not think that +this clever man finds many to approve of his idea. The shortest way, +in my opinion, would be, to deny the effects of these charms; for if +these effects are real, they are inexplicable by physics, and can only +be attributed to the devil. + +We read in the History of the Archbishops of Treves that Eberard, +archbishop of that church, who died in 1067, having threatened to send +away the Jews from his city, if they did not embrace Christianity, +these unhappy people, being reduced to despair, suborned an +ecclesiastic, who for money baptized for them, by the name of the +bishop, a waxen image, to which they tied wicks or wax tapers, and +lighted them on Holy Saturday (Easter Eve), as the prelate was going +solemnly to administer the baptismal rite. + +Whilst he was occupied in this holy function, the statue being half +consumed, Eberard felt himself extremely ill; he was led into the +vestry, where he soon after expired. + +The Pope John XXII., in 1317, complained, in public letters, that some +scoundrels had attempted his life by similar operations; and he +appeared persuaded of their power, and that he had been preserved from +death only by the particular protection of God. "We inform you," says +he, "that some traitors have conspired against us, and against some of +our brothers the cardinals, and have prepared beverages and images to +take away our life, which they have sought to do on every occasion; +but God has always preserved us." The letter is dated the 27th of +July. + +From the 27th of February, the pope had issued a commission to inform +against these poisoners; his letter is addressed to Bartholomew, +Bishop of Fréjus, who had succeeded the pope in that see, and to +Peter Tessier, doctor _en decret_, afterwards cardinal. The pope says +therein, in substance--We have heard that John de Limoges, Jacques de +Crabançon, Jean d'Arrant, physician, and some others, have applied +themselves, through a damnable curiosity, to necromancy and other +magical arts, on which they have books; that they have often made use +of mirrors, and images consecrated in their manner; that, placing +themselves within circles, they have often invoked the evil spirits to +occasion the death of men by the might of their enchantments, or by +sending maladies which abridge their days. Sometimes they have +enclosed demons in mirrors, or circles, or rings, to interrogate them, +not only on the past, but on the future, and made predictions. They +pretend to have made many experiments in these matters, and fearlessly +assert, that they can not only by means of certain beverages, or +certain meats, but by simple words, abridge or prolong life, and cure +all sorts of diseases. + +The pope gave a similar commission, April 22d, 1317, to the Bishop of +Riés, to the same Pierre Tessier, to Pierre Després, and two others, +to inquire into the conspiracy formed against him and against the +cardinals; and in this commission he says:--"They have prepared +beverages to poison us, and not having been able conveniently to make +us take them, they have had waxen images, made with our names, to +attack our lives, by pricking these images with magical enchantments, +and innovations of demons; but God has preserved us, and caused three +of these images to fall into our hands." + +We see a description of similar charms in a letter, written three +years after, to the Inquisitor of Carcassone, by William de Godin, +Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina, in which he says:--"The pope commands you +to inquire and proceed against those who sacrifice to demons, worship +them, or pay them homage, by giving them for a token a written paper, +or something else, to bind the demon, or to work some charm by +invoking him; who, abusing the sacrament of baptism, baptize images of +wax, or of other matters with invocation of demons; who abuse the +eucharist, or consecrated wafer, or other sacraments, by exercising +their evil spells. You will proceed against them with the prelates, as +you do in matters of heresy; for the pope gives you the power to do +so." The letter is dated from Avignon, the 22d of August, 1320. + +At the trial of Enguerrand de Marigni, they brought forward a wizard +whom they had surprised making waxen images, representing King Louis +le Hutin and Charles de Valois, and meaning to kill them by pricking +or melting these images. + +It is related also that Cosmo Rugieri, a Florentine, a great atheist +and pretended magician, had a secret chamber, where he shut himself up +alone, and pricked with a needle a wax image representing the king, +after having loaded it with maledictions and devoted it to destruction +by horrible enchantments, hoping thus to cause the prince to languish +away and die. + +Whether these conjurations, these waxen images, these magical words, +may have produced their effects or not, it proves at any rate the +opinion that was entertained on the subject--the ill will of the +wizards, and the fear in which they were held. Although their +enchantments and imprecations might not be followed by any effect, it +is apparently thought that experience on that point made them dreaded, +whether with reason or not. + +The general ignorance of physics made people at that time take many +things to be supernatural which were simply the effects of natural +causes; and as it is certain, as our faith teaches us, that God has +often permitted demons to deceive mankind by prodigies, and do them +injury by extraordinary means, it was supposed without examining into +the matter that there was an art of magic and sure rules for +discovering certain secrets, or causing certain evils by means of +demons; as if God had not always been the Supreme Master, to permit or +to hinder them; or as if He would have ratified the compacts made with +evil spirits. + +But on examining closely this pretended magic, we have found nothing +but poisonings, attended by superstition and imposture. All that we +have just related of the effects of magic, enchantments, and +witchcraft, which were pretended to cause such terrible effects on the +bodies and the possessions of mankind, and all that is recounted of +doomings, evocations, and magic figures, which, being consumed by +fire, occasioned the death of those who were destined or enchanted, +relate but very imperfectly to the affair of vampires, which we are +treating of in this volume; unless it may be said that those ghosts +are raised and evoked by magic art, and that the persons who fancy +themselves strangled and finally stricken with death by vampires, only +suffer these miseries through the malice of the demon, who makes their +deceased parents or relations appear to them, and produces all these +effects upon them; or simply strikes the imagination of the persons to +whom it happens, and makes them believe that it is their deceased +relations, who come to torment and kill them; although in all this it +is only an imagination strongly affected which acts upon them. + +We may also connect with the history of ghosts what is related of +certain persons who have promised each other to return after their +death, and to reveal what passes in the other world, and the state in +which they find themselves. + + +Footnotes: + +[550] Hector Boëthius, Hist. Scot. lib. xi. c. 216, 219. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE PROMISED TO GIVE EACH OTHER NEWS OF THE +OTHER WORLD AFTER THEIR DEATH. + + +The story of the Marquis de Rambouillet, who appeared after his death +to the Marquis de Précy, is very celebrated. These two lords, +conversing on the subject of the other world, like people who were not +very strongly persuaded of the truth of all that is said upon it, +promised each other that the first of the two who died should bring +the news of it to the other. The Marquis de Rambouillet set off for +Flanders, where the war was then carried on; and the Marquis de Précy +remained at Paris, detained by a low fever. Six weeks after, in broad +day, he heard some one undraw his bed-curtains, and turning to see who +it was, he perceived the Marquis de Rambouillet, in buff-leather +jacket and boots. He sprang from his bed to embrace his friend; but +Rambouillet, stepping back a few paces, told him that he was come to +keep his word as he had promised--that all that was said of the next +life was very certain--that he must change his conduct, and in the +first action wherein he was engaged he would lose his life. + +Précy again attempted to embrace his friend, but he embraced only +empty air. Then Rambouillet, seeing that his friend was incredulous as +to what he said, showed him where he had received the wound in his +side, whence the blood still seemed to flow. Précy soon after +received, by the post, confirmation of the death of the Marquis de +Rambouillet; and being himself some time after, during the civil wars, +at the battle of the Faubourg of St. Antoine, he was there killed. + +Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Clugni,[551] relates a very similar +story. A gentleman named Humbert, son of a lord named Guichard de +Belioc, in the diocese of Macon, having declared war against the other +principal men in his neighborhood, a gentleman named Geoffrey d'Iden +received in the mélée a wound of which he died immediately. + +About two months afterwards, this same Geoffrey appeared to a +gentleman named Milo d'Ansa, and begged him to tell Humbert de Belioc, +in whose service he had lost his life, that he was tormented for +having assisted him in an unjust war, and for not having expiated his +sins by penance before he died; that he begged him to have compassion +on him, and on his own father, Guichard, who had left him great +wealth, of which he made a bad use, and of which a part had been badly +acquired. That in truth Guichard, the father of Humbert, had embraced +a religious life at Clugni; but that he had not time to satisfy the +justice of God for the sins of his past life; that he conjured him to +have mass performed for him and for his father, to give alms, and to +employ the prayers of good people, to procure them both a prompt +deliverance from the pains they endured. He added, "Tell him, that if +he will not mind what you say, I shall be obliged to go to him myself, +and announce to him what I have just told you." + +Milo d'Ansa acquitted himself faithfully of his commission; Humbert +was frightened at it, but it did not make him better. Still, fearing +that Guichard, his father, or Geoffrey d'Iden might come and disturb +him, above all during the night, he dare not remain alone, and would +always have one of his people by him. + +One morning, then, as he was lying awake in his bed, he beheld in his +presence Geoffrey, armed as in a day of battle, who showed him the +mortal wound he had received, and which appeared yet quite fresh. He +reproached him keenly for his want of pity towards his own father, who +was groaning in torment. "Take care," added he, "that God does not +treat you rigorously, and refuse to you that mercy which you refuse to +us; and, above all, take care not to execute your intention of going +to the wars with Count Amedeus. If you go, you will there lose both +life and property." + +He said, and Humbert was about to reply, when the Squire Vichard de +Maracy, Humbert's counselor, arrived from mass, and immediately the +dead man disappeared. From that moment, Humbert endeavored seriously +to relieve his father Geoffrey, and resolved to take a journey to +Jerusalem to expiate his sins. Peter the Venerable had been well +informed of all the details of this story, which occurred in the year +he went into Spain, and made a great noise in the country. The +Cardinal Baronius,[552] a very grave and respectable man, says that he +had heard from several very sensible people, and who have often heard +it preached to the people, and in particular from Michael Mercati, +Prothonotary of the Holy See, a man of acknowledged probity and well +informed, above all in the platonic philosophy, to which he applied +himself unweariedly with Marsilius Ficin, his friend, as zealous as +himself for the doctrine of Plato. + +One day, these two great philosophers were conversing on the +immortality of the soul, and if it remained and existed after the +death of the body. After having had much discourse on this matter, +they promised each other, and shook hands upon it, that the first of +them who quitted this world should come and tell the other somewhat of +the state of the other life. + +Having thus separated, it happened some time afterwards that the same +Michael Mercati, being wide awake and studying, one morning very +early, the same philosophical matters, heard on a sudden a noise like +a horseman who was coming hastily to his door, and at the same he +heard the voice of his friend Marsilius Ficin, who cried out to him, +"Michael, Michael, nothing is more true than what is said of the other +life." At the same, Michael opened his window, and saw Marsilius +mounted on a white horse, who was galloping away. Michael cried out to +him to stop, but he continued his course till Michael could no longer +see him. + +Marsilius Ficin was at that time dwelling at Florence, and died there +at the same hour that he had appeared and spoken to his friend. The +latter wrote directly to Florence, to inquire into the truth of the +circumstance; and they replied to him that Marsilius had died at the +same moment that Michael had heard his voice and the noise of his +horse at his door. Ever after that adventure, Michael Mercati, +although very regular in his conduct before then, became quite an +altered man, and lived in so exemplary a manner that he became a +perfect model of Christian life. We find a great many such instances +in Henri Morus, and in Joshua Grandville, in his work entitled +"Sadduceeism Combated." + +Here is one taken from the life of B. Joseph de Lionisse, a missionary +capuchin.[553] One day, when he was conversing with his companion on +the duties of religion, and the fidelity which God requires of those +who have consecrated themselves to them, of the reward reserved for +those who are perfectly religious, and the severe justice which he +exercises against unfaithful servants, Brother Joseph said to him, +"Let us promise each other mutually that the one who dies the first +will appear to the other, if God allows him so to do, to inform him of +what passes in the other world, and the condition in which he finds +himself." "I am willing," replied the holy companion; "I give you my +word upon it." "And I pledge you mine," replied Brother Joseph. + +Some days after this, the pious companion was attacked by a malady +which brought him to the tomb. Brother Joseph felt this the more +sensibly, because he knew better than the others all the virtues of +this holy monk. He had no doubt of the fulfilment of their agreement, +or that the deceased would appear to him, when he least thought of it, +to acquit himself of his promise. + +In effect, one day when Brother Joseph had retired to his room, in the +afternoon, he saw a young capuchin enter horribly haggard, with a pale +thin face, who saluted him with a feeble, trembling voice. As, at the +sight of this spectre, Joseph appeared a little disturbed, "Don't be +alarmed," it said to him; "I am come here as permitted by God, to +fulfill my promise, and to tell you that I have the happiness to be +amongst the elect through the mercy of the Lord. But learn that it is +even more difficult to be saved than is thought in this world; that +God, whose wisdom can penetrate the most secret folds of the heart, +weighs exactly the actions which we have done during life, the +thoughts, wishes, and motives, which we propose to ourselves in +acting; and as much as he is inexorable in regard to sinners, so much +is he good, indulgent, and rich in mercy, towards those just souls who +have served him in this life." At these words, the phantom +dissappeared. + +Here follows an instance of a spirit which comes after death to visit +his friend without having made an agreement with him to do so.[554] +Peter Garmate, Bishop of Cracow, was translated to the archbishopric +of Gnesnes, in 1548, and obtained a dispensation from Paul III. to +retain still his bishopric of Cracow. This prelate, after having led a +very irregular life during his youth, began towards the end of his +life, to perform many charitable actions, feeding every day a hundred +poor, to whom he sent food from his own table. And when he traveled, +he was followed by two wagons, loaded with coats and shirts, which he +distributed amongst the poor according as they needed them. + +One day, when he was preparing to go to church, towards evening, (it +being the eve of a festival,) and he was alone in his closet, he +suddenly beheld before him a gentleman named Curosius, who had been +dead some time, with whom he had formerly been too intimately +associated in evil doing. + +The Archbishop Gamrate was at first affrighted, but the defunct +reassured him and told him that he was of the number of the blessed. +"What!" said the prelate to him; "after such a life as you led! For +you know the excesses which both you and myself committed in our +youth." "I know it," replied the defunct; "but this is what saved me. +One day, when in Germany, I found myself with a man who uttered +blasphemous discourse, most injurious to the Holy Virgin. I was +irritated at it, and gave him a blow; we drew our swords; I killed +him; and for fear of being arrested and punished as a homicide, I +took flight without reflecting much on the action I had committed. But +at the hour of death, I found myself most terribly disturbed by +remorse on my past life, and I only expected certain destruction; when +the Holy Virgin came to my aid, and made such powerful intercession +for me with her Son, that she obtained for me the pardon of my sins; +and I have the happiness to enjoy beatitude. For yourself, who have +only six months to live, I am sent to warn you, that in consideration +of your alms, and your charity to the poor, God will show you mercy, +and expects you to do penance. Profit while it is time, and expiate +your past sins." After having said this, he disappeared; and the +archbishop, bursting into tears, began to live in so Christianly a +manner that he was the edification of all who knew him. He related the +circumstance to his most intimate friends, and died in 1545, after +having directed the Church of Gnesnes for about five years. + +The daughter of Dumoulin, a celebrated lawyer, having been inhumanly +massacred in her dwelling,[555] appeared by night to her husband, who +was wide awake, and declared to him the names of those who had killed +herself and her children, conjuring him to revenge her death. + + +Footnotes: + +[551] Biblioth. Cluniĉ. de Miraculis, lib. i. c. 7, p. 1290. + +[552] Baronius ad an. Christi 401. Annal. tom. v. + +[553] Tom. i. p. 64, _et seq._ + +[554] Stephâni Damalevini Historia, p. 291. apud Ranald continuat +Baronii, ad. an. 1545. tom. xxi art. 62. + +[555] Le Loyer, lib. iii. pp. 46, 47. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +EXTRACT FROM THE POLITICAL WORKS OF M. L'ABBE DE ST. PIERRE.[556] + + +I was told lately at Valogne, that a good priest of the town who +teaches the children to read, had had an apparition in broad day ten +or twelve years ago. As that had made a great deal of noise at first +on account of his reputation for probity and sincerity, I had the +curiosity to hear him relate his adventure himself. A lady, one of my +relations, who was acquainted with him, sent to invite him to dine +with her yesterday, the 7th of January, 1708, and as on the one hand I +showed a desire to learn the thing from himself, and on the other it +was a kind of honorable distinction to have had by daylight an +apparition of one of his comrades, he related it before dinner without +requiring to be pressed, and in a very naïve manner. + + +CIRCUMSTANCE. + +"In 1695," said M. Bezuel to us, "being a schoolboy of about fifteen +years of age, I became acquainted with the two children of M. +Abaquene, attorney, schoolboys like myself. The eldest was of my own +age, the second was eighteen months younger; he was named +Desfontaines; we took all our walks and all our parties of pleasure +together, and whether it was that Desfontaines had more affection for +me, or that he was more gay, obliging, and clever than his brother, I +loved him the best. + +"In 1696, we were walking both of us in the cloister of the Capuchins. +He told me that he had lately read a story of two friends who had +promised each other that the first of them who died should come and +bring news of his condition to the one still living; that the one who +died came back to earth, and told his friend surprising things. Upon +that, Desfontaines told me that he had a favor to ask of me; that he +begged me to grant it instantly: it was to make him a similar promise, +and on his part he would do the same. I told him that I would not. For +several months he talked to me of it, often and seriously; I always +resisted his wish. At last, towards the month of August, 1696, as he +was to leave to go and study at Caen, he pressed me so much with tears +in his eyes, that I consented to it. He drew out at that moment two +little papers which he had ready written: one was signed with his +blood, in which he promised me that in case of his death he would come +and bring me news of his condition; in the other I promised him the +same thing. I pricked my finger; a drop of blood came, with which I +signed my name. He was delighted to have my billet, and embracing me, +he thanked me a thousand times. + +"Some time after, he set off with his brother. Our separation caused +us much grief, but we wrote to each other now and then, and it was but +six weeks since I had had a letter from him, when what I am going to +relate to you happened to me. + +"The 31st of July, 1697, one Thursday--I shall remember it all my +life--the late M. Sortoville, with whom I lodged, and who had been +very kind to me, begged of me to go to a meadow near the Cordeliers, +and help his people, who were making hay, to make haste. I had not +been there a quarter of an hour, when about half-past-two, I all of a +sudden felt giddy and weak. In vain I leant upon my hay-fork; I was +obliged to place myself on a little hay, where I was nearly half an +hour recovering my senses. That passed off; but as nothing of the kind +had ever occurred to me before, I was surprised at it and feared it +might be the commencement of an illness. Nevertheless it did not make +much impression upon me during the remainder of the day. It is true I +did not sleep that night so well as usual. + +"The next day, at the same hour, as I was conducting to the meadow M. +de St. Simon, the grandson of M. de Sortoville, who was then ten years +old, I felt myself seized on the way with a similar faintness, and I +sat down on a stone in the shade. That passed off, and we continued +our way; nothing more happened to me that day, and at night I had +hardly any sleep. + +"At last, on the morrow, the second day of August, being in the loft +where they laid up the hay they brought from the meadow, I was taken +with a similar giddiness and a similar faintness, but still more +violent than the other. I fainted away completely; one of the men +perceived it. I have been told that I was asked what was the matter +with me, and that I replied, 'I have seen what I should never have +believed;' but I have no recollection of either the question or the +answer. That, however, accords with what I do remember to have seen +just then; as it were some one naked to the middle, but whom, however, +I did not recognize. They helped me down from the ladder. The +faintness seized me again, my head swam as I was between two rounds of +the ladder, and again I fainted. They took me down and placed me on a +large beam which served for a seat in the large square of the +capuchins. I sat down on it and then I no longer saw M. de Sortoville +nor his domestics, although present; but perceiving Desfontaines near +the foot of the ladder, who made me a sign to come to him, I moved on +my seat as if to make room for him; and those who saw me and whom I +did not see, although my eyes were open, remarked this movement. + +"As he did not come, I rose to go to him. He advanced towards me, took +my left arm with his right arm, and led me about thirty paces from +thence into a retired street, holding me still under the arm. The +domestics, supposing that my giddiness had passed off, and that I had +purposely retired, went every one to their work, except a little +servant, who went and told M. de Sortoville that I was talking all +alone. M. de Sortoville thought I was tipsy; he drew near, and heard +me ask some questions, and make some answers, which he has told me +since. + +"I was there nearly three-quarters of an hour, conversing with +Desfontaines. 'I promised you,' said he to me, 'that if I died before +you I would come and tell you of it. I was drowned the day before +yesterday in the river of Caen, at nearly this same hour. I was out +walking with such and such a one. It was very warm, and we had a wish +to bathe; a faintness seized me in the water, and I fell to the +bottom. The Abbé de Menil-Jean, my comrade, dived to bring me up. I +seized hold of his foot; but whether he was afraid it might be a +salmon, because I held him so fast, or that he wished to remount +promptly to the surface of the water, he shook his leg so roughly, +that he gave me a violent kick on the breast, which sent me to the +bottom of the river, which is there very deep. + +"Desmoulins related to me afterwards all that had occurred to them in +their walk, and the subjects they had conversed upon. It was in vain +for me to ask him questions--whether he was saved, whether he was +damned, if he was in purgatory, if I was in a state of grace, and if I +should soon follow him; he continued to discourse as if he had not +heard me, and as if he would not hear me. + +"I approached him several times to embrace him, but it seemed to me +that I embraced nothing, and yet I felt very sensibly that he held me +tightly by the arm, and that when I tried to turn away my head that I +might not see him, because I could not look at him without feeling +afflicted, he shook my arm as if to oblige me to look at and listen to +him. + +"He always appeared to me taller than I had seen him, and taller even +than he was at the time of his death, although he had grown during the +eighteen months in which we had not met. I beheld him always naked to +the middle of his body, his head uncovered, with his fine fair hair, +and a white scroll twisted in his hair over his forehead, on which +there was some writing, but I could only make out the word _in_, &c. + +"It was his same tone of voice. He appeared to me neither gay nor sad, +but in a calm and tranquil state. He begged of me when his brother +returned, to tell him certain things to say to his father and mother. +He begged me to say the Seven Psalms which had been given him as a +penance the preceding Sunday, which he had not yet recited; again he +recommended me to speak to his brother, and then he bade me adieu, +saying, as he left me, _Jusques_, _jusques_, (_till_, _till_,) which +was the usual term he made use of when at the end of our walk we bade +each other good-bye, to go home. + +"He told me that at the time he was drowned, his brother, who was +writing a translation, regretted having let him go without +accompanying him, fearing some accident. He described to me so well +where he was drowned, and the tree in the avenue of Louvigni on which +he had written a few words, that two years afterwards, being there +with the late Chevalier de Gotol, one of those who were with him at +the time he was drowned, I pointed out to him the very spot; and by +counting the trees in a particular direction which Desfontaines had +specified to me, I went straight up to the tree, and I found his +writing. He (the Chevalier) told me also that the article of the Seven +Psalms was true, and that on coming from confession they had told each +other their penance; and since then his brother has told me that it +was quite true that at that hour he was writing his exercise, and he +reproached himself for not having accompanied his brother. As nearly a +month passed by without my being able to do what Desfontaines had told +me in regard to his brother, he appeared to me again twice before +dinner at a country house whither I had gone to dine a league from +hence. I was very faint. I told them not to mind me, that it was +nothing, and that I should soon recover myself; and I went to a +corner of the garden. Desfontaines having appeared to me, reproached +me for not having yet spoken to his brother, and again conversed with +me for a quarter of an hour without answering any of my questions. + +"As I was going in the morning to Notre-Dame de la Victoire, he +appeared to me again, but for a shorter time, and pressed me always to +speak to his brother, and left me, saying still, _Jusques_, _Jusques_, +and without choosing to reply to my questions. + +"It is a remarkable thing that I always felt a pain in that part of my +arm which he had held me by the first time, until I had spoken to his +brother. I was three days without being able to sleep, from the +astonishment and agitation I felt. At the end of the first +conversation, I told M. de Varonville, my neighbor and schoolfellow, +that Desfontaines had been drowned; that he himself had just appeared +to me and told me so. He went away and ran to the parents' house to +know if it was true; they had just received the news, but by a mistake +he understood that it was the eldest. He assured me that he had read +the letter of Desfontaines, and he believed it; but I maintained +always that it could not be, and that Desfontaines himself had +appeared to me. He returned, came back, and told me in tears that it +was but too true. + +"Nothing has occurred to me since, and there is my adventure just as +it happened. It has been related in various ways; but I have recounted +it only as I have just told it to you. The Chevalier de Gotol told me +that Desfontaines had appeared also to M. de Menil-Jean; but I am not +acquainted with him; he lives twenty leagues from hence near Argentan, +and I can say no more about it." + +This is a very singular and circumstantial narrative, related by M. +l'Abbé de St. Pierre, who is by no means credulous, and sets his whole +mind and all his philosophy to explain the most extraordinary events +by physical reasonings, by the concurrence of atoms, corpuscles, +insensible evaporation of spirit, and perspiration. But all that is so +far-fetched, and does such palpable violence to the subjects and the +attending circumstances, that the most credulous would not yield to +such arguments. It is surprising that these gentlemen, who pique +themselves on strength of mind, and so haughtily reject everything +that appears supernatural, can so easily admit philosophical systems +much more incredible than even the facts they oppose. They raise +doubts which are often very ill-founded, and attack them upon +principles still more uncertain. That may be called refuting one +difficulty by another, and resolving a doubt by principles still more +doubtful. + +But, it will be said, whence comes it that so many other persons who +had engaged themselves to come and bring news of the immortality of +the soul, after their death, have not come back. Seneca speaks of a +Stoic philosopher named Julius Canus, who, having been condemned to +death by Julius Cĉsar, said aloud that he was about to learn the truth +of that question on which they were divided; to wit, whether the soul +was immortal or not. And we do not read that he revisited this world. +La Motte de Vayer had agreed with his friend Baranzan Barnabite that +the first of the two who died should warn the other of the state in +which he found himself. Baranzan died, and returned not. + +Because the dead sometimes return to earth, it would be imprudent to +conclude that they always do so. And it would be equally wrong +reasoning to say that they never do return, because having promised to +revisit this world they have not done so. For that, we should imagine +that it is in the power of spirits to return and make their appearance +when they will, and if they will; but it seems indubitable, that on +the contrary, it is not in their power, and that it is only by the +express permission of God that disembodied spirits sometimes appear to +the living. + +We see, in the history of the bad rich man, that God would not grant +him the favor which he asked, to send to earth some of those who were +with him in hell. Similar reasons, derived from the hardness of heart +or the incredulity of mortals, may have prevented, in the same manner, +the return of Julius Canus or of Baranzan. The return of spirits and +their apparition is neither a natural thing nor dependent on the +choice of those who are dead. It is a supernatural effect, and allied +to the miraculous. + +St. Augustine says on this subject[557] that if the dead interest +themselves in what concerns the living, St. Monica, his mother, who +loved him so tenderly, and went with him by sea and land everywhere +during her life, would not have failed to visit him every night, and +come to console him in his troubles; for we must not suppose that she +was become less compassionate since she became one of the blest: +_absit ut facta sit vitâ feliciore crudelis_. + +The return of spirits, their apparition, the execution of the promises +which certain persons have made each other, to come and tell their +friends what passes in the other world, is not in their own power. All +that is in the hands of God. + + +Footnotes: + +[556] Vol. iv. p. 57. + +[557] Aug. de Cura gerend. pro Mortuis, c. xiii. p. 526. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +DIVERS SYSTEMS FOR EXPLAINING THE RETURN OF SPIRITS. + + +The affair of ghosts having made so much noise in the world as it has +done, it is not surprising that a diversity of systems should have +been formed upon it, and that so many manners should have been +proposed to explain their return to earth and their operations. + +Some have thought that it was a momentary resurrection caused by the +soul of the defunct, which re-entered his body, or by the demon, who +reanimated him, and caused him to act for a while, whilst his blood +retained its consistency and fluidity, and his organic functions were +not entirely corrupted and deranged. + +Others, struck with the consequence of such principles, and the +arguments which might be deduced from them, have liked better to +suppose that these vampires were not really dead; that they still +retained certain seeds of life, and that their spirits could from time +to time reanimate and bring them out of their tombs, to make their +appearance amongst men, take refreshment, and renew the nourishing +juices and animal spirits by sucking the blood of their near kindred. + +There has lately been printed a dissertation on the uncertainty of the +signs of death, and the abuse of hasty interments, by M. Jacques +Benigne Vinslow, Doctor, Regent of the Faculty at Paris, translated, +with a commentary, by Jacques Jean Bruhier, physician, at Paris, 1742, +in 8vo. This work may serve to explain how persons who have been +believed to be dead, and have been buried as such, have nevertheless +been found alive a pretty long time after their funeral obsequies had +been performed. That will perhaps render vampirism less incredible. + +M. Vinslow, Doctor, and Regent of the Medical Faculty at Paris, +maintained, in the month of April, 1740, a thesis, in which he asks if +the experiments of surgery are fitter than all others to discover some +less uncertain signs of doubtful death. He therein maintained that +there are several occurrences in which the signs of death are very +doubtful; and he adduces several instances of persons believed to be +dead, and interred as such, who nevertheless were afterwards found to +be alive. + +M. Bruhier, M.D., has translated this thesis into French, and has +made some learned additions to it, which serve to strengthen the +opinion of M. Vinslow. The work is very interesting, from the matter +it treats upon, and very agreeable to read, from the manner in which +it is written. I am about to make some extracts from it, which may be +useful to my subject. I shall adhere principally to the most certain +and singular facts; for to relate them all, we must transcribe the +whole work. + +It is known that John Duns, surnamed Scot,[558] or the Subtile Doctor, +had the misfortune to be interred alive at Cologne, and that when his +tomb was opened some time afterwards, it was found that he had gnawn +his arm.[559] The same thing is related of the Emperor Zeno, who made +himself heard from the depth of his tomb by repeated cries to those +who were watching over him. Lancisi, a celebrated physician of the +Pope Clement XI., relates that at Rome he was witness to a person of +distinction being still alive when he wrote, who resumed sense and +motion whilst they were chanting his funeral service at church. + +Pierre Zacchias, another celebrated physician of Rome, says, that in +the hospital of the Saint Esprit, a young man, who was attacked with +the plague, fell into so complete a state of syncope, that he was +believed to be really dead. Whilst they were carrying his corpse, +along with a great many others, on the other side of the Tiber, the +young man gave signs of life. He was brought back to the hospital and +cured. Two days after, he fell into a similar syncope, and that time +he was reputed to be dead beyond recovery. He was placed amongst +others intended for burial, came to himself a second time, and was yet +living when Zacchias wrote. + +It is related, that a man named William Foxley, when forty years of +age,[560] falling asleep on the 27th of April, 1546, remained plunged +in sleep for fourteen days and fourteen nights, without any preceding +malady. He could not persuade himself that he had slept more than one +night, and was convinced of his long sleep only by being shown a +building begun some days before this drowsy attack, and which he +beheld completed on his awaking. It is said that in the time of Pope +Gregory II. a scholar of Lubec slept for seven years consecutively. +Lilius Giraldus[561] relates that a peasant slept through the whole +autumn and winter. + + +Footnotes: + +[558] Duns Scotus. + +[559] This fact is more than doubtful. Bzovius, for having advanced it +upon the authority of some others, was called _Bovius_, that is, +"Great Ox." It is, therefore, better to stand by what Moreri thought +of it. "The enemies of Scotus have proclaimed," says he, "that, having +died of apoplexy, he was at first interred, and, some time after this +accident having elapsed, he died in despair, gnawing his hands. But +this calumny, which was authorized by Paulus Jovius, Latomias, and +Bzovius, has been so well refuted that no one now will give credit to +it." + +[560] Larrey, in Henri VIII. Roi d'Angleterre. + +[561] Lilius Giraldus, Hist. Poët. Dialog. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +VARIOUS INSTANCES OF PERSONS BEING BURIED ALIVE. + + +Plutarch relates that a man who fell from a great height, having +pitched upon his neck, was believed to be dead, without there being +the appearance of any hurt. As they were carrying him to be buried, +the day after, he all at once recovered his strength and his senses. +Asclepiades[562] meeting a great funeral train of a person they were +taking to be interred, obtained permission to look at and to touch the +dead man; he found some signs of life in him, and by means of proper +remedies, he immediately recalled him to life, and restored him in +sound health to his parents and relations. + +There are several instances of persons who after being interred came +to themselves, and lived a long time in perfect health. They relate in +particular,[563] that a woman of Orleans was buried in a cemetery, +with a ring on her finger, which they had not been able to draw off +her finger when she was placed in her coffin. The following night, a +domestic, attracted by the hope of gain, broke open the coffin, and as +he could not tear the ring off her finger, was about to cut her finger +off, when she uttered a loud shriek. The servant fled. The woman +disengaged herself as she could from her winding sheet, returned home, +and survived her husband. + +M. Bernard, a principal surgeon at Paris, attests that, being with his +father at the parish of Réal, they took from the tombs, living and +breathing, a monk of the order of St. Francis, who had been shut up in +it three or four days, and who had gnawed his hands around the bands +which confined them. But he died almost the moment that he was in the +air. + +Several persons have made mention of that wife of a counselor of +Cologne,[564] who having been interred with a valuable ring on her +finger, in 1571, the grave-digger opened the grave the succeeding +night to steal the ring. But the good lady caught hold of him, and +forced him to take her out of the coffin. He, however, disengaged +himself from her hands, and fled. The resuscitated lady went and +rapped at the door of her house. At first they thought it was a +phantom, and left her a long time at the door, waiting anxiously to be +let in; but at last they opened it for her. They warmed her, and she +recovered her health perfectly, and had after that three sons, who all +belonged to the church. This event is represented on her sepulchre in +a picture, or painting, in which the story is represented, and +moreover, written, in German verses. + +It is added that the lady, in order to convince those of the house +that it was herself, told the footman who came to the door that the +horses had gone up to the hay-loft, which was true; and there are +still to be seen at the windows of the _grenier_ of that house, +horses' heads, carved in wood, as a sign of the truth of the matter. + +François de Civile, a Norman gentleman,[565] was the captain of a +hundred men in the city of Rouen, when it was besieged by Charles IX., +and he was then six-and-twenty. He was wounded to death at the end of +an assault; and having fallen into the moat, some pioneers placed him +in a grave with some other bodies, and covered them over with a little +earth. He remained there from eleven in the morning till half-past six +in the evening, when his servant went to disinter him. This domestic, +having remarked some signs of life, put him in a bed, where he +remained for five days and nights, without speaking, or giving any +other sign of feeling, but as burning hot with fever as he had been +cold in the grave. The city having been taken by storm, the servants +of an officer of the victorious army, who was to lodge in the house +wherein was Civile, threw the latter upon a paillasse in a back room, +whence his brother's enemies tossed him out of the window upon a +dunghill, where he remained for more than seventy-two hours in his +shirt. At the end of that time, one of his relations, surprised to +find him still alive, sent him to a league's distance from Rouen,[566] +where he was attended to, and at last was perfectly cured. + +During a great plague, which attacked the city of Dijon in 1558, a +lady, named Nicole Lentillet, being reputed dead of the epidemic, was +thrown into a great pit, wherein they buried the dead. The day after +her interment, in the morning, she came to herself again, and made +vain efforts to get out, but her weakness, and the weight of the other +bodies with which she was covered, prevented her doing so. She +remained in this horrible situation for four days, when the burial men +drew her out, and carried her back to her house, where she perfectly +recovered her health. + +A young lady of Augsburg,[567] having fallen into a swoon, or trance, +her body was placed under a deep vault, without being covered with +earth; but the entrance to this subterranean vault was closely walled +up. Some years after that time, some one of the same family died. The +vault was opened, and the body of the young lady was found at the very +entrance, without any fingers to her right hand, which she had +devoured in despair. + +On the 25th of July, 1688, there died at Metz a hair-dresser's boy, of +an apoplectic fit, in the evening, after supper. + +On the 28th of the same month, he was heard to moan again several +times. They took him out of his grave, and he was attended by doctors +and surgeons. The physician maintained, after he had been opened, that +the young man had not been dead two hours. This is extracted from the +manuscript of a bourgeois of Metz, who was cotemporary with him. + + +Footnotes: + +[562] Cels. lib. ii. c. 6. + +[563] Le P. Le Clerc, _ci devant_ attorney of the boarders of the +college of Louis le Grand. + +[564] Mísson, Voyage d'Italie, tom. i. Lettre 5. Goulart, des +Histoires admirables; et mémorables printed at Geneva, in 1678. + +[565] Mísson, Voyage, tom. iii. + +[566] Goulart, loca cetata. + +[567] M. Graffe, Epit. à Guil. Frabi, Centurie 2, observ chirurg. 516. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +INSTANCES OF DROWNED PERSONS RECOVERING THEIR HEALTH. + + +Here follow some instances of drowned persons[568] who came to +themselves several days after they were believed to be dead. Peclin +relates the story of a gardener of Troninghalm, in Sweden, who was +still alive, and sixty-five years of age, when the author wrote. This +man being on the ice to assist another man who had fallen into the +water, the ice broke under him, and he sunk under water to the depth +of eight ells, his feet sticking in the mud: he remained sixteen hours +before they drew him out of the water. In this condition, he lost all +sense, except that he thought he heard the bells ringing at Stockholm. +He felt the water, which entered his body, not by his mouth, but his +ears. After having sought for him during sixteen hours, they caught +hold of his head with a hook, and drew him out of the water; they +placed him between sheets, put him near the fire, rubbed him, shook +him, and at last brought him to himself. The king and court would see +him and hear his story, and gave him a pension. + +A woman of the same country, after having been three days in the +water, was also revived by the same means as the gardener. Another +person named Janas, having drowned himself at seventeen years of age, +was taken out of the water seven weeks after; they warmed him, and +brought him back to life. + +M. D'Egly, of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, at +Paris, relates, that a Swiss, an expert diver, having plunged down +into one of the hollows in the bed of the river, where he hoped to +find fine fish, remained there about nine hours; they drew him out of +the water after having hurt him in several places with their hooks. M. +D'Egly, seeing that the water bubbled strongly from his mouth, +maintained that he was not dead. They made him throw up as much water +as he could for three quarters of an hour, wrapped him up in hot +linen, put him to bed, bled him, and saved him. + +Some have been recovered after being seven weeks in the water, others +after a less time; for instance, Gocellin, a nephew of the Archbishop +of Cologne, having fallen into the Rhine, remained under water for +fifteen hours before they could find him again; at the end of that +time, they carried him to the tomb of St. Suitbert, and he recovered +his health.[569] + +The same St. Suitbert resuscitated also another young man who had been +drowned several hours. But the author who relates these miracles is of +no great authority. + +Several instances are related of drowned persons who have remained +under water for several days, and at last recovered and enjoyed good +health. In the second part of the dissertation on the uncertainty of +the signs of death, by M. Bruhier, physician, printed at Paris in +1744, pp. 102, 103, &c., it is shown that they have seen some who have +been under water forty-eight hours, others during three days, and +during eight days. He adds to this the example of the insect +chrysalis, which passes all the winter without giving any signs of +life, and the aquatic insects which remain all the winter motionless +in the mud; which also happens to the frogs and toads; ants even, +against the common opinion, are during the winter in a death-like +state, which ceases only on the return of spring. Swallows, in the +northern countries, bury themselves in heaps, in the lakes and ponds, +in rivers even, in the sea, in the sand, in the holes of walls, and +the hollows of trees, or at the bottom of caverns; whilst other kinds +of swallows cross the sea to find warmer and more temperate climes. + +What has just been said of swallows being found at the bottom of +lakes, ponds, and rivers, is commonly remarked in Silesia, Poland, +Bohemia, and Moravia. Sometimes even storks are fished up as if dead, +having their beaks fixed in the anus of one another; many of these +have been seen in the environs of Geneva, and even in the environs of +Metz, in the year 1467. + +To these may be added quails and herons. Sparrows and cuckoos have +been found during the winter in hollow trees, torpid and without the +least appearance of life, which being warmed recovered themselves and +took flight. We know that hedgehogs, marmots, sloths, and serpents, +live underground without breathing, and the circulation of the blood +is very feeble in them during all the winter. It is even said that +bears sleep during almost all that period. + + +Footnotes: + +[568] Guill. Derham, Extrait. Peclin, c. x. de aëre et alim. def. + +[569] Vita S. Suitberti, apud Surium, I. Martii. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +INSTANCES OF WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN BELIEVED TO BE DEAD, AND WHO HAVE +COME TO LIFE AGAIN. + + +Very clever physicians assert[570] that in cases of the suffocation of +the womb, a woman may live thirty days without breathing. I know that +a very excellent woman was six-and-thirty hours without giving any +sign of life. Everybody thought she was dead, and they wanted to +enshroud her, but her husband always opposed it. At the end of +thirty-six hours she came to herself, and has lived a long time since +then. She told them that she heard very well all that was said about +her, and knew that they wanted to lay her out; but her torpor was such +that she could not surmount it, and she should have let them do +whatever they pleased without the least resistance. + +This applies to what St. Augustine says of the priest Pretextas, who +in his trances and swoons heard, as if from afar off, what was said, +and nevertheless would have let himself be burned, and his flesh cut, +without opposing it or feeling it. + +Corneille le Bruyn,[571] in his Voyages, relates that he saw at +Damietta, in Egypt, a Turk whom they called the Dead Child, because +when his mother was with child with him, she fell ill, and as they +believed she was dead, they buried her pretty quickly, according to +the custom of the country, where they let the dead remain but a very +short time unburied, above all during the plague. She was put into a +vault which this Turk had for the sepulture of his family. + +Towards evening, some hours after the interment of this woman, it +entered the mind of the Turk her husband, that the child she bore +might still be alive; he then had the vault opened, and found that his +wife had delivered herself, and that his child was alive, but the +mother was dead. Some people said that the child had been heard to +cry, and that it was on receiving intimation of this that the father +had the tomb opened. This man, surnamed the Dead Child, was still +living in 1677. Le Bruyn thinks that the woman was dead when her child +was born; but being dead, it would not have been possible for her to +bring him into the world. It must be remembered, that in Egypt, where +this happened, the women have an extraordinary facility of delivery, +as both ancients and moderns bear witness, and that this woman was +simply shut up in a vault, without being covered with earth. + +A woman at Strasburg, who was with child, being reputed to be dead, +was buried in a subterranean vault;[572] at the end of some time, this +vault having been opened for another body to be placed in it, the +woman was found out of the coffin lying on the ground, and having +between her hands a child, of which she had delivered herself, and +whose arm she held in her mouth, as if she would fain eat it. + +Another woman, a Spaniard,[573] the wife of Francisco Aravallos, of +Suasso, being dead, or believed to be so, in the last months of her +pregnancy, was put in the ground; her husband, whom they had sent for +from the country, whither he had gone on business, would see his wife +at the church, and had her exhumed: hardly had they opened the coffin, +when they heard the cry of a child, who was making efforts to leave +the bosom of its mother. + +He was taken away alive and lived a long time, being known by the name +of the Child of the Earth; and since then he was lieutenant-general of +the town of Héréz, on the frontier of Spain. These instances might be +multiplied to infinity, of persons buried alive, and of others who +have recovered as they were being carried to the grave, and others who +have been taken out of it by fortuitous circumstances. Upon this +subject you may consult the new work of Messrs. Vinslow and Bruyer, +and those authors who have expressly treated on this subject.[574] +These gentlemen, the doctors, derive from thence a very wise and very +judicious conclusion, which is, that people should never be buried +without the absolute certainty of their being dead, above all in times +of pestilence, and in certain maladies in which those who are +suffering under them lose on a sudden both sense and motion. + + +Footnotes: + +[570] Le Clerc, Hist. de la Médecine. + +[571] Corneille le Bruyn, tom. i. p. 579. + +[572] Cronstand, Philos. veter. restit. + +[573] Gaspard Reïes, Campus Elysias jucund. + +[574] Page 167, des additions de M. Bruhier. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +CAN THESE INSTANCES BE APPLIED TO THE HUNGARIAN GHOSTS? + + +Some advantage of these instances and these arguments may be derived +in favor of vampirism, by saying that the ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, +and Poland are not really dead, that they continue to live in their +graves, although without motion and without respiration; the blood +which is found in them being fine and red, the flexibility of their +limbs, the cries which they utter when their heart is pierced or their +head being cut off, all prove that they still exist. + +That is not the principal difficulty which arrests my judgment; it is +to know how they come out of their graves without any appearance of +the earth having been removed, and how they have replaced it as it +was; how they appear dressed in their clothes, go and come, and eat. +If it is so, why do they return to their graves? why do they not +remain amongst the living? why do they suck the blood of their +relations? Why do they haunt and fatigue persons who ought to be dear +to them, and who have done nothing to offend them? If all that is only +imagination on the part of those who are molested, whence comes it +that these vampires are found in their graves in an uncorrupted state, +full of blood, supple, and pliable; that their feet are found to be in +a muddy condition the day after they have run about and frightened the +neighbors, and that nothing similar is remarked in the other corpses +interred at the same time and in the same cemetery. Whence does it +happen that they neither come back nor infest the place any more when +they are burned or impaled? Would it be again the imagination of the +living and their prejudices which reassure them after these +executions? Whence comes it that these scenes recur so frequently in +those countries, that the people are not cured of their prejudices, +and daily experience, instead of destroying, only augments and +strengthens them? + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +DEAD PERSONS WHO CHEW IN THEIR GRAVES LIKE HOGS, AND DEVOUR THEIR OWN +FLESH. + + +It is an opinion widely spread in Germany, that certain dead persons +chew in their graves, and devour whatever may be close to them; that +they are even heard to eat like pigs, with a certain low cry, and as +if growling and grunting. + +A German author,[575] named Michael Rauff, has composed a work, +entitled _De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis_--"Of the Dead who +Masticate in their Graves." He sets it down as a proved and sure +thing, that there are certain dead persons who have devoured the linen +and everything that was within reach of their mouth, and even their +own flesh, in their graves. He remarks,[576] that in some parts of +Germany, to prevent the dead from masticating, they place a motte of +earth under their chin in the coffin; elsewhere they place a little +piece of money and a stone in their mouth; elsewhere they tie a +handkerchief tightly round their throat. The author cites some German +writers who make mention of this ridiculous custom; he quotes several +others who speak of dead people that have devoured their own flesh in +their sepulchre. This work was printed at Leipsic in 1728. It speaks +of an author named Philip Rehrius, who printed in 1679 a treatise with +the same title--_De Masticatione Mortuorum_. + +He might have added to it the circumstance of Henry Count of +Salm,[577] who, being supposed to be dead, was interred alive; they +heard during the night, in the church of the Abbey of Haute-Seille, +where he was buried, loud cries; and the next day, on his tomb being +opened, they found him turned upon his face, whilst in fact he had +been buried lying upon his back. + +Some years ago, at Bar-le-Duc, a man was buried in the cemetery, and a +noise was heard in his grave; the next day they disinterred him, and +found that he had gnawed the flesh of his arms; and this we learned +from ocular witnesses. This man had drunk brandy, and had been buried +as dead. Rauff speaks of a woman of Bohemia,[578] who, in 1355, had +eaten in her grave half her shroud. In the time of Luther, a man who +was dead and buried, and a woman the same, gnawed their own entrails. +Another dead man in Moravia ate the linen clothes of a woman who was +buried next to him. + +All that is very possible, but that those who are really dead move +their jaws, and amuse themselves with masticating whatever may be near +them, is a childish fancy--like what the ancient Romans said of their +_Manducus_, which was a grotesque figure of a man with an enormous +mouth, and teeth proportioned thereto, which they caused to move by +springs, and grind his teeth together, as if this figure had wanted to +eat. They frightened children with them, and threatened them with the +Manducus.[579] + +Some remains of this old custom may be seen in certain processions, +where they carry a sort of serpent, which at intervals opens and shuts +a vast jaw, armed with teeth, into which they throw cakes, as if to +gorge it, or satisfy its appetite. + + +Footnotes: + +[575] Mich. Rauff, alterâ Dissert. Art. lvii. pp. 98, 99, et Art. lix. +p. 100. + +[576] De Nummis in Ore Defunctorum repertis, Art. ix. à Beyermuller, +&c. + +[577] Richer, Senon, tom. iii. Spicileg. Ducherii, p. 392. + +[578] Rauff, Art. xlii. p. 43. + +[579] + "Tandemque venit ad pulpita nostrum + Exodium, cum personĉ pallentis hiatum + In gremio matris fastidit rusticus infans." + _Juvenal_, Sat. iii. 174. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +SINGULAR INSTANCE OF A HUNGARIAN GHOST. + + +The most remarkable instance cited by Rauff[580] is that of one Peter +Plogojovitz, who had been buried ten weeks in a village of Hungary, +called Kisolova. This man appeared by night to some of the inhabitants +of the village while they were asleep, and grasped their throat so +tightly that in four-and-twenty hours it caused their death. Nine +persons, young and old, perished thus in the course of eight days. + +The widow of the same Plogojovitz declared that her husband since his +death had come and asked her for his shoes, which frightened her so +much that she left Kisolova to retire to some other spot. + +From these circumstances the inhabitants of the village determined +upon disinterring the body of Plogojovitz and burning it, to deliver +themselves from these visitations. They applied to the emperor's +officer, who commanded in the territory of Gradiska, in Hungary, and +even to the curé of the same place, for permission to exhume the body +of Peter Plogojovitz. The officer and the curé made much demur in +granting this permission, but the peasants declared that if they were +refused permission to disinter the body of this man, whom they had no +doubt was a true vampire (for so they called these revived corpses), +they should be obliged to forsake the village, and go where they +could. + +The emperor's officer, who wrote this account, seeing he could hinder +them neither by threats nor promises, went with the curé of Gradiska +to the village of Kisolova, and having caused Peter Plogojovitz to be +exhumed, they found that his body exhaled no bad smell; that he looked +as when alive, except the tip of the nose; that his hair and beard had +grown, and instead of his nails, which had fallen off, new ones had +come; that under his upper skin, which appeared whitish, there +appeared a new one, which looked healthy, and of a natural color; his +feet and hands were as whole as could be desired in a living man. They +remarked also in his mouth some fresh blood, which these people +believed that this vampire had sucked from the men whose death he had +occasioned. + +The emperor's officer and the curé having diligently examined all +these things, and the people who were present feeling their +indignation awakened anew, and being more fully persuaded that he was +the true cause of the death of their compatriots, ran directly for a +sharp-pointed stake, which they thrust into his breast, whence there +issued a quantity of fresh and crimson blood, and also from the nose +and mouth; something also proceeded from that part of his body which +decency does not allow us to mention. After this the peasants placed +the body on a pile of wood and saw it reduced to ashes. + +M. Rauff,[581] from whom we have these particulars, cites several +authors who have written on the same subject, and have related +instances of dead people who have eaten in their tombs. He cites +particularly Gabril Rzaczincki in his history of the Natural +Curiosities of the Kingdom of Poland, printed at Sandomic in 1721. + + +Footnotes: + +[580] Rauff, Art. xii. p. 15. + +[581] Rauff, Art. xxi. p. 14. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +REASONINGS ON THIS MATTER. + + +Those authors have reasoned a great deal on these events. 1. Some have +believed them to be miraculous. 2. Others have looked upon them simply +as the effect of a heated imagination, or a sort of prepossession. 3. +Others again have believed that there was nothing in all that but what +was very simple and very natural, these persons not being dead, and +acting naturally upon other bodies. 4. Others have asserted[582] that +it was the work of the devil himself; amongst these, some have +advanced the opinion that there were certain benign demons, differing +from those who are malevolent and hostile to mankind, to which (benign +demons) they have attributed playful and harmless operations, in +contradistinction to those bad demons who inspire the minds of men +with crime and sin, ill use them, kill them, and occasion them an +infinity of evils. But what greater evils can one have to fear from +veritable demons and the most malignant spirits, than those which the +ghouls of Hungary cause the persons whose blood they suck, and thus +cause to die? 5. Others will have it that it is not the dead who eat +their own flesh or clothes, but serpents, rats, moles, ferrets, or +other voracious animals, or even what the peasants call +_striges_,[583] which are birds that devour animals and men, and suck +their blood. Some have said that these instances are principally +remarked in women, and, above all, in a time of pestilence; but there +are instances of ghouls of both sexes, and principally of men; +although those who die of plague, poison, hydrophobia, drunkenness, +and any epidemical malady, are more apt to return, apparently because +their blood coagulates with more difficulty; and sometimes some are +buried who are not quite dead, on account of the danger there is in +leaving them long without sepulture, from fear of the infection they +would cause. + +It is added that these vampires are known only to certain countries, +as Hungary, Moravia, and Silesia, where those maladies are more +common, and where the people, being badly fed, are subject to certain +disorders caused or occasioned by the climate and the food, and +augmented by prejudice, fancy, and fright, capable of producing or of +increasing the most dangerous maladies, as daily experience proves too +well. As to what some have asserted that the dead have been heard to +eat and chew like pigs in their graves, it is manifestly fabulous, and +such an idea can have its foundation only in ridiculous prepossessions +of the mind. + + +Footnotes: + +[582] Rudiga, Physio. Dur. lib. i. c. 4. Theophrast. Paracels. Georg. +Agricola, de Anim. Subterran. p. 76. + +[583] Ovid, lib. vi. Vide Debrio, Disquisit. Magic. lib. i. p. 6, and +lib. iii. p. 355. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +ARE THE VAMPIRES OR REVENANS REALLY DEAD? + + +The opinion of those who hold that all that is related of vampires is +the effect of imagination, fascination, or of that disorder which the +Greeks term _phrenesis_ or _coribantism_, and who pretend by that +means to explain all the phenomena of vampirism, will never persuade +us that these maladies of the brain can produce such real effects as +those we have just recounted. It is impossible that on a sudden, +several persons should believe they see a thing which is not there, +and that they should die in so short a time of a disorder purely +imaginary. And who has revealed to them that such a vampire is +undecayed in his grave, that he is full of blood, that he in some +measure lives there after his death? Is there not to be found in the +nation one sensible man who is exempt from this fancy, or who has +soared above the effects of this fascination, these sympathies and +antipathies--this natural magic? And besides, who can explain to us +clearly and distinctly what these grand terms signify, and the manner +of these operations so occult and so mysterious? It is trying to +explain a thing which is obscure and doubtful, by another still more +uncertain and incomprehensible. + +If these persons believe nothing of all that is related of the +apparition, the return, and the actions of vampires, they lose their +time very uselessly in proposing systems and forming arguments to +explain what exists only in the imagination of certain prejudiced +persons struck with an idea; but, if all that is related, or at least +a part, is true, these systems and these arguments will not easily +satisfy those minds which desire proofs far more weighty than those. + +Let us see, then, if the system which asserts that these vampires are +not really dead is well founded. It is certain that death consists in +the separation of the soul from the body, and that neither the one +nor the other perishes, nor is annihilated by death; that the soul is +immortal, and that the body destitute of its soul, still remains +entire, and becomes only in part corrupt, sometimes in a few days, and +sometimes in a longer space of time; sometimes even it remains +uncorrupted during many years or even ages, either by reason of a good +constitution, as in Hector[584] and Alexander the Great, whose bodies +remained several days undecayed;[585] or by means of the art of +embalming; or lastly, owing to the nature of the earth in which they +are interred, which has the power of drying up the radical humidity +and the principles of corruption. I do not stop to prove all these +things, which besides are very well known. + +Sometimes the body, without being dead and forsaken by its reasonable +soul, remains as if dead and motionless, or at least with so slow a +motion and such feeble respiration, that it is almost imperceptible, +as it happens in faintings, swoons, in certain disorders very common +amongst women, in trances--as we remarked in the case of Pretextat, +priest of Calame; we have also reported more than one instance, +considered dead and buried as such; I may add that of the Abbé Salin, +prior of St. Christopher,[586] who being in his coffin, and about to +be interred, was resuscitated by some of his friends, who made him +swallow a glass of champagne. + +Several instances of the same kind are related.[587] In the "Causes +Célèbres," they make mention of a girl who became _enceinte_ during a +long swoon; we have already noticed this. Pliny cites[588] a great +number of instances of persons who have been thought dead, and who +have come to life again, and lived for a long time. He mentions a +young man, who having fallen asleep in a cavern, remained there forty +years without waking. Our historians[589] speak of the seven sleepers, +who slept for 150 years, from the year of Christ 253 to 403. It is +said that the philosopher Epimenides slept in a cavern during +fifty-seven years, or according to others, forty-seven, or only forty +years; for the ancients do not agree concerning the number of years; +they even affirm, that this philosopher had the power to detach his +soul from his body, and recall it when he pleased. The same thing is +related of Aristĉus of Proconnesus. I am willing to allow that that is +fabulous; but we cannot gainsay the truth of several other stories of +persons who have come to life again, after having appeared dead for +three, four, five, six, and seven days. Pliny acknowledges that there +are several instances of dead people who have appeared after they were +interred; but he will not mention them more particularly, because, he +says, he relates only natural things and not prodigies--"Post +sepulturam quoque visorum exempla sunt, nisi quod naturĉ opera non +prodigia sectamur." We believe that Enoch and Elijah are still living. +Several have thought that St. John the Evangelist was not dead,[590] +but that he is still alive in his tomb. + +Plato and St. Clement of Alexandria[591] relate, that the son of +Zoroaster was resuscitated twelve days after his (supposed) death, and +when his body had been laid upon the funeral pyre. Phlegon says,[592] +that a Syrian soldier in the army of Antiochus, after having been +killed at Thermopylĉ, appeared in open day in the Roman camp, and +spoke to several. And Plutarch relates,[593] that a man named +Thespesius, who had fallen from the roof of a house, came to himself +the third day after he died (or seemed to die) of his fall. + +St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians,[594] seems to suppose that +sometimes the soul transported itself without the body, to repair to +the spot where it is in mind or thought; for instance, he says, that +he has been transported to the third heaven; but he adds that he knows +not whether in the body, or only in spirit--"Sive in corpora, sive +extra corpus, nescio, Deus scit." We have already cited St. +Augustine,[595] who mentions a priest of Calamus, named Pretextat, +who, at the sound of the voices of some persons who lamented their +sins, fell into such an ecstasy of delight, that he no longer breathed +or felt anything; and they might have cut and burnt his flesh without +his perceiving it; his soul was absent, or really so occupied with +these lamentations, that he was insensible to pain. In swoons and +syncope, the soul no longer performs her ordinary functions. She is +nevertheless in the body, and continues to animate it, but she +perceives not her own action. + +A curé of the Diocese of Constance, named Bayer, writes me word that +in 1728, having been appointed to the curé of Rutheim, he was +disturbed a month afterwards by a spectre, or an evil genius, in the +form of a peasant, badly made, and ill-dressed, very ill-looking, and +stinking insupportably, who came and knocked at the door in an +insolent manner, and having entered his study told him that he had +been sent by an official of the Prince of Constance, his bishop, upon +a certain commission which was found to be absolutely false. He then +asked for something to eat, and they placed before him meat, bread, +and wine. He took up the meat with both hands, and devoured it bones +and all, saying, "See how I eat both flesh and bone--do the same." +Then he took up the wine-cup, and swallowed it at a draught, asking +for another, which he drank off in the same fashion. After that he +withdrew, without bidding the curé good-bye; and the servant who +showed him to the door having asked his name, he replied, "I was born +at Rutsingen, and my name is George Raulin," which was false. As he +was going down stairs he said to the curé in German, in a menacing +tone, "I will show you who I am." + +He passed all the rest of the day in the village, showing himself to +everybody. Towards midnight he returned to the curé's door, crying out +three times in a terrible voice, "Monsieur Bayer!" and adding, "I will +let you know who I am." In fact, during three years he returned every +day towards four o'clock in the afternoon, and every night till dawn +of day. He appeared in different forms, sometimes like a water-dog, +sometimes as a lion, or some other terrible animal; sometimes in the +shape of a man, or a girl, when the curé was at table, or in bed, +enticing him to lasciviousness. Sometimes he made an uproar in the +house, like a cooper putting hoops on his casks; then again you might +have thought he wanted to throw the house down by the noise he made in +it. To have witnesses to all this, the curé often sent for the beadle +and other personages of the village to bear testimony to it. The +spectre emitted, wherever he showed himself, an insupportable stench. + +At last the curé had recourse to exorcisms, but they produced no +effect. And as they despaired almost of being delivered from these +vexations, he was advised, at the end of the third year, to provide +himself with a holy branch on Palm Sunday, and also with a sword +sprinkled with holy water, and to make use of it against the spectre. +He did so once or twice, and from that time he was no more molested. +This is attested by a Capuchin monk, witness of the greater part of +these things, the 29th of August, 1749. + +I will not guarantee the truth of all these circumstances; the +judicious reader will make what induction he pleases from them. If +they are true, here is a real ghost, who eats, drinks, and speaks, and +gives tokens of his presence for three whole years, without any +appearance of religion. Here follows another instance of a ghost who +manifested himself by actions alone. + +They write me word from Constance, the 8th of August, 1748, that +towards the end of the year 1746 sighs were heard, which seemed to +proceed from the corner of the printing-office of the Sieur Lahart, +one of the common council men of the city of Constance. The printers +only laughed at it at first, but in the following year, 1747, in the +beginning of January, they heard more noise than before. There was a +hard knocking near the same corner whence they had at first heard some +sighs; things went so far that the printers received slaps, and their +hats were thrown on the ground. They had recourse to the Capuchins, +who came with the books proper for exorcising the spirit. The exorcism +completed they returned home, and the noise ceased for three days. + +At the end of that time the noise recommenced more violently than +before; the spirit threw the characters for printing, whether letters +or figures, against the windows. They sent out of the city for a +famous exorcist, who exorcised the spirit for a week. One day the +spirit boxed the ears of a lad; and again the letters, &c., were +thrown against the window-panes. The foreign exorcist, not having been +able to effect anything by his exorcisms, returned to his own home. + +The spirit went on as usual, giving slaps in the face to one, and +throwing stones and other things at another, so that the compositors +were obliged to leave that corner of the printing-office and place +themselves in the middle of the room, but they were not the quieter +for that. + +They then sent for other exorcists, one of whom had a particle of the +true cross, which he placed upon the table. The spirit did not, +however, cease disturbing as usual the workmen belonging to the +printing-office; and the Capuchin brother who accompanied the exorcist +received such buffets that they were both obliged to withdraw to their +convent. Then came others, who, having mixed a quantity of sand and +ashes in a bucket of water, blessed the water, and sprinkled with it +every part of the printing-office. They also scattered the sand and +ashes all over the room upon the paved floor; and being provided with +swords, the whole party began to strike at random right and left in +every part of the room, to see if they could hit the ghost, and to +observe if he left any foot-marks upon the sand or ashes which covered +the floor. They perceived at last that he had perched himself on the +top of the stove or furnace, and they remarked on the angles of it +marks of his feet and hands impressed on the sand and ashes they had +blessed. + +They succeeded in ousting him from there, and they very soon perceived +that he had slid under the table, and left marks of his hands and feet +on the pavement. The dust raised by all this movement in the office +caused them to disperse, and they discontinued the pursuit. But the +principal exorcist having taken out a screw from the angle where they +had first heard the noise, found in a hole in the wall some feathers, +three bones wrapped up in a dirty piece of linen, some bits of glass, +and a hair-pin, or bodkin. He blessed a fire which they lighted, and +had all that thrown into it. But this monk had hardly reached his +convent when one of the printers came to tell him that the bodkin had +come out of the flames three times of itself, and that a boy who was +holding a pair of tongs, and who put this bodkin in the fire again, +had been violently struck in the face. The rest of the things which +had been found having been brought to the Capuchin convent, they were +burnt without further resistance; but the lad who had carried them +there saw a naked woman in the public market-place, and that and the +following days groans were heard in the market-place of Constance. + +Some days after this the printer's house was again infested in this +manner, the ghost giving slaps, throwing stones, and molesting the +domestics in divers ways. The Sieur Lahart, the master of the house, +received a great wound in his head, two boys who slept in the same bed +were thrown on the ground, so that the house was entirely forsaken +during the night. One Sunday a servant girl carrying away some linen +from the house had stones thrown at her, and another time two boys +were thrown down from a ladder. + +There was in the city of Constance an executioner who passed for a +sorcerer. The monk who writes to me suspected him of having some part +in this game; he began to exhort those who sat up with him in the +house, to put their confidence in God, and to be strong in faith. He +gave them to understand that the executioner was likely to be of the +party. They passed the night thus in the house, and about ten o'clock +in the evening, one of the companions of the exorcist threw himself at +his feet in tears, and revealed to him, that that same night he and +one of his companions had been sent to consult the executioner in +Turgau, and that by order of the Sieur Lahart, printer, in whose house +all this took place. This avowal strangely surprised the good father, +and he declared that he would not continue to exorcise, if they did +not assure him that they had not spoken to the executioners to put an +end to the haunting. They protested that they had not spoken to them +at all. The Capuchin father had everything picked up that was found +about the house, wrapped up in packets, and had them carried to his +convent. + +The following night, two domestics tried to pass the night in the +house, but they were thrown out of their beds, and constrained to go +and sleep elsewhere. After this, they sent for a peasant of the +village of Annanstorf, who was considered a good exorcist. He passed +the night in the haunted house, drinking, singing, and shouting. He +received slaps and blows from a stick, and was obliged to own that he +could not prevail against the spirit. + +The widow of an executioner presented herself then to perform the +exorcisms; she began by using fumigations in all parts of the +dwelling, to drive away the evil spirits. But before she had finished +these fumigations, seeing that the master was struck in the face and +on his body by the spirit, she ran away from the house, without asking +for her pay. + +They next called in the Curé of Valburg, who passed for a clever +exorcist. He came with four other secular curés, and continued the +exorcisms for three days, without any success. He withdrew to his +parish, imputing the inutility of his prayers to the want of faith of +those who were present. + +During this time, one of the four priests was struck with a knife, +then with a fork, but he was not hurt. The son of Sieur Lahart, master +of the dwelling, received upon his jaw a blow from a pascal taper, +which did him no harm. All that being of no service, they sent for the +executioners of the neighborhood. Two of the persons who went to fetch +them were well thrashed and pelted with stones. Another had his thigh +so tightly pressed that he felt the pain for a long time. The +executioners carefully collected all the packets they found wrapped up +about the house, and put others in their room; but the spirit took +them up and threw them into the market-place. After this, the +executioners persuaded the Sieur Lahart that he might boldly return +with his people to the house; he did so, but the first night, when +they were at supper, one of his workmen named Solomon was wounded on +the foot, and then followed a great effusion of blood. They then sent +again for the executioner, who appeared much surprised that the house +was not yet entirely freed, but at that moment he was himself attacked +by a shower of stones, boxes on the ears, and other blows, which +constrained him to run away quickly. + +Some heretics in the neighborhood, being informed of all these things, +came one day to the bookseller's shop, and upon attempting to read in +a Catholic Bible which was there, were well boxed and beaten; but +having taken up a Calvinist Bible, they received no harm. Two men of +Constance having entered the bookseller's shop from sheer curiosity, +one of them was immediately thrown down upon the ground, and the other +ran away as fast as he could. Another person, who had come in the same +way from curiosity, was punished for his presumption, by having a +quantity of water thrown upon him. A young girl of Ausburg, a relation +of the Sieur Lahart, printer, was chased away with violent blows, and +pursued even to the neighboring house, where she entered. + +At last the hauntings ceased, on the 8th of February. On that day the +spectre opened the shop door, went in, deranged a few articles, went +out, shut the door, and from that time nothing more was seen or heard +of it. + + +Footnotes: + +[584] Homer de Hectore, Iliad XXIV. 411. + +[585] Plutarch de Alexandro in ejus Vita. + +[586] About the year 1680; he died after the year 1694. + +[587] Causes Célèbres, tom. viii. p. 585. + +[588] Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. vii. c. 52. + +[589] St. Gregor. Turon. de Gloria Martyr. c. 95. + +[590] I have touched upon this matter in a particular Dissertation at +the Head of the Gospel of St. John. + +[591] Plato, de Republ. lib. x.; Clemens Alexandr. lib. v. Stromat. + +[592] Phleg. de Mirabilis, c. 3. + +[593] Plutarch, de Serâ Numinis Vindicta. + +[594] 1 Cor. xiii. 2. + +[595] Aug. lib. xiv. de Civit. Dei, c. 24. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +INSTANCE OF A MAN NAMED CURMA WHO WAS SENT BACK INTO THE WORLD. + + +St. Augustine relates on this subject,[596] that a countryman named +Curma, who held a small place in the village of Tullia, near Hippoma, +having fallen sick, remained for some days senseless and speechless, +having just respiration enough left to prevent their burying him. At +the end of several days he began to open his eyes, and sent to ask +what they were about in the house of another peasant of the same +place, and like himself named Curma. They brought him back word, that +he had just expired at the very moment that he himself had recovered +and was resuscitated from his deep slumber. + +Then he began to talk, and related what he had seen and heard; that it +was not Curma the _curial_,[597] but Curma the blacksmith, who ought +to have been brought; he added, that among those whom he had seen +treated in different ways, he had recognized some of his deceased +acquaintance, and other ecclesiastics, who were still alive, who had +advised him to come to Hippoma, and be baptized by the Bishop +Augustine; that according to their advice he had received baptism in +his vision; that afterwards he had been introduced into Paradise, but +that he had not remained there long, and that they had told him that +if he wished to dwell there, he must be baptized. He replied, "I am +so;" but they told him, that he had been so only in a vision, and that +he must go to Hippoma to receive that sacrament in reality. He came +there as soon as he was cured, and received the rite of baptism with +the other catechumens. + +St. Augustine was not informed of this adventure till about two years +afterwards. He sent for Curma, and learnt from his own lips what I +have just related. Now it is certain that Curma saw nothing with his +bodily eyes of all that had been represented to him in his vision; +neither the town of Hippoma, nor Bishop Augustine, nor the +ecclesiastics who counseled him to be baptized, nor the persons living +and deceased whom he saw and recognized. We may believe, then, that +these things are effects of the power of God, who makes use of the +ministry of angels to warn, console, or alarm mortals, according as +his judgment sees best. + +St. Augustine inquires afterwards if the dead have any knowledge of +what is passing in this world? He doubts the fact, and shows that at +least they have no knowledge of it by ordinary and natural means. He +remarks, that it is said God took Josiah, for instance, from this +world,[598] that he might now witness the evil which was to befall his +nation; and we say every day, Such-a-one is happy to have left the +world, and so escaped feeling the miseries which have happened to his +family or his country. But if the dead know not what is passing in +this world, how can they be troubled about their bodies being interred +or not? How do the saints hear our prayers? and why do we ask them for +their intercession? + +It is then true that the dead can learn what is passing on the earth, +either by the agency of angels, or by that of the dead who arrive in +the other world, or by the revelation of the Spirit of God, who +discovers to them what he judges proper, and what it is expedient that +they should learn. God may also sometimes send men who have long been +dead to living men, as he permitted Moses and Elias to appear at the +Transfiguration of the Lord, and as an infinite number of the saints +have appeared to the living. The invocation of saints has always been +taught and practised in the Church; whence we may infer that they hear +our prayers, are moved by our wants, and can help us by their +intercession. But the way in which all that is done is not distinctly +known; neither reason nor revelation furnishes us with anything +certain, as to the means it pleases God to make use of to reveal our +wants to them. + +Lucian, in his dialogue entitled _Philopseudes_, or the "Lover of +Falsehood," relates[599] something similar. A man named Eucratés, +having been taken down to hell, was presented to Pluto, who was angry +with him who presented him, saying--"That man has not yet completed +his course; his turn has not yet come. Bring hither Demilius, for the +thread of his life is finished." Then they sent Eucratés back to this +world, where he announced that Demilius would die soon. Demilius lived +near him, and was already a little ill. + +But a moment after they heard the noise of those who were bewailing +his death. Lucian makes a jest of all that was said on this subject, +but he owns that it was the common opinion in his time. He says in the +same part of his work, that a man has been seen to come to life again +after having been looked upon as dead during twenty days. + +The story of Curma which we have just told, reminds me of another +very like it, related by Plutarch in his Book on the Soul, of a +certain man named Enarchus,[600] who, being dead, came to life again +soon after, and related that the demons who had taken away his soul +were severely reprimanded by their chief, who told them that they had +made a mistake, and that it was Nicander, and not Enarchus whom they +ought to bring. He sent them for Nicander, who was directly seized +with a fever, and died during the day. Plutarch heard this from +Enarchus himself, who to confirm what he had asserted said to +him--"You will get well certainly, and that very soon, of the illness +which has attacked you." + +St. Gregory the Great relates[601] something very similar to what we +have just mentioned. An illustrious man of rank named Stephen well +known to St. Gregory and Peter his interlocutor, was accustomed to +relate to him, that going to Constantinople on business he died there; +and as the doctor who was to embalm him was not in town that day, they +were obliged to leave the body unburied that night. During this +interval Stephen was led before the judge who presided in hell, where +he saw many things which he had heard of, but did not believe. When +they brought him to the judge, the latter refused to receive him, +saying, "It is not that man whom I commanded you to bring here, but +Stephen the blacksmith." In consequence of this order the soul of the +dead man was directly brought back to his body, and at the same +instant Stephen the blacksmith expired; which confirmed all that the +former had said of the other life. + +The plague ravaging the city of Rome in the time that Narses was +governor of Italy, a young Livonian, a shepherd by profession, and of +a good and quiet disposition, was taken ill with the plague in the +house of the advocate Valerian, his master. Just when they thought him +all but dead, he suddenly came to himself, and related to them that he +had been transported to heaven, where he had learnt the names of those +who were to die of the plague in his master's house; having named them +to him, he predicted to Valerian that he should survive him; and to +convince him that he was saying the truth, he let him see that he had +acquired by infusion the knowledge of several different languages; in +effect he who had never known how to speak any but the Italian tongue, +spoke Greek to his master, and other languages to those who knew them. + +After having lived in this state for two days, he had fits of madness, +and having laid hold of his hands with his teeth, he died a second +time, and was followed by those whom he had named. His master, who +survived, fully justified his prediction. Men and women who fall into +trances remain sometimes for several days without food, respiration, +or pulsation of the heart, as if they were dead. Thauler, a famous +contemplative (philosopher) maintains that a man may remain entranced +during a week, a month, or even a year. We have seen an abbess, who +when in a trance, into which she often fell, lost the use of her +natural functions, and passed thirty days in that state without taking +any nourishment, and without sensation. Instances of these trances are +not rare in the lives of the saints, though they are not all of the +same kind, or duration. + +Women in hysterical fits remain likewise many days as if dead, +speechless, inert, pulseless. Galen mentions a woman who was six days +in this state.[602] Some of them pass ten whole days motionless, +senseless, without respiration and without food. + +Some persons who have seemed dead and motionless, had however the +sense of hearing very strong, heard all that was said about +themselves, made efforts to speak and show that they were not dead, +but who could neither speak, nor give any signs of life.[603] + +I might here add an infinity of trances of saintly personages of both +sexes, who in their delight in God, in prayer remained motionless, +without sensation, almost breathless, and who felt nothing of what was +done to them, or around them. + + +Footnotes: + +[596] August. lib. de Curâ pro Mortuis, c. xii. p. 524. + +[597] _Curialis_--this word signifies a small employment in a village. + +[598] IV. Reg. 18, et. seq. + +[599] Lucian, in Phliopseud. p. 830. + +[600] Plutarch, de Animâ, apud Eusebius de Prĉp. Evang. lib. ii. c. +18. + +[601] Gregor. Dial. lib. iv. c. 36. + +[602] See the treatise on the Uncertainty of the Signs of Death, tom. +ii. pp. 404, 407, _et seq._ + +[603] Ibid. lib. ii. pp. 504, 505, 506, 514. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO COULD FALL INTO A TRANCE WHEN THEY PLEASED, +AND REMAINED PERFECTLY SENSELESS. + + +Jerome Cardan says[604] that he fell into a trance when he liked; he +owns that he does not know if, like the priest Pretextat, he should +not feel great wounds or hurts, but he did not feel the pain of the +gout, or the pulling him about. He adds, the priest of Calama heard +the voices of those who spoke aloud near him, but as if from a +distance. "For my part," says Cardan, "I hear the voice, though +slightly, and without understanding what is said. And when I wish to +entrance myself, I feel about my heart as it were a separation of the +soul from the rest of my body, and that communicates as if by a little +door with all the machine, principally by the head and brain. Then I +have no sensation except that of being beside myself." + +We may report here what is related of the Laplanders,[605] who when +they wish to learn something that is passing at a distance from the +spot where they are, send their demon, or their souls, by means of +certain magic ceremonies, and by the sound of a drum which they beat, +or upon a shield painted in a certain manner; then on a sudden the +Laplander falls into a trance, and remains as if lifeless and +motionless sometimes during four-and-twenty hours. But all this time +some one must remain near him to prevent him from being touched, or +called; even the movement of a fly would wake him, and they say he +would die directly or be carried away by the demon. We have already +mentioned this subject in the Dissertation on Apparitions. + +We have also remarked that serpents, worms, flies, snails, marmots, +sloths, &c., remain asleep during the winter, and in blocks of stone +have been found toads, snakes, and oysters alive, which had been +enclosed there for many years, and perhaps for more than a century. +Cardinal de Retz relates in his Memoirs,[606] that being at Minorca, +the governor of the island caused to be drawn up from the bottom of +the sea by main force with cables, whole rocks, which on being broken +with maces, enclosed living oysters, that were served up to him at +table, and were found very good. + +On the coasts of Malta, Sardinia, Italy, &c., they find a fish called +the Dactylus, or Date, or Dale, because it resembles the palm-date in +form; this first insinuates itself into the stone by a hole not bigger +than the hole made by a needle. When he has got in he feeds upon the +stone, and grows so big that he cannot get out again, unless the stone +is broken and he is extricated. Then they wash it, clean it, and dress +it for the table. It has the shape of a date, or of a finger; whence +its name of _Dactylus_, which in Greek signifies a finger. + +Again, I imagine that in many persons death is caused by the +coagulation of the blood, which freezes and hardens in their veins, as +it happens with those who have eaten hemlock, or who have been bitten +by certain serpents; but there are others whose death is caused by too +great an ebullition of blood, as in painful maladies, and in certain +poisons, and even, they say, in certain kinds of plague, and when +people die a violent death, or have been drowned. + +The first mentioned cannot return to life without an evident miracle; +for that purpose the fluidity of the blood must be re-established, and +the peristaltic motion must be restored to the heart. But in the +second kind of death, people can sometimes be restored without a +miracle, by taking away the obstacle which retards or suspends the +palpitation of the heart, as we see in time-pieces, the action of +which is restored by taking away anything foreign to the mechanism, as +a hair, a bit of thread, an atom, some almost imperceptible body which +stops them. + + +Footnotes: + +[604] Hieron. Cardanus, lib. viii. de Varietate Verum, c. 34. + +[605] Olaus Magnus, lib. iii. Epitom. Hist. Septent. Perecer de Variis +Divinat. Generib. p. 282. + +[606] Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, tom. iii. lib. iv. p. 297. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING INSTANCES TO VAMPIRES. + + +Supposing these facts, which I believe to be incontestably true, may +we not imagine that the vampires of Hungary, Silesia, and Moldavia, +are some of those men who have died of maladies which heat the blood, +and who have retained some remains of life in their graves, much like +those animals which we have mentioned, and those birds which plunge +themselves during the winter in the lakes and marshes of Poland, and +in the northern countries? They are without respiration or motion, but +still not destitute of vitality. They resume their motion and activity +when, on the return of spring, the sun warms the waters, or when they +are brought near a moderate fire, or laid in a room of temperate heat; +then they are seen to revive, and perform their ordinary functions, +which had been suspended by the cold. + +Thus, vampires in their graves returned to life after a certain time, +and their soul does not forsake them absolutely until after the entire +dissolution of their body, and when the organs of life, being +absolutely broken, corrupted, and deranged, they can no longer by +their agency perform any vital functions. Whence it happens, that the +people of those countries impale them, cut off their heads, burn them, +to deprive their spirit of all hope of animating them again, and of +making use of them to molest the living. + +Pliny,[607] mentioning the soul of Hermotimes, of Lazomene, which +absented itself from his body, and recounted various things that had +been done afar off, which the spirit said it had seen, and which, in +fact, could only be known to a person who had been present at them, +says that the enemies of Hermotimes, named Cantandes, burned that +body, which gave hardly any sign of life, and thus deprived the soul +of the means of returning to lodge in its envelop; "donec cremato +corpore interim semianimi, remeanti animĉ vetut vaginam ademerint." + +Origen had doubtless derived from the ancients what he teaches,[608] +that the souls which are of a spiritual nature take, on leaving their +earthly body, another, more subtile, of a similar form to the grosser +one they have just quitted, which serves them as a kind of sheath, or +case, and that it is invested with this subtile body that they +sometimes appear about their graves. He founds this opinion on what is +said of Lazarus and the rich man in the Gospel,[609] who both of them +have bodies, since they speak and see, and the wicked rich man asks +for a drop of water to cool his tongue. + +I do not defend this reasoning of Origen; but what he says of a +subtile body, which has the form of the earthly one which clothed the +soul before death, quite resembles the opinion of which we spoke in +Chapter IV. + +That bodies which have died of violent maladies, or which have been +executed when full of health, or have simply swooned, should vegetate +underground in their graves; that their beards, hair, and nails should +grow; that they should emit blood, be supple and pliant; that they +should have no bad smell, &c.--all these things do not embarrass us: +the vegetation of the human body may produce all these effects. That +they should even eat and devour what is about them, the madness with +which a man interred alive must be transported when he awakes from his +torpor, or his swoon, must naturally lead him to these violent +excesses. But the grand difficulty is to explain how the vampires come +out of their graves to haunt the living, and how they return to them +again. For all the accounts that we see suppose the thing as certain, +without informing us either of the way or the circumstances, which +would, however, be the most interesting part of the narrative. + +How a body covered with four or five feet of earth, having no room to +move about and disengage itself, wrapped up in linen, covered with +pitch, can make its way out, and come back upon the earth, and there +occasion such effects as are related of it; and how after that it +returns to its former state, and re-enters underground, where it is +found sound, whole, and full of blood, and in the same condition as a +living body? Will it be said that these bodies evaporate through the +ground without opening it, like the water and vapors which enter into +the earth, or proceed from it, without sensibly deranging its +particles? It were to be wished that the accounts which have been +given us concerning the return of the vampires had been more minute in +their explanations of this subject. + +Supposing that their bodies do not stir from their graves, that it is +only their phantoms which appear to the living, what cause produces +and animates these phantoms? Can it be the spirit of the defunct, +which has not yet forsaken them, or some demon, which makes their +apparition in a fantastic and borrowed body? And if these bodies are +merely phantomic, how can they suck the blood of living people? We +always find ourselves in a difficulty to know if these appearances are +natural or miraculous. + +A sensible priest related to me, a little while ago, that, traveling +in Moravia, he was invited by M. Jeanin, a canon of the cathedral at +Olmutz, to accompany him to their village, called Liebava, where he +had been appointed commissioner by the consistory of the bishopric, to +take information concerning the fact of a certain famous vampire, +which had caused much confusion in this village of Liebava some years +before. + +The case proceeded. They heard the witnesses, they observed the usual +forms of the law. The witnesses deposed that a certain notable +inhabitant of Liebava had often disturbed the living in their beds at +night, that he had come out of the cemetery, and had appeared in +several houses three or four years ago; that his troublesome visits +had ceased because a Hungarian stranger, passing through the village +at the time of these reports, had boasted that he could put an end to +them, and make the vampire disappear. To perform his promise, he +mounted on the church steeple, and observed the moment when the +vampire came out of his grave, leaving near it the linen clothes in +which he had been enveloped, and then went to disturb the inhabitants +of the village. + +The Hungarian, having seen him come out of his grave, went down +quickly from the steeple, took up the linen envelops of the vampire, +and carried them with him up the tower. The vampire having returned +from his prowlings, cried loudly against the Hungarian, who made him a +sign from the top of the tower that if he wished to have his clothes +again he must fetch them; the vampire began to ascend the steeple, but +the Hungarian threw him down backwards from the ladder, and cut his +head off with a spade. Such was the end of this tragedy. + +The person who related this story to me saw nothing, neither did the +noble who had been sent as commissioner; they only heard the report of +the peasants of the place, people extremely ignorant, superstitious +and credulous, and most exceedingly prejudiced on the subject of +vampirism. + +But supposing that there be any reality in the fact of these +apparitions of vampires, shall they be attributed to God, to angels, +to the spirits of these ghosts, or to the devil? In this last case, +will it be said that the devil will subtilize these bodies, and give +them power to penetrate through the ground without disturbing, to +glide through the cracks and joints of a door, to pass through a +keyhole, to lengthen or shorten themselves, to reduce themselves to +the nature of air, or water, to evaporate through the ground--in +short, to put them in the same state in which we believe the bodies of +the blessed will be after the resurrection, and in which was that of +our Saviour after his resurrection, who showed himself only to those +whom he thought proper, and who without opening the doors,[610] +appeared suddenly in the midst of his disciples. + +But should it be allowed that the demon could reanimate these bodies, +and give them the power of motion for a time, could he also lengthen, +diminish, rarefy, subtilize the bodies of these ghosts, and give them +the faculty of penetrating through the ground, the doors and windows? +There is no appearance of his having received this power from God, and +we cannot even conceive that an earthly body, material and gross, can +be reduced to that state of subtility and spiritualization without +destroying the configuration of its parts and spoiling the economy of +its structure; which would be contrary to the intention of the demon, +and render this body incapable of appearing, showing itself, acting +and speaking, and, in short, of being cut to pieces and burned, as is +commonly seen and practiced in Moravia, Poland, and Silesia. These +difficulties exist in regard to those persons of whom we have made +mention, who, being excommunicated, rose from their tombs, and left +the church in sight of everybody. + +We must then keep silence on this article, since it has not pleased +God to reveal to us either the extent of the demon's power, or the way +in which these things can be done. There is even much appearance of +illusion; and even if some reality were mixed up with it, we may +easily console ourselves for our ignorance in that respect, since +there are so many natural things which take place within us and around +us, of which the cause and manner are unknown to us. + + +Footnotes: + +[607] Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. vii. c. 52. + +[608] Orig. de Resurrect. Fragment. lib. i. p. 35. Nov. edit. Et +contra Celsum, lib. vii. p. 679. + +[609] Luke xvi. 22, 23. + +[610] John xx. 26. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION THAT THE DEMON FASCINATES THE EYES OF THOSE +TO WHOM VAMPIRES APPEAR. + + +Those who have recourse to the fascination of the senses to explain +what is related concerning the apparition of vampires, throw +themselves into as great a perplexity as those who acknowledge +sincerely the reality of these events; for fascination consists either +in the suspension of the senses, which cannot see what is passing +before their sight, like that with which the men of Sodom were +struck[611] when they could not discover the door of Lot's house, +though it was before their eyes; or that of the disciples at Emmaus, +of whom it is said that "their eyes were holden, so that they might +not recognize Jesus Christ, who was talking with them on the way, and +whom they knew not again until the breaking of the bread revealed him +to them;"[612]--or else it consists in an object being represented to +the senses in a different form from that it wears in reality, as that +of the Moabites,[613] who believed they saw the waters tinged with the +blood of the Israelites, although nothing was there but the simple +waters, on which the rays of the sun being reflected, gave them a +reddish hue; or that of the Syrian soldiers sent to take Elisha,[614] +who were led by this prophet into Samaria, without their recognising +either the prophet or the city. + +This fascination, in what way soever it may be conceived, is certainly +above the usual power known unto man, consequently man cannot +naturally produce it; but is it above the natural powers of an angel +or a demon? That is what is unknown to us, and obliges us to suspend +our judgment on this question. + +There is another kind of fascination, which consists in this, that the +sight of a person or a thing, the praise bestowed upon them, the envy +felt towards them, produce in the object certain bad effects, against +which the ancients took great care to guard themselves and their +children, by making them wear round their necks preservatives, or +amulets, or charms. + +A great number of passages on this subject might be cited from the +Greek and Latin authors; and I find that at this day, in various parts +of Christendom, people are persuaded of the efficacy of these +fascinations. But we must own three things; first, that the effect of +these pretended fascinations (or spells) is very doubtful; the second, +that if it were certain, it is very difficult, not to say impossible, +to explain it; and lastly, that it cannot be rationally applied to the +matter of apparitions or of vampires. + +If the vampires or ghosts are not really resuscitated nor their bodies +spiritualized and subtilized, as we believe we have proved, and if our +senses are not deceived by fascination, as we have just seen it, I +doubt if there be any other way to act on this question than to +absolutely deny the return of these vampires, or to believe that they +are only asleep or torpid; for if they truly are resuscitated, and if +what is told of their return be true--if they speak, act, reason, if +they suck the blood of the living, they must know what passes in the +other world, and they ought to inform their relations and friends of +it, and that is what they do not. On the contrary, they treat them as +enemies; torment them, take away their life, suck their blood, cause +them to die with lassitude. + +If they are predestinated and blessed, whence happens it that they +disturb and torment the living, their nearest relations, their +children, and all that for nothing, and simply for the sake of doing +harm? If these are persons who have still something to expiate in +purgatory, and who require the prayers of the living, why do they not +explain their condition? If they are reprobate and condemned, what +have they to do on this earth? Can we conceive that God allows them +thus to come without reason or necessity and molest their families, +and even cause their death? + +If these _revenans_ are really dead, whatever state they may be in in +the other world, they play a very bad part here, and keep it up still +worse. + + +Footnotes: + +[611] Gen. xix. 2. + +[612] Luke xxiv. 16. + +[613] 2 Kings iii. 23. + +[614] 2 Kings iv. 19, 20. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +INSTANCES OF PERSONS RESUSCITATED, WHO RELATE WHAT THEY HAVE SEEN IN +THE OTHER WORLD. + + +We have just seen that the vampires never speak of the other world, +nor ask for either masses or prayers, nor give any warning to the +living to lead them to correct their morals, or bring them to a better +life. It is surely very prejudicial to the reality of their return +from the other world; but their silence on that head may favor the +opinion which supposes that they are not really dead. + +It is true that we do not read either that Lazarus, resuscitated by +Jesus Christ,[615] nor the son of the widow of Nain,[616] nor that of +the woman of Shunam, brought to life by Elisha,[617] nor that +Israelite who came to life by simply touching the body of the same +prophet Elisha,[618] after their resurrection revealed anything to +mankind of the state of souls in the other world. + +But we see in the Gospel[619] that the bad rich man, having begged of +Abraham to permit him to send some one to this world to warn his +brethren to lead a better life, and take care not to fall into the +unhappy condition in which he found himself, was answered, "They have +the law and the prophets, they can listen to them and follow their +instructions." And as the rich man persisted, saying--"If some one +went to them from the other world, they would be more impressed," +Abraham replied, "If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, +neither will they attend the more though one should go to them from +the dead." The dead man resuscitated by St. Stanislaus replied in the +same manner to those who asked him to give them news of the other +world--"You have the law, the prophets, and the Gospel--hear them!" + +The deceased Pagans who have returned to life, and some Christians who +have likewise returned to the world by a kind of resurrection, and who +have seen what passed beyond the bounds of this world, have not kept +silence on the subject. They have related at length what they saw and +heard on leaving their bodies. + +We have already touched upon the story of a man named Eros, of the +country of Pamphilia,[620] who, having been wounded in battle, was +found ten days after amongst the dead. They carried him senseless and +motionless into the house. Two days afterwards, when they were about +to place him on the funeral pile to burn his body, he revived, began +to speak, and to relate in what manner people were lodged after their +death, and how the good were rewarded and the wicked punished and +tormented. + +He said that his soul, being separated from his body, went with a +large company to a very agreeable place, where they saw as it were two +great openings, which gave entrance to those who came from earth, and +two others to go to heaven. He saw at this same place judges who +examined those arrived from this world, and sent up to the right those +who had lived well, and sent down to the left those who had been +guilty of crimes. Each of them bore upon his back a label on which was +written what he had done well or ill, the reason of his condemnation +or his absolution. + +When it came to the turn of Eros, the judges told him that he must +return to earth, to announce to men what passed in the other world, +and that he must well observe everything, in order to be able to +render a faithful account to the living. Thus he witnessed the +miserable state of the wicked, which was to last a thousand years, and +the delights enjoyed by the just; that both the good and the bad +received the reward or the punishment of their good or bad deeds, ten +times greater than the measure of their crimes or of all their +virtues. + +He remarked amongst other things, that the judges inquired where was a +certain man named Andĉus, celebrated in all Pamphylia for his crimes +and tyranny. They were answered that he was not yet come, and that he +would not be there; in fact, having presented himself with much +trouble, and by making great efforts, at the grand opening before +mentioned, he was repulsed and sent back to go below with other +scoundrels like himself, whom they tortured in a thousand different +ways, and who were always violently repulsed, whenever they tried to +reascend. + +He saw, moreover, the three Fates, daughters of Necessity or Destiny. +These are, Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos. Lachesis announced the past, +Clotho the present, and Atropos the future. The souls were obliged to +appear before these three goddesses. Lachesis cast the lots upwards, +and every soul laid hold of the one which it could reach; which, +however, did not prevent them still from sometimes missing the kind of +life which was most conformable to justice and reason. + +Eros added that he had remarked some of the souls who sought to enter +into animals; for instance, Orpheus, from hatred to the female sex, +who had killed him (by tearing him to pieces), entered into a swan, +and Thamaris into a nightingale. Ajax, the son of Telamon, chose the +body of a lion, from detestation of the injustice of the Greeks, who +had refused to let him have the arms of Hector, which he asserted were +his due. Agamemnon, grieved at the crosses he had endured in this +life, chose the form of the eagle. Atalanta chose the life of the +athletics, delighted with the honors heaped upon them. Thersites, the +ugliest of mortals, chose the form of an ape. Ulysses, weary of the +miseries he had suffered upon earth, asked to live quietly as a +private man. He had some trouble to find a lot for that kind of life; +but he found it at last thrown down on the ground and neglected, and +he joyfully snatched it up. + +Eros affirmed also that the souls of some animals entered into the +bodies of men; and by the contrary rule, the souls of the wicked took +possession of savage and cruel beasts, and the souls of just men of +those animals which are gentle, tame, and domestic. + +After these various metempsychoses, Lachesis gave to each his +guardian or defender, who guided and guarded him during the course of +his life. Eros was then led to the river of oblivion (Lethe), which +takes away all memory of the past, but he was prevented from drinking +of its water. Lastly, he said he could not tell how he came back to +life. + +Plato, after having related this fable, as he terms it, or this +apologue, concludes from it that the soul is immortal, and that to +gain a blessed life we must live uprightly, which will lead us to +heaven, where we shall enjoy that beatitude of a thousand years which +is promised us. + +We see by this, 1. That a man may live a good while without eating or +breathing, or giving any sign or life. 2. That the Greeks believed in +the metempsychosis, in a state of beatitude for the just, and pains of +a thousand years duration for the wicked. 3. That destiny does not +hinder a man from doing either good or evil. 4. That he had a genius, +or an angel, who guided and protected him. They believed in judgment +after death, and that the souls of the just were received into what +they called the Elysian Fields. + + +Footnotes: + +[615] John xi. 14. + +[616] Luke vii. 11, 12. + +[617] 2 Kings iv. 25. + +[618] 2 Kings xiii. 21. + +[619] Luke xvi. 24. + +[620] Plato, lib. x. de Rep. p. 614. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +THE TRADITIONS OF THE PAGANS CONCERNING THE FUTURE LIFE ARE DERIVED +FROM THE HEBREWS AND EGYPTIANS. + + +All these traditions are clearly to be found in Homer, Virgil, and +other Greek and Latin authors; they were doubtless originally derived +from the Hebrews, or rather the Egyptians, from whom the Greeks took +their religion, which they arranged to their own taste. The Hebrews +speak of the _Rephaims_,[621] of the impious giants "who groan under +the waters." Solomon says[622] that the wicked shall go down to the +abyss, or hell, with the Rephaims. Isaiah, describing the arrival of +the King of Babylon in hell, says[623] that "the giants have raised +themselves up to meet him with honor, and have said unto him, thou has +been pierced with wounds even as we are; thy pride has been +precipitated into hell. Thy bed shall be of rottenness, and thy +covering of worms." Ezekiel describes[624] in the same manner the +descent of the King of Assyria into hell--"In the day that Ahasuerus +went down into hell, I commanded a general mourning; for him I closed +up the abyss, and arrested the course of the waters. You are at last +brought down to the bottom of the earth with the trees of Eden; you +will rest there with all those who have been killed by the sword; +there is Pharaoh with all his host," &c. In the Gospel,[625] there is +a great gulf between the bosom of Abraham and the abode of the bad +rich man, and of those who resemble him. + +The Egyptians called _Amenthés_, that is to say, "he who receives and +gives," what the Greeks named Hades, or hell, or the kingdom of Hades, +or Pluto. They believed that Amenthés received the souls of men when +they died, and restored them to them when they returned to the world; +that when a man died, his soul passed into the body of some other +animal by metempsychosis; first of all into a terrestrial animal, then +into one that was aquatic, afterwards into the body of a bird, and +lastly, after having animated all sorts of animals, he returned at the +end of three thousand years to the body of a man. + +It is from the Egyptians that Orpheus, Homer, and the other Greeks +derived the idea of the immortality of the soul, as well as the cave +of the Nymphs described by Homer, who says there are two gates, the +one to the north, through which the soul enters the cavern, and the +other to the south, by which they leave the nymphic abode. + +A certain Thespisius, a native of Soloe in Cilicia, well known to +Plutarch,[626] having passed a great part of his life in debauchery, +and ruined himself entirely, in order to gain a livelihood lent +himself to everything that was bad, and contrived to amass money. +Having sent to consult the oracle of Amphilochus, he received for +answer, that his affairs would go on better after his death. A short +time after, he fell from the top of his house, broke his neck, and +died. Three days after, when they were about to perform the funeral +obsequies, he came to life again, and changed his way of life so +greatly that there was not in Cilicia a worthier or more pious man +than himself. + +As they asked him the reason of such a change, he said that at the +moment of his fall he felt the same as a pilot who is thrown back from +the top of the helm into the sea; after which, his soul was sensible +of being raised as high as the stars, of which he admired the immense +size and admirable lustre; that the souls once out of the body rise +into the air, and are enclosed in a kind of globe, or inflamed vortex, +whence having escaped, some rise on high with incredible rapidity, +while others whirl about the air, and are thrown in divers directions, +sometimes up and sometimes down. + +The greater part appeared to him very much perplexed, and uttered +groans and frightful wailings; others, but in a less number, rose and +rejoiced with their fellows. At last he learnt that Adrastia, the +daughter of Jupiter and Necessity, left nothing unpunished, and that +she treated every one according to their merit. He then details all he +saw at full length, and relates the various punishments with which the +bad are tormented in the next world. + +He adds that a man of his acquaintance said to him, "You are not dead, +but by God's permission your soul is come into this place, and has +left your body with all its faculties." At last he was sent back into +his body as through a channel, and urged on by an impetuous breeze. + +We may make two reflections on this recital; the first on this soul, +which quits its body for three days and then comes back to reanimate +it; the second, on the certainty of the oracle, which promised +Thespisius a happier life when he should be dead. + +In the Sicilian war[627] between Cĉsar and Pompey, Gabienus, commander +of Cĉsar's fleet, having been taken, was beheaded by order of Pompey. +He remained all day on the sea-shore, his head only held on to his +body by a fillet. Towards evening he begged that Pompey or some of his +people might come to him, because he came from the shades, and he had +things of consequence to impart to him. Pompey sent to him several of +his friends, to whom Gabienus declared that the gods of the infernal +regions favored the cause and the party of Pompey, and that he would +succeed according to his wishes; that he was ordered to announce this, +"and as a proof of the truth of what I say, I must die directly," +which happened. But we do not see that Pompey's party succeeded; we +know, on the contrary, that it fell, and Cĉsar was victorious. But the +God of the infernal regions, that is to say, the devil, found it very +good for him, since it sent him so many unhappy victims of revenge and +ambition.[628] + + +Footnotes: + +[621] Job xxvi. 5. + +[622] Prov. ix. 18. + +[623] Isa. xix. 9, _et seq._ + +[624] Ezek. xxxi. 15. + +[625] Luke xvi. 26. + +[626] Plutarch, de his qui misero à Numine puniuntur. + +[627] Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. vii. c. 52. + +[628] This story is related before, and is here related on account of +the bearing it has on the subject of this chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +INSTANCES OF CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE BEEN RESUSCITATED AND SENT BACK TO +THE WORLD--VISION OF VETINUS, A MONK OF AUGIA. + + +We read in an old work, written in the time of St. Augustine,[629] +that a man having been crushed by a wall which fell upon him, his wife +ran to the church to invoke St. Stephen whilst they were preparing to +bury the man who was supposed to be dead. Suddenly they saw him open +his eyes, and move his body; and after a time he sat up, and related +that his soul, having quitted his body, had met a crowd of other souls +of dead persons, some of whom he knew, and others he did not; that a +young man, in a deacon's habit, having entered the room where he was, +put aside all those souls, and said to them three times, "Return what +you have received." He understood at last that he meant the creed, +which he recited instantly; and also the Lord's Prayer; then the +deacon (St. Stephen) made the sign of the cross upon his heart, and +told him to rise in perfect health. A young man,[630] a catechumen, +who had been dead for three days, and was brought back to life by the +prayers of St. Martin, related that after his death he had been +presented before the tribunal of the Sovereign Judge, who had +condemned him, and sent him with a crowd of others into a dark place; +and then two angels, having represented to the Judge that he was a man +for whom St. Martin had interceded, the Judge commanded the angels to +send him back to earth, and restore him to St. Martin, which was done. +He was baptized, and lived a long time afterwards. + +St. Salvius, Bishop of Albi,[631] having been seized with a violent +fever, was thought to be dead. They washed him, clothed him, laid him +on a bier, and passed the night in prayer by him: the next morning he +was seen to move; he appeared to awake from a deep sleep, opened his +eyes, and raising his hand towards heaven said, "Ah! Lord, why hast +thou sent me back to this gloomy abode?" He rose completely cured, but +would then reveal nothing. + +Some days after, he related how two angels had carried him to heaven, +where he had seen the glory of Paradise, and had been sent back +against his will to live some time longer on earth. St. Gregory of +Tours takes God to witness that he heard this history from the mouth +of St. Salvius himself. + +A monk of Augia, named Vetinus, or Guetinus, who was living in 824, +was ill, and lying upon his couch with his eyes shut; but not being +quite asleep, he saw a demon in the shape of a priest, most horribly +deformed, who, showing him some instruments of torture which he held +in his hand, threatened to make him soon feel the rigorous effects of +them. At the same time he saw a multitude of evil spirits enter his +chamber, carrying tools, as if to build him a tomb or a coffin, and +enclose him in it. + +Immediately he saw appear some serious and grave-looking personages, +wearing religious habits, who chased these demons away; and then +Vetinus saw an angel, surrounded with a blaze of light, who came to +the foot of the bed, and conducted him by a path between mountains of +an extraordinary height, at the foot of which flowed a large river, in +which he beheld a multitude of the damned, who were suffering diverse +torments, according to the kind and enormity of their crimes. He saw +amongst them many of his acquaintance; amongst others, some prelates +and priests, guilty of incontinence, who were tied with their backs to +stakes, and burned by a fire lighted under them; the women, their +companions in crime, suffering the same torment opposite to them. + +He beheld there also, a monk who had given himself up to avarice, and +possessed money of his own, who was to expiate his crime in a leaden +coffin till the day of judgment. He remarked there abbots and bishops, +and even the Emperor Charlemagne, who were expiating their faults by +fire, but were to be released from it after a certain time. He +remarked there also the abode of the blessed in heaven, each one in +his place, and according to his merits. The Angel of the Lord after +this revealed to him the crimes which were the most common, and the +most odious in the eyes of God. He mentioned sodomy in particular, as +the most abominable crime. + +After the service for the night, the abbot came to visit the sick man, +who related this vision to him in full, and the abbot had it written +down directly. Vetinus lived two days longer, and having predicted +that he had only the third day to live, he recommended himself to the +prayers of the monks, received the holy viaticum, and died in peace, +the 31st of October, 824. + + +Footnotes: + +[629] Lib. i. de Miracul. Sancti Stephani, cap. 4. p. 28. Lib. vii. +Oper. St. Aug. in Appendice. + +[630] Sulpit. Sever. in Vitâ S. Martini, cap. 3. + +[631] Gregor. Turon. lib. vii. c. 1. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +THE VISION OF BERTHOLDUS, AS RELATED BY HINCMAR, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS. + + +The famous Hincmar,[632] Archbishop of Rheims, in a circular letter +which he wrote to the bishops, his suffragans, and the faithful of his +diocese, relates, that a man named Bertholdus, with whom he was +acquainted, having fallen ill, and received all the sacraments, +remained during four days without taking any food. On the fourth day +he was so weak that there was hardly a feeble palpitation and +respiration found in him. About midnight he called to his wife, and +told her to send quickly for his confessor. + +The priest was as yet only in the court before the house, when +Bertholdus said, "Place a seat here, for the priest is coming." He +entered the room and said some prayers, to which Bertholdus uttered +the responses, and then related to him the vision he had had. "On +leaving this world," said he, "I saw forty-one bishops, amongst whom +were Ebonius, Leopardellus, Eneas, who were clothed in coarse black +garments, dirty, and singed by the flames. As for themselves, they +were sometimes burned by the flames, and at others frozen with +insupportable cold." Ebonius said to him, "Go to my clergy and my +friends, and tell them to offer for us the holy sacrifice." Bertholdus +obeyed, and returning to the place where he had seen the bishops, he +found them well clothed, shaved, bathed, and rejoicing. + +A little farther on, he met King Charles,[633] who was as if eaten by +worms. This prince begged him to go and tell Hincmar to relieve his +misery. Hincmar said mass for him, and King Charles found relief. +After that he saw Bishop Jessé, of Orleans, who was over a well, and +four demons plunged him into boiling pitch, and then threw him into +icy water. They prayed for him, and he was relieved. He then saw the +Count Othaire, who was likewise in torment. Bertholdus begged the wife +of Othaire, with his vassals and friends, to pray for him, and give +alms, and he was delivered from his torments. Bertholdus after that +received the holy communion, and began to find himself better, with +the hope of living fourteen years longer, as he had been promised by +his guide, who had shown him all that we have just related. + + +Footnotes: + +[632] Hincmar, lib. ii. p. 805. + +[633] Apparently Charles the Bald, who died in 875. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +THE VISION OF SAINT FURSIUS. + + +The Life of St. Fursius,[634] written a short time after his death, +which happened about the year 653, reports several visions seen by +this holy man. Being grievously ill, and unable to stir, he saw +himself in the midst of the darkness raised up, as it were, by the +hands of three angels, who carried him out of the world, then brought +him back to it, and made his soul re-enter his body, to complete the +destination assigned him by God. Then he found himself in the midst of +several people, who wept for him as if he were dead, and told him how, +the day before, he had fallen down in a swoon, so that they believed +him to be dead. He could have wished to have some intelligent persons +about him to relate to them what he had seen; but having no one near +him but rustics, he asked for and received the communion of the body +and blood of the Saviour, and continued three days longer awake. + +The following Tuesday, he fell into a similar swoon, in the middle of +the night; his feet became cold, and raising his hands to pray, he +received death with joy. Then he saw the same three angels descend who +had already guided him. They raised him as the first time, but instead +of the agreeable and melodious songs which he had then heard, he could +now hear only the frightful howlings of the demons, who began to fight +against him, and shoot inflamed darts at him. The Angel of the Lord +received them on his buckler, and extinguished them. The devil +reproached Fursius with some bad thoughts, and some human weaknesses, +but the angels defended him, saying, "If he has not committed any +capital sins, he shall not perish." + +As the devil could not reproach him with anything that was worthy of +eternal death, he saw two saints from his own country--St. Béan and +St. Medan, who comforted him and announced to him the evils with which +God would punish mankind, principally because of the sins of the +doctors or learned men of the church, and the princes who governed the +people;--the doctors for neglecting to declare the word of God, and +the princes for the bad examples they gave their people. After which, +they sent him back into his body again. He returned into it with +repugnance, and began to relate all that he had seen; they poured +spring water upon his body, and he felt a great warmth between his +shoulders. After this, he began to preach throughout Hibernia; and the +Venerable Bede[635] says that there was in his monastery an aged monk +who said that he had learned from a grave personage well worthy of +belief, that he had heard these visions described by St. Fursius +himself. This saint had not the least doubt that his soul was really +separated from his body, when he was carried away in his trance. + + +Footnotes: + +[634] Vita Sti. Fursci, apud Bolland. 16 Januarii, pp. 37, 38. Item, +pp. 47, 48. Sĉcul. xi. Bened. p. 299. + +[635] Bede, lib. iii. Hist. c. 19. + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +VISION OF A PROTESTANT OF YORK, AND OTHERS. + + +Here is another instance, which happened in 1698 to one of the +so-called reformed religion.[636] A minister of the county of York, at +a place called Hipley, and whose name was Henry Vatz (Watts), being +struck with apoplexy the 15th of August, was on the 17th placed in a +coffin to be buried. But as they were about to put him in the grave, +he uttered a loud cry, which frightened all the persons who had +attended him to the grave; they took him quickly out of the coffin, +and as soon as he had come to himself, he related several surprising +things which he said had been revealed to him during his trance, which +had lasted eight-and-forty hours. The 24th of the same month, he +preached a very moving discourse to those who had accompanied him the +day they were carrying him to the tomb. + +People may, if they please, treat all that we have related as dreams +and tales, but it cannot be denied that we recognize in these +resurrections, and in these narrations of men who have come to life +again after their real or seeming death, the belief of the church +concerning hell, paradise, purgatory, the efficacy of prayers for the +dead, and the apparitions of angels and demons who torment the damned, +and of the souls who have yet something to expiate in the other world. + +We see also, that which has a visible connection with the matter we +are treating upon--persons really dead, and others regarded as such, +who return to life in health and live a long time afterwards. Lastly, +we may observe therein opinions on the state of souls after this life, +which are nearly the same as among the Hebrews, Egyptians, Greeks, +Romans, barbarous nations, and Christians. If the Hungarian ghosts do +not speak of what they have seen in the other world, it is either that +they are not really dead, or more likely that all which is related of +these _revenans_ is fabulous and chimerical. I will add some more +instances which will serve to confirm the belief of the primitive +church on the subject of apparitions. + +St. Perpetua, who suffered martyrdom in Africa in 202 or 203, being in +prison for the faith, saw a brother named Dinocrates, who had died at +the age of seven years of a cancer in the cheek; she saw him as if in +a very large dungeon, so that they could not approach each other. He +seemed to be placed in a reservoir of water, the sides of which were +higher than himself, so that he could not reach the water, for which +he appeared to thirst very much. Perpetua was much moved at this, and +prayed to God with tears and groans for his relief. Some days after, +she saw in spirit the same Dinocrates, well clothed, washed, and +refreshed, and the water of the reservoir in which he was, only came +up to his middle, and on the edge a cup, from which he drank, without +the water diminishing, and the skin of the cancer in his cheek well +healed, so that nothing now remained of the cancer but the scar. By +these things she understood that Dinocrates was no longer in pain. + +Dinocrates was there apparently[637] to expiate some faults which he +had committed since his baptism, for Perpetua says a little before +this that only her father had remained in infidelity. + +The same St. Perpetua, being in prison some days before she suffered +martyrdom[638] had a vision of the deacon Pomponius, who had suffered +martyrdom some days before, and who said to her, "Come, we are waiting +for you." He led her through a rugged and winding path into the arena +of the amphitheatre, where she had to combat with a very ugly +Egyptian, accompanied by some other men like him. Perpetua found +herself changed into a man, and began to fight naked, assisted by some +well-made youths who came to her service and assistance. + +Then she beheld a man of extraordinary size, who cried aloud, "If the +Egyptian gains the victory over her, he will kill her with his sword; +but if she conquers, she shall have this branch ornamented with golden +apples for her reward." Perpetua began the combat, and having +overthrown the Egyptian, trampled his head under her feet. The people +shouted victory, and Perpetua approaching him who held the branch +above mentioned, he put it in her hands, and said to her, "Peace be +with you." Then she awoke, and understood that she would have to +combat, not against wild beasts, but against the devil. + +Saturus, one of the companions of the martyrdom of St. Perpetua, had +also a vision, which he relates thus: "We had suffered martyrdom, and +were disengaged from this mortal body. Four angels carried us towards +the East without touching us. We arrived at a place shining with +intense lustre; Perpetua was at my side, and I said unto her, 'Behold +what the Lord promised us.' + +"We entered a large garden full of trees and flowers; the four angels +who had borne us thither placed us in the hands of other angels, who +conducted us by a wide road to a place where we found Jocondus, +Saturninus, and Artazes, who had suffered with us, and invited us to +come and salute the Lord. We followed them, and beheld in the midst of +this place the Almighty, crowned with dazzling light, and we heard +repeated incessantly by those around him, Holy! holy! holy! They +raised us towards him, and we stopped before his throne. We gave him +the kiss of peace, and he stroked our faces with his hand. + +"We came out, and we saw before the door the bishop Optatus and the +priest Aspasius, who threw themselves at our feet. We raised and +embraced them. We recognized in this place several of our brethren and +some martyrs." Such was the vision of Saturus. + +There are visions of all sorts; of holy martyrs, and of holy angels. +It is related of St. Exuperus, bishop of Thoulouse,[639] that having +conceived the design of transporting the relics of St. Saturnus, a +former bishop of that church, to place them in a new church built in +his honor, he could with difficulty resolve to take this holy body +from the tomb, fearing to displease the saint, or to diminish the +honor which was due to him. But while in this doubt, he had a vision +which gave him to understand that this translation would neither +lessen the respect which was due to the ashes of the martyr, nor be +prejudicial to his honor; but that on the contrary it would contribute +to the salvation of the faithful, and to the greater glorification of +God. + +Some days before[640] St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, suffered +martyrdom, in 258, he had a vision, not being as yet quite asleep, in +which a young man whose height was extraordinary, seemed to lead him +to the Prĉtorium before the Proconsul, who was seated on his tribunal. +This magistrate, having caught sight of Cyprian, began to write his +sentence before he had interrogated him as was usual. Cyprian knew not +what the sentence condemned him to; but the young man above mentioned, +and who was behind the judge, made a sign by opening his hand and +spreading in form of a sword, that he was condemned to have his head +cut off. + +Cyprian easily understood what was meant by this sign, and having +earnestly requested to be allowed a day's delay to put his affairs in +order, the judge, having granted his request, again wrote upon his +tablets, and the young man by a sign of his hand let him know that the +delay was granted. These predictions were exactly fulfilled, and we +see many similar ones in the works of St. Cyprian. + +St. Fructueux, Bishop of Tarragona,[641] who suffered martyrdom in +259, was seen after his death ascending to heaven with the deacons who +had suffered with him; they appeared as if they were still attached to +the stakes near which they had been burnt. They were seen by two +Christians, who showed them to the wife and daughter of Emilian, who +had condemned them. The saint appeared to Emilian himself and to the +Christians, who had taken away their ashes, and desired that they +might be all collected in one spot. We see similar apparitions[642] in +the acts of St. James, of St. Marienus, martyrs, and some others who +suffered in Numidia in 259. We may observe the like[643] in the acts +of St. Montanus, St. Lucius, and other African martyrs in 259 or 260, +and in those of St. Vincent, a martyr in Spain, in 304, and in the +life of St. Theodore, martyr, in 306, of whose sufferings St. Gregory +of Nicea has written an account. Everybody knows what happened at +Sebastus, in Armenia, in the martyrdom of the famous forty martyrs, of +whom St. Basil the Great has written the eulogium. One of the forty, +overcome by the excess of cold, which was extreme, threw himself into +a hot bath that was prepared just by. Then he who guarded them having +perceived some angels who brought crowns to the thirty-nine who had +persevered in their sufferings, despoiled himself of his garments, +joined himself to the martyrs, and declared himself a Christian. + +All these instances invincibly prove that, at least in the first ages +of the church, the greatest and most learned bishops, the holy +martyrs, and the generality of the faithful, were well persuaded of +the possibility and reality of apparitions. + + +Footnotes: + +[636] Larrey, Hist. de Louis XIV. year 1698, p. 68. + +[637] Aug. lib. i. de Origine Animĉ. + +[638] Ibid. p. 97. + +[639] Aug. lib. i. de Origine Animĉ, p. 132. + +[640] Acta Martyr. Sincera, p. 212. Vita et Passio S. Cypriani, p. +268. + +[641] Acta Martyr. Sincera, pp. 219, 221. + +[642] Acta Martyr. Sincera, p. 226. + +[643] Ibid. pp. 231-233, 237. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX. + +CONCLUSIONS OF THIS DISSERTATION. + + +To resume, in a few words, all that we have related in this +dissertation: we have therein shown that a resurrection, properly so +called, of a person who has been dead for a considerable time, and +whose body was either corrupted, or stinking, or ready to putrefy, +like that of Pierre, who had been three years buried, and was +resuscitated by St. Stanislaus, or that of Lazarus, who had been four +days in the tomb, and already possessing a corpse-like smell--such a +resurrection can be the work of the almighty power of God alone. + +That persons who have been drowned, fallen into syncope, into a +lethargy or trance, or looked upon as dead, in any manner whatever, +can be cured and brought back to life, even to their former state of +life, without any miracle, but by the power of medicine alone, or by +natural efforts, or by dint of patience; so that nature re-establishes +herself in her former state, that the heart resumes its pulsation, and +the blood circulates freely again in the arteries, and the vital and +animal spirits in the nerves. + +That the oupires, or vampires, or _revenans_ of Moravia, Hungary, +Poland, &c., of which such extraordinary things are related, so +detailed, so circumstantial, invested with all the necessary +formalities to make them believed, and to prove them even judicially +before judges, and at the most exact and severe tribunals; that all +which is said of their return to life; of their apparition, and the +confusion which they cause in the towns and country places; of their +killing people by sucking their blood, or in making a sign to them to +follow them; that all those things are mere illusions, and the +consequence of a heated and prejudiced imagination. They cannot cite +any witness who is sensible, grave and unprejudiced, who can testify +that he has seen, touched, interrogated these ghosts, who can affirm +the reality of their return, and of the effects which are attributed +to them. + +I shall not deny that some persons may have died of fright, imagining +that their near relatives called them to the tomb; that others have +thought they heard some one rap at their doors, worry them, disturb +them, in a word, occasion them mortal maladies; and that these persons +judicially interrogated, have replied that they had seen and heard +what their panic-struck imagination had represented to them. But I +require unprejudiced witnesses, free from terror and disinterested, +quite calm, who can affirm upon serious reflection, that they have +seen, heard, and interrogated these vampires, and who have been the +witnesses of their operations; and I am persuaded that no such witness +will be found. + +I have by me a letter, which has been sent me from Warsaw, the 3d of +February, 1745, by M. Slivisk, visitor of the province of priests of +the mission of Poland. He sends me word, that having studied with +great care this matter, and having proposed to compose on this subject +a theological and physical dissertation, he had collected some memoirs +with that view; but that the occupations of visitor and superior in +the house of his congregation of Warsaw, had not allowed of his +putting his project in execution; that he has since sought in vain for +these memoirs or notes, which have probably remained in the hands of +some of those to whom he had communicated them; that amongst these +notes were two resolutions of the Sorbonne, which both forbade cutting +off the head and maiming the body of any of these pretended oupires or +vampires. He adds, that these decisions may be found in the registers +of the Sorbonne, from the year 1700 to 1710. I shall report by and +by, a decision of the Sorbonne on this subject, dated in the year +1691. + +He says, moreover, that in Poland they are so persuaded of the +existence of these oupires, that any one who thought otherwise would +be regarded almost as a heretic. There are several facts concerning +this matter, which are looked upon as incontestable, and many persons +are named as witnesses of them. "I gave myself the trouble," says he, +"to go to the fountain-head, and examine those who are cited as ocular +witnesses." He found that no one dared to affirm that they had really +seen the circumstances in question, and that it was all merely +reveries and fancies, caused by fear and unfounded discourse. So +writes to me this wise and judicious priest. + +I have also received since, another letter from Vienna in Austria, +written the 3d of August, 1746, by a Lorraine baron,[644] who has +always followed his prince. He tells me, that in 1742, his imperial +majesty, then his royal highness of Lorraine, had several verbal acts +drawn up concerning these cases, which happened in Moravia. I have +them by me still; I have read them over and over again; and to be +frank, I have not found in them the shadow of truth, nor even of +probability, in what is advanced. They are, nevertheless, documents +which in that country are looked upon as true as the Gospel. + + +Footnotes: + +[644] M. le Baron Toussaint. + + + + +CHAPTER LX. + +THE MORAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF THE REVENANS COMING OUT OF THEIR GRAVES. + + +I have already proposed the objection formed upon the impossibility of +these vampires coming out of their graves, and returning to them +again, without its appearing that they have disturbed the earth, +either in coming out or going in again. No one has ever replied to +this difficulty, and never will. To say that the demon subtilizes and +spiritualizes the bodies of vampires, is a thing asserted without +proof or likelihood. + +The fluidity of the blood, the ruddiness, the suppleness of these +vampires, ought not to surprise any one, any more than the growth of +the nails and hair, and their bodies remaining undecayed. We see every +day, bodies which remain uncorrupted, and retain a ruddy color after +death. This ought not to appear strange in those who die without +malady and a sudden death; or of certain maladies, known to our +physicians, which do not deprive the blood of its fluidity, or the +limbs of their suppleness. + +With regard to the growth of the hair and nails in bodies which are +not yet decayed, the thing is quite natural. There remains in those +bodies a certain slow and imperceptible circulation of the humors, +which causes this growth of the nails and hair, in the same way that +we every day see common bulbs grow and shoot, although without any +nourishment derived from the earth. + +The same may be said of flowers, and in general of all that depends on +vegetation in animals and plants. + +The belief of the common people of Greece in the return to earth of +the vroucolacas, is not much better founded than that of vampires and +ghosts. It is only the ignorance, the prejudice, the terror of the +Greeks, which have given rise to this vain and ridiculous belief, and +which they keep up even to this very day. The narrative which we have +reported after M. Tournefort, an ocular witness and a good +philosopher, may suffice to undeceive those who would maintain the +contrary. + +The incorruption of the bodies of those who died in a state of +excommunication, has still less foundation than the return of the +vampires, and the vexations of the living caused by the vroucolacas; +antiquity has had no similar belief. The schismatic Greeks, and the +heretics separated from the Church of Rome, who certainly died +excommunicated, ought, upon this principle, to remain uncorrupted; +which is contrary to experience, and repugnant to good sense. And if +the Greeks pretend to be the true Church, all the Roman Catholics, who +have a separate communion from them, ought then also to remain +undecayed. The instances cited by the Greeks either prove nothing, or +prove too much. Those bodies which have not decayed, were really +excommunicated, or not. If they were canonically and really +excommunicated, then the question falls to the ground. If they were +not really and canonically excommunicated, then it must be proved that +there was no other cause of incorruption--which can never be proved. + +Moreover, anything so equivocal as incorruption, cannot be adduced as +a proof in so serious a matter as this. It is owned, that often the +bodies of saints are preserved from decay; that is looked upon as +certain, among the Greeks as among the Latins--therefore, we cannot +thence conclude that this same incorruption is a proof that a person +is excommunicated. + +In short, this proof is universal and general, or only particular. I +mean to say, either all excommunicated persons remain undecayed, or +only a few of them. We cannot maintain that all those who die in a +state of excommunication, are incorruptible. For then all the Greeks +towards the Latins, and the Latins towards the Greeks, would be +undecayed, which is not the case. That proof then is very frivolous, +and nothing can be concluded from it. I mistrust, a great deal, all +those stories which are related to prove this pretended +incorruptibility of excommunicated persons. If well examined, many of +them would doubtless be found to be false. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI. + +WHAT IS RELATED CONCERNING THE BODIES OF THE EXCOMMUNICATED LEAVING +THE CHURCH, IS SUBJECT TO VERY GREAT DIFFICULTIES. + + +Whatever respect I may feel for St. Gregory the Great, who relates +some instances of deceased persons who died in a state of +excommunication going out of the church before the eyes of every one +present; and whatever consideration may be due to other authors whom I +have cited, and who relate other circumstances of a similar nature, +and even still more incredible, I cannot believe that we have these +legends with all the circumstances belonging to them; and after the +reasons for doubt which I have recorded at the end of these stories, I +believe I may again say, that God, to inspire the people with still +greater fear of excommunication, and a greater regard for the +sentences and censures of the church, has willed on these occasions, +for reasons unknown to us, to show forth his power, and work a miracle +in the sight of the faithful; for how can we explain all these things +without having recourse to the miraculous? All that is said of persons +who being dead chew under ground in their graves, is so pitiful, so +puerile, that it is not worthy of being seriously refuted. Everybody +owns that too often people are buried who are not quite dead. There +are but too many instances of this in ancient and modern histories. +The thesis of M. Vinslow, and the notes added thereto by M. Bruhier, +serve to prove that there are few certain signs of real death except +the putridity of a body being at least begun. We have an infinite +number of instances of persons supposed to be dead, who have come to +life again, even after they have been put in the ground. There are I +know not how many maladies in which the patient remains for a long +time speechless, motionless, and without sensible respiration. Some +drowned persons who have been thought dead, have been revived by care +and attention. + +All this is well known and may serve to explain how some vampires have +been taken out of their graves, and have spoken, cried, howled, +vomited blood, and all that because they were not yet dead. They have +been killed by beheading them, piercing their heart, and burning them; +in all which people were very wrong, for the pretext on which they +acted, of their pretended reappearance to disturb the living, causing +their death, and maltreating them, is not a sufficient reason for +treating them thus. Besides, their pretended return has never been +proved or attested in such a way as to authorize any one to show such +inhumanity, nor to dishonor and put rigorously to death on vague, +frivolous, unproved accusations, persons who were certainly innocent +of the thing laid to their charge. + +For nothing is more ill-founded than what is said of the apparitions, +vexations, and confusion caused by the pretended vampires and the +vroucolacas. I am not surprised that the Sorbonne should have +condemned the bloody and violent executions which are exercised on +these kinds of dead bodies. But it is astonishing that the secular +powers and the magistrates do not employ their authority and the +severity of the laws to repress them. + +The magic devotions, the fascinations, the evocations of which we have +spoken, are works of darkness, operations of Satan, if they have any +reality, which I can with difficulty believe, especially in regard to +magical devotions, and the evocations of the manes or souls of dead +persons; for, as to fascinations of the sight, or illusions of the +senses, it is foolish not to admit some of these, as when we think we +see what is not, or do not behold what is present before our eyes; or +when we think we hear a sound which in reality does not strike our +ears, or the contrary. But to say that the demon can cause a person's +death, because they have made a wax image of him, or given his name +with some superstitious ceremonies, and have devoted him or her, so +that the persons feel themselves dying as their image melts away, is +ascribing to the demon too much power, and to magic too much might. +God can, when he wills it, loosen the reign of the enemy of mankind, +and permit him to do us the harm which he and his agents may seek to +do us; but it would be ridiculous to believe that the Sovereign Master +of nature can be determined by magical incantations to allow the demon +to hurt us; or to imagine that the magician has the power to excite +the demon against us, independently of God. + +The instance of that peasant who gave his child to the devil, and +whose life the devil first took away and then restored, is one of +those extraordinary and almost incredible circumstances which are +sometimes to be met with in history, and which neither theology nor +philosophy knows how to explain. Was it a demon who animated the body +of the boy, or did his soul re-enter his body by the permission of +God? By what authority did the demon take away this boy's life, and +then restore it to him? God may have permitted it to punish the +impiety of the wretched father, who had given himself to the devil to +satisfy a shameful and criminal passion. And again, how could he +satisfy it with a demon, who appeared to him in the form of a girl he +loved? In all that I see only darkness and difficulties, which I leave +to be resolved by those who are more learned or bolder than myself. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII. + +REMARKS ON THE DISSERTATION CONCERNING THE SPIRIT WHICH REAPPEARED AT +ST. MAUR DES FOSSES. + + +The following Dissertation on the apparition which happened at St. +Maur, near Paris, in 1706, was entirely unknown to me. A friend who +took some part in my work on apparitions, had asked me by letter if I +should have any objection to its being printed at the end of my work. +I readily consented, on his testifying that it was from a worthy hand, +and deserved to be saved from the oblivion into which it was fallen. I +have since found that it was printed in the fourth volume of the +Treatise on Superstitions, by the Reverend Father le Brun, of the +Oratoire. + +After the impression, a learned monk[645] wrote to me from Amiens, in +Picardy, that he had remarked in this dissertation five or six +propositions which appeared to him to be false. + +1st. That the author says, all the holy doctors agree that no means of +deceiving us is left to the demons except suggestion, which has been +left them by God to try our virtue. + +2d. In respect to all those prodigies and spells which the common +people attribute to sorcery and intercourse with the demon, it is +proved that they can only be done by means of natural magic; this is +the opinion of the greater number of the fathers of the church. + +3d. All that demons have to do with the criminal practices of those +who are commonly called sorcerers is suggestion, by which he invites +them to the abominable research of all those natural causes which can +hurt our neighbor. + +4th. Although those who have desired to maintain the popular error of +the return to earth of souls from purgatory, may have endeavored to +support their opinion by different passages, taken from St. Augustine, +St. Jerome, St. Thomas, &c., it is attested that all these fathers +speak only of the return of the blessed to manifest the glory of God. + +5th. Of what may we not believe the imagination capable after so +strong a proof of its power? Can it be doubted that among all the +pretended apparitions of which stories are related, the fancy alone +works for all those which do not proceed from angels and the spirits +of the blessed, and that the rest are the invention of men? + +6th. After having sufficiently established the fact, that all +apparitions which cannot be attributed to angels, or the spirits of +the blessed, are produced only by one of these causes: the writer +names them--first, the power of imagination; secondly, the extreme +subtility of the senses; and thirdly, the derangement of the organs, +as in madness and high fevers. + +The monk who writes to me maintains that the first proposition is +false; that the ancient fathers of the church ascribe to the demon the +greater number of those extraordinary effects produced by certain +sounds of the voice, by figures, and by phantoms; that the exorcists +in the primitive church expelled devils, even by the avowal of the +heathen; that angels and demons have often appeared to men; that no +one has spoken more strongly of apparitions, of hauntings, and the +power of the demon, than the ancient fathers; that the church has +always employed exorcism on children presented for baptism, and +against those who were haunted and possessed by the demon. Add to +which, the author of the dissertation cites not one of the fathers to +support his general proposition.[646] + +The second proposition, again, is false; for if we must attribute to +natural magic all that is ascribed to sorcerers, there are then no +sorcerers, properly so called, and the church is mistaken in offering +up prayers against their power. + +The third proposition is false for the same reason. + +The fourth is falser still, and absolutely contrary to St. Thomas, +who, speaking of the dead in general who appear, says that this occurs +either by a miracle, or by the particular permission of God, or by the +operation of good or evil angels.[647] + +The fifth proposition, again, is false, and contrary to the fathers, +to the opinion commonly received among the faithful, and to the +customs of the church. If all the apparitions which do not proceed +from the angels or the blessed, or the inventive malice of mankind, +proceed only from fancy, what becomes of all the apparitions of demons +related by the saints, and which occurred to the saints? What becomes, +in particular, of all the stories of the holy solitaries, of St. +Anthony, St. Hilarion, &c.?[648] What becomes of the prayers and +ceremonies of the church against demons, who infest, possess, and +haunt, and appear often in these disturbances, possessions, and +hauntings? + +The sixth proposition is false for the same reasons, and many others +which might be added. + +"These," adds the reverend father who writes to me, "are the causes of +my doubting if the third dissertation was added to the two others with +your knowledge. I suspected that the printer, of his own accord, or +persuaded by evil intentioned persons, might have added it himself, +and without your participation, although under your name. For I said +to myself, either the reverend father approves this dissertation, or +he does not approve of it. It appears that he approves of it, since he +says that it is from a clever writer, and he would wish to preserve it +from oblivion. + +"Now, how can he approve a dissertation false in itself and contrary +to himself? If he approves it not, is it not too much to unite to his +work a foolish composition full of falsehoods, disguises, false and +weak arguments, opposed to the common belief, the customs, and prayers +of the church; consequently dangerous, and quite favorable to the free +and incredulous thinkers which this age is so full of? Ought he not +rather to combat this writing, and show its weakness, falsehood, and +dangerous tendency? There, my reverend father, lies all my +difficulty." + +Others have sent me word that they could have wished that I had +treated the subject of apparitions in the same way as the author of +this dissertation, that is to say, simply as a philosopher, with the +aim of destroying the credence and reality, rather than with any +design of supporting the belief in apparitions which is so observable +in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, in the fathers, and in +the customs and prayers of the church. The author of whom we speak has +cited the fathers, but in a general manner, and without marking the +testimonies, and the express and formal passages. I do not know if he +thinks much of them, and if he is well versed in them, but it would +hardly appear so from his work. + +The grand principle on which this third dissertation turns is, that +since the advent and the death of Jesus Christ, all the power of the +devil is limited to enticing, inspiring, and persuading to evil; but +for the rest, he is tied up like a lion or a dog in his prison. He may +bark, he may menace, but he cannot bite unless he is too nearly +approached and yielded to, as St. Augustine truly says:[649] "Mordere +omnino non potest nisi volentem." + +But to pretend that Satan can do no harm, either to the health of +mankind, or to the fruits of the earth; can neither attack us by his +stratagems, his malice, and his fury against us, nor torment those +whom he pursues or possesses; that magicians and wizards can make use +of no spells and charms to cause both men and animals dreadful +maladies, and even death, is a direct attack on the faith of the +church, the Holy Scriptures, the most sacred practices, and the +opinions of not only the holy fathers and the best theologians, but +also on the laws and ordinances of princes, and the decrees of the +most respectable parliaments. + +I will not here cite the instances taken from the Old Testament, the +author having limited himself to what has passed since the death and +resurrection of our Saviour; because, he says, Jesus Christ has +destroyed the kingdom of Satan, and the prince of this world is +already judged.[650] + +St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John, and the Evangelists, who were well +informed of the words of the Son of God, and the sense given to them, +teach us that Satan asked to have power over the apostles of Jesus +Christ, to sift them like wheat;[651] that is to say, to try them by +persecutions and make them renounce the faith. Does not St. Paul +complain of the _angel of Satan_ who buffeted him?[652] Did those whom +he gave up to Satan for their crimes,[653] suffer nothing bodily? +Those who took the communion unworthily, and were struck with +sickness, or even with death, did they not undergo these chastisements +by the operation of the demon?[654] The apostle warns the Corinthians +not to suffer themselves to be surprised by Satan, who sometimes +transforms himself into an angel of light.[655] The same apostle, +speaking to the Thessalonians, says to them, that before the last day +antichrist will appear,[656] according to the working of Satan, with +extraordinary power, with wonders and deceitful signs. In the +Apocalypse the demon is the instrument made use of by God, to punish +mortals and make them drink of the cup of his wrath. Does not St. +Peter[657] tell us that "the devil prowls about us like a roaring +lion, always ready to devour us?" And St. Paul to the Ephesians,[658] +"that we have to fight not against men of flesh and blood, but against +principalities and powers, against the princes of this world," that is +to say, of this age of darkness, "against the spirits of malice spread +about in the air?" + +The fathers of the first ages speak often of the power that the +Christians exercised against the demons, against those who called +themselves diviners, against magicians and other subalterns of the +devil; principally against those who were possessed, who were then +frequently seen, and are so still from time to time, both in the +church and out of the church. Exorcisms and other prayers of the +church have always been employed against these, and with success. +Emperors and kings have employed their authority and the rigor of the +laws against those who have devoted themselves to the service of the +demon, and used spells, charms, and other methods which the demon +employs, to entice and destroy both men and animals, or the fruits of +the country. + +We might add to the remarks of the reverend Dominican father divers +other propositions drawn from the same work; for instance, when the +author says that "the angels know everything here below; for if it is +by means of specialties, which God communicates to them every day, as +St. Augustine thinks, there is no reason to believe that they do not +know all the wants of mankind, and that they cannot console and +strengthen them, render themselves visible to them by the permission +of God, without always receiving from him an express order so to do." + +This proposition is rather rash: it is not certain that the angels +know everything that passes here below. Jesus Christ, in St. Matthew +xxiv. 36, says that the angels do not know the day of his coming. It +is still more doubtful that the angels can appear without an express +command from God, and that St. Augustine has so taught. + +He says, a little while after--"That demons often appeared before +Jesus Christ in fantastic forms, which they assumed as the angels do," +that is to say, in aërial bodies which they organized; "whilst at +present, and since the coming of Jesus Christ, those wonders and +spells have been so common that the people attributed them to sorcery +and commerce with the devil, whereas it is attested that they can be +operated only by natural magic, which is the knowledge of secret +effects from natural causes, and many of them by the subtilty of the +air alone. This is the opinion of the greater number of the fathers +who have spoken of them." + +This proposition is false, and contrary to the doctrine and practice +of the church; and it is not true that it is the opinion of the +greater number of the fathers; he should have cited some of them.[659] + +He says that "the Book of Job and the song of Hezekiah are full of +testimonies that the Holy Spirit seems to have taught us, that our +souls cannot return to earth after our death, until God has made +angels of them." + +It is true that the Holy Scriptures speak of the resurrection and +return of souls into their bodies as of a thing that is impossible in +the natural course. Man cannot raise up himself from the dead, neither +can he raise up his fellow-man without an effort of the supreme might +of God. Neither can the spirits of the deceased appear to the living +without the command or permission of God. But it is false to say, +"that God makes angels of our souls, and that then they can appear to +the living." + +Our souls will never become angels; but Jesus Christ tells us that +after our death our souls will be _as_ the angels of God, (Matt. xxii. +30); that is to say, spiritual, incorporeal, immortal, and exempt from +all the wants and weaknesses of this present life; but he does not say +that our souls must _become_ angels. + +He affirms "that what Jesus Christ said, 'that spirits have neither +flesh nor bones,' far from leading us to believe that spirits can +return to earth, proves, on the contrary, evidently that they cannot +without a miracle render themselves visible to mankind; since it +requires absolutely a corporeal substance and organs of speech to make +ourselves heard, which does not agree with the spirits, who naturally +cannot be subject to our senses." + +This is no more impossible than what he said beforehand of the +apparitions of angels, since our souls, after the death of the body, +are "like unto the angels," according to the Gospel. He acknowledges +himself, with St. Jerome against Vigilantius, that the saints who are +in heaven appear sometimes visibly to men. "Whence comes it that +animals have, as well as ourselves, the faculty of memory, but not the +reflection which accompanies it, which proceeds only from the soul, +which they have not?" + +Is not memory itself the reflection of what we have seen, done, or +heard; and in animals is not memory followed by reflection,[660] since +they avenge themselves on those who hurt them, avoid that which has +incommoded them, foreseeing what might happen to themselves from it if +they fell again into the same mistake? + +After having spoken of natural palingenesis, he concludes--"And thus +we see how little cause there is to attribute these appearances to the +return of souls to earth, or to demons, as do some ignorant persons." + +If those who work the wonders of natural palingenesis, and admit the +natural return of phantoms in the cemeteries, and fields of battle, +which I do not think happens naturally, could show that these phantoms +speak, act, move, foretell the future, and do what is related of +returned souls or other apparitions, whether good angels or bad ones, +we might conclude that there is no reason to attribute them to souls, +angels, and demons; but, 1, they have never been able to cause the +appearance of the phantom of a dead man, by any secret of art. 2. If +it had been possible to raise his shade, they could never have +inspired it with thought or reasoning powers, as we see in the angels +and demons, who appear, reason, and act, as intelligent beings, and +gifted with the knowledge of the past, the present, and sometimes of +the future. + +He denies that the souls in purgatory return to earth; for if they +could come back, "everybody would receive similar visits from their +relations and friends, since all the souls would feel disposed to do +the same. Apparently," says he, "God would grant them this permission, +and if they had this permission, every person of good sense would be +at a loss to comprehend why they should accompany all their +appearances with all the follies so circumstantially related." + +We may reply, that the return of souls to earth may depend neither on +their inclination nor their will, but on the will of God, who grants +this permission to whom he pleases, when he will, and as he will. + +The wicked rich man asked that Lazarus[661] might be sent to this +world to warn his brothers not to fall into the same misfortune as +himself, but he could not obtain it. There are an infinity of souls in +the same case and disposition, who cannot obtain leave to return +themselves or to send others in their place. + +If certain narratives of the return of spirits to earth have been +accompanied by circumstances somewhat comic, it does not militate +against the truth of the thing; since for one recital imprudently +embellished by uncertain circumstances, there are a thousand written +sensibly and seriously, and in a manner very conformable to truth. + +He maintains that all the apparitions which cannot be attributed to +angels or to blessed spirits, are produced only by one of these three +causes:--the power of imagination; the extreme subtility of the +senses; and the derangement of the organs, as in cases of madness and +in high fevers. + +This proposition is rash, and has before been refuted by the Reverend +Father Richard. + +The author recounts all that he has said of the spirit of St. Maur, in +causing the motion of the bed in the presence of three persons who +were wide awake, the repeated shrieks of a person whom they did not +see, of a door well-bolted, of repeated blows upon the walls, of +panes of glass struck with violence in the presence of three persons, +without their being able to see the author of all this movement;--he +reduces all this to a derangement of the imagination, the subtilty of +the air, or the vapors casually arising in the brain of an invalid. +Why did he not deny all these facts? Why did he give himself the +trouble to compose so carefully a dissertation to explain a +phenomenon, which, according to him, can boast neither truth nor +reality? For my part, I am very glad to give the public notice that I +neither adopt nor approve this anonymous dissertation, which I never +saw before it was printed; that I know nothing of the author, take no +part in it, and have no interest in defending him. If the subject of +apparitions be purely philosophical, and it can without injury to +religion be reduced to a problem, I should have taken a different +method to destroy it, and I should have suffered my reasoning and my +imagination to act more freely. + + +Footnotes: + +[645] Letter of the Reverend Father Richard, a Dominican of Amiens, of +the 29th of July, 1746. + +[646] See on this subject the letter of the Marquis Maffei, which +follows. + +[647] St. Thomas, i. part 9, 89, art. 8, ad. 2. + +[648] The author had foreseen this objection from the beginning of his +dissertation. + +[649] Aug. Serm. de Semp. 197. + +[650] John xvi. 11. + +[651] Luke xxii. 31. + +[652] 2 Cor. xi. 7. + +[653] 1 Tim. i. 2. + +[654] 1 Cor. xi. 30. + +[655] 2 Cor. ii. 11, and xi. 14. + +[656] 2 Thess. ii. + +[657] 1 Pet. v. 8. + +[658] Ephes. vi. 12. + +[659] They are cited in the letter of the Marquis Maffei. + +[660] The author, as we may see, is not a Cartesian, since he assigns +reflection even to animals. But if they reflect, they choose; whence +it consequently follows that they are free. + +[661] Luke xiii. 14. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII. + +DISSERTATION BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER. + +_Answer to a Letter on the subject of the Apparition of St. Maur._ + + +"You have been before me, sir, respecting the spirit of St. Maur, +which causes so much conversation at Paris; for I had resolved to send +you a short detail of that event, in order that you might impart to me +your reflections on a matter so delicate and so interesting to all +Paris. But since you have read an account of it, I cannot understand +why you have hesitated a moment to decide what you ought to think of +it. What you do me the honor to tell me, that you have suspended your +judgment of the case until I have informed you of mine, does me too +much honor for me to be persuaded of it; and I think there is more +probability in believing that it is a trick you are playing me, to see +how I shall extricate myself from such slippery ground. Nevertheless, +I cannot resist the entreaties, or rather the orders, with which your +letter is filled; and I prefer to expose myself to the pleasantry of +the free thinkers, or the reproaches of the credulous, than the anger +of those with which I am threatened by yourself. + +"You ask if I believe that spirits come back, and if the circumstance +which occurred at St. Maur can be attributed to one of those +incorporeal substances? + +"To answer your two questions in the same order that you propose them +to me, I must first tell you, that the ancient heathens acknowledge +various kinds of spirits, which they called _lares_, _larvĉ_, +_lemures_, _genii_, _manes_. + +"For ourselves, without pausing at the folly of our cabalistic +philosophers, who fancy spirits in every element, calling those sylphs +which they pretend to inhabit the air; _gnomes_, those which they +feign to be under the earth; _ondines_, those which dwell in the +water; and _salamanders_, those of fire; we acknowledge but three +sorts of created spirits, namely, angels, demons, and the souls which +God has united to our bodies, and which are separated from them by +death. + +"The Holy Scriptures speak in too many places of the apparitions of +the angels to Abraham, Jacob, Tobit, and several other holy patriarchs +and prophets, for us to doubt of it. Besides, as their name signifies +their ministry, being created by God to be his messengers, and to +execute his commands, it is easy to believe that they have often +appeared visibly to men, to announce to them the will of the Almighty. +Almost all the theologians agree that the angels appear in the aërial +bodies with which they clothe themselves. + +"To make you understand in what manner they take and invest themselves +with these bodies, in order to render themselves visible to men, and +to make themselves heard by them, we must first of all explain what is +vision, which is only the bringing of the _species_ within the compass +of the organ of sight. This "_species_" is the ray of light broken and +modified upon a body, on which, forming different angles, this light +is converted into colors. For an angle of a certain kind makes red, +another green, blue or yellow, and so on of all the colors, as we +perceive in the prism, on which the reflected rays of the sun forms +the different colors of the rainbow; the _species_ visible is then +nothing else than the ray of light which returns from the object on +which it breaks to the eyes. + +"Now, light falls only on three kinds of objects or bodies, of which +some are diaphanous, others opake, and the others participate in these +two qualities, being partly diaphanous and partly opake. When the +light falls on a diaphanous body which is full of an infinity of +little pores, as the air, it passes through without causing any +reflection. When the light falls on a body entirely opake, as a +flower, for instance, not being able to penetrate it, its ray is +reflected from it, and returns from the flower to the eye, to which it +carries the _species_, and renders the colors distinguishable, +according to the angles formed by reflection. If the body on which the +light falls is in part opake and in part diaphanous, like glass, it +passes through the diaphanous part, that is to say, through the pores +of the glass which it penetrates, and reflects itself on the opake +particles, that is to say, which are not porous. Thus the air is +invisible, because it is absolutely penetrated with light: the flower +sends back a color to the eye, because, being impenetrable to the +light, it obliges it to reflect itself; and the glass is visible only +because it contains some opake particles, which, according to the +diversity of angles formed upon it by the ray of light, reflect +different colors. + +"That is the manner in which vision is formed, so that air being +invisible, on account of its extreme transparency, an angel could not +clothe himself with it and render himself visible, but by thickening +the air so much, that from diaphanous it became opake, and capable of +reflecting the ray of light to the eye of him who perceived him. Now, +as the angels possess knowledge and power far beyond anything we can +imagine, we need not be astonished if they can form aërial bodies, +which are rendered visible by the opacity they impart to them. In +respect to the organs necessary to these aërial bodies, to form sounds +and make themselves heard, without having any recourse to the +disposition of matter, we must attribute them entirely to a miracle. + +"It is thus that angels have appeared to the holy patriarchs. It is +thus that the glorious souls that participate the angelic nature can +assume an aërial body to render themselves visible, and that even +demons, by thickening and condensing the air, can make to themselves a +body of it, so as to become visible to men, by the particular +permission of God, to accomplish the secrets of his providence, as +they are said to have appeared to St. Anthony the Hermit, and to other +saints, in order to tempt them. + +"Excuse, sir, this little physical digression, with which I could not +dispense, in order to make you understand the manner in which angels, +who are purely spiritual substances, can be perceived by our fleshly +senses. + +"The only point on which the holy doctors do not agree on this subject +is, to know if angels appear to men of their own accord, or whether +they can do it only by an express command from God. It seems to me +that nothing can better contribute to the decision of this difficulty, +than to determine the way in which the angels know all things here +below; for if it is by means of "_species_" which God communicates to +them every day, as St. Augustine believes, there is no reason to doubt +of their knowing all the wants of mankind, or that they can, in order +to console and strengthen them, render their presence sensible to +them, by God's permission, without receiving an express command from +him on the subject; which may be concluded from what St. Ambrose says +on the subject of the apparition of angels, who are by nature +invisible to us, and whom their will renders visible. _Hujus naturĉ +est non videri, voluntatis, videri._[662] + +"On the subject of demons, it is certain that their power was very +great before the coming of Jesus Christ, since he calls them himself, +the powers of darkness, and the princes of this world. It cannot be +doubted that they had for a long time deceived mankind, by the wonders +which they caused to be performed by those who devoted themselves more +particularly to their service; that several oracles have been the +effect of their power and knowledge, although part of them must be +ascribed to the subtlety of men; and that they may have appeared under +fantastic forms, which they assumed in the same way as the angels, +that is to say, in aërial bodies, which they organized. The Holy +Scriptures assure us even, that they took possession of the bodies of +living persons. But Jesus Christ says too precisely, that he has +destroyed the kingdom of the demons, and delivered us from their +tyranny, for us possibly to think rationally that they still possess +that power over us which they had formerly, so far as to work +wonderful things which appeared miraculous; such as they relate of the +vestal virgin, who, to prove her virginity, carried water in a sieve; +and of her who by means of her sash alone, towed up the Tiber a boat, +which had been so completely stranded that no human power could move +it. Almost all the holy doctors agree, that the only means they now +have of deceiving us is by suggestion, which God has left in their +power to try our virtue. + +"I shall not amuse myself by combating all the impositions which have +been published concerning demons, incubi, and succubi, with which some +authors have disfigured their works, any more than I shall reply to +the pretended possession of the nuns of Loudun, and of Martha +Brossier,[663] which made so much noise at Paris at the commencement +of the last century; because several learned men who have favored us +with their reflections on these adventures, have sufficiently shown +that the demons had nothing to do with them; and the last, above all, +is perfectly quashed by the report of Marescot, a celebrated +physician, who was deputed by the Faculty of Theology to examine this +girl who performed so many wonders. Here are his own words, which may +serve as a general reply to all these kind of adventures:--_A naturâ +multa plura ficta, à Dĉmone nulla._ That is to say, that the +constitution of Martha Brossier, who was apparently very melancholy +and hypochondriacal, contributed greatly to her fits of enthusiasm; +that she feigned still more, and that the devil had nothing to do with +it. + +"If some of the fathers, as St. Thomas, believe that the demons +sometimes produce sensible effects, they always add, that it can be +only by the particular permission of God, for his glory and the +salvation of mankind. + +"In regard to all those prodigies and those common spells, which the +people ascribe to sorcery or commerce with the demon, it is proved +that they can be performed only by natural magic, which is the +knowledge of secret effects of natural causes, and several by the +subtlety of art. It is the opinion of the greater number of the +fathers of the church who have spoken of it; and without seeking +testimony of it in Pagan authors, such as Xenophon, Athenĉus, and +Pliny, whose works are full of an infinity of wonders which are all +natural, we see in our own time the surprising effects of nature, as +those of the magnet, of steel, and mercury, which we should attribute +to sorcery as did the ancients, had we not seen sensible +demonstrations of their powers. We also see jugglers do such +extraordinary things, which seem so contrary to nature, that we should +look upon these charlatans as magicians, if we did not know by +experience, that their address alone, joined to constant practice, +makes them able to perform so many things which seem marvelous to us. + +"All the share that the demons have in the criminal practices of those +who are commonly called sorcerers, is suggestion; by which means they +invite them to the abominable research of every natural cause which +can do injury to others. + +"I am now, sir, at the most delicate point of your question, which is, +to know if our souls can return to earth after they are separated from +our bodies. + +"As the ancient philosophers erred so strongly on the nature of the +soul--some believing that it was but a fire which animated us, and +others a subtile air, and others affirming that it was nothing else +but the proper arrangement of all the machine of the body, a doctrine +which could not be admitted any more as the cause of in men than in +beasts; we cannot therefore be surprised that they had such gross +ideas concerning their state after death. + +"The error of the Greeks, which they communicated to the Romans, and +the latter to our ancestors was, that the souls whose bodies were not +solemnly interred by the ministry of the priests of religion, wandered +out of Hades without finding any repose, until their bodies had been +burned and their ashes collected. Homer makes Patroclus, who was +killed by Hector, appear to his friend Achilles in the night to ask +him for burial, without which, he is deprived, he says, of the +privilege of passing the river Acheron. There were only the souls of +those who had been drowned, whom they believed unable to return to +earth after death; for which we find a curious reason in Servius, the +interpreter of Virgil, who says, the greater number of the learned in +Virgil's time, and Virgil himself, believing that the soul was nothing +but a fire, which animated and moved the body, were persuaded that the +fire was entirely extinguished by the water--as if the material could +act upon the spiritual. Virgil explains his opinions on the subject +of souls very clearly in these verses:-- + + 'Igneus est ollis vigor, et celestis origo.' + +And a little after, + + 'totos infusa per artus + Mens agitat molem, et toto se corpore miscet;' + +to mark the universal soul of the world, which he believed with the +greater part of the philosophers of his time. + +"Again, it was a common error amongst the pagans, to believe that the +souls of those who died before they were of their proper age, which +they placed at the end of their growth, wandered about until the time +came when they ought naturally to be separated from their bodies. +Plato, more penetrating and better informed than the others, although +like them mistaken, said, that the souls of the just who had obeyed +virtue ascended to the sky; and that those who had been guilty of +impiety, retaining still the contagion of the earthly matter of the +body, wandered incessantly around the tombs, appearing like shadows +and phantoms. + +"For us, whom religion teaches that our souls are spiritual substances +created by God, and united for a time to bodies, we know that there +are three different states after death. + +"Those who enjoy eternal beatitude, absorbed, as the holy doctors say, +in the contemplation of the glory of God, cease not to interest +themselves in all that concerns mankind, whose miseries they have +undergone; and as they have attained the happiness of angels, all the +sacred writers ascribe to them the same privilege of possessing the +power, as aërial bodies, of rendering themselves visible to their +brethren who are still upon earth, to console them, and inform them of +the Divine will; and they relate several apparitions, which always +happened by the particular permission of God. + +"The souls whose abominable crimes have plunged them into that gulf of +torment, which the Scripture terms hell, being condemned to be +detained there forever, without being able to hope for any relief, +care not to have permission to come and speak to mankind in fantastic +forms. The Scripture clearly set forth the impossibility of this +return, by the discourse which is put into the mouth of the wicked +rich man in hell, introduced speaking to Abraham; he does not ask +leave to go himself, to warn his brethren on earth to avoid the +torments which he suffers, because he knows that it is not possible; +but he implores Abraham to send thither Lazarus, who was in glory. And +to observe _en passant_ how very rare are the apparitions of the +blessed and of angels, Abraham replies to him, that it would be +useless, since those who are upon earth have the Law and the Prophets, +which they have but to follow. + +"The story of the canon of Rheims, in the eleventh century, who, in +the midst of the solemn service which was being performed for the +repose of his soul, spoke aloud and said, That he was sentenced and +condemned,[664] has been refuted by so many of the learned, who have +shown that this circumstance is clearly supposititious, since it is +not found in any contemporaneous author; that I think no enlightened +person can object it against me. But even were this story as +incontestable as it is apocryphal, it would be easy for me to say in +reply, that the conversion of St. Bruno, who has won so many souls to +God, was motive enough for the Divine Providence to perform so +striking a miracle. + +"It now remains for me to examine if the souls which are in purgatory, +where they expiate the rest of their crimes before they pass to the +abode of the blessed, can come and converse with men, and ask them to +pray for their relief. + +"Although those who have desired to maintain this popular error, have +done their endeavors to support it by different passages from St. +Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Thomas, it is certain that all these +fathers speak only of the return of the blessed to manifest the glory +of God; and of St. Augustine says precisely, that if it were possible +for the souls of the dead to appear to men, not a day would pass +without his receiving a visit from Monica his mother. + +"Tertullian, in his Treatise on the Soul, laughs at those who in his +time believed in apparitions. St. John Chrysostom, speaking on the +subject of Lazarus, formally denies them; as well as the law +glossographer, Canon John Andreas, who calls them phantoms of a sickly +imagination, and all that is reported about spirits which people think +they hear or see, vain apparitions. The 7th chapter of Job, and the +song of King Hezekiah, reported in the 38th chapter of Isaiah, are all +full of the witnesses which the Holy Spirit seems to have desired to +give us of this truth, that our souls cannot return to earth after our +death until God has made them angels. + +"But in order to establish this still better, we must reply to the +strongest objections of those who combat it. They adduce the opinion +of the Jews, which they pretend to prove by the testimony of Josephus +and the rabbis; the words of Jesus Christ to his apostles, when he +appeared to them after his resurrection; the authority of the council +of Elvira;[665] some passages from St. Jerome, in his Treatise against +Vigilantius; of decrees issued by different Parliaments, by which the +leases of several houses had been broken on account of the spirits +which haunted them daily, and tormented the lodgers or tenants; in +short an infinite number of instances, which are scattered in every +story. + +"To destroy all these authorities in a few words, I say first of all, +that it cannot be concluded that the Jews believed in the return of +spirits after death, because Josephus assures us that the spirit which +the Pythoness caused to appear to Saul was the true spirit of Samuel; +for, besides that the holiness of this prophet had placed him in the +number of the blessed, there are circumstances attending this +apparition which have caused most of the holy fathers[666] to doubt +whether it really was the ghost of Samuel, believing that it might be +an illusion with which the Pythoness deceived Saul, and made him +believe that he saw that which he desired to see. + +"What several rabbis relate of patriarchs, prophets, and kings whom +they saw on the mountain of Gerizim, does not prove either that the +Jews believed that the spirits of the dead could come back, since it +was only a vision proceeding from the spirit in ecstasy, which +believed it saw what it saw not truly; all those who compose this +appearance were persons of whose holiness the Jews were persuaded. +What Jesus Christ says to his apostles, that the spirits have 'neither +flesh nor bones,' far from making us believe that spirits can come +back again, proves on the contrary evidently, that they cannot without +a miracle make us sensible of their presence, since it requires +absolutely a corporeal substance and bodily organs to utter sounds; +the description does agree with souls, they being pure substances, +exempt from matter, invisibles, and therefore cannot _naturally_ be +subject to our senses. + +"The Provincial Council held in Spain during the pontificate of +Sylvester I., which forbids us to light a taper by day in the +cemeteries of martyrs, adding, as a reason, that we must not disturb +the spirits of the saints, is of no consideration; because besides +that these words are liable to different interpretations, and may even +have been inserted by some copyist, as some learned men believe, they +only relate to the martyrs, of whom we cannot doubt that their spirits +are blessed. + +"I make the same reply to a passage of St. Jerome, because arguing +against the heresiarch Vigilantius, who treated as illusions all the +miracles which were worked at the tombs of the martyrs; he endeavors +to prove to him that the saints who are in heaven always take part in +the miseries of mankind, and sometimes even appear to them visibly to +strengthen and console them. + +"As for the decrees which have annulled the leases of several houses +on account of the inconvenience caused by ghosts to those who lodged +therein, it suffices to examine the means and the reasons upon which +they were obtained, to comprehend that either the judges were led into +error by the prejudices of their childhood, or that they were obliged +to yield to the proofs produced, often even against their own superior +knowledge, or they have been deceived by imposture, or by the +simplicity of the witnesses. + +"With respect to the apparitions, with which all such stories are +filled, one of the strongest which can be objected against my +argument, and to which I think myself the more obliged to reply, is +that which is affirmed to have occurred at Paris in the last century, +and of which five hundred witnesses are cited, who have examined into +the truth of the matter with particular attention. Here is the +adventure, as related by those who wrote at the time it took +place.[667] + +"The Marquis de Rambouillet, eldest brother of the Duchess of +Montauzier, and the Marquis de Précy, eldest son of the family of +Nantouillet, both of them between twenty and thirty, were intimate +friends, and went to the wars, as in France do all men of quality. As +they were conversing one day together on the subject of the other +world, after several speeches which sufficiently showed that they were +not too well persuaded of the truth of all that is said concerning it, +they promised each other that the first who died should come and bring +the news to his companion. At the end of three months the Marquis de +Rambouillet set off for Flanders, where the war was then being carried +on; and de Précy, detained by a high fever, remained at Paris. Six +weeks afterwards de Précy, at six in the morning, heard the curtains +of his bed drawn, and turning to see who it was, he perceived the +Marquis de Rambouillet in his buff vest and boots; he sprung out of +bed to embrace him to show his joy at his return, but Rambouillet, +retreating a few steps, told him that these caresses were no longer +seasonable, for he only came to keep his word with him; that he had +been killed the day before on such an occasion; that all that was said +of the other world was certainly true; that he must think of leading a +different life; and that he had no time to lose, as he would be killed +the first action he was engaged in. + +"It is impossible to express the surprise of the Marquis de Précy at +this discourse; as he could not believe what he heard, he made several +efforts to embrace his friend, whom he thought desirous of deceiving +him, but he embraced only air; and Rambouillet, seeing that he was +incredulous, showed the wound he had received, which was in the side, +whence the blood still appeared to flow. After that the phantom +disappeared, and left de Précy in a state of alarm more easy to +comprehend than describe; he called at the same time his +valet-de-chambre, and awakened all the family with his cries. Several +persons ran to his room, and he related to them what he had just seen. +Every one attributed this vision to the violence of the fever, which +might have deranged his imagination; they begged him to go to bed +again, assuring him that he must have dreamed what he told them. + +"The Marquis in despair, on seeing that they took him for a visionary, +related all the circumstances I have just recounted; but it was in +vain for him to protest that he had seen and heard his friend, being +wide awake; they persisted in the same idea until the arrival of the +post from Flanders, which brought the news of the death of the Marquis +de Rambouillet. + +"This first circumstance being found true, and in the same manner as de +Précy had said, those to whom he had related the adventure began to +think that there might be something in it, because Rambouillet having +been killed precisely the eve of the day he had said it, it was +impossible de Précy should have known of it in a natural way. This +event having spread in Paris, they thought it was the effect of a +disturbed imagination, or a made up story; and whatever might be said +by the persons who examined the thing seriously, there remained in +people's minds a suspicion, which time alone could disperse: this +depended on what might happen to the Marquis de Précy, who was +threatened that he should be slain in the first engagement; thus every +one regarded his fate as the dénouement of the piece; but he soon +confirmed everything they had doubted the truth of, for as soon as he +recovered from his illness he would go to the combat of St. Antoine, +although his father and mother, who were afraid of the prophecy, said +all they could to prevent him; he was killed there, to the great +regret of all his family. + +"Supposing all these circumstances to be true, this is what I should +say to counteract the deductions that some wish to derive from them. + +"It is not difficult to understand that the imagination of the Marquis +de Précy, heated by fever, and troubled by the recollection of the +promise that the Marquis de Rambouillet and himself had exchanged, may +have represented to itself the phantom of his friend, whom he knew to +be fighting, and in danger every moment of being killed. The +circumstances of the wound of the Marquis de Rambouillet, and the +prediction of the death of de Précy, which was fulfilled, appears more +serious: nevertheless, those who have experienced the power of +presentiments, the effects of which are so common every day, will +easily conceive that the Marquis de Précy, whose mind, agitated by a +burning fever, followed his friend in all the chances of war, and +expected continually to see announced to himself by the phantom of his +friend what was to happen, may have imagined that the Marquis de +Rambouillet had been killed by a musket-shot in the side, and that the +ardor which he himself felt for war might prove fatal to him in the +first action. We shall see by the words of St. Augustine, which I +shall cite by-and-by, how fully that Doctor of the Church was +persuaded of the power of imagination, to which he attributes the +knowledge of things to come. I shall again establish the authority of +presentiments by a most singular instance. + +"A lady of talent, whom I knew particularly well, being at Chartres, +where she was residing, dreamt in the night that in her sleep she saw +Paradise, which she fancied to herself was a magnificent hall, around +which were in different ranks the angels and spirits of the blessed, +and God, who presided in the midst, on a shining throne. She heard +some one knock at the door of this delightful place; and St. Peter +having opened it, she saw two pretty children, one of them clothed in +a white robe, and the other quite naked. St. Peter took the first by +the hand and led him to the foot of the throne, and left the other +crying bitterly at the door. She awoke at that moment, and related her +dream to several persons, who thought it very remarkable. A letter +which she received from Paris in the afternoon informed her that one +of her daughters was brought to bed with two children, who were dead, +and only one of them had been baptized. + +"Of what may we not believe the imagination capable, after so strong a +proof of its power? Can we doubt that amongst all the pretended +apparitions that are related, imagination alone produces all those +which do not proceed from angels and blessed spirits, or which are not +the effect of fraudulent contrivance? + +"To explain more fully what has given rise to those phantoms, the +apparition of which has been published in all ages, without availing +myself of the ridiculous opinion of the skeptics, who doubt of +everything, and assert that our senses, however sound they may be, can +only imagine everything falsely, I shall remark that the wisest +amongst the philosophers maintain that deep melancholy, anger, frenzy, +fever, depraved or debilitated senses, whether naturally, or by +accident, can make us see and hear many things which have no +foundation. + +"Aristotle says[668] that in sleep the interior senses act by the +local movement of the humors and the blood, and that this action +descends sometimes to the sensitive organs, so that on awaking, the +wisest persons think they see the images they have dreamt of. + +"Plutarch, in the Life of Brutus, relates that Cassius persuaded +Brutus that a spectre which the latter declared he had seen on waking, +was an effect of his imagination; and this is the argument which he +puts in his mouth:-- + +"'The spirit of man being extremely active in its nature, and in +continual motion, which produces always some fantasy; above all, +melancholy persons, like you, Brutus, are more apt to form to +themselves in the imagination ideal images, which sometimes pass to +their external senses.' + +"Galen, so skilled in the knowledge of all the springs of the human +body, attributes spectres to the extreme subtility of sight and +hearing. + +"What I have read in Cardan seems to establish the opinion of Galen. +He says that, being in the city of Milan, it was reported that there +was an angel in the air, who appeared visibly, and having ran to the +market-place, he, with two thousand others, saw the same. As even the +most learned were in admiration at this wonder, a clever lawyer, who +came to the spot, having observed the thing attentively, sensibly made +them remark that what they saw was not an angel, but the figure of an +angel, in stone, placed on the top of the belfry of St. Gothard, which +being imprinted in a thick cloud by means of a sunbeam which fell upon +it, was reflected to the eyes of those who possessed the most piercing +vision. If this fact had not been cleared up on the spot by a man +exempt from all prejudice, it would have passed for certain that it +was a real angel, since it had been seen by the most enlightened +persons in the town to the number of two thousand. + +"The celebrated du Laurent, in his treatise on Melancholy, attributes +to it the most surprising effects; of which he gives an infinite +number of instances, which seem to surpass the power of nature. + +"St. Augustine, when consulted by Evodius, Bishop of Upsal, on the +subject I am treating of, answers him in these terms: 'In regard to +visions, even of those by which we learn something of the future, it +is not possible to explain how they are formed, unless we could first +of all know how everything arises which passes through our minds when +we think; for we see clearly that a number of images are excited in +our minds, which images represent to us what has struck either our +eyes or our other senses. We experience it every day and every hour.' +And a little after, he adds: 'At the moment I dictate this letter, I +see you with the eyes of my mind, without your being present, or your +knowing anything about it; and I represent to myself, through my +knowledge of your character, the impression that my words will make +on your mind, without nevertheless knowing or being able to understand +how all this passes within me.' + +"I think, sir, you will require nothing more precise than these words +of St. Augustine to persuade you that we must attribute to the power +of imagination the greater number of apparitions, even of those +through which we learn things which it would seem could not be known +naturally; and you will easily excuse my undertaking to explain to you +how the imagination works all these wonders, since this holy doctor +owns that he cannot himself comprehend it, though quite convinced of +the fact. + +"I can tell you only that the blood which circulates incessantly in +our arteries and veins, being purified and warmed in the heart, throws +out thin vapors, which are its most subtile parts, and are called +animal spirits; which, being carried into the cavities of the brain, +set in motion the small gland which is, they say, the seat of the +soul, and by this means awaken and resuscitate the species of the +things that they have heard or seen formerly, which are, as it were, +enveloped within it, and form the internal reasoning which we call +thought. Whence comes it that beasts have memory as well as ourselves, +but not the reflections which accompany it, which proceed from the +soul, and that they have not. + +"If what Mr. Digby, a learned Englishman, and chancellor of Henrietta, +Queen of England, Father Kircher, a celebrated Jesuit, Father Schort, +of the same society, Gaffarelli and Vallemont, publish of the +admirable secret of the palingenesis, or resurrection of plants, has +any foundation, we might account for the shades and phantoms which +many persons declare to have seen in cemeteries. + +"This is the way in which these curious researchers arrive at the +marvelous operation of the palingenesis:-- + +"They take a flower, burn it, and collect all the ashes of it, from +which they extract the salts by calcination. They put these salts into +a glass phial, wherein having mixed certain compositions capable of +setting them in motion when heated, all this matter forms a dust of a +bluish hue; of this dust, excited by a gentle warmth, arises a stem, +leaves, and a flower; in a word, they perceive the apparition of a +plant springing from its ashes. As soon as the warmth ceases, all the +spectacle vanishes, the matter deranges itself and falls to the bottom +of the vessel, to form there a new chaos. The return of heat +resuscitates this vegetable phoenix, hidden in its ashes. And as the +presence of warmth gives it life, its absence causes its death. + +"Father Kircher, who tries to give a reason for this admirable +phenomenon, says that the seminal virtue of every mixture is +concentrated in the salts, and that as soon as warmth sets them in +motion they rise directly and circulate like a whirlwind in this glass +vessel. These salts, in this suspension, which gives them liberty to +arrange themselves, take the same situation and form the same figure +as nature had primitively bestowed on them; retaining the inclination +to become what they had been, they return to their first destination, +and form themselves into the same lines as they occupied in the living +plant; each corpuscle of salt re-entering its original arrangement +which it received from nature; those which were at the foot of the +plant place themselves there; in the same manner, those which compose +the top of the stem, the branches, the leaves, and the flowers, resume +their former place, and thus form a perfect apparition of the whole +plant. + +"It is affirmed that this operation has been performed upon a +sparrow;[669] and the gentlemen of the Royal Society of England, who +are making their experiments on this matter, hope to succeed in making +them on human beings also.[670] + +"Now, according to the principle of Father Kircher and the most +learned chemists, who assert that the substantial form of bodies +resides in the salts, and that these salts, set in motion by warmth, +form the same figure as that which had been given to them by nature, +it is not difficult to comprehend that dead bodies being consumed away +in the earth, the salts which exhale from them with the vapors, by +means of the fermentations which so often occur in this element, may +very well, in arranging themselves above ground, form those shadows +and phantoms which have frightened so many people. Thus we may +perceive how little reason there is to ascribe them to the return of +spirits, or to demons, as some ignorant people have done. + +"To all the authorities by means of which I have combated the +apparitions of spirits which are in purgatory, I shall still add some +very natural reflections. If the souls which are in purgatory could +return hither to ask for prayers to pass into the abode of glory, +there would be no one who would not receive similar entreaties from +his relations and friends, since all the spirits being disposed to do +the same thing, apparently, God would grant them all the same +permission. Besides, if they possessed this liberty, no sensible +person could understand why they should accompany their appearance +with all the follies so circumstantially related in those stories, as +rolling up a bed, opening the curtains, pulling off a blanket, +overturning the furniture, and making a frightful noise. In short, if +there were any reality in these apparitions, it is morally impossible +that in so many ages _one_ would not have been found so well +authenticated that it could not be doubted. + +"After having sufficiently proved that all the apparitions which +cannot be ascribed to angels or to the souls of the blessed are +produced only by one of the three following causes--the extreme +subtility of the senses; the derangement of the organs, as in madness +and high fever; and the power of imagination--let us see what we must +think of the circumstance which occurred at St. Maur. + +"Although you have already seen the account that has been given of it, +I believe, sir, that you will not be displeased if I here give you the +detail of the more particular circumstances. I shall endeavor to omit +nothing that has been done to confirm the truth of the circumstance, +and I shall even make use of the exact words of the author, as much as +I can, that I may not be accused of detracting from the adventure. + +"Monsieur de S----, to whom it happened, is a young man, short in +stature, well made for his height, between four and five-and-twenty +years of age. Being in bed, he heard several loud knocks at his door +without the maid servant, who ran thither directly, finding any one; +and then the curtains of his bed were drawn, although there was only +himself in the room. The 22d of last March, being, about eleven +o'clock at night, busy looking over some lists of works in his study, +with three lads who are his domestics, they all heard distinctly a +rustling of the papers on the table; the cat was suspected of this +performance, but M. de S. having taken a light and looked diligently +about, found nothing. + +"A little after this he went to bed, and sent to bed also those who +had been with him in his kitchen, which is next to his sleeping-room; +he again heard the same noise in his study or closet; he rose to see +what it was, and not having found anything more than he did the first +time, he was going to shut the door, but he felt some resistance to +his doing so; he then went in to see what this obstacle might be, and +at the same time heard a noise above his head towards the corner of +the room, like a great blow on the wall; at this he cried out, and his +people ran to him; he tried to reassure them, though alarmed himself; +and having found naught he went to bed again and fell asleep. Hardly +had these lads extinguished the light, than M. de S. was suddenly +awakened by a shake, like that of a boat striking against the arch of +a bridge; he was so much alarmed at it that he called his domestics; +and when they had brought the light, he was strangely surprised to +find his bed at least four feet out of its place, and he was then +aware that the shock he had felt was when his bedstead ran against the +wall. His people having replaced the bed, saw, with as much +astonishment as alarm, all the bed-curtains open at the same moment, +and the bedstead set off running towards the fire-place. M. de S. +immediately got up, and sat up the rest of the night by the fire-side. +About six in the morning, having made another attempt to sleep, he +was no sooner in bed than the bedstead made the same movement again, +twice, in the presence of his servants, who held the bed-posts to +prevent it from displacing itself. At last, being obliged to give up +the game, he went out to walk till dinner time; after which, having +tried to take some rest, and his bed having twice changed its place, +he sent for a man who lodged in the same house, as much to reassure +himself in his company, as to render him a witness of so surprising a +circumstance. But the shock which took place before this man was so +violent, that the left foot at the upper part of the bedstead was +broken; which had such an effect upon him, that in reply to the offers +that were made to him to stay and see a second, he replied that what +he had seen, with the frightful noise he had heard all night, were +quite sufficient to convince him of the fact. + +"It was thus that the affair, which till then had remained between M. +de S. and his domestics, became public; and the report of it being +immediately spread, and reaching the ears of a great prince who had +just arrived at St. Maur, his highness was desirous of enlightening +himself upon the matter, and took the trouble to examine carefully +into the circumstances which were related to him. As this adventure +became the subject of every conversation, very soon nothing was heard +but stories of ghosts, related by the credulous, and laughed at and +joked upon by the freethinkers. However, M. de S. tried to reassure +himself, and go the following night into his bed, and become worthy of +conversing with the spirit, which he doubted not had something to +disclose to him. He slept till nine o'clock the next morning, without +having felt anything but slight shakes, as the mattresses were raised +up, which had only served to rock him and promote sleep. The next day +passed off pretty quietly; but on the 26th, the spirit, who seemed to +have become well-behaved, resumed its fantastic humor, and began the +morning by making a great noise in the kitchen; they would have +forgiven it for this sport if it had stopped there, but it was much +worse in the afternoon. M. de S., who owns that he felt himself +particularly attracted towards his study, though he felt a repugnance +to enter it, having gone into it about six o'clock, went to the end of +the room, and returning towards the door to go into his bed-room +again, was much surprised to see it shut of itself and barricade +itself with the two bolts. At the same time, the two doors of a large +press opened behind him, and rather darkened his study, because the +window, which was open, was behind these doors. + +"At this sight, the fright of M. de S. is more easy to imagine than to +describe; however, he had sufficient calmness left, to hear at his +left ear a distinct voice, which came from a corner of the closet, and +seemed to him to be about a foot above his head. This voice spoke to +him in very good terms during the space of half a _miserere_; and +ordered him, _theeing_ and _thouing_ him to do some one particular +thing, which he was recommended to keep secret. What he has made +public is that the voice allowed him a fortnight to accomplish it in; +and ordered him to go to a place, where he would find some persons who +would inform him what he had to do; and that it would come back and +torment him if he failed to obey. The conversation ended by an adieu. + +"After that, M. de S. remembers that he fainted and fell down on the +edge of a box, which caused him a pain in his side. The loud noise and +the cries which he afterwards uttered brought several people in haste +to the door, and after useless efforts to open it, they were going to +force it open with a hatchet, when they heard M. de S. dragging +himself towards the door, which he with much difficulty opened. +Disordered as he was, and unable to speak, they first of all carried +him to the fire, and then they laid him on his bed, where he received +all the compassion of the great prince, of whom I have already spoken, +who hastened to the house the moment this event was noised abroad. His +highness having caused all the recesses and corners of the house to be +inspected, and no one being found therein, wished that M. de S. should +be bled; but his surgeon finding he had a very feeble pulsation, +thought he could not do so without danger. + +"When he recovered from his swoon, his highness, who wished to +discover the truth, questioned him concerning his adventure; but he +only heard the circumstances I have mentioned--M. de S. having +protested to him that he could not, without risk to his life, tell him +more. + +"The spirit was heard of no more for a fortnight; but when that term +was expired--whether his orders had not been faithfully executed, or +that he was glad to come and thank M. de S. for being so exact--as he +was, during the night, lying in a little bed near the window of his +bed-room, his mother in the great bed, and one of his friends in an +arm-chair near the fire, they all three heard some one rap several +times against the wall, and such a blow against the window, that they +thought all the panes were broken. M. de S. got up that moment, and +went into his closet to see if this troublesome spirit had something +else to say to him; but when there, he could neither find nor hear +anything. And thus ended this adventure, which has made so much noise +and drawn so many inquisitive persons to St. Maur. + +"Now let us make some reflections on those circumstances which are the +most striking, and most likely to make any impression. + +"The noise which was heard several times during the night by the +master, the female servant, and the neighbors, is quite equivocal; +and the most prejudiced persons cannot deny that it may have been +produced by different causes which are all quite natural. + +"The same reply may be given as to the papers which were heard to +rustle, since a breath of air or a mouse might have moved them. + +"The moving of the bed is something more serious, because it is +reported to have been witnessed by several persons; but I hope that a +little reflection will dispense us from having recourse to fantastic +hands in order to explain it. + +"Let us imagine a bedstead upon castors; a person whose imagination is +impressed, or who wishes to enliven himself by frightening his +domestics, is lying upon it, and rolls about very much, complaining +that he is tormented. Is it surprising that the bedstead should be +seen to move, especially when the floor of the room is waxed and +rubbed? But, you will say, some of the witnesses even made useless +efforts to prevent this movement. Who are these witnesses? Two are +youths in the service of the patient, who trembled all over with +fright, and were not capable of examining the secret causes of this +movement; and the other has since told several people that he would +give ten pistoles not to have affirmed that he saw this bedstead +remove itself without help. + +"In regard to the voice, whose secret has been so carefully kept, as +there is no witness of it, we can only judge of it by the state in +which he who had been favored with this pretended revelation was +found. Repeated cries from the man who, hearing his closet door beaten +in, draws back the bolts which he had apparently drawn himself, his +eyes quite wild, and his whole person in extraordinary disorder, would +have caused the ancient heathens to take him for a sibyl full of +enthusiasm, and must appear to us rather the consequence of some +convulsion than of a conversation with a spiritual being. + +"Lastly, the violent blows given upon the walls and panes of glass, in +the night, in the presence of two witnesses, might make some +impression, if we were sure that the patient, who was lying directly +under the window in a small bed, had no part in the matter; for of the +two witnesses who heard this noise, one was his mother, and the other +an intimate friend, who, even reflecting on what he saw and heard, +declares that it can only be the effect of a spell. + +"How much good soever you may wish for this place, I do not believe, +sir, that what I have just remarked on the circumstances of the +adventure, will lead you to believe that it has been honored with an +angelic apparition; I should rather fear that, attributing it to a +disordered imagination, you may accuse the subtility of the air which +there predominates as having caused it. As I am somewhat interested +in not doing the climate of St. Maur such an injury, I am compelled to +add something else to what I have said of the person in question, in +order that you may know his character. + +"You need not be very clever in the art of physiognomy to remark in +his countenance the melancholy which prevails in his temperament. This +sad disposition, joined to the fever which has tormented him for some +time, carried some vapors to his brain, which might easily lead him to +believe that he heard all he has publicly declared; besides which, the +desire to divert himself by alarming his domestics may have induced +him to feign several things, when he saw that the adventure had come +to the ears of a prince who might not approve of such a joke, and be +severe upon it. Thus then, sir, you will think as I do, that the +report of the celebrated Marescot on the subject of the famous +Margaret Brossier agrees perfectly with our melancholy man, and well +explains his adventure: _à naturâ multa, plura ficta, à dĉmone nulla_. +His temperament has made him fancy he saw and heard many things; he +feigned still more in support of what his wanderings or his sport had +induced him to assert; and no kind of spirit has had any share in his +adventure. Without stopping to relate several effects of his +melancholy, I shall simply remark that an embarkation which he made on +one of the last _jours gras_, setting off at ten o'clock at night to +make the tour of the peninsula of St. Maur, in a boat where he covered +himself up with straw on account of the cold, appeared so singular to +the great prince before mentioned, that he took the trouble to +question him as to his motives for making such a voyage at so late an +hour. + +"I shall add that the discernment of his highness made him easily +judge whence this adventure proceeded, and his behavior on this +occasion has shown that he is not easily deceived. I do not think it +is allowable for me to omit the opinion of his father, a man of +distinguished merit, on this adventure of his son, when he learned all +the circumstances by a letter from his wife, who was at St. Maur. He +told several persons that he was certain that the spirit which acted +on this occasion was that of his wife and son. The author of the +relation was right in endeavoring to weaken such testimony; but I do +not know if he flatters himself that he has succeeded, in saying that +he who gave this opinion is an _esprit fort_, or freethinker who makes +it a point of honor to be of the fashionable opinion concerning +spirits. + +"Lastly, to fix your judgment and terminate agreeably this little +dissertation in which you have engaged me, I know of nothing better +than to repeat the words of a princess,[671] who is not less +distinguished at court by the delicacy of her wit than by her high +rank and personal charms. As they were conversing in her presence of +the singularity of the adventure which here happened at St. Maur, 'Why +are you so much astonished?' said she, with that gracious air which is +so natural to her; 'Is it surprising that the son should have to do +with spirits, since the mother sees the eternal Father three times +every week? This woman is very happy,' added the witty princess; 'for +my part, I should ask no other favor than to see him once in my life.' + +"Laugh with your friends at this agreeable reflection; but, above all, +take care, sir, not to make my letter public: it is the only reward +that I ask for the exactitude with which I have obeyed you on so +delicate an occasion. + + "I am, sir, + "Your very humble, &c. + +_St. Maur, May 8, 1706._" + + + + +APPROBATION. + + +"By order of the Lord Chancellor, this dissertation on what we must +think of spirits in general, and of that of St. Maur in particular, +has been read by me, and I have found nothing therein which ought to +hinder its being printed. + +"Done at Paris, the 17th of October, 1706. + (_Signed_) "LA MARQUE TILLADET. + +"The king's permission bears date the 21st November, 1706." + + +Footnotes: + +[662] St. Ambrose, Com. on St. Luke, i. c. 1. + +[663] Martha Brossier, daughter of a weaver at Romorantin, was shown +as a demoniac, in 1578. See De Thou on this subject, book cxxiii. and +tom. v. of the Journal of Henry III., edition of 1744, p. 206, &c. The +affair of Loudun took place in the reign of Louis XIII.; and Cardinal +Richelieu is accused of having caused this tragedy to be enacted, in +order to ruin Urban Grandier, the curé of Loudun, for having written a +cutting satire against him. + +[664] M. de Lannoy has made a particular dissertation De Causà +Secessionis S. Brunonis: he solidly refutes this fable. Nevertheless, +this event is to be found painted in the fine pictures of the little +monastery of the Chartreux at Paris. + +[665] Eliberitan Council, an. 305 or 313, in the kingdom of Grenada. +Others have thought, but mistakenly, that it was Collioure in +Roussillon. + +[666] Jesus, the son of Sirach, author of Ecclesiasticus, believes +this apparition to be true. Ecclus. xlvi. 23. + +[667] This story has been related in the former part of the work, but +more succinctly. + +[668] Arist. Treatise on Dreams and Vigils. + +[669] The Abbé de Vallemont, in his work on the Singularities of +Vegetation. Paris, 1 vol. 12mo. + +[670] This was a century and a half ago; but the Philosophical +Transactions record no account of any successful result to such +experiments. + +[671] Madame the Duchess-mother, daughter of the late king, Louis +XIV., and mother of the duke lately dead, of M. the Count de +Charolois, and of M. the Count de Clermont. + + + + + LETTER OF M. THE MARQUIS MAFFEI + ON MAGIC; + ADDRESSED TO + THE REVEREND + FATHER INNOCENT ANSALDI, + OF THE ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC; + TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN OF THE AUTHOR. + + +LETTER OF M. THE MARQUIS MAFFEI ON MAGIC. + + +MY REVEREND FATHER, + +It is to the goodness of your reverence, in regard to myself, that I +must attribute the curiosity you appear to feel to know what I think +concerning the book which the Sieur Jerome Tartarotti has just +published on the _Nocturnal Assemblies of the Sorcerers_. I reply to +you with the greatest pleasure; and I am going to tell my opinion +fully and unreservedly, on condition that you will examine what I +write to you with your usual acuteness, and that you will tell me +frankly whatever you remark in it, whether good or bad, and that may +appear to deserve either your approbation or your censure. I had +already read this book, and passed an eulogium on it, both for the +great erudition displayed therein by the author, as because he +refutes, in a very sensible manner, some ridiculous opinions with +which people are infatuated concerning sorcerers, and some other +equally dangerous abuses. But, to tell the truth, with that exception, +I am little disposed to approve it; if M. Muratori has done so in his +letter, which has been seen by several persons, either he has not read +the work through, or he and I on that point entertain very different +sentiments. In regard to my opinion, your reverence will see, by what +I shall say, that it is the same as your own on this subject, as you +have done me the favor to show by your letter. + +I. In this work there is laid down, in the first place, as a certain +and indubitable principle, the existence and reality of magic, and the +truth of the effects produced by it--superior, they say, to all +natural powers; he gives it the name of "diabolical magic," and +defines it, "The knowledge of certain superstitious practices, such as +words, verses, characters, images, signs (_qy._ moles), &c., by means +of which magicians succeed in their designs." For my part, I am much +inclined to believe that all the science of the pretended magicians +had no other design than to deceive others, and ended sometimes in +deceiving themselves; and that this magic, now so much vaunted, is +only a chimera. Perhaps even it would be giving one's self superfluous +trouble to undertake to show that everything related of those +nocturnal hypogryphes,[672] of those pretended journeys through the +air, of those assemblies and feasts of sorcerers, is only idle and +imaginary; because those fables being done away with would not prevent +that an infinite number of others would still remain, which have been +repeated and spread on the same subject, and which, although more +foolish and ridiculous than all the extravagances we read in romances, +are so much the more dangerous, because they are more easily believed. +It would, in the opinion of many, be doing these tales too much honor +to attempt to refute them seriously, as there is no one at this day, +in Italy, at least, even amongst the people, who has common sense, +that does not laugh at all that is said of the witches' sabbath, and +of those troops or bands of sorcerers who go through the air during +the night to assemble in retired spots and dance. It is true, that +notwithstanding, that if a man of any credit, whether amongst the +learned or persons of high dignity, maintains an opinion, he will +immediately find partisans; it will be useless to write or speak to +the contrary, it will not be the less followed; and it is hardly +possible that it can be otherwise, so many minds as there are, and so +many different ways of thinking. But here the only question is, what +is the common opinion, and what is most universally believed. It is +not my intention to compose a work expressly on magic, nor to enter +very lengthily on this matter; I shall only exhibit, in a few words, +the reasons which oblige me to laugh at it, and which induce me to +incline to the opinion of those who look upon it as a _pure_ illusion, +and a _real_ chimera. I must, first of all, give notice that you must +not be dazzled by the truth of the magical operations in the Old +Testament, as if from thence we could derive a conclusive argument to +prove the reality of the pretended magic of our own times. I shall +demonstrate this clearly at the end of this discourse, in which I hope +to show that my opinion on this subject is conformable to the +Scripture, and founded on the tradition of the fathers. Now, then, let +us speak of modern magicians. + +II. If there is any reality in this art, to which so many wonders are +ascribed, it must be the effect of a knowledge acquired by study, or +of the impiety of some one who renounces what he owes to God to give +himself up to the demon, and invokes him. It seems, in fact, that they +would sometimes attribute it to acquired knowledge, since in the book +I am combating the author often speaks "of the true mysteries of the +magic art;" and he asserts that few "are perfectly instructed in the +secret and difficult principles of this science;" which is not +surprising, he says, since "the life of man would hardly suffice" to +read all the works which have treated of it. He calls it sometimes the +"magical science," or "magical philosophy;" he carries back the origin +of it to the philosopher Pythagoras; he regards "ignorance of the +magic art as one of the reasons why we see so few magicians in our +days." He speaks only of the mysterious scale enclosed by Orpheus in +unity, in the numbers of two and twelve; of the harmony of nature, +composed of proportionable parts, which are the octave, or the +double, and the fifth, or one and a half; of strange and barbarous +names which mean nothing, and to which he attributes supernatural +virtues; of the concert or the agreement of the inferior and superior +parts of this universe, when understood; makes us, by means of certain +words or certain stones, hold intercourse with invisible substances; +of numbers and signs, which answer to the spirits which preside over +different days, or different parts of the body; of circles, triangles, +and pentagons, which have power to bind spirits; and of several other +secrets of the same kind, very ridiculous, to tell the truth, but very +fit to impose on those who admire everything which they do not +understand. + +III. But however thick may be the darkness with which nature is hidden +from us, and although we may know but very imperfectly the essential +principles and properties of things, who does not see, nevertheless, +that there can be no proportion, no connection, between circles and +triangles which we trace, or the long words which signify nothing, and +immaterial spirits? Can people not conceive that it is a folly to +believe that by means of a few herbs, certain stones, and certain +signs or characters, we can make ourselves obeyed by invisible +substances which are unknown to us? Let a man study as much as he will +the pretended soul of the world, the harmony of nature, the agreement +of the influence of all the parts it is composed of--is it not evident +that all he will gain by his labor will be terms and words, and never +any effects which are above the natural power of man? To be convinced +of this truth, it suffices to observe that the pretended magicians +are, and ever have been, anything but learned; on the contrary, they +are very ignorant and illiterate men. Is it credible that so many +celebrated persons, so many famous men, versed in all kinds of +literature, should never have been able or willing to sound and +penetrate the mysterious secrets of this art; and that of so many +philosophers spoken of by Diogenes Laërtius, neither Plato, nor +Aristotle, nor any other, should have left us some treatise? It would +be useless to attack the opinions of the world at that time on this +subject. Do we not know with how many errors it has been infatuated in +all ages, and which, though shared in common, were not the less +mistakes? Was it not generally believed in former times, that there +were no antipodes? that according to whether the sacred fowls had +eaten or not, it was permitted or forbidden to fight? that the statues +of the gods had spoken or changed their place? Add to those things all +the knavery and artifice which the charlatans put in practice to +deceive and delude the people, and then can we be surprised that they +succeeded in imposing on them and gaining their belief? But let it not +be imagined, nevertheless, that everyone was their dupe, and that +amongst so many blind and credulous people there were not always to be +found some men sensible and clear-sighted enough to perceive the +truth. + +IV. To be convinced of this, let us only consider what was thought of +it by one of the most learned amongst the ancients, and we may say, +one of the most curious and attentive observers of the wonders of +nature--I speak of Pliny, who thus expresses himself at the beginning +of his Thirtieth Book;[673] "Hitherto I have shown in this work, every +time that it was necessary and the occasion presented itself, how very +little reality there is in all that is said of magic; and I shall +continue to do so as it goes on. But because during several centuries +this art, the most deceptive of all, has enjoyed great credit among +several nations, I think it is proper to speak of it more fully." "No +men are more clever in hiding their knaveries than magicians;" and in +seven or eight other places he endeavors to expose "their falsehoods, +their deceptions, the uselessness of their art," and laughs at it. But +one thing to which we should pay attention above all, is an invincible +argument which he brings forward against this pretended art. For after +having enumerated the diverse sorts of magic, which were employed with +different kinds of instruments, and in several different ways, and +from which they promised themselves effects that were "quite divine;" +that is to say, superior to all the force of nature, even of "the +power to converse with the shades and souls of the dead;" he adds, +"But in our days the Emperor Nero has discovered that in all these +things there is nothing but deceit and vanity." "Never prince," says +he, a little lower down, "sought with more eagerness to render himself +clever in any other art; and as he was the master of the world, it is +certain that he wanted neither riches, nor power, nor wit, nor any +other aid necessary to succeed therein. What stronger proof of the +falsity of this art can we have than to see that Nero renounced it?" +Suetonius informs us also, "That this prince uselessly employed magic +sacrifices to evoke the shade of his mother, and speak to her." Again, +Pliny says "that Tirdates the Mage (for it is thus it should be read, +and not Tiridates the Great, as it is in the edition of P. Hardouin), +having repaired to the court of Nero, and having brought several magi +with him, initiated this prince in all the mysteries of magic. +Nevertheless," he adds, "it was in vain for Nero to make him a present +of a kingdom--he could not obtain from him the knowledge of this art; +which ought to convince us that this detestable science is only +vanity, or, if some shadow of truth is to be met within it, its real +effects have less to do with the art of magic than the art of +poisoning." Seneca, who also was very clever, after having repeated a +law of the Twelve Tables, "which forbade the use of enchantments to +destroy the fruits of the earth," makes this commentary upon it: "When +our fathers were yet rude and ignorant, they imagined that by means of +enchantments rain could be brought down upon the ground, or could be +prevented from falling; but at this day it is so clear that both one +and the other is impossible, that to be convinced of it it does not +require to be a philosopher." It would be useless to collect in this +place an infinity of passages from the ancients, which all prove the +same thing; we can only __________ the book written by Hippocrates on +Caducity, which usually passed for the effect of the vengeance of the +gods, and which for that reason was called the "sacred malady." We +shall there see how he laughs "at magicians and charlatans," who +boasted of being able to cure it by their enchantments and expiations. +He shows there that by the profession which they made of being able to +darken the sun, bring down the moon to the earth, give fine or bad +weather, procure abundance or sterility, they seemed to wish to +attribute to man more power than to the Divinity itself, showing +therein much less religion than "impiety, and proving that they did +not believe in the gods." I do not speak of the fables and tales +invented by Philostrates on the subject of Apollonius of Thyana, they +have been sufficiently refuted by the best pens: but I must not omit +to warn you that the name of magic has been used in a good sense for +any uncommon science, and a sublimer sort of philosophy. It is in this +sense that it must be understood where Pliny says,[674] although +rather obscurely, "that Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, and Plato, +traveled a great deal to acquire instruction in it." For the rest, +people are naturally led to attribute to sorcery everything that +appears new and marvelous. Have not we ourselves, with M. Leguier, +passed for magicians in the minds of some persons, because in our +experiments on electricity they have seen us easily extinguish lights +by putting them near cold water, which then appeared an unheard-of +thing, and which many still firmly maintain even now cannot be done +without a tacit compact? It is true that in the effects of electricity +there is something so extraordinary and so wonderful, that we should +be more disposed to excuse those persons who could not easily believe +them to be natural than those who have fancied tacit compacts for +things which it would be much more easy to explain naturally. + +V. From what has just been said, it evidently results that it is folly +to believe that by means of study and knowledge one can ever attain +any of those marvelous effects attributed to magic; and it is +profaning the name of science to give it an imposture so grossly +imagined; it remains then that these effects might be produced by a +diabolical power. In fact, we read in the work in question that all +the effects of magic "must be attributed to the operation of the +demon; that it is in virtue of the compact, express or tacit, that he +has made with him that the magician works all these pretended +prodigies; and that it is in regard to the different effects of this +art, and the different ways in which they are produced, that authors +have since divided it into several classes." But I beg, at first, that +the reader will reflect seriously, if it is credible, that as soon as +some miserable woman or unlucky knave have a fancy for it, God, whose +wisdom and goodness are infinite, will ever permit the demon to appear +to them, instruct them, obey them, and that they should make a compact +with him. Is it credible that to please a scoundrel he would grant the +demon power to raise storms, ravage all the country by hail, inflict +the greatest pain on little innocent children, and even sometimes "to +cause the death of a man by magic?" Does any one imagine that such +things can be believed without offending God, and without showing a +very injurious mistrust of his almighty power? It has several times +happened to me, especially when I was in the army, to hear that some +wretched creatures had given themselves to the devil, and had called +upon him to appear to them with the most horrible blasphemies, without +his appearing to them for all that, or their attempts being followed +by any success. And, certainly, if to obtain what is promised by the +art of magic it sufficed to renounce God and invoke the devil, how +many people would soon perform the dreadful act? How many impious men +do we see every day who for money, or to revenge themselves on some +one, or to satisfy a criminal desire, rush without remorse into the +greatest excesses! How many wretches who are suffering in prison, at +the galleys, or otherwise, would have recourse to the demon to +extricate them from their troubles! It would be very easy for me to +relate here a great number of curious stories of persons generally +believed to be bewitched, of haunted houses, or horses rubbed down by +will-o'-the-wisp, which I have myself seen at different times and +places, at last reduced to nothing. This I can affirm, that two monks, +very sensible men, who had exercised the office of inquisitors, one +for twenty-four years, and the other during twenty-eight, have +assured me that of different accusations of sorcery which had been +laid before them, and which appeared to be well proved, after having +examined them carefully and maturely, they had not found one which was +not mere knavery. How can any one imagine that the devil, who is the +father of lies, should teach the magician the true secret of this art; +and that this spirit, full of pride, of which he is the source, should +teach an enchanter the means of forcing him to obey him? As soon as we +rise above some old prejudices, which make us excuse those who in past +ages gave credence to such follies, can we put faith in certain +extravagant opinions, as what is related of demons, incubes, and +seccubes, from a commerce with whom it is pretended children are born. +Who will believe in our days that Ezzelin was the son of a +will-o'-the-wisp? But can anything more strange be thought of than +what is said of tacit compacts? They will have it, that when any one, +of whatever country he may be, and however far he may be from wishing +to make any compact with the devil, every time he shall say certain +words, or make certain signs, a certain effect will follow; if I, who +am perfectly ignorant of this convention, should happen to pronounce +these same words, or make the same signs, the same effect ought to +follow. They say that whoever makes a compact with the devil has a +right to oblige him to produce a certain effect, not only when he +shall make himself, for instance, certain figures, but also every time +that they shall be made by any other person you please, at any time, +or in any place whatever, and although the intention may be quite +different. Certainly nothing is more proper to humble us than such +ideas, and to show how very little man can count on the feeble light +of his mind. Of all the extraordinary things said to have been +performed by tacit compacts, many are absolutely false, and others +have occurred quite differently than as they are related; some are +true, and such as require no need of the demon's intervention to +explain them. + +VI. The evidence of these reasons seems to suffice to prove that all +which is said of magic in our days is merely chimerical; but because, +in reply to the substantial difficulties which were proposed to him by +the Count Rinaldi Carli, the author of the book pretends that to deny +is a heretical opinion condemned by the laws, it is proper to examine +this article again. For the first proof of its reality, is advanced +the general consent of all mankind; the tradition of all nations; +stories and witnesses _ad infinitum_ of theologians, philosophers, and +jurisconsults; whence he concludes "that its existence cannot be +denied, or even a doubt cast upon it, without sapping the foundations +of what is called human belief." But the little I have said in No. IV. +alone suffices to prove how false is this assertion concerning this +pretended general consent. Horace, who passes for one of the wisest +and most enlightened men amongst the ancients, reckons, on the +contrary, among the virtues necessary to an honest man, the not +putting faith in what is said concerning magic, and to laugh at it. +His friend, believing himself very virtuous because he was not +avaricious--"That is not sufficient," said he: "are you exempt from +every other vice and every other fault; not ambitious, not passionate, +fearless of death? Do you laugh at all that is told of dreams, magical +operations, miracles, sorcerers, ghosts, and Thessalian +wonders?"[675]--that is to say, in one word, of all kinds of magic. +What is the aim of Lucian, in his Dialogue entitled "Philopseudis," +but to turn into ridicule the magic art? and also is it not what he +proposed to himself in the other, entitled "The Ass," whence Apuleius +derived his "Golden Ass?" It is easy to perceive that in all this +work, wherein he speaks so often, the power ascribed to magic of +making rivers return to their source, staying the course of the sun, +darkening the stars, and constraining the gods themselves to obey it, +he had no other intention than to laugh at it, which he certainly +would not have done if he had believed it able to produce, as they +pretend, effects beyond those of nature. It is, then, jokingly and +ironically that he says they see wonders worked "by the invincible +power of magic,"[676] and by the blind necessity which imposes upon +the gods themselves to be obedient to it. The poor man thinking he was +to be changed into a bird, had had the grief to see himself +metamorphosed into an ass, through the mistake of a woman who in a +hurry had mistaken the box, and giving him one ointment for another. +The most usual terms made use of by the ancients, in speaking of +magic, were "play" and "badinage," which plainly shows that they saw +nothing real in it. St. Cyprian, speaking of the mysteries of the +magicians, calls them "hurtful and juggling operations." "If by their +delusions and their jugglery," says Tertullian, "the charlatans seem +to perform many wonders." And in his treatise on the soul, he +exclaims, "What shall we say of magic? what almost all the world says +of it--that it is mere knavery." Arnobius calls it, "the sports of the +magic art;" and on these words of Minutius Felix, "all the marvels +which they seem to work by their _jugglery_," his commentator remarks +that the word _badinage_ is in this place the proper term. This manner +of expressing himself shows what was then the common opinion of all +wise persons. "Let the farmer," says Columella, "frequent with neither +soothsayers nor witches, because by their foolish superstitions they +all cause the ignorant to spend much money, and thence they lead them +to be criminal." We learn from Suidas, "that those were called +magicians who filled their heads with vain imaginations." Thus, when +speaking of one of these imposters, Dante was right when he said[677] +"he knew all the trickery and knavery of the magic art." Thus, then, +it is not true that a general belief in the art of magic has ever +prevailed; and if, in our days, any one would gather the voice and +opinion of men of letters, and the most celebrated academies, I am +persuaded that hardly would one or two in ten be found who were +convinced of its existence. It would not be, at least, one of the +learned friends of the author of the book in question, who having been +consulted by the latter on this matter, answers him in these +terms--"Magic is a ridiculous art, which has no reality but in the +head of a madman, who fancies that he is able to lead the devil to +satisfy all his wishes." I have read in some catalogues which come +from Germany, that they are preparing to give the public a "Magic +Library:" _oder grundliche nagrichen_, &c. It is a vast collection of +different writings, all tending to prove the uselessness and +insufficiency of magic. I must remark that the poets have greatly +contributed to set all these imaginations in vogue. Without this +fruitful source, what becomes of the most ingenious fictions of Homer? +We may say as much of Ariosto and of our modern poets. For the rest, +what I have before remarked concerning Pliny must not be +forgotten--that in the ancient authors, the word magic is often +equivocal. For in certain countries, they gave the name of magi, or +magicians, to those who applied as a particular profession to the +study of astronomy, philosophy, or medicine; in others, philosophers +of a certain sect were thus called: for this, the preface of Diogenes +Laërtius can be consulted. Plato writes that in Persia, by the name of +magic was understood "the worship of the gods." "According to a great +number of authors," says Apuleius, in his Apology, "the Persians +called those magi to whom we give the name of priests." St. Jerome, +writing against Jovinian, thus expresses himself--"Eubulus, who wrote +the history of Mithras, in several volumes, relates that among the +Persians they distinguish three kinds of magi, of whom the first are +most learned and the most eloquent," &c. Notwithstanding that, there +are still people to be found, who confound the chimera of pretended +diabolical magic with philosophical magic, as Corneillus Agrippa has +done in his books on "Secret Philosophy." + +VII. Another reason which is brought forward to prove the reality and +the power of the magic art, is that the laws decree the penalty of +death against enchanters. "What idea," says he, "could we have of the +ancient legislators, if we believe them capable of having recourse to +such rigorous penalties to repress a chimera, an art which produced no +effect?" Upon which it is proper to observe that, supposing this error +to be universally spread, it would not be impossible that even those +who made the laws might suffer themselves to be prejudiced by them; in +which case, we might make the same commentary on Seneca, applied, as +we have seen, to the Twelve Tables. But I go further still. This is +not the place to speak of the punishments decreed in the Scripture +against the impiety of the Canaanites, who joined to idolatry the most +extravagant magic. In regard to the Greek laws, of which authors have +preserved for us so great a number, I do not remember that they +anywhere make mention of this crime, or that they subject it to any +penalty. I can say the same of the Roman laws, contained in the +Digest. It is true that in the Code of Theodosius, and in that of +Justinian, there is an entire title concerning _malefactors_, in which +we find many laws which condemn to the most cruel death magicians of +all kinds; but are we not forced to confess that this condemnation was +very just? Those wretches boasted that they were able to occasion when +they pleased public calamities and mortalities; with this aim, they +kept their charms and dark plots as secret as it was possible, which +led the Emperor Constans to say, "Let all the magicians, in whatever +part of the empire they may be found, be looked upon as the public +enemies of mankind." What does it matter, in fact, that they made +false boastings, and that their attempts were useless? "In evil +doings," says the law, "it is the will, and not the event, which makes +the crime." Also, Constantine wills that those amongst them should be +pardoned who professed to cure people by such means, and to preserve +the products of the earth. But in general these kind of persons aimed +only at doing harm; for which reason the laws ordain that they should +be regarded as "public enemies." The least harm they could be accused +of was deluding the people, misleading the simple, and causing by that +means an infinity of trouble and disorder. Besides that, of how many +crimes were they not guilty in the use of their spells? It was that +which led the Emperor Valentinian to decree the pain of death "against +whomsoever should work at night, by impious prayers and detestable +sacrifices, at magic operations." Sometimes even they adroitly made +use of some other way to procure the evil which they desired to cause; +after which, they gave out that it must be attributed to the power of +their art. But what is the use of so many arguments? Is it not certain +that the first step taken by those who had recourse to magic was to +renounce God and Jesus Christ, and to invoke the demon? Was not magic +looked upon as a species of idolatry; and was not that sufficient to +render this crime capital, should the punishment have depended on the +result? Honorius commanded that these kind of people should be treated +with all the rigor of the laws, "unless they would promise to conform +for the future to what was required by the Catholic religion, after +having themselves, in presence of the bishops, burned the pernicious +writings which served to maintain their error." + +VIII. What is remarkable is, that if ever any one laughed at magic, it +must certainly be the author in question--since all his book only +tends to prove that there are no witches, and that all that is said of +them is merely foolish and chimerical. But what appears surprising is, +that at the same time he maintains that while in truth there are no +witches, but that there are enchantresses or female magicians; that +witchcraft is only a chimera, but that diabolical magic is very real. +Is not that, as it appears to some, denying and affirming at the same +time the same thing under different names? Tibullus took care not to +make nothing of these distinctions, when he said: "As I was promised +by a witch, whose magical operations never fail." While treating in +this book of witchcraft and magic, it is affirmed that the demon +intervenes on both, and that both work wonders." But if that is true, +it is impossible to find any difference between them. If both perform +wonders, and that by the intervention of the demon, they are then +essentially the same. After that, is it not a contradiction to say +that the magician acts and the witch has no power--that the former +commands the devil and the latter obeys him--that magic is founded on +compacts, expressed or tacit, while in witchcraft there is nothing but +what is imaginary and chimerical? What reason is given for this? If +the demon is always ready to appear to any one who invokes him, and is +ready to enter into compact with him, why does he not show himself as +directly to her whom the author terms a witch as to her to whom he is +pleased to give the more respectable title of enchantress? If he is +disposed to appear and take to himself the worship and adoration which +are due to God alone, what matters it to him whether they proceed from +a vile or a distinguished person, from an ignoramus or a learned man? +The principal difference which the author admits between witchcraft +and magic, is, that the latter "belongs properly to priests, doctors, +and other persons who cultivate learning;" whilst witchcraft is purely +fanaticism, "which only suits the vulgar and poor wretched women;" +"also, it does not," says he, "derive its origin from philosophy or +any other science, and has no foundation but in popular stories." For +my part, I think it is very wrong that so much honor should here be +paid to magic. I have proved above in a few words, by the authority of +several ancient authors, that the most sensible men have always made a +jest of it; that they have regarded it only as a play and a game; and +that after having spared neither application nor expense, a Roman +emperor could never succeed in beholding any effect. I have even +remarked the equivocation of the name, which has often caused these +popular opinions with philosophy and the sublimest sciences. But I +think I can find in the book itself of the author, enough to prove +that one cannot in fact make this distinction, since he says therein +"that superstitious practices, such as figures, characters, +conjurations, and enchantments, passing from one to the other, and +coming to the knowledge of these unhappy women, operate in virtue of +the tacit consent which they give to the operation of the demon." +There then all distinction is taken away. He says again that, +according to some, "nails, pins, bones, coals, packets of hair, or +rags, found by the head, of children's beds, are indications of a +compact express or tacit, because of the resemblance to the symbols +made use of by true magicians." Thus, then, witches and those who are +here styled _true magicians_ employ equally the same follies; they +equally place confidence in imaginary compacts--and consequently they +should both be classed in the same category. + +IX. It is proper to notice here that it is not so great a novelty as +is generally believed, to make a distinction between witches and +magicians. Nearly two hundred years ago James Wier, a doctor by +profession, had already said the same thing. Never did an author write +more at length upon this matter; you may consult the sixth edition of +his book, _De Prĉstigiis Dĉmonum et Incantationibus_, published at +Basle. He there proves that witches ought not to be condemned to +death, because they are women whose brain is disturbed; because all +the crimes that are imputed to them are imaginary, having no reality +but in their ill will, and none at all in the execution; lastly, +because, according to the rules of the soundest jurisprudence, the +confession of having done impossible things is of no weight, and +cannot serve as the foundation of condemnation. He shows how these +foolish old women come to believe that they have held intercourse with +some evil spirit, or been carried through the air; so far nothing can +be better; but otherwise, being persuaded that there are really magic +wonders,[678] and thinking that he has himself experienced something +of the kind, he will have magicians severely punished. He says,[679] +"that very often they are learned men, who, to acquire this diabolical +art, have traveled a great deal; and who, learned[680] in Goësy and +Theurgy,[681] whether through the demon or through study,[682] make +use of strange terms, characters, exorcisms, and imprecations;" employ +"sacred words and divine names, and neglect nothing which can render +them skillful in the black art;"[683] which makes them deserving of +the punishment of death.[684] "But," according to him, "there is a +great difference between magicians and witches, inasmuch as these +latter[685] make use neither of books, nor exorcisms, nor characters, +but have only their mind and imagination corrupted by the demon." He +calls witches "those women who pass for doing a great deal of harm, +either by virtue[686] of some imaginary compact, or by their own will, +or some diabolical instinct;" and who, having their brain deranged, +confess they have done many things, which they never have nor could +have performed. "Magicians,"[687] he says, "are led of themselves, and +by their own inclination, to learn this forbidden art, and seek +masters who can instruct them in it; wizards, on the contrary, seek +neither masters nor instructions; but the devil takes possession of +those women," whom he thinks the most likely to be deceived, "on +account of their old age, of their melancholy temperament, or their +poverty and misery." Everybody must see, and I have sufficiently shown +it already, to how many difficulties and contradictions all this +doctrine is subject; what we must conclude from it is, that wizards as +well as magicians have equally recourse to the demon, and place their +hope in him, without either of them ever obtaining what they wish. The +author sometimes believes he renders what he says of the power of +magic, and in short reduces it to nothing, by saying, that all the +wonderful effects attributed to it have no reality, and are but +illusions and vain phantoms; but he does not remark that it is even +miraculous to cause to appear that which is not. Whether the wands of +Pharaoh's magicians were really metamorphosed into serpents, or that +they appeared to be thus changed to the eyes of the beholders, would +either of them equally surpass all the power and industry of men. I +shall not amuse myself with discussing largely many inutilities which +may be found in this work; for instance, he does not fail to relate +the impertinent story of the pretended magic of Sylvester II., which, +as Panvinius has shown, had no other foundation than this pope's being +much given to the study of mathematics and philosophy. + +X. It is owned in the new book, that it is very likely some woman may +be found "who, with the help of the demon, may be capable of +performing a great many things even hurtful to mankind," and that by +virtue "of a compact, express or tacit;" and it is added, that it +cannot be denied that it may be, without absolutely denying the +reality of magic. But when, so far from denying it, every effort on +the contrary is made to establish it; when it is loudly maintained +that persons may be found who, with the assistance of the demon, are +able to produce real effects, even of doing harm to people; how, after +that, can it be denied that there are witches, since, according to the +common opinion, witchcraft is nothing else? Let them, if they will, +regard as a fable what is said of their journeys through the air to +repair to their nocturnal meetings; what will he gain by that, if, +notwithstanding that, he believes that they possess the power to kill +children by their spells, to send the devil into the body of the first +person who presents himself, and a hundred other things of the same +kind? He says, that "to render the presents which he makes more +precious and estimable, and the more to be desired, the demon sells +them very dear, as if he could not be excited to act otherwise than by +employing powerful means, and making use of a most mysterious and very +hidden art," which, doubtless, he would have witches ignorant of, and +known only to magicians. But then they pretend that this art can be +learned only from the devil, and to obtain it from him they say that +he must be invoked and worshiped. Now, as there is hardly an impious +character, who, having taken it into his head to operate something +important by his charms or spells, would not be disposed to go to that +shocking extreme, we cannot see why one should succeed in what he +wishes, whilst the other does not succeed; nor what distinction can be +made between rascals and madmen, who are precisely of a kind. I hold +even, that if the reality and power of magic are granted, we could not +without great difficulty refuse to those who profess it the power of +entering places shut up, and of going through the air to their +nocturnal assemblies. It will, doubtless, be said that that is +impossible, and surpasses the power of man; but who can affirm it, +since we know not how far the power of the rebel angels extends? + +I remember to have formerly heard some persons at Rome reason very +sensibly on the difficulty there is sometimes of deciding upon the +truth of a miracle, which difficulty is founded on our ignorance of +the extent of the powers of nature. + +[[688] It is true that it would be dangerous to carry this principle +too far; doubtless, we are not to deduce from it that nothing ever +happens but what is natural, as if the Sovereign Author of all had in +some measure bound his hands, and had not reserved unto himself the +liberty to comply with the wishes and prayers of his servants--of +sometimes according favors which manifestly surpass the powers he has +granted to nature. It may often happen that we doubt whether an effect +is natural or supernatural; but also how many effects do we see on +which no sensible and rational person can form a doubt, good sense +concurring with the soundest philosophy to teach us that certain +wonders can only happen by a secret and divine virtue? One of the most +certain proofs which can be had of this is the sudden and durable cure +of certain long and cruel maladies. I know that simple and pious +persons have sometimes attributed to a miracle cures which might very +well be looked upon as purely natural; but what can be opposed to +certain extraordinary facts which have sometimes happened to very wise +and wide-awake persons, in the presence of sensible and judicious +witnesses who have attested them, and confirmed by the report of the +cleverest physicians, who have shown their astonishment at them? In +this city of Verona, where I live, an event of this kind happened very +recently, and it has excited the wonder of every one; but as the truth +of it is not yet juridically attested I abstain from relating it. But +such is not the case with a similar fact, verified, ten years ago, +after the strictest examination. I speak of the miraculous cure of +Dame Victoire Buri, of the monastery of St. Daniel, who after a +chronic ague of nearly five years' duration, after having been +tortured for several days with a stitch in her side, or acute pain, +and with violent colics--having, in short, lost her voice, and fallen +into a languid state, received the holy viaticum on the day of the +fête of St. Louis de Gonzaga. In this condition, having fervently +recommended herself to the intercession of the saint, she in one +moment felt her strength return, her pains ceased, and she began to +cry out that she was cured. At these cries the abbess and the nuns ran +to her; she dressed herself, went up the stairs alone and without +assistance, and repaired to the choir with the others to render thanks +to God for her recovery. I had the curiosity to wish to inform myself +personally of the fact and of these circumstances, and after having +interrogated the lady herself, those who had witnessed her cure, and +the physicians who had attended her, I remained fully convinced of the +truth of the fact. I, I repeat, whose defect is not that of being too +credulous, as it sufficiently appears by what I write here. + +Again, I may say, that finding myself fourteen years ago at Florence, +I was in that city acquainted with a young girl, named Sister +Catherine Biondi, of the third order of St. Francis; through her +prayers a lady was cured in a moment and for ever of a very painful +dislocation. This circumstance was known by everybody, and I have no +doubt that it will one day be juridically attested. For myself, I +believe I obtained several singular favors of God through the +intercession of this holy maiden, to whose intercession I have +recommended myself several times since her death. The wise and learned +father Pellicioni, abbot of the order of St. Benedict, her confessor, +said that if we knew the life and family arrangements of this inferior +sister, we should soon be delivered from all sorts of temptations +against faith. + +In effect, what things we are taught by these facts, which remain as +if buried in oblivion! What subtile questions are cleared up by them +in a very short time! Why do not the learned, who shine in other +communions, give themselves the trouble to assure themselves of only +one of these facts, as it would be very easy for them to do? One alone +suffices to render evident the truth of the catholic dogmas. There is +not one article of controversy for the defence of which it would not +be necessary to compose a folio; whereas, only one of these facts +decides them all instantly. We advance but little by disputation, +because each one seeks only to show forth his own wit and erudition, +and no one will give up a point; while by this method all becomes so +evident that no reply remains in answer to it. And who could imagine +that among so many miracles verified on the spot, in different places, +and reported in the strictest examinations made for the canonization +of saints, there would not be one which was true? To do so, we must +refuse to believe anything at all, and to make use of one's reason. +But when one of these facts becomes so notorious that there is no +longer room to doubt it, if after that some difficulty presents itself +to our feeble mind, which, so far from grasping the infinite, has only +most confused knowledge of material bodies, will not any one who +wishes to reason upon them be obliged to decide them suddenly by +saying, "I do not understand it at all, but I believe the whole?" +Those also, who, through the high opinion they have of their own +knowledge, laugh at all which is above them; what can these men oppose +to facts, in which Divine Providence shines forth in a manner so +evident not only to the mind but to the eyes? In regard to those who, +from the bad education which they have received, or from the idle and +voluptuous life which they lead, stagnate in gross ignorance; with +what facility would not one of these well-proved facts instruct them +in what they most require to know, and enlighten them in a moment on +every subject?] + +To return to my subject. If it is sometimes difficult to decide on the +truth of a miracle, how much more difficulty would there be in +observing all the qualities which suit the superior and spiritual +nature, and prescribing limits to it. In regard to the penalties which +the author would have them inflict on magicians and witches, +pretending that the former are to be treated with rigor, while, on +the contrary, we must be indulgent to the latter, I do not see any +foundation for it. Charity would certainly have us begin by +instructing an old fool, who, having her fancy distorted, or her heart +perverted, from having read, or heard related, certain things, will +condemn herself, by avowing crimes which she has not committed. But if +we are told, for instance, that, after having made a little image, an +ignoramus has pierced it several times, muttering some ridiculous +words, how can we distinguish whether this charm is to be attributed +to sorcery or magic? and consequently, how can we know whether it +ought to be punished leniently or rigorously? However it may be done, +no effect will follow it, as has often been proved; and whether the +spell is the work of a magician or a wizard, the person aimed at by it +will not be in worse health. We must only remark, that although +ineffectual, the attempt of such wizards is not less a crime, since to +arrive at that point, "they must have renounced all their duty to God, +and have made themselves the slaves of the demon:" also do they avow +that to cast their spells they must "give up Jesus Christ, and +renounce the baptismal rite." It is commonly held that "the demons +appear to them, and cause themselves to be worshiped by them." This is +certainly not the case; but if it were so, why should witches have +less power than magicians? and on what foundation can it be asserted +that they are less criminal? + +XI. Now, then, let us come to the point, which has deceived many, and +which still deludes some. Because in the Scripture, in the Old +Testament, magic is often spoken of as it then was, they conclude that +it still exists, and is on the same footing at this day. To that a +reply is easy. Before the advent of the Saviour, the demon had that +power; but he no longer possesses it, since Jesus Christ by his death +consummated the great work of our redemption. It is what St. John +clearly teaches in the Apocalypse, when he says[689]--"I saw an angel +descend from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the well of the +abyss, and a long chain with which he enchained the dragon, the old +serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and he bound him for a thousand +years." The Evangelist here makes use of the term "a thousand years" +to designate a period both very long and indeterminate, since we read, +a little lower down, that the demon shall be unbound at the coming of +Antichrist.[2] And "after a thousand years," says St. John, "Satan +shall be unbound, and shall come out of his prison." Whence it +happens, that in the time of Antichrist all the wonders of magic shall +be renewed, as the apostle tells us, when he says[691] that his +arrival shall be marked with the greatest wonders that Satan is +capable of working, and by all sorts of signs and lying prodigies. +But till then, "the prince of this world," that is to say, the demon, +"will be cast out." Which made St. Peter say, that in ascending to +heaven, Jesus Christ has subjugated "the angels, the powers, and the +virtues;" and St. Paul says, that "he has enriched himself with the +spoils of principalities and powers;" and that "when he shall give up +the kingdom to God even the Father, and destroyed all principalities, +and powers, and rule." These various names indicate the different +orders of reprobate spirits, as we learn from different parts of the +New Testament. Now, to understand that the might and power which the +demon has been deprived of by the Saviour, is precisely that which he +had enjoyed until then of deceiving the world by magical practices, it +is proper to observe, that until the coming of Jesus Christ there were +three ways or means by which the reprobate spirits exercised their +power and malice upon men:--1. By tempting them and leading them to do +evil. 2. By entering into their bodies and possessing them. 3. By +seconding magical operations, and sometimes working wonders, to wrest +the worship which was due to Him. At this day, of these three kinds of +power, the demon has certainly not lost the first by the coming of the +Saviour, since we know with what determination he has continued since +then, and daily does continue, to tempt us. Neither has he been +deprived of the second, since we still find persons who are possessed; +and it cannot be denied, that even since Jesus Christ, God has often +permitted this kind of possession to chastise mankind, and serve as a +warning. Thence it remains, that the demon has only been absolutely +despoiled of the third; and that it is in this sense we must +understand what St. Paul says, "that Satan has been enchained." Thence +it comes, that since the death of our Saviour all these diabolical +______ having no longer the same success as before, those who until +then had made a profession of them, brought their books to the +apostles' feet, and burned them in their presence." For that these +books treated principally of magic, we learn from St. Athanasius, who +alludes to this part of the Scripture, when he says, that "those who +had been celebrated for this art burned their books." It is not that, +even in the most distant time, braggarts and impostors have been +wanting who falsely boasted of what they could not perform. Thus we +read in Ecclesiasticus--"Who will pity the enchanter that is bitten by +the serpent?" In the time of St. Paul, some exorcists, who were Jews, +ran about the country, vainly endeavoring to expel demons; this was +the case with seven sons of one of the chief priests at Ephesus. It is +this prejudice which made Josephus believe[692] that in the presence +of Vespasian and all his court attendants, a Jew had expelled demons +from the bodies of the possessed by piercing their nose with a ring, +in which had been encased a root pointed out by Solomon. In his +narrative of this event, we may see, in truth, that the demons were +obliged to give some sign of their exit; but who does not perceive +that what he relates can proceed only from one who has suffered +himself to be deceived, or who seeks to deceive others? + +XII. From what I have said, it is obvious, that if in the Old +Testament the magic power, and the prodigies worked by magic, are +often spoken of, there is in return no mention made of it in the New. +It is true, that as the world was never wanting in impostors, who +sought to appropriate to themselves the name and reputation of +magician, we find two of these seducers named in the Acts of the +Apostles. The one is Elymas,[693] who, in the isle of Cyprus, wished +to turn the attention of the Roman proconsul from listening to the +preaching of the apostles, and for that was punished with blindness. +The other is Simon, who for a long time preaching in Samaria that he +was something great, had misled all the people of that city, so that +he was generally regarded there as a sort of divine man, because +"through the effect of his magic he had for a long time turned the +heads of all the inhabitants;" that is to say, he had seduced and +dazzled them by his knaveries, as has often happened in many other +places. For it is evidently shown that he could never succeed in +working any wonder, not only by the silence of the Scripture on that +point, but also on seeing the miracles of St. Philip he was so +surprised at them, and so filled with admiration, that he directly +asked to be baptized, and never after quitted this apostle. But having +offered some money to St. Peter, in order to obtain from him the +apostolical gift, he was severely reprimanded by him, and threatened +with the most terrible punishments, to which he made no other reply +than to entreat the apostles to intercede for him themselves with +Jesus Christ, that nothing of the kind might happen to him. This is +all we have that is certain and authentic on the subject of Simon the +magician. But in times nearer to the apostles, the authors of +apocryphal books and stories invented at pleasure, profited well by +the profession of magic, which Simon had for a long time skillfully +practiced; and because the magic art is fruitful in wonders, which +certainly render a narrative agreeable and amusing, they attributed +endless prodigies to him; amongst others they imagined that, in a sort +of public discussion between him and St. Peter, he raised himself into +the air, and was precipitated from thence to the ground at the prayers +of that apostle. Sigebert mentions this, and, if I mistake not, it has +appeared in print at Florence. The most ancient apocryphal works +which remain to us, are the Recognitions of St. Clement, and the +Apostolical Constitutions. In the first, they make Simon say that he +can render himself invisible, traverse the most frightful precipices, +fall from a great height without hurting himself, bind with his own +bonds those who enchained him, open fastened doors, animate statues, +pass through fire without burning himself, change his form, +metamorphose himself into a goat or a sheep, fly in the air, &c. In +the second they make St. Peter say, that Simon being at Rome, and gone +to the theatre about noon, he ordered the people to go back and make +room for him, promising them that he would rise up into the air. It is +added, that he did in effect rise up into the air, carried by the +demons, saying he was ascending to heaven, at which all the people +applauded; but at that moment St. Peter's prayers were successful, and +Simon was hurled down, after he had spoken beforehand to him, as if +they had been close to each other. You can read the whole story, which +is evidently false and ill-imagined. It is true that these old +writings, and a few others of the same kind, have served to deceive +some of the fathers and ecclesiastical authors, who, without examining +into the truth, have permitted themselves to go with the stream, and +have followed the public opinion, upon which many things might be said +did time allow. How, for instance, can any one unhesitatingly believe +that St. Jerome could ever have written that St. Peter went to Rome, +not to plant the faith in that capital, and establish therein the +first seat of Christianity, but to expel from thence Simon the +magician? Is there not, on the contrary, reason to suspect that these +few words have passed in ancient times, from a note inadvertently +placed in the margin, into the text itself? But to confine myself +within the limits of my subject, I say that it suffices to pay +attention to the impure source of so many doubtful books, published +under feigned names, by the diversity and contradiction which +predominate amongst them relatively to the circumstance in question, +by the silence, in short, of the sovereign pontiffs and other writers +upon the same, even of the profane authors who ought principally to +speak of it, to remain convinced that all that is said of it, as well +as all the other prodigies ascribed to the magic power of Simon, is +but a fable founded solely on public report. Is there not even an +ancient inscription, which is thought to be still in existence, and +which, according to the copy that I formerly took of it at Rome, +bears: "Sanco Sancto Semoni Deo Filio," which upon the equivoque of +the name, has been applied to Simon the magician by St. Justin, and +upon his authority by some other writers, which occasioned P. Pagi to +say on the year 42, "That St. Justin was deceived either by a +resemblance of name, or by some unfaithful relation;" but that which +must above all decide this matter is the testimony of Origen, who says +that indeed Simon could deceive some persons in his time by magic, but +that soon after he lost his credit so much, that there were not in all +the world thirty persons of his sect to be found, and that only in +Palestine, his name never having been known elsewhere; so far was it +from true that he had been to Rome, worked miracles there, and had +statues raised to him in that capital of the world! Origen concludes +by saying, that where the name of Simon was known, it was so only by +the Acts of the Apostles, and that the truth of the circumstances +evidently shows that there was nothing divine in this man, that is to +say, nothing miraculous or extraordinary. In a word, the Acts of the +Apostles relate no wonder of him, because the Saviour had destroyed +all the power of magic. + +XIII. To render this principle more solid still, after having based it +upon the Scripture, I am going to establish again with my usual +frankness, upon tradition, and show that it is truly in this sense the +passages in the fathers, and ancient ecclesiastical writers, must be +understood. I begin with St. Ignatius the Martyr, bishop, and +successor of the apostles in the pulpit of Antioch. This father, in +the first of the Epistles which are really his, speaking of the birth +of the Saviour, and of the star which then appeared, adds, "Because +all the power of magic vanished, all the bonds of malice were broken, +ignorance was abolished, and the old kingdom of Satan destroyed;" on +which the learned Cotelerius makes this remark: "It was also at that +time that all the illusions of magic ceased, as is attested by so many +celebrated authors." Tertullian, in the book which he has written on +Idolatry, says, "We know the strict union there is between magic and +astrology. God permitted that science to reign on the earth till the +time of the Gospel, in order that after the birth of Jesus Christ no +one might be found who should undertake to read in the heavens the +happiness or misfortunes of any person whomsoever." A little after, he +adds: "It is thus that, till the time of the Gospel, God tolerated on +the earth that other kind of magic which performs wonders, and dared +even to enter into rivalry with Moses." + +Origen, in his books against Celsus, speaking of the three magi, and +the star which appeared to them, says that then the power of magic +extended so far, that there was no art more powerful and more divine; +but at the birth of the Saviour hell was disconcerted, the demons lost +their power, all their spells were destroyed, and their might passed +away. The magi wishing them to perform their enchantments and their +usual works, and not being able to succeed, sought the reason; and +having seen that new star appear in the heavens, they conjectured that +"He who was to command all spirits was born," which decided them to go +and adore him. + +St. Athanasius, in his treatise on the Incarnation, teaches that the +Saviour has delivered all creatures from the deceits and illusions of +Satan, and that he has enriched himself, as St. Paul says, with the +spoils of principalities and powers. "When is it," he says afterwards, +"that the oracles have ceased to reply throughout all Greece, but +since the advent of the Saviour on earth? When did they begin to +despise the magic art? Is it not since mankind began to enjoy the +divine presence of the Word? Formerly," he continues, "the demons +deluded men by divers phantoms, and attaching themselves to rivers and +fountains, stones and wood, they drew by their allusions the +admiration of weak mortals; but since the advent of the Divine Word, +all their stratagems have passed away." A little while after, he adds, +"But what shall we say of that magic they held in such admiration? +Before the incarnation of the Word, it was in honor among the +Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the Indians, and won the admiration of those +nations by prodigies; but since the Truth has come down to earth, and +the Word has shown himself amongst men, this power has been destroyed, +and is itself fallen into oblivion." In another place, refuting the +Gentiles, who ascribed the miracles of the Saviour to magic, "They +call him a magician," says he, "but can they say that a magician would +destroy all sorts of magic, instead of working to establish it?" + +In his Commentary on Isaiah, St. Jerome joins this interpretation to +several passages in the prophet--"Since the advent of the Saviour, all +that must be understood in an allegorical sense; for all the error of +the waters of Egypt, and all the pernicious arts which deluded the +nations who suffered themselves to be infatuated by them, have been +destroyed by the coming of Jesus Christ." A little after, he +adds--"That Memphis was also strongly addicted to magic, the vestiges +which subsist at this day of her ancient superstitions allow us not to +doubt." Now this informs us in a few words, or in the approach of the +desolation of Babylon, that all the projects of the magicians, and of +those who promise to unveil the future, are a pure folly, and dissolve +like smoke at the presence of Jesus Christ. Again, he says elsewhere, +that "Jesus Christ being come into the world, all kinds of divination, +and all the deceits of idolatry, lost their efficacy; so that the +Eastern magi understanding that a Son of God was born who had +destroyed all the power of their art, came to Bethlehem." + +Theophilus of Alexandria, in his Paschal Letter addressed to the +bishops of Egypt, and after him St. Jerome, who has given us a Latin +translation of this letter, says that Jesus Christ by his coming has +destroyed all the illusions of magic. They add, "Jesus Christ by his +presence having destroyed idolatry, it follows that magic, which is +its mother, has been destroyed likewise." They call magic the mother +of idolatry, because it transfers to another the confidence and +submission which are due to God alone. St. Ambrose says, "The magician +perceives the inutility of his art, and you do not yet understand that +the promised Redeemer is come." I could bring forward here many other +passages from the fathers if I had the books at hand, or if time +allowed me to select them. + +XIV. But why amuse ourselves with fruitless researches? What I have +said will suffice to show that this opinion has been that of not only +one or two of the fathers, which would prove nothing, but of the +greater number of those among them who have discoursed of this matter, +which constitutes the greater number. After that it is of little +import if in after and darker ages a thousand stories were spread on +the subject of witchcraft and enchantments, and that those tales may +have gained credit with the people in proportion to their rudeness and +ignorance. You may read, if you have any curiosity on the subject, a +hundred stories of that kind, related by Saxo Grammaticus and Olaus +Magnus. You will find also in Lucian and in Apuleius, how, even in +their time, those who wished to be carried through the air, or to be +metamorphosed into beasts, began by stripping themselves, and then +anointing themselves with certain oils from head to foot; there were +then found impostors, who promised as of old to perform by means of +magic all kinds of prodigies, and still continued the same +extravagances as ever. + +A great many persons feel a certain repugnance to refusing belief in +all that is said of the prodigies of magic, as if it was denying the +truth of miracles, and the existence of the devil; and on this subject +they fail not to allege, that amongst the orders in the church is +found that of exorcists, and that the rituals are full of prayers and +blessings against the malice and the snares of Satan. But we must not +here confound two very different things. So far from the miracles and +wonders performed by Divine power leading us to believe the truth of +those which are ascribed to the demon, they teach us on the contrary +that God has reserved this power to himself alone. We experience but +too often that there are truly evil spirits, who do not cease to tempt +us. In respect to the order of Exorcists, we know that it was +established in the church in the first ages of Christianity; the most +ancient fathers make mention of them; but from none of them do we +learn that their order was instituted against witchcraft and other +knaveries of the same kind, but only as at this day, to deliver those +possessed; "to expel demons from the bodies of the possessed;" says +the Manual of the Ordination. It is not, then, denied, that for +reasons which it belongs not to us to examine, God sometimes allows +the demon to take hold of some one and to torment him; we only deny +that the spirit of darkness can ever arrive at that to please a +wretched woman of the dregs of the people. We do not deny that to +punish the sins of mankind, the Almighty may not sometimes make use in +different ways of the ministry of evil spirits; for, as St. Jerome +says,[694] "God makes men feel his anger and fury by the ministry of +rebel angels;" but we do deny that it ever happens by virtue of certain +figures, certain words, and certain signs, made by ignoramuses or +scoundrels, or some wretched females, or old mad women, or by any +authority they have over the demon. The sovereign pontiff who at this +day governs the church with so much glory, discourses very fully[695] +in his excellent works on the wonders worked by the demon and related +in the Old Testament, but he nowhere speaks of any effect produced by +magic or by sorcery since the coming of Jesus Christ. In the Roman +ritual we have prayers and orisons for all occasions; we find there +conjurations and exorcisms against demons; but nowhere, if the text is +not corrupted, is there mention made either of persons or things +bewitched, and if they are mentioned therein, it is only in after +additions made by private individuals. We know, on the contrary, that +many books treating of this subject, and containing prayers newly +composed by some individuals, have been prohibited. Thus they have +forbidden the book entitled _Circulus Aureus_, in which are set down +the conjurations necessary for "invoking demons of all kinds, of the +sky, of hell, the earth, fire, air, and water," to destroy all sorts +of "enchantments, charms, spells, and snares," in whatever place they +may be hidden, and of whatever matter they may be composed, whether +male or female, magician or witch, who may have made or given them, +and notwithstanding "all compacts and all conventions made between +them." Ought not the fact that the church forbids any one to read or +to keep these kind of books, to be sufficient to convince us of the +falsehood of what they imagine, and to teach us how contrary they are +to true religion and sound devotion. Three years ago they printed in +this town a little book, of which the author, however, was not of +Verona, in which they promised to teach the way "to deliver the +possessed, and to break all kinds of spells." We read in it that +"those over whom a malignant spell has been cast, lead such a wretched +life that it ought rather to be called a long death, like the corpse +of a man who had just died," &c. That is not all, for "almost all die +of it," and if they are children, "they hardly ever live." See now the +power which simple people ascribe, not only to the devil, but to the +vilest of men, whom they really believe to be connected with, and to +hold commerce with him. They say afterwards in this same book[696] +that the signs which denote a malignant spell are parings, herbs, +feathers, bones, nails, and hairs; but they give notice that the +feathers prove that there is witchcraft "only when they are +intermingled in the form of a circle or nearly so." And, again, you +must take care that some woman has not given you something to eat, +some flowers to smell, or if she has touched the shoulder of the +person on whom the spell is cast. We have an excellent preservative +against these simplicities in the vast selection of Dom Martenus, +entitled _De Antiquis Ecclesiĉ Ritibus_, in which we see that amidst +an infinity of prayers, orisons and exorcisms used at all times +throughout Christendom, there is not a passage in which mention is +made of spells, sorcery, or magic, or magical operations. They therein +command the demon in the name of Jesus Christ to come out and go +away--they therein implore the divine protection, to be delivered from +his power, to which we are all born subject by the stain of original +sin; they therein teach that holy water, salt, and incense sanctified +by the prayers of the church may drive away the enemy; that we may not +fall into his toils, and that we may have nothing to dread from the +attacks of evil spirits; but in no part does it say that spells have +power over them, neither do they anywhere pray God to deliver us from +them, or to heal us. It is so far from being true that we ought to +believe the fables spread abroad on this subject, that I perfectly +well remember having read a long time ago in the old casuists, that we +ought to class in the number of grievous sins the believing that magic +can really work the wonders related of it. I shall remark, on this +occasion, that I know not how the author of the book in question can +have committed the oversight of twice citing a certain manuscript as +to be found in any other cabinet than mine, when it is a well known +fact that I formerly purchased it very dear, not knowing that the most +important and curious part was wanting. What I have said of it may be +seen in the Opuscules which I have joined to the "History of +Theology."[697] For the present, it suffices to remember that in the +famous canon _Episcopi_, related first by Réginon,[698] we read these +remarkable words--"An infinite number of people, deceived by this +false prejudice, believe all that to be true, and in believing it +stray from the true faith into the superstition of the heathen, +imagining that they can find elsewhere than in God any divinity, or +any supernatural power." + +XV. From all I have hitherto said, it appears how far from truth is +all that is commonly said of this pretended magic; how contrary to all +the maxims of the church, and in opposition to the most venerated +authority, and what harm might be done to sound doctrine and true +piety by entertaining and favoring such extravagant opinions. We read, +in the author I am combating, "What shall we say of the fairies, a +prodigy so notorious and so common?" It is marvelous that it should +be a _prodigy_ and at the same time _common_. He adds, "There is not a +town, not to say a village, which cannot furnish several instances +concerning them." For my part, I have seen a great many places; I am +seventy-four years of age, and I have perhaps been only too curious on +this head; and I own that I have never happened to meet with any +prodigy of that kind. I may even add that several inquisitors, very +sensible men, after having exercised that duty a long time, have +assured me that they also never knew such a thing. It is not often +that fairies of all kinds of shapes and different faces have passed +through my hands, but I have always discovered and shown that this was +nothing but fancy and reverie. On one side, it is affirmed that there +is a malicious species among them, who were amorous of beautiful +girls; and on the other, they will have it, on the contrary, that all +witches are old and ugly. How desirable it would be, if the people +could be once undeceived in respect to all these follies, which accord +so little with sound doctrine and true piety! Are they not still, in +our days, infatuated with what is said of charms which render +invulnerable rings in which fairies are enclosed, billets which cure +the quartan ague, words which lead you to guess the number to which +the lot will fall; of the pas key, which is made to turn to find out a +thief; of the cabala, which by means of certain verses and certain +answers, which are falsely supposed to contain a certain number of +words, unveils the most secret things? Are there not still to be found +people who are so simple, or who have so little religion, as to buy +these trifles very dear? For the world at this day is not wanting in +those prophets spoken of by Micah,[699] whom money inspired and +rendered learned. Have we not again calendars in which are marked the +lucky and unlucky days, as has been done during a time, under the name +of Egyptians? Do they not prevent people from inhabiting certain +houses, under pretence of their being haunted? that is to say, that in +the night spectres are seen in them, and a great noise of chains is +heard, some saying that it is devils who cause all this, and others +the spirits of the dead who make all this clang; which is surprising +enough that it should be spirits or devils, and that they should only +have the power to make themselves perceived in the night. And how many +times have we seen the most fatal quarrels occur, principally amongst +the peasants, because one amongst them has accused others of sorcery? +But what shall we say of spirits incube and succube, of which, +notwithstanding the impossibility of the thing, the existence and +reality is maintained? M. Muratori, in that part where he treats of +imagination, places the tales on this subject in the same line with +what is said of the witches' sabbath; and he says[700] "that these +extravagant opinions are at this day so discredited, that it is only +the rudest and most ignorant who suffer themselves to be amused by +them." One of my friends made me laugh the other day, when, speaking +of the pretended incubuses, he said that those who believed in them +were not wise to marry. Again, what shall we say of those tacit +compacts so often mentioned by the author, and which he supposes to be +real? Can we not see that such an opinion is making a god of the +devil? For that any one, for example, living three or four hundred +leagues off, may have made a compact with the devil, that every time a +pendulum shall be suspended above a glass it shall mark the hour as +regularly as the most exact clock. According to this idea, that same +marvel will happen equally, and at the same moment, not only in this +town where we are, but all over the earth, and will be repeated as +often as they may wish to make the experiment. Now this is quite +another thing from carrying a witch to the sabbath through the air, +which the author asserts is beyond the power of the demon; it is +attributing to this malicious spirit a kind of almightiness and +immensity. But what would happen if some one, having made a compact +with a demon for fine weather, another on his part shall have made a +compact with the demon for bad weather? Good Father Le Brun wishes us +to ascribe to tacit compacts all those effects which we cannot explain +by natural causes. If it be so, what a number of tacit compacts there +must be in the world! He believes in the stories about the divining +rod, and the virtue ascribed to it of finding out robbers and +murderers; although all France has since acknowledged that the first +author of this fable was a knave, who having been summoned to Paris, +could never show there any of those effects he had boasted of. Let any +one have the least idea of the invisible atoms scattered abroad +throughout the world, of their continually issuing from natural +bodies, and the hidden and wonderful effects which they produce, one +can never be astonished that at a moderate distance water and metals +should operate on certain kinds of wood. The same author sincerely +believes what was said, that the contagion and mortality spread +amongst the cattle proceeded from a spell; like the man who affirmed +that his father and mother remained impotent for seven years, and this +ceased only when an old woman had broken the spell. On this subject, +he cites a ritual of which Father Martenus does not speak at all, +whence it follows that he did not recognize it for authentic. To give +an idea of the credulity of this writer, it will suffice to read the +story he relates of one Damis. But we find, above all, an +incomparable abridgment of those extravagant wonders in a little book +dedicated to the Cardinal Horace Maffei, entitled, "Compendium +Melificarum," or the "Abridgment of Witches," printed at Milan in +1608. + +XVI. In a word, it is of no little importance to destroy the popular +errors which attack the unalterable attributes of the Supreme Being, +as if he had laid it down as a law to himself that he would condescend +to all the impious and fantastic wishes of malignant spirits, and of +the madman who had recourse to them, by seconding them, and permitting +the wonderful effects that they desire to produce. Do reason and good +sense allow us to imagine that the Sovereign Master of all things, who +for reasons which we are not permitted to examine, refuses so often to +grant our most ardent prayers for what we need, whether it be public +or private, can be so prompt to lend an ear to the requests of the +vilest and most wicked, by allowing that which they desire to happen? +So long as they believe in the reality of magic, that it is able to +work wonders, and that by means of it man can force the demon to obey, +it will be in vain to preach against the superstition, impiety, and +folly of wizards. There will always be found too many people who will +try to succeed in it, and will even fancy they have succeeded in it in +fact. To uproot this pest we must begin by making men clearly +understand that it is useless in them to be guilty of this horrible +crime; that in this way they never obtain anything they wish for, and +that all that is said on this subject is fabulous and chimerical. It +will not be difficult to persuade any sensible person of this truth, +by only leading him to pay attention, and mark if it be possible that +all these pretended miracles can be true, whilst it is proved that +magic has never possessed the power to enrich those who professed it, +which would be much more easy. How could this wonderful art send +maladies to those who were in good health, render a married couple +impotent, or make any one invisible or invulnerable, whilst it has +never been able to bring a hundred crowns, which another would keep +locked up in his strong box? And why do we not make any use of so +wonderful an art in armies? Why is it so little sought after by +princes and their ministers? The most efficacious means for +dissipating all these vain fancies would be never to speak of them, +and to bury them in silence and oblivion. In any place where for time +immemorial no one has ever been suspected of witchcraft, let them only +hear that a monk is arrived to take cognizance of this crime and +punish it, and directly you will see troops of green-sick girls, and +hypochondriacal men; crowds of children will be brought to him ill +with unknown maladies; and it will not fail to be affirmed that these +things are caused by spells cast over them, and even when and how the +thing happened. It is certainly a wrong way of proceeding, whether in +sermons, or in the works published against witches, to amuse +themselves with giving the history of all these mad-headed people +boast of, of the circumstances in which they have taken a part, and +the way in which they happened. It is in vain then to declaim against +them, for you may be assured that people are not wanting who suffer +themselves to be dazzled by these pretended miracles, who become +smitten with these effects, so extraordinary and so wonderful, and try +by every means to succeed in them by the very method which has just +been taught them, and forget nothing which can place them in the +number of this imaginary society. It is then with reason that the +author says in his book, that punishment even sometimes serves to +render crime more common, and "that there are never more witches than +in those places where they are most persecuted." I am delighted to be +able to finish with this eulogium, in order that it may be the more +clearly seen that if I have herein attacked magic, it is only with +upright intentions. + +XVII. The eagerness with which I have written this letter has made me +forget several things which might very well have a place in it. The +greatest difficulty which can be opposed to my argument is that we +sometimes find, even amongst people who possess a certain degree of +knowledge and good sense, some persons who will say to you, "But I +have seen this, or that; such and such things have happened to +myself." Upon which it is proper, first of all, to pay attention to +the wonderful tricks of certain jugglers, who, by practice and +address, succeed in deceiving even the most clear-sighted and sensible +persons. It must next be considered that the most natural effects may +sometimes appear beyond the power of nature, when cleverly presented +in the most favorable point of view. I formerly saw a charlatan who, +having driven a nail or a large pin into the head of a chicken, with +that nailed it to a table, so that it appeared dead, and was believed +to be so by all present; after that, the charlatan having taken out +the nail and played some apish tricks, the chicken came to life again +and walked about the room. The secret of all this is that these birds +have in the forepart of the head two bones, joined in such a way that +if anything is driven through with address, though it causes them +pain, yet they do not die of it. You may run large pins into a man's +leg without wounding or hurting him, or but very slightly, just like a +prick which is felt when the pin first enters; which has sometimes +served as a pastime for jokers. In my garden, which, thanks to the +care of M. Seguier, is become quite a botanic garden, I have a plant +called the _onagra_,[701] which rises to the height of a man, and +bears very beautiful flowers; but they remain closed all day, and only +open towards sunset, and that not by degrees, as with all other night +plants, but in budding all at once, and showing themselves in a moment +in all their beauty. A little before their chalice bursts open, it +swells and becomes a little inflated. Now, if any one, profiting by +the last-named peculiarity, which is but little known, wished to +persuade any simple persons that by the help of some magical words he +could, when he would, cause a beautiful flower to bloom, is it not +certain that he would find plenty of people disposed to believe him? +The common people in our days leave nothing undone to find out the +secret of making themselves invulnerable; by which they show that they +ascribe to magic more power than was granted to it by the ancients, +who believed it very capable of doing harm, but not of doing good. So, +when the greater number of the Jews attributed the miracles wrought by +the Saviour to the devil, some of the more sensible and reasonable +among them asked, "Can the devil restore sight to the blind?"[702] At +this day, there are more ways than ever of making simple and ignorant +persons believe in magic. For instance, would it be very difficult for +a man to pass himself off as a magician, if he said to those who were +present, "I can, at my will, either send the bullet in this pistol +through this board, or make it simply touch it and fall down at our +feet without piercing it?" Nevertheless, nothing is easier; it only +requires when the pistol is loaded, that instead of pressing the +wadding immediately upon the bullet as is customary, to put it, on the +contrary, at the mouth of the barrel. That being done, when they fire, +if the end of the pistol is raised, the ball, which is not displaced, +will produce the usual effect; but if, on the contrary, the pistol is +lowered, so that the ball runs into the barrel and joins the wadding, +it will fall on the ground from the board without having penetrated +it. It seems to me that something like this may be found in the +"Natural Experiments" of Redi, which I have not at hand just now. But +on this subject, you can consult Jean Baptista, Porta, and others. We +must not, however, place amongst the effects of this kind of magic, +what a friend jokingly observed to me in a very polite letter which he +wrote to me two months ago:--A noisy exhalation having ignited in a +house, and not having been perceived by him who was in the spot +adjoining, nor in any other place, he writes me word that those who, +according to the vulgar prejudice, persisted in believing that these +kinds of fire came from the sky and the clouds, were necessarily +forced to attribute this effect to real magic. I shall again add, on +the subject of electrical phenomena, that those who think to explain +them by means of two electrical fluids, the one hidden in bodies, and +the other circulating around them, would perhaps say something less +strange and surprising, if they ascribed them to magic. I have +endeavored, in the last letter which is joined to that I wrote upon +the subject of exhalations, to give some explanation of these wonders; +and I have done so, at least, without being obliged to invent from my +own head, and without any foundation, to universal electrical matters +which circulate within bodies and without them. Certainly, the ancient +philosophers, who reasoned so much on the magnet, would have spared +themselves a great deal of trouble, if they had believed it possible +to attribute its admirable properties to a magnetic spirit which +proceeded from it. But the pleasure I should find in arguing with +them, might perhaps engage me in other matters; for which reason I now +end my letter. + + +Footnotes: + +[672] The author here alludes to the hypogryphe, a winged horse, +invented by Ariosto, that carried the Paladins through the air. + +[673] Magicus Vanitates. + +[674] Plin. lib. xxx. c. 1. + +[675] + "Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas, + Nocturnos lemures, portentaque Thessala rides?" + HORAT. lib. ii. Ep. 2. + +[676] Inexpugnabili magicĉ disciplinĉ potestate, &c.--Lib. iii. + +[677] Delle magiche frodi seppe il Givoco.--Dante, _Inf._ c. 20. + +[678] Pp. 139 and 145. + +[679] P. 9. + +[680] P. 144. + +[681] _Goësy_, or _Goësia_, is said to be a kind of magic. It is +asserted that those who profess it repair at night to the tombs, where +they invoke the demon and evil genii by lamentations and complaints. + +In regard to _Theurgy_, the ancients gave this name to that part of +magic which is called _white magic_. The word _Theurgy_ signifies the +art of doing divine things, or such as God only can perform--the power +of producing wonderful and supernatural effects by licit means, in +invoking the aid of God and angels. _Theurgy_ differs from _natural +magic_, which is performed by the powers of nature; and from +_necromancy_, which is operated only by the invocation of the demons. + +[682] P. 170. + +[683] P. 654. + +[684] P. 749. + +[685] P. 9. + +[686] P. 30, de Lam. + +[687] P. 94. + +[688] What is enclosed between the brackets is a long addition sent by +the author to the printer whilst they were working at a second edition +of his letter. + +[689] Et vidi angelum descendentem de coelo habentem clavem abyssi et +catenam magnam in manu suà; et appehendit draconem, serpentem, +antiquum, qui est Diabolus et Satanas, et ligavit eum per annos +mille.--_Apoc._ xx. 1. + +[690] Et cum consummati fuerint mille anni, solvetur Satanas de +carcere suo.--_Apoc._ v. 7. + +[691] Cujus est adventus secundùm operationem Satanĉ in omni virtute +et signis et prodigiis mendacibus.--2 Thess. ii. 9. + +[692] Joseph. Antiq. lib. viii. c. 2. + +[693] Acts viii. 6. + +[694] Mittet siquidem Dominus in iram et furorem suum per angelos +pessimos. Hier. ad Eph. i. 7. p. 574. + +[695] Vid. de Beatif. lib. iv. p. i. c. 3. + +[696] Pp. 67, 75. + +[697] P. 243. + +[698] Lib. ii. p. 364. + +[699] In pecunia divinabunt.--Mich. iii. 11. + +[700] P. 127. + +[701] Now well known as the evening primrose. + +[702] Numquid dĉmonium potest coecorum oculos asperire? Joan. ix, +21. + + + + +LETTER + +_From the_ REVEREND FATHER DOM. AUGUSTINE CALMET, _Abbot of Sénones, +to_ M. DE BURE SENIOR, _Librarian at Paris._ + + +SIR--I have received The Historical and Dogmatical Treatise on +Apparitions, Visions, and particular Revelations, with Observations on +the Dissertations of the Reverend Father Dom. Calmet, Abbot of +Sénones, on Apparitions and Ghosts. At Avignon, 1751. By the Abbé +Lenglet du Frenoy. + +I have looked over this work with pleasure. M. du Frenoy wished to +turn to account therein what he wrote fifty-five years ago, as he says +himself, on the subject of visions, and the life of Maria d'Agreda, of +whom they spoke then, and of whom they still speak even now in so +undecided a manner. M. du Frenoy had undertaken at that time to +examine the affair thoroughly and to show the illusions of it; there +is yet time for him to give his opinion upon it, since the Church has +not declared herself upon the work, on the life and visions of that +famous Spanish abbess. + +It is only accidentally that he composed his remarks on my +Dissertations on Apparitions and Vampires. I have no reason to +complain of him; he has observed towards me the rules of politeness +and good breeding, and I shall try to imitate him in what I say in my +own defence. But if he had read the second edition of my work, printed +at Einsidlen in Switzerland, in 1749; the third, printed in Germany at +Augsburg, in 1750; and the fourth, on which you are now actually +engaged; he might have spared himself the trouble of censuring several +passages which I have corrected, reformed, suppressed, or explained +myself. + +If I had wished to swell my work, I could have added to it some rules, +remarks, and reflections, with a vast number of circumstances. But by +that means I should have fallen into the same error which he seems to +have acknowledged himself, when he says that he has perhaps placed in +his works too many such rules and remarks: and I am persuaded that it +is, in fact, the part that will be least read and least used.[703] + +People will be much more struck with stories squeamishly extracted +from Thomas de Cantimpré and Cesarius, whose works are everywhere +decried, and that one dare no longer cite openly without exposing them +to mockery. They will read, with only too much pleasure, what he +relates of the apparitions of Jesus Christ to St. Francis d'Assis, on +the Indulgence of the Partionculus, and the particularities of the +establishment of the Carmelite Fathers, and of the Brotherhood of the +Scapulary, by Simon Stock, to whom the Holy Virgin herself gave the +Scapulary of the order. It will be seen in his work that there are few +religious establishments or societies which are not founded on some +vision or revelation. It seemed even as if it was necessary for the +propagation of certain orders and certain congregations; _so that +these kind of revelations were, as it were, taken by storm_; and there +seems to have been a competition as to who should produce the greatest +number of them, and the most extraordinary, to have them believed. I +could not persuade myself that he related seriously the pretended +apparition of St. Francis to Erasmus. It is easy to comprehend that it +was a joke of Erasmus, who wished to divert himself at the expense of +the Cordeliers. But one cannot help being pained at the way in which +he treats several fathers of the church, as St. Gregory the Great, St. +Gregory of Tours, St. Sulpicius Severus, Peter the Venerable, Abbot of +Clugny, St. Anselm, Cardinal Pierre Damien, St. Athanasius even, and +St. Ambrose,[704] in regard to their credulity, and the account they +have given us of several apparitions and visions, which are little +thought of at this day. I say the same of what he relates of the +visions of St. Elizabeth of Schonau, of St. Hildegrade, of St. +Gertrude, of St. Mecthelda, of St. Bridget, of St. Catherine of +Sienna, and hardly does he show any favor to those of St. Theresa. + +Would it not have been better to leave the world in this respect as it +is,[705] rather than disturb the ashes of so many holy personages and +saintly nuns, whose lives are held blessed by the church, and whose +writings and revelations have so little influence over the salvation +and the morals of the faithful in general. What service does it render +the church to speak disparagingly of the works of the contemplatives, +of the Thaulers, the Rushbrooks, the Bartholomews of Pisa, of St. +Vincent Ferrier, of St. Bernardine of Sienna, of Henry Harphius, of +Pierre de Natalibus, of Bernardine de Bustis, of Ludolf the Chartreux, +and other authors of that kind, whose writings are so little read and +so little known, whose sectaries are so few in number, and have so +little weight in the world, and even in the church? + +The Abbé du Frenoy acknowledges the visions and revelations which are +clearly marked in Scripture; but is there not reason to fear that +certain persons may apply the rules of criticism which he employs +against the visions of the male and female saints of whom he speaks in +his work, and that they may say, for instance, that Jeremiah yielded +to his melancholy humor, and Ezekiel to his caustic disposition, to +predict sad and disagreeable things to the Jewish people?[706] + +We know how many vexations the prophets endured from the Jews, and +that in particular[707] those of Anathoth had resolved to put their +countryman Jeremiah to death, to prevent him from prophesying in the +name of the Lord. To what persecutions were not himself and Baruch his +disciple exposed for having spoken in the name of the Lord? Did not +King Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, throw the book of Baruch into the +fire,[708] after having hacked it with a penknife, in hatred of the +truths which it announced to him? + +The Jews sometimes went so far as to insult them in their dwellings, +and even to say to them,[709] _Ubi est verbum Domini? veniat_; and +elsewhere, "Let us plot against Jeremiah; for the priests will not +fail to cite the law, and the prophets will not fail to allege the +words of the Lord: come, let us attack him with derision, and pay no +regard to his discourse." + +Isaiah did not endure less vexation and insult, the libertine Jews +having gone even into his house, and said to him insolently[710]--_Manda, +remanda; expecta, re-expecta; modicum ibi, et modicum ibi_, as if to +mock at his threats. + +But all that has not prevailed, nor ever will prevail, against the +truth and word of God; the faithful and exact execution of the threats +of the Lord has justified, and ever will justify, the predictions and +visions of the prophets. The gates of hell will not prevail against +the Christian church, and the word of God will triumph over the malice +of hell, the artifice of corrupt men, of libertines, and over all the +subtlety of pretended freethinkers. True and real visions, +revelations, and apparitions will always bear in themselves a +character of truth, and will serve to destroy those which are false, +and proceed from the spirit of error and delusion. And coming now to +what regards myself in particular, M. du Frenoy says, that the public +have been surprised that instead of placing my proofs before the +circumstances of my apparitions, I have given them afterwards, and +that I have not entered fully enough into the subject of these proofs. + +I am going to give the public an account of my method and design. +Having proposed to myself to prove the truth, the reality, and +consequently the possibility of apparitions, I have related a great +many authentic instances, derived from the Old and New Testament, +which forms a complete proof of my opinion, for the certainty of the +facts carries with it here the certainty of the dogma. + +After that I have related instances and opinions taken from the +Hebrews, Mahometans, Greeks, and Latins, to assure the same truth. I +have been careful not to draw any parallel between these testimonies +and the scriptural ones which preceded. My object in this was to +demonstrate that in every age, and in all civilized nations, the idea +of the immortality of the soul, of its existence after death, of its +return and appearance, is one of those truths which the length of ages +has never been able to efface from the mind of nations. + +I draw the same inference from the instances which I have related, and +of which I do not pretend to guarantee either the truth or the +certainty. I willingly yield all the circumstances that are not +revealed to censure and criticism; I only esteem as true that which is +so in fact. + +M. du Frenoy finds that the proof of the immortality of the soul which +I infer from the apparition of the spirit after death, is not +sufficiently solid; but it is certainly one of the most palpable and +most easy of comprehension to the generality of mankind; it would make +more impression upon them than arguments drawn from philosophy and +metaphysics. I do not intend for that reason to attack any other +proofs of the same truth, or to weaken a dogma so essential to +religion. + +He endeavors to prove, at great length,[711] that the salvation of the +Emperor Trajan is not a thing which the Christian religion can +confirm. I agree with him; and it was useless to take any trouble to +demonstrate it.[712] + +He speaks of the young man of Delme,[713] who having fallen into a +swoon remained in it some days; they brought him back to life, and a +languor remained upon him which at last led to his death at the end of +the year. It is thus he arranges that story. + +M. du Frenoy disguises the affair a little; and although I do not +believe that the devil could restore the youth to life, nevertheless +the original and cotemporaneous authors whom I have quoted maintain +that the demon had much to do with this event.[714] + +What has principally prevented me from giving rules and prescribing a +method for discerning true and false apparitions is, that I am quite +persuaded that the way in which they occur is absolutely unknown to +us; that it contains insurmountable difficulties; and that consulting +only the rules of philosophy, I should be more disposed to believe +them impossible than to affirm their truth and possibility. But I am +restrained by respect for the Holy Scriptures, by the testimony of all +antiquity and by the tradition of the Church. + + "I am, sir, + Your very humble + and very obedient servant, + D. A. CALMET, Abbot of Sénones." + + +Footnotes: + +[703] Dom. Calmet has a very bad opinion of the public, to believe +that it values so little what is, perhaps, the best and most sensible +part of the book. Wise people think quite differently from himself. + +[704] Neither Gregory of Tours, nor Sulpicius Severus, nor Peter the +Venerable, nor Pierre Damien, have ever been placed in a parallel line +with the fathers of the Church. In regard to the latter, it has always +been allowable, without failing in the respect which is due to them, +to remark certain weaknesses in their works, sometimes even errors, as +the Church has done in condemning the Millenaries, &c. + +[705] An excellent maxim for fomenting credulity and nourishing +superstition. + +[706] What a parallel! how could any one make it without renouncing +common sense? + +[707] Jeremiah xxi. 21. + +[708] Jerem. xxxvi. + +[709] Jerem. xvii. 15. + +[710] Isai. xxviii. 10. + +[711] Tom. ii. p. 92 _et seq._ + +[712] It is true that what Dom. Calmet had said of this in his first +edition, the only one M. Lenglet has seen, has been corrected in the +following ones. + +[713] P. 155. + +[714] A bad foundation; credulous or interested authors. + + + + +THE END. + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + Passages in italics indicated by underscore _italics_. + + The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these + letters have been replaced with transliterations set off by [Greek: ] + tags. + + The original text includes several blank spaces. These are represented by + _______________ in this text version. + + Footnote punctuation has been standardized for consistency. + + Misprints corrected: + "Corpernican" corrected to "Copernican" (page vii) + "destitue" corrected to "destitute" (page xvii) + "superstit on" corrected to "superstition" (page xx) + "Apocalapse" corrected to "Apocalypse" (page 40) + "for" corrected to "fro" (page 55) + "thousands" corrected to "thousand" (page 57) + "predjudices" corrected to "prejudices" (page 61) + "repentence" corrected to "repentance" (page 87) + "sorcerors" corrected to "sorcerers" (page 100) + "subtil" corrected to "subtile" (page 112) + "Loudon" corrected to "Loudun" (page 128) + "Gassendy" corrected to "Gassendi" (page 146) + "statue" corrected to "stature" (page 161) + "testiomony" corrected to "testimony" (page 179) + "Ratzival" corrected to "Ratzivil" (page 204) + "embarrasment" corrected to "embarrassment" (page 220) + "Mohometans" corrected to "Mahometans" (page 222) + "ancesters" corrected to "ancestors" (page 231) + "cf" corrected to "of" (page 238) + "Other" corrected to "Others" (page 248) + "treaties" corrected to "treatise" (page 254) + "Spiridon" corrected to "Spiridion" (page 258) + "not not" corrected to "not" (page 262) + "drangement" corrected to "derangement" (page 278) + "neigborhood" corrected to "neighborhood" (page 282) + "d'Englebert" corrected to "d'Engelbert" (page 286) + "obervations" corrected to "observations" (page 305) + "of" corrected to "off" (page 326) + "corpuscules" corrected to "corpuscles" (page 329) + "or" corrected to "for" (page 342) + "our" corrected to "out" (page 349) + "childen" corrected to "children" (page 360) + "her her" corrected to "her" (page 372) + "abe" corrected to "able" (page 386) + "or" corrected to "on" (page 390) + Missing text "III." added (page 411) + "permittted" corrected to "permitted" (page 412) + "One" corrected to "On" (page 434) + + Some quotes are opened with marks but are not closed. Obvious errors + have been silently closed, while those requiring interpretation have + been left open. + + Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate + both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as + presented in the original text. + + All other spelling and punctuation is presented as in the original. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom World, by Augustin Calmet + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM WORLD *** + +***** This file should be named 29412-8.txt or 29412-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/4/1/29412/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Stephanie Eason and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This book was produced from scanned images of public +domain material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Phantom World + or, The philosophy of spirits, apparitions, &c, &c. + +Author: Augustin Calmet + +Editor: Henry Christmas + +Release Date: July 14, 2009 [EBook #29412] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM WORLD *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Stephanie Eason and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This book was produced from scanned images of public +domain material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h3>THE</h3> +<h1>PHANTOM WORLD:</h1> +<h3>THE HISTORY</h3> +<h5>AND</h5> +<h3>PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS, APPARITIONS,</h3> +<h5>&c. &c.</h5> +<p> </p> +<h4>FROM THE FRENCH OF AUGUSTINE CALMET.</h4> +<p> </p> +<h4>WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES</h4> +<h5>BY THE</h5> +<h4>REV. HENRY CHRISTMAS, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A.,</h4> +<h5>LIBRARIAN AND SECRETARY OF SION COLLEGE.</h5> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="quote"> +<tr> +<td>Quemadmodùm multa fieri non posse, priusquam facta sunt, judicantur;<br /> +ita multa quoque, quæ antiquitùs facta, quia nos ea non vidimus, neque<br /> +ratione assequimur, ex iis esse, quæ fieri non potuerunt, judicamus.<br /> +Quæ certè summa insipientia est.—<span class="smcap">Plin.</span> <i>Hist. Nat.</i> lib. vii. c. 1.</td></tr></table> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<p> </p> +<h4>TWO VOLUMES IN ONE.</h4> + +<h4>PHILADELPHIA: A. HART, <small>LATE</small> CAREY & HART.</h4> +<h4>1850.</h4> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h5>PHILADELPHIA:</h5> +<h5>T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS.</h5> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<h5>TO</h5> +<h3>HENRY JAMES SLACK, <span class="smcap">Esq.</span>, F.G.S.</h3> +<h4>&c. &c. &c.</h4> + +<p><span class="smcap">My dear Henry</span>—</p> + +<p>I inscribe these volumes with your name to record a friendship which +has lasted from our infancy, taint<span class="spacer"> </span>suspicion, and darkened by +no shadow.</p> + +<p>So long as eminent talents can challenge admiration, varied and +extensive acquirements command respect, and unfeigned virtues ensure +esteem and regard, so long will you have no common claim to them all; +and none will pay the tribute more gladly than your affectionate</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">Friend and Cousin,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 15em;">HENRY CHRISTMAS.</span><br /> +</p> +<p> </p> +<p><span class="smcap">Sion College</span>, <i>March, 1850.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION.</h2> + +<p>Among the many phases presented by human credulity, few are more +interesting than those which regard the realities of the invisible +world. If the opinions which have been held on this subject were +written and gathered together they would form hundreds of volumes—if +they were arranged and digested they would form a few, but most +important. It is not merely because there is in almost every human +error a substratum of truth, and that the more important the subject +the more important the substratum, but because the investigation will +give almost a history of human aberrations, that this otherwise +unpromising topic assumes so high an interest. The superstitions of +every age, for no age is free from them, will present the popular +modes of thinking in an intelligible and easily accessible form, and +may be taken as a means of gauging (if the expression be permitted) +the philosophical and metaphysical capacities of the period. In this +light, the volumes here presented to the reader will be found of great +value, for they give a picture of the popular mind at a time of great +interest, and furnish a clue to many difficulties in the +ecclesiastical affairs of that era. In the time of Calmet, cases of +demoniacal possession, and instances of returns from the world of +spirits, were reputed to be of no uncommon occurrence. The church was +continually called on to exert her powers of exorcism; and the +instances gathered by Calmet, and related in this work, may be taken +as fair specimens of the rest. It is then, first, as a storehouse of +facts, or reputed facts, that Calmet compiled the work now in the +reader's hands—as the foundation on which to rear what superstructure +of system they pleased; and secondly, as a means of giving his own +opinions, in a detached and desultory way, as the subjects came under +his notice. The value of the first will consist in their +<i>evidence</i>—and of this the reader will be as capable of judging as +the compiler; that of the second will depend on their truth—and of +this, too, we are as well, and in some respects better, able to judge +than Calmet himself. Those accustomed to require rigid evidence will +be but ill satisfied with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span> greater part of that which will be +found in this work; simple assertion for the most part suffices—often +first made long after the facts, or supposed facts, related, and not +unfrequently far off from the places where they were alleged to have +taken place. But these cases are often the <i>best</i> authenticated, for +in the more modern ones there is frequently such an evident mistake in +the whole nature of the case, that all the spiritual deductions made +from it fall to the ground.</p> + +<p>Not a few instances of so-called demoniacal possession are capable of being + resolved into cataleptic trance, a state not unlike that produced by mesmerism, + and in which many of the same phenomena seem naturally to display themselves; + the well-known instance of the young servant girl, related by Coleridge, who, + though ignorant and uneducated, could during her sleep-walking discourse learnedly + in rabbinical Hebrew, would furnish a case in point. The circumstance of her + old master having been in the habit of walking about the house at night, reading + from rabbinical books aloud and in a declamatory manner; the impression made + by the strange sounds upon her youthful imagination; their accurate retention + by a memory, which, however, could only reproduce them in an abnormal condition—all + teach us many most interesting psychological facts, which, had this young girl + fallen into other hands, would have been useless in a philosophical point of + view, and would have been only used to establish the doctrine of diabolical + possession and ecclesiastical exorcism. We should have been told how skilled + was the fallen angel in rabbinical tradition, and how wholesome a terror he + entertained of the Jesuits, the Capuchins, or the <i>Fratres Minimi</i>, as + the case might be. Not a few of the most remarkable cases of supposed <i>modern</i> + possession are to be accounted for by involuntary or natural mesmerism. Indeed + the same view seems to be taken by a popular minister of the church (Mr. Mac + Niel), in our own day, viz., that mesmerism and diabolical possession are frequently + identical. Our difference with him is that we should consider the cases called + by the two names as all natural, and he would consider them as all supernatural. + And here, to avoid misconception, or rather misinterpretation, let me at once + observe, that I speak thus of <i>modern</i> and <i>recorded</i> cases only, + accepting <i>literally</i> all related in the New Testament, and not presuming + to say that similar cases <i>might</i> not occur now. Calmet, however, may be + supposed to have collected all the most remarkable of modern times, and I am + compelled to say I believe not one of them. But when we pass from the evidence + of truth, in which they are so wanting, to the evidence of fraud and collusion + by which many are so characterized, we shall have less wonder at the general + spread of infidelity in times somewhat later, on all subjects not susceptible + of ocular demonstration. Where a system claimed to be received as a whole, or + not at all, it is hardly to be wondered at that when some portion was manifestly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg + vii]</a></span> wrong, its own requirements should be complied with, and the + whole rejected. The system which required an implicit belief in such absurdities + as those related in these volumes, and placed them on a level with the most + awful verities of religion, might indeed make some interested use of them in + an age of comparative darkness, but certainly contained within itself the seeds + of destruction, and which could not fail to germinate as soon as light fell + upon them. The state of Calmet's own mind, as revealed in this book, is curious + and interesting. The belief <i>of the intellect</i> in much which he relates + is evidently gone, the belief <i>of the will</i> but partially remains. There + is a painful sense of uncertainty as to whether certain things <i>ought</i> + not to be received more fully than he felt himself able to receive them, and + he gladly follows in many cases the example of Herodotus of old, merely relating + stories without comment, save by stating that they had not fallen under his + own observation.</p> + +<p>The time, indeed, had hardly come to assert freedom of belief on +subjects such as these. Theology embraced philosophy, and the Holy +Inquisition defended the orthodoxy of both; and if the investigators +of Calmet's day were permitted to hold, with some limitation, the +<ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'Corpernican'.">Copernican</ins> theory, it was far otherwise with regard to the world of +spirits, and its connection with our own. The rotundity of the earth +affected neither shrines nor exorcisms; metaphysical truth might do +both one and the other; and the cry of "Great is Diana of the +Ephesians," was not raised in the capital of Asia Minor, till the +"craft by which we get our wealth" was proved to be in danger.</p> + +<p>Reflections such as these are painfully forced on us by the evident +fraud exhibited by many of the actors in the scenes of exorcism +narrated by Calmet, the vile purposes to which the services of the +church were turned, and the recklessness with which the supposed or +pretended evil, and equally pretended remedy, were used for political +intrigue or state oppression.</p> + +<p>Independent of these conclusions, there is something lamentable in a +state of the public mind, which was so little prone to examination as +to receive such a mass of superstition without sifting the wheat, for +such there undoubtedly is, from the chaff. Calmet's work contains +enough, had we the minor circumstances in each case preserved, to set +at rest many philosophic doubts, and to illustrate many physical +facts; and to those who desire to know what was believed by our +Christian forefathers, and why it was believed, the compilation is +absolutely invaluable. Calmet was a man of naturally cool, calm +judgment, possessed of singular learning, and was pious and truthful. +A short sketch of his life will not, perhaps, be unacceptable to the +reader.</p> + +<p>Augustine Calmet was born in the year 1672, at a village near +Commerci, in Lorraine. He early gave proofs of aptitude for study, and +an opportunity was speedily offered of devoting himself to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> life of +learning. In his sixteenth year he became a Benedictine of the +Congregation of St. Vannes, and prosecuted his theological and such +philosophical studies as the time allowed with great success. He was +soon appointed to teach the younger portion of the community, and gave +in this employment such decided satisfaction to his superiors, that he +was soon marked for preferment. His chief study was the Scriptures; +and in the twenty-second year of his age, a period unusually early, in +an age when all benefices and beneficial employments were matters of +sale, he was appointed to be sub-prior of the monastery of Munster, in +Alsace, where he presided over an academy. This academy consisted of +ten or twelve monks, and its object was the investigation of +Scripture. Calmet was not idle in his new position; besides +communicating so much valuable information as to make his pupils the +best biblical scholars of the country, he made extensive collections +for his Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, and for his still +more celebrated work, the History of the Bible. These materials he +subsequently digested and arranged. The Commentary, a work of immense +value, was published in separate volumes from 1707 to 1716. His labors +attracted renewed and increased attention, and the offer of a +bishopric was made to him, which he unhesitatingly declined.</p> + +<p>In 1718, he was elected to the abbacy of St. Leopold, in Nancy; and +ten years afterwards, to that of Senones, where he spent the remainder +of his days. His writings are numerous—two have been already +mentioned—and so great was the popularity attained by his +Commentaries, that they have been translated into no fewer than six +languages within ten years. It exhibits a favorable aspect of the +author's mind, and gives a very high idea of his erudition. One cause +which tended greatly to its universal acceptability, was its singular +freedom from sectarian bitterness. Protestants as well as Romanists +may use it with equal satisfaction; and accordingly, it is considered +a work of standard authority in England as much as on the continent.</p> + +<p>In addition to these Commentaries, and his History of the Bible, and +Fragments, (the best edition of which latter work in English, is by +Isaac Taylor,) he wrote the "Ecclesiastical and Civil History of +Lorraine;" "A Catalogue of the Writers of Lorraine;" "Universal +History, Sacred and Profane;" a small collection of Reveries; and a +work entitled, "A Literal, Moral, and Historical Commentary on the +Rule of St. Benedict," a work which is full of curious information on +ancient customs, particularly ecclesiastical. He is among the few, +also, who have written on ancient music. He lived to a good old age; +and died regretted and much respected in 1757.</p> + +<p>Of all his works, the one presented here to the reader, is perhaps the +most popular; it went rapidly through many editions, and received from +the author's hand continual corrections and additions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> To say that it +is characterized by uniform judgment, would be to give it a praise +somewhat different as well as somewhat greater than that which it +merits. It is a vast repertory of legends, more or less probable; some +of which have very little foundation—and some which Calmet himself +would have done well to omit, though <i>now</i>, as a picture of the belief +entertained in that day, they greatly add to the value of the book. +For the same reasons which have caused the retention of these +passages, no alterations have been made in the citations from +Scripture, which being translations from the Vulgate, necessarily +differ in phraseology from the version in use among ourselves. The +apocryphal books too are quoted, and the story of Bel and the Dragon +referred to as a part of the prophecy of Daniel; but what is of +consequence to observe, is, that <i>doctrines</i> are founded on these +translations, and on those very points in which they differ from our +own.</p> + +<p>If the history of popery, and especially that form and development of +it exhibited in the monastic orders, be ever written, this work will +be of the greatest importance:—it will show the means by which +dominion was obtained over the minds of the ignorant; how the most +sacred mysteries were perverted; and frauds, which can hardly be +termed pious, used to support institutions which can scarcely be +called religious. That the spirits of the dead should be permitted to +return to earth, under circumstances the most grotesque, to support +the doctrines of masses for the dead, purgatory and propitiatory +penance; that demons should be exorcised to give testimony to the +merits of rival orders of monks and friars; that relics, many of them +supposititious, and many of the most disgusting and blasphemous +character, should have power to affect the eternal state of the +departed; and that <i>all</i> saints, angels, demons, and the ghosts of the +departed, should support, with great variations indeed, the corrupt +dealings of a corrupt priesthood—form a creed worthy of the darkest +and most unworthy days of heathenism.</p> + +<p>There is, however, one excuse, or rather palliation, for the +superstition of that time. In periods of great public depravity—and +few epochs have been more depraved than that in which Calmet +lived—Satan has great power. With a ruler like the regent Duke of +Orleans, with a Church governor like Cardinal Dubois, it would appear +that the civil and ecclesiastical authority of France had sold itself, +like Ahab of old, to work wickedness; or, as the apostle says, "to +work all uncleanness with greediness." In an age so characterized, it +does not seem at all improbable that portentous events should from +time to time occur; that the servants of the devil should be +strengthened together with their master; that many should be given +over to strong delusions and to believe a lie; and that the evil part +of the invisible world should be permitted to ally itself more closely +with the men of an age so congenial. Real cases of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span> demoniacal +possession might, perhaps, be met with, and though scarcely amenable +to the exorcisms of a clergy so corrupt as that of France in that day, +they would yet justify a belief in the reality of those cases got up +for the sake of filthy lucre, personal ambition, or private revenge. +If the public mind was prepared for a belief in such cases, there were +not wanting men to turn it to profitable account; and the quiet +student who believed the efficacy of the means used, and was scarcely +aware of the wickedness of the age in which he lived, might easily be +induced to credit the tales told him of demons expelled by the power +of a church, to which in the beginning an authority to do so had +undoubtedly been given, and whose awful corruptions were to him at +least greatly veiled.</p> + +<p>Calmet was a man of great integrity and considerable acumen, but he +passed an innocent and exemplary life in studious seclusion; he mixed +little with the world at large, resided remote "from courts, and +camps, and strife of war or peace;" and there appears occasionally in +his writings a kind of nervous apprehension lest the dogmas of the +church to which he was pledged should be less capable than he could +wish of satisfactory investigation. When he meets with tales like +those of the vampires or vroucolacas, which concern only what he +considered a heretical church, and with which, therefore, he might +deal according to his own will—apply to them the ordinary rules of +evidence, and treat them as mundane affairs—there he is +clear-sighted, critical and acute, and accordingly he discusses the +matter philosophically and logically, and concludes without fear of +sinning against the church, that the whole is delusion. When, on the +other hand, he has to deal with cases of demoniacal possession, in +countries under the rule of the Roman hierarchy, he contents himself +with the decisions of the scholastic divines and the opinions of the +fathers, and makes frequent references to the decrees of various +provincial parliaments. The effects of such a state of mind upon +scientific and especially metaphysical investigation, may be easily +imagined, and are to be traced more or less distinctly in every page +of the work before us.</p> + +<p>To conclude: books like this—the "Disquisitiones Magicæ" of Delrio, +the "Demonomanie" of Bodin, the "Malleus Maleficarum" of Sprengel, and +the like, are at no time to be regarded merely as subjects of +amusement; they have their philosophical value; they have a still +greater historical value; and they show how far even upright minds may +be warped by imperfect education, and slavish deference to authority.</p> + +<p>The edition here followed is that of 1751, which contains the latest +corrections of the author, and several additional pieces, which are +all included in the present volumes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Sion College</span>, <span class="smcap">London Wall</span>,</p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;"><i>April, 1850.</i></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td></td> +<td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td><span class="smcap">Preface</span></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_xv">xv</a></td> + </tr> +<tr> +<td>CHAPTER</td> +<td></td> +<td></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td> +<td>The Appearance of Good Angels proved by the Books of the +Old Testament</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> + </tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td> +<td>The Appearance of Good Angels proved by the Books of the +New Testament</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td> + </tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td> +<td>Under what form have Good Angels appeared?</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td> +<td>Opinions of the Jews, Christians, Mahometans, and Oriental +Nations, concerning the Apparitions of Good Angels</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td> +<td>Opinion of the Greeks and Romans on the Apparitions of +Good Genii</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td> +<td>The Apparition of Bad Angels proved by the Holy Scriptures--Under +what Form they have appeared</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td> +<td>Of Magic</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td> +<td>Objections to the Reality of Magic</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td> +<td>Reply to the Objections</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td> +<td>Examination of the Affair of Hocque, Magician</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></td> +<td>Magic of the Egyptians and Chaldeans</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></td> +<td>Magic among the Greeks and Romans</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII.</a></td> +<td>Examples which prove the Reality of Magic</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV.</a></td> +<td>Effects of Magic according to the Poets</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV.</a></td> +<td>Of the Pagan Oracles</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI.</a></td> +<td>The Certainty of the Event predicted, is not always a proof +that the Prediction comes from God</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII.</a></td> +<td>Reasons which lead us to believe that the greater part of the +Ancient Oracles were only Impositions of the Priests and +Priestesses, who feigned that they were inspired by God</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII.</a></td> +<td>On Sorcerers and Sorceresses, or Witches</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX.</a></td> +<td>Instances of Sorcerers and Witches being, as they said, transported +to the Sabbath</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">XX.</a></td> +<td>Story of Louis Gaufredi and Magdalen de la Palud, owned by +themselves to be a Sorcerer and Sorceress</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">XXI.</a></td> +<td>Reasons which prove the Possibility of Sorcerers and Witches +being transported to the Sabbath</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">XXII.</a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg xii]</span></td> +<td>Continuation of the same Subject</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII.</a></td> +<td>Obsession and Possession of the Devil</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV.</a></td> +<td>The Truth and Reality of Possession and Obsession by the +Devil proved from Scripture</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">XXV.</a></td> +<td>Examples of Real Possessions caused by the Devil</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">XXVI.</a></td> +<td>Continuation of the same Subject</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">XXVII.</a></td> +<td>Objections against the Obsessions and Possessions of the Demon--Reply +to the Objections</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">XXVIII.</a></td> +<td>Continuation of Objections against Possessions, and some Replies +to those Objections</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">XXIX.</a></td> +<td>Of Familiar Spirits</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">XXX.</a></td> +<td>Some other Examples of Elves</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">XXXI.</a></td> +<td>Spirits that keep Watch over Treasure</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">XXXII.</a></td> +<td>Other instances of Hidden Treasures, which were guarded +by Good or Bad Spirits</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">XXXIII.</a></td> +<td>Spectres which appear, and predict things unknown and to +come</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">XXXIV.</a></td> +<td>Other Apparitions of Spectres</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">XXXV.</a></td> +<td>Examination of the Apparition of a pretended Spectre</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">XXXVI.</a></td> +<td>Of Spectres which haunt Houses</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">XXXVII.</a></td> +<td>Other Instances of Spectres which haunt certain Houses</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">XXXVIII.</a></td> +<td>Prodigious effects of Imagination in those Men or Women +who believe they hold Intercourse with the Demon</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">XXXIX.</a></td> +<td>Return and Apparitions of Souls after the Death of the Body, +proved from Scripture</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XL">XL.</a></td> +<td>Apparitions of Spirits proved from History</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLI">XLI.</a></td> +<td>More Instances of Apparitions</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLII">XLII.</a></td> +<td>On the Apparitions of Spirits who imprint their Hands on +Clothes or on Wood</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII">XLIII.</a></td> +<td>Opinions of the Jews, Greeks, and Latins, concerning the +Dead who are left unburied</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV">XLIV.</a></td> +<td>Examination of what is required or revealed to the Living by +the Dead who return to Earth</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLV">XLV.</a></td> +<td>Apparitions of Men still alive, to other living Men, absent, +and very distant from each other</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI">XLVI.</a></td> +<td>Arguments concerning Apparitions</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_216">216</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII">XLVII.</a></td> +<td>Objections against Apparitions, and Replies to those Objections</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVIII">XLVIII.</a></td> +<td>Some other Objections and Replies</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIX">XLIX.</a></td> +<td>The Secrets of Physics and Chemistry taken for supernatural +things</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_L">L.</a></td> +<td>Conclusion of the Treatise on Apparitions</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LI">LI.</a></td> +<td>Way of explaining Apparitions</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LII">LII.</a></td> +<td>The difficulty of explaining the manner in which Apparitions +make their appearance, whatever system may be proposed +on the subject</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td></tr></table> +<p> </p> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg xiii]</span></p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td><span class="smcap">Dissertation on the Ghosts who return to Earth +bodily,<br /> the Excommunicated, the Oupires or Vampires, Vroucolacas, etc.</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td><span class="smcap">Preface</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_I_2">I.</a></td> +<td>The Resurrection of a Dead Person is the Work of God only</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_II_2">II.</a></td> +<td>Revival of Persons who were not really Dead</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_249">249</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_III_2">III.</a></td> +<td>Resurrection of a Man who had been buried Three Years, +resuscitated by St. Stanislaus</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV_2">IV.</a></td> +<td>Can a Man really Dead appear in his own Body?</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_V_2">V.</a></td> +<td>Revival or Apparition of a Girl who had been Dead some +Months</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VI_2">VI.</a></td> +<td>A Woman taken Alive from her Tomb</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VII_2">VII.</a></td> +<td>Revenans, or Vampires of Moravia</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII_2">VIII.</a></td> +<td>Dead Persons in Hungary who suck the Blood of the Living</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_IX_2">IX.</a></td> +<td>Narrative of a Vampire from the Jewish Letters, Letter 137</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_263">263</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_X_2">X.</a></td> +<td>Other Instances of Revenans.--Continuation of the "Gleaner"</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XI_2">XI.</a></td> +<td>Argument of the Author of the Jewish Letters, concerning +Revenans</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XII_2">XII.</a></td> +<td>Continuation of the argument of the Dutch Gleaner</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_270">270</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII_2">XIII.</a></td> +<td>Narrative from the "Mercure Gallant" of 1693 and 1694 on +Revenans</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_272">272</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV_2">XIV.</a></td> +<td>Conjectures of the "Glaneur de Hollandais"</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XV_2">XV.</a></td> +<td>Another Letter on Ghosts</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI_2">XVI.</a></td> +<td>Pretended Vestiges of Vampirism in Antiquity</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_278">278</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII_2">XVII.</a></td> +<td>Ghosts in Northern Countries</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII_2">XVIII.</a></td> +<td>Ghosts in England</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX_2">XIX.</a></td> +<td>Ghosts in Peru</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_284">284</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XX_2">XX.</a></td> +<td>Ghosts in Lapland</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_285">285</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI_2">XXI.</a></td> +<td>Return of a Man who had been Dead some Months</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_285">285</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII_2">XXII.</a></td> +<td>Excommunicated Persons who went out of Churches</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII_2">XXIII.</a></td> +<td>Some Instances of the Excommunicated being rejected or cast +out of Consecrated Ground</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_291">291</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV_2">XXIV.</a></td> +<td>Instance of an Excommunicated Martyr being cast out of the +Ground</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_292">292</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV_2">XXV.</a></td> +<td>A Man cast out of the Church for having refused to pay +Tithes</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI_2">XXVI.</a></td> +<td>Instances of Persons who have given Signs of Life after their +Death, and have withdrawn themselves respectfully to make +room for more worthy Persons</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_294">294</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII_2">XXVII.</a></td> +<td>People who perform Pilgrimage after Death</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_296">296</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII_2">XXVIII.</a></td> +<td>Reasoning upon the Excommunicated who go out of Churches</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_297">297</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX_2">XXIX.</a></td> +<td>Do the Excommunicated rot in the Earth?</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_300">300</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX_2">XXX.</a></td> +<td>Instances to show that the Excommunicated do not rot, and +that they appear to the Living</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_301">301</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI_2">XXXI.</a></td> +<td>Instances of these Returns to Earth of the Excommunicated</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_302">302</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII_2">XXXII.</a></td> +<td>A Vroucolacan exhumed in the presence of M. de Tournefort</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_304">304</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII_2">XXXIII.</a></td> +<td>Has the Demon power to kill, and then to restore to Life?</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_308">308</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV_2">XXXIV.</a></td> +<td>Examination of the Opinion that the Demon can restore Animation +to a Dead Body</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_310">310</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV_2">XXXV.</a><span class='pagenum'>[Pg xiv]</span></td> +<td>Instances of Phantoms which have appeared to the Living +and given many Signs of Life</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI_2">XXXVI.</a></td> +<td>Devoting People to Death, practised by the Heathens</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_314">314</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII_2">XXXVII.</a></td> +<td>Instances of dooming to Death among Christians</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_317">317</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII_2">XXXVIII.</a></td> +<td>Instances of Persons who have promised to give each other +News of themselves from the other World</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_321">321</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX_2">XXXIX.</a></td> +<td>Extracts from the Political Works of the Abbé de St. Pierre</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_325">325</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XL_2">XL.</a></td> +<td>Divers Systems to explain Ghosts</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_331">331</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLI_2">XLI.</a></td> +<td>Divers Instances of Persons being Buried Alive</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_333">333</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLII_2">XLII.</a></td> +<td>Instances of Drowned Persons who have come back to Life +and Health</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII_2">XLIII.</a></td> +<td>Instances of Women thought Dead who came to Life again</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_337">337</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV_2">XLIV.</a></td> +<td>Can these Instances be applied to the Hungarian Revenans?</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_339">339</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLV_2">XLV.</a></td> +<td>Dead People who chew in their Graves and devour their +own Flesh</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_340">340</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI_2">XLVI.</a></td> +<td>Singular Example of a Hungarian Revenant</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_341">341</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII_2">XLVII.</a></td> +<td>Argument on this matter</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_343">343</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVIII_2">XLVIII.</a></td> +<td>Are the Vampires or Revenans really Dead?</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_344">344</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIX_2">XLIX.</a></td> +<td>Instance of a Man named Curma being sent back to this +World</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_351">351</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_L_2">L.</a></td> +<td>Instances of Persons who fall into Ecstatic Trances when they +will, and remain senseless</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_354">354</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LI_2">LI.</a></td> +<td>Application of such Instances to Vampires</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_356">356</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LII_2">LII.</a></td> +<td>Examination of the Opinion that the Demon fascinates the +Eyes of those to whom Vampires appear</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_360">360</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LIII">LIII.</a></td> +<td>Instances of Resuscitated Persons who relate what they saw +in the other World</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_361">361</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LIV">LIV.</a></td> +<td>The Traditions of the Pagans on the other Life, are derived +from the Hebrews and Egyptians</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_364">364</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LV">LV.</a></td> +<td>Instances of Christians being Resuscitated and sent back to +this World.--Vision of Vetinus, a Monk of Augia</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_366">366</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LVI">LVI.</a></td> +<td>Vision of Bertholdas, related by Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_368">368</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LVII">LVII.</a></td> +<td>Vision of St. Fursius</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_369">369</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LVIII">LVIII.</a></td> +<td>Vision of a Protestant of York, and others</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_371">371</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LIX">LIX.</a></td> +<td>Conclusion of this Dissertation</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_374">374</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LX">LX.</a></td> +<td>Moral Impossibility that Ghosts can come out of their Tombs</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_376">376</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LXI">LXI.</a></td> +<td>What is related of the Bodies of the Excommunicated who +walk out of Churches, is subject to very great Difficulties +(in Belief and Explanation)</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_378">378</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LXII">LXII.</a></td> +<td>Remarks on the Dissertation, concerning the Spirit which +came to St. Maur des Fossés</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_380">380</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><a href="#CHAPTER_LXIII">LXIII.</a></td> +<td>Dissertation of an Anonymous Writer on what should be +thought of the Appearance of Spirits, on Occasion of the +Adventure at St. Maur, in 1706</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_387">387</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td>Letter of the Marquis Maffei on Magic</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_407">407</a></td></tr> +<tr> +<td></td> +<td>Letter of the Reverend Father Dom Calmet, to M. Debure</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_440">440</a></td></tr></table> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + +<p>The great number of authors who have written upon the apparitions of +angels, demons, and disembodied souls is not unknown to me; and I do +not presume sufficiently on my own capacity to believe that I shall +succeed better in it than they have done, and that I shall enhance +their knowledge and their discoveries. I am perfectly sensible that I +expose myself to criticism, and perhaps to the mockery of many +readers, who regard this matter as done with, and decried in the minds +of philosophers, learned men, and many theologians. I must not reckon +either on the approbation of the people, whose want of discernment +prevents their being competent judges of this same. My aim is not to +foment superstition, nor to feed the vain curiosity of visionaries, +and those who believe without examination everything that is related +to them as soon as they find therein anything marvelous and +supernatural. I write only for reasonable and unprejudiced minds, +which examine things seriously and coolly; I speak only for those who +assent even to known truth but after mature reflection, who know how +to doubt of what is uncertain, to suspend their judgment on what is +doubtful, and to deny what is manifestly false.</p> + +<p>As for pretended freethinkers, who reject everything to distinguish +themselves, and to place themselves above the common herd, I leave +them in their elevated sphere; they will think of this work as they +may consider proper, and as it is not calculated for them, apparently +they will not take the trouble to read it.</p> + +<p>I undertook it for my own information, and to form to myself a just +idea of all that is said on the apparitions of angels, of the demon, +and of disembodied souls. I wished to see how far that matter was +certain or uncertain, true or false, known or unknown, clear or +obscure.</p> + +<p>In this great number of facts which I have collected I have endeavored +to make a choice, and not to heap together too great a multitude of +them, for fear that in the too numerous examples the doubtful might +not harm the certain, and in wishing to prove too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span> much I might prove +absolutely nothing. There will, even amongst those I have cited, be +found some which will not easily be credited by many readers, and I +allow them to regard them as not related.</p> + +<p>I beg those readers, nevertheless, to discern justly amongst these +facts and instances; after which they can with me form their +opinion—affirm, deny, or remain in doubt.</p> + +<p>From the respect which every man owes to truth, and the veneration +which a Christian and a priest owes to religion, it appeared to me +very important to undeceive people respecting the opinion which they +have of apparitions, if they believe them all to be true; or to +instruct them and show them the truth and reality of a great number, +if they think them all false. It is always shameful to be deceived; +<span class="spacer"> </span> and in regard to religion, to believe on light +grounds, to remain wilfully in doubt, or to maintain oneself without +any reason in superstition and illusion; it is already much to know +how to doubt wisely, and not to form a decided opinion beyond what one +really knows.</p> + +<p>I never had any idea of treating profoundly the matter of apparitions; +I have treated of it, as it were, by chance, and occasionally. My +first and principal object was to discourse of the vampires of +Hungary. In collecting my materials on that subject, I found many +things concerning apparitions; the great number of these embarrassed +this treatise on vampires. I detached some of them, and thus have +composed this treatise on apparitions: there still remains a large +number of them, which I might have separated for the better +arrangement of this treatise. Many persons here have taken the +accessory for the principal, and have paid more attention to the first +part than to the second, which was, however, the first and the +principal in my design. For I own I have always been much struck with +what was related of the vampires or ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, and +Poland; of the vroucolacas of Greece; and of the excommunicated, who +are said not to rot. I thought I ought to bestow on it all the +attention in my power; and I have deemed it right to treat on this +subject in a particular dissertation. After having deeply studied it, +and obtaining as much information as I was able, I found little +solidity and certainty on the subject; which, joined to the opinion of +some prudent and respectable persons whom I consulted, had induced me +to give up my design entirely, and to renounce laboring on a subject +which is so contradictory, and embraces so much uncertainty.</p> + +<p>But looking at the matter in another point of view, I resumed my pen, +decided upon undeceiving the public, if I found that what was said of +it was absolutely false; showing that what is uttered on this subject +is uncertain, and that one ought to be very reserved in pronouncing on +these vampires, which have made so much noise in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span> the world for a +certain time, and still divide opinions at this day, even in the +countries which are the scene of their pretended return, and where +they appear; or to show that what has been said and written on this +subject is not <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'destitue'.">destitute</ins> of probability, and that the subject of the +return of vampires is worthy the attention of the curious and the +learned, and deserves to be seriously studied, to have the facts +related of it examined, and the causes, circumstances, and means +sounded deeply.</p> + +<p>I am then about to examine this question as a historian, philosopher, +and theologian. As a historian, I shall endeavor to discover the truth +of the facts; as a philosopher, I shall examine the causes and +circumstances; lastly, the knowledge or light of theology will cause +me to deduce consequences as relating to religion. Thus I do not write +in the hope of convincing freethinkers and pyrrhonians, who will not +allow the existence of ghosts or vampires, nor even of the apparitions +of angels, demons, and spirits; nor to intimidate those weak and +credulous, by relating to them extraordinary stories of apparitions. I +do not reckon either on curing the superstitious of their errors, nor +the people of their prepossessions; not even on correcting the abuses +which arise from this unenlightened belief, nor of doing away all the +doubts which may be formed on apparitions; still less do I pretend to +erect myself as a judge and censor of the works and sentiments of +others, nor to distinguish myself, make myself a name, or divert +myself, by spreading abroad dangerous doubts upon a subject which +concerns religion, and from which they might make wrong deductions +against the certainty of the Scriptures, and against the unshaken +dogmas of our creed. I shall treat it as solidly and gravely as it +merits; and I pray God to give me that knowledge which is necessary to +do it successfully.</p> + +<p>I exhort my reader to distinguish between the facts related, and the +manner in which they happened. The fact may be certain, and the way in +which it occurred unknown. Scripture relates certain apparitions of +angels and disembodied souls; these instances are indubitable and +found in the revelations of the holy books; but the manner in which +God operated the resurrections, or in which he permitted these +apparitions to take place, is hidden among his secrets. It is +allowable for us to examine them, to seek out the circumstances, and +propound some conjectures on the manner in which it all came to pass; +but it would be rash to decide upon a matter which God has not thought +proper to reveal to us. I say as much in proportion, concerning the +stories related by sensible, contemporary, and judicious authors, who +simply relate the facts without entering into the examination of the +circumstances, of which, perhaps, they themselves were not well +informed.</p> + +<p>It has already been objected to me, that I cited poets and authors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span> of +little credit, in support of a thing so grave and so disputed as the +apparition of spirits: such authorities, they say, are more calculated +to cast a doubt on apparitions, than to establish the truth of them.</p> + +<p>But I cite those authors as witnesses of the opinions of nations; and +I count it not a small thing in the extreme license of opinions, which +at this day predominates in the world, amongst those even who make a +profession of Christianity, to be able to show that the ancient Greeks +and Romans thought that souls were immortal, that they subsisted after +the death of the body, and that there was another life, in which they +received the reward of their good actions, or the chastisement of +their crimes.</p> + +<p>Those sentiments which we read in the poets, are also repeated in the +fathers of the church, and the pagan and Christian historians; but as +they did not pretend to think them weighty, nor to approve them in +repeating them, it must not be imputed to me either, that I have any +intention of authorizing. For instance, what I have related of the +manes, or lares; of the evocation of souls after the death of the +body; of the avidity of these souls to suck the blood of the immolated +animals, of the shape of the soul separated from the body, of the +inquietude of souls which have no rest until their bodies are under +ground; of those superstitious statues of wax which are devoted and +consecrated under the name of certain persons whom the magicians +pretended to kill by burning and stabbing their effigies of wax; of +the transportation of wizards and witches through the air, and of +their assemblies of the Sabbath; all those things are related both in +the works of the philosophers and pagan historians, as well as in the +poets.</p> + +<p>I know the value of one and the other, and I esteem them as they +deserve; but I think that in treating this matter, it is important to +make known to our readers the ancient superstitions, the vulgar or +common opinions, and the prejudices of nations, to be able to refute +them, and bring back the figures to truths, by freeing them from what +poesy had added for the embellishment of the poem, and the amusement +of the reader.</p> + +<p>Moreover, I generally repeat this kind of thing, only when it is +apropos of certain facts avowed by historians, and by other grave and +rational authors; and sometimes rather as an ornament of the +discourse, or to enliven the matter, than to derive thence certain +proofs and consequences necessary for the dogma, or to certify the +facts and give weight to my recital.</p> + +<p>I know how little we must depend on what Lucian says on this subject; +he only speaks of it to make game of it. Philostratus, Jamblicus, and +some others, do not merit more consideration; therefore I quote them +only to refute them, or to show how far idle and ridiculous credulity +has been carried on these matters, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span> were laughed at by the most +sensible among the heathens themselves.</p> + +<p>The consequences which I deduce from all these stories, and these +poetical fictions, and the manner in which I speak of them in the +course of this dissertation, sufficiently vouch that esteem, and give +as true and certain only what is so in fact; and that I do not wish to +impose on my reader, by relating many things which I myself regard as +false, or as doubtful, or even as fabulous. But that ought to be +prejudicial to the dogma of the immortality of the soul, and to that +of another life, not to the truth of certain apparitions related in +Scripture, or proved elsewhere by good testimony.</p> + +<p>The first edition of this work having been printed in my absence, and +upon an incorrect copy, several misprints have occurred, and even +expressions and phrases displeasing and interrupted. I have tried to +remedy this in a second edition, and to cast light on those passages +which they noticed as demanding explanation, and correcting what might +offend scrupulous readers, and prevent the bad consequences which +might be derived from what I had said. I have even done more in this +third edition. I have retrenched several passages; others I have +suppressed; I have profited by the advice which has been given me; and +I have replied to the objections which have been made.</p> + +<p>People have complained that I took no part, and did not come to a +decision on several difficulties which I propose, and that I leave my +reader in uncertainty.</p> + +<p>I make but little defence against this reproach; I should require more +justification if I decided without a perfect knowledge of causes, for +one side of the question, at the risk of embracing an error, and of +falling into a still greater impropriety. There is wisdom in +suspending one's judgment till we have succeeded in finding the very +truth.</p> + +<p>I have also been told, that certain persons have made a joke of some +facts which I have related. If I have related them as certain, and +they afford just cause for pleasantry, let the condemnation pass; but +if I cited them as fabulous and false, they present no subject for +pleasantry; <i>Falsum non est de ratione faceti</i>.</p> + +<p>There are certain persons who delight in jesting on the most serious +things, and who spare nothing, either sacred or profane. The histories +of the Old and New Testament, the most sacred ceremonies of our +religion, the lives of the most respectable saints, are not safe from +their dull, tasteless pleasantry.</p> + +<p>I have been reproached for having related several false histories, +several doubtful facts, and several fabulous events. This is true; but +I give them for what they are. I have declared several times, that I +did not vouch for their truth, that I repeated them to show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</a></span> how false +and ridiculous they were, and to deprive them of the credit they might +have with the people; and if I had gone at length into their +refutation, I thought it right to let my reader have the pleasure of +refuting them, supposing him to possess enough good sense and +self-sufficiency, to form his own judgment upon them, and feel the +same contempt for such stories that I do myself. It is doing too much +honor to certain things to refute them seriously.</p> + +<p>But another objection, and a much more serious one, is said to be, +what I say of the illusions of the demon, leading some persons to +doubt of the truth of the apparitions related in Scripture, as well as +of the others suspected of falsehood.</p> + +<p>I answer, that the consequences deduced from principles are not right, +except when things are equal, and the subjects and circumstances the +same; without that there can be no application of principles. The +facts to which my reasoning applies are related by authors of small +authority, by ordinary or common-place historians, bearing no +character which deserves a belief of anything superhuman. I can, +without attacking their person or their merit, advance that they may +have been badly informed, prepossessed, and mistaken; that the spirit +of seduction may have been of the party; that the senses, the +imagination, and <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'superstit on'.">superstition</ins>, may have made them take that for truth, +which was only seeming.</p> + +<p>But, in regard to the apparitions related in the Holy Scriptures, they +borrow their infallible authority from the sacred and inspired authors +who wrote them; they are verified by the events which followed them, +by the execution or fulfilment of predictions made many ages +preceding; and which could neither be done, nor foreseen, nor +performed, either by the human mind, or by the strength of man, not +even by the angel of darkness.</p> + +<p>I am but little concerned at the opinion passed on myself and my +intentions in the publication of this treatise. Some have thought that +I did it to destroy the popular and common idea of apparitions, and to +make it appear ridiculous; and I acknowledge that those who read this +work attentively and without prejudice, will remark in it more +arguments for doubting what the people believe on this point, than +they will find to favor the contrary opinion. If I have treated this +subject seriously, it is only in what regards those facts in which +religion and the truth of Scripture is interested; those which are +indifferent I have left to the censure of sensible people, and the +criticism of the learned and of philosophical minds.</p> + +<p>I declare that I consider as true all the apparitions related in the sacred + books of the Old and New Testament; without pretending, however, that it is + not allowable to explain them, and reduce them to a natural and likely sense, + by retrenching what is too marvelous about them, which might rebut enlightened + persons. I think on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[Pg + xxi]</a></span> that point I may apply the principle of St. Paul;[<a href="#f1">1</a><a name="f1.1" id="f1.1"></a>] + "the letter killeth, and the Spirit giveth life."</p> + +<p>As to the other apparitions and visions related in Christian, Jewish, or heathen + authors, I do my best to discern amongst them, and I exhort my readers to do + the same; but I blame and disapprove the outrageous criticism of those who deny + everything, and make difficulties of everything, in order to distinguish themselves + by their pretended strength of mind, and to authorize themselves to deny everything, + and to dispute the most certain facts, and in general all that savors of the + marvelous, and which appears above the ordinary laws of nature. St. Paul permits + us to examine and prove everything: <i>Omnia probate</i>; but he desires us to + hold fast that which is good and true: <i>quod bonum est tenete</i>.[<a href="#f2">2</a><a name="f2.1" id="f2.1"></a>]</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes: </p> +<p>[<a href="#f1.1">1</a><a name="f1" id="f1"></a>] 2 Cor. iii. 16.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f2.1">2</a><a name="f2" id="f2"></a>] 1 Thess. v. 21.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg xxii]</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg xxiii]</span></p> +<h2>ADVERTISEMENT.</h2> + +<p>Every body talks of apparitions of angels and demons, and of souls +separated from the body. The reality of these apparitions is +considered as certain by many persons, while others deride them and +treat them as altogether visionary.</p> + +<p>I have determined to examine this matter, just to see what certitude +there can be on this point; and I shall divide this Dissertation into +four parts. In the first, I shall speak of good angels; in the second, +of the appearance of bad angels; in the third, of the apparitions of +souls of the dead; and in the fourth, of the appearance of living men +to others living, absent, distant, and this unknown to those who +appear. I shall occasionally add something on magic, wizards, and +witches; on the Sabbath, oracles, and obsession and possession by +demons.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> +<h2>THE PHANTOM WORLD.</h2> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE OLD +TESTAMENT.</h3> + +<p>The apparitions or appearances of good angels are frequently mentioned in the + books of the Old Testament. He who was stationed at the entrance of the terrestrial + Paradise[<a href="#f3">3</a><a name="f3.1" id="f3.1"></a>] was a cherub, armed with a flaming sword; those + who appeared to Abraham, and who promised that he should have a son;[<a href="#f4">4</a><a name="f4.1" id="f4.1"></a>] + those who appeared to Lot, and predicted to him the ruin of Sodom, and other + guilty cities;[<a href="#f5">5</a><a name="f5.1" id="f5.1"></a>] he who spoke to Hagar in the desert,[<a href="#f6">6</a><a name="f6.1" id="f6.1"></a>] + and commanded her to return to the dwelling of Abraham, and to remain submissive + to Sarah, her mistress; those who appeared to Jacob, on his journey into Mesopotamia, + ascending and descending the mysterious ladder;[<a href="#f7">7</a><a name="f7.1" id="f7.1"></a>] he who + taught him how to cause his sheep to bring forth young differently marked;[<a href="#f8">8</a><a name="f8.1" id="f8.1"></a>] + he who wrestled with Jacob on his return from Mesopotamia,[<a href="#f9">9</a><a name="f9.1" id="f9.1"></a>]—were + angels of light, and benevolent ones; the same as he who spoke with Moses from + the burning bush on Horeb,[<a href="#f10">10</a><a name="f10.1" id="f10.1"></a>] and who gave him the tables + of the law on Mount Sinai. That Angel who takes generally the name of <span class="smcap">God</span>, + and acts in his name, and with his authority;[<a href="#f11">11</a><a name="f11.1" id="f11.1"></a>] who served + as a guide to the Hebrews in the desert, hidden during the day in a dark cloud, + and shining during the night; he who spoke to Balaam, and threatened to kill + his she-ass;[<a href="#f12">12</a><a name="f12.1" id="f12.1"></a>] he, lastly, who contended with Satan for + the body of Moses;[<a href="#f13">13</a><a name="f13.1" id="f13.1"></a>]—all these angels were without + doubt good angels.</p> + +<p>We must think the same of him who presented himself armed to Joshua on the + plain of Jericho,[<a href="#f14">14</a><a name="f14.1" id="f14.1"></a>] and who declared himself head of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg + 38]</a></span> the army of the Lord; it is believed, with reason, that it was + the angel Michael. He who showed himself to the wife of Manoah,[<a href="#f15">15</a><a name="f15.1" id="f15.1"></a>] + the father of Samson, and afterwards to Manoah himself. He who announced to + Gideon that he should deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites.[<a href="#f16">16</a><a name="f16.1" id="f16.1"></a>] + The angel Gabriel, who appeared to Daniel, at Babylon;[<a href="#f17">17</a><a name="f17.1" id="f17.1"></a>] + and Raphael who conducted the young Tobias to Rages, in Media.[<a href="#f18">18</a><a name="f18.1" id="f18.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>The prophecy of the Prophet Zechariah is full of visions of angels.[<a href="#f19">19</a><a name="f19.1" id="f19.1"></a>] + In the books of the Old Testament the throne of the Lord is described as resting + on cherubim; and the God of Israel is represented as having before his throne[<a href="#f20">20</a><a name="f20.1" id="f20.1"></a>] + seven principal angels, always ready to execute his orders, and four cherubim + singing his praises, and adoring his sovereign holiness; the whole making a + sort of allusion to what they saw in the court of the ancient Persian kings,[<a href="#f21">21</a><a name="f21.1" id="f21.1"></a>] + where there were seven principal officers who saw his face, approached his person, + and were called the eyes and ears of the king.</p> +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f3.1">3</a><a name="f3" id="f3"></a>] Gen. iii. 24.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f4.1">4</a><a name="f4" id="f4"></a>] Gen. xviii. 1-3.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f5.1">5</a><a name="f5" id="f5"></a>] Gen. xix.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f6.1">6</a><a name="f6" id="f6"></a>] Gen. xxi. 17.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f7.1">7</a><a name="f7" id="f7"></a>] Gen. xxviii. 12.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f8.1">8</a><a name="f8" id="f8"></a>] Gen. xxxi. 10, 11.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f9.1">9</a><a name="f9" id="f9"></a>] Gen. xxxii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f10.1">10</a><a name="f10" id="f10"></a>] Exod. iii. 6, 7.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f11.1">11</a><a name="f11" id="f11"></a>] Exod. iii. iv.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f12.1">12</a><a name="f12" id="f12"></a>] Numb. xxii. xxiii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f13.1">13</a><a name="f13" id="f13"></a>] Jude 9.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f14.1">14</a><a name="f14" id="f14"></a>] Josh. v. 13.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f15.1">15</a><a name="f15" id="f15"></a>] Judges xiii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f16.1">16</a><a name="f16" id="f16"></a>] Judges vi. vii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f17.1">17</a><a name="f17" id="f17"></a>] Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f18.1">18</a><a name="f18" id="f18"></a>] Tobit v.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f19.1">19</a><a name="f19" id="f19"></a>] Zech. v. 9, 10, 11, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f20.1">20</a><a name="f20" id="f20"></a>] Psalm xvii. 10; lxxix. 2, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f21.1">21</a><a name="f21" id="f21"></a>] Tobit xii. Zech. iv. 10. Rev. i. 4.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE NEW +TESTAMENT.</h3> + + +<p>The books of the New Testament are in the same manner full of facts which prove + the apparition of good angels. The angel Gabriel appeared to Zachariah the father + of John the Baptist, and predicted to him the future birth of the Forerunner.[<a href="#f22">22</a><a name="f22.1" id="f22.1"></a>] + The Jews, who saw Zachariah come out of the temple, after having remained within + it a longer time than usual, having remarked that he was struck dumb, had no + doubt but that he had seen some apparition of an angel. The same Gabriel announced + to Mary the future birth of the Messiah.[<a href="#f23">23</a><a name="f23.1" id="f23.1"></a>] When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, + the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the night,[<a href="#f24">24</a><a name="f24.1" id="f24.1"></a>] and declared + to them that the Saviour of the world was born at Bethlehem. There is every + reason to believe that the star which appeared to the Magi in the East, and + which led them straight to Jerusalem, and thence to Bethlehem, was directed + by a good angel.[<a href="#f25">25</a><a name="f25.1" id="f25.1"></a>] St. Joseph was warned by a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg + 39]</a></span> celestial spirit to retire into Egypt, with the mother and the + infant Christ, for fear that Jesus should fall into the hands of Herod, and + be involved in the massacre of the Innocents. The same angel informed Joseph + of the death of King Herod, and told him to return to the land of Israel.</p> + +<p>After the temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness, angels came +and brought him food.[<a href="#f26">26</a><a name="f26.1" id="f26.1"></a>] The demon tempter said to Jesus Christ that +God had commanded his angels to lead him, and to prevent him from +stumbling against a stone; which is taken from the 92d Psalm, and +proves the belief of the Jews on the article of guardian angels. The +Saviour confirms the same truth when he says that the angels of +children constantly behold the face of the celestial Father.[<a href="#f27">27</a><a name="f27.1" id="f27.1"></a>] At +the last judgment, the good angels will separate the just,[<a href="#f28">28</a><a name="f28.1" id="f28.1"></a>] and +lead them to the kingdom of heaven, while they will precipitate the +wicked into eternal fire.</p> + +<p>At the agony of Jesus Christ in the garden of Olives, an angel +descended from heaven to console him.[<a href="#f29">29</a><a name="f29.1" id="f29.1"></a>] After his resurrection, +angels appeared to the holy women who had come to his tomb to embalm +him.[<a href="#f30">30</a><a name="f30.1" id="f30.1"></a>] In the Acts of the Apostles, they appeared to the apostles as +soon as Jesus had ascended into heaven; and the angel of the Lord came +and opened the doors of the prison where the apostles were confined, +and set them at liberty.[<a href="#f31">31</a><a name="f31.1" id="f31.1"></a>] In the same book, St. Stephen tells us +that the law was given to Moses by the ministration of angels;[<a href="#f32">32</a><a name="f32.1" id="f32.1"></a>] +consequently, those were angels who appeared on Sinai and Horeb, and +who spoke to him in the name of God, as his ambassadors, and as +invested with his authority; also, the same Moses, speaking of the +angel of the Lord, who was to introduce Israel into the Promised Land, +says that "the name of God is in him."[<a href="#f33">33</a><a name="f33.1" id="f33.1"></a>] St. Peter, being in prison, +is delivered from thence by an angel,[<a href="#f34">34</a><a name="f34.1" id="f34.1"></a>] who conducted him the length +of a street, and disappeared. St. Peter, knocking at the door of the +house in which his brethren were, they could not believe that it was +he; they thought that it was his angel who knocked and spoke. St. +Paul, instructed in the school of the Pharisees, thought as they did +on the subject of angels; he believed in their existence, in +opposition to the Sadducees,[<a href="#f35">35</a><a name="f35.1" id="f35.1"></a>] and supposed that they could appear. +When this apostle, having been arrested by the Romans, related to the +people how he had been overthrown at Damascus, the Pharisees, who were +present, replied to those who exclaimed against him—"How do we know, +if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> an angel or a spirit hath not spoken to him?" St. Luke says that a +Macedonian (apparently the angel of Macedonia) appeared to St. Paul, +and begged him to come and announce the Gospel in that country.</p> + +<p>St. John, in the Apocalypse, speaks of the seven angels who presided +over the churches in Asia. I know that these seven angels are the +bishops of these churches, but the ecclesiastical tradition will have +it that every church has its tutelary angel. In the same book, the +Apocalypse, are related divers appearances of angels. All Christian +antiquity has recognized them; the synagogue also has recognized them; +so that it may be affirmed that nothing is more certain than the +existence of good angels and their apparitions.</p> + +<p>I place in the number of apparitions, not only those of good or bad +angels, and the spirits of the dead who show themselves to the living, +but also those of the living who show themselves to the angels or +souls of the dead; whether these apparitions are seen in dreams, or +during sleep, or awaking; whether they manifest themselves to all +those who are present, or only to the persons to whom God judges +proper to manifest them. For instance, in the <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'Apocalapse'.">Apocalypse</ins>,[<a href="#f36">36</a><a name="f36.1" id="f36.1"></a>] St. John +saw the four animals, and the four-and-twenty elders, who were clothed +in white garments and wore crowns of gold upon their heads, and were +seated on thrones around that of the Almighty, who prostrated +themselves before the throne of the Eternal, and cast their crowns at +his feet.</p> + +<p>And, elsewhere: "I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the +world,[<a href="#f37">37</a><a name="f37.1" id="f37.1"></a>] who held back the four winds and prevented them from +blowing on the earth; then I saw another angel, who rose on the side +of the east, and who cried out to the four angels who had orders to +hurt the earth, Do no harm to the earth, or the sea, or the trees, +until we have impressed a sign on the foreheads of the servants of +God. And I heard that the number of those who received this sign (or +mark) was a hundred and forty-four thousand. Afterwards I saw an +innumerable multitude of all nations, tribes, people, and languages, +standing before the throne of the Most High, arrayed in white +garments, and having palms in their hands."</p> + +<p>And in the same book[<a href="#f38">38</a><a name="f38.1" id="f38.1"></a>] St. John says, after having described the +majesty of the throne of God, and the adoration paid to him by the +angels and saints prostrate before him, one of the elders said to +him,—"Those whom you see covered with white robes, are those who have +suffered great trials and afflictions, and have washed their robes in +the blood of the Lamb; for which reason they stand before the throne +of God, and will do so night and day in his temple; and He who is +seated on the throne will reign over them, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> angel which is in +the midst of the throne will conduct them to the fountains of living +water." And, again,[<a href="#f39">39</a><a name="f39.1" id="f39.1"></a>] "I saw under the altar of God the souls of +those who have been put to death for defending the Word of God, and +for the testimony which they have rendered; they cried with a loud +voice, saying, When, O Lord, wilt thou not avenge our blood upon those +who are on the earth?" &c.</p> + +<p>All these apparitions, and several others similar to them, which might +be related as being derived from the holy books as well as from +authentic histories, are true apparitions, although neither the angels +nor the martyrs spoken of in the Apocalypse came and presented +themselves to St. John; but, on the contrary, this apostle was +transported in spirit to heaven, to see there what we have just +related. These are apparitions which may be called passive on the part +of the angels and holy martyrs, and active on the part of the holy +apostle who saw them.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f22.1">22</a><a name="f22" id="f22"></a>] Luke i. 10-12, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f23.1">23</a><a name="f23" id="f23"></a>] Luke i. 26, 27, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f24.1">24</a><a name="f24" id="f24"></a>] Luke ii. 9, 10.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f25.1">25</a><a name="f25" id="f25"></a>] Matt. ii. 13, 14, 20.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f26.1">26</a><a name="f26" id="f26"></a>] Matt. iv. 6, 11.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f27.1">27</a><a name="f27" id="f27"></a>] Matt. xviii. 16.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f28.1">28</a><a name="f28" id="f28"></a>] Matt. xiii. 45, 46.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f29.1">29</a><a name="f29" id="f29"></a>] Luke xxii. 43.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f30.1">30</a><a name="f30" id="f30"></a>] Matt. xxviii. John.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f31.1">31</a><a name="f31" id="f31"></a>] Acts v. 19.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f32.1">32</a><a name="f32" id="f32"></a>] Acts vii. 30, 35.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f33.1">33</a><a name="f33" id="f33"></a>] Exod. xxiii. 21.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f34.1">34</a><a name="f34" id="f34"></a>] Acts xii. 8, 9.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f35.1">35</a><a name="f35" id="f35"></a>] Rom. i. 18. 1 Cor. iv. 9; vi. 3; xii. 7. Gal. iii. 19. Acts xvi. +9; xxiii. 9. Rev. i. 11.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f36.1">36</a><a name="f36" id="f36"></a>] Rev. iv. 4, 10.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f37.1">37</a><a name="f37" id="f37"></a>] Rev. vii. 1-3, 9, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f38.1">38</a><a name="f38" id="f38"></a>] Rev. vii. 13, 14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f39.1">39</a><a name="f39" id="f39"></a>] Rev. vi. 9, 10.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>UNDER WHAT FORM HAVE GOOD ANGELS APPEARED?</h3> + + +<p>The most usual form in which good angels appear, both in the Old +Testament and the New, is the human form. It was in that shape they +showed themselves to Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Manoah the +father of Samson, to David, Tobit, the Prophets; and in the New +Testament they appeared in the same form to the Holy Virgin, to +Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, to Jesus Christ after his +fast of forty days, and to him again in his agony in the Garden of +Olives. They showed themselves in the same form to the holy women +after the resurrection of the Saviour. The one who appeared to +Joshua[<a href="#f40">40</a><a name="f40.1" id="f40.1"></a>] on the plain of Jericho appeared apparently in the guise of +a warrior, since Joshua asks him, "Art thou for us, or for our +adversaries?"</p> + +<p>Sometimes they hide themselves under some form which has resemblance +to the human shape, like him who appeared to Moses in the burning +bush,[<a href="#f41">41</a><a name="f41.1" id="f41.1"></a>] and who led the Israelites in the desert in the form of a +cloud, dense and dark during the day, but luminous at night.[<a href="#f42">42</a><a name="f42.1" id="f42.1"></a>] The +Psalmist tells us that God makes his angels serve as a piercing wind +and a burning fire, to execute his orders.[<a href="#f43">43</a><a name="f43.1" id="f43.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>The cherubim, so often spoken of in the Scriptures, and who are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +described as serving for a throne to the majesty of God, were +hieroglyphical figures, something like the sphinx of the Egyptians; +those which are described in Ezekiel[<a href="#f44">44</a><a name="f44.1" id="f44.1"></a>] are like animals composed of +the figure of a man, having the wings of an eagle, the feet of an ox; +their heads were composed of the face of a man, an ox, a lion, and an +eagle, two of their wings were spread towards their fellows, and two +others covered their body; they were brilliant as burning coals, as +lighted lamps, as the fiery heavens when they send forth the +lightning's flash—they were terrible to look upon.</p> + +<p>The one who appeared to Daniel[<a href="#f45">45</a><a name="f45.1" id="f45.1"></a>] was different from those we have +just described; he was in the shape of a man, covered with a linen +garment, and round his loins a girdle of very fine gold; his body was +shining as a chrysolite, his face as a flash of lightning; his eyes +darted fire like a lamp; his arms and all the lower part of his body +was like brass melted in the furnace; his voice was loud as that of a +multitude of people.</p> + +<p>St. John, in the Apocalypse,[<a href="#f46">46</a><a name="f46.1" id="f46.1"></a>] saw around the throne of the Most +High four animals, which doubtless were four angels; they were covered +with eyes before and behind. The first resembled a lion, the second an +ox, the third had the form of a man, and the fourth was like an eagle +with outspread wings; each of them had six wings, and they never +ceased to cry night and day, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who +was, and is, and is to come."</p> + +<p>The angel who was placed at the entrance of the terrestrial paradise +was armed with a shining sword,[<a href="#f47">47</a><a name="f47.1" id="f47.1"></a>] as well as the one who appeared to +Balaam,[<a href="#f48">48</a><a name="f48.1" id="f48.1"></a>] and who threatened, or was near killing both himself and +his ass; and so, apparently, was the one who showed himself to Joshua +in the plain of Jericho,[<a href="#f49">49</a><a name="f49.1" id="f49.1"></a>] and the angel who appeared to David, +ready to smite all Israel. The angel Raphael guided the young Tobias +to Ragès under the human form of a traveler.[<a href="#f50">50</a><a name="f50.1" id="f50.1"></a>] The angel who was +seen by the holy woman at the sepulchre of the Saviour, who overthrew +the large stone which closed the mouth of the tomb, and who was seated +upon it, had a countenance which shone like lightning, and garments +white as snow.[<a href="#f51">51</a><a name="f51.1" id="f51.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>In the Acts of the Apostles,[<a href="#f52">52</a><a name="f52.1" id="f52.1"></a>] the angel who extricated them from +prison, and told them to go boldly and preach Jesus Christ in the +temple, also appeared to them in a human form. The manner in which he +delivered them from the dungeon is quite miraculous; for the chief +priests having commanded that they should appear before them, those +who were sent found the prison securely closed, the guards wide awake; +but having caused the doors to be opened, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> found +the dungeon empty. How could an angel without opening, or any +fracture of the doors, thus extricate men from prison without either +the guards or the jailer perceiving anything of the matter? The thing +is beyond any known powers of nature; but it is no more impossible +than to see our Saviour, after his resurrection, invested with flesh +and bones, as he himself says, come forth from his sepulchre, without +opening it, and without breaking the seals,[<a href="#f53">53</a><a name="f53.1" id="f53.1"></a>] enter the chamber +wherein were the apostles without opening the doors,[<a href="#f54">54</a><a name="f54.1" id="f54.1"></a>] and speak to +the disciples going to Emmaus without making himself known to them; +then, after having opened their eyes, disappear and become +invisible.[<a href="#f55">55</a><a name="f55.1" id="f55.1"></a>] During the forty days that he remained upon earth till +his ascension, he drank and ate with them, he spoke to them, he +appeared to them; but he showed himself only to those witnesses who +were pre-ordained by the eternal Father to bear testimony to his +resurrection.</p> + +<p>The angel who appeared to the centurion Cornelius, a pagan, but +fearing God, answered his questions, and discovered to him unknown +things, which things came to pass.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the angels, without assuming any visible shape, give proofs +of their presence by intelligible voices, by inspirations, by sensible +effects, by dreams, or by revelations of things unknown, whether +future or past. Sometimes by striking with blindness, or infusing a +spirit of uncertainty or stupidity in the minds of those whom God +wills should feel the effects of his wrath; for instance, it is said +in the Scriptures that the Israelites heard no distinct speech, and +beheld no form on Horeb when God spoke to Moses and gave him the +Law.[<a href="#f56">56</a><a name="f56.1" id="f56.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>The angel who might have killed Balaam's ass was not at first +perceived by the prophet;[<a href="#f57">57</a><a name="f57.1" id="f57.1"></a>] Daniel was the only one who beheld the +angel Gabriel, who revealed to him the mystery of the great empires +which were to succeed each other.[<a href="#f58">58</a><a name="f58.1" id="f58.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>When the Lord spoke for the first time to Samuel, and predicted to him +the evils which he would inflict on the family of the high-priest Eli, +the young prophet saw no visible form; he only heard a voice, which he +at first mistook for that of the high-priest Eli, not being yet +accustomed to distinguish the voice of God from that of a man.</p> + +<p>The angels who guided Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah were +at first perceived under a human form by the inhabitants of the city; +but afterwards these same angels struck the men with blindness, and +thus prevented them from finding the door of Lot's house, into which +they would have entered by force.</p> + +<p>Thus, then, angels do not always appear under a visible or sensi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>ble +form, nor in a figure uniformly the same; but they give proofs of +their presence by an infinity of different ways—by inspirations, by +voices, by prodigies, by miraculous effects, by predictions of the +future, and other things hidden and impenetrable to the human mind.</p> + +<p>St. Cyprian relates that an African bishop, falling ill during the +persecution, earnestly requested to have the viaticum administered to +him; at the same time he saw, as it were, a young man, with a majestic +air, and shining with such extraordinary lustre that the eyes of +mortals could not have beheld him without terror; nevertheless, the +bishop was not alarmed. This angel said to him, angrily, and in a +menacing tone, "You fear to suffer. You do not wish to leave this +world. What would you have me do for you?" (or "What can I do for +you?") The good bishop comprehended that these words alike regarded +him and the other Christians who feared persecution and death. The +bishop talked to them, encouraged them, and exhorted them to arm +themselves with patience to support the tortures with which they were +threatened. He received the communion, and died in peace. We shall +find in different histories an infinite number of other apparitions of +angels under a human form.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f40.1">40</a><a name="f40" id="f40"></a>] Josh. v. 29.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f41.1">41</a><a name="f41" id="f41"></a>] Exod. iii. 3, 44.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f42.1">42</a><a name="f42" id="f42"></a>] Exod. xiii. xiv.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f43.1">43</a><a name="f43" id="f43"></a>] Psalm civ. 4.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f44.1">44</a><a name="f44" id="f44"></a>] Ezek. i. 4, 6.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f45.1">45</a><a name="f45" id="f45"></a>] Dan. x. 5.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f46.1">46</a><a name="f46" id="f46"></a>] Rev. iv. 7, 8.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f47.1">47</a><a name="f47" id="f47"></a>] Gen. iii. 24.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f48.1">48</a><a name="f48" id="f48"></a>] Numb. xxii. 22, 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f49.1">49</a><a name="f49" id="f49"></a>] 1 Chron. xxi. 16.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f50.1">50</a><a name="f50" id="f50"></a>] Tobit v. 5.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f51.1">51</a><a name="f51" id="f51"></a>] Matt. xxviii. 3.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f52.1">52</a><a name="f52" id="f52"></a>] Acts ii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f53.1">53</a><a name="f53" id="f53"></a>] Matt. xxviii. 1, 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f54.1">54</a><a name="f54" id="f54"></a>] John xix. 20.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f55.1">55</a><a name="f55" id="f55"></a>] Luke xxiii. 15-17, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f56.1">56</a><a name="f56" id="f56"></a>] Deut. iv. 15.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f57.1">57</a><a name="f57" id="f57"></a>] Numb. xii. 22, 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f58.1">58</a><a name="f58" id="f58"></a>] Dan. x. 7, 8.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, CHRISTIANS, MAHOMETANS, AND ORIENTAL NATIONS +CONCERNING THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD ANGELS.</h3> + + +<p>After what we have just related from the books of the Old and New +Testament, it cannot be disavowed that the Jews in general, the +apostles, the Christians, and their disciples have commonly believed +in the apparitions of good angels. The Sadducees, who denied the +existence and the apparition of angels, were commonly considered by +the Jews as heretics, and as supporting an erroneous doctrine. Jesus +Christ refutes them in the Gospel. The Jews of our days believe +literally what is related in the Old Testament, concerning the angels +who appeared to Abraham, Lot, and other patriarchs. It was the belief +of the Pharisees and of the apostles in the time of our Saviour, as +may be seen by the writings of the apostles and by the whole of the +Gospel.</p> + +<p>The Mahometans believe, as do the Jews and Christians, that good +angels appear to men sometimes under a human form; that they appeared +to Abraham and Lot; that they punished the inhabitants<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> of Sodom; that +the archangel Gabriel appeared to Mahomet, and revealed to him all +that is laid down in his Koran: that the genii are of a middle nature, +between man and angel;[<a href="#f59">59</a><a name="f59.1" id="f59.1"></a>] that they eat, drink, beget children; that +they die, and can foresee things to come. In consequence of this +principle or idea, they believe that there are male and female genii; +that the males, whom the Persians call by the name of <i>Dives</i>, are +bad, very ugly, and mischievous, making war against the <i>Peris</i>, who +are the females. The Rabbis will have it that these genii were born of +Adam alone, without any concurrence of his wife Eve, or of any other +woman, and that they are what we call <i>ignis fatuii</i> (or wandering +lights).</p> + +<p>The antiquity of these opinions touching the corporality of angels +appears in several <i>old</i> writers, who, deceived by the apocryphal book +which passes under the name of the <i>Book of Enoch</i>, have explained of +the angels what is said in Genesis,[<a href="#f60">60</a><a name="f60.1" id="f60.1"></a>] "<i>That the children of God, +having seen the daughters of men, fell in love with their beauty, +wedded them, and begot giants of them.</i>" Several of the ancient +Fathers[<a href="#f61">61</a><a name="f61.1" id="f61.1"></a>] have adopted this opinion, which is now given up by +everybody, with the exception of some new writers, who desire to +revive the idea of the corporality of angels, demons, and souls—an +opinion which is absolutely incompatible with that of the Catholic +church, which holds that angels are of a nature entirely distinct from +matter.</p> + +<p>I acknowledge that, according to their system, the affair of +apparitions could be more easily explained; it is easier to conceive +that a corporeal substance should appear, and render itself visible to +our eyes, than a substance purely spiritual; but this is not the place +to reason on a philosophical question, on which different hypotheses +could be freely grounded, and to choose that which should explain +these appearances in the most plausible manner, even though it answer +in the most satisfactory manner the question asked, and the objections +formed against the facts, and against the proposed manner of stating +them.</p> + +<p>The question is resolved, and the matter decided. The church and the +Catholic schools hold that angels, demons, and reasonable souls, are +disengaged from all matter; the same church and the same school hold +it as certain that good and bad angels, and souls separated from the +body, sometimes appear by the will and with the permission of God: +there we must stop; as to the manner of explaining these apparitions, +we must, without losing sight of the certain principle of the +immateriality of these substances, explain them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> according to the +analogy of the Christian and Catholic faith, acknowledged sincerely +that in this matter there are certain depths which we cannot sound, +and confine our mind and information within the limits of that +obedience which we owe to the authority of the church, that can +neither err nor deceive us.</p> + +<p>The apparitions of good angels and of guardian angels are frequently +mentioned in the Old as in the New Testament. When the Apostle St. +Peter had left the prison by the assistance of an angel, and went and +knocked at the door where the brethren were, they believed that it was +his angel and not himself who knocked.[<a href="#f62">62</a><a name="f62.1" id="f62.1"></a>] And when Cornelius the +Centurion prayed to God in his own house, an angel (apparently his +good angel) appeared to him, and told him to send and fetch Peter, who +was then at Joppa.[<a href="#f63">63</a><a name="f63.1" id="f63.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>St. Paul desires that at church no woman should appear among them +without her face being veiled, because of the angels;[<a href="#f64">64</a><a name="f64.1" id="f64.1"></a>] doubtless +from respect to the good angels who presided in these assemblies. The +same St. Paul reassures those who were with him in danger of almost +inevitable shipwreck, by telling them that his angel had appeared to +him[<a href="#f65">65</a><a name="f65.1" id="f65.1"></a>] and assured him that they should arrive safe at the end of +their voyage.</p> + +<p>In the Old Testament, we likewise read of several apparitions of +angels, which can hardly be explained but as of guardian angels; for +instance, the one who appeared to Hagar in the wilderness, and +commanded her to return and submit herself to Sarah her mistress;[<a href="#f66">66</a><a name="f66.1" id="f66.1"></a>] +and the angel who appeared to Abraham, as he was about to immolate +Isaac his son, and told him that God was satisfied with his +obedience;[<a href="#f67">67</a><a name="f67.1" id="f67.1"></a>] and when the same Abraham sent his servant Eleazer into +Mesopotamia, to ask for a wife for his son Isaac, he told him that the +God of heaven, who had promised to give him the land of Canaan, would +send his angel[<a href="#f68">68</a><a name="f68.1" id="f68.1"></a>] to dispose all things according to his wishes. +Examples of similar apparitions of tutelary angels, derived from the +Old Testament, might here be multiplied, but the circumstance does not +require a greater number of proofs.</p> + +<p>Under the new dispensation, the apparitions of good angels, of +guardian spirits, are not less frequent in most authentic stories; +there are few saints to whom God has not granted similar favors: we +may cite, in particular, St. Frances, a Roman lady of the sixteenth +century, who saw her guardian angel, and he talked to her, instructed +her, and corrected her.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f59.1">59</a><a name="f59" id="f59"></a>] D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. <i>Perith. Dives</i>, 785. Idem, 243, p. 85.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f60.1">60</a><a name="f60" id="f60"></a>] Gen. vi. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f61.1">61</a><a name="f61" id="f61"></a>] Joseph. Antiq. lib. i. c. 4. Philo, De Gigantibus. Justin. Apol. +Turtul. de Animâ. <i>Vide</i> Commentatores in Gen. iv.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f62.1">62</a><a name="f62" id="f62"></a>] Acts xii. 15.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f63.1">63</a><a name="f63" id="f63"></a>] Acts x. 2, 3.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f64.1">64</a><a name="f64" id="f64"></a>] 1 Cor. xi. 10.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f65.1">65</a><a name="f65" id="f65"></a>] Acts xxvii. 21, 22.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f66.1">66</a><a name="f66" id="f66"></a>] Gen. xvi. 9.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f67.1">67</a><a name="f67" id="f67"></a>] Gen. xxii. 11, 17.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f68.1">68</a><a name="f68" id="f68"></a>] Gen. xxiv. 7.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>OPINION OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS ON THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD GENII.</h3> + + +<p>Jamblichus, a disciple of Porphyry,[<a href="#f69">69</a><a name="f69.1" id="f69.1"></a>] has treated the matter of +genii and their apparition more profoundly than any other author of +antiquity. It would seem, to hear him discourse, that he knew both the +genii and their qualities, and that he had with them the most intimate +and continual converse. He affirms that our eyes are delighted by the +appearance of the gods, that the apparitions of the archangels are +terrible; those of angels are milder; but when demons and heroes +appear, they inspire terror; the archontes, who preside over this +world, cause at the same time an impression of grief and fear. The +apparition of souls is not quite so disagreeable as that of heroes. In +the appearance of the gods there is order and mildness, confusion and +disorder in that of demons, and tumult in that of the archontes.</p> + +<p>When the gods show themselves, it seems as if the heavens, the sun and +moon, were all about to be annihilated; one would think that the earth +could not support their presence. On the appearance of an archangel, +there is an earthquake in every part of the world; it is preceded by a +stronger light than that which accompanies the apparition of the +angels; at the appearance of a demon it is less strong, and diminishes +still more when it is a hero who shows himself.</p> + +<p>The apparitions of the gods are very luminous; those of angels and +archangels less so; those of demons are dark, but less dark than those +of heroes. The archontes, who preside over the brightest things in +this world, are luminous; but those which are occupied only with what +is material, are dark. When souls appear, they resemble a shade. He +continues his description of these apparitions, and enters into +tiresome details on the subject; one would say, to hear him, that that +there was a most intimate and habitual connection between the gods, +the angels, the demons, and the souls separated from the body, and +himself. But all this is only the work of his imagination; he knew no +more than any other concerning a matter which is above the reach of +man's understanding. He had never seen any appari<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>tions of gods or +heroes, or archontes; unless we say that there are veritable demons +which sometimes appear to men. But to discern them one from the other, +as Jamblichus pretends to do, is mere illusion.</p> + +<p>The Greeks and Romans, like the Hebrews and Christians, acknowledged +two sorts of genii, some good and beneficent, the others bad, and +causing evil. The ancients even believed that every one of us received +at our birth a good and an evil genius; the former procured us +happiness and prosperity, the latter engaged us in unfortunate +enterprises, inspired us with unruly desires, and cast us into the +worst misfortunes. They assigned genii, not only to every person, but +also to every house, every city, and every province.[<a href="#f70">70</a><a name="f70.1" id="f70.1"></a>] These genii +are considered as good, beneficent,[<a href="#f71">71</a><a name="f71.1" id="f71.1"></a>] and worthy of the worship of +those who invoke them. They were represented sometimes under the form +of a serpent, sometimes as a child or a youth. Flowers, incense, +cakes, and wine were offered to them.[<a href="#f72">72</a><a name="f72.1" id="f72.1"></a>] Men swore by the names of +the genii.[<a href="#f73">73</a><a name="f73.1" id="f73.1"></a>] It was a great crime to perjure one's self after having +sworn by the genius of the emperor, says Tertullian;[<a href="#f74">74</a><a name="f74.1" id="f74.1"></a>] <i>Citius apud +vos per omnes Deos, quàm per unicum Genium Cæsaris perjuratur.</i></p> + +<p>We often see on medals the inscription, <span class="smcap">Genio populi Romani</span>; and when +the Romans landed in a country, they failed not to salute and adore +its genius, and to offer him sacrifices.[<a href="#f75">75</a><a name="f75.1" id="f75.1"></a>] In short, there was +neither kingdom, nor province, nor town, nor house, nor door, nor +edifice, whether public or private, which had not its genius.[<a href="#f76">76</a><a name="f76.1" id="f76.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>We have seen above what Jamblichus informs us concerning apparitions +of the gods, genii, good and bad angels, heroes, and the archontes who +preside over the government of the world.</p> + +<p>Homer, the most ancient of Greek writers, and the most celebrated +theologian of Paganism, relates several apparitions both of gods and +heroes, and also of the dead. In the Odyssey,[<a href="#f77">77</a><a name="f77.1" id="f77.1"></a>] he represents +Ulysses going to consult the sorcerer Tiresias; and this diviner<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +having prepared a grave or trench full of blood to evoke the manes, +Ulysses draws his sword to prevent them from coming to drink this +blood, for which they thirst; but which they were not allowed to taste +before they had answered the questions put to them. They believed also +that the souls of the dead could not rest, and that they wandered +around their dead bodies so long as the corpse remained uninhumed.</p> + +<p>Even after they were interred, food was offered them; above everything +honey was given, as if leaving their tomb they came to taste what was +offered them.[<a href="#f78">78</a><a name="f78.1" id="f78.1"></a>] They were persuaded that the demons loved the smoke +of sacrifices, melody, the blood of victims, and intercourse with +women; that they were attached for a time to certain spots and certain +edifices which they infested. They believed that souls separated from +the gross and terrestrial body, preserved after death one more subtile +and elastic, having the form of that they had quitted; that these +bodies were luminous, and like the stars; that they retained an +inclination for those things which they had loved during their life on +earth, and that often they appeared gliding around their tombs.</p> + +<p>To bring back all this to the matter here treated of, that is to say, +to the appearance of good angels, we may note, that in the same manner +that we attach to the apparitions of good angels the idea of tutelary +spirits of kingdoms, provinces, and nations, and of each of us in +particular—as, for instance, the Prince of the kingdom of Persia, or +the angel of that nation, who resisted the archangel Gabriel during +twenty-one days, as we read in Daniel;[<a href="#f79">79</a><a name="f79.1" id="f79.1"></a>] the angel of Macedonia, who +appeared to St. Paul,[<a href="#f80">80</a><a name="f80.1" id="f80.1"></a>] and of whom we have spoken before; the +archangel St. Michael, who is considered as the chief of the people of +God and the armies of Israel;[<a href="#f81">81</a><a name="f81.1" id="f81.1"></a>] and the guardian angels deputed by +God to guide us and guard us all the days of our life—so we may say +that the Greeks and Romans, being Gentiles, believed that certain +sorts of spirits, which they imagined were good and beneficent, +protected their kingdoms, provinces, towns, and private houses.</p> + +<p>They paid them a superstitious and idolatrous worship, as to domestic +divinities; they invoked them, offered them a kind of sacrifice and +offerings of incense, cakes, honey, and wine, &c.—but not bloody +sacrifices.[<a href="#f82">82</a><a name="f82.1" id="f82.1"></a>]</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p><p>The Platonicians taught that carnal and voluptuous men could not see +their genii, because their mind was not sufficiently pure, nor enough +disengaged from sensual things; but that men who were wise, moderate, +and temperate, and who applied themselves to serious and sublime +subjects, could see them; as Socrates, for instance, who had his +familiar genius, whom he consulted, to whose advice he listened, and +whom he beheld, at least with the eyes of the mind.</p> + +<p>If the oracles of Greece and other countries are reckoned in the +number of apparitions of bad spirits, we may also recollect the good +spirits who have announced things to come, and have assisted the +prophets and inspired persons, whether in the Old Testament or the +New. The angel Gabriel was sent to Daniel[<a href="#f83">83</a><a name="f83.1" id="f83.1"></a>] to instruct him +concerning the vision of the four great monarchies, and the +accomplishment of the seventy weeks, which were to put an end to the +captivity. The prophet Zechariah says expressly that <i>the angel who +appeared unto him</i>[<a href="#f84">84</a><a name="f84.1" id="f84.1"></a>] revealed to him what he must say—he repeats it +in five or six places; St. John, in the Apocalypse,[<a href="#f85">85</a><a name="f85.1" id="f85.1"></a>] says the same +thing, that God had sent his angel to inspire him with what he was to +say to the Churches. Elsewhere[<a href="#f86">86</a><a name="f86.1" id="f86.1"></a>] he again makes mention of the angel +who talked with him, and who took in his presence the dimensions of +the heavenly Jerusalem. And again, St. Paul in his Epistle to the +Hebrews,[<a href="#f87">87</a><a name="f87.1" id="f87.1"></a>] "If what has been predicted by the angels may pass for +certain."</p> + +<p>From all we have just said, it results that the apparitions of good +angels are not only possible, but also very real; that they have often +appeared, and under diverse forms; that the Hebrews, Christians, +Mahometans, Greeks, and Romans have believed in them; that when they +have not sensibly appeared, they have given proofs of their presence +in several different ways. We shall examine elsewhere how we can +explain the kind of apparition, whether of good or bad angels, or +souls separated from the body.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f69.1">69</a><a name="f69" id="f69"></a>] Jamblic. lib. ii. cap. 3 & 5.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f70.1">70</a><a name="f70" id="f70"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Quod te per Genium, dextramque Deosque Penates,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Obsecro et obtestor."—<i>Horat</i>. lib. i. Epist. 7. 94.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">——"Dum cunctis supplex advolveris aris,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ei mitem Genium Domini præsentis adoras."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 13em;"><i>Stac</i>. lib. v. Syl. I. 73.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f71.1">71</a><a name="f71" id="f71"></a>] Antiquitée expliquée, tom. i.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f72.1">72</a><a name="f72" id="f72"></a>] Perseus, Satire ii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f73.1">73</a><a name="f73" id="f73"></a>] Senec. Epist. 12.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f74.1">74</a><a name="f74" id="f74"></a>] Tertull. Apol. c. 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f75.1">75</a><a name="f75" id="f75"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Troja vale, rapimur, clamant; dant oscula terræ</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Troades."—<i>Ovid. Metam.</i>, lib. xiii. 421.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f76.1">76</a><a name="f76" id="f76"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Quamquam cur Genium Romæ, mihi fingitis unum?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Cùm portis, domibus; thermis, stabulis soleatis,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Assignare suos Genios?"—<i>Prudent. contra Symmach</i>.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f77.1">77</a><a name="f77" id="f77"></a>] Odyss. XI. sub. fin. <i>Vid.</i> Horat. lib. i. Satire 7, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f78.1">78</a><a name="f78" id="f78"></a>] Virgil. Æneid. I. 6. August. Serm. 15. de SS. et Quæst. 5. in +Deut. i. 5 c. 43. <i>Vide</i> Spencer, de Leg. Hebræor. Ritual.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f79.1">79</a><a name="f79" id="f79"></a>] Dan. x. 13.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f80.1">80</a><a name="f80" id="f80"></a>] Acts xvi. 9.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f81.1">81</a><a name="f81" id="f81"></a>] Josh. v. 13. Dan. x. 13, 21; xii. 1. Judg. v. 6. Rev. xii. 7</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f82.1">82</a><a name="f82" id="f82"></a>] <i>Forsitan quis quærat, quid causæ sit, ut merum fundendum sit +genio</i>, non hostiam faciendam putaverint.... <i>Scilicet ut die natali +munus</i> annale genio solverent, manum à cœde ac sanguine +abstinerent.—Censorin. de Die Natali, c. 2. Vide Taffin de Anno +Sæcul.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f83.1">83</a><a name="f83" id="f83"></a>] Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f84.1">84</a><a name="f84" id="f84"></a>] Zech. i. 10, 13, 14, 19; ii. 3, 4; iv. 1, 4, 5; v. 5, 10.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f85.1">85</a><a name="f85" id="f85"></a>] Rev. i. 1.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f86.1">86</a><a name="f86" id="f86"></a>] Rev. x. 8, 9, &c.; xi. 1, 2, 3, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f87.1">87</a><a name="f87" id="f87"></a>] Heb. ii. 2.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>THE APPARITION OF BAD ANGELS PROVED BY THE HOLY SCRIPTURES—UNDER WHAT +FORM THEY HAVE APPEARED.</h3> + + +<p>The books of the Old and New Testament, together with sacred and +profane history, are full of relations of the apparition of bad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> spirits. The +first, the most famous, and the most fatal apparition of +Satan, is that of the appearance of this evil spirit to Eve, the first +woman,[<a href="#f88">88</a><a name="f88.1" id="f88.1"></a>] in the form of a serpent, which animal served as the +instrument of that seducing demon in order to deceive her and induce +her to sin. Since that time he has always chosen to appear under that +form rather than any other; so in Scripture he is often termed <i>the +Old Serpent</i>;[<a href="#f89">89</a><a name="f89.1" id="f89.1"></a>] and it is said that the infernal dragon fought +against the woman who figured or represented the church; that the +archangel St. Michael vanquished him and cast him down from heaven. He +has often appeared to the servants of God in the form of a dragon, and +he has caused himself to be adored by unbelievers in this form, in a +great number of places: at Babylon, for instance, they worshiped a +living dragon,[<a href="#f90">90</a><a name="f90.1" id="f90.1"></a>] which Daniel killed by making it swallow a ball or +bolus, composed of ingredients of a mortally poisonous nature. The +serpent was consecrated to Apollo, the god of physic and of oracles; +and the pagans had a sort of divination by means of serpents, which +they called <i>Ophiomantia</i>.</p> + +<p>The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans worshiped serpents, and regarded +them as divine.[<a href="#f91">91</a><a name="f91.1" id="f91.1"></a>] They brought to Rome the serpent of Epidaurus, to +which they paid divine honors. The Egyptians considered vipers as +divinities.[<a href="#f92">92</a><a name="f92.1" id="f92.1"></a>] The Israelites adored the brazen serpent elevated by +Moses in the desert,[<a href="#f93">93</a><a name="f93.1" id="f93.1"></a>] and which was in after times broken in pieces +by the holy king Hezekiah.[<a href="#f94">94</a><a name="f94.1" id="f94.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>St. Augustine[<a href="#f95">95</a><a name="f95.1" id="f95.1"></a>] assures us that the Manichæans regarded the serpent +as the Christ, and said that this animal had opened the eyes of Adam +and Eve by the bad counsel which he gave them. We almost always see +the form of the serpent in the magical figures[<a href="#f96">96</a><a name="f96.1" id="f96.1"></a>] <i>Akraxas</i> and +<i>Abrachadabra</i>, which were held in veneration among the Basilidian +heretics, who, like the Manichæans, acknowledge two principles in all +things—the one good, the other bad; <i>Abraxas</i> in Hebrew signifies +<i>that bad principle</i>, or the father of evil; <i>ab-ra-achad-ab-ra</i>, <i>the +father of evil</i>, <i>the sole father of evil</i>, or the only bad principle.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine[<a href="#f97">97</a><a name="f97.1" id="f97.1"></a>] remarks that no animal has been more subject to the +effects of enchantment and magic than the serpent, as if to punish him +for having seduced the first woman by his imposture.</p> + +<p>However, the demon has usually assumed the human form when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> he +would tempt mankind; it was thus that he appeared to Jesus Christ +in the desert;[<a href="#f98">98</a><a name="f98.1" id="f98.1"></a>] that he tempted him and told him to change the +stones into bread that he might satisfy his hunger; that he +transported him, the Saviour, to the highest pinnacle of the temple, +and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and offered him the +enjoyment of them.</p> + +<p>The angel who wrestled with Jacob at Peniel,[<a href="#f99">99</a><a name="f99.1" id="f99.1"></a>] on his return from +his journey into Mesopotamia, was a bad angel, according to some +ancient writers; others, as Severus Sulpicius[<a href="#f100">100</a><a name="f100.1" id="f100.1"></a>] and some Rabbis, +have thought that it was the angel of Esau, who had come to combat +with Jacob; but the greater number believe that it was a good angel. +And would Jacob have asked him for his blessing had he deemed him a +bad angel? But however that fact may be taken, it is not doubtful that +the demon has appeared in a human form.</p> + +<p>Several stories, both ancient and modern, are related which inform us +that the demon has appeared to those whom he wished to seduce, or who +have been so unhappy as to invoke his aid, or make a compact with him, +as a man taller than the common stature, dressed in black, and with a +rough ungracious manner; making a thousand fine promises to those to +whom he appeared, but which promises were always deceitful, and never +followed by a real effect. I can even believe that they beheld what +existed only in their own confused and deranged ideas.</p> + +<p>At Molsheim,[<a href="#f101">101</a><a name="f101.1" id="f101.1"></a>] in the chapel of St. Ignatius in the Jesuits' +church, may be seen a celebrated inscription, which contains the +history of a young German gentleman, named Michael Louis, of the house +of Boubenhoren, who, having been sent by his parents when very young +to the court of the Duke of Lorraine, to learn the French language, +lost all his money at cards: reduced to despair, he resolved to give +himself to the demon, if that bad spirit would or could give him some +good money; for he doubted that he would only furnish him with +counterfeit and bad coin. As he was meditating on this idea, suddenly +he beheld before him a youth of his own age, well made, well dressed, +who, having asked him the cause of his uneasiness, presented him with +a handful of money, and told him to try if it was good. He desired him +to meet him at that place the next day.</p> + +<p>Michael returned to his companions, who were still at play, and not +only regained all the money he had lost, but won all that of his +companions. Then he went in search of his demon, who asked as his +reward three drops of his blood, which he received in an acorn-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>cup; +after which, presenting a pen to Michael, he desired him to write what +he should dictate. He then dictated some unknown words, which he made +him write on two different bits of paper,[<a href="#f102">102</a><a name="f102.1" id="f102.1"></a>] one of which remained +in the possession of the demon, the other was inserted in Michael's +arm, at the same place whence the demon had drawn the blood. And the +demon said to him, "I engage myself to serve you during seven years, +after which you will unreservedly belong to me."</p> + +<p>The young man consented to this, though with a feeling of horror; and +the demon never failed to appear to him day and night under various +forms, and taught him many unknown and curious things, but which +always tended to evil. The fatal termination of the seven years was +approaching, and the young man was then about twenty years old. He +returned to his father's house, when the demon to whom he had given +himself inspired him with the idea of poisoning his father and mother, +of setting fire to their château, and then killing himself. He tried +to commit all these crimes, but God did not allow him to succeed in +these attempts. The gun with which he wished to kill himself missed +fire twice, and the poison did not take effect on his father and +mother.</p> + +<p>More and more uneasy, he revealed to some of his father's domestics +the miserable state in which he found himself, and entreated them to +procure him some succor. At the same time the demon seized him, and +bent his body back, so that he was near breaking his bones. His +mother, who had adopted the heresy of Suenfeld, and had induced her +son to follow it also, not finding in her sect any help against the +demon that possessed or obseded him, was constrained to place him in +the hands of some monks. But he soon withdrew from them and retired to +Islade, from whence he was brought back to Molsheim by his brother, a +canon of Wurzburg, who put him again into the hands of fathers of the +society. Then it was that the demon made still more violent efforts +against him, appearing to him in the form of ferocious animals. One +day, amongst others, the demon, wearing the form of a hairy savage, +threw on the ground a schedule, or compact, different from the true +one which he had extorted from the young man, to try by means of this +false appearance to withdraw him from the hands of those who kept him, +and prevent his making his general confession. At last they fixed on +the 20th of October, 1603, as the day for being in the Chapel of St. +Ignatius, and to cause to be brought the true schedule containing the +compact made with the demon. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> young +man there made profession of the Catholic and orthodox faith, +renounced the demon, and received the holy sacrament. Then, uttering +horrible cries, he said he saw as it were two he-goats of immeasurable +size, which, holding up their forefeet (standing on their hindlegs), +held between their claws, each one separately, one of the schedules or +agreements. But as soon as the exorcisms were begun, and the priests +invoked the name of St. Ignatius, the two he-goats fled away, and +there came from the left arm or hand of the young man, almost without +pain, and without leaving any scar, the compact, which fell at the +feet of the exorcist.</p> + +<p>There now wanted only the second compact, which had remained in the +power of the demon. They recommenced their exorcisms, and invoked St. +Ignatius, and promised to say a mass in honor of the saint; at the +same moment there appeared a tall stork, deformed and badly made, who +let fall the second schedule from his beak, and they found it on the +altar.</p> + +<p>The pope, Paul V., caused information of the truth of these facts to +be taken by the commissionary-deputies, M. Adam, Suffragan of +Strasburg, and George, Abbot of Altorf, who were juridically +interrogated, and who affirmed that the deliverance of this young man +was principally due, after God, to the intercession of St. Ignatius.</p> + +<p>The same story is related rather more at length in Bartoli's Life of +St. Ignatius Loyola.</p> + +<p>Melancthon owns[<a href="#f103">103</a><a name="f103.1" id="f103.1"></a>] that he has seen several spectres, and conversed +with them several times; and Jerome Cardan affirms that his father, +Fassius Cardanus, saw demons whenever he pleased, apparently in a +human form. Bad spirits sometimes appear also under the figure of a +lion, a dog, or a cat, or some other animal—as a bull, a horse, or a +raven; for the pretended sorcerers and sorceresses relate that at the +(witches') Sabbath he is seen under several different forms of men, +animals, and birds; whether he takes the shape of these animals, or +whether he makes use of the animals themselves as instruments to +deceive or harm, or whether he simply affects the senses and +imagination of those whom he has fascinated and who give themselves to +him; for in all the appearances of the demon we must always be on our +guard, and mistrust his stratagems and malice. St. Peter[<a href="#f104">104</a><a name="f104.1" id="f104.1"></a>] tells us +that Satan is always roaming round about us, like a roaring lion, +seeking whom he may devour. And St. Paul, in more places than +one,[<a href="#f105">105</a><a name="f105.1" id="f105.1"></a>] warns us to mistrust the snares of the devil, and to hold +ourselves on our guard against him.</p> + +<p>Sulpicius Severus,[<a href="#f106">106</a><a name="f106.1" id="f106.1"></a>] in the life of St. Martin, relates a few +examples of persons who were deceived by apparitions of the demon, +who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> transformed +himself into an angel of light. A young man of very high +rank, and who was afterwards elevated to the priesthood, having +devoted himself to God in a monastery, imagined that he held converse +with angels; and as they would not believe him, he said that the +following night God would give him a white robe, with which he would +appear amongst them. In fact, at midnight the monastery was shaken as +with an earthquake, the cell of the young man was all brilliant with +light, and they heard a noise like that of many persons going to and +<ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'for'.">fro</ins>, and speaking.</p> + +<p>After that, coming forth from his cell, he showed to the brothers (of +the convent) the tunic with which he was clothed: it was made of a +stuff of admirable whiteness, shining as purple, and so +extraordinarily fine in texture that they had never seen anything like +it, and could not tell from what substance it was woven.</p> + +<p>They passed the rest of the night in singing psalms of thanksgiving, +and in the morning they wished to conduct him to St. Martin. He +resisted as much as he could, saying that he had been expressly +forbidden to appear in his presence. As they were pressing him to +come, the tunic vanished, which led every one present to suppose that +the whole thing was an illusion of the demon.</p> + +<p>Another solitary suffered himself to be persuaded that he was Eli; +another that he was St. John the Evangelist. One day, the demon wished +to mislead St. Martin himself, appearing to him, having on a royal +robe, wearing on his head a rich diadem, ornamented with gold and +precious stones, golden sandals, and all the apparel of a great +prince. Addressing himself to Martin, he said to him, "Acknowledge me, +Martin; I am Jesus Christ, who, wishing to descend to earth, have +resolved to manifest myself to thee first of all." St. Martin remained +silent at first, fearing some snare; and the phantom having repeated +to him that he was the Christ, Martin replied: "My Lord Jesus Christ +did not say that he should come clothed in purple and decked with +diamonds. I shall not acknowledge him unless he appears in that same +form in which he suffered death, and unless I see the marks of his +cross and passion."</p> + +<p>At these words the demon disappeared; and Sulpicius Severus affirms +that he relates this as he heard it from the mouth of St. Martin +himself. A little before this, he says that Satan showed himself to +him sometimes under the form of Jupiter, or Mercury, or Venus, or +Minerva; and sometimes he was to reproach Martin greatly because, by +baptism, he had converted and regenerated so many great sinners. But +the saint despised him, drove him away by the sign of the cross, and +answered him that baptism and repentance effaced all sins in those who +were sincere converts.</p> + +<p>All this proves the malice, envy, and fraud of the devil against the +saints, on the one side; and on the other, the weakness and +use<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>lessness of his efforts against the true servants of God, and that +it is but too true he often appears in a visible form.</p> + +<p>In the histories of the saints we sometimes see that he hides himself +under the form of a woman, to tempt pious hermits and lead them into +evil; sometimes in the form of a traveler, a priest, a monk, or an +<i>angel of light</i>,[<a href="#f107">107</a><a name="f107.1" id="f107.1"></a>] to mislead simple minded people, and cause them +to err; for everything suits his purpose, provided he can exercise his +malice and hatred against men.</p> + +<p>When Satan appeared before the Lord in the midst of his holy angels, +and asked permission of God to tempt Job,[<a href="#f108">108</a><a name="f108.1" id="f108.1"></a>] and try his patience +through everything that was dearest to that holy man, he doubtless +presented himself in his natural state, simply as a spirit, but full +of rage against the saints, and in all the deformity of his sin and +rebellion.</p> + +<p>But when he says, in the Books of Kings, <i>that he will be a lying +spirit in the mouth of false prophets</i>,[<a href="#f109">109</a><a name="f109.1" id="f109.1"></a>] and that God allows him +to put in force his ill-will, we must not imagine that he shows +himself corporeally to the eyes of the false prophets of King Ahab; he +only inspired the falsehood in their minds—they believed it, and +persuaded the king of the same. Amongst the visible appearances of +Satan may be placed mortalities, wars, tempests, public and private +calamities, which God sends upon nations, provinces, cities, and +families, whom the Almighty causes to feel the terrible effects of his +wrath and just vengeance. Thus the exterminating angel kills the +first-born of the Egyptians.[<a href="#f110">110</a><a name="f110.1" id="f110.1"></a>] The same angel strikes with death +the inhabitants of the guilty cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.[<a href="#f111">111</a><a name="f111.1" id="f111.1"></a>] He +does the same with Onan, who committed an abominable action.[<a href="#f112">112</a><a name="f112.1" id="f112.1"></a>] <i>The +wicked man seeks only division and quarrels</i>, says the sage; <i>and the +cruel angel shall be sent against him</i>.[<a href="#f113">113</a><a name="f113.1" id="f113.1"></a>] And the Psalmist, +speaking of the plagues which the Lord inflicted upon Egypt, says that +he sent evil angels among them.</p> + +<p>When David, in a spirit of vanity, caused his people to be numbered, +God showed him an angel hovering over Jerusalem, ready to smite and +destroy it. I do not say decidedly whether it was a good or a bad +angel, since it is certain that sometimes the Lord employs good angels +to execute his vengeance against the wicked. But it is thought that it +was the devil who slew eighty-five thousand men of the army of +Sennacherib. And in the Apocalypse, those are also evil angels who +pour out on the earth the phials of wrath, and caused all the scourges +set down in that holy book.</p> + +<p>We shall also place amongst the appearances and works of Satan<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> false +Christs, false prophets, Pagan oracles, magicians, sorcerers, and +sorceresses, those who are inspired by the spirit of Python, the +obsession and possession of demons, those who pretend to predict the +future, and whose predictions are sometimes fulfilled; those who make +compacts with the devil to discover treasures and enrich themselves; +those who make use of charms; evocations by means of magic; +enchantment; the being devoted to death by a vow; the deceptions of +idolatrous priests, who feigned that their gods ate and drank and had +commerce with women—all these can only be the work of Satan, and must +be ranked with what the Scripture calls <i>the depths of Satan</i>.[<a href="#f114">114</a><a name="f114.1" id="f114.1"></a>] We +shall say something on this subject in the course of the treatise.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f88.1">88</a><a name="f88" id="f88"></a>] Gen. iii. 1, 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f89.1">89</a><a name="f89" id="f89"></a>] Rev. xii. 9.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f90.1">90</a><a name="f90" id="f90"></a>] Bel and the Dragon.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f91.1">91</a><a name="f91" id="f91"></a>] Wisd. xi. 16.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f92.1">92</a><a name="f92" id="f92"></a>] Elian. Hist. Animal.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f93.1">93</a><a name="f93" id="f93"></a>] Numb. xxi. 2 Kings xviii. 4.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f94.1">94</a><a name="f94" id="f94"></a>] On this subject, see a work of profound learning, and as +interesting as profound, on "The Worship of the Serpent," by the Rev. +John Bathurst Deane, M. A. F. S. A.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f95.1">95</a><a name="f95" id="f95"></a>] Aug. tom. viii. pp. 28, 284.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f96.1">96</a><a name="f96" id="f96"></a>] <i>Ab-racha</i>, pater <i>mali</i>, or pater <i>malus</i>.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f97.1">97</a><a name="f97" id="f97"></a>] August. de Gen. ad Lit. 1. ii. c. 18.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f98.1">98</a><a name="f98" id="f98"></a>] Matt. iv. 9, 10, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f99.1">99</a><a name="f99" id="f99"></a>] Gen. xxxii. 24, 25.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f100.1">100</a><a name="f100" id="f100"></a>] Sever. Sulpit. Hist. Sac.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f101.1">101</a><a name="f101" id="f101"></a>] A small city or town of the Electorate of Cologne, situated on a +river of the same name.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f102.1">102</a><a name="f102" id="f102"></a>] There were in all ten letters, the greater part of them Greek, +but which formed no (apparent) sense. They were to be seen at +Molsheim, in the tablet which bore a representation of this miracle.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f103.1">103</a><a name="f103" id="f103"></a>] Lib. de Anima.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f104.1">104</a><a name="f104" id="f104"></a>] 1 Pet. iii. 8.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f105.1">105</a><a name="f105" id="f105"></a>] Eph. vi. 11. 1 Tim. iii. 7.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f106.1">106</a><a name="f106" id="f106"></a>] Sulpit. Sever. Vit. St. Martin, b. xv.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f107.1">107</a><a name="f107" id="f107"></a>] 2 Cor. xi. 14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f108.1">108</a><a name="f108" id="f108"></a>] Job i. 6-8.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f109.1">109</a><a name="f109" id="f109"></a>] 1 Kings xxii. 21.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f110.1">110</a><a name="f110" id="f110"></a>] Exod. ix. 6.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f111.1">111</a><a name="f111" id="f111"></a>] Gen. xviii. 13, 14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f112.1">112</a><a name="f112" id="f112"></a>] Gen. xxxviii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f113.1">113</a><a name="f113" id="f113"></a>] Prov. xvii. 11.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f114.1">114</a><a name="f114" id="f114"></a>] Rev. ii. 24.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>OF MAGIC.</h3> + + +<p>Many persons regard magic, magicians, witchcraft, and charms as fables +and illusions, the effects of imagination in weak minds, who, +foolishly persuaded of the excessive power possessed by the devil, +attribute to him a <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'thousands'.">thousand</ins> things which are purely natural, but the +physical reasons for which are unknown to them, or which are the +effects of the art of certain charlatans, who make a trade of imposing +on the simple and ignorant. These opinions are supported by the +authority of the principal parliaments of the kingdom, who acknowledge +neither magicians nor sorcerers, and who never punish those accused of +magic, or sorcery, unless they are convicted also of some other +crimes. As, in short, the more they punish and seek out magicians and +sorcerers, the more they abound in a country; and, on the contrary, +experience proves that in places where nobody believes in them, none +are to be found, the most efficacious means of uprooting this fancy is +to despise and neglect it.</p> + +<p>It is said that magicians and sorcerers themselves, when they fall +into the hands of judges and inquisitors, are often the first to +maintain that magic and sorcery are merely imaginary, and the effect +of popular prejudices and errors. Upon that footing, Satan would +destroy himself, and overthrow his own empire, if he were thus to +decry magic, of which he is himself the author and support. If the +magicians really, and of their own good will, independently of the +demon, make this declaration, they betray themselves most lightly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> and +do not make their cause better; since the judges, notwithstanding +their disavowal, prosecute them, and always punish them without mercy, +being well persuaded that it is only the fear of execution and the +hope of remaining unpunished which makes them say so.</p> + +<p>But would it not rather be a stratagem of the evil spirit,[<a href="#f115">115</a><a name="f115.1" id="f115.1"></a>] who +endeavors to render the reality of magic doubtful, to save from +punishment those who are accused of it, and to impose on the judges, +and make them believe that magicians are only madmen and +hypochondriacs, worthy rather of compassion than chastisement? We must +then return to the deep examination of the question, and prove that +magic is not a chimera, neither has it aught to do with reason. We can +neither rest on a sure foundation, nor derive any certain argument for +or against the reality of magic, either from the opinion of pretended +<i>esprits forts</i>, who deny because they think proper to do so, and +because the proofs of the contrary do not appear to them sufficiently +clear or demonstrative; nor from the declaration of the demon, of +magicians and sorcerers, who maintain that magic and sorcery are only +the effects of a disturbed imagination; nor from minds foolishly and +vainly prejudiced on the subject, that these declarations are produced +simply by the fear of punishment; nor by the subtilty of the malignant +spirit, who wishes to mask his play, and cast dust in the eyes of the +judges and witnesses, by making them believe that what they regard +with so much horror, and what they so vigorously prosecute, is +anything but a punishable crime, or at least a crime deserving of +punishment.</p> + +<p>We must then prove the reality of magic by the Holy Scriptures, by the +authority of the Church, and by the testimony of the most grave and +sensible writers; and, lastly, show that it is not true that the most +famous parliaments acknowledge neither sorcerers nor magicians.</p> + +<p>The teraphim which Rachael, the wife of Jacob, brought away secretly +from the house of Laban, her father,[<a href="#f116">116</a><a name="f116.1" id="f116.1"></a>] were doubtless superstitious +figures, to which Laban's family paid a worship, very like that which +the Romans rendered to their household gods, <i>Penates</i> and <i>Lares</i>, +and whom they consulted on future events. Joshua[<a href="#f117">117</a><a name="f117.1" id="f117.1"></a>] says very +distinctly that Terah, the father of Abraham, adored strange gods in +Mesopotamia. And in the prophets Hosea and Zechariah,[<a href="#f118">118</a><a name="f118.1" id="f118.1"></a>] the Seventy +translate <i>teraphim</i> by the word <i>oracles</i>. Zechariah and Ezekiel[<a href="#f119">119</a><a name="f119.1" id="f119.1"></a>] +show that the Chaldeans and the Hebrews consulted these <i>teraphim</i> to +learn future events.</p> + +<p>Others believe that they were talismans or preservatives; everybody +agrees as to their being superstitious figures (or idols) which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> were +consulted in order to find out things unknown, or that were to +come to pass.</p> + +<p>The patriarch Joseph, speaking to his own brethren according to the +idea which they had of him in Egypt, says to them:[<a href="#f120">120</a><a name="f120.1" id="f120.1"></a>] "Know ye not +that in all the land there is not a man who equals me in the art of +divining and predicting things to come?" And the officer of the same +Joseph, having found in Benjamin's sack Joseph's cup which he had +purposely hidden in it, says to them:[<a href="#f121">121</a><a name="f121.1" id="f121.1"></a>] "It is the cup of which my +master makes use to discover hidden things."</p> + +<p>By the secret of their art, the magicians of Pharaoh imitated the true +miracles of Moses; but not being able like him to produce gnats +(English version <i>lice</i>), they were constrained to own that the finger +of God was in what Moses had hitherto achieved.[<a href="#f122">122</a><a name="f122.1" id="f122.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>After the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, God expressly forbids +his people to practice any sort of magic or divination.[<a href="#f123">123</a><a name="f123.1" id="f123.1"></a>] He +condemns to death magicians, and those who make use of charms.</p> + +<p>Balaam, the diviner, being invited by Balak, the king, to come and +devote the Israelites to destruction, God put blessings into his mouth +instead of curses;[<a href="#f124">124</a><a name="f124.1" id="f124.1"></a>] and this bad prophet, amongst the blessings +which he bestows on Israel, says there is among them neither augury, +nor divination, nor magic.</p> + +<p>In the time of the Judges, the Idol of Micah was consulted as a kind +of oracle.[<a href="#f125">125</a><a name="f125.1" id="f125.1"></a>] Gideon made, in his house and his city, an Ephod, +accompanied by a superstitious image, which was for his family, and to +all the people, the occasion of scandal and ruin.[<a href="#f126">126</a><a name="f126.1" id="f126.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>The Israelites went sometimes to consult Beelzebub, god of Ekron,[<a href="#f127">127</a><a name="f127.1" id="f127.1"></a>] +to know if they should recover from their sickness. The history of the +evocation of Samuel by the witch of Endor[<a href="#f128">128</a><a name="f128.1" id="f128.1"></a>] is well known. I am +aware that some difficulties are raised concerning this history. I +shall deduce nothing from it here, except that this woman passed for a +witch, that Saul esteemed her such, and that this prince had +exterminated the magicians in his own states, or, at least, that he +did not permit them to exercise their art.</p> + +<p>Manasses, king of Judah,[<a href="#f129">129</a><a name="f129.1" id="f129.1"></a>] is blamed for having introduced idolatry +into his kingdom, and particularly for having allowed there diviners, +aruspices, and those who predicted things to come. King Josiah, on the +contrary, destroyed all these superstitions.[<a href="#f130">130</a><a name="f130.1" id="f130.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>The prophet Isaiah, who lived at the same time, says that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> wished +to persuade the Jews then in captivity at Babylon to address +themselves, as did other nations, to diviners and magicians; but they +ought to reject these pernicious counsels, and leave those +abominations to the Gentiles, who knew not the Lord. Daniel[<a href="#f131">131</a><a name="f131.1" id="f131.1"></a>] +speaks of the magicians, or workers of magic among the Chaldeans, and +of those amongst them who interpreted dreams, and predicted things to +come.</p> + +<p>In the New Testament, the Jews accused Jesus Christ of casting out +devils in the name of Beelzebub, the prince of the devils;[<a href="#f132">132</a><a name="f132.1" id="f132.1"></a>] but he +refutes them by saying, that being come to destroy the empire of +Beelzebub, it was not to be believed that Beelzebub would work +miracles to destroy his own power or kingdom.[<a href="#f133">133</a><a name="f133.1" id="f133.1"></a>] St. Luke speaks of +Simon the sorcerer, who had for a long time bewitched the inhabitants +of Samaria with his sorceries; and also of a certain Bar-Jesus of +Paphos, who professed sorcery, and boasted he could predict future +events.[<a href="#f134">134</a><a name="f134.1" id="f134.1"></a>] St. Paul, when at Ephesus, caused a number of books of +magic to be burned.[<a href="#f135">135</a><a name="f135.1" id="f135.1"></a>] Lastly, the Psalmist,[<a href="#f136">136</a><a name="f136.1" id="f136.1"></a>] and the author of +the Book of Ecclesiasticus,[<a href="#f137">137</a><a name="f137.1" id="f137.1"></a>] speak of charms with which they +enchanted serpents.</p> + +<p>In the Acts of the Apostles,[<a href="#f138">138</a><a name="f138.1" id="f138.1"></a>] the young girl of the town of +Philippi, who was a Pythoness, for several successive days rendered +testimony to Paul and Silas, saying that they were "<i>the servants of +the Most High, and that they announced to men the way of salvation</i>." +Was it the devil who inspired her with these words, to destroy the +fruit of the preaching of the Apostles, by making the people believe +that they acted in concert with the spirit of evil? Or was it the +Spirit of God which put these words into the mouth of this young girl, +as he put into the mouth of Balaam prophecies concerning the Messiah? +There is reason to believe that she spoke through the inspiration of +the evil spirit, since St. Paul imposed silence on her, and expelled +the spirit of Python, by which she had been possessed, and which had +inspired the predictions she uttered, and the knowledge of hidden +things. In what way soever we may explain it, it will always follow +that magic is not a chimera, that this maiden was possessed by an evil +spirit, and that she predicted and revealed things hidden and to come, +and brought her <i>masters considerable gain by soothsaying</i>; for those +who consulted her would, doubtless, not have been so foolish as to pay +for these predictions, had they not experienced the truth of them by +their success and by the event.</p> + +<p>From all this united testimony, it results that magic, enchantments,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> sorcery, +divination, the interpretation of dreams, auguries, oracles, +and the magical figures which announced things to come, are very real, +since they are so severely condemned by God, and that He wills that +those who practice them should be punished with death.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f115.1">115</a><a name="f115" id="f115"></a>] <i>Vide</i> Bodin Preface.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f116.1">116</a><a name="f116" id="f116"></a>] Gen. xxxi. 19.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f117.1">117</a><a name="f117" id="f117"></a>] Josh. xxiv. 2-4.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f118.1">118</a><a name="f118" id="f118"></a>] Hosea ii. 4, &c. Zech. v. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f119.1">119</a><a name="f119" id="f119"></a>] Zech. x. 2. Ezek. xxi. 21.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f120.1">120</a><a name="f120" id="f120"></a>] Gen. xliv. 15.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f121.1">121</a><a name="f121" id="f121"></a>] Gen. xliv. 5.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f122.1">122</a><a name="f122" id="f122"></a>] Exod. vii. 10-12. Exod. viii. 19.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f123.1">123</a><a name="f123" id="f123"></a>] Exod. xxii. 18.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f124.1">124</a><a name="f124" id="f124"></a>] Numb. xxii., xxiii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f125.1">125</a><a name="f125" id="f125"></a>] Judg. xvii. 1, 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f126.1">126</a><a name="f126" id="f126"></a>] Judg. viii. 27.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f127.1">127</a><a name="f127" id="f127"></a>] 2 Kings i. 2, 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f128.1">128</a><a name="f128" id="f128"></a>] 1 Sam. xxviii. 7, <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p>[<a href="#f129.1">129</a><a name="f129" id="f129"></a>] 2 Kings xxi. 16.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f130.1">130</a><a name="f130" id="f130"></a>] 2 Kings xxii. 24.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f131.1">131</a><a name="f131" id="f131"></a>] Dan. iv. 6, 7.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f132.1">132</a><a name="f132" id="f132"></a>] Matt. x. 25; xii. 24, 25.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f133.1">133</a><a name="f133" id="f133"></a>] Luke xi. 15, 18, 19.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f134.1">134</a><a name="f134" id="f134"></a>] Acts viii. 11; xiii. 6.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f135.1">135</a><a name="f135" id="f135"></a>] Acts xix. 19.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f136.1">136</a><a name="f136" id="f136"></a>] Psalm lvii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f137.1">137</a><a name="f137" id="f137"></a>] Ecclus. xii. 13.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f138.1">138</a><a name="f138" id="f138"></a>] Acts xvi. 16, 17.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>OBJECTIONS TO THE REALITY OF MAGIC.</h3> + + +<p>I shall not fail to be told that all these testimonies from Scripture +do not prove the reality of magic, sorcery, divination, and the rest; +but only that the Hebrews and Egyptians—I mean the common people +among them—believe that there were people who had intercourse with +the Divinity, or with good and bad angels, to predict the future, +explain dreams, devote their enemies to the direst misfortunes, cause +maladies, raise storms, and call forth the souls of the dead; if there +was any reality in all this, it was not in the things themselves, but +in their imaginations and prepossessions.</p> + +<p>Moses and Joseph were regarded by the Egyptians as great magicians. +Rachel, it appears, believed that the teraphim of her father Laban +were capable of giving her information concerning things hidden and to +come. The Israelites might consult the idol of Micha, and Beelzebub +the god of Ekron; but the sensible and enlightened people of those +days, like similar persons in our own, considered all this as the +sport and knavery of pretended magicians, who derived much emolument +from maintaining these <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'predjudices'.">prejudices</ins> among the people.</p> + +<p>Moses most wisely ordained the penalty of death against those persons +who abused the simplicity of the ignorant to enrich themselves at +their expense, and turned away the people from the worship of the true +God, in order to keep up among them such practices as were +superstitious and contrary to true religion.</p> + +<p>Besides, it was necessary to good order, the interests of the +commonwealth and of true piety, to repress those abuses which are in +opposition to them, and to punish with extreme severity those who draw +away the people from the true and legitimate worship due to God, lead +them to worship the devil, and place their confidence in the creature, +in prejudice to the right of the Creator; inspiring them with vain +terrors where there is nothing to fear, and maintaining their minds in +the most dangerous errors. If, amongst an infinite number of false +predictions, or vain interpretations of dreams, some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> of them are +fulfilled, either this is occasioned by chance or it is the work of +the devil, who is often permitted by God to deceive those whose +foolishness and impiety lead them to address themselves to him and +place their confidence in him, all which the wise lawgiver, animated +by the Divine Spirit, justly repressed by the most rigorous +punishment.</p> + +<p>All histories and experience on this subject demonstrate that those +who make use of the art of magic, charms, and spells, only employ +their art, their secret, and their power to corrupt and mislead; for +crime and vice; thus they cannot be too carefully sought out, or too +severely punished.</p> + +<p>We may add that what is often taken for black or diabolical magic is +nothing but natural magic, or art and cleverness on the part of those +who perform things which appear above the force of nature. How many +marvelous effects are related of the divining rod, sympathetic powder, +phosphoric lights, and mathematical secrets! How much knavery is now +well known in the priests of idols, and in those of Babylon, who made +the people believe that the god Bel drank and ate; that a large living +dragon was a divinity; that the god Anubis desired to have certain +women, who were thus deceived by the priests; that the ox Apis gave +out oracles, and that the serpent of Alexander of Abonotiche knew the +sickness, and gave remedies to the patient without opening the billet +which contained a description of the illness! We may possibly speak +more fully on this subject hereafter.</p> + +<p>In short, the most judicious and most celebrated Parliaments have +recognized neither magicians nor sorcerers; at least, they have not +condemned them to death unless they were convicted of other crimes, +such as theft, bad practices, poisoning, or criminal seduction—for +instance, in the affair of Gofredi, a priest of Marseilles, who was +condemned by the Parliament of Aix to be torn with hot pincers, and +burnt alive. The heads of that company, in the account which they +render to the chancellor of this their sentence, testify that this +curé was in truth accused of sorcery, but that he had been condemned +to the flames as guilty, and convicted of spiritual incest with his +penitent, Madelaine de la Palu. From all this it is concluded that +there is no reality in what is called magic.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>REPLY TO THE OBJECTIONS.</h3> + + +<p>In answer to these, I allow that there is indeed very often a great +deal of illusion, prepossession, and imagination in all that is termed +magic and sorcery; and sometimes the devil by false appearances +combines with them to deceive the simple; but oftener, without the +evil spirit being any otherwise a party to it, wicked, corrupt, and +interested men, artful and deceptive, abuse the simplicity both of men +and women, so far as to persuade them that they possess supernatural +secrets for interpreting dreams and foretelling things to come, for +curing maladies, and discovering secrets unknown to any one. I can +easily agree to all that. All kinds of histories are full of facts +which demonstrate what I have just said. The devil has a thousand +things imputed to him in which he has no share; they give him the +honor of predictions, revelations, secrets, and discoveries, which are +by no means the effect of his power, or penetration; as in the same +manner he is accused of having caused all sorts of evils, tempests, +and maladies, which are purely the effect of natural but unknown +causes.</p> + +<p>It is very true that there are really many persons who are persuaded +of the power of the devil, of his influence over an infinite number of +things, and of the effects which they attribute to him; that they have +consulted him to learn future events, or to discover hidden things; +that they have addressed themselves to him for success in their +projects, for money, or favor, or to enjoy their criminal pleasures. +All this is very real. Magic, then, is not a simple chimera, since so +many persons are infatuated with the power of charms and convicted of +holding commerce with the devil, to procure a number of effects which +pass for supernatural. Now it is the folly, the vain credulity, the +prepossession of such people that the law of God interdicts, that +Moses condemns to death, and that the Christian Church punishes by its +censures, and which the secular judges repress with the greatest +rigor. If in all these things there was nothing but a diseased +imagination, weakness of the brain, or popular prejudices, would they +be treated with so much severity? Do we put to death hypochondriacs, +maniacs, or those who imagine themselves ill? No; they are treated +with compassion, and every effort is made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> to cure them. But in the +other case it is impiety, or superstition, or vice in those who +consult, or believe they consult, the devil, and place their +confidence in him, against which the laws are put in force and ordain +chastisement.</p> + +<p>Even if we could deny and contest the reality of augurs, diviners, and +magicians, and look on all these kind of persons as seducers, who +abuse the simplicity of those who betake themselves to them, could we +deny the reality of the magicians of Pharaoh, that of Simon, of +<ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'Bar-jesus'.">Bar-Jesus</ins>, of the Pythoness of the Acts of the Apostles? Did not the +first-mentioned perform many wonders before Pharaoh? Did not Simon the +magician rise into the air by means of the devil? Did not St. Paul +impose silence on the Pythoness of the city of Philippi in +Macedonia?[<a href="#f139">139</a><a name="f139.1" id="f139.1"></a>] Will it be said that there was any collusion between +St. Paul and the Pythoness? Nothing of the kind can be maintained by +any reasonable argument.</p> + +<p>A small volume was published at Paris, in 1732, by a new author, who +conceals himself under the two initials M. D.; it is entitled, +<i>Treatise on Magic, Witchcraft, Possessions, Obsessions and Charms; in +which their truth and reality are demonstrated</i>. He shows that he +believes there are magicians; he shows by Scripture, both in the Old +and New Testament, and by the authority of the ancient fathers, some +passages from whose works are cited in that of Father Debrio, entitled +<i>Disquisitiones Magicæ</i>. He proves it by the rituals of all the +dioceses, and by the examinations which are found in the printed +"Hours," wherein they suppose the existence of sorcerers and +magicians.</p> + +<p>The civil laws of the emperors, whether pagan or Christian, those of +the kings of France, both ancient and modern, jurisconsult, +physicians, historians both sacred and profane, concur in maintaining +this truth. In all kinds of writers we may remark an infinity of +stories of magic, spells and sorcery. The Parliaments of France, and +the tribunals of justice in other nations, have recognized magicians, +the pernicious effects of their art, and condemned them personally to +the most rigorous punishments.</p> + +<p>He relates at full length[<a href="#f140">140</a><a name="f140.1" id="f140.1"></a>] the remonstrances made to King Louis +XIV., in 1670, by the Parliament at Rouen, to prove to that monarch +that it was not only the Parliament of Rouen, but also all the other +Parliaments of the kingdom, which followed the same rules of +jurisprudence in what concerns magic and sorcery; that they +acknowledged the existence of such things and condemn them. This +author cites several facts, and several sentences given on this matter +in the Parliaments of Paris, Aix, Toulouse, Rennes, Dijon, &c. &c.; +and it was upon these remonstrances that the same king, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> 1682, made his declaration concerning the punishment of various +crimes, and in particular of sorcery, diviners or soothsayers, +magicians, and similar crimes.</p> + +<p>He also cites the treaty of M. de la Marre, commissary at the +<i>châtelet</i> of Paris, who speaks largely of magic, and proves its +reality, origin, progress, and effects. Would it be possible that the +sacred authors, laws divine and human, the greatest men of antiquity, +jurisconsults, the most enlightened historians, bishops in their +councils, the Church in her decisions, her practices and prayers, +should have conspired to deceive us, and to condemn those who practice +magic, sorcery, spells, and crimes of the same nature, to death, and +the most rigorous punishments, if they were merely illusive, and the +effect only of a diseased and prejudiced imagination? Father le Brun, +of the Oratoire, who has written so well upon the subject of +superstitions, substantiates the fact that the Parliament of Paris +recognizes that there are sorcerers, and that it punishes them +severely when they are convicted. He proves it by a decree issued in +1601 against some inhabitants of Campagne accused of witchcraft. The +decree wills that they shall be sent to the Conciergerie by the +subaltern judges on pain of being deprived of their charge. It +supposes that they must be rigorously punished, but it desires that +the proceedings against them for their discovery and punishment may be +exact and regular.</p> + +<p>M. Servin, advocate-general and councillor of state, fully proves from +the Old and New Testament, from tradition, laws and history, that +there are diviners, enchanters, and sorcerers, and refutes those who +would maintain the contrary. He shows that magicians and those who +make use of charms, ought to be punished and held in execration; but +he adds that no punishment must be inflicted till after certain and +evident proofs have been obtained; and this is what must be strictly +attended to by the Parliament of Paris, for fear of punishing madmen +for guilty persons, and taking illusions for realities.</p> + +<p>The Parliament leaves it to the Church to inflict excommunication, +both on men and women who have recourse to charms, and who believe +they go in the night to nocturnal assemblies, there to pay homage to +the devil. The Capitularies of the kings[<a href="#f141">141</a><a name="f141.1" id="f141.1"></a>] recommend the pastors to +instruct the faithful on the subject of what is termed the Sabbath; at +any rate they do not command that these persons should receive +corporeal punishment, but only that they should be undeceived and +prevented from misleading others in the same manner.</p> + +<p>And there the Parliament stops, so long as the case goes no farther +than simply misleading; but when it goes so far as to injure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> others, +the kings have often commanded the judges to punish these +persons with fines and banishment. The Ordonnances of Charles VIII. in +1490, and of Charles IX. in the States of Orleans in 1560, express +themselves formally on this point, and they were renewed by King Louis +XIV. in 1682. The third article of these Ordonnances bears, that if it +should happen "<i>there were persons to be found wicked enough to add +impiety and sacrilege to superstition, those who shall be convicted of +these crimes shall be punished with death</i>."</p> + +<p>When, therefore, it is evident that some person has inflicted injury +on his neighbor by malpractices, the Parliament punishes them +rigorously, even to the pain of death, conformably to the ancient +Capitularies of the kingdom,[<a href="#f142">142</a><a name="f142.1" id="f142.1"></a>] and the royal Ordonnances. Bodin, +who wrote in 1680, has collected a great number of decrees, to which +may be added those which the reverend Father le Brun reports, given +since that time.</p> + +<p>He afterwards relates a remarkable instance of a man named Hocque, who +was condemned to the galleys, the 2d of September, 1687, by sentence +of the High Court of Justice at Passy, for having made use of +malpractices towards animals, and having thus killed a great number in +Champagne. Hocque died suddenly, miserably, and in despair, after +having discovered, when drunken with wine, to a person named Beatrice, +the secret which he made use of to kill the cattle; he was not +ignorant that the demon would cause his death to revenge the discovery +which he had made of this spell.</p> + +<p>Some of the accomplices of this wretched man were condemned to the +galleys by divers decrees; others were condemned to be hanged and +burnt, by order of the Baillé of Passy, the 26th of October, 1691, +which sentence was confirmed by decree of the Parliament of Paris, the +18th of December, 1691. From all which we deduce that the Parliament +of Paris acknowledges that the spells by which people do injury to +their neighbors ought to be rigorously punished; that the devil has +very extensive power, which he too often exercises over men and +animals, and that he would exercise it oftener, and with greater +extension and fury, if he were not limited and hindered by the power +of God, and that of good angels, who set bounds to his malice. St Paul +warns us[<a href="#f143">143</a><a name="f143.1" id="f143.1"></a>] to put on the armor of God, to be able to resist the +snares of the devil: for, adds he, "we have not to war against flesh +and blood: but against princes and powers, against the bad spirits who +govern this dark world, against the spirits of malice who reign in the +air."</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f139.1">139</a><a name="f139" id="f139"></a>] Acts xvi. 10.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f140.1">140</a><a name="f140" id="f140"></a>] Page 31, <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p>[<a href="#f141.1">141</a><a name="f141" id="f141"></a>] Capitular. R. xiii de Sortilegiis et Sorciariis, 2 col. 36.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f142.1">142</a><a name="f142" id="f142"></a>] Capitular. in 872, x. 2. col. 230.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f143.1">143</a><a name="f143" id="f143"></a>] Eph. vi. 12.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>EXAMINATION OF THE AFFAIR OF HOCQUE, MAGICIAN.</h3> + + +<p>Monsieur de St. André, consulting physician in ordinary to the king, +in his sixth letter[<a href="#f144">144</a><a name="f144.1" id="f144.1"></a>] against magic, maintains that in the affair +of Hocque which has been mentioned, there was neither magic, nor +sorcery, nor any operation of the demon; that the venomous drug which +Hocque placed in the stables, and by means of which he caused the +death of the cattle stalled therein, was nothing but a poisonous +compound, which, by its smell and the diffusion of its particles, +poisoned the animals and caused their death; it required only for +these drugs to be taken away for the cattle to be safe, or else to +keep the cattle from the stable in which the poison was placed. The +difficulty laid in discovering where these poisonous drugs were +hidden; the shepherds, who were the authors of the mischief, taking +all sorts of precautions to conceal them, knowing that their lives +were in danger if they should be discovered.</p> + +<p>He further remarks that these <i>gogues</i> or poisoned drugs lose their +effects after a certain time, unless they are renewed or watered with +something to revive them and make them ferment again. If the devil had +any share in this mischief, the drug would always possess the same +virtue, and it would not be necessary to renew it and refresh it to +restore it to its pristine power.</p> + +<p>In all this, M. de St. André supposes that if the demon had any power +to deprive animals of their lives, or to cause them fatal maladies, he +could do so independently of secondary causes; which will not be +easily granted him by those who hold that God alone can give life and +death by an absolute power, independently of all secondary causes and +of any natural agent. The demon might have revealed to Hocque the +composition of this fatal and poisonous drug—he might have taught him +its dangerous effects, after which the venom acts in a natural way; it +recovers and resumes its pristine strength when it is watered; it acts +only at a certain distance, and according to the reach of the +corpuscles which exhale from it. All these effects have nothing +supernatural in them, nor which ought to be attributed to the demon; +but it is credible enough that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> he +inspired Hocque with the pernicious design to make use of a +dangerous drug, which the wretched man knew how to make up, or the +composition of which was revealed to him by the evil spirit.</p> + +<p>M. de St. André continues, and says that there is nothing in the death +of Hocque which ought to be attributed to the demon; it is, says he, a +purely natural effect, which can proceed from no other cause than the +venomous effluvia which came from the poisonous drug when it was taken +up, and which were carried towards the malefactor by those which +proceeded from his own body while he was preparing it, and placing it +in the ground, which remained there and were preserved in that spot, +so that none of them had been dissipated.</p> + +<p>These effluvia proceeding from the person of Hocque, then finding +themselves liberated, returned to whence they originated, and drew +with them the most malignant and corrosive particles of the charge or +drug, which acted on the body of this shepherd as they did on those of +the animals who smelled them. He confirms what he has just said, by +the example of sympathetic powder which acts upon the body of a +wounded person, by the immersion of small particles of the blood, or +the pus of the wounded man upon whom it is applied, which particles +draw with them the spirit of the drugs of which it (the powder) is +composed, and carry them to the wound.</p> + +<p>But the more I reflect on this pretended evaporation of the venomous +effluvia emanating from the poisoned drug, hidden at Passy en Brie, +six leagues from Paris, which are supposed to come straight to Hocque, +shut up at la Tournelle, borne by the animal effluvia proceeding from +this malefactor's body at the time he made up the poisonous drug and +put it in the ground, so long before the dangerous composition was +discovered; the more I reflect on the possibility of these +evaporations the less I am persuaded of them. I could wish to have +proofs of this system, and not instances of the very doubtful and very +uncertain effects of sympathetic powder, which can have no place in +the case in question. It is proving the obscure by the obscure, and +the uncertain by the uncertain; and even were we to admit generally +some effects of the sympathetic powder, they could not be applicable +here; the distance between the places is too great, and the time too +long; and what sympathy can be found between this shepherd's poisonous +drug and his person for it to be able to return to him who is +imprisoned at Paris, when the <i>gogue</i> is discovered at Passy?</p> + +<p>The account composed and printed on this event bears, that the fumes +of the wine which Hocque had drank having evaporated, and he +reflecting on what Beatrice had made him do, began to agitate himself, +howled, and complained most strangely, saying that Beatrice had taken +him by surprise, that it would occasion his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> death, and that he must +die the instant that <i>Bras-de-fer</i>—another shepherd, to whom Beatrice +had persuaded Hocque to write word to take off the poisoned drug which +he had scattered on the ground at Passy—should take away the dose. He +attacked Beatrice, whom he wanted to strangle; and even excited the +other felons who were with him in prison and condemned to the galleys, +to maltreat her, through the pity they felt for the despair of Hocque, +who, at the time the dose was taken off the land, had died in a +moment, in strange convulsions, and agitating himself like one +possessed.</p> + +<p>M. de St. André would again explain all this by supposing Hocque's +imagination being struck with the idea of his dying, which he was +persuaded would happen at the time they carried away the poison, had a +great deal to do with his sufferings and death. How many people have +been known to die at the time they had fancied they should, when +struck with the idea of their approaching death. The despair and +agitation of Hocque had disturbed the mass of his blood, altered the +humors, deranged the motion of the effluvia, and rendered them much +susceptible of the actions of the vapors proceeding from the poisonous +composition.</p> + +<p>M. de St. André adds that, if the devil had any share in this kind of +mischievous spell, it could only be in consequence of some compact, +either expressed or tacit, that as soon as the poison should be taken +up, he who had put it there should die immediately. Now, what +likelihood is there that the person who should make this compact with +the devil should have made use of such a stipulation, which would +expose him to a cruel and inevitable death?</p> + +<p>1. We may reply that fright can cause death; but that it is not +possible for it to produce it at a given time, nor can he who falls +into a paroxysm of grief say that he shall die at such a moment; the +moment of death is not in the power of man in similar circumstances.</p> + +<p>2. That so corrupt a character as Hocque, a man who, without +provocation, and to gratify his ill-will, kills an infinite number of +animals, and causes great damage to innocent persons, is capable of +the greatest excess, may give himself up to the evil spirit, by +implicated or explicit compacts, and engage, on pain of losing his +life, never to take off the charge he had thrown upon a village. He +believed he should risk nothing by this stipulation, since he was free +to take it away or to leave it, and it was not probable that he should +ever lightly thus expose himself to certain death. That the demon had +some share in this virtue of the poisonous composition is very likely, +when we consider the circumstances of its operations, and those of the +death and despair of Hocque. This death is the just penalty of his +crimes, and of his confidence in the exterminating angel to whom he +had yielded himself.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>It is true that impostors, weak minds, heated imaginations, ignorant +and superstitious persons have been found who have taken for black +magic, and operations of the demon, what was quite natural, and the +effect of some subtilty of philosophy or mathematics, or even an +illusion of the senses, or a secret which deceives the eye and the +senses. But to conclude from thence that there is no magic at all, and +that all that is said about it is pure prejudice, ignorance, and +superstition, is to conclude what is general from what is particular, +and to deny what is true and certain, because it is not easy to +distinguish what is true from what is false, and because men will not +take the trouble to examine into causes. It is far easier to deny +everything than to enter upon a serious examination of facts and +circumstances.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f144.1">144</a><a name="f144" id="f144"></a>] M. de St. André, Letter VI. on the subject of Magic, &c.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>MAGIC OF THE EGYPTIANS AND CHALDEANS.</h3> + + +<p>All pagan antiquity speaks of magic and magicians, of magical +operations, and of superstitious, curious, and diabolical books. +Historians, poets, and orators are full of things which relate to this +matter: some believe in it, others deny it; some laugh at it, others +remain in uncertainty and doubt. Are they bad spirits, or deceitful +men, impostors and charlatans, who, by the subtilties of their art, +make the ignorant believe that certain natural effects are produced by +supernatural causes? That is the point on which men differ. But in +general the name of magic and magician is now taken in these days in +an odious sense, for an art which produces marvelous effects, that +appear above the common course of nature, and that by the operation of +the bad spirit.</p> + +<p>The author of the celebrated book of Enoch, which had so great a +vogue, and has been cited by some ancient writers[<a href="#f145">145</a><a name="f145.1" id="f145.1"></a>] as inspired +Scripture, says that the eleventh of the watchers, or of those angels +who were in love with women, was called Pharmacius, or Pharmachus; +that he taught men, before the flood, enchantments, spells, magic +arts, and remedies against enchantments. St. Clement, of Alexandria, +in his recognitions, says that Ham, the son of Noah, received that art +from heaven, and taught it to Misraim, his son, the father of the +Egyptians.</p> + +<p>In the Scripture, the name of <i>Mage</i> or <i>Magus</i> is never used in +a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> good sense as signifying +philosophers who studied astronomy, and were +versed in divine and supernatural things, except in speaking of the +Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ at Bethlehem.[<a href="#f146">146</a><a name="f146.1" id="f146.1"></a>] Everywhere else +the Scriptures condemn and abhor magic and magicians.[<a href="#f147">147</a><a name="f147.1" id="f147.1"></a>] They +severely forbid the Hebrews to consult such persons and things. They +speak with abhorrence of <i>Simon and of Elymas</i>, well-known magicians, +in the Acts of the Apostles;[<a href="#f148">148</a><a name="f148.1" id="f148.1"></a>] and of the magicians of Pharaoh, who +counterfeited by their illusions the true miracles of Moses. It seems +likely that the Israelites had taken the habit in Egypt, where they +then were, of consulting such persons, since Moses forbids them in so +many different places, and so severely, either to listen to them or to +place confidence in their predictions.</p> + +<p>The Chevalier Marsham shows very clearly that the school for magic +among the Egyptians is the most ancient ever known in the world; that +from thence it spread amongst the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, the +Greeks and Persians. St. Paul informs us that Jannès and Jambrès, +famous magicians of the time of Pharaoh, resisted Moses. Pliny +remarks, that anciently, there was no science more renowned, or more +in honor, than that of magic: <i>Summam litterarum claritatem gloriamque +ex ea scientia antiquitùs et penè semper petitam.</i></p> + +<p>Porphyry[<a href="#f149">149</a><a name="f149.1" id="f149.1"></a>] says that King Darius, son of Hystaspes, had so high an +idea of the art of magic that he caused to be engraved on the +mausoleum of his father Hystaspes, "<i>That he had been the chief and +the master of the Magi of Persia.</i>"</p> + +<p>The embassy that Balak, King of the Moabites, sent to Balaam the son +of Beor, who dwelt in the mountains of the East, towards Persia and +Chaldea,[<a href="#f150">150</a><a name="f150.1" id="f150.1"></a>] to entreat him to come and curse and devote to death the +Israelites who threatened to invade his country, shows the antiquity +of magic, and of the magical superstitions of that country. For will +it be said that these maledictions and inflictions were the effect of +the inspiration of the good Spirit, or the work of good angels? I +acknowledge that Balaam was inspired by God in the blessings which he +gave to the people of the Lord, and in the prediction which he made of +the coming of the Messiah; but we must acknowledge, also, the extreme +corruption of his heart, his avarice, and all that he would have been +capable of doing, if God had permitted him to follow his bad +inclination and the inspiration of the evil spirit.</p> + +<p>Diodorus of Sicily,[<a href="#f151">151</a><a name="f151.1" id="f151.1"></a>] on the tradition of the Egyptians, says that +the Chaldeans who dwelt at Babylon and in Babylonia were a kind of +colony of the Egyptians, and that it was from these last that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> sages, +or Magi of Babylon, learned the astronomy which gave such +celebrity.</p> + +<p>We see, in Ezekiel,[<a href="#f152">152</a><a name="f152.1" id="f152.1"></a>] the King of Babylon, marching against his +enemies at the head of his army, stop short where two roads meet, and +mingle the darts, to know by magic art, and the flight of these +arrows, which road he must take. In the ancients, this manner of +consulting the demon by divining wands is known—the Greeks call it +<i>Rhabdomanteia</i>.</p> + +<p>The prophet Daniel speaks more than once of the magicians of Babylon. +King Nebuchadnezzar, having been frightened in a dream, sent for the +Magi, or magicians, diviners, aruspices, and Chaldeans, to interpret +the dream he had had.</p> + +<p>King Belshazzar in the same manner convoked the magicians, Chaldeans, +and aruspices of the country, to explain to him the meaning of these +words which he saw written on the wall: <i>Mene</i>, <i>Tekel</i>, <i>Perez</i>. All +this indicates the habit of the Babylonians to exercise magic art, and +consult magicians, and that this pernicious art was held in high +repute among them. We read in the same prophet of the trickery made +use of by the priests to deceive the people, and make them believe +that their gods lived, ate, drank, spoke, and revealed to them hidden +things.</p> + +<p>I have already mentioned the Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ; +there is no doubt that they came from Chaldea or the neighboring +country, but differing from those of whom we have just spoken, by +their piety, and having studied the true religion.</p> + +<p>We read in books of travels that superstition, magic, and fascinations +are still very common in the East, both among the fire-worshipers +descended from the ancient Chaldeans, and among the Persians, +sectaries of Mohammed. St. Chrysostom had sent into Persia a holy +bishop, named Maruthas, to have the care of the Christians who were in +that country; the King Isdegerde having discovered him, treated him +with much consideration. The Magi, who adore and keep up the perpetual +fire, which is regarded by the Persians as their principal divinity, +were jealous at this, and concealed underground an apostate, who, +knowing that the king was to come and pay his adoration to the +(sacred) fire, was to cry out from the depth of his cavern that the +king must be deprived of his throne because he esteemed the Christian +priest as a friend of the gods. The king was alarmed at this, and +wished to send Maruthas away; but the latter discovered to him the +imposture of the priests; he caused the ground to be turned up where +the man's voice had been heard, and there they found him from whom it +proceeded.</p> + +<p>This example, and those of the Babylonish priests spoken of by +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> Daniel, and that of some others, who, to satisfy their irregular +passions, pretended that their God required the company of certain +women, proved that what is usually taken for the effect of the black +art is only produced by the knavishness of priests, magicians, +diviners, and all kinds of persons who impose on the simplicity and +credulity of the people; I do not deny that the devil sometimes takes +part in it, but more rarely than is imagined.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f145.1">145</a><a name="f145" id="f145"></a>] Apud Syncell.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f146.1">146</a><a name="f146" id="f146"></a>] Matt. iii. 1, 7, 36.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f147.1">147</a><a name="f147" id="f147"></a>] Lev. xix. 31; xx.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f148.1">148</a><a name="f148" id="f148"></a>] Acts viii. 9; xiii. 8.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f149.1">149</a><a name="f149" id="f149"></a>] Porph. de Abstinent. lib. iv. § 16. Vid. et Ammian. Marcell. +lib. xxiii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f150.1">150</a><a name="f150" id="f150"></a>] Numb. xxiii. 1-3.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f151.1">151</a><a name="f151" id="f151"></a>] Diodor. Sicul. lib. i. p. 5.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f152.1">152</a><a name="f152" id="f152"></a>] Ezek. xxi. 21.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>MAGIC AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.</h3> + + +<p>The Greeks have always boasted that they received the art of magic +from the Persians, or the Bactrians. They affirm that Zoroaster +communicated it to them; but when we wish to know the exact time at +which Zoroaster lived, and when he taught them these pernicious +secrets, they wander widely from the truth, and even from probability; +some placing Zoroaster 600 years before the expedition of Xerxes into +Greece, which happened in the year of the world 3523, and before Jesus +Christ 477; others 500 years before the Trojan war; others 5000 years +before that famous war; others 6000 years before that great event. +Some believe that Zoroaster is the same as Ham, the son of Noah. +Lastly, others maintain that there were several Zoroasters. What +appears indubitably true is, that the worship of a plurality of gods, +as also magic, superstition, and oracles, came from the Egyptians and +Chaldeans, or Persians, to the Greeks, and from the Greeks to the +Latins.</p> + +<p>From the time of Homer,[<a href="#f153">153</a><a name="f153.1" id="f153.1"></a>] magic was quite common among the Greeks. +That poet speaks of the cure of wounds, and of blood staunched by the +secrets of magic, and by enchantment. St. Paul, when at Ephesus, +caused to be burned there books of magic and curious secrets, the +value of which amounted to the sum of 50,000 pieces of silver.[<a href="#f154">154</a><a name="f154.1" id="f154.1"></a>] We +have before said a few words concerning Simon the magician, and the +magician Elymas, known in the Acts of the Apostles.[<a href="#f155">155</a><a name="f155.1" id="f155.1"></a>] Pindar +says[<a href="#f156">156</a><a name="f156.1" id="f156.1"></a>] that the centaur Chiron cured several enchantments. When +they say that Orpheus rescued from hell his wife Eurydice, who had +died from the bite of a serpent, they simply mean that he cured her by +the power of charms.[<a href="#f157">157</a><a name="f157.1" id="f157.1"></a>] The poets have employed magic verses to make +themselves beloved, and they have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +taught them to others for the same purpose; they may be seen in +Theocritus, Catullus, and Virgil. Theophrastus affirms that there are +magical verses which cure sciatica. Cato mentions (or repeats) some +against luxations.[<a href="#f158">158</a><a name="f158.1" id="f158.1"></a>] Varro admits that there are some powerful +against the gout.</p> + +<p>The sacred books testify that enchanters have the secret of putting +serpents to sleep, and of charming them, so that they can never either +bite again or cause any more harm.[<a href="#f159">159</a><a name="f159.1" id="f159.1"></a>] The crocodile, that terrible +animal, fears even the smell and voice of the Tentyriens.[<a href="#f160">160</a><a name="f160.1" id="f160.1"></a>] Job, +speaking of the leviathan, which we believe to be the crocodile, says, +"Shall the enchanter destroy it?"[<a href="#f161">161</a><a name="f161.1" id="f161.1"></a>] And in Ecclesiasticus, "Who +will pity the enchanter that has been bitten by the serpent?"[<a href="#f162">162</a><a name="f162.1" id="f162.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>Everybody knows what is related of the Marsi, people of Italy, and of +the Psyllæ, who possessed the secret of charming serpents. One would +say, says St. Augustine,[<a href="#f163">163</a><a name="f163.1" id="f163.1"></a>] that these animals understand the +languages of the Marsi, so obedient are they to their orders; we see +them come out of their caverns as soon as the Marsian has spoken. All +this can only be done, says the same father, by the power of the +malignant spirit, whom God permits to exercise this empire over +venomous reptiles, above all, the serpent, as if to punish him for +what he did to the first woman. In fact, it may be remarked that no +animal is more exposed to charms, and the effects of magic art, than +the serpent.</p> + +<p>The laws of the Twelve Tables forbid the charming of a neighbor's +crops, <i>qui fruges excantâsset</i>. Valerius Flaccus quotes authors who +affirm that when the Romans were about to besiege a town, they +employed their priests to evoke the divinity who presided over it, +promising him a temple in Rome, either like the one dedicated to him +in the besieged place, or on a rather larger scale, and that the +proper worship should be paid to him. Pliny says that the memory of +these evocations is preserved among the priests.</p> + +<p>If that which we have just related, and what we read in ancient and +modern writers, is at all real, and produces the effects attributed to +it, it cannot be doubted that there is something supernatural in it, +and that the devil has a great share in the matter.</p> + +<p>The Abbot Trithemius speaks of a sorceress who, by means of certain +beverages, changed a young Burgundian into a beast.</p> + +<p>Everybody knows the fable of Circé, who changed the soldiers or +companions of Ulysses into swine. We know also the fable of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +Golden Ass, by Apuleius, which contains the account of a man +metamorphosed into an ass. I bring forward these things merely as what +they are, that is to say, simply poetic fictions.</p> + +<p>But it is very credible that these fictions are not destitute of some +foundation, like many other fables, which contain not only a hidden +and moral sense, but which have also some relation to an event really +historical: for instance, what is said of the Golden Fleece carried +away by Jason; of the Wooden Horse, made use of to surprise the city +of Troy; the Twelve Labors of Hercules; the metamorphoses related by +Ovid. All fabulous as those things appear in the poets, they have, +nevertheless, their historical truth. And thus the pagan poets and +historians have travestied and disguised the stories of the Old +Testament, and have attributed to Bacchus, Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, +and Hercules, what is related of Noah, Moses, Aaron, Samson, and +Jonah, &c.</p> + +<p>Origen, writing against Celsus, supposes the reality of magic, and +says that the Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ at Bethlehem, +wishing to perform their accustomed operations, not being able to +succeed, a superior power preventing the effect and imposing silence +on the demon, they sought out the cause, and beheld at the same time a +divine sign in the heavens, whence they concluded that it was the +Being spoken of by Balaam, and that the new King whose birth he had +predicted, was born in Judea, and immediately they resolved to go and +seek him. Origen believes that magicians, according to the rules of +their art, often foretell the future, and that their predictions are +followed by the event, unless the power of God, or that of the angels, +prevents the effect of their conjurations, and puts them to +silence.[<a href="#f164">164</a><a name="f164.1" id="f164.1"></a>]</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f153.1">153</a><a name="f153" id="f153"></a>] Homer, Iliad, IV.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f154.1">154</a><a name="f154" id="f154"></a>] Acts xix. 19.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f155.1">155</a><a name="f155" id="f155"></a>] Acts viii. 9; xiii. 8.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f156.1">156</a><a name="f156" id="f156"></a>] Pind. Od. iv.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f157.1">157</a><a name="f157" id="f157"></a>] Plin. I. 28.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f158.1">158</a><a name="f158" id="f158"></a>] Cato de Rerustic. c. 160.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f159.1">159</a><a name="f159" id="f159"></a>] Psalm lvii. Jer. vii. 17. Eccles. x. 11.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f160.1">160</a><a name="f160" id="f160"></a>] Plin. lib. viii. c. 50.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f161.1">161</a><a name="f161" id="f161"></a>] Job xl. 25.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f162.1">162</a><a name="f162" id="f162"></a>] Ecclus. xii. 13.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis."—<i>Virgil</i>, Ecl. viii.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Vipereas rumpo verbis et carmine fauces."—<i>Ovid</i>.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f163.1">163</a><a name="f163" id="f163"></a>] Plin. lib. xxviii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f164.1">164</a><a name="f164" id="f164"></a>] The fables of Jason and many others of the same class are said +by Fortuitus Comes to have a reference to alchemy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>EXAMPLES WHICH PROVE THE REALITY OF MAGIC.</h3> + + +<p>St. Augustine[<a href="#f165">165</a><a name="f165.1" id="f165.1"></a>] remarks that not only the poets, but the historians +even, relate that Diomede, of whom the Greeks have made a divinity, +had not the happiness to return to his country with the other princes +who had been at the siege of Troy; that his companions were changed +into birds, and that these birds have their dwell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>ing in the environs +of the Temple of Diomede, which is situated near Mount Garganos; that +these birds caress the Greeks who come to visit this temple, but fly +at and peck the strangers who arrive there.</p> + +<p>Varro, the most learned of Romans, to render this more credible, +relates what everybody knows about Circé, who changed the companions +of Ulysses into beasts; and what is said of the Arcadians, who, after +having drawn lots, swam over a certain lake, after which they were +metamorphosed into wolves, and ran about in the forests like other +wolves. If during the time of their transmutation they did not eat +human flesh, at the end of nine years they repassed the same lake, and +resumed their former shape.</p> + +<p>The same Varro relates of a certain Demenotas that, having tasted the +flesh of a child which the Arcadians had immolated to their god Lycæa, +he had also been changed into a wolf, and ten years after he had +resumed his natural form, had appeared at the Olympic games, and won +the prize for pugilism.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine testifies that in his time many believed that these +transformations still took place, and some persons even affirmed that +they had experienced them in their own persons. He adds that, when in +Italy, he was told that certain women gave cheese to strangers who +lodged at their houses, when these strangers were immediately changed +into beasts of burden, without losing their reason, and carried the +loads which were placed upon them; after which they returned to their +former state. He says, moreover, that a certain man, named +Præstantius, related that his father, having eaten of this magic +cheese, remained lying in bed, without any one being able to awaken +him for several days, when he awoke, and said that he had been changed +into a horse, and had carried victuals to the army; and the thing was +found to be true, although it appeared to him to be only a dream.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine, reasoning on all this, says that either these things +are false, or else so extraordinary that we cannot give faith to them. +It is not to be doubted that God, by his almighty power, can do +anything that he thinks proper, but that the devil, who is of a +spiritual nature, can do nothing without the permission of God, whose +decrees are always just; that the demon can neither change the nature +of the spirit, or the body of a man, to transform him into a beast; +but that he can only act upon the fancy or imagination of a man, and +persuade him that he is what he is not, or that he appears to others +different from what he is; or that he remains in a deep sleep, and +believes during that slumber that he is bearing loads which the devil +carries for him; or that he (the devil) fascinates the eyes of those +who believe they see them borne by animals, or by men metamorphosed +into animals.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>If we consider it only a change arising from fancy or imagination, as +it happens in the disorder called lycanthropy, in which a man believes +himself changed into a wolf, or into any other animal, as +Nebuchadnezzar, who believed himself changed into an ox, and acted for +seven years as if he had really been metamorphosed into that animal, +there would be nothing in that more marvelous than what we see in +hypochondriacs, who persuade themselves that they are kings, generals, +popes, and cardinals; that they are snow, glass, pottery, &c. Like him +who, being alone at the theatre, believed that he beheld there actors +and admirable representations; or the man who imagined that all the +vessels which arrived at the port of Pireus, near Athens, belonged to +him; or, in short, what we see every day in dreams, and which appear +to us very real during our sleep. In all this, it is needless to have +recourse to the devil, or to magic, fascination, or illusion; there is +nothing above the natural order of things. But that, by means of +certain beverages, certain herbs, and certain kinds of food, a person +may disturb the imagination, and persuade another that he is a wolf, a +horse, or an ass, appears more difficult of explanation, although we +are aware that plants, herbs, and medicaments possess great power over +the bodies of men, and are capable of deranging the brain, +constitution, and imagination. We have but too many examples of such +things.</p> + +<p>Another circumstance which, if true, deserves much reflection, is that +of Apollonius of Tyana, who, being at Ephesus during a great plague +which desolated the city, promised the Ephesians to cause the pest to +cease the very day on which he was speaking to them, and which was +that of his second arrival in their town. He assembled them at the +theatre, and ordered them to stone to death a poor old man, covered +with rags, who asked alms. "Strike," cried he, "that enemy of the +gods! heap stones upon him." They could not make up their minds to do +so, for he excited their pity, and asked mercy in the most touching +manner. But Apollonius pressed it so much, that at last they slew him, +and amassed over him an immense heap of stones. A little while after +he told them to take away these stones, and they would see what sort +of an animal they had killed. They found only a great dog, and were +convinced that this old man was only a phantom who had fascinated +their eyes, and caused the pestilence in their town.</p> + +<p>We here see five remarkable things:—1st. The demon who causes the +plague in Ephesus; 2d. This same demon, who, instead of a dog, causes +the appearance of a man; 3d. The fascination of the senses of the +Ephesians, who believe that they behold a man instead of a dog; 4th. +The proof of the magic of Apollonius, who discovers the cause of this +pestilence; 5th. And who makes it cease at the given time.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>Æneas Sylvius Picolomini, who was afterwards Pope by the name of Pius +II., writes, in his History of Bohemia, that a woman predicted to a +soldier of King Wratislaus, that the army of that prince would be cut +in pieces by the Duke of Bohemia, and that, if this soldier wished to +avoid death, he must kill the first person he should meet on the road, +cut off their ears, and put them in his pocket; that with the sword he +had used to pierce them he must trace on the ground a cross between +his horse's legs; that he must kiss it, and then take flight. All this +the young soldier performed. Wratislaus gave battle, lost it, and was +killed. The young soldier escaped; but on entering his house, he found +that it was his wife whom he had killed and run his sword through, and +whose ears he had cut off.</p> + +<p>This woman was, then, strangely disguised and metamorphosed, since her +husband could not recognize her, and she did not make herself known to +him in such perilous circumstances, when her life was in danger. These +two were, then, apparently magicians; both she who made the +prediction, and the other on whom it was exercised. God permits, on +this occasion, three great evils. The first magician counsels the +murder of an innocent person; the young man commits it on his own wife +without knowing her; and the latter dies in a state of condemnation, +since by the secrets of magic she had rendered it impossible to +recognize her.</p> + +<p>A butcher's wife of the town of Jena, in the duchy of Wiemar in +Thuringia,[<a href="#f166">166</a><a name="f166.1" id="f166.1"></a>] having refused to let an old woman have a calf's head +for which she offered very little, the old woman went away grumbling +and muttering. A little time after this the butcher's wife felt +violent pains in her head. As the cause of this malady was unknown to +the cleverest physicians, they could find no remedy for it; from time +to time a substance like brains came from this woman's left ear, and +at first it was supposed to be her own brain. But as she suspected +that old woman of having cast a spell upon her on account of the +calf's head, they examined the thing more minutely, and they saw that +these were calf's brains; and what strengthened this opinion was that +splinters of calf's-head bones came out with the brains. This disorder +continued some time; at last the butcher's wife was perfectly cured. +This happened in 1685. M. Hoffman, who relates this story in his +dissertation <i>on the Power of the Demon over Bodies</i>, printed in 1736, +says that the woman was perhaps still alive.</p> + +<p>One day they brought to St. Macarius the Egyptian, a virtuous woman +who had been transformed into a mare by the pernicious arts of a +magician. Her husband, and all those who saw her, thought that she +really was changed into a mare. This woman remained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +three days and three nights without tasting any food, proper either +for man or horse. They showed her to the priests of the place, who +could apply no remedy.</p> + +<p>Then they led her to the cell of St. Macarius, to whom God had +revealed that she was to come; his disciples wanted to send her back, +thinking that it was a mare. They informed the saint of her arrival, +and the subject of her journey. "He said to them, You are downright +animals yourselves, thinking you see what is not; that woman is not +changed, but your eyes are fascinated. At the same time he sprinkled +holy water on the woman's head, and all present beheld her in her +former state. He gave her something to eat, and sent her away safe and +sound with her husband. As he sent her away the saint said to her, Do +not keep from church, for this has happened to you for having been +five weeks without taking the sacrament of our Lord, or attending +divine service."</p> + +<p>St. Hilarion, much in the same manner, cured by virtue of holy water a +young girl, whom a magician had rendered most violently amorous of a +young man. The demon who possessed her cried aloud to St. Hilarion, +"You make me endure the most cruel torments, for I cannot come out +till the young man who caused me to enter shall unloose me, for I am +enchained under the threshold of the door by a band of copper covered +with magical characters, and by the tow which envelops it." Then St. +Hilarion said to him, "Truly your power is very great, to suffer +yourself to be bound by a bit of copper and a little thread;" at the +same time, without permitting these things to be taken from under the +threshold of the door, he chased away the demon and cured the girl.</p> + +<p>In the same place, St. Jerome relates that one Italicus, a citizen of +Gaza and a Christian, who brought up horses for the games in the +circus, had a pagan antagonist who hindered and held back the horses +of Italicus in their course, and gave most extraordinary celerity to +his own. Italicus came to St. Hilarion, and told him the subject he +had for uneasiness. The saint laughed and said to him, "Would it not +be better to give the value of your horses to the poor rather than +employ them in such exercises?" "I cannot do as I please," said +Italicus; "it is a public employment which I fill, because I cannot +help it, and as a Christian I cannot employ malpractices against those +used against me." The brothers, who were present, interceded for him; +and St. Hilarion gave him the earthen vessel out of which he drank, +filled it with water, and told him to sprinkle his horses with it. +Italicus not only sprinkled his horses with this water, but likewise +his stable and chariot all over; and the next day the horses and +chariot of this rival were left far behind his own; which caused the +people to shout in the theatre, "Marnas is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> vanished—Jesus Christ is victorious!" And this victory of Italicus produced the conversion of +several persons at Gaza.</p> + +<p>Will it be said that this is only the effect of imagination, +prepossession, or the trickery of a clever charlatan? How can you +persuade fifty people that a woman who is present before their eyes +can be changed into a mare, supposing that she has retained her own +natural shape? How was it that the soldier mentioned by Æneas Sylvius +did not recognize his wife, whom he pierced with his sword, and whose +ears he cut off? How did Apollonius of Tyana persuade the Ephesians to +kill a man, who really was only a dog? How did he know that this dog, +or this man, was the cause of the pestilence which afflicted Ephesus? +It is then very credible that the evil spirit often acts on bodies, on +the air, the earth, and on animals, and produces effects which appear +above the power of man.</p> + +<p>It is said that in Lapland they have a school for magic, and that +fathers send their children to it, being persuaded that magic is +necessary to them, that they may avoid falling into the snares of +their enemies, who are themselves great magicians. They make the +familiar demons, whose services they command, pass as an inheritance +to their children, that they may make use of them to overcome the +demons of other families who are adverse to their own. They often make +use of a certain kind of drum for their magical operations; for +instance, if they wish to know what is passing in a foreign country, +one amongst them beats this drum, placing upon it at the part where +the image of the sun is represented, a quantity of pewter rings +attached together with a chain of the same metal; then they strike the +drum with a forked hammer made of bone, so that these rings move; at +the same time they sing distinctly a song, called by the Laplanders +<i>Jonk</i>; and all those of their nation who are present, men and women, +add their own songs, expressing from time to time the name of the +place whence they desire to have news.</p> + +<p>The Laplander having beaten the drum for some time, places it on his +head in a certain manner, and falls down directly motionless on the +ground, and without any sign of life. All the men and all the women +continue singing, till he revives; if they cease to sing, the man +dies, which happens also if any one tries to awaken him by touching +his hand or his foot. They even keep the flies from him, which by +their humming might awaken him and bring him back to life.</p> + +<p>When he is recovered he replies to the questions they ask him +concerning the place he has been at. Sometimes he does not awake for +four-and-twenty hours, sometimes more, sometimes less, according to +the distance he has gone; and in confirmation of what he says, and of +the distance he has been, he brings back from the place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> he has been sent to the token demanded of him, a knife, a ring, shoes, or some +other object.[<a href="#f167">167</a><a name="f167.1" id="f167.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>These same Laplanders make use also of this drum to learn the cause of +any malady, or to deprive their enemies of their life or their +strength. Moreover, amongst them are certain magicians, who keep in a +kind of leathern game-bag magic flies, which they let loose from time +to time against their enemies or against their cattle, or simply to +raise tempests and hurricanes. They have also a sort of dart which +they hurl into the air, and which causes the death of any one it falls +upon. They have also a sort of little ball called <i>tyre</i>, almost +round, which they send in the same way against their enemies to +destroy them; and if by ill luck this ball should hit on its way some +other person, or some animal, it will inevitably cause its death.</p> + +<p>Who can be persuaded that the Laplanders who sell fair winds, raise +storms, relate what passes in distant places, where they go, as they +say, in the spirit, and bring back things which they have found +there—who can persuade themselves that all this is done without the +aid of magic? It has been said that in the circumstance of Apollonius +of Tyana, they contrived to send away the man all squalid and +deformed, and put in his place a dog which was stoned, or else they +substituted a dead dog. All which would require a vast deal of +preparation, and would be very difficult to execute in sight of all +the people: it would, perhaps, be better to deny the fact altogether, +which certainly does appear very fabulous, than to have recourse to +such explanations.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f165.1">165</a><a name="f165" id="f165"></a>] Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. xviii. c. 16-18.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f166.1">166</a><a name="f166" id="f166"></a>] Frederici Hoffman, de Diaboli Potentia in Corpora, p. 382.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f167.1">167</a><a name="f167" id="f167"></a>] See John Schesser, <i>Laponia</i>, printed at Frankfort in 4to. an. +1673, chap. xi. entitled, <i>De sacris Magicis et Magia Laponia</i>, p. +119, and following.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>EFFECTS OF MAGIC ACCORDING TO THE POETS.</h3> + + +<p>Were we to believe what is said by the poets concerning the effects of +magic, and what the magicians boast of being able to perform by their +spells, nothing would be more marvelous than their art, and we should +be obliged to acknowledge that the power of the demon was greatly +shown thereby. Pliny[<a href="#f168">168</a><a name="f168.1" id="f168.1"></a>] relates that Appian evoked the spirit of +Homer, to learn from him which was his country, and who were his +parents. Philostratus says[<a href="#f169">169</a><a name="f169.1" id="f169.1"></a>] that Apollonius of Tyana went to the +tomb of Achilles, evoked his manes, and im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>plored them to cause the figure of that hero to appear to him; the tomb trembled, and +afterwards he beheld a young man, who at first appeared about five +cubits, or seven feet and a half high—after which, the phantom +dilated to twelve cubits, and appeared of a singular beauty. +Apollonius asked him some frivolous questions, and as the young man +jested indecently with him, he comprehended that he was possessed by a +demon; this demon he expelled, and cured the young man. But all this +is fabulous.</p> + +<p>Lactantius,[<a href="#f170">170</a><a name="f170.1" id="f170.1"></a>] refuting the philosophers Democritus, Epicurus, and +Dicearchus, who denied the immortality of the soul, says they would +not dare to maintain their opinion before a magician, who, by the +power of his art, and by his spells, possessed the secret of bringing +souls from Hades, of making them appear, speak, and foretell the +future, and give certain signs of their presence.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine,[<a href="#f171">171</a><a name="f171.1" id="f171.1"></a>] always circumspect in his decisions, dare not +pronounce whether magicians possess the power of evoking the spirits +of saints by the might of their enchantments. But Tertullian[<a href="#f172">172</a><a name="f172.1" id="f172.1"></a>] is +bolder, and maintains that no magical art has power to bring the souls +of the saints from their rest; but that all the necromancers can do is +to call forth some phantoms with a borrowed shape, which fascinate the +eyes, and make those who are present believe that to be a reality +which is only appearance. In the same place he quotes Heraclius, who +says that the Nasamones, people of Africa, pass the night by the tombs +of their near relations to receive oracles from the latter; and that +the Celts, or Gauls, do the same thing in the mausoleums of great men, +as related by Nicander.</p> + +<p>Lucan says[<a href="#f173">173</a><a name="f173.1" id="f173.1"></a>] that the magicians, by their spells, cause thunder in +the skies unknown to Jupiter; that they tear the moon from her sphere, +and precipitate her to earth; that they disturb the course of nature, +prolong the nights, and shorten the days; that the universe is +obedient to their voice, and that the world is chilled as it were when they +speak and command.[<a href="#f174">174</a><a name="f174.1" id="f174.1"></a>] They were so well persuaded that the magicians +possessed power to make the moon come down from the sky, and they so +truly believed that she was evoked by magic art whenever she was +eclipsed, that they made a great noise by striking on copper vessels, +to prevent the voice which pronounced enchantments from reaching +her.[<a href="#f175">175</a><a name="f175.1" id="f175.1"></a>]</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p><p>These popular opinions and poetical fictions deserve no credit, but +they show the force of prejudice.[<a href="#f176">176</a><a name="f176.1" id="f176.1"></a>] It is affirmed that, even at +this day, the Persians think they are assisting the moon when eclipsed +by striking violently on brazen vessels, and making a great uproar.</p> + +<p>Ovid[<a href="#f177">177</a><a name="f177.1" id="f177.1"></a>] attributes to the enchantments of magic the evocation of the +infernal powers, and their dismissal back to hell; storms, tempests, +and the return of fine weather. They attributed to it the power of +changing men into beasts by means of certain herbs, the virtues of +which are known to them.[<a href="#f178">178</a><a name="f178.1" id="f178.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>Virgil[<a href="#f179">179</a><a name="f179.1" id="f179.1"></a>] speaks of serpents put to sleep and enchanted by the +magicians. And Tibullus says that he has seen the enchantress bring +down the stars from heaven, and turn aside the thunderbolt ready to +fall upon the earth—and that she has opened the ground and made the +dead come forth from their tombs.</p> + +<p>As this matter allows of poetical ornaments, the poets have vied with +each other in endeavoring to adorn their pages with them, not that +they were convinced there was any truth in what they said; they were +the first to laugh at it when an opportunity presented itself, as well +as the gravest and wisest men of antiquity. But neither princes nor +priests took much pains to undeceive the people, or to destroy their +prejudices on those subjects. The Pagan religion allowed them, nay, +authorized them, and part of its practices were founded on similar +superstitions.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f168.1">168</a><a name="f168" id="f168"></a>] Plin. lib. iii. c. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f169.1">169</a><a name="f169" id="f169"></a>] Philost. Vit. Apollon.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f170.1">170</a><a name="f170" id="f170"></a>] Lactant. lib. vi. Divin. Instit. c. 13.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f171.1">171</a><a name="f171" id="f171"></a>] Aug. ad Simplic.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f172.1">172</a><a name="f172" id="f172"></a>] Tertull. de Animâ, c. 57.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f173.1">173</a><a name="f173" id="f173"></a>] Lucan. Pharsal. lib. vi. 450, <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p>[<a href="#f174.1">174</a><a name="f174" id="f174"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Cessavere vices rerum, dilataque longa,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hæsit nocte dies; legi non paruit æther;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Torpuit et præceps audito carmine mundus;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Et tonat ignaro cœlum Jove."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f175.1">175</a><a name="f175" id="f175"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Cantat et e curro tentat deducere Lunam</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Et faceret, si non æra repulsa sonent."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>Tibull.</i> lib. i. Eleg. ix. 21.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f176.1">176</a><a name="f176" id="f176"></a>] Pietro della Valle, Voyage.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f177.1">177</a><a name="f177" id="f177"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">".... Obscurum verborum ambage nervorum</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ter novies carmen magico demurmurat ore.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Jam ciet infernas magico stridore catervas,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Jam jubet aspersum lacte referre pedem.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Cùm libet, hæc tristi depellit nubila cœlo;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Cùm libet, æstivo provocat orbe nives."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>Ovid.</i> <i>Metamorph.</i> 14.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f178.1">178</a><a name="f178" id="f178"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Naïs nam ut cantu, nimiumque potentibus herbis</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Verterit in tacitos juvenilia corpora pisces."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f179.1">179</a><a name="f179" id="f179"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Vipereo generi et graviter spirantibus hydris</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Spargere qui somnos cantuque manque solebat,"</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>OF THE PAGAN ORACLES.</h3> + + +<p>If it were well proved that the oracles of pagan antiquity were the +work of the evil spirit, we could give more real and palpable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> proofs +of the apparition of the demon among men than these boasted oracles, +which were given in almost every country in the world, among the +nations which passed for the wisest and most enlightened, as the +Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians, Syrians, even the Hebrews, Greeks, and +Romans. Even the most barbarous people were not without their oracles.</p> + +<p>In the pagan religion there was nothing esteemed more honorable, or +more complacently boasted of.</p> + +<p>In all their great undertakings they had recourse to the oracle; by +that was decided the most important affairs between town and town, or +province and province. The manner in which the oracles were rendered +was not everywhere the same. It is said[<a href="#f180">180</a><a name="f180.1" id="f180.1"></a>] the bull Apis, whose +worship was anciently established in Egypt, gave out his oracles on +his receiving food from the hand of him who consulted. If he received +it, say they, it was considered a good omen; if he refused it, this +was a bad augury. When this animal appeared in public, he was +accompanied by a troop of children, who sang hymns in his honor; after +which these boys were filled with sacred enthusiasm, and began to +predict future events. If the bull went quietly into his lodge, it was +a happy sign;[<a href="#f181">181</a><a name="f181.1" id="f181.1"></a>] if he came out, it was the contrary. Such was the +blindness of the Egyptians.</p> + +<p>There were other oracles also in Egypt:[<a href="#f182">182</a><a name="f182.1" id="f182.1"></a>] as those of Mercury, +Apollo, Hercules, Diana, Minerva, Jupiter Ammon, &c., which last was +consulted by Alexander the Great. But Herodotus remarks that in his +time there were neither priests nor priestesses who uttered oracles. +They were derived from certain presages, which they drew by chance, or +from the movements of the statues of the gods, or from the first voice +which they heard after having consulted. Pausanias says[<a href="#f183">183</a><a name="f183.1" id="f183.1"></a>] that he +who consults whispers in the ear of Mercury what he requires to know, +then he stops his ears, goes out of the temple, and the first words +which he hears from the first person he meets are held as the answer +of the god.</p> + +<p>The Greeks acknowledge that they received from the Egyptians both the +names of their gods and their most ancient oracles; amongst others +that of Dodona, which was already much resorted to in the time of +Homer,[<a href="#f184">184</a><a name="f184.1" id="f184.1"></a>] and which came from the oracle of Jupiter of Thebes: for +the Egyptian priests related that two priestesses of that god had been +carried off by Phœnician merchants, who had sold them, one into +Libya and the other into Greece.[<a href="#f185">185</a><a name="f185.1" id="f185.1"></a>] Those of Dodona related that two +black doves had flown from Thebes of Egypt—that the one which had +stopped at Dodona had perched upon a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> beech-tree, +and had declared in an articulate voice that the gods willed that an oracle of Jupiter should be established in this place; +and that the other, having flown into Lybia, had there formed or +founded the oracle of Jupiter Ammon. These origins are certainly very +frivolous and very fabulous. The Oracle of Delphi is more recent and +more celebrated. Phemonoé was the first priestess of Delphi, and began +in the time of Acrisius, twenty-seven years before Orpheus, Musæus, +and Linus. She is said to have been the inventress of hexameters.</p> + +<p>But I think I can remark vestiges of oracles in Egypt, from the time +of the patriarch Joseph, and from the time of Moses. The Hebrews had +dwelt for 215 years in Egypt, and having multiplied there exceedingly, +had begun to form a separate people and a sort of republic. They had +imbibed a taste for the ceremonies, the superstitions, the customs, +and the idolatry of the Egyptians.</p> + +<p>Joseph was considered the cleverest diviner and the greatest expounder +of dreams in Egypt. They believed that he derived his oracles from the +inspection of the liquor which he poured into his cup. Moses, to cure +the Hebrews of their leaning to the idolatry and superstitions of +Egypt, prescribed to them laws and ceremonies which favored his +design; the first, diametrically opposite to those of the Egyptians; +the second, bearing some resemblance to theirs in appearance, but +differing both in their aim and circumstances.</p> + +<p>For instance, the Egyptians were accustomed to consult diviners, +magicians, interpreters of dreams, and augurs; all which things are +forbidden to the Hebrews by Moses, on pain of rigorous punishment; but +in order that they might have no room to complain that their religion +did not furnish them with the means of discovering future events and +hidden things, God, with condescension worthy of reverential +admiration, granted them the <i>Urim and Thummim</i>, or the Doctrine and +the Truth, with which the high-priest was invested according to the +ritual in the principal ceremonies of religion, and by means of which +he rendered oracles, and discovered the will of the Most High. When +the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle were constructed, the Lord, +consulted by Moses,[<a href="#f186">186</a><a name="f186.1" id="f186.1"></a>] gave out his replies from between the two +cherubim which were placed upon the mercy-seat above the ark. All +which seems to insinuate that, from the time of the patriarch Joseph, +there had been oracles and diviners in Egypt, and that the Hebrews +consulted them.</p> + +<p>God promised his people to raise up a prophet[<a href="#f187">187</a><a name="f187.1" id="f187.1"></a>] among them, who +should declare to them his will: in fact, we see in almost all ages +among them, prophets inspired by God; and the true prophets reproached +them vehemently for their impiety, when instead of coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +to the prophets of the Lord, they went to consult strange +oracles,[<a href="#f188">188</a><a name="f188.1" id="f188.1"></a>] and divinities equally powerless and unreal.</p> + +<p>We have spoken before of the teraphim of Laban, of the idols or +pretended oracles of Micah and Gideon. King Saul, who, apparently by +the advice of Samuel, had exterminated diviners and magicians from the +land of Israel, desired in the last war to consult the Lord, who would +not reply to him. He then afterwards addressed himself to a witch, who +promised him she would evoke Samuel for him. She did, or feigned to do +so, for the thing offers many difficulties, into which we shall not +enter here.</p> + +<p>The same Saul having consulted the Lord on another occasion, to know +whether he must pursue the Philistines whom he had just defeated, God +refused also to reply to him,[<a href="#f189">189</a><a name="f189.1" id="f189.1"></a>] because his son Jonathan had tasted +some honey, not knowing that the king had forbidden his army to taste +anything whatever before his enemies were entirely overthrown.</p> + +<p>The silence of the Lord on certain occasions, and his refusal to +answer sometimes when He was consulted, are an evident proof that He +usually replied, and that they were certain of receiving instructions +from Him, unless they raised an obstacle to it by some action which +was displeasing to Him.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f180.1">180</a><a name="f180" id="f180"></a>] Plin. lib. viii. c. 48.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f181.1">181</a><a name="f181" id="f181"></a>] Herodot. lib. ix.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f182.1">182</a><a name="f182" id="f182"></a>] <i>Vide</i> Joan. Marsham, Sæc. iv. pp. 62, 63.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f183.1">183</a><a name="f183" id="f183"></a>] Pausan. lib. vii. p. 141.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f184.1">184</a><a name="f184" id="f184"></a>] Homer, Iliad, xii. 2, 235.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f185.1">185</a><a name="f185" id="f185"></a>] Herodot. lib. ii. c. 52, 55.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f186.1">186</a><a name="f186" id="f186"></a>] Exod. xxv. 22.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f187.1">187</a><a name="f187" id="f187"></a>] Deut. xviii. 13.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f188.1">188</a><a name="f188" id="f188"></a>] 2 Kings i. 2, 3, 16, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f189.1">189</a><a name="f189" id="f189"></a>] 1 Sam. xiv. 24.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>THE CERTAINTY OF THE EVENT PREDICTED IS NOT ALWAYS A PROOF THAT THE +PREDICTION COMES FROM GOD.</h3> + + +<p>Moses had foreseen that so untractable and superstitious a people as +the Israelites would not rest satisfied with the reasonable, pious, +and supernatural means which he had procured them for discovering +future events, by giving them prophets and the oracle of the +high-priest. He knew that there would arise among them false prophets +and seducers, who would endeavor by their illusions and magical +secrets to mislead them into error; whence it was that he said to +them:[<a href="#f190">190</a><a name="f190.1" id="f190.1"></a>] "If there should arise among you a prophet, or any one who +boasts of having had a dream, and he foretells a wonder, or anything +which surpasses the ordinary power of man, and what he predicts shall +happen; and after that he shall say unto you, Come, let us go and +serve the strange gods, which you have not known; you shall not +hearken unto him, because the Lord your God will prove you, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +to see whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your +soul."</p> + +<p>Certainly, nothing is more likely to mislead us than to see what has +been foretold by any one come to pass.</p> + +<p>"Show the things that are to come," says Isaiah,[<a href="#f191">191</a><a name="f191.1" id="f191.1"></a>] "that we may +know that ye are gods. Let them come, let them foretell what is to +happen, and what has been done of old, and we will believe in them," +&c. <i>Idoneum testimonium divinationis</i>, says Turtullian,[<a href="#f192">192</a><a name="f192.1" id="f192.1"></a>] <i>veritas +divinationis</i>. And St. Jerome,[<a href="#f193">193</a><a name="f193.1" id="f193.1"></a>] <i>Confitentur magi, confitentur +arioli, et omnis scientia sæcularis litteraturæ, præescientiam +futurorum non esse hominum, sed Dei</i>.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, we have just seen that Moses acknowledges that false +prophets can predict things which will happen. And the Saviour warns +us in the Gospel that at the end of the world several false prophets +will arise, who will seduce many[<a href="#f194">194</a><a name="f194.1" id="f194.1"></a>]—"They shall shew great signs +and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive +even the elect." It is not, then, precisely either the successful +issue of the event which decides in favor of the false prophet—nor +the default of the predictions made by true prophets which proves that +they are not sent by God.</p> + +<p>Jonah was sent to foretell the destruction of Nineveh,[<a href="#f195">195</a><a name="f195.1" id="f195.1"></a>] which did +not come to pass; and many other threats of the prophets were not put +into execution, because God, moved by the <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'repentence'.">repentance</ins> of the sinful, +revoked or commuted his former sentence. The repentance of the +Ninevites guarantied them against the last misfortune.</p> + +<p>Isaiah had distinctly foretold to King Hezekiah[<a href="#f196">196</a><a name="f196.1" id="f196.1"></a>] that he would not +recover from his illness: "Set thine house in order, for thou shalt +die, and not live." Nevertheless, God, moved with the prayer of this +prince, revoked the sentence of death; and before the prophet had left +the court of the king's house, God commanded him to return and tell +the king that God would add yet fifteen years to his life.</p> + +<p>Moses assigns the mark of a true prophet to be, when he leads us to +God and his worship—and the mark of a false prophet is, when he +withdraws us from the Lord, and inclines us to superstition and +idolatry. Balaam was a true prophet, inspired by God, who foretold +things which were followed up by the event; but his morals were very +corrupt, and he was extremely self-interested. He did everything he +could to deserve the recompense promised him by the king of Moab, and +to curse and immolate Israel.[<a href="#f197">197</a><a name="f197.1" id="f197.1"></a>] God did not permit him to do so; he +put into his mouth blessings instead of curses; he did not induce the +Israelites to forsake the Lord; but he advised the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +Moabites to seduce the people of God, and cause them to commit +fornication, and to worship the idols of the country, and by that +means to irritate God against them, and draw upon them the effects of +his vengeance. Moses caused the chiefs among the people, who had +consented to this crime, to be hung; and caused to perish the +Midianites who had led the Hebrews into it. And lastly, Balaam, who +was the first cause of this evil, was also punished with death.[<a href="#f198">198</a><a name="f198.1" id="f198.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>In all the predictions of diviners or oracles, when they are followed +by fulfilment, we can hardly disavow that the evil spirit intervenes, +and discovers the future to those who consult him. St. Augustine, in +his book <i>de Divinatione Dæmonum</i>,[<a href="#f199">199</a><a name="f199.1" id="f199.1"></a>] or of predictions made by the +evil spirit, when they are fulfilled, supposes that the demons are of +an aërial nature, and much more subtile than bodies in general; +insomuch that they surpass beyond comparison the lightness both of men +and the swiftest animals, and even the flight of birds, which enables +them to announce things that are passing in very distant places, and +beyond the common reach of men. Moreover, as they are not subject to +death as we are, they have acquired infinitely more experience than +even those who possess the most among mankind, and are the most +attentive to what happens in the world. By that means they can +sometimes predict things to come, announce several things at a +distance, and do some wonderful things; which has often led mortals to +pay them divine honors, believing them to be of a nature much more +excellent than their own.</p> + +<p>But when we reflect seriously on what the demons predict, we may +remark that often they announce nothing but what they are to do +themselves.[<a href="#f200">200</a><a name="f200.1" id="f200.1"></a>] For God permits them, sometimes, to cause maladies, +corrupt the air, and produce in it qualities of an infectious nature, +and to incline the wicked to persecute the worthy. They perform these +operations in a hidden manner, by resources unknown to mortals, and +proportionate to the subtilty of their own nature. They can announce +what they have foreseen must happen by certain natural tokens unknown +to men, like as a physician foresees by the secret of his art the +symptoms and the consequences of a malady which no one else can. Thus, +the demon, who knows our constitution and the secret tendency of our +humors, can foretell the maladies which are the consequences of them. +He can also discover our thoughts and our secret wishes by certain +external motions, and by certain expressions we let fall by chance, +whence he infers that men would do or undertake certain things +consequent upon these thoughts or inclinations.</p> + +<p>But his predictions are far from being comparable with those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> revealed +to us by God, through his angels, or the prophets; these are always +certain and infallible, because they have for their principle God, who +is truth; while the predictions of the demons are often deceitful, +because the arrangements on which they are founded can be changed and +deranged, when they least expect it, by unforeseen and unexpected +circumstances, or by the authority of superior powers overthrowing the +first plans, or by a peculiar disposition of Providence, who sets +bounds to the power of the prince of darkness. Sometimes, also, demons +purposely deceive those who have the weakness to place confidence in +them. But, usually, they throw the fault upon those who have taken on +themselves to interpret their discourses and predictions.</p> + +<p>So says St. Augustine;[<a href="#f201">201</a><a name="f201.1" id="f201.1"></a>] and although we do not quite agree with +him, but hold the opinion that souls, angels and demons are disengaged +from all matter or substance, still we can apply his reasoning to evil +spirits, even upon the supposition that they are immaterial—and own +that sometimes they can predict the future, and that their predictions +may be fulfilled; but that is not a proof of their being sent by God, +or inspired by his Spirit. Even were they to work miracles, we must +anathematize them as soon as they turn us from the worship of the true +God, or incline us to irregular lives.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f190.1">190</a><a name="f190" id="f190"></a>] Deut. xiii. 1, 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f191.1">191</a><a name="f191" id="f191"></a>] Isaiah xli. 22, 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f192.1">192</a><a name="f192" id="f192"></a>] Tertull. Apolog. c. 20.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f193.1">193</a><a name="f193" id="f193"></a>] Hieronym. in Dan.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f194.1">194</a><a name="f194" id="f194"></a>] Matt. xxiv. 11, 24.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f195.1">195</a><a name="f195" id="f195"></a>] Jonah i. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f196.1">196</a><a name="f196" id="f196"></a>] 2 Kings xx. 1. Isai. xxxviii. 1.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f197.1">197</a><a name="f197" id="f197"></a>] Numb. xxii. xxiii. xxiv.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f198.1">198</a><a name="f198" id="f198"></a>] Numb. xxxi. 8.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f199.1">199</a><a name="f199" id="f199"></a>] Aug. de Divinat. Dæmon. c. 3, pp. 507, 508, <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p>[<a href="#f200.1">200</a><a name="f200" id="f200"></a>] Idem. c. 5.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f201.1">201</a><a name="f201" id="f201"></a>] S. August. in his Retract. lib. ii. c. 30, owns that he advanced +this too lightly.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>REASONS WHICH LEAD US TO BELIEVE THAT THE GREATER PART OF THE ANCIENT +ORACLES WERE ONLY IMPOSITIONS OF THE PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES, WHO +FEIGNED THAT THEY WERE INSPIRED BY GOD.</h3> + + +<p>If it is true, as has been thought by many, both among the ancients +and the moderns, that the oracles of pagan antiquity were only +illusions and deceptions on the part of the priests and priestesses, +who said that they were possessed by the spirit of Python, and filled +with the inspiration of Apollo, who discovered to them internally +things hidden and past, or present and future, I must not place them +here in the rank of evil spirits. The devil has no other share in the +matter than he has always in the crimes of men, and in that multitude +of sins which cupidity, ambition, interest, and self-love produce in +the world; the demon being always ready to seize an occasion to +mislead us, and draw us into irregularity and error, em<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>ploying all +our passions to lead us into these snares. If what he has foretold is +followed by fulfilment, either by chance, or because he has foreseen +certain circumstances unknown to men, he takes to himself all the +credit of it, and makes use of it to gain our confidence and +conciliate credit for his predictions; if the thing is doubtful, and +he knows not what the issue of it will be, the demon, the priest, or +priestess will pronounce an equivocal oracle, in order that at all +events they may appear to have spoken true.</p> + +<p>The ancient legislators of Greece, the most skillful politicians, and +generals of armies, dexterously made use of the prepossession of the +people in favor of oracles, to persuade them what they had concerted +was approved of by the gods, and announced by the oracle. These things +and these oracles were often followed by success, not because the +oracle had predicted or ordained it, but because the enterprise being +well concerted and well conducted, and the soldiers also perfectly +persuaded that God was on their side, fought with more than ordinary +valor. Sometimes they gained over the priestess by the aid of +presents, and thus disposed her to give favorable replies. Demosthenes +haranguing at Athens against Philip, King of Macedon, said that the +priestess of Delphi <i>Philipized</i>, and only pronounced oracles +conformable to the inclinations, advantage, and interest of that +prince.</p> + +<p>Porphyry, the greatest enemy of the Christian name,[<a href="#f202">202</a><a name="f202.1" id="f202.1"></a>] makes no +difficulty of owning that these oracles were dictated by the spirit of +falsehood, and that the demons are the true authors of enchantments, +philtres, and spells; that they fascinate or deceive the eyes by the +spectres and phantoms which they cause to appear; that they +ambitiously desire to pass for gods; that their aërial and spiritual +bodies are nourished by the smell and smoke of the blood and fat of +the animals which are immolated to them; and that the office of +uttering oracles replete with falsehood, equivocation, and deceit has +devolved upon them. At the head of these demons he places <i>Hecate and +Serapis</i>. Jamblichus, another pagan author, speaks of them in the same +manner, and with as much contempt.</p> + +<p>The ancient fathers who lived so near the times when these oracles +existed, several of whom had forsaken paganism and embraced +Christianity, and who consequently knew more about the oracles than we +can, speak of them as things invented, governed, and maintained by the +demons. The most sensible among the heathens do not speak of them +otherwise, but also they confess that often the malice, imposition, +servility and interest of the priests had great share in the matter, +and that they abused the simplicity, credulity and prepossessions of +the people.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>Plutarch says,[<a href="#f203">203</a><a name="f203.1" id="f203.1"></a>] that a governor of Cilicia having sent to consult +the oracle of Mopsus, as he was going to Malle in the same country, +the man who carried the billet fell asleep in the temple, where he saw +in a dream a handsome looking man, who said to him the single word +<i>black</i>. He carried this reply to the governor, whose mysterious +question he knew nothing about. Those who heard this answer laughed at +it, not knowing what was in the billet: but the governor having opened +it showed them these words written in it; <i>shall I immolate to thee a +black ox or a white one</i>? and that the oracle had thus answered his +question without opening the note. But who can answer for their not +having deceived the bearer of the billet in this case, as did +Alexander of Abonotiche, a town of Paphlagonia, in Asia Minor. This +man had the art to persuade the people of his country that he had with +him the god Esculapius, in the shape of a tame serpent, who pronounced +oracles, and replied to the consultations addressed to him on divers +diseases without opening the billets they placed on the altar of the +temple of this pretended divinity; after which, without opening them, +they found the next morning the reply written below. All the trick +consisted in the seal being raised artfully by a heated needle, and +then replaced after having written the reply at the bottom of the +note, in an obscure and enigmatical style, after the manner of other +oracles. At other times he used mastic, which being yet soft, took the +impression of the seal, then when that was hardened he put on another +seal with the same impression. He received about ten sols (five pence) +per billet, and this game lasted all his life, which was a long one; +for he died at the age of seventy, being struck by lightning, near the +end of the second century of the Christian era: all which may be found +more at length in the book of Lucian, entitled <i>Pseudo Manes</i>, or <i>the +false Diviner</i>. The priest of the oracle of Mopsus could by the same +secret open the billet of the governor who consulted him, and showing +himself during the night to the messenger, declared to him the +above-mentioned reply.</p> + +<p>Macrobius[<a href="#f204">204</a><a name="f204.1" id="f204.1"></a>] relates that the Emperor Trajan, to prove the oracle of +Heliopolis in Phœnicia, sent him a well-sealed letter in which +nothing was written; the oracle commanded that a blank letter should +also be sent to the emperor. The priests of the oracle were much +surprised at this, not knowing the reason of it. Another time the same +emperor sent to consult this same oracle to know whether he should +return safe from his expedition against the Parthians. The oracle +commanded that they should send him some branches of a knotted vine, +which was sacred in his temple. Neither the emperor nor any one else +could guess what that meant; but his body, or rather his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +bones, having been brought to Rome after his death, which happened +during his journey, it was supposed that the oracle had intended to +predict his death, and designate his fleshless bones, which somewhat +resemble the branches of a vine.</p> + +<p>It is easy to explain this quite otherwise. If he had returned +victorious, the vine being the source of wine which rejoices the heart +of man, and is agreeable to both gods and men, would have typified his +victory—and if the expedition had proved fruitless, the wood of the +vine, which is useless for any kind of work, and only good for burning +as firewood, might in that case signify the inutility of this +expedition. It is allowed that the artifice, malice, and inventions of +the heathen priests had much to do with the oracles; but are we to +infer from this that the demon had no part in the matter?</p> + +<p>We must allow that as by degrees the light of the Gospel was spread in +the world, the reign of the demon, ignorance, corruption of morals, +and crime, diminished. The priests who pretended to predict, by the +inspiration of the evil spirit, things concealed from mortal +knowledge, or who misled the people by their illusions and impostures, +were obliged to confess that the Christians imposed silence on them, +either by the empire they exercised over the devil, or else by +discovering the malice and knavishness of the priests, which the +people had not dared to sound, from a blind respect which they had for +this mystery of iniquity.</p> + +<p>If in our days any one would deny that in former times there were +oracles which were rendered by the inspiration of the demon, we might +convince him of it by what is still practiced in Lapland, and by what +missionaries[<a href="#f205">205</a><a name="f205.1" id="f205.1"></a>] relate, that in India the demon reveals things +hidden and to come, not by the mouth of idols, but by that of the +priests, who are present when they interrogate either the statues or +the demon. And they remark that there the demon becomes mute and +powerless, in proportion as the light of the Gospel is spread among +these nations. Thus then the silence of the oracles may be +attributed—1. To a superhuman cause, which is the power of Jesus +Christ, and the publication of the Gospel. 2. Mankind are become less +superstitious, and bolder in searching out the cause of these +pretended revelations. 3. To their having become less credulous, as +Cicero says.[<a href="#f206">206</a><a name="f206.1" id="f206.1"></a>] 4. Because princes have imposed silence on the +oracles, fearing that they might inspire the nation with rebellious +principles. For which reason, Lucan says, that princes feared to +discover the future.[<a href="#f207">207</a><a name="f207.1" id="f207.1"></a>]</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>Strabo[<a href="#f208">208</a><a name="f208.1" id="f208.1"></a>] conjectures that the Romans neglected them because they +had the Sibylline books, and their auspices (aruspices, or +haruspices), which stood them instead of oracles. M. Vandale +demonstrates that some remains of the oracles might yet be seen under +the Christian emperors. It was then only in process of time that +oracles were entirely abolished; and it may be boldly asserted that +sometimes the evil spirit revealed the future, and inspired the +ministers of false gods, by permission of the Almighty, who wished to +punish the confidence of the infidels in their idols. It would be +going too far, if we affirmed that all that was said of the oracles +was only the effect of the artifices or the malice of the priests, who +always imposed on the credulity of mankind. Read on this subject the +learned reply of Father Balthus to the treatises of MM. Vandale and +Fontenelle.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f202.1">202</a><a name="f202" id="f202"></a>] Porphr. apud Euseb. de Præpar. Evang. lib, iv. c. 5, 6.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f203.1">203</a><a name="f203" id="f203"></a>] Plutarch, de Defectu Oracul. p. 434.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f204.1">204</a><a name="f204" id="f204"></a>] Macrob. Saturnal. lib. i. c. 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f205.1">205</a><a name="f205" id="f205"></a>] Lettres édifiantes, tom. x.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f206.1">206</a><a name="f206" id="f206"></a>] Cicero, de Divinat. lib. ii. c. 57.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f207.1">207</a><a name="f207" id="f207"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Reges timent futura</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Et superos vetant loqui."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;"><i>Lucan</i>, Pharsal. lib. v. p. 112.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f208.1">208</a><a name="f208" id="f208"></a>] Strabo, lib. xvii.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>ON SORCERERS AND SORCERESSES, OR WITCHES.</h3> + + +<p>The empire of the devil nowhere shines forth with more lustre than in +what is related of the Sabbath (witches' sabbath or assembly), where +he receives the homage of those of both sexes who have abandoned +themselves to him. It is there, the wizards and witches say, that he +exercises the greatest authority, and appears in a visible form, but +always hideous, misshapen, and terrible; always during the night in +out-of-the-way places, and arrayed in a manner more gloomy than gay, +rather sad and dull, than majestic and brilliant. If they pay their +adoration in that place to the prince of darkness, he shows himself +there in a despicable posture, and in a base, contemptible and hideous +form; if people eat there, the viands of the feast are dirty, insipid, +and destitute of solidity and substance—they neither satisfy the +appetite, nor please the palate; if they dance there, it is without +order, without skill, without propriety.</p> + +<p>To endeavor to give a description of the infernal sabbath, is to aim +at describing what has no existence and never has existed, except in +the craving and deluded imagination of sorcerers and sorceresses: the +paintings we have of it are conceived after the reveries of those who +fancy they have been transported through the air to the sabbath, both +in body and soul.</p> + +<p>People are carried thither, say they, sitting on a broom-stick, +sometimes on the clouds or on a he-goat. Neither the place, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> time, +nor the day when they assemble is fixed. It is sometimes in a lonely +forest, sometimes in a desert, usually on the Wednesday or the +Thursday night; the most solemn of all is that of the eve of St. John +the Baptist: they there distribute to every sorcerer the ointment with +which he must anoint himself when he desires to go to the sabbath, and +the spell-powder he must make use of in his magic operations. They +must all appear together in this general assembly, and he who is +absent is severely ill-used both in word and deed. As to the private +meetings, the demon is more indulgent to those who are absent for some +particular reason.</p> + +<p>As to the ointment with which they anoint themselves, some authors, +amongst others, John Baptista Porta, and John Wierius,[<a href="#f209">209</a><a name="f209.1" id="f209.1"></a>] boast that +they know the composition. Amongst other ingredients there are many +narcotic drugs, which cause those who make use of it to fall into a +profound slumber, during which they imagine that they are carried to +the sabbath up the chimney, at the top of which they find a tall black +man,[<a href="#f210">210</a><a name="f210.1" id="f210.1"></a>] with horns, who transports them where they wish to go, and +afterwards brings them back again by the same chimney. The accounts +given by these people, and the description which they give of their +assemblies, are wanting in unity and uniformity.</p> + +<p>The demon, their chief, appears there, either in the shape of a +he-goat, or as a great black dog, or as an immense raven; he is seated +on an elevated throne, and receives there the homage of those present +in a way which decency does not allow us to describe. In this +nocturnal assembly they sing, they dance, they abandon themselves to +the most shameful disorder; they sit down to table, and indulge in +good cheer; while at the same time they see on the table neither knife +nor fork, salt nor oil; they find the viands devoid of savor, and quit +the table without their hunger being satisfied.</p> + +<p>One would imagine that the attraction of a better fortune, and a wish +to enrich themselves, drew thither men and women. The devil never +fails to make them magnificent promises, at least the sorcerers say +so, and believe it, deceived, without doubt, by their imagination; but +experience shows us that these people are always ragged, despised, and +wretched, and usually end their lives in a violent and dishonorable +manner.</p> + +<p>When they are admitted for the first time to the sabbath, the demon +inscribes their name and surname on his register, which he makes them +sign; then he makes them forswear cream and baptism, makes them +renounce Jesus Christ and his church; and, to give<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +them a distinctive character and make them known for his own, he +imprints on their bodies a certain mark with the nail of the little +finger of one of his hands; this mark, or character, thus impressed, +renders the part insensible to pain. They even pretend that he +impresses this character in three different parts of the body, and at +three different times. The demon does not impress these characters, +say they, before the person has attained the age of twenty-five.</p> + +<p>But none of these things deserve the least attention. There may happen +to be in the body of a man, or a woman, some benumbed part, either +from illness, or the effect of remedies, or drugs, or even naturally; +but that is no proof that the devil has anything to do with it. There +are even persons accused of magic and sorcery, on whom no part thus +characterized has been found, nor yet insensible to the touch, however +exact the search. Others have declared that the devil has never made +any such marks upon them. Consult on this matter the second letter of +M. de St. André, Physician to the King, in which he well develops what +has been said about these characters of sorcerers.</p> + +<p>The word sabbath, taken in the above sense, is not to be found in +ancient writers; neither the Hebrews nor the Egyptians, the Greeks nor +the Latins have known it.</p> + +<p>The thing itself, I mean the <i>sabbath</i> taken in the sense of a +nocturnal assembly of persons devoted to the devil, is not remarked in +antiquity, although magicians, sorcerers, and witches are spoken of +often enough—that is to say, people who boasted that they exercised a +kind of power over the devil, and by his means, over animals, the air, +the stars, and the lives and fortunes of men.</p> + +<p>Horace[<a href="#f211">211</a><a name="f211.1" id="f211.1"></a>] makes use of the word <i>coticia</i> to indicate the nocturnal +meetings of the magicians—<i>Tu riseris coticia</i>; which he derives from +<i>Cotys</i>, or <i>Cotto</i>, Goddess of Vice, who presided in the assemblies +which were held at night, and where the Bacchantes gave themselves up +to all sorts of dissolute pleasures; but this is very different from +the witches' sabbath.</p> + +<p>Others derive this term from <i>Sabbatius</i>, which is an epithet given to +the god Bacchus, whose nocturnal festivals were celebrated in +debauchery. Arnobius and Julius Firmicus Maternus inform us that in +these festivals they slipped a golden serpent into the bosoms of the +initiated, and drew it downwards; but this etymology is too +far-fetched: the people who gave the name of <i>sabbath</i> to the +assemblies of the sorcerers wished apparently to compare them in +derision to those of the Jews, and to what they practiced in their +synagogues on sabbath days.</p> + +<p>The most ancient monument in which I have been able to remark<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> any +express mention of the nocturnal assemblies of the sorcerers is in the +Capitularies,[<a href="#f212">212</a><a name="f212.1" id="f212.1"></a>] wherein it is said that women led away by the +illusions of the demons, say that they go in the night with the +goddess Diana and an infinite number of other women, borne through the +air on different animals, that they go in a few hours a great +distance, and obey Diana as their queen. It was, therefore, to the +goddess Diana, or the Moon, and not to Lucifer, that they paid homage. +The Germans call witches' dances what we call the sabbath. They say +that these people assemble on Mount Bructere.</p> + +<p>The famous Agobard,[<a href="#f213">213</a><a name="f213.1" id="f213.1"></a>] Archbishop of Lyons, who lived under the +Emperor Louis the Debonair, wrote a treatise against certain +superstitious persons in his time, who believed that storms, hail, and +thunder were caused by certain sorcerers whom they called tempesters +(<i>tempestarios</i>, or storm-brewers), who raised the rain in the air, +caused storms and thunder, and brought sterility upon the earth. They +called these extraordinary rains <i>aura lavatitia</i>, as if to indicate +that they were raised by magic power. In this place the people still +call these violent rains <i>alvace</i>. There were even persons +sufficiently prejudiced to boast that they knew of <i>tempêtiers</i>, who +had to conduct the tempests where they choose, and to turn them aside +when they pleased. Agobard interrogated some of them, but they were +obliged to own that they had not been present at the things they +related.</p> + +<p>Agobard maintains that this is the work of God alone; that in truth, +the saints, with the help of God, have often performed similar +prodigies; but that neither the devil nor sorcerers can do anything +like it. He remarks that there were among his people superstitious +persons who would pay very punctually what they called <i>canonicum</i>, +which was a sort of tribute which they offered to these +tempest-brewers (<i>tempêtiers</i>), that they might not hurt them, while +they refused the tithe to the priest and alms to the widow, orphan, +and other indigent persons.</p> + +<p>He adds that he had of late found people sufficiently foolish enough +to spread a report that Grimaldus, Duke of Benevento, had sent persons +into France, carrying certain powders which they had scattered over +the fields, mountains, meadows, and springs, and had thus caused the +death of an immense number of animals. Several of these persons were +taken up, and they owned that they carried such powders about with +them and though they made them suffer various tortures, they could not +force them to retract what they had said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>Others affirmed that there was a certain country named Mangonia, +where there were vessels which were borne through the air and took +away the productions; that certain wizards had cut down trees to carry +them to their country. He says, moreover, that one day three men and a +woman were presented to him, who, they said, had fallen from these +ships which floated in the air. They were kept some days in +confinement, and at last having been confronted with their accusers, +the latter were obliged, after contesting the matter, and making +several depositions, to avow that they knew nothing certain concerning +their being carried away, or of their pretended fall from the ship in +the sky.</p> + +<p>Charlemagne[<a href="#f214">214</a><a name="f214.1" id="f214.1"></a>] in his Capitularies, and the authors of his time, +speak also of these wizard tempest-brewers, enchanters, &c., and +commanded that they should be reprimanded and severely chastised.</p> + +<p>Pope Gregory IX.[<a href="#f215">215</a><a name="f215.1" id="f215.1"></a>] in a letter addressed to the Archbishop of +Mayence, the Bishop of Hildesheim, and Doctor Conrad, in 1234, thus +relates the abominations of which they accused the heretic +<i>Stadingians</i>. "When they receive," says he, "a novice, and when he +enters their assemblies for the first time, he sees an enormous toad, +as big as a goose, or bigger. Some kiss it on the mouth, some kiss it +behind. Then the novice meets a pale man with very black eyes, and so +thin that he is only skin and bones. He kisses him, and feels that he +is cold as ice. After this kiss, the novice easily forgets the +Catholic faith; afterwards they hold a feast together, after which a +black cat comes down behind a statue, which usually stands in the room +where they assemble.</p> + +<p>"The novice first of all kisses the cat on the back, then he who +presides over the assembly, and the others who are worthy of it. The +imperfect receive only a kiss from the master; they promise obedience; +after which they extinguish the lights, and commit all sorts of +disorders. They receive every year, at Easter, the Lord's Body, and +carry it in their mouth to their own houses, when they cast it away. +They believe in Lucifer, and say that the Master of Heaven has +unjustly and fraudulently thrown him into hell. They believe also that +Lucifer is the creator of celestial things, that will re-enter into +glory after having thrown down his adversary, and that through him +they will gain eternal bliss." This letter bears date the 13th of +June, 1233.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f209.1">209</a><a name="f209" id="f209"></a>] Joan. Vier. lib. ii. c. 7.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f210.1">210</a><a name="f210" id="f210"></a>] A remarkably fine print on this subject was published at Paris +some years ago; if we remember right, it was suppressed.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f211.1">211</a><a name="f211" id="f211"></a>] Horat. Epodon. xviii. 4.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f212.1">212</a><a name="f212" id="f212"></a>] "Quædam sceleratæ mulieres dæmonum illusionibus et +phantasmatibus seductæ, credunt se et profitentur nocturnis horis cum +Dianâ Paganorum deâ et innumerâ multitudine mulierum equitare super +quasdam bestias et multa terrarum spalia intempestæ noctis silentio +pertransire ejusque jussionibus veluti dominæ obedire."—Baluz. +Capitular. fragment. c. 13. Vide et Capitul. Herardi, Episc. Turon.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f213.1">213</a><a name="f213" id="f213"></a>] Agobard de Grandine.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f214.1">214</a><a name="f214" id="f214"></a>] Vide Baluzii in Agobard. pp. 68, 69.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f215.1">215</a><a name="f215" id="f215"></a>] Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. xvii. p. 53, ann. 1234.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCES OF SORCERERS AND WITCHES BEING, AS THEY SAID, TRANSPORTED TO +THE SABBATH.</h3> + + +<p>All that is said about witches going to the sabbath is treated as a +fable, and we have several examples which prove that they do not stir +from their bed or their chamber. It is true that some of them anoint +themselves with a certain grease or unguent, which makes them sleepy, +and renders them insensible; and during this swoon they fancy that +they go to the sabbath, and there see and hear what every one says is +there seen and heard.</p> + +<p>We read, in the book entitled <i>Malleus Maleficorum</i>, or the <i>Hammer of +the Sorcerers</i>, that a woman who was in the hands of the Inquisitors +assured them that she repaired really and bodily whither she would, +and that even were she shut up in prison and strictly guarded, and let +the place be ever so far off.</p> + +<p>The Inquisitors ordered her to go to a certain place, to speak to +certain persons, and bring back news of them; she promised to obey, +and was directly locked up in a chamber, where she lay down, extended +as if dead; they went into the room, and moved her; but she remained +motionless, and without the least sensation, so that when they put a +lighted candle to her foot and burnt it she did not feel it. A little +after, she came to herself, and gave an account of the commission they +had given her, saying she had had a great deal of trouble to go that +road. They asked her what was the matter with her foot; she said it +hurt her very much since her return, and knew not whence it came.</p> + +<p>Then the Inquisitors declared to her what had happened; that she had +not stirred from her place, and that the pain in her foot was caused +by the application of a lighted candle during her pretended absence. +The thing having been verified, she acknowledged her folly, asked +pardon, and promised never to fall into it again.</p> + +<p>Other historians relate[<a href="#f216">216</a><a name="f216.1" id="f216.1"></a>] that, by means of certain drugs with +which both wizards and witches anoint themselves, they are really and +corporally transported to the sabbath. Torquemada relates, on the +authority of Paul Grilland, that a husband suspecting his wife<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +of being a witch, desired to know if she went to the sabbath, and how +she managed to transport herself thither. He watched her so narrowly, +that he saw her one day anoint herself with a certain unguent, and +then take the form of a bird and fly away, and he saw her no more till +the next morning, when he found her by his side. He questioned her +very much, without making her own anything; at last he told her what +he had himself seen, and by dint of beating her with a stick, he +constrained her to tell him her secret, and to take him with her to +the sabbath.</p> + +<p>Arrived at this place, he sat down to table with the others; but as +all the viands which were on the table were very insipid, he asked for +some salt; they were some time before they brought any; at last, +seeing a salt-cellar, he said—"God be praised, there is some salt at +last!" At the same instant, he heard a very great noise, all the +company disappeared, and he found himself alone and naked in a field +among the mountains. He went forward and found some shepherds; he +learned that he was more than three leagues from his dwelling. He +returned thither as he could, and, having related the circumstance to +the Inquisitors, they caused the woman and several others, her +accomplices, to be taken up and chastised as they deserved.</p> + +<p>The same author relates that a woman, returning from the sabbath and +being carried through the air by the evil spirit, heard in the morning +the bell for the <i>Angelus</i>. The devil let her go immediately, and she +fell into a quickset hedge on the bank of a river; her hair fell +disheveled over her neck and shoulders. She perceived a young lad who +after much entreaty came and took her out and conducted her to the +next village, where her house was situated; it required most pressing +and repeated questions on the part of the lad, before she would tell +him truly what had happened to her; she made him presents, and begged +him to say nothing about it, nevertheless the circumstance got spread +abroad.</p> + +<p>If we could depend on the truth of these stories, and an infinite +number of similar ones, which books are full of, we might believe that +sometimes sorcerers are carried bodily to the sabbath; but on +comparing these stories with others which prove that they go thither +only in mind and imagination, we may say boldly, that what is related +of wizards and witches who go or think they go to the sabbath, is +usually only illusion on the part of the devil, and seduction on the +part of those of both sexes who fancy they fly and travel, while they +in reality do not stir from their places. The spirit of malice and +falsehood being mixed up in this foolish prepossession, they confirm +themselves in their follies and engage others in the same impiety; for +Satan has a thousand ways of deceiving mankind and of retaining them +in error. Magic, impiety, enchantments, are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> often the effects of a +diseased imagination. It rarely happens that these kind of people do +not fall into every excess of licentiousness, irreligion, and theft, +and into the most outrageous consequences of hatred to their +neighbors.</p> + +<p>Some have believed that demons took the form of the sorcerers and +sorceresses who were supposed to be at the sabbath, and that they +maintained the simple creatures in their foolish belief, by appearing +to them sometimes in the shape of those persons who were reputed +witches, while they themselves were quietly asleep in their beds. But +this belief contains difficulties as great, or perhaps greater, than +the opinion we would combat. It is far from easy to understand that +the demon takes the form of pretended sorcerers and witches, that he +appears under this shape, that he eats, drinks, and travels, and does +other actions to make simpletons believe that <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'sorcerors'.">sorcerers</ins> go to the +sabbath. What advantage does the devil derive from making idiots +believe these things, or maintaining them in such an error? +Nevertheless it is related[<a href="#f217">217</a><a name="f217.1" id="f217.1"></a>] that St. Germain, Bishop of Auxerre, +traveling one day, and passing through a village in his diocese, after +having taken some refreshment there, remarked that they were preparing +a great supper, and laying out the table anew; he asked if they +expected company, and they told him it was for those good women who go +by night. St. Germain well understood what was meant, and resolved to +watch to see the end of this adventure.</p> + +<p>Some time after he beheld a multitude of demons who came in the form +of men and women, and sat down to table in his presence. St. Germain +forbade them to withdraw, and calling the people of the house, he +asked them if they knew those persons: they replied, that they were +such and such among their neighbors: "Go," said he, "and see if they +are in their houses:" they went, and found them asleep in their beds. +The saint conjured the demons, and obliged them to declare that it is +thus they mislead mortals, and make them believe that there are +sorcerers and witches who go by night to the sabbath; they obeyed, and +disappeared, greatly confused.</p> + +<p>This history may be read in old manuscripts, and is to be found in +Jacques de Varasse, Pierre de Noëls, in St. Antonine, and in old +Breviaries of Auxerre, as well printed, as manuscript. I by no means +guarantee the truth of this story; I think it is absolutely +apocryphal; but it proves that those who wrote and copied it believed +that these nocturnal journeys of sorcerers and witches to the sabbath, +were mere illusions of the demon. In fact, it is hardly possible to +explain all that is said of sorcerers and witches going to the +sabbath, without having recourse to the ministry of the demon; to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +which we must add a disturbed imagination, with a mind misled, and +foolishly prepossessed, and, if you will, a few drugs which affect the +brain, excite the humors, and produce dreams relative to impressions +already in their minds.</p> + +<p>In John Baptist Porta Cardan, and elsewhere, may be found the +composition of those ointments with which witches are said to anoint +themselves, to be able to transport themselves to the sabbath; but the +only real effect they produce is to send them to sleep, disturb their +imagination, and make them believe they are going long journeys, while +they remain profoundly sleeping in their beds.</p> + +<p>The fathers of the council of Paris, of the year 829, confess that +magicians, wizards, and people of that kind, are the ministers and +instruments of the demon in the exercise of their diabolical art; that +they trouble the minds of certain persons by beverages calculated to +inspire impure love; that they are persuaded they can disturb the sky, +excite tempests, send hail, predict the future, ruin and destroy the +fruit, and take away the milk of cattle belonging to one person, in +order to give it to cattle the property of another.</p> + +<p>The bishops conclude that all the rigor of the laws enacted by princes +against such persons ought to be put in force against them, and so +much the more justly, that it is evident they yield themselves up to +the service of the devil.</p> + +<p>Spranger, in the <i>Malleus Maleficorum</i>, relates, that in Suabia, a +peasant who was walking in his fields with his little girl, a child +about eight years of age, complained of the drought, saying, "Alas! +when will God give us some rain?" Immediately the little girl told him +that she could bring him some down whenever he wished it. He +answered,—"And who has taught you that secret?" "My mother," said +she, "who has strictly forbidden me to tell any body of it."</p> + +<p>"And what did she do to give you this power?"</p> + +<p>"She took me to a master, who comes to me as many times as I call +him."</p> + +<p>"And have you seen this master?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said she, "I have often seen men come to my mother's house; she +has devoted me to one of them."</p> + +<p>After this dialogue, the father asked her how she could do to make it +rain upon his field only. She asked but for a little water; he led her +to a neighboring brook, and the girl having called the water in the +name of him to whom she had been devoted by her mother, they beheld +directly abundance of rain falling on the peasant's field.</p> + +<p>The father, convinced that his wife was a sorceress, accused her +before the judges, who condemned her to be burnt. The daughter was +baptized and vowed to God, but she then lost the power of making it +rain at her will.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f216.1">216</a><a name="f216" id="f216"></a>] Alphons. à Castro ex Petro Grilland. Tract. de Hæresib.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f217.1">217</a><a name="f217" id="f217"></a>] Bolland, 5 Jul. p. 287.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>STORY OF LOUIS GAUFREDI AND MAGDALEN DE LA PALUD, OWNED BY THEMSELVES +TO BE A SORCERER AND SORCERESS.</h3> + + +<p>This is an unheard-of example; a man and woman who declared themselves +to be a sorcerer and sorceress. Louis Gaufredi, Curé of the parish of +Accouls, at Marseilles,[<a href="#f218">218</a><a name="f218.1" id="f218.1"></a>] was accused of magic, and arrested at the +beginning of the year 1611. Christopher Gaufredi, his uncle, of +Pourrieres, in the neighborhood of Beauversas, sent him, six months +before he (Christopher) died, a little paper book, in 16mo., with six +leaves written upon; at the bottom of every leaf were two verses in +French, and in the other parts were characters or ciphers, which +contained magical mysteries. Louis Gaufredi at first thought very +little of this book, and kept it for five years.</p> + +<p>At the end of that time, having read the French verses, the devil +presented himself under a human shape, and by no means deformed, and +told him that he was come to fulfil all his wishes, if he would give +<i>him</i> credit for all his good works. Gaufredi agreed to the condition. +He asked of the demon that he might enjoy a great reputation for +wisdom and virtue among persons of probity, and that he might inspire +with love all the women and young girls he pleased, by simply +breathing upon them.</p> + +<p>Lucifer promised him all this in writing, and Gaufredi very soon saw +the perfect accomplishment of his designs. He inspired with love a +young lady named Magdalen, the daughter of a gentleman whose name was +Mandole de la Palud. This girl was only nine years old, when Gaufredi, +on pretence of devotion and spirituality, gave her to understand that, +as her spiritual father, he had a right to dispose of her, and +persuaded her to give herself to the devil; and some years afterwards, +he obliged her to give a schedule, signed with her own blood, to the +devil, to deliver herself up to him still more. It is even said that +he made her give from that time seven or eight other schedules.</p> + +<p>After that, he breathed upon her, inspired her with a violent passion +for himself, and took advantage of her; he gave her a familiar demon, +who served her and followed her everywhere. One day he transported her +to the witches' sabbath, held on a high mountain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +near Marseilles; she saw there people of all nations, and in +particular Gaufredi, who held there a distinguished rank, and who +caused characters to be impressed or stamped on her head and in +several other parts of her body. This girl afterwards became a nun of +the order of St. Ursula, and passed for being possessed by the devil.</p> + +<p>Gaufredi also inspired several other women with an irregular passion, +by breathing on them; and this diabolical power lasted for six years. +For at last they found out that he was a sorcerer and magician; and +Mademoiselle de Mandole having been arrested by the Inquisition, and +interrogated by father Michael Jacobin, owned a great part of what we +have just told, and during the exorcisms discovered several other +things. She was then nineteen years of age.</p> + +<p>All this made Gaufredi known to the Parliament of Provence. They +arrested him; and proceedings against him commenced February, 1611. +They heard in particular the deposition of Magdalen de la Palud, who +gave a complete history of the magic of Gaufredi, and the abominations +he had committed with her. That for the last fourteen years he had +been a magician, and head of the magicians; and if he had been taken +by the justiciary power, the devil would have carried him body and +soul to hell.</p> + +<p>Gaufredi had voluntarily gone to prison; and from the first +examination which he underwent, he denied everything and represented +himself as an upright man. But from the depositions made against him, +it was shown that his heart was very corrupted, and that he had +seduced Mademoiselle de Mandole, and other women whom he confessed. +This young lady was heard juridically the 21st of February, and gave +the history of her seduction, of Gaufredi's magic, and of the sabbath +whither he had caused her to be transported several times.</p> + +<p>Some time after this, being confronted with Gaufredi, she owned that +he was a worthy man, and that all which had been reported against him +was imaginary, and retracted all she herself had avowed. Gaufredi on +his part acknowledged his illicit connection with her, denied all the +rest, and maintained that it was the devil, by whom she was possessed, +that had suggested to her all she had said. He owned that, having +resolved to reform his life, Lucifer had appeared to him, and +threatened him with many misfortunes; that in fact he had experienced +several; that he had burnt the magic book in which he had placed the +schedules of Mademoiselle de la Palud and his own, which he had made +with the devil; but that when he afterwards looked for them, he was +much astonished not to find them. He spoke at length concerning the +sabbath, and said there was, near the town of Nice, a magician, who +had all sorts of garments ready for the use of the sorcerers; that on +the day of the sabbath, there is a bell weighing a hundred pounds, +four ells in width, and with a clapper of wood, which made the sound +dull and lugubrious. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> related several horrors, impieties, and +abominations which were committed at the sabbath. He repeated the +schedule which Lucifer had given him, by which he bound himself to +cast a spell on those women who should be to his taste.</p> + +<p>After this exposition of the things related above, the +attorney-general drew his conclusions: As the said Gaufredi had been +convicted of having divers marks in several parts of his body, where +if pricked he has felt no pain, neither has any blood come; that he +has been illicitly connected with Magdalen de la Palud, both at church +and in her own house, both by day and by night, by letters in which +were amorous or love characters, invisible to any other but herself; +that he had induced her to renounce her God and her Church—and that +she had received on her body several diabolical characters; that he +has owned himself to be a sorcerer and a magician; that he had kept by +him a book of magic, and had made use of it to conjure and invoke the +evil spirit; that he has been with the said Magdalen to the sabbath, +where he had committed an infinite number of scandalous, impious and +abominable actions, such as having worshiped Lucifer:—for these +causes, the said attorney-general requires that the said Gaufredi be +declared attainted and convicted of the circumstances imputed to him, +and as reparation of them, that he be previously degraded from sacred +orders by the Lord Bishop of Marseilles, his diocesan, and afterwards +condemned to make honorable amends one audience day, having his head +and feet bare, a cord about his neck, and holding a lighted taper in +his hands—to ask pardon of God, the king, and the court of +justice—then, to be delivered into the hands of the executioner of +the high court of law, to be taken to all the chief places and +cross-roads of this city of Aix, and torn with red-hot pincers in all +parts of his body; and after that, in the <i>Place des Jacobins</i>, burned +alive, and his ashes scattered to the wind; and before being executed, +let the question be applied to him, and let him be tormented as +grievously as can be devised, in order to extract from him the names +of his other accomplices. Deliberated the 18th of April, 1611, and the +decree in conformity given the 29th of April, 1611.</p> + +<p>The same Gaufredi having undergone the question ordinary and +extraordinary, declared that he had seen at the sabbath no person of +his acquaintance except Mademoiselle de Mandole; that he had seen +there also certain monks of certain orders, which he did not name, +neither did he know the names of the monks. That the devil anointed +the heads of the sorcerers with certain unguents, which quite effaced +every thing from their memory.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding this decree of the Parliament of Provence, many people +believed that Gaufredi was a sorcerer only in imagination; and the +author from whom we derive this history says, that there are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> some +parliaments, amongst others the Parliament of Paris, which do not +punish sorcerers when no other crimes are combined with magic; and +that experience has proved that, in not punishing sorcerers, but +simply treating them as madmen, it has been seen in time that they +were no longer sorcerers, because they no longer fed their imagination +with these ideas; while in those places where sorcerers were burnt, +they saw nothing else, because everybody was strengthened in this +prejudice. That is what this writer says.</p> + +<p>But we cannot conclude from thence that God does not sometimes permit +the demon to exercise his power over men, and lead them to the excess +of malice and impiety, and shed darkness over their minds and +corruption in their hearts, which hurry them into an abyss of disorder +and misfortune. The demon tempted Job[<a href="#f219">219</a><a name="f219.1" id="f219.1"></a>] by the permission of God. +The messenger of Satan and the thorn in the flesh wearied St. +Paul;[<a href="#f220">220</a><a name="f220.1" id="f220.1"></a>] he asked to be delivered from them; but he was told that +the grace of God would enable him to resist his enemies, and that +virtue was strengthened by infirmities and trials. Satan took +possession of the heart of Judas, and led him to betray Jesus Christ +his Master to the Jews his enemies.[<a href="#f221">221</a><a name="f221.1" id="f221.1"></a>] The Lord wishing to warn his +disciples against the impostors who would appear after his ascension, +says that, by God's permission, these impostors would work such +miracles as might mislead the very elect themselves,[<a href="#f222">222</a><a name="f222.1" id="f222.1"></a>] were it +possible. He tells them elsewhere,[<a href="#f223">223</a><a name="f223.1" id="f223.1"></a>] that Satan has asked +permission of God to sift them as wheat, but that He has prayed for +them that their faith may be steadfast.</p> + +<p>Thus then with permission from God, the devil can lead men to commit +such excesses as we have just seen in Mademoiselle de la Palud and in +the priest Louis Gaufredi, perhaps even so far as really to take them +through the air to unknown spots, and to what is called the witches' +sabbath; or, without really conducting them thither, so strike their +imagination and mislead their senses, that they think they move, see, +and hear, when they do not stir from their places, see no object and +hear no sound.</p> + +<p>Observe, also, that the Parliament of Aix did not pass any sentence +against even that young girl, it being their custom to inflict no +other punishment on those who suffered themselves to be seduced and +dishonored than the shame with which they were loaded ever after. In +regard to the curé Gaufredi, in the account which they render to the +chancellor of the sentence given by them, they say that this curé was +in truth accused of sorcery; but that he had been condemned to the +flames, as being arraigned and convicted of spiritual incest with +Magdalen de la Palud, his penitent.[<a href="#f224">224</a><a name="f224.1" id="f224.1"></a>]</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f218.1">218</a><a name="f218" id="f218"></a>] Causes Célèbres, tom. vi. p. 192.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f219.1">219</a><a name="f219" id="f219"></a>] Job i. 12, 13, 22.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f220.1">220</a><a name="f220" id="f220"></a>] 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f221.1">221</a><a name="f221" id="f221"></a>] John xiii. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f222.1">222</a><a name="f222" id="f222"></a>] Matt. xxiv. 5.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f223.1">223</a><a name="f223" id="f223"></a>] Luke xxi.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f224.1">224</a><a name="f224" id="f224"></a>] The attentive reader of this horrible narrative will hardly fail +to conclude that Gaufredi's fault was chiefly his seduction of +Mademoiselle de la Palud, and that the rest was the effect of a heated +imagination. The absurd proportions of the "<i>Sabbath</i>" bell will be +sufficient to show this. If the bell were metallic, it would have +weighed many tons, and a <i>wooden</i> bell of such dimensions, even were +it capable of sounding, would weigh many hundred weight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>REASONS WHICH PROVE THE POSSIBILITY OF SORCERERS AND WITCHES BEING +TRANSPORTED TO THE SABBATH.</h3> + + +<p>All that has just been said is more fitted to prove that the going of +sorcerers and witches to the sabbath is only an illusion and a +deranged imagination on the part of these persons, and malice and +deceit on that of the devil, who misleads them, and persuades them to +yield themselves to him, and renounce true religion, by the lure of +vain promises that he will enrich them, load them with honors, +pleasures, and prosperity, rather than to convince us of the reality +of the corporeal transportation of these persons to what they call the +sabbath.</p> + +<p>Here are some arguments and examples which seem to prove, at least, +that the transportation of sorcerers to the sabbath is not impossible; +for the impossibility of this transportation is one of the strongest +objections which is made to the opinion that supposes it.</p> + +<p>There is no difficulty in believing that God may allow the demon to +mislead men, and carry them on to every excess of irregularity, error, +and impiety; and that he may also permit him to perform some things +which to us appear astonishing, and even miraculous; whether the devil +achieves them by natural power, or by the supernatural concurrence of +God, who employs the evil spirit to punish his creature, who has +willingly forsaken Him to yield himself up to his enemy. The prophet +Ezekiel was transported through the air from Chaldea, where he was a +captive, to Judea, and into the temple of the Lord, where he saw the +abominations which the Israelites committed in that holy place; and +thence he was brought back again to Chaldea by the ministration of +angels, as we shall relate in another chapter.</p> + +<p>We know by the Gospel that the devil carried our Saviour to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +highest point of the temple at Jerusalem.[<a href="#f225">225</a><a name="f225.1" id="f225.1"></a>] We know also that the +prophet Habakkuk[<a href="#f226">226</a><a name="f226.1" id="f226.1"></a>] was transported from Judea to Babylon, to carry +food to Daniel in the lion's den. St. Paul informs us that he was +carried up to the third heaven, and that he heard ineffable things; +but he owns that he does not know whether it was in the body or only +in the spirit. He therefore doubted not the possibility of a man's +being transported in body and soul through the air. The deacon St. +Philip was transported from the road from Gaza to Azotus in a very +little time by the Spirit of God.[<a href="#f227">227</a><a name="f227.1" id="f227.1"></a>] We learn by ecclesiastical +history, that Simon the magician was carried by the demon up into the +air, whence he was precipitated, through the prayers of St. Peter. +John the Deacon,[<a href="#f228">228</a><a name="f228.1" id="f228.1"></a>] author of the life of St. Gregory the Great, +relates that one Farold having introduced into the monastery of St. +Andrew, at Rome, some women who led disorderly lives, in order to +divert himself there with them, and offer insult to the monks, that +same night Farold having occasion to go out, was suddenly seized and +carried up into the air by demons, who held him there suspended by his +hair, without his being able to open his mouth to utter a cry, till +the hour of matins, when Pope St. Gregory, the founder and protector +of that monastery, appeared to him, reproached him for his profanation +of that holy place, and foretold that he would die within the +year—which did happen.</p> + +<p>I have been told by a magistrate, as incapable of being deceived by +illusions as of imposing any such on other people,[<a href="#f229">229</a><a name="f229.1" id="f229.1"></a>] that on the +16th of October, 1716, a carpenter, who inhabited a village near Bar, +in Alsace, called Heiligenstein, was found at five o'clock in the +morning in the garret of a cooper at Bar. This cooper having gone up +to fetch the wood for his trade that he might want to use during the +day, and having opened the door, which was fastened with a bolt <i>on +the outside</i>, perceived a man lying at full length upon his stomach, +and fast asleep. He recognized him, and having asked him what he did +there, the carpenter in the greatest surprise told him he knew neither +by what means, nor by whom, he had been taken to that place.</p> + +<p>The cooper not believing this, told him that assuredly he was come +thither to rob him, and had him taken before the magistrate of Bar, +who having interrogated him concerning the circumstance just spoken +of, he related to him with great simplicity, that, having set off +about four o'clock in the morning to come from Heiligenstein to +Bar—there being but a quarter of an hour's distance between those two +places—he saw on a sudden, in a place covered with verdure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +and grass, a magnificent feast, brightly illuminated, where a number +of persons were highly enjoying themselves with a sumptuous repast and +by dancing; that two women of his acquaintance, inhabitants of Bar, +having asked him to join the company, he sat down to table and partook +of the good cheer, for a quarter of an hour at the most; after that, +one of the guests having cried out "<i>Citò</i>, <i>Citò</i>," he found himself +carried away gently to the cooper's garret, without knowing how he had +been transported there.</p> + +<p>This is what he declared in presence of the magistrate. The most +singular circumstance of this history is, that hardly had the +carpenter deposed what we read, than those two women of Bar who had +invited him to join their feast hung themselves, each in her own +house.</p> + +<p>The superior magistrates, fearing to carry things so far as to +compromise perhaps half the inhabitants of Bar, judged prudently that +they had better not inquire further; they treated the carpenter as a +visionary, and the two women who hung themselves were considered as +lunatics; thus the thing was hushed up, and the matter ended.</p> + +<p>If this is what they call the witches' sabbath, neither the carpenter, +nor the two women, nor apparently the other guests at the festival, +had need to come mounted on a demon; they were too near their own +dwellings to have recourse to superhuman means in order to have +themselves transported to the place of meeting. We are not informed +how these guests repaired to this feast, nor how they returned each +one to their home; the spot was so near the town, that they could +easily go and return without any extraneous assistance.</p> + +<p>But if secrecy was necessary, and they feared discovery, it is very +probable that the demon transported them to their homes through the +air before it was day, as he had transported the carpenter to the +cooper's garret. Whatever turn may be given to this event, it is +certainly difficult not to recognize a manifest work of the evil +spirit in the transportation of the carpenter through the air, who +finds himself, without being aware of it, in a well-fastened garret. +The women who hung themselves, showed clearly that they feared +something still worse from the law, had they been convicted of magic +and witchcraft. And had not their accomplices also, whose names must +have been declared, as much to fear?</p> + +<p>William de Neubridge relates another story, which bears some +resemblance to the preceding. A peasant having heard, one night as he +was passing near a tomb, a melodious concert of different voices, drew +near, and finding the door open, put in his head, and saw in the +middle a grand feast, well lighted, and a well-covered table, round +which were men and women making merry. One of the attendants having +perceived him, presented him with a cup filled with liquor; he took +it, and having spilled the liquor, he fled with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> the cup to the first +village, where he stopped. If our carpenter had done the same, instead +of amusing himself at the feast of the witches of Bar, he would have +spared himself much uneasiness.</p> + +<p>We have in history several instances of persons full of religion and +piety, who, in the fervor of their orisons, have been taken up into +the air, and remained there for some time. We have known a good monk, +who rises sometimes from the ground, and remains suspended without +wishing it, without seeking to do so, especially on seeing some +devotional image, or on hearing some devout prayer, such as "<i>Gloria +in excelsis Deo</i>." I know a nun to whom it has often happened in spite +of herself to see herself thus raised up in the air to a certain +distance from the earth; it was neither from choice, nor from any wish +to distinguish herself, since she was truly confused at it. Was it by +the ministration of angels, or by the artifice of the seducing spirit, +who wished to inspire her with sentiments of vanity and pride? Or was +it the natural effect of Divine love, or fervor of devotion in these +persons?</p> + +<p>I do not observe that the ancient fathers of the desert, who were so +spiritual, so fervent, and so great in prayer, experienced similar +ecstasies. These risings up in the air are more common among our new +saints, as we may see in the Life[<a href="#f230">230</a><a name="f230.1" id="f230.1"></a>] of St. Philip of Neri, where +they relate his ecstasies and his elevations from earth into the air, +sometimes to the height of several yards, and almost to the ceiling of +his room, and this quite involuntarily. He tried in vain to hide it +from the knowledge of those present, for fear of attracting their +admiration, and feeling in it some vain complacency. The writers who +give us these particulars do not say what was the cause, whether these +ecstatic elevations from the ground were produced by the fervor of the +Holy Spirit, or by the ministry of good angels, or by a miraculous +favor of God, who desired thus to do honor to his servants in the eyes +of men. God had moreover favored the same St. Philip de Neri, by +permitting him to see the celestial spirits and even the demons, and +to discover the state of holy spirits, by supernatural knowledge.</p> + +<p>St. John Columbino, teacher of the Jesuits, made use of St. Catherine +Columbine,[<a href="#f231">231</a><a name="f231.1" id="f231.1"></a>] a maiden of extraordinary virtue, for the +establishment of nuns of his order. It is related of her, that +sometimes she remained in a trance, and raised up two yards from the +ground, motionless, speechless, and insensible.</p> + +<p>The same thing is said of St. Ignatius de Loyola,[<a href="#f232">232</a><a name="f232.1" id="f232.1"></a>] who remained +entranced by God, and raised up from the ground to the height of two +feet, while his body shone like light. He has been seen to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> remain in +a trance insensible, and almost without respiration, for eight days +together.</p> + +<p>St. Robert de Palentin[<a href="#f233">233</a><a name="f233.1" id="f233.1"></a>] rose also from the ground, sometimes to +the height of a foot and a half, to the great astonishment of his +disciples and assistants. We see similar trances and elevations in the +Life of St. Bernard Ptolomei, teacher of the congregation of Notre +Dame of Mount Olivet;[<a href="#f234">234</a><a name="f234.1" id="f234.1"></a>] of St. Philip Benitas, of the order of +Servites; of St. Cajetanus, founder of the Théatins;[<a href="#f235">235</a><a name="f235.1" id="f235.1"></a>] of St. +Albert of Sicily, confessor, who, during his prayers, rose three +cubits from the ground; and lastly of St. Dominic, the founder of the +order of Preaching Brothers.[<a href="#f236">236</a><a name="f236.1" id="f236.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>It is related of St. Christina,[<a href="#f237">237</a><a name="f237.1" id="f237.1"></a>] Virgin at S. Tron, that being +considered dead, and carried into the church in her coffin, as they +were performing for her the usual service, she arose suddenly, and +went as high as the beams of the church, as lightly as a bird. Being +returned into the house with her sisters, she related to them that she +had been led first to purgatory, and thence to hell, and lastly to +paradise, where God had given her the choice of remaining there, or of +returning to this world and doing penance for the souls she had seen +in purgatory. She chose the latter, and was brought back to her body +by the holy angels. From that time she could not bear the effluvia of +the human body, and rose up into trees and on the highest towers with +incredible lightness, there to watch and pray. She was so light in +running that she outran the swiftest dogs. Her parents tried in vain +all they could do to stop her, even to loading her with chains, but +she always escaped from them. So many other almost incredible things +are related of this saint, that I dare not repeat them here.</p> + +<p>M. Nicole, in his letters, speaks of a nun named Seraphina, who, in +her ecstasies, rose from the ground with so much impetuosity that five +or six of the sisters could hardly hold her down.</p> + +<p>This doctor, reasoning on the fact,[<a href="#f238">238</a><a name="f238.1" id="f238.1"></a>] says, that it proves nothing +at all for Sister Seraphina; but the thing well verified proves God +and the devil—that is to say, the whole of religion; that the +circumstance being proved, is of very great consequence to religion; +that the world is full of certain persons who believe only what cannot +be doubted; that the great heresy of the world is no longer Calvinism +and Lutheranism, but atheism. There are all sorts of atheists—some +real, others pretended; some determined, others vacillating, and +others tempted to be so. We ought not to neglect this kind of people; +the grace of God is all-powerful; we must not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +despair of bringing them back by good arguments, and by solid and +convincing proofs. Now, if these facts are certain, we must conclude +that there is a God, or bad angels who imitate the works of God, and +perform by themselves or their subordinates works capable of deceiving +even the elect.</p> + +<p>One of the oldest instances I remark of persons thus raised from the +ground without any one touching them, is that of St. Dunstan, +Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 988, and who, a little time +before his death, as he was going up stairs to his apartment, +accompanied by several persons, was observed to rise from the ground; +and as all present were astonished at the circumstance, he took +occasion to speak of his approaching death.[<a href="#f239">239</a><a name="f239.1" id="f239.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>Trithemius, speaking of St. Elizabeth, Abbess of Schonau, in the +diocese of Treves, says that sometimes she was in an ecstatic trance, +so that she would remain motionless and breathless during a long time. +In these intervals, she learned, by revelation and by the intercourse +she had with blessed spirits, admirable things; and when she revived, +she would discourse divinely, sometimes in German, her native +language, sometimes in Latin, though she had no knowledge of that +language. Trithemius did not doubt her sincerity and the truth of her +discourse. She died in 1165.</p> + +<p>St. Richard, Abbot of S. Vanne de Verdun, appeared in 1036 elevated +from the ground while he was saying mass in presence of the Duke +Galizon, his sons, and a great number of lords and soldiers.</p> + +<p>In the last century, the reverend Father Dominic Carme Déchaux, was +raised from the ground before the King of Spain, the queen, and all +the court, so that they had only to blow upon his body to move it +about like a soap-bubble.[<a href="#f240">240</a><a name="f240.1" id="f240.1"></a>]</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f225.1">225</a><a name="f225" id="f225"></a>] Matt. iv. 5.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f226.1">226</a><a name="f226" id="f226"></a>] Dan. xiv. 33, 34. Douay Version.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f227.1">227</a><a name="f227" id="f227"></a>] Acts viii. 40.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f228.1">228</a><a name="f228" id="f228"></a>] Joan. Diacon. Vit. Gregor. Mag.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f229.1">229</a><a name="f229" id="f229"></a>] Lettre de M. G. P. R., 5th October, 1746.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f230.1">230</a><a name="f230" id="f230"></a>] On the 26th of May, of the Bollandists, c. xx. n. 356, 357.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f231.1">231</a><a name="f231" id="f231"></a>] Acta S. J. Bolland. 3 Jul. p. 95.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f232.1">232</a><a name="f232" id="f232"></a>] Ibid. 31 Jul. pp. 432, 663.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f233.1">233</a><a name="f233" id="f233"></a>] Acta S. J. Bolland, 21 Aug. pp. 469, 481.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f234.1">234</a><a name="f234" id="f234"></a>] Ibid. 18 Aug. p. 503.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f235.1">235</a><a name="f235" id="f235"></a>] Ibid. 17 Aug. p. 255.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f236.1">236</a><a name="f236" id="f236"></a>] Ibid. 4 Aug. p. 405.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f237.1">237</a><a name="f237" id="f237"></a>] Vita S. Christina. 24 Jul. Bolland. pp. 652, 653.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f238.1">238</a><a name="f238" id="f238"></a>] Nicole, tom. i. Letters, pp. 203, 205. Letter xlv.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f239.1">239</a><a name="f239" id="f239"></a>] Vita Sancti Dunstani, xi. 42.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f240.1">240</a><a name="f240" id="f240"></a>] It is worthy of remark, that in the cases which Calmet refers to +of persons in his own time, and of his own acquaintance, being thus +raised from the ground, he in no instance states himself to have been +a witness of the wonder.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT.</h3> + + +<p>We cannot reasonably dispute the truth of these ecstatic trances, the +elevations of the body of some saints to a certain distance from the +ground, since these circumstances are supported by so many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> witnesses. +To apply this to the matter we here treat of, might it not be said +that sorcerers and witches, by the operation of the demon, and with +God's permission, by the help of a lively and <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'subtil'.">subtile</ins> temperament, are +rendered light and rise into the air, where their heated imagination +and prepossessed mind lead them to believe that they have done, seen, +and heard, what has no reality except in their own brain?</p> + +<p>I shall be told that the parallel I make between the actions of +saints, which can only be attributed to angels and the operation of +the Holy Spirit, or to the fervor of their charity and devotion, with +what happens to wizards and witches, is injurious and odious. I know +how to make a proper distinction between them: do not the books of the +Old and New Testament place in parallel lines the true miracles of +Moses with those of the magicians of Pharaoh; those of antichrist and +his subordinates with those of the saints and apostles; and does not +St. Paul inform us that the angel of darkness often transforms himself +into an angel of light?</p> + +<p>In the first edition of this work, we spoke very fully of certain +persons, who boast of having what they call "the garter," and by that +means are able to perform with extraordinary quickness, in a very few +hours, what would naturally take them several days journeying. Almost +incredible things are related on that subject; nevertheless, the +details are so circumstantial, that it is hardly possible there should +not be some foundation for them; and the demon may transport these +people in a forced and violent manner which causes them a fatigue +similar to what they would have suffered, had they really performed +the journey with more than ordinary rapidity.</p> + +<p>For instance, the two circumstances related by Torquemada: the first +of a poor scholar of his acquaintance, a clever man, who at last rose +to be physician to Charles V.; when studying at Guadaloupe, was +invited by a traveler who wore the garb of a monk, and to whom he had +rendered some little service, to mount up behind him on his horse, +which seemed a sorry animal and much tired; he got up and rode all +night, without perceiving that he went at an extraordinary pace, but +in the morning he found himself near the city of Granada; the young +man went into the town, but the conductor passed onwards.</p> + +<p>Another time, the father of a young man, known to the same Torquemada, +and the young man himself, were going together to Granada, and passing +through the village of Almeda, met a man on horseback like themselves +and going the same way; after having traveled two or three leagues +together, they halted, and the cavalier spread his cloak on the grass, +so that there was no crease in the mantle; they all placed what +provisions they had with them on this extended cloak, and let their +horses graze. They drank and ate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> very leisurely, and having told +their servants to bring their horses, the cavalier said to them, +"Gentlemen, do not hurry, you will reach the town early"—at the same +time he showed them Granada, at not a quarter of an hour's distance +from thence.</p> + +<p>Something equally marvelous is said of a canon of the cathedral of +Beauvais. The chapter of that church had been charged for a long time +to acquit itself of a certain personal duty to the Church of Rome; the +canons having chosen one of their brethren to repair to Rome for this +purpose, the canon deferred his departure from day to day, and set off +after matins on Christmas day—arrived that same day at Rome, +acquitted himself there of his commission, and came back from thence +with the same dispatch, bringing with him the original of the bond, +which obliged the canons to send one of their body to make this +offering in person. However fabulous and incredible this story may +appear, it is asserted that there are authentic proofs of it in the +archives of the cathedral; and that upon the tomb of the canon in +question may still be seen the figures of demons engraved at the four +corners in memory of this event. They even affirm that the celebrated +Father Mabillon saw the authentic voucher.</p> + +<p>Now, if this circumstance and the others like it are not absolutely +fabulous, we cannot deny that they are the effects of magic, and the +work of the evil spirit.</p> + +<p>Peter, the venerable Abbot of Cluny,[<a href="#f241">241</a><a name="f241.1" id="f241.1"></a>] relates so extraordinary a +thing which happened in his time, that I should not repeat it here, +had it not been seen by the whole town of Mâcon. The count of that +town, a very violent man, exercised a kind of tyranny over the +ecclesiastics, and against whatever belonged to them, without +troubling himself either to conceal his violence, or to find a pretext +for it; he carried it on with a high hand and gloried in it. One day, +when he was sitting in his palace in company with several nobles and +others, they beheld an unknown person enter on horseback, who advanced +to the count and desired him to follow him. The count rose and +followed him, and having reached the door, he found there a horse +ready caparisoned; he mounts it, and is immediately carried up into +the air, crying out, in a terrible tone to those who were present, +"Here, help me!" All the town ran out at the noise, but they soon lost +sight of him; and no doubt was entertained that the devil had flown +away with him to be the companion of his tortures, and to bear the +pain of his excesses and his violence.</p> + +<p>It is, then, not absolutely impossible that a person may be raised +into the air and transported to some very high and distant place, by +order or by permission of God, by good or evil spirits; but we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +must own that the thing is of rare occurrence, and that in all that is +related of sorcerers and witches, and their assemblings at the +witches' sabbath, there is an infinity of stories, which are false, +absurd, ridiculous, and even destitute of probability. M. Remi, +attorney-general of Lorraine, author of a celebrated work entitled +<i>Demonology</i>, who tried a great number of sorcerers and sorceresses, +with which Lorraine was then infested, produces hardly any proof +whence we can infer the truth and reality of witchcraft, and of +wizards and witches being transported to the sabbath.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f241.1">241</a><a name="f241" id="f241"></a>] Petrus Venerab. lib. ii. de Miraculis, c. 1, p. 1299.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>OBSESSION AND POSSESSION OF THE DEVIL.</h3> + + +<p>It is with reason that obsessions and possessions of the devil are +placed in the rank of apparitions of the evil spirit among men. We +call it <i>obsession</i> when the demon acts externally against the person +whom he besets, and <i>possession</i> when he acts internally, agitates +them, excites their ill humor, makes them utter blasphemy, speak +tongues they have never learnt, discovers to them unknown secrets, and +inspires them with the knowledge of the obscurest things in philosophy +or theology. Saul was agitated and possessed by the evil spirit,[<a href="#f242">242</a><a name="f242.1" id="f242.1"></a>] +who at intervals excited his melancholy humor, and awakened his +animosity and jealousy against David, or who, on occasion of the +natural movement or impulsion of these dark moods, seized him, +agitated him, and disturbed from his usual tenor of mind. Those whom +the Gospel speaks of as being possessed,[<a href="#f243">243</a><a name="f243.1" id="f243.1"></a>] and who cried aloud that +Jesus was the Christ, and that he was come to torment them before the +time, that he was the Son of God, are instances of possession. But the +demon Asmodeus, who beset Sara, the daughter of Raguel,[<a href="#f244">244</a><a name="f244.1" id="f244.1"></a>] and who +killed her first seven husbands; those spoken of in the Gospel, who +were simply struck with maladies or incommodities which were thought +to be incurable; those whom the Scripture sometimes calls <i>lunatics</i>, +who foamed at the mouth, who were convulsed, who fled the presence of +mankind, who were violent and dangerous, so that they were obliged to +be chained to prevent them from striking and maltreating other people; +these kinds of persons were simply beset, or obseded by the devil.</p> + +<p>Opinions are much divided on the matter of obsessions and pos<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>sessions +of the devil. The hardened Jews, and the ancient enemies of the +Christian religion, convinced by the evidence of the miracles which +they saw worked by Jesus Christ, by his apostles, and by Christians, +dared neither dispute their truth nor their reality; but they +attributed them to magic, to the prince of the devils, or to the +virtue of certain herbs, or of certain natural secrets.</p> + +<p>St. Justin,[<a href="#f245">245</a><a name="f245.1" id="f245.1"></a>] Tertullian, Lactantius, St. Cyprian, Minutius, and +the other fathers of the first ages of the church, speak of the power +which the Christian exorcists exercised over the possessed, so +confidently and so freely, that we can doubt neither the certainty nor +the evidence of the thing. They call upon their adversaries to bear +witness, and pique themselves on making the experiment in their +presence, and of forcing to come out of the bodies of the possessed, +to declare their names, and acknowledge that those they adore in the +pagan temples are but devils.</p> + +<p>Some opposed to the true miracles of the Saviour those of their false +gods, their magicians, and their heroes of paganism, such as those of +Esculapius, and the famous Apollonius of Tyana. The pretended +freethinkers dispute them in our days upon philosophical principles; +they attribute them to a diseased imagination, the prejudices of +education, and hidden springs of the constitution; they reduce the +expressions of Scripture to hyperbole; they maintain that Jesus Christ +condescended to the understanding of the people, and their +prepossessions or prejudices; that demons being purely spiritual +substances could not by themselves act immediately upon bodies; and +that it is not at all probable God should work miracles to allow of +their doing so.</p> + +<p>If we examine closely those who have passed for being possessed, we +shall not perhaps find one amongst them, whose mind had not been +deranged by some accident, or whose body was not attacked by some +infirmity either known or hidden, which had caused some ferment in the +blood or the brain, and which, joined to prejudice, or fear, had given +rise to what was termed in their case obsession or possession.</p> + +<p>The possession of King Saul is easily explained by supposing that he +was naturally an atrabilarian, and that in his fits of melancholy he +appeared mad, or furious; therefore they sought no other remedy for +his illness than music, and the sound of instruments proper to enliven +or calm him. Several of the obsessions and possessions noted in the +New Testament were simple maladies, or fantastic fancies, which made +it believed that such persons were possessed by the devil. The +ignorance of the people maintained this prejudice, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +their being totally unacquainted with physics and medicine served to +strengthen such ideas.</p> + +<p>In one it was a sombre and melancholy temper, in another the blood was +too fevered and heated; here the bowels were burnt up with heat, there +a concentration of diseased humor, which suffocated the patient, as it +happens with those subject to epilepsy and hypochondria, who fancy +themselves gods, kings, cats, dogs, and oxen. There were others, who, +disturbed at the remembrance of their crimes, fell into a kind of +despair, and into fits of remorse, which irritated their mind and +constitution, and made them believe that the devil pursued and beset +them. Such, apparently, were those women who followed Jesus Christ, +and who had been delivered by him from the unclean spirits that +possessed them, and partly so Mary Magdalen, from whom he expelled +seven devils. The Scripture often speaks of the spirit of impurity, of +the spirit of falsehood, of the spirit of jealousy; it is not +necessary to have recourse to a particular demon to excite these +passions in us; St. James[<a href="#f246">246</a><a name="f246.1" id="f246.1"></a>] tells us that we are enough tempted by +our own concupiscence, which leads us to evil, without seeking after +external causes.</p> + +<p>The Jews attributed the greater part of their maladies to the demon: +they were persuaded that they were a punishment for some crime either +known or unrevealed. Jesus Christ and his apostles wisely supposed +these prejudices, without wishing to attack them openly and reform the +old opinions of the Jews; they cured the diseases, and chased away the +evil spirits who caused them, or who were said to cause them. The real +and essential effect was the cure of the patient; no other thing was +required to confirm the mission of Jesus Christ, his divinity, and the +truth of the doctrine which he preached. Whether he expelled the +demon, or not, is not essentially necessary to his first design; it is +certain that he cured the patient either by expelling the devil, if it +be true that this evil spirit caused the malady, or by replacing the +inward springs and humors in their regular and natural state, which is +always miraculous, and proves the Divinity of the Saviour.</p> + +<p>Although the Jews were sufficiently credulous concerning the +operations of the evil spirit, they at the same time believed that in +general the demons who tormented certain persons were nothing else +than the souls of some wretches, who, fearing to repair to the place +destined for them, took possession of the body of some mortal whom +they tormented and endeavored to deprive of life.[<a href="#f247">247</a><a name="f247.1" id="f247.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>Josephus the historian[<a href="#f248">248</a><a name="f248.1" id="f248.1"></a>] relates that Solomon composed some charms +against maladies, and some formulæ of exorcism to expel evil spirits. +He says, besides, that a Jew named Eleazar cured in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> the +presence of Vespasian some possessed persons by applying under +their nose a ring, in which was enchased a root, pointed out by that +prince. They pronounced the name of Solomon with a certain prayer, and +an exorcism; directly, the person possessed fell on the ground, and +the devil left him. The generality of common people among the Jews had +not the least doubt that Beelzebub, prince of the devils, had the +power to expel other demons, for they said that Jesus Christ only +expelled them in the name of Beelzebub.[<a href="#f249">249</a><a name="f249.1" id="f249.1"></a>] We read in history that +sometimes the pagans expelled demons; and the physicians boast of +being able to cure some possessed persons, as they cure +hypochondriacs, and imaginary disorders.</p> + +<p>These are the most plausible things that are said against the reality +of the possessions and obsessions of the devil.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f242.1">242</a><a name="f242" id="f242"></a>] 1 Sam. xvi. 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f243.1">243</a><a name="f243" id="f243"></a>] Matt. viii. 16; x. 11; xviii. 28.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f244.1">244</a><a name="f244" id="f244"></a>] Tob. iii. 8.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f245.1">245</a><a name="f245" id="f245"></a>] Justin. Dialog. cum supplem. Tertull. de Corona Militis, c. 11; +and Apolog. c. 23; Cyp. ad Demetriam, &c.; Minutius, in Octavio, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f246.1">246</a><a name="f246" id="f246"></a>] James i. 14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f247.1">247</a><a name="f247" id="f247"></a>] Joseph. Antiq. lib. vii. c. 25.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f248.1">248</a><a name="f248" id="f248"></a>] Ibid. lib. viii. c. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f249.1">249</a><a name="f249" id="f249"></a>] Matt. xii. 24.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3>THE TRUTH AND REALITY OF POSSESSION AND OBSESSION BY THE DEVIL PROVED +FROM SCRIPTURE.</h3> + + +<p>But the possibility, the verity and reality of the obsessions and +possessions of the devil are indubitable, and proved by the Scripture +and by the authority of the Church, the Fathers, the Jews, and the +pagans. Jesus Christ and the apostles believed this truth, and taught +it publicly. The Saviour gives us a proof of his mission that he cures +the possessed; he refutes the Pharisees, who asserted that he expelled +the demons only in the name of Beelzebub; and maintains that he expels +them by the virtue of God.[<a href="#f250">250</a><a name="f250.1" id="f250.1"></a>] He speaks to the demons; he threatens +them, and puts them to silence. Are these equivocal marks of the +reality of obsessions? The apostles do the same, as did the early +Christians their disciples. All this was done before the eyes of the +heathen, who could not deny it, but who eluded the force and evidence +of these things, by attributing this power to other demons, or to +certain divinities, more powerful than ordinary demons; as if the +kingdom of Satan were divided, and the evil spirit could act against +himself, or as if there were any collusion between Jesus Christ and +the demons whose empire he had just destroyed.</p> + +<p>The seventy disciples on their return from their mission came to Jesus +Christ[<a href="#f251">251</a><a name="f251.1" id="f251.1"></a>] to give him an account of it, +and tell him that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +demons themselves are obedient to them. After his resurrection,[<a href="#f252">252</a><a name="f252.1" id="f252.1"></a>] +the Saviour promises to his apostles that they shall work miracles in +his name, <i>that they shall cast out devils</i>, and receive the gift of +tongues. All which was literally fulfilled.</p> + +<p>The exorcisms used at all times in the Church against the demons are +another proof of the reality of possessions; they show that at all +times the Church and her ministers have believed them to be true and +real, since they have always practiced these exorcisms. The ancient +fathers defied the heathen to produce a demoniac before the +Christians; they pride themselves on curing them, and expelling the +demon. The Jewish exorcists employed even the name of Jesus Christ to +cure demoniacs;[<a href="#f253">253</a><a name="f253.1" id="f253.1"></a>] they found it efficacious in producing this +effect; it is true that sometimes they employed the name of Solomon, +and some charms said to have been invented by that prince, or roots +and herbs to which they attributed the same virtues, like as a clever +physician by the secret of his art can cure a hypochondriac or a +maniac, or a man strongly persuaded that he is possessed by the devil, +or as a wise confessor will restore the mind of a person disturbed by +remorse, and agitated by the reflection of his sins, or the fear of +hell. But we are speaking now of real possessions and obsessions which +are cured only by the power of God, by the name of Jesus Christ, and +by exorcisms. The son of Sceva, the Jewish priest,[<a href="#f254">254</a><a name="f254.1" id="f254.1"></a>] having +undertaken to expel a devil in the name of Jesus Christ, whom Paul +preached, the demoniac threw himself upon him, and would have +strangled him, saying that he knew Jesus Christ, and Paul, but that +for him, he feared him not. We must then distinguish well between +possessions and possessions, exorcists and exorcists. There may be +found demoniacs who counterfeit the possessed, to excite compassion +and obtain alms. There may even be exorcists who abuse the name and +power of Jesus Christ to deceive the ignorant; and how do I know that +there are not even impostors to be found, who would place pretended +possessed persons in the way, in order to pretend to cure them, and +thus gain a reputation?</p> + +<p>I do not enter into longer details on this matter; I have treated it +formerly in a particular dissertation on the subject, printed apart +with other dissertations on Scripture, and I have therein replied to +the objections which were raised on this subject.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f250.1">250</a><a name="f250" id="f250"></a>] Luke viii. 21.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f251.1">251</a><a name="f251" id="f251"></a>] Luke x. 17.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f252.1">252</a><a name="f252" id="f252"></a>] Mark xvi. 27.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f253.1">253</a><a name="f253" id="f253"></a>] Mark ix. 36-38. Acts xi. 14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f254.1">254</a><a name="f254" id="f254"></a>] Acts xix. 14.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h3>EXAMPLES OF REAL POSSESSIONS CAUSED BY THE DEVIL.</h3> + + +<p>We must now report some of the most famous instances of the possession +and obsession of the demon. Every body is talking at this time of the +possession (by the devil) of the nuns of Loudun, on which such +different opinions were given, both at the time and since. Martha +Broissier, daughter of a weaver of Romorantin,[<a href="#f255">255</a><a name="f255.1" id="f255.1"></a>] made as much noise +in her time; but Charles Miron, Bishop of Orleans, discovered the +fraud, by making her drink holy water as common water; by making them +present to her a key wrapped up in red silk, which was said to be a +piece of the true cross; and in reciting some lines from Virgil, which +Martha Broissier's demon took for exorcisms, agitating her very much +at the approach of the hidden key, and at the recital of the verses +from Virgil. Henri de Gondi, Cardinal Bishop of Paris, had her +examined by five of the faculty; three were of opinion that there was +a great deal of imposture and a little disease. The parliament took +notice of the affair, and nominated eleven physicians, who reported +unanimously that there was nothing demoniacal in this matter.</p> + +<p>In the reign of Charles IX.[<a href="#f256">256</a><a name="f256.1" id="f256.1"></a>] or a little before, a young woman of +the town of Vervins, fifteen or sixteen years of age, named Nicola +Aubry, had different apparitions of a spectre, who called itself her +grandfather, and asked her for masses and prayers for the repose of +his soul.[<a href="#f257">257</a><a name="f257.1" id="f257.1"></a>] Very soon after, she was transported to different +places by this spectre, and sometimes even was carried out of sight, +and from the midst of those who watched over her.</p> + +<p>Then, they had no longer any doubt that it was the devil, which they +had a great deal of trouble to make her believe. The Bishop of Laon +gave his power (of attorney) for conjuring the spirit, and commanded +them to see that the proces-verbaux were exactly drawn up by the +notaries nominated for that purpose. The exorcisms lasted more than +three months, and only serve to prove more and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +more the fact of the possession. The poor sufferer was torn from the +hands of nine or ten men, who could hardly retain their hold of her; +and on the last day of the exorcisms sixteen could not succeed in so +doing. She had been lying on the ground, when she stood upright and +stiff as a statue, without those who held her being able to prevent +it. She spoke divers languages, revealed the most secret things, +announced others at the moment they were being done, although at a +great distance; she discovered to many the secret of their conscience, +uttered at once three different voices, or tones, and spoke with her +tongue hanging half a foot out of her mouth. After some exorcisms had +been made at Vervins, they took her to Laon, where the bishop +undertook her. He had a scaffolding erected for this purpose in the +cathedral. Such immense numbers of people went there, that they saw in +the church ten or twelve thousand persons at a time; some even came +from foreign countries. Consequently, France could not be less +curious; so the princes and great people, and those who could not come +there themselves, sent persons who might inform them of what passed. +The Pope's nuncios, the parliamentary deputies, and those of the +university were present.</p> + +<p>The devil, forced by the exorcisms, rendered such testimony to the +truth of the Catholic religion, and, above all, to the reality of the +holy eucharist, and at the same time to the falsity of Calvinism, that +the irritated Calvinists no longer kept within bounds. From the time +the exorcisms were made at Vervins, they wanted to kill the possessed, +with the priest who exorcised her, in a journey they made her take to +Nôtre Dame de Liesse. At Laon, it was still worse; as they were the +strongest in numbers there, a revolt was more than once apprehended. +They so intimidated the bishop and the magistrates, that they took +down the scaffold, and did not have the general procession usually +made before exorcisms. The devil became prouder thereupon, insulted +the bishop, and laughed at him. On the other hand, the Calvinists +having obtained the suppression of the procession, and that she should +be put in prison to be more nearly examined, Carlier, a Calvinist +doctor, suddenly drew from his pocket something which was averred to +be a most violent poison, which he threw into her mouth, and she kept +it on her stomach whilst the convulsion lasted, but she threw it up of +herself when she came to her senses.</p> + +<p>All these experiments decided them on recommencing the processions, +and the scaffold was replaced. Then the outraged Calvinists conceived +the idea of a writing from M. de Montmorency, forbidding the +continuation of the exorcisms, and enjoining the king's officers to be +vigilant. Thus they abstained a second time from the procession, and +again the devil triumphed at it. Nevertheless, he discovered to the +bishop the trick of this suppositious writing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> named those who had +taken part in it, and declared that he had again gained time by this +obedience of the bishop to the will of man rather than that of God. +Besides that, the devil had already protested publicly that it was +against his own will that he remained in the body of this woman; that +he had entered there by the order of God; that it was to convert the +Calvinists or to harden them, and that he was very unfortunate in +being obliged to act and speak against himself.</p> + +<p>The chapter then represented to the bishop that it would be proper to +make the processions and the conjurations twice a-day, to excite still +more the devotion of the people. The prelate acquiesced in it, and +everything was done with the greatest <i>éclât</i>, and in the most +orthodox manner. The devil declared again more than once that he had +gained time; once because the bishop had not confessed himself; +another time because he was not fasting; and lastly, because it was +requisite that the chapter and all the dignitaries should be present, +as well as the court of justice and the king's officers, in order that +there might be sufficient testimony; that he was forced to warn the +bishop thus of his duty, and that accursed was the hour when he +entered into the body of this person; at the same time, he uttered a +thousand imprecations against the church, the bishop, and the clergy.</p> + +<p>Thus, at the last day of possession, everybody being assembled in the +afternoon, the bishop began the last conjurations, when many +extraordinary things took place; amongst others, the bishop desiring +to put the holy eucharist near the lips of this poor woman, the devil +in some way seized hold of his arm, and at the same moment raised this +woman up, as it were, out of the hands of sixteen men who were holding +her. But at last, after much resistance, he came out, and left her +perfectly cured, and thoroughly sensible of the goodness of God. The +<i>Te Deum</i> was sung to the sound of all the bells in the town; nothing +was heard among the Catholics but acclamations of joy, and many of the +Calvinists were converted, whose descendants still dwell in the town. +Florimond de Raimond, counselor of the parliament of Bordeaux, had the +happiness to be of the number, and has written the history of it. For +nine days they made the procession, to return thanks to God; and they +founded a perpetual mass, which is celebrated every year on the 8th of +February, and they represented this story in <i>bas-relief</i> round the +choir, where it may be seen at this day.</p> + +<p>In short, God, as if to put the finishing stroke to so important a +work, permitted that the Prince of Condé, who had just left the +Catholic religion, should be misled on this subject by those of his +new communion. He sent for the poor woman, and also the Canon +d'Espinois, who had never forsaken her during all the time of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +exorcisms. He interrogated them separately, and at several different +times, and made every effort, not to discover if they had practiced +any artifice, but to find out if there was any in the whole affair. He +went so far as to offer the canon very high situations if he would +change his religion. But what can you obtain in favor of heresy from +sensible and upright people, to whom God has thus manifested the power +of his church? All the efforts of the prince were useless; the +firmness of the canon, and the simplicity of the poor woman, only +served to prove to him still more the certainty of the event which +displeased him, and he sent them both home.</p> + +<p>Yet a return of ill-will caused him to have this woman again arrested, +and he kept her in one of his prisons until her father and mother +having entreated an inquiry into this injustice to King Charles IX., +she was set at liberty by order of his majesty.[<a href="#f258">258</a><a name="f258.1" id="f258.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>An event of such importance, and so carefully attested, both on the +part of the bishop and the chapter, and on that of the magistrates, +and even by the violence of the Calvinistic party, ought not to be +buried in silence. King Charles IX., on making his entry into Laon +some time after, desired to be informed about it by the dean of the +cathedral, who had been an ocular witness of the affair. His majesty +commanded him to give publicity to the story, and it was then printed, +first in French, then in Latin, Spanish, Italian, and German, with the +approbation of the Sorbonne, supported by the rescripts of Pope Pius +V. and Gregory XIII. his successor. And they made after that a pretty +exact abridgment of it, by order of the Bishop of Laon, printed under +the title of <i>Le Triomphe du S. Sacrament sur le Diable</i>.</p> + +<p>These are facts which have all the authenticity that can be desired, +and such as a man of honor cannot with any good-breeding affect to +doubt, since he could not after that consider any facts as certain +without being in shameful contradiction with himself.[<a href="#f259">259</a><a name="f259.1" id="f259.1"></a>]</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f255.1">255</a><a name="f255" id="f255"></a>] Jean de Lorres, sur l'an 1599. Thuan. Hist. l. xii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f256.1">256</a><a name="f256" id="f256"></a>] Charles IX. died in 1574.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f257.1">257</a><a name="f257" id="f257"></a>] This story is taken from a book entitled "Examen et Discussion +Critique de l'Histoire des Diables de Loudun, &c., par M. de la +Ménardaye." A Paris, chez de Bure l'Ainé, 1749.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f258.1">258</a><a name="f258" id="f258"></a>] Trésor et entière Histoire de la Victime du Corps de Dieu, +presentée au Pape, au Roi, au Chancelier de France, au Premier +Président. A Paris, 4to. chez Chesnau. 1578.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f259.1">259</a><a name="f259" id="f259"></a>] This account is one of the many in which the theory of +possession was made use of to impugn the Protestant faith. The +simplicity and credulity of Calmet are very remarkable.—<span class="smcap">Editor.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h3>CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT.</h3> + + +<p>There was in Lorraine, about the year 1620, a woman, possessed (by the +devil), who made a great noise in the country, but whose case is much +less known among foreigners. I mean Mademoiselle Elizabeth de +Ranfaing, the story of whose possession was written and printed at +Nancy, in 1622, by M. Pichard, a doctor of medicine, and physician in +ordinary to their highnesses of Lorraine. Mademoiselle de Ranfaing was +a very virtuous person, through whose agency God established a kind of +order of nuns <i>of the Refuge</i>, the principal object of which is to +withdraw from profligacy the girls or women who have fallen into +libertinism. M. Pichard's work was approved by doctors of theology, +and authorized by M. de Porcelets, Bishop of Toul, and in an assembly +of learned men whom he sent for to examine the case, and the reality +of the possession. It was ardently attacked and loudly denied by a +monk of the Minimite order, named Claude Pithoy, who had the temerity +to say that he would pray to God to send the devil into himself, in +case the woman whom they were exorcising at Nancy was possessed; and +again, that God was not God if he did not command the devil to seize +his body, if the woman they exorcised at Nancy was really possessed.</p> + +<p>M. Pichard refutes him fully; but he remarks that persons who are weak +minded, or of a dull and melancholy character, heavy, taciturn, +stupid, and who are naturally disposed to frighten and disturb +themselves, are apt to fancy that they see the devil, that they speak +to him, and even that they are possessed by him; above all, if they +are in places where others are possessed, whom they see, and with whom +they converse. He adds that, thirteen or fourteen years ago, he +remarked at Nancy a great number of this kind, and with the help of +God he cured them. He says the same thing of atrabilarians, and women +who suffer from <i>furor uterine</i>, who sometimes do such things and +utter such cries, that any one would believe they were possessed.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle Ranfaing having become a widow in 1617, was sought in +marriage by a physician named Poviot. As she would not listen to his +addresses, he first of all gave her philtres to make her love him, +which occasioned strange derangements in her health.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> At last he gave +her some magical medicaments (for he was afterwards known to be a +magician, and burnt as such by a judicial sentence). The physicians +could not relieve her, and were quite at fault with her extraordinary +maladies. After having tried all sorts of remedies, they were obliged +to have recourse to exorcisms.</p> + +<p>Now these are the principal symptoms which made it believed that +Mademoiselle Ranfaing was really possessed. They began to exorcise her +the 2d September, 1619, in the town of Remirémont, whence she was +transferred to Nancy; there she was visited and interrogated by +several clever physicians, who, after having minutely examined the +symptoms of what happened to her, declared that the casualties they +had remarked in her had no relation at all with the ordinary course of +known maladies, and could only be the result of diabolical possession.</p> + +<p>After which, by order of M. de Porcelets, Bishop of Toul, they +nominated for the exorcists M. Viardin, a doctor of divinity, +counselor of state of the Duke of Lorraine, a Jesuit and Capuchin. +Almost all the monks in Nancy, the said lord bishop, the Bishop of +Tripoli, suffragan of Strasburg, M. de Sancy, formerly ambassador from +the most Christian king at Constantinople, and then priest of the +<i>Oratoire</i>, Charles de Lorraine, Bishop of Verdun; two doctors of the +Sorbonne sent on purpose to be present at the exorcisms, often +exorcised her in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and she always replied +pertinently to them, she who could hardly read Latin.</p> + +<p>They report the certificate given by M. Nicolas de Harley, very well +skilled in the Hebrew tongue, who avowed that Mademoiselle Ranfaing +was really possessed, and had answered him from the movement of his +lips alone, without his having pronounced any words, and had given +several proofs of her possession. The Sieur Garnier, a doctor of the +Sorbonne, having also given her several commands in Hebrew, she +replied pertinently, but in French, saying that the compact was made +that he should speak only in the usual tongue. The demon added, "Is it +not enough that I show thee that I understand what thou sayest?" The +same M. Garnier, speaking to him in Greek, inadvertently put one case +for another; the possessed, or rather the devil, said to him, "<i>Thou +hast committed an error.</i>" The doctor said to him in Greek, "Point out +my fault;" the devil replied, "<i>Let it suffice thee that I point out +an error; I shall tell thee no more concerning it.</i>" The doctor +telling him in Greek to hold his tongue, he answered, "Thou commandest +me to hold my tongue, and I will not do so."</p> + +<p>M. Midot Ecolâtre de Toul said to him in the same language, "Sit +down;" he replied, "I will not sit down." M. Midot said to him +moreover in Greek, "Sit down on the ground and obey;" but as the demon +was going to throw the possessed by force on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> ground, he said to +him in the same tongue, "Do it gently;" he did so. He said in Greek, +"Put out the right foot;" he extended it; he said also in the same +language, "Cause her knees to be cold," the woman replied that she +felt them very cold.</p> + +<p>The Sieur Mince, a doctor of the Sorbonne, holding a cross in his +hand, the devil whispered to him in Greek, "Give me the cross," which +was heard by some persons who were near him. M. Mince desired to make +the devil repeat the same sentence; he answered, "I will not repeat it +all in Greek;" but he simply said in French, "Give me," and in Greek, +"the cross."</p> + +<p>The Reverend Father Albert, Capuchin, having ordered him in Greek to +make the sign of the cross seven times with his tongue, in honor of +the seven joys of the Virgin, he made the sign of the cross three +times with his tongue, and then twice with his nose; but the holy man +told him anew to make the sign of the cross seven times with his +tongue; he did so; and having been commanded in the same language to +kiss the feet of the Lord Bishop of Toul, he prostrated himself and +kissed his feet.</p> + +<p>The same father having observed that the demon wished to overturn the +<i>Bénitier</i>, or basin of holy water which was there, he ordered him to +take the holy water and not spill it, and he obeyed. The Father +commanded him to give marks of the possession; he answered, "The +possession is sufficiently known;" he added in Greek, "I command thee +to carry some holy water to the governor of the town." The demon +replied, "It is not customary to exorcise in that tongue." The father +answered in Latin, "It is not for thee to impose laws on us; but the +church has power to command thee in whatever language she may think +proper."</p> + +<p>Then the demon took the basin of holy water and carried it to the +keeper of the Capuchins, to the Duke Eric of Lorraine, to the Counts +of Brionne, Remonville, la Vaux, and other lords.</p> + +<p>The physician, M. Pichard, having told him in a sentence, partly +Hebrew, and partly Greek, to cure the head and eyes of the possessed +woman; hardly had he finished speaking the last words, when the demon +replied: "Faith, we are not the cause of it; her brain is naturally +moist: that proceeds from her natural constitution;" then M. Pichard +said to the assembly, "Take notice, gentlemen, that he replies to +Greek and Hebrew at the same time." "Yes," replied the demon, "you +discover the pot of roses, and the secret; I will answer you no more." +There were several questions and replies in foreign languages, which +showed that he understood them very well.</p> + +<p>M. Viardin having asked him in Latin, "Ubi censebaris quandò mane +oriebaris?" He replied, "Between the seraphim." They said to him, "Pro +signo exhibe nobis patibulum fratris Cephæ;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> the devil extended his +arms in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. They said to him, "Applica +carpum carpo;" he did so, placing the wrist of one hand over the +other; then, "Admove tarsum tarso et metatarsum metatarso;" he crossed +his feet and raised them one upon the other. Then afterwards he said, +"Excita in calcaneo qualitatem congregantem heterogenea;" the +possessed said she felt her heel cold; after which, "Repræsenta nobis +labarum Venetorum;" he made the figure of the cross. Afterwards they +said, "Exhibe nobis videntum Deum benè precantem nepotibus ex +salvatore Egypti;" he crossed his arms as did Jacob on giving his +blessing to the sons of Joseph; and then, "Exhibe crucem +conterebrantem stipiti," he represented the cross of St. Peter. The +exorcist having by mistake said, "Per eum qui adversus te præliavit," +the demon did not give him time to correct himself; he said to him, "O +the ass! instead of <i>præliatus est</i>." He was spoken to in Italian and +German, and he always answered accordingly.</p> + +<p>They said to him one day, "Sume encolpium ejus qui hodiè functus est +officio illius de quo cecinit Psaltes: pro patribus tuis nati sunt +tibi filii;" he went directly and took the cross hanging round the +neck and resting on the breast of the Prince Eric de Lorraine, who +that same day had filled the office of bishop in giving orders, +because the Bishop of Toul was indisposed. He discovered secret +thoughts, and heard words that were said in the ear of some persons +which he was not possibly near enough to overhear, and declared that +he had known the mental prayer that a good priest had made before the +holy sacrament.</p> + +<p>Here is a trait still more extraordinary. They said to the demon, +speaking Latin and Italian in the same sentence: "Adi scholastrum +seniorem et osculare ejus pedes, la cui scarpa ha più di sugaro;" that +very moment he went and kissed the foot of the Sieur Juillet, ecolâtre +of St. George, the Elder of M. Viardin, ecolâtre of the Primitiale. M. +Juillet's right foot was shorter than the left, which obliged him to +wear a shoe with a cork heel (or raised by a piece of cork, called in +Italian <i>sugaro</i>).</p> + +<p>They proposed to him very difficult questions concerning the Trinity, +the Incarnation, the holy sacrament of the altar, the grace of God, +free will, the manner in which angels and demons know the thoughts of +men, &c., and he replied with much clearness and precision. She +discovered things unknown to everybody, and revealed to certain +persons, but secretly and in private, some sins of which they had been +guilty.</p> + +<p>The demon did not obey the voice only of the exorcists; he obeyed even +when they simply moved their lips, or held their hand, or a +handkerchief, or a book upon the mouth. A Calvinist having one day +mingled secretly in the crowd, the exorcist, who was warned of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> it, +commanded the demon to go and kiss his feet; he went immediately, +rushing through the crowd.</p> + +<p>An Englishman having come from curiosity to the exorcist, the devil +told him several particulars relating to his country and religion. He +was a Puritan; and the Englishman owned that everything he had said +was true. The same Englishman said to him in his language, "As a proof +of thy possession, tell me the name of my master who formerly taught +me embroidery;" he replied, "William." They commanded him to recite +the <i>Ave Maria</i>; he said to a Huguenot gentleman who was present, "Do +you say it, if you know it; for they don't say it amongst your +people." M. Pichard relates several unknown and hidden things which +the demon revealed, and that he performed several feats which it is +not possible for any person, however agile and supple he may be, to +achieve by natural strength or power; such as crawling on the ground +without making use of hands or feet, appearing to have the hair +standing erect like serpents.</p> + +<p>After all the details concerning the exorcisms, marks of possession, +questions and answers of the possessed, M. Pichard reports the +authentic testimony of the theologians, physicians, of the bishops +Eric of Lorraine, and Charles of Lorraine, Bishop of Verdun, of +several monks of every order, who attest the said possession to be +real and veritable; and lastly, a letter from the Rev. Father Cotton, +a Jesuit, who certifies the same thing. The said letter bears date the +5th of June, 1621, and is in reply to the one which the Prince Eric of +Lorraine had written to him.</p> + +<p>I have omitted a great many particulars related in the recital of the +exorcisms, and the proofs of the possession of Mademoiselle de +Ranfaing. I think I have said enough to convince any persons who are +sincere and unprejudiced that her possession is as certain as these +things can be. The affair occurred at Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, +in the presence of a great number of enlightened persons, two of whom +were of the house of Lorraine, both bishops, and well informed; in +presence and by the orders of my Lord de Porcelets, Bishop of Toul, a +most enlightened man, and of distinguished merit; of two doctors of +the Sorbonne, called thither expressly to judge of the reality of the +possession; in presence of people of the so-called Reformed religion, +and much on their guard against things of this kind. It has been seen +how far Father Pithoy carried his temerity against the possession in +question; he has been reprimanded by his diocesan and his superiors, +who have imposed silence on him.</p> + +<p>Mademoiselle de Ranfaing is known to be personally a woman of +extraordinary virtue, prudence, and merit. No reason can be imagined +for her feigning a possession which has pained her in a thousand ways. +The consequence of this terrible trial has been the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> establishment of +a kind of religious order, from which the church has received much +edification, and from which God has providentially derived glory.</p> + +<p>M. Nicolas de Harlay Sancy and M. Viardin are persons highly to be +respected both for their personal merit, their talent, and the high +offices they have filled; the first having been French ambassador at +Constantinople, and the other resident of the good Duke Henry at the +Court of Rome; so that I do not think I could have given an instance +more fit to convince you of there being real and veritable possessions +than this of Mademoiselle de Ranfaing.</p> + +<p>I do not relate that of the nuns of Loudun, on which such various +opinions have been given, the reality of which was doubted at the very +time, and is very problematical to this day. Those who are curious to +know the history of that affair will find it very well detailed in a +book I have already cited, entitled, "Examen et Discussion Critique de +l'Histoire des Diables de <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'Loudon'.">Loudun</ins>, &c., par M. de la Ménardaye," à +Paris, chez de Bure Ainé, 1749.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h3>OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE OBSESSIONS AND POSSESSIONS OF THE DEMON—REPLY +TO THE OBJECTIONS.</h3> + + +<p>Several objections may be raised against the obsessions and +possessions of demons; nothing is subject to greater difficulties than +this matter, but Providence constantly and uniformly permits the +clearest and most certain truths of religion to remain enveloped in +some degree of obscurity; that facts the best averred and the most +indubitable should be subject to doubts and contradictions; that the +most evident miracles should be disputed by some incredulous persons +on account of circumstances which appear to them doubtful and +disputable.</p> + +<p>All religion has its lights and shadows; God has permitted it to be so +in order that the just may have somewhat to exercise their faith in +believing, and the impious and incredulous persist in their wilful +impiety and incredulity. The greatest mysteries of Christianity are to +the one subjects of scandal, and to the others means of salvation; the +one regarding the mystery of the cross as folly, and the others as the +work of sublimest wisdom, and of the most admirable power of God. +Pharaoh hardened his heart when he saw the wonders wrought by Moses; +but the magicians of Egypt were at last obliged to recognize in them +the hand of God. The Hebrews<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> on sight of these wonders take +confidence in Moses and Aaron, and yield themselves to their guidance, +without fearing the dangers to which they may be exposed.</p> + +<p>We have already remarked that the demon often seems to act against his +own interest, and destroy his own empire, by saying that everything +which is related of the return of spirits, the obsessions and +possessions of the demon, of spells, magic, and sorcery, are only +tales wherewith to frighten children; that they all have no existence +except in weak and prejudiced minds. How can it serve the demon to +maintain this, and destroy the general opinion of nations on all these +things? If in all there is only falsehood and illusion, what does he +gain by undeceiving people? and if there is any truth in them, why +decry his own work, and take away the credit of his subordinates and +his own operations?</p> + +<p>Jesus Christ in the Gospel refutes those who said that he expelled +devils in the name of Beelzebub;[<a href="#f260">260</a><a name="f260.1" id="f260.1"></a>] he maintains that the accusation +is unfounded, because it was incredible that Satan should destroy his +own work and his own empire. The reasoning is doubtless solid and +conclusive, above all to the Jews, who thought that Jesus Christ did +not differ from other exorcists who expelled demons, unless it was +that he commanded the prince of devils, while the others commanded +only the subaltern demons. Now, on this supposition, the prince of the +demons could not expel his subalterns without destroying his own +empire, without decrying himself, and without ruining the reputation +of those who only acted by his orders.</p> + +<p>It may be objected to this argument, that Jesus Christ supposed, as +did the Jews, that the demons whom he expelled really possessed those +whom he cured, in whatever manner he might cure them; and consequently +that the empire of the demons subsisted, both in Beelzebub, the prince +of the demons, and in the other demons who were subordinate to him, +and who obeyed his orders; thus, his empire was not entirely +destroyed, supposing that Jesus Christ expelled them in the name of +Beelzebub; that subordination, on the contrary, supposed that power or +empire of the prince of the demons, and strengthened it.</p> + +<p>But Jesus Christ not only expelled demons by his own authority, +without ever making mention of Beelzebub; he expelled them in spite of +themselves, and sometimes they loudly complained that he was come to +torment them before the time.[<a href="#f261">261</a><a name="f261.1" id="f261.1"></a>] There was neither collusion between +him and them, nor subordination similar to that which might be +supposed to exist between Beelzebub and the other demons.</p> + +<p>The Lord pursued them, not only in expelling them from bodies,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +but also in overthrowing their bad maxims, by establishing doctrines +and maxims quite contrary to their own; he made war upon every vice, +error, and falsehood; he attacked the demon face to face, everywhere, +unflinchingly; thus, it cannot be said that he spared him, or was in +collusion with him. If the devil will sometimes pass off as chimeras +and illusions all that is said of apparitions, obsessions and +possessions, magic and sorcery; and if he appears so absolutely to +overthrow his reign, even so far as to deny the most marked and +palpable effects of his own power and presence, and impute them to the +weakness of mind of men and their foolish prejudices; in all this he +can only gain advantage for himself: for, if he can persuade people of +the truth of what he advances, his power will only be more solidly +confirmed by it, since it will no longer be attacked, and he will be +left to enjoy his conquests in peace, and the ecclesiastical and +secular powers interested in repressing the effects of his malice and +cruelty will no longer take the trouble to make war upon him, and +caution or put the nations on their guard against his stratagems and +ambuscades. It will close the mouth of parliaments, and stay the hand +of judges and powers; and the simple people will become the sport of +the demon, who will not cease continuing to tempt, persecute, corrupt, +deceive, and cause the perdition of those who shall no longer mistrust +his snares and his malice. The world will relapse into the same state +as when under paganism, given up to error, to the most shameful +passions, and will even deny or doubt those truths which shall be the +best attested, and the most necessary to our salvation.</p> + +<p>Moses in the Old Testament well foresaw that the evil spirit would set +every spring to work, to lead the Israelites into error and unruly +conduct; he foresaw that in the midst of the chosen people he would +instigate seducers, who would predict to them the hidden future, which +predictions would come true and be followed up. He always forbids +their listening to any prophet or diviners who wished to mislead them +to impiety or idolatry.</p> + +<p>Tertullian, speaking of the delusions performed by demons, and the +foresight they have of certain events, says,[<a href="#f262">262</a><a name="f262.1" id="f262.1"></a>] that being spiritual +in their nature, they find themselves in a moment in any place they +may wish, and announce at a distance what they have seen and heard. +All this is attributed to the Divinity, because neither the cause nor +the manner is known; often, also, they boast of causing events, which +they do but announce; and it is true that often they are themselves +the authors of the evils they predict, but never of any good. +Sometimes they make use of the knowledge they have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +derived from the predictions of the prophets respecting the designs of +God, and they utter them as coming from themselves. As they are spread +abroad in the air, they see in the clouds what must happen, and thus +foretell the rain which they were aware of before it had been felt +upon earth. As to maladies, if they cure them, it is because they have +occasioned them; they prescribe remedies which produce effect, and it +is believed that they have cured maladies simply because they have not +continued them. <i>Quia desinunt lædere, curasse credentur.</i></p> + +<p>The demon can then foresee the future and what is hidden, and discover +them by means of his votaries; he can also doubtlessly do wonderful +things which surpass the usual and known powers of nature; but it is +never done except to deceive us, and lead us into disorder and +impiety. And even should he wear the semblance of leading to virtue +and practising those things which are praiseworthy and useful to +salvation, it would only be to win the confidence of such as would +listen to his suggestions, to make them afterward fall into +misfortune, and engage them in some sin of presumption or vanity: for +as he is a spirit of malice and lies, it little imports to him by what +means he surprises us, and establishes his reign among us.</p> + +<p>But he is very far from always foreseeing the future, or succeeding +always in misleading us; God has set bounds to his malice. He often +deceives himself, and often makes use of disguise and perversion, that +he may not appear to be ignorant of what he is ignorant of, or he will +appear unwilling to do what God will not allow him to do; his power is +always bounded, and his knowledge limited. Often, also, he will +mislead and deceive through malice, because he is the father of +falsehood. He deceives men, and rejoices when he sees them doing +wrong; but not to lose his credit amongst those who consult him +directly or indirectly, he lays the fault on those who undertake to +interpret his words, or the equivocal signs which he has given. For +instance, if he is consulted whether to begin an enterprise, or give +battle, or set off on a journey, if the thing succeeds, he takes all +the glory and merit to himself; if it does not succeed, he imputes it +to the men who have not well understood the sense of his oracle, or to +the aruspices, who have made mistakes in consulting the entrails of +the immolated animals, or the flight of birds, &c.</p> + +<p>We must not, then, be surprised to find so many contradictions, +doubts, and difficulties, in the matter of apparitions, angels, +demons, and spirits. Man naturally loves to distinguish himself from +the common herd, and rise above the opinions of the people; it is a +sort of fashion not to suffer one's self to be drawn along by the +torrent, and to desire to sound and examine everything. We know that +there is an infinity of prejudices, errors, vulgar opinions, false +miracles, illusions, and seductions in the world; we know that many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +things are attributed to the devil which are purely natural, or that a +thousand apocryphal stories are related. It is then right to hold +one's self on one's guard, in order not to be deceived. It is very +important for religion to distinguish between true and false miracles, +certain or uncertain events, and works wrought by the hand of God, +from those which are the work of the seducing spirit.</p> + +<p>In all that he does, the demon mixes up a great many illusions amid +some truths, in order that the difficulty of discerning the true from +the false may make mankind take the side which pleases them most, and +that the incredulous may always have some points to maintain them in +their incredulity. Although the apparitions of spirits, angels, and +demons, and their operations, may not, perhaps, always be miraculous, +nevertheless, as the greater part appear above the common course of +nature, many of the persons of whom we have just spoken, without +giving themselves the trouble to examine the things, and seek for the +causes of them, the authors, and the circumstances, boldly take upon +themselves to deny them all. It is the shortest way, but neither the +most sensible nor the most rational; for in what is said on this +subject, there are effects which can be reasonably attributed to the +Almighty power of God alone, who acts immediately, or makes secondary +causes act to his glory, for the advancement of religion, and the +manifestation of the truth; and other effects there are, which bear +visibly the character of illusion, impiety, and seduction, and in +which it would seem that, instead of the finger of God, we can observe +only the marks of the spirit of deceit and falsehood.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f260.1">260</a><a name="f260" id="f260"></a>] Matt. xii. 24-27. Luke xi. 15-18.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f261.1">261</a><a name="f261" id="f261"></a>] Matt. viii. 29.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f262.1">262</a><a name="f262" id="f262"></a>] Tertullian does not say so much in the passage cited; on the +contrary, he affirms that we are ignorant of their nature: <i>substantia +ignoratur</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>CONTINUATION OF OBJECTIONS AGAINST POSSESSIONS, AND SOME REPLIES TO +THOSE OBJECTIONS.</h3> + + +<p>We read in works, published and printed, composed by Catholic authors +of our days,[<a href="#f263">263</a><a name="f263.1" id="f263.1"></a>] that it is proved by reason, that possessions of the +demon are naturally impossible, and that it is not true, in regard to +ourselves and our ideas, that the demon can have any natural power +over the corporeal world; that as soon as we admit in the created +wills a power to act upon bodies, and to move them, it is impossible +to set bounds to it, and that this power is truly infinite.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>They maintain that the demon can act upon our souls simply by means of +suggestion; that it is impossible the demon should be the physical +cause of the least external effect; that all the Scripture tells us of +the snares and stratagems of Satan signifies nothing more than the +temptations of the flesh and concupiscence; and that to seduce us, the +demon requires only mental suggestions. His is a moral, not a physical +power; in a word, <i>that the demon can do neither good nor harm; that +his might is nought</i>; that we do not know if God has given to any +other spirit than the soul of man the power to move the body; that, on +the contrary, we ought to presume that the wisdom of God has willed +that pure spirits should have no commerce with the body; they maintain +moreover that the pagans never knew what we call bad angels and +demons.</p> + +<p>All these propositions are certainly contrary to Scripture, to the +opinions of the Fathers, and to the tradition of the Catholic Church. +But these gentlemen do not trouble themselves about that; they affirm +that the sacred writers have often expressed themselves according to +the opinions of their time, whether because the necessity of making +themselves understood forced them to conform to it, or that they +themselves had adopted those opinions. There is, say they, more +likelihood that several infirmities which the Scripture has ascribed +to the demon had simply a natural cause; that in these places the +sacred authors have spoken according to vulgar opinions; the error of +this language is of no importance.</p> + +<p>The prophets of Saul, and Saul himself, were never what are properly +termed Prophets; they might be attacked with those (fits) which the +pagans call <i>sacred</i>. You must be asleep when you read, not to see +that the temptation of Eve is only an allegory. It is the same with +the permission given by God to Satan to tempt Job. Why wish to explain +the whole book of Job literally, and as a true history, since its +beginning is only a fiction? It is anything but certain that Jesus +Christ was transported by the demon to the highest pinnacle of the +temple.</p> + +<p>The Fathers were prepossessed on one side by the reigning ideas of the +philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato on the influences of mean +intelligences, and on the other hand by the language of the holy +books, which to conform to popular opinions often ascribed to the +demon effects which were purely natural. We must then return to the +doctrine of reason to decide on the submission which we ought to pay +to the authority of the Scriptures and the Fathers concerning the +power of the demons.</p> + +<p>The uniform method of the Holy Fathers in the interpretations of the +Old Testament is human opinion, whence one can appeal to the tribunal +of reason. They go so far as to say that the sacred authors were +informed of the Metempsychosis, as the author of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> Book of Wisdom, +chap. viii. 19, 20: "I was an innocent child, and I received a good +spirit; and as I was already good, I entered into an uncorrupted +body."</p> + +<p>Persons of this temper will certainly not read this work of ours, or, +if they do read it, it will be with contempt or pity. I do not think +it necessary to refute those paradoxes here; the Bishop of Senez has +done it with his usual erudition and zeal, in a long letter printed at +Utrecht in 1736. I do not deny that the sacred writers may sometimes +have spoken in a popular manner, and in accordance with the prejudice +of the people. But it is carrying things too far to reduce the power +of the demon to being able to act upon us only by means of suggestion; +and it is a presumption unworthy of a philosopher to decide on the +power of spirits over bodies, having no knowledge, either by +revelation or by reason, of the extent of the power of angels and +demons over matter and human bodies. We may exceed due measure by +granting them excessive power, as well as in not according them +enough. But it is of infinite importance to Religion to discern justly +between what is natural, or supernatural, in the operations of angels +and demons, that the simple may not be left in error, nor the wicked +triumph over the truth, and make a bad use of their own wit and +knowledge, to render doubtful what is certain, and deceiving both +themselves and others by ascribing to chance or illusion of the +senses, or a vain prepossession of the mind, what is said of the +apparitions of angels, demons, and deceased persons; since it is +certain that several of these apparitions are quite true, although +there may be a great number of others that are very uncertain, and +even manifestly false.</p> + +<p>I shall therefore make no difficulty in owning that even miracles, at +least things that appear such, the prediction of future events, +movements of the body which appear beyond the usual powers of nature, +to speak and understand foreign languages unknown before, to penetrate +the thoughts, discover concealed things, to be raised up, and +transported in a moment from one place to another, to announce truths, +lead a good life externally, preach Jesus Christ, decry magic and +sorcery, make an outward profession of virtue; I readily own that all +these things may not prove invincibly that all who perform them are +sent by God, or that these operations are real miracles; yet we cannot +reasonably suppose the demon to be mixed up in them by God's +permission, or that the demons or the angels do not act upon those +persons who perform prodigies, and foretell things to come, or who can +penetrate the thoughts of the heart, or that God himself does not +produce these effects by the immediate action of his justice or his +might.</p> + +<p>The examples which have been cited, or which may be cited hereafter, +will never prove that man can of himself penetrate the senti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>ments of +another, or discover his secret thoughts. The wonders worked by the +magicians of Pharaoh were only illusion; they appeared, however, to be +true miracles, and passed for such in the eyes of the King of Egypt +and all his court. Balaam, the son of Beor, was a true Prophet, +although a man whose morals were very corrupt.</p> + +<p>Pomponatius writes that the wife of Francis Maigret, savetier of +Mantua, spoke divers languages, and was cured by Calderon, a +physician, famous in his time, who gave her a potion of Hellebore. +Erasmus says also[<a href="#f264">264</a><a name="f264.1" id="f264.1"></a>] that he had seen an Italian, a native of +Spoletta, who spoke German very well, although he had never been in +Germany; they gave him a medicine which caused him to eject a quantity +of worms, and he was cured so as not to speak German any more.</p> + +<p>Le Loyer, in his <i>Book of Spectres</i>,[<a href="#f265">265</a><a name="f265.1" id="f265.1"></a>] avows that all those things +appear to him much to be doubted. He rather believes Fernel, one of +the gravest physicians of his age, who maintains[<a href="#f266">266</a><a name="f266.1" id="f266.1"></a>] that there is +not such power in medicine, and brings forward as an instance the +history of a young gentleman, the son of a Knight of the Order, who +being seized upon by the demon, could be cured neither by potions, by +medicines, nor by diet (<i>i. e.</i> fasting), but who was cured by the +conjurations and exorcisms of the church.</p> + +<p>As to the reality of the return of souls, or spirits, and their +apparitions, the Sorbonne, the most celebrated school of theology in +France, has always believed that the spirits of the defunct returned +sometimes, either by the order and power of God, or by his permission. +The Sorbonne confessed this in its decisions of the year 1518, and +still more positively the 23d of January, 1724. <i>Nos respondemus +vestræ petitioni animas defunctorum divinitus, seu divinâ virtute, +ordinatione aut permissione interdum ad vivas redire exploratum esse.</i> +Several jurisconsults and several sovereign companies have decreed +that the apparition of a deceased person in a house could suffice to +break up the lease. We may count it for much, to have proved to +certain persons that there is a God whose providence extends over all +things past, present, and to come; that there is another life, that +there are good and bad spirits, rewards for good works, and +punishments after this life for sins; that Jesus Christ has ruined the +power of Satan; that he exercised in himself, in his apostles, and +continues to exercise in the ministers of his church, an absolute +empire over the infernal powers; that the devil is now chained; he may +bark and threaten, but he can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +bite only those who approach him, and voluntarily give themselves up +to him.</p> + +<p>We have seen in these parts a woman who followed a band of mountebanks +and jugglers, who stretched out her legs in such an extraordinary +manner, and raised up her feet to her head, before and behind, with as +much suppleness as if she had neither nerves nor joints. There was +nothing supernatural in all that; she had exercised herself from +extreme youth in these movements, and had contracted the habit of +performing them.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine[<a href="#f267">267</a><a name="f267.1" id="f267.1"></a>] speaks of a soothsayer whom he had known at +Carthage, an illiterate man, who could discover the secrets of the +heart, and replied to those who consulted him on secret and unknown +affairs. He had himself made an experiment on him, and took to witness +St. Alypius, Licentius, and Trygnius, his interlocutors, in his +dialogue against the Academicians. They, like him, had consulted +Albicerius, and had admired the certainty of his replies. He gives us +an instance—a spoon which had been lost. They told him that some one +had lost something; and he instantly, without hesitation, replied that +such a thing was lost, that such a one had taken it, and had hid it in +such a place, which was found to be quite true.</p> + +<p>They sent him a certain quantity of pieces of silver; he who was +charged to carry them had taken away some of them. He made the person +return them, and perceived the theft before the money had been shown +to him. St. Augustine was present. A learned and distinguished man, +named Flaccianus, wishing to buy a field, consulted the soothsayer, +who declared to him the name of the land, which was very +extraordinary, and gave him all the details of the affair in question. +A young student, wishing to prove Albicerius, begged of him to declare +to him what he was thinking of; he told him he was thinking of a verse +of Virgil; and, as he then asked him which verse it was, the diviner +repeated it instantly, though he had never studied the Latin language.</p> + +<p>This Albicerius was a scoundrel, as St. Augustine says, who calls him +<i>flagitiosum hominem</i>. The knowledge which he had of hidden things was +not, doubtless, a gift of heaven, any more than the Pythonic spirit +which animated that maid in the Acts of the Apostles whom St. Paul +obliged to keep silence.[<a href="#f268">268</a><a name="f268.1" id="f268.1"></a>] It was then the work of the evil spirit.</p> + +<p>The gift of tongues, the knowledge of the future, and power to divine +the thoughts of others, are always adduced, and with reason, as solid +proofs of the presence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit; but if the +demon can sometimes perform the same things, he does<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +it to mislead and induce sin, or simply to render true prophecies +doubtful; but never to lead to truth, the fear and love of God, and +the edification of those around. God may allow such corrupt men as +Balaam, and such rascals as Albicerius, to have some knowledge of the +future, and secret things, and even of the hidden thoughts of men; but +he never permits their criminality to remain unrevealed to the end, +and so become a stumbling-block for simple or worthy people. The +malice of these hypocritical and corrupt men will be made manifest +sooner or later by some means; their malice and depravity will be +found out, by which it will be judged, either that they are inspired +only by the evil spirit, or that the Holy Spirit makes use of their +agency to foretell some truth, as he prophesied by Balaam, and by +Caïphas. Their morals and their conduct will throw discredit on them, +and oblige us to be careful in discerning between their true +predictions and their bad example. We have seen hypocrites who died +with the reputation of being worthy people, and who at bottom were +scoundrels—as for instance, that curé, the director of the nuns of +Louviers, whose possession was so much talked of.</p> + +<p>Jesus Christ, in the Gospel, tells us to be on our guard against +wolves in sheep's clothing; and, elsewhere, he tells us that there +will be false Christs and false prophets, who will prophesy in his +name, and perform wonders capable of deceiving the very elect +themselves, were it possible. But he refers us to their works to +distinguish them.</p> + +<p>To apply all these things to the possessed nuns of Loudun, and to +Mademoiselle de Ranfaing, even to that girl whose hypocrisy was +unmasked by Mademoiselle Acarie, I appeal to their works, and their +conduct both before and after.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>God will not allow those who sincerely seek the truth to be deceived.</p> + +<p>A juggler will guess which card you have touched, or even simply +thought of; but it is known that there is nothing supernatural in +that, and that it is done by the combination of the cards according to +mathematical rules. We have seen a deaf man who understood what they +wished to say to him by simply observing the motion of the lips of +those who spoke. There is nothing more miraculous in this than in two +persons conversing together by signs upon which they have agreed.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f263.1">263</a><a name="f263" id="f263"></a>] See the letter of the Bishop of Senez, printed at Utrecht, in +1736, and the works that he therein cites and refutes.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f264.1">264</a><a name="f264" id="f264"></a>] Erasm. Orat. de laudibus Medicinæ.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f265.1">265</a><a name="f265" id="f265"></a>] Le Loyer, lib. de Spec. cap. ii. p. 288.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f266.1">266</a><a name="f266" id="f266"></a>] Fernel, de abditis Rerum Causis, lib. ii. c. 26.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f267.1">267</a><a name="f267" id="f267"></a>] August. contra Academic. lib. ii. art. 17, 18.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f268.1">268</a><a name="f268" id="f268"></a>] Acts xvi. 16.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<h3>OF FAMILIAR SPIRITS.</h3> + + +<p>If all that is related of spirits which are perceived in houses, in +the cavities of mountains, and in mines, is certain, we cannot disavow +that they also must be placed in the rank of apparitions of the evil +spirit; for, although they usually do neither wrong nor violence to +any one, unless they are irritated or receive abusive words; +nevertheless we do not read that they lead to the love or fear of God, +to prayer, piety, or acts of devotion; it is known, on the contrary, +that they show a distaste to those things, so that we shall place them +in earnest among the spirits of darkness.</p> + +<p>I do not find that the ancient Hebrews knew anything of what we call +<i>esprits follets</i>, or familiar spirits, which infest houses, or attach +themselves to certain persons, to serve them, watch over and warn +them, and guard them from danger; such as the demon of Socrates, who +warned him to avoid certain misfortunes. Some other examples are also +related of persons who said they had similar genii attached to their +persons.</p> + +<p>The Jews and Christians confess that every one of us has his good +angel, who guides him from his early youth.[<a href="#f269">269</a><a name="f269.1" id="f269.1"></a>] Several of the +ancients have thought that we have also our evil angel, who leads us +into error. The Psalmist[<a href="#f270">270</a><a name="f270.1" id="f270.1"></a>] says distinctly that God has commanded +his angels to guide us in all our ways. But this is not what we +understand here under the name of <i>esprits follets</i>.</p> + +<p>The prophets in some places speak of <i>fauns</i>, or <i>hairy men</i>, or +<i>satyrs</i>, who have some resemblance to our elves.</p> + +<p>Isaiah,[<a href="#f271">271</a><a name="f271.1" id="f271.1"></a>] speaking of the state to which Babylon shall be reduced +after her destruction, says that the ostriches shall make it their +dwelling, and that the hairy men, <i>pilosi</i>, the satyrs, and goats, +shall dance there. And elsewhere the same prophet says,[<a href="#f272">272</a><a name="f272.1" id="f272.1"></a>] +<i>Occurrent dæmonia onocentauris et pilosus clamabit alter ad alterum</i>, +by which clever interpreters understand spectres which appear in the +shape of goats. Jeremiah calls them <i>fauns</i>—the dragons with the +fauns, which feed upon figs. But this is not the place for us to go +more fully into the signification of the terms of the original; it +suffices for us to show that in the Scripture, at least in the +Vulgate, are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> found the names of <i>lamiæ</i>, <i>fauns</i>, and <i>satyrs</i>, which +have some resemblance to <i>esprits follets</i>.</p> + +<p>Cassian,[<a href="#f273">273</a><a name="f273.1" id="f273.1"></a>] who had studied deeply the lives of the fathers of the +desert, and who had been much with the hermits or anchorites of Egypt, +speaking of divers sorts of demons, mentions some which they commonly +called <i>fauns</i> or <i>satyrs</i>, which the pagans regard as kinds of +divinities of the fields or groves, who delighted, not so much in +tormenting or doing harm to mankind, as in deceiving and fatiguing +them, diverting themselves at their expense, and sporting with their +simplicity.[<a href="#f274">274</a><a name="f274.1" id="f274.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>Pliny[<a href="#f275">275</a><a name="f275.1" id="f275.1"></a>] the younger had a freed-man named Marcus, a man of letters, +who slept in the same bed with his brother, who was younger than +himself. It seemed to him that he saw a person sitting on the same +bed, who was cutting off his hair from the crown of his head. When he +awoke, he found his head shorn of hair, and his hair thrown on the +ground in the middle of the chamber. A little time after, the same +thing happened to a youth who slept with several others at a school. +This one saw two men dressed in white come in at the window, who cut +off his hair as he slept, and then went out by the same window: on +awaking, he found his hair scattered about on the floor. To what can +these things be attributed, if not to an elf?</p> + +<p>Plotinus,[<a href="#f276">276</a><a name="f276.1" id="f276.1"></a>] a Platonic philosopher, had, it is said, a familiar +demon, who obeyed him from the moment he called him, and was superior +in his nature to the common genii; he was of the order of gods, and +Plotinus paid continual attention to this divine guardian. This it was +which led him to undertake a work on the demon which belongs to each +of us in particular. He endeavors to explain the difference between +the genii which watch over men.</p> + +<p>Trithemius, in his Chronicon Hirsauginse,[<a href="#f277">277</a><a name="f277.1" id="f277.1"></a>] under the year 1130, +relates that in the diocese of Hildesheim, in Saxony, they saw for +some time a spirit which they called in German <i>heidekind</i>, as if they +would say <i>rural genius</i>, <i>heide</i> signifying vast country, <i>kind</i>, +child (or boy). He appeared sometimes in one form, sometimes in +another; and sometimes, without appearing at all, he did several +things by which he proved both his presence and his power. He chose +sometimes to give very important advice to those in power; and often +he has been seen in the bishop's kitchen, helping the cooks and doing +sundry jobs.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>A young scullion, who had grown familiar with him, having offered him +some insults, he warned the head cook of it, who made light of it, or +thought nothing about it; but the spirit avenged himself cruelly. This +youth having fallen asleep in the kitchen, the spirit stifled him, +tore him to pieces, and roasted him. He carried his fury still further +against the officers of the kitchen, and the other officers of the +prince. The thing went on to such a point that they were obliged to +proceed against him by (ecclesiastical) censures, and to constrain him +by exorcisms to go out of the country.</p> + +<p>I think I may put amongst the number of elves the spirits which are +seen, they say, in mines and mountain caves. They appear clad like the +miners, run here and there, appear in haste as if to work and seek the +veins of mineral ore, lay it in heaps, draw it out, turning the wheel +of the crane; they seem to be very busy helping the workmen, and at +the same time they do nothing at all.</p> + +<p>These spirits are not mischievous, unless they are insulted and +laughed at; for then they fall into an ill humor, and throw things at +those who offend them. One of these genii, who had been addressed in +injurious terms by a miner, twisted his neck and placed his head the +hind part before. The miner did not die, but remained all his life +with his neck twisted and awry.</p> + +<p>George Agricola,[<a href="#f278">278</a><a name="f278.1" id="f278.1"></a>] who has treated very learnedly on mines, metals, +and the manner of extracting them from the bowels of the earth, +mentions two or three sorts of spirits which appear in mines. Some are +very small, and resemble dwarfs or pygmies; the others are like old +men dressed like miners, having their shirts tucked up, and a leathern +apron round their loins; others perform, or seem to perform, what they +see others do, are very gay, do no harm to any one, but from all their +labors nothing real results.</p> + +<p>In other mines are seen dangerous spirits, who ill-use the workmen, +hunt them away, and sometimes kill them, and thus constrain them to +forsake mines which are very rich and abundant. For instance, at +Anneberg, in a mine called Crown of Rose, a spirit in the shape of a +spirited, snorting horse, killed twelve miners, and obliged those who +worked the mine to abandon the undertaking, though it brought them in +a great deal. In another mine, called St. Gregory, in Siveberg, there +appeared a spirit whose head was covered with a black hood, and he +seized a miner, raised him up to a considerable height, then let him +fall, and hurt him extremely.</p> + +<p>Olaus Magnus[<a href="#f279">279</a><a name="f279.1" id="f279.1"></a>] says that, in Sweden and other northern countries, +they saw formerly familiar spirits, which, under the form of men or +women, waited on certain persons. He speaks of certain nymphs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +dwelling in caverns and in the depths of the forest, who announce +things to come; some are good, others bad; they appear and speak to +those who consult them. Travelers and shepherds also often see during +the night divers phantoms which burn the spot where they appear, so +that henceforward neither grass nor verdure are seen there.</p> + +<p>He says that the people of Finland, before their conversion to +Christianity, sold the winds to sailors, giving them a string with +three knots, and warning them that by untying the first knot they +would have a gentle and favorable wind, at the second knot a stronger +wind, and at the third knot a violent and dangerous gale. He says, +moreover, that the Bothnians, striking on an anvil hard blows with a +hammer, upon a frog or a serpent of brass, fall down in a swoon, and +during this swoon they learn what passes in very distant places.</p> + +<p>But all those things have more relation to magic than to familiar +spirits; and if what is said about them be true, it must be ascribed +to the evil spirit.</p> + +<p>The same Olaus Magnus[<a href="#f280">280</a><a name="f280.1" id="f280.1"></a>] says that in mines, above all in silver +mines, from which great profit may be expected, six sorts of demons +may be seen, who under divers forms labor at breaking the rocks, +drawing the buckets, and turning the wheels; who sometimes burst into +laughter, and play different tricks; all of which are merely to +deceive the miners, whom they crush under the rocks, or expose to the +most imminent dangers, to make them utter blasphemy, and swear and +curse. Several very rich mines have been obliged to be disused through +fear of these dangerous spirits.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding all that we have just related, I doubt very much if +there are any spirits in mountain caves or in mines. I have +interrogated on the subject people of the trade and miners by +profession, of whom there is a great number in our mountains, the +Vosges, who have assured me that all which is related on that point is +fabulous; that if sometimes they see these elves or grotesque figures, +it must be attributed to a heated and prepossessed imagination; or +else that the circumstance is so rare that it ought not to be repeated +as something usual or common.</p> + +<p>A new "Traveler in the Northern Countries," printed at Amsterdam, in +1708, says that the people of Iceland are almost all conjurers or +sorcerers; that they have familiar demons, whom they call <i>troles</i>, +who wait upon them as servants, and warn them of the accidents or +illnesses which are to happen to them; they awake them to go a-fishing +when the season is favorable, and if they go for that purpose without +the advice of these genii, they do not succeed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +There are some persons among these people who evoke the dead, and make +them appear to those who wish to consult them: they also conjure up +the appearance of the absent far from the spot where they dwell.</p> + +<p>Father Vadingue relates, after an old manuscript legend, that a lady +named Lupa had had during thirteen years a familiar demon, who served +her as a waiting-woman, and led her into many secret irregularities, +and induced her to treat her servants with inhumanity. God gave her +grace to see her fault, and to do penance for it, by the intercession +of St. François d'Assise and St. Anthony of Padua, to whom she had +always felt particular devotion.</p> + +<p>Cardan speaks of a bearded demon of Niphus, who gave him lessons of +philosophy.</p> + +<p>Agrippa had a demon who waited upon him in the shape of a dog. This +dog, says Paulus Jovius, seeing his master about to expire, threw +himself into the Rhone.</p> + +<p>Much is said of certain spirits[<a href="#f281">281</a><a name="f281.1" id="f281.1"></a>] which are kept confined in rings, +that are bought, sold, or exchanged. They speak also of a crystal +ring, in which the demon represented the objects desired to be seen.</p> + +<p>Some also speak highly of those enchanted mirrors,[<a href="#f282">282</a><a name="f282.1" id="f282.1"></a>] in which +children see the face of a robber who is sought for; others will see +it in their nails; all which can only be diabolical illusions.</p> + +<p>Le Loyer relates[<a href="#f283">283</a><a name="f283.1" id="f283.1"></a>] that when he was studying the law at Thoulouse, +he was lodged near a house where an elf never ceased all the night to +draw water from the well, making the pulley creak all the while; at +other times, he seemed to drag something heavy up the stairs; but he +very rarely entered the rooms, and then he made but little noise.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f269.1">269</a><a name="f269" id="f269"></a>] Matt. xviii. 10.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f270.1">270</a><a name="f270" id="f270"></a>] Psalm xc. 11.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f271.1">271</a><a name="f271" id="f271"></a>] Isai. xiii. 22. Pilosi saltabunt ibi.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f272.1">272</a><a name="f272" id="f272"></a>] Isai. xxxiv. 15.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f273.1">273</a><a name="f273" id="f273"></a>] Cassian, Collat. vii. c. 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f274.1">274</a><a name="f274" id="f274"></a>] "Quos seductores et joculatores esse manifestum est, cùm +nequaquam tormentis eorum, quos prætereuntes potuerint decipere, +oblectentur, sed de risu tantum modò et illusione contenti, fatigare +potiùs, studeant, quám nocere."</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f275.1">275</a><a name="f275" id="f275"></a>] Plin. i. 7. Epist. 27, suiv.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f276.1">276</a><a name="f276" id="f276"></a>] Life of Plotin. art. x.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f277.1">277</a><a name="f277" id="f277"></a>] Chron. Hirsaug. ad ann. 1130.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f278.1">278</a><a name="f278" id="f278"></a>] Geo. Agricola, de Mineral. Subterran. p. 504.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f279.1">279</a><a name="f279" id="f279"></a>] Olaus Mag. lib. iii. Hist. 5, 9-14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f280.1">280</a><a name="f280" id="f280"></a>] Olaus Mag. lib. vi. c. 9.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f281.1">281</a><a name="f281" id="f281"></a>] Le Loyer, p. 474.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f282.1">282</a><a name="f282" id="f282"></a>] Ibid. liv. ii. p. 258.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f283.1">283</a><a name="f283" id="f283"></a>] Ibid. p. 550.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<h3>SOME OTHER EXAMPLES OF ELVES.</h3> + + +<p>On the 25th of August, 1746, I received a letter from a very worthy +man, the curé of the parish of Walsche, a village situated in the +mountains of Vosges, in the county of Dabo, or Dasburg, in Lower +Alsatia, Diocese of Metz. In this letter, he tells me that the 10th of +June, 1740, at eight o'clock in the morning, he being in his kitchen, +with his niece and the servant, he saw on a sudden an iron pot that +was placed on the ground turn round three or four times,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> without its +being set in motion by any one. A moment after, a stone, weighing +about a pound, was thrown from the next room into the same kitchen, in +presence of the same persons, without their seeing the hand which +threw it. The next day, at nine o'clock in the morning, some panes of +glass were broken, and through these panes were thrown some stones, +with what appeared to them supernatural dexterity. The spirit never +hurt anybody, and never did anything in the night time, but always +during the day. The curé employed the prayers marked out in the ritual +to bless his house, and thenceforth the genius broke no more panes of +glass; but he continued to throw stones at the curé's people, without +hurting them, however. If they fetched water from the fountain, he +threw stones into the bucket; and afterwards he began to serve in the +kitchen. One day, as the servant was planting some cabbages in the +garden, he pulled them up as fast as she planted them, and laid them +in a heap. It was in vain that she stormed, threatened, and swore in +the German style; the genius continued to play his tricks.</p> + +<p>One day, when a bed in the garden had been dug and prepared, the spade +was found thrust two feet deep into the ground, without any trace +being seen of him who had thus stuck it in; but they observed that on +the spade was a riband, and by the spade were two pieces of two soles, +which the girl had locked up the evening before in a little box. +Sometimes he took pleasure in displacing the earthenware and pewter, +and putting it either all round the kitchen, or in the porch, or even +in the cemetery, and always in broad daylight. One day he filled an +iron pot with wild herbs, bran, and leaves of trees, and, having put +some water in it, carried it to the ally or walk in the garden; +another time he suspended it to the pot-hook over the fire. The +servant having broken two eggs into a little dish for the curé's +supper, the genius broke two more into it in his presence, the maid +having merely turned to get some salt. The curé having gone to say +mass, on his return found all his earthenware, furniture, linen, +bread, milk, and other things scattered about over the house.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the spirit would form circles on the paved floor, at one +time with stones, at another with corn or leaves, and in a moment, +before the eyes of all present, all was overturned and deranged. Tired +with these games, the curé sent for the mayor of the place, and told +him he was resolved to quit the parsonage house. Whilst this was +passing, the curé's niece came in, and told them that the genius had +torn up the cabbages in the garden, and had put some money in a hole +in the ground. They went there, and found things exactly as she had +said. They picked up the money, which what the curé had put away in a +place not locked up; and in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> moment after they found it anew, with +some liards, two by two, scattered about the kitchen.</p> + +<p>The agents of the Count de Linange being arrived at Walsche, went to +the curé's house, and persuaded him that it was all the effect of a +spell; they told him to take two pistols, and fire them off at the +place where he might observe there were any movements. The genius at +the same moment threw out of the pocket of one of these officers two +pieces of silver; and from that time he was no longer perceived in the +house.</p> + +<p>The circumstances of two pistols terminating the scenes with which the +elf had disturbed the good curé, made him believe that this tormenting +imp was no other than a certain bad parishioner, whom the curé had +been obliged to send away from his parish, and who to revenge himself +had done all that we have related. If that be the case, he had +rendered himself invisible, or he had had credit enough to send in his +stead a familiar genius who puzzled the curé for some weeks; for, if +he were not bodily in this house, what had he to fear from any pistol +shot which might have been fired at him? And if he was there bodily, +how could he render himself invisible?</p> + +<p>I have been told several times that a monk of the Cistercian order had +a familiar genius who attended upon him, arranged his chamber, and +prepared everything ready for him when he was coming back from the +country. They were so accustomed to this, that they expected him home +by these signs, and he always arrived. It is affirmed of another monk +of the same order that he had a familiar spirit, who warned him, not +only of what passed in the house, but also of what happened out of it; +and one day he was awakened three times, and warned that some monks +were quarreling, and were ready to come to blows; he ran to the spot, +and put an end to the dispute.</p> + +<p>St. Sulpicius Severus[<a href="#f284">284</a><a name="f284.1" id="f284.1"></a>] relates that St. Martin often had +conversations with the Holy Virgin, and other saints, and even with +the demons and false gods of paganism; he talked with them, and +learned from them many secret things. One day, when a council was +being held at Nîmes, where he had not thought proper to be present, +but the decisions of which he desired to know, being in a boat with +St. Sulpicius, but apart from others, as usual with him, an angel +appeared, and informed him what had passed in this assembly of +bishops. Inquiry was made as to the day and hour when the council was +held, and it was found to be at the same hour at which the angel had +appeared to Martin.</p> + +<p>We have been told several times that a young ecclesiastic, in a +seminary at Paris, had a genius who waited upon him, and arranged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> +his room and his clothes. One day, when the superior was passing by +the chamber of the seminarist, he heard him talking with some one; he +entered, and asked who he was conversing with. The youth affirmed that +there was no one in his room, and, in fact, the superior could neither +see nor discover any one there. Nevertheless, as he had heard their +conversation, the young man owned that for some years he had been +attended by a familiar genius, who rendered him every service that a +domestic could have done, and had promised him great advantages in the +ecclesiastical profession. The superior pressed him to give some +proofs of what he said. He ordered the genius to set a chair for the +superior; the genius obeyed. Information of this was sent to the +archbishop, who did not think proper to give it publicity. The young +clerk was sent away, and this singular adventure was buried in +silence.</p> + +<p>Bodin[<a href="#f285">285</a><a name="f285.1" id="f285.1"></a>] speaks of a person of his acquaintance who was still living +at the time he wrote, which was in 1588. This person had a familiar +who from the age of thirty-seven had given him good advice respecting +his conduct, sometimes to correct his faults, sometimes to make him +practice virtue, or to assist him; resolving the difficulties which he +might find in reading holy books, or giving him good counsel upon his +own affairs. He usually rapped at his door at three or four o'clock in +the morning to awaken him; and as that person mistrusted all these +things, fearing that it might be an evil angel, the spirit showed +himself in broad day, striking gently on a glass bowl, and then upon a +bench. When he desired to do anything good and useful, the spirit +touched his right ear; but if it was anything wrong and dangerous, he +touched his left ear; so that from that time nothing occurred to him +of which he was not warned beforehand. Sometimes he heard his voice; +and one day, when he found his life in imminent danger, he saw his +genius, under the form of a child of extraordinary beauty, who saved +him from it.</p> + +<p>William, Bishop of Paris,[<a href="#f286">286</a><a name="f286.1" id="f286.1"></a>] says that he knew a rope-dancer who had +a familiar spirit which played and joked with him, and prevented him +from sleeping, throwing something against the wall, dragging off the +bed-clothes, or pulling him about when he was in bed. We know by the +account of a very sensible person that it has happened to him in the +open country, and in the day time, to feel his cloak and boots pulled +at, and his hat thrown down; then he heard the bursts of laughter and +the voice of a person deceased and well known to him, who seemed to +rejoice at it.</p> + +<p>The discovery of things hidden or unknown, which is made in dreams, or +otherwise, can hardly be ascribed to anything but to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +familiar spirits. A man who did not know a word of Greek came to M. +de Saumaise, senior, a counselor of the Parliament of Dijon, and +showed him these words, which he had heard in the night, as he slept, +and which he wrote down in French characters on awaking: "<i>Apithi ouc +osphraine tén sén apsychian</i>." He asked him what that meant. M. de +Saumaise told him it meant, "Save yourself; do you not perceive the +death with which you are threatened?" Upon this hint, the man removed, +and left his house, which fell down the following night.[<a href="#f287">287</a><a name="f287.1" id="f287.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>The same story is related, with a little difference, by another +author, who says that the circumstance happened at Paris;[<a href="#f288">288</a><a name="f288.1" id="f288.1"></a>] that +the genius spoke in Syriac, and that M. de Saumaise being consulted, +replied, "Go out of your house, for it will fall in ruins to-day, at +nine o'clock in the evening." It is but too much the custom in +reciting stories of this kind to add a few circumstances by way of +embellishment.</p> + +<p><ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'Gassendy'.">Gassendi</ins>, in the Life of M. Peiresch, relates that M. Peiresch, going +one day to Nismes, with one of his friends, named M. Rainier, the +latter, having heard Peiresch talking in his sleep in the night, waked +him, and asked him what he said. Peiresch answered him, "I dreamed +that, being at Nismes, a jeweler had offered me a medal of Julius +Cæsar, for which he asked four crowns, and as I was going to count him +down his money, you waked me, to my great regret." They arrived at +Nismes, and going about the town, Peiresch recognized the goldsmith +whom he had seen in his dream; and on his asking him if he had nothing +curious, the goldsmith told him he had a gold medal, or coin, of +Julius Cæsar. Peiresch asked him how much he esteemed it worth; he +replied, four crowns. Peiresch paid them, and was delighted to see his +dream so happily accomplished.</p> + +<p>Here is a dream much more singular than the preceding, although a +little in the same style.[<a href="#f289">289</a><a name="f289.1" id="f289.1"></a>] A learned man of Dijon, after having +wearied himself all day with an important passage in a Greek poet, +without being able to comprehend it at all, went to bed thinking of +this difficulty. During his sleep, his genius transported him in +spirit to Stockholm, introduced him into the palace of Queen +Christina, conducted him into the library, and showed him a small +volume, which was precisely what he sought. He opened it, read in it +ten or twelve Greek verses, which absolutely cleared up the difficulty +which had so long beset him; he awoke, and wrote down the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +verses he had seen at Stockholm. On the morrow, he wrote to M. +Descartes, who was then in Sweden, and begged of him to look in such a +place, and in such a <i>division</i> of the library, if the book, of which +he sent him the description, were there, and if the Greek verses which +he sent him were to be read in it.</p> + +<p>M. Descartes replied that he had found the book in question; and also +the verses he had sent were in the place he pointed out; that one of +his friends had promised him a copy of that work, and he would send it +him by the first opportunity.</p> + +<p>We have already said something of the spirit, or familiar genius of +Socrates, which prevented him from doing certain things, but did not +lead him to do others. It is asserted[<a href="#f290">290</a><a name="f290.1" id="f290.1"></a>] that, after the defeat of +the Athenian army, commanded by Laches, Socrates, flying like the +others, with this Athenian general, and being arrived at a spot where +several roads met, Socrates would not follow the road taken by the +other fugitives; and when they asked him the reason, he replied, +because his genius drew him away from it. The event justified his +foresight. All those who had taken the other road were either killed +or made prisoners by the enemy's cavalry.</p> + +<p>It is doubtful whether the elves, of which so many things are related, +are good or bad spirits; for the faith of the church admits nothing +between these two kinds of genii. Every genius is either good or bad; +but as there are in heaven many mansions, as the Gospel says,[<a href="#f291">291</a><a name="f291.1" id="f291.1"></a>] and +as there are among the blessed, various degrees of glory, differing +from each other, so we may believe that there are in hell various +degrees of pain and punishment for the damned and the demons.</p> + +<p>But are they not rather magicians, who render themselves invisible, +and divert themselves in disquieting the living? Why do they attach +themselves to certain spots, and certain persons, rather than to +others? Why do they make themselves perceptible only during a certain +time, and that sometimes a short space?</p> + +<p>I could willingly conclude that what is said of them is mere fancy and +prejudice; but their reality has been so often experienced by the +discourse they have held, and the actions they have performed in the +presence of many wise and enlightened persons, that I cannot persuade +myself that among the great number of stories related of them there +are not at least some of them true.</p> + +<p>It may be remarked that these elves never lead one to anything good, +to prayer, or piety, to the love of God, or to godly and serious +actions. If they do no other harm, they leave hurtful doubts about the +punishments of the damned, on the efficacy of prayer and exorcisms; if +they hurt not those men or animals which are found on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +the spot where they may be perceived, it is because God sets bounds +to their malice and power. The demon has a thousand ways of deceiving +us. All those to whom these genii attach themselves have a horror of +them, mistrust and fear them; and it rarely happens that these +familiar demons do not lead them to a dangerous end, unless they +deliver themselves from them by grave acts of religion and penance.</p> + +<p>There is the story of a spirit, "which," says he who wrote it to me, +"I no more doubt the truth of than if I had been a witness of it." +Count Despilliers, the father, being a young man, and captain of +cuirassiers, was in winter quarters in Flanders. One of his men came +to him one day to beg that he would change his landlord, saying that +every night there came into his bed-room a spirit, which would not +allow him to sleep. The Count Despilliers sent him away, and laughed +at his simplicity. Some days after, the same horseman came back and +made the same request to him; the only reply of the captain would have +been a volley of blows with a stick, had not the soldier avoided them +by a prompt flight. At last, he returned a third time to the charge, +and protested to his captain that he could bear it no longer, and +should be obliged to desert if his lodgings were not changed. +Despilliers, who knew the soldier to be brave and reasonable, said to +him, with an oath, "I will go this night and sleep with you, and see +what is the matter."</p> + +<p>At ten o'clock in the evening, the captain repaired to his soldier's +lodging, and having laid his pistols ready primed upon the table, he +lay down in his clothes, his sword by his side, with his soldier, in a +bed without curtains. About midnight he heard something which came +into the room, and in a moment turned the bed upside down, covering +the captain and the soldier with the mattress and paillasse. +Despilliers had great trouble to disengage himself and find again his +sword and pistols, and he returned home much confounded. The +horse-soldier had a new lodging the very next day, and slept quietly +in the house of his new host.</p> + +<p>M. Despilliers related this adventure to any one who would listen to +it. He was an intrepid man, who had never known what it was to fall +back before danger. He died field-marshal of the armies of the Emperor +Charles VI. and governor of the fortress of Ségedin. His son has +confirmed this adventure to me within a short time, as having heard it +from his father.</p> + +<p>The person who writes to me adds: "I doubt not that spirits sometimes +return; but I have found myself in a great many places which it was +said they haunted. I have even tried several times to see them, but I +have never seen any. I found myself once with more than four thousand +persons, who all said they saw the spirit;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> I was the only one in the +assembly who saw nothing." So writes me a very worthy officer, this +year, 1745, in the same letter wherein he relates the affair of M. +Despilliers.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f284.1">284</a><a name="f284" id="f284"></a>] St. Sulpit. Sever. Dialog. ii. c. 14, 15.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f285.1">285</a><a name="f285" id="f285"></a>] Bodin Demonomania, lib. ii. c. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f286.1">286</a><a name="f286" id="f286"></a>] Guillelm. Paris, 2 Part. quæst. 2, c. 8.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f287.1">287</a><a name="f287" id="f287"></a>] Grot. Epist. Part. ii. Ep. 405.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f288.1">288</a><a name="f288" id="f288"></a>] They affirm that it happened at Dijon, in the family of the MM. +Surmin, in which a constant tradition has perpetuated the memory of +the circumstance.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f289.1">289</a><a name="f289" id="f289"></a>] Continuation of the Count de Gabalis, at the Hague, 1708, p. 55.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f290.1">290</a><a name="f290" id="f290"></a>] Cicero, de Divinat. lib. i.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f291.1">291</a><a name="f291" id="f291"></a>] John xiv. 2.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + +<h3>SPIRITS THAT KEEP WATCH OVER TREASURE.</h3> + + +<p>Everybody acknowledges that there is an infinity of riches buried in +the earth, or lost under the waters by shipwrecks; they fancy that the +demon, whom they look upon as the god of riches, the god <i>Mammon</i>, the +Pluto of the pagans, is the depositary, or at least the guardian, of +these treasures. He said to Jesus Christ,[<a href="#f292">292</a><a name="f292.1" id="f292.1"></a>] when he tempted him in +the wilderness, showing to him all the kingdoms of the earth, and +their glory: "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall +down and worship me." We know also that the ancients very often +interred vast treasures in the tombs of the dead; either that the dead +might make use of them in the other world, or that their souls might +keep guard over them in those gloomy places. Job seems to make +allusion to this ancient custom, when he says,[<a href="#f293">293</a><a name="f293.1" id="f293.1"></a>] "Would to God I +had never been born: I should now sleep with the kings and great ones +of the earth, who built themselves solitary places; like unto those +who seek for treasure, and are rejoiced when they find a tomb;" +doubtless because they hope to find great riches therein.</p> + +<p>There were very precious things in the tomb of Cyrus. Semiramis caused +to be engraved on her own mausoleum that it contained great riches. +Josephus[<a href="#f294">294</a><a name="f294.1" id="f294.1"></a>] relates that Solomon placed great treasures in the tomb +of David his father; and that the High-Priest Hyrcanus, being besieged +in Jerusalem by King Antiochus, took thence three thousand talents. He +says, moreover, that years after, Herod the Great having caused this +tomb to be searched, took from it large sums. We see several laws +against those who violate sepulchres to take out of them the precious +things they contain. The Emperor Marcianus[<a href="#f295">295</a><a name="f295.1" id="f295.1"></a>] forbade that riches +should be hidden in tombs. If such things have been placed in the +mausoleums of worthy and holy persons, and if they have been +discovered through the revelation of the good spirits of persons who +died in the faith and grace of God, we cannot conclude from those +things that all hidden treasures are in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +the power of the demon, and that he alone knows anything of them; the +good angels know of them; and the saints may be much more faithful +guardians of them than the demons, who usually have no power to +enrich, or to deliver from the horrors of poverty, from punishment and +death itself, those who yield themselves to them in order to receive +some reward from them.</p> + +<p>Melancthon relates[<a href="#f296">296</a><a name="f296.1" id="f296.1"></a>] that the demon informed a priest where a +treasure was hid; the priest, accompanied by one of his friends, went +to the spot indicated; they saw there a black dog lying on a chest. +The priest, having entered to take out the treasure, was crushed and +smothered under the ruins of the cavern.</p> + +<p>M. Remy,[<a href="#f297">297</a><a name="f297.1" id="f297.1"></a>] in his Demonology, speaks of several persons whose +causes he had heard in his quality of Lieutenant-General of Lorraine, +at the time when that country swarmed with wizards and witches; those +amongst them who believed they had received money from the demon, +found nothing in their purses but bits of broken pots, coals, or +leaves of trees, or other things equally vile and contemptible.</p> + +<p>The Reverend Father Abram, a Jesuit, in his manuscript History of the +University of Pont à Mousson, reports that a youth of good family, but +small fortune, placed himself at first to serve in the army among the +valets and serving men: from thence his parents sent him to school, +but not liking the subjection which study requires, he quitted the +school and returned to his former kind of life. On his way he met a +man dressed in a silk coat, but ill-looking, dark, and hideous, who +asked him where he was going to, and why he looked so sad: "I am able +to set you at your ease," said this man to him, "if you will give +yourself to me."</p> + +<p>The young man, believing that he wished to engage him as a servant, +asked for time to reflect upon it; but beginning to mistrust the +magnificent promises which he made him, he looked at him more +narrowly, and having remarked that his left foot was divided like that +of an ox, he was seized with affright, made the sign of the cross, and +called on the name of Jesus, when the spectre directly disappeared.</p> + +<p>Three days after, the same figure appeared to him again, and asked him +if he had made up his mind; the young man replied that he did not want +a master. The spectre said to him, "Where are you going?" "I am going +to such a town," replied he. At that moment the demon threw at his +feet a purse which chinked, and which he found filled with thirty or +forty Flemish crowns, amongst which were about twelve which appeared +to be gold, newly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +coined, and as if from the stamps of the coiner. In the same purse +was a powder, which the spectre said was of a very subtile quality.</p> + +<p>At the same time, he gave him abominable counsels to satisfy the most +shameful passions; and exhorted him to renounce the use of holy water, +and the adoration of the host—which he called in derision that little +cake. The boy was horrified at these proposals, and made the sign of +the cross on his heart; and at the same time he felt himself thrown +roughly down on the ground, where he remained for half an hour, half +dead. Having got up again, he returned home to his mother, did +penance, and changed his conduct. The pieces of money which looked +like gold and newly coined, having been put in the fire, were found to +be only of copper.</p> + +<p>I relate this instance to show that the demon seeks only to deceive +and corrupt even those to whom he makes the most specious promises, +and to whom he seems to give great riches.</p> + +<p>Some years ago, two monks, both of them well informed and prudent men, +consulted me upon a circumstance which occurred at Orbé, a village of +Alsatia, near the Abbey of Pairis. Two men of that place told them +that they had seen come out of the ground a small box or casket, which +they supposed was full of money, and having a wish to lay hold of it, +it had retreated from them and hidden itself again under ground. This +happened to them more than once.</p> + +<p>Theophanes, a celebrated and grave Greek historiographer, under the +year of our era 408, relates that Cabades, King of Persia, being +informed that between the Indian country and Persia there was a castle +called Zubdadeyer, which contained a great quantity of gold, silver, +and precious stones, resolved to make himself master of it; but these +treasures were guarded by demons, who would not permit any one to +approach it. He employed some of the magi and some Jews who were with +him to conjure and exorcise them; but their efforts were useless. The +king bethought himself of the God of the Christians—prayed to him, +and sent for the bishop who was at the head of the Christian church in +Persia, and begged of him to use his efforts to obtain for him these +treasures, and to expel the demons by whom they were guarded. The +prelate offered the holy sacrifice, participated in it, and going to +the spot, drove away the demons who were guardians of these riches, +and put the king in peaceable possession of the castle.</p> + +<p>Relating this story to a man of some rank,[<a href="#f298">298</a><a name="f298.1" id="f298.1"></a>] he told me, that in +the Isle of Malta, two knights having hired a slave, who boasted that +he possessed the secret of evoking demons, and forcing them to +discover the most hidden secrets, they led him into an old castle,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +where it was thought that treasures were concealed. The slave +performed his evocations, and at last the demon opened a rock whence +issued a coffer. The slave would have taken hold of it, but the coffer +went back into the rock. This occurred more than once; and the slave, +after vain efforts, came and told the knights what had happened to +him; but he was so much exhausted that he had need of some +restorative; they gave him refreshment, and when he had returned they +after a while heard a noise. They went into the cave with a light, to +see what had happened, and they found the slave lying dead, and all +his flesh full of cuts as of a penknife, in form of a cross; he was so +covered with them that there was not room to place a finger where he +was not thus marked. The knights carried him to the shore, and threw +him into the sea with a great stone hung round his neck. We could name +these persons and note the dates, were it necessary.</p> + +<p>The same person related to us, at that same time, that about ninety +years before, an old woman of Malta was warned by a genius that there +was a great deal of treasure in her cellar, belonging to a knight of +high consideration, and desired her to give him information of it; she +went to his abode, but could not obtain an audience. The following +night the same genius returned, and gave her the same command; and as +she refused to obey, he abused her, and again sent her on the same +errand. The next day she returned to seek this lord, and told the +domestics that she would not go away until she had spoken to the +master. She related what had happened to her; and the knight resolved +to go to her dwelling, accompanied by people with the proper +instruments for digging; they dug, and very shortly there sprung up +such a quantity of water from the spot where they inserted their +pickaxes that they were obliged to give up the undertaking.</p> + +<p>The knight confessed to the Inquisitor what he had done, and received +absolution for it; but he was obliged to inscribe the fact we have recounted in the Registers of the Inquisition.</p> + +<p>About sixty years after, the canons of the Cathedral of Malta, wishing +for a wider space before their church, bought some houses which it was +necessary to pull down, and amongst others that which had belonged to +that old woman. As they were digging there, they found the treasure, +consisting of a good many gold pieces of the value of a ducat, bearing +the effigy of the Emperor Justinian the First. The Grand Master of the +Order of Malta affirmed that the treasure belonged to him as sovereign +of the isle; the canons contested the point. The affair was carried to +Rome; the grand master gained his suit, and the gold was brought to +him, amounting in value to about sixty thousand ducats; but he gave +them up to the cathedral.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>Some time afterwards, the knight of whom we have spoken, who was then +very aged, remembered what had happened to himself, and asserted that +the treasure ought to belong to him; he made them lead him to the +spot, recognized the cellar where he had formerly been, and pointed +out in the Register of the Inquisition what had been written therein +sixty years before. They did not permit him to recover the treasure; +but it was a proof that the demon knew of and kept watch over this +money. The person who told me this story has in his possession three +or four of these gold pieces, having bought them of the canons.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f292.1">292</a><a name="f292" id="f292"></a>] Matt. iv. 8.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f293.1">293</a><a name="f293" id="f293"></a>] Job iii. 13, 14, 22.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f294.1">294</a><a name="f294" id="f294"></a>] Joseph. Ant. lib. xiii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f295.1">295</a><a name="f295" id="f295"></a>] Martian. lib. iv.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f296.1">296</a><a name="f296" id="f296"></a>] Le Loyer, liv. ii. p. 495.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f297.1">297</a><a name="f297" id="f297"></a>] Remy, Demonol. c. iv. Ann. 1605.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f298.1">298</a><a name="f298" id="f298"></a>] M. le Chevalier Guiot de Marre.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + +<h3>OTHER INSTANCES OF HIDDEN TREASURES WHICH WERE GUARDED BY GOOD OR BAD +SPIRITS.</h3> + + +<p>We read in a new work that a man, Honoré Mirable, having found in a +garden near Marseilles a treasure consisting of several Portuguese +pieces of gold, from the indication given him by a spectre, which +appeared to him at eleven o'clock at night, near the <i>Bastide</i>, or +country house called <i>du Paret</i>, he made the discovery of it in +presence of the woman who farmed the land of this <i>Bastide</i>, and the +farm-servant named Bernard. When he first perceived the treasure +buried in the earth, and wrapt up in a bundle of old linen, he was +afraid to touch it, for fear it should be poisoned and cause his +death. He raised it by means of a hook made of a branch of the almond +tree, and carried it into his room, where he undid it without any +witness, and found in it a great deal of gold; to satisfy the wishes +of the spirit who had appeared to him, he caused some masses to be +said for him. He revealed his good fortune to a countryman of his, +named Anquier, who lent him forty livres, and gave him a note by which +he acknowledged he owed him twenty thousand livres and receipted the +payment of the forty livres lent; this note bore date the 27th +September, 1726.</p> + +<p>Some time after, Mirable asked Anquier to pay the note. Anquier denied +everything. A great lawsuit ensued; informations were taken and +perquisitions held in Anquier's house; sentence was given on the 10th +of September, 1727, importing that Anquier should be arrested, and +have the question applied to him. An appeal was made to the Parliament +of Aix. Anquier's note was declared a forgery. Bernard, who was said +to have been present at the discovery of the treasure, was not cited +at all; the other witnesses only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> deposed from hearsay; Magdalen +Caillot alone, who was present, acknowledged having seen the packet +wrapped round with linen, and had heard a ringing as of pieces of gold +or silver, and had seen one of them, a piece about as large as a piece +of two liards.</p> + +<p>The Parliament of Aix issued its decree the 17th of February, 1728, by +which it ordained that Bernard, farming servant at the <i>Bastide du +Paret</i>, should be heard; he was heard on different days, and deposed +that he had seen neither treasure, nor rags, nor gold pieces. Then +came another decree of the 2d of June, 1728, which ordered that the +attorney-general should proceed by way of ecclesiastical censures on +the facts resulting from these proceedings.</p> + +<p>The indictment was published, fifty-three witnesses were heard; +another sentence of the 18th of February, 1729, discharged Anquier +from the courts and the lawsuit; condemned Mirable to the galleys to +perpetuity after having previously undergone the question; and Caillot +was to pay a fine of ten francs. Such was the end of this grand +lawsuit. If we examine narrowly these stories of spectres who watch +over treasures, we shall doubtless find, as here, a great deal of +superstition, deception, and fancy.</p> + +<p>Delrio relates some instances of people who have been put to death, or +who have perished miserably as they searched for hidden treasures. In +all this we may perceive the spirit of lying and seduction on the part +of the demon, bounds set to his power, and his malice arrested by the +will of God; the impiety of man, his avarice, his idle curiosity, the +confidence which he places in the angel of darkness, by the loss of +his wealth, his life, and his soul.</p> + +<p>John Wierus, in his work entitled "<i>De Præstigiis Dæmonum</i>," printed +at Basle in 1577, relates that in his time, 1430, the demon revealed +to a certain priest at Nuremberg some treasures hidden in a cavern +near the town, and enclosed in a crystal vase. The priest took one of +his friends with him as a companion; they began to dig up the ground +in the spot designated, and they discovered in a subterranean cavern a +kind of chest, near which a black dog was lying; the priest eagerly +advanced to seize the treasure, but hardly had he entered the cavern, +than it fell in, crushed the priest, and was filled up with earth as +before.</p> + +<p>The following is extracted from a letter, written from Kirchheim, +January 1st, 1747, to M. Schopfflein, Professor of History and +Eloquence at Strasburg. "It is now more than a year ago that M. +Cavallari, first musician of my serene master, and by birth a +Venetian, desired to have the ground dug up at Rothenkirchen, a league +from hence, and which was formerly a renowned abbey, and was destroyed +in the time of the Reformation. The opportunity was afforded him by an +apparition, which showed itself more than once at noonday to the wife +of the Censier of Rothenkirchen, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> above all, on the 7th of May for +two succeeding years. She swears, and can make oath, that she has seen +a venerable priest in pontifical garments embroidered with gold, who +threw before her a great heap of stones; and although she is a +Lutheran, and consequently not very credulous in things of that kind, +she thinks nevertheless that if she had had the presence of mind to +put down a handkerchief or an apron, all the stones would have become +money.</p> + +<p>"M. Cavallari then asked leave to dig there, which was the more +readily granted, because the tithe or tenth part of the treasure is +due to the sovereign. He was treated as a visionary, and the matter of +treasure was regarded as an unheard-of thing. In the mean time, he +laughed at the anticipated ridicule, and asked me if I would go halves +with him. I did not hesitate a moment to accept this offer; but I was +much surprised to find there were some little earthen pots full of +gold pieces, all these pieces finer than the ducats of the fourteenth +and fifteenth century generally are. I have had for my share 666, +found at three different times. There are some of the Archbishops of +Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, of the towns of Oppenheim, Baccarat, +Bingen, and Coblentz; there are some also of the Palatine Rupert, of +Frederic, Burgrave of Nuremberg, some few of Wenceslaus, and one of +the Emperor Charles IV., &c."</p> + +<p>This shows that not only the demons, but also the saints, are +sometimes guardians of treasure; unless you will say that the devil +had taken the shape of the prelate. But what could it avail the demon +to give the treasure to these gentlemen, who did not ask him for it, +and scarcely troubled themselves about him? I have seen two of these +pieces in the hands of M. Schopfflein.</p> + +<p>The story we have just related is repeated, with a little difference, +in a printed paper, announcing a lottery of pieces found at +Rothenkirchen, in the province of Nassau, not far from Donnersberg. +They say in this, that the value of these pieces is twelve livres ten +sols, French money. The lottery was to be publicly drawn the first of +February, 1750. Every ticket cost six livres of French money. I repeat +these details only to prove the truth of the circumstance.</p> + +<p>We may add to the preceding what is related by Bartholinus in his book +on the cause of the contempt of death shown by the ancient Danes, +(lib. ii. c. 2.) He relates that the riches concealed in the tombs of +the great men of that country were guarded by the shades of those to +whom they belonged, and that these shades or these demons spread +terror in the souls of those who wished to take away those treasures, +either by pouring forth a deluge of water, or by flames which they +caused to appear around the monuments which enclosed those bodies and +those treasures.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + +<h3>SPECTRES WHICH APPEAR, AND PREDICT THINGS UNKNOWN AND TO COME.</h3> + + +<p>Both in ancient and modern writers, we find an infinite number of +stories of spectres. We have not the least doubt that their +apparitions are the work of the demon, if they are real. Now, it +cannot be denied that there is a great deal of illusion and falsehood +in all that is related by them. We shall distinguish two sorts of +spectres: those which appear to mankind to hurt or deceive them, or to +announce things to come, fortunate or unfortunate as circumstances may +occur; the other spectres infest certain houses, of which they have +made themselves masters, and where they are seen and heard. We shall +treat of the latter in another chapter; and show that the greater +number of these spectres and apparitions may be suspected of +falsehood.</p> + +<p>Pliny the younger, writing to his friend Sura on the subject of +apparitions, testifies that he is much inclined to believe them true; +and the reason he gives, is what happened to Quintus Curtius Rufus, +who, having gone into Africa in the train of the quæstor or treasurer +for the Romans, walking one day towards evening under a portico, saw a +woman of uncommon height and beauty, who told him that she was Africa, +and assured him that he would one day return into that same country as +proconsul. This promise inspired him with high hopes; and by his +intrigues, and help of friends, whom he had bribed, he obtained the +quæstorship, and afterwards was prætor, through the favor of the +Emperor Tiberius.</p> + +<p>This dignity having veiled the obscurity and baseness of his birth, he +was sent proconsul to Africa, where he died, after having obtained the +honors of the triumph. It is said that, on his return to Africa, the +same person who had predicted his future grandeur appeared to him +again at the moment of his landing at Carthage.</p> + +<p>These predictions, so precise, and so exactly followed up, made Pliny +the younger believe that predictions of this kind are never made in +vain. The story of Curtius Rufus was written by Tacitus, long enough +before Pliny's time, and he might have taken it from Tacitus.</p> + +<p>After the fatal death of Caligula, who was massacred in his palace, he +was buried half burnt in his own gardens. The princesses,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> his +sisters, on their return from exile, had his remains burnt with +ceremony, and honorably inhumed; but it was averred that before this +was done, those who had to watch over the gardens and the palace had +every night been disturbed by phantoms and frightful noises.</p> + +<p>The following instance is so extraordinary that I should not repeat it +if the account were not attested by more than one writer, and also +preserved in the public monuments of a considerable town of Upper +Saxony: this town is Hamelin, in the principality of Kalenberg, at the +confluence of the rivers Hamel and Weser.</p> + +<p>In the year 1384, this town was infested by such a prodigious +multitude of rats that they ravaged all the corn which was laid up in +the granaries; everything was employed that art and experience could +invent to chase them away, and whatever is usually employed against +this kind of animals. At that time there came to the town an unknown +person, of taller stature than ordinary, dressed in a robe of divers +colors, who engaged to deliver them from that scourge for a certain +recompense, which was agreed upon.</p> + +<p>Then he drew from his sleeve a flute, at the sound of which all the +rats came out of their holes and followed him; he led them straight to +the river, into which they ran and were drowned. On his return he +asked for the promised reward, which was refused him, apparently on +account of the facility with which he had exterminated the rats. The +next day, which was a fête day, he chose the moment when the elder +inhabitants of the burgh were at church, and by means of another flute +which he began to play, all the boys in the town above the age of +fourteen, to the number of a hundred and thirty, assembled around him: +he led them to the neighboring mountain, named Kopfelberg, under which +is a sewer for the town, and where criminals are executed; these boys +disappeared and were never seen afterwards.</p> + +<p>A young girl, who had followed at a distance, was witness of the +matter, and brought the news of it to the town.</p> + +<p>They still show a hollow in this mountain, where they say that he made +the boys go in. At the corner of this opening is an inscription, which +is so old that it cannot now be deciphered; but the story is +represented on the panes of the church windows; and it is said, that +in the public deeds of this town it is still the custom to put the +dates in this manner—<i>Done in the year ——, after the disappearance +of our children.</i>[<a href="#f299">299</a><a name="f299.1" id="f299.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>If this recital is not wholly fabulous, as it seems to be, we can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +only regard this man as a spectre and an evil genius, who, by God's +permission, punished the bad faith of the burghers in the persons of +their children, although innocent of their parents' fault. It might +be, that a man could have some natural secret to draw the rats +together and precipitate them into the river; but only diabolical +malice would cause so many innocent children to perish, out of revenge +on their fathers.</p> + +<p>Julius Cæsar[<a href="#f300">300</a><a name="f300.1" id="f300.1"></a>] having entered Italy, and wishing to pass the +Rubicon, perceived a man of more than ordinary stature, who began to +whistle. Several soldiers having run to listen to him, this spectre +seized the trumpet of one of them, and began to sound the alarm, and +to pass the river. Cæsar at that moment, without further deliberation, +said, "Let us go where the presages of the gods and the injustice of +our enemies call upon us to advance."</p> + +<p>The Emperor Trajan[<a href="#f301">301</a><a name="f301.1" id="f301.1"></a>] was extricated from the town of Antioch by a +phantom, which made him go out at a widow, in the midst of that +terrible earthquake which overthrew almost all the town. The +philosopher Simonides[<a href="#f302">302</a><a name="f302.1" id="f302.1"></a>] was warned by a spectre that his house was +about to fall; he went out of it directly, and soon after it fell +down.</p> + +<p>The Emperor Julian, the apostate, told his friends that at the time +when his troops were pressing him to accept the empire, being at +Paris, he saw during the night a spectre in the form of a woman, as +the genius of an empire is depicted, who presented herself to remain +with him; but she gave him notice that it would be only for a short +time. The same emperor related, moreover, that writing in his tent a +little before his death, his familiar genius appeared to him, leaving +the tent with a sad and afflicted air. Shortly before the death of the +Emperor Constans, the same Julian had a vision in the night, of a +luminous phantom, who pronounced and repeated to him, more than once, +four Greek verses, importing that when Jupiter should be in the sign +of the water-pot, or Aquarius, and Saturn in the 25th degree of the +Virgin, Constans would end his life in Asia in a shocking manner.</p> + +<p>The same Emperor Julian takes Jupiter[<a href="#f303">303</a><a name="f303.1" id="f303.1"></a>] to witness that he has +often seen Esculapius, who cured him of his sicknesses.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f299.1">299</a><a name="f299" id="f299"></a>] See Vagenseil <i>Opera liborum Juvenil.</i> tom. ii. p. 295, the +Geography of Hubner, and the Geographical Dictionary of la Martinière, +under the name Hamelen.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f300.1">300</a><a name="f300" id="f300"></a>] Sueton. in Jul. Cæsar.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f301.1">301</a><a name="f301" id="f301"></a>] Dio. Cassius. lib. lxviii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f302.1">302</a><a name="f302" id="f302"></a>] Diogen. Laert. in Simon. Valer. Maxim. lib. xxiii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f303.1">303</a><a name="f303" id="f303"></a>] Julian, apud Cyrill. Alex.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> + +<h3>OTHER APPARITIONS OF SPECTRES.</h3> + + +<p>Plutarch, whose gravity and wisdom are well known, often speaks of +spectres and apparitions. He says, for instance, that at the famous +battle of Marathon against the Persians, several soldiers saw the +phantom of Thesus, who fought for the Greeks against the enemy.</p> + +<p>The same Plutarch, in the life of Sylla, says that that general saw in +his sleep the goddess whom the Romans worshiped according to the rites +of the Cappadocians (who were fire-worshipers), whether it might be +Bellona or Minerva, or the moon. This divinity presented herself +before Sylla, and put into his hand a kind of thunderbolt, telling him +to launch it against his enemies, whom she named to him one after the +other; at the same time that he struck them, he saw them fall and +expire at his feet. There is reason to believe that this same goddess +was Minerva, to whom, as to Jupiter Paganism attributes the right to +hurl the thunder-bolt; or rather that it was a demon.</p> + +<p>Pausanias, general of the Lacedemonians,[<a href="#f304">304</a><a name="f304.1" id="f304.1"></a>] having inadvertently +killed Cleonice, a daughter of one of the first families of Byzantium, +was tormented night and day by the ghost of that maiden, who left him +no repose, repeating to him angrily a heroic verse, the sense of which +was, <i>Go before the tribunal of justice, which punishes crime and +awaits thee. Insolence is in the end fatal to mortals.</i></p> + +<p>Pausanias, always disturbed by this image, which followed him +everywhere, retired to Heraclea in Elis, where there was a temple +served by priests who were magicians, called <i>Psychagogues</i>, that is +to say, who profess to evoke the souls of the dead. There Pausanias, +after having offered the customary libations and funeral effusions, +called upon the spirit of Cleonice, and conjured her to renounce her +anger against him. Cleonice at last appeared, and told him that very +soon, when he should be arrived at Sparta, he would be freed from his +woes, wishing apparently by these mysterious words to indicate that +death which awaited him there.</p> + +<p>We see there the custom of evocations of the dead distinctly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +pointed out, and solemnly practiced in a temple consecrated to these +ceremonies; that demonstrates at least the belief and custom of the +Greeks. And if Cleonice really appeared to Pausanias and announced his +approaching death, can we deny that the evil spirit, or the spirit of +Cleonice, is the author of this prediction, unless indeed it were a +trick of the priests, which is likely enough, and as the ambiguous +reply given to Pausanias seems to insinuate.</p> + +<p>Pausanias the historian[<a href="#f305">305</a><a name="f305.1" id="f305.1"></a>] writes that, 400 years after the battle +of Marathon, every night a noise was heard there of the neighing of +horses, and cries like those of soldiers exciting themselves to +combat. Plutarch speaks also of spectres which were seen, and +frightful howlings that were heard in some public baths, where they +had put to death several citizens of Chæronea, his native place; they +had even been obliged to shut up these baths, which did not prevent +those who lived near from continuing to hear great noises, and seeing +from time to time spectres.</p> + +<p>Dion the philosopher, the disciple of Plato, and general of the +Syracusans, being one day seated, towards the evening, very full of +thought, in the portico of his house, heard a great noise, then +perceived a terrible spectre of a woman of monstrous height, who +resembled one of the furies, as they are depicted in tragedies; there +was still daylight, and she began to sweep the house. Dion, quite +alarmed, sent to beg his friends to come and see him, and stay with +him all night; but this woman appeared no more. A short time +afterwards, his son threw himself down from the top of the house, and +he himself was assassinated by conspirators.</p> + +<p>Marcus Brutus, one of the murderers of Julius Cæsar, being in his tent +during a night which was not very dark, towards the third hour of the +night, beheld a monstrous and terrific figure enter. "Who art thou? a +man or a God? and why comest thou here?" The spectre answered, "I am +thine evil genius. Thou shalt see me at Philippi!" Brutus replied +undauntedly, "I will meet thee there." And on going out, he went and +related the circumstance to Cassius, who being of the sect of +Epicurus, and a disbeliever in that kind of apparition, told him that +it was mere imagination; that there were no genii or other kind of +spirits which could appear unto men, and that even did they appear, +they would have neither the human form nor the human voice, and could +do nothing to harm us. Although Brutus was a little reassured by this +reasoning, still it did not remove all his uneasiness.</p> + +<p>But the same Cassius, in the campaign of Philippi, and in the midst of +the combat, saw Julius Cæsar, whom he had assassinated, who came up to +him at full gallop: which frightened him so much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +that at last he threw himself upon his own sword. Cassius of Parma, a +different person from him of whom we have spoken above, saw an evil +genius, who came into his tent, and declared to him his approaching +death.</p> + +<p>Drusus, when making war on the Germans (Allemani) during the time of +Augustus, desiring to cross the Elbe, in order to penetrate farther +into the country, was prevented from so doing by a woman of taller +<ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'statue'.">stature</ins> than common, who appeared to him and said, "Drusus, whither +wilt thou go? wilt thou never be satisfied? Thy end is near—go back +from hence." He retraced his steps, and died before he reached the +Rhine, which he desired to recross.</p> + +<p>St. Gregory of Nicea, in the Life of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, says +that, during a great plague which ravaged the city of Neocesarea, +spectres were seen in open day, who entered houses, into which they +carried certain death.</p> + +<p>After the famous sedition which happened at Antioch, in the time of +the Emperor Theodosius, they beheld a kind of fury running about the +town, with a whip, which she lashed about like a coachman who hastens +on his horses.</p> + +<p>St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, being at Trèves, entered a house, where +he found a spectre which frightened him at first. Martin commanded him +to leave the body which he possessed: instead of going out (of the +place), he entered the body of another man who was in the same +dwelling; and throwing himself upon those who were there, began to +attack and bite them. Martin threw himself across his way, put his +fingers in his mouth, and defied him to bite him. The demoniac +retreated, as if a bar of red-hot iron had been placed in his mouth, +and at last the demon went out of the body of the possessed, not by +the mouth but behind.</p> + +<p>John, Bishop of Atria, who lived in the sixth century, in speaking of +the great plague which happened under the Emperor Justinian, and which +is mentioned by almost all the historians of that time, says that they +saw boats of brass, containing black men without heads, which sailed +upon the sea, and went towards the places where the plague was +beginning its ravages; that this infection having depopulated a town +of Egypt, so that there remained only seven men and a boy ten years of +age, these persons, wishing to get away from the town with a great +deal of money, fell down dead suddenly.</p> + +<p>The boy fled without carrying anything with him, but at the gate of +the town he was stopped by a spectre, who dragged him, in spite of his +resistance, into the house where the seven dead men were. Some time +after, the steward of a rich man having entered therein, to take away +some furniture belonging to his master, who had gone to reside in the +country, was warned by the same boy to go away—but he died suddenly. +The servants who had accom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>panied the steward ran away, and carried +the news of all this to their master.</p> + +<p>The same Bishop John relates that he was at Constantinople during a +very great plague, which carried off ten, twelve, fifteen, and sixteen +thousand persons a-day, so that they reckon that two hundred thousand +persons died of this malady—he says, that during this time demons +were seen running from house to house, wearing the habits of +ecclesiastics or monks, and who caused the death of those whom they +met therein.</p> + +<p>The death of Carlostadt was accompanied by frightful circumstances, +according to the ministers of Basle, his colleagues, who bore witness +to it at the time. They[<a href="#f306">306</a><a name="f306.1" id="f306.1"></a>] relate, that at the last sermon which +Carlostadt preached in the temple of Basle, a tall black man came and +seated himself near the consul. The preacher perceived him, and +appeared disconcerted at it. When he left the pulpit, he asked who +that stranger was who had taken his seat next to the chief magistrate; +no one had seen him but himself. When he went home, he heard more news +of the spectre. The black man had been there, and had caught up by the +hair the youngest and most tenderly loved of his children. After he +had thus raised the child from the ground, he appeared disposed to +throw him down so as to break his head; but he contented himself with +ordering the boy to warn his father that in three days he should +return, and he must hold himself in readiness. The child having +repeated to his father what had been said to him, Carlostadt was +terrified. He went to bed in alarm, and in three days he expired. +These apparitions of the demon's, by Luther's own avowal, were pretty +frequent, in the case of the first reformers.</p> + +<p>These instances of the apparitions of spectres might be multiplied to +infinity; but if we undertook to criticise them, there is hardly one +of them very certain, or proof against a serious and profound +examination. Here follows one, which I relate on purpose because it +has some singular features, and its falsehood has at last been +acknowledged.[<a href="#f307">307</a><a name="f307.1" id="f307.1"></a>]</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f304.1">304</a><a name="f304" id="f304"></a>] Plutarch in Cimone.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f305.1">305</a><a name="f305" id="f305"></a>] Pausanias, lib. i. c. 324.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f306.1">306</a><a name="f306" id="f306"></a>] Moshovius, p. 22.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f307.1">307</a><a name="f307" id="f307"></a>] See the following chapter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> + +<h3>EXAMINATION OF THE APPARITION OF A PRETENDED SPECTRE.</h3> + + +<p>Business[<a href="#f308">308</a><a name="f308.1" id="f308.1"></a>] having led the Count d'Alais[<a href="#f309">309</a><a name="f309.1" id="f309.1"></a>] to Marseilles, a most +extraordinary adventure happened to him there: he desired Neuré to +write to our philosopher (Gassendi) to know what he thought of it; +which he did in these words: the count and countess being come to +Marseilles, saw, as they were lying in bed, a luminous spectre; they +were both wide awake. In order to be sure that it was not some +illusion, they called their valets de chambre; but no sooner had these +appeared with their flambeaux, than the spectre disappeared. They had +all the openings and cracks which they found in the chamber stopped +up, and then went to bed again; but hardly had the valets de chambre +retired than it appeared again.</p> + +<p>Its light was less shining than that of the sun; but it was brighter +than that of the moon. Sometimes this spectre was of an angular form, +sometimes a circle, and sometimes an oval. It was easy to read a +letter by the light it gave; it often changed its place, and sometimes +appeared on the count's bed. It had, as it were, a kind of little +bucklers, above which were characters imprinted. Nevertheless, nothing +could be more agreeable to the sight; so that instead of alarming, it +gave pleasure. It appeared every night whilst the count stayed at +Marseilles. This prince, having once cast his hands upon it, to see if +it was not something attached to the bed curtain, the spectre +disappeared that night, and reappeared the next.</p> + +<p>Gassendi being consulted upon this circumstance, replied on the 13th +of the same month. He says, in the first place, that he knows not what +to think of this vision. He does not deny that this spectre might be +sent from God to tell them something. What renders this idea probable +is the great piety of them both, and that this spectre had nothing +frightful in it, but quite the contrary. What deserves our attention +still more is this, that if God had sent it, he would have made known +why he sent it. God does not jest; and since it cannot be understood +what is to be hoped or feared, followed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +up or avoided, it is clear that this spectre cannot come from him; +otherwise his conduct would be less praiseworthy than that of a +father, or a prince, or a worthy, or even a prudent man, who, being +informed of somewhat which greatly concerned those in subjection to +them, would not content themselves with warning them enigmatically.</p> + +<p>If this spectre is anything natural, nothing is more difficult than to +discover it, or even to find any conjecture which may explain it. +Although I am well persuaded of my ignorance, I will venture to give +my idea. Might it not be advanced that this light has appeared because +the eye of the count was internally affected, or because it was so +externally? The eye may be so internally in two ways. First, if the +eye was affected in the same manner as that of the Emperor Tiberius +always was when he awoke in the night and opened his eyes; a light +proceeded from them, by means of which he could discern objects in the +dark by looking fixedly at them. I have known the same thing happen to +a lady of rank. Secondly, if his eyes were disposed in a certain +manner, as it happens to myself when I awake: if I open my eyes, they +perceive rays of light though there has been none. No one can deny +that some flash may dart from our eyes which represents objects to +us—which objects are reflected in our eyes, and leave their traces +there. It is known that animals which prowl by night have a piercing +sight, to enable them to discern their prey and carry it off; that the +animal spirit which is in the eye, and which may be shed from it, is +of the nature of fire, and consequently lucid. It may happen that the +eyes being closed during sleep, this spirit heated by the eyelids +becomes inflamed, and sets some faculty in motion, as the imagination. +For, does it not happen that wood of different kinds, and fish bones, +produce some light when their heat is excited by putrefaction? Why +then may not the heat excited in this confined spirit produce some +light? He proves afterwards that imagination alone may do it.</p> + +<p>The Count d'Alais having returned to Marseilles, and being lodged in +the same apartment, the same spectre appeared to him again. Neuré +wrote to Gassendi that they had observed that this spectre penetrated +into the chamber by the wainscot; which obliged Gassendi to write to +the count to examine the thing more attentively; and notwithstanding +this discovery, he dare not yet decide upon it. He contents himself +with encouraging the count, and telling him that if this apparition is +from God, he will not allow him to remain long in expectation, and +will soon make known his will to him; and also, if this vision does +not come from him, he will not permit it to continue, and will soon +discover that it proceeds from a natural cause. Nothing more is said +of this spectre any where.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>Three years afterwards, the Countess d'Alais avowed ingenuously to the +count that she herself had caused this farce to be played by one of +her women, because she did not like to reside at Marseilles; that her +woman was under the bed, and that she from time to time caused a +phosphoric light to appear. The Count d'Alais related this himself to +M. Puger of Lyons, who told it, about thirty-five years ago, to M. +Falconet, a medical doctor of the Royal Academy of Belle-Lettres, from +whom I learnt it. Gassendi, when consulted seriously by the count, +answered like a man who had no doubt of the truth of this apparition; +so true it is that the greater number of these extraordinary facts +require to be very carefully examined before any opinion can be passed +upon them.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f308.1">308</a><a name="f308" id="f308"></a>] Vie de Gassendi, tom. i. p. 258.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f309.1">309</a><a name="f309" id="f309"></a>] Alais is a town in Lower Languedoc, the lords of which bear the +title of prince, since this town has passed into the House of +Angoulême and De Conty.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> + +<h3>OF SPECTRES WHICH HAUNT HOUSES.</h3> + + +<p>There are several kinds of spectres or ghosts which haunt certain +houses, make noises, appear there, and disturb those who live in them: +some are sprites, or elves, which divert themselves by troubling the +quiet of those who dwell there; others are spectres or ghosts of the +dead, who molest the living until they have received sepulture: some +of them, as it is said, make the place their purgatory; others show +themselves or make themselves heard, because they have been put to +death in that place, and ask that their death may be avenged, or that +their bodies may be buried. So many stories are related concerning +those things that now they are not cared for, and nobody will believe +any of them. In fact, when these pretended apparitions are thoroughly +examined into, it is easy to discover their falsehood and illusion.</p> + +<p>Now, it is a tenant who wishes to decry the house in which he resides, +to hinder others from coming who would like to take his place; then a +band of coiners have taken possession of a dwelling, whose interest it +is to keep their secret from being found out; or a farmer who desires +to retain his farm, and wishes to prevent others from coming to offer +more for it; in this place it will be cats or owls, or even rats, +which by making a noise frighten the master and domestics, as it +happened some years ago at Mosheim, where large rats amused themselves +in the night by moving and setting in motion the machines with which +the women bruise hemp and flax. An honest man who related it to me, +desiring to behold the thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> nearer, mounted up to the garret armed +with two pistols, with his servant armed in the same manner. After a +moment of silence, they saw the rats begin their game; they let fire +upon them, killed two, and dispersed the rest. The circumstance was +reported in the country and served as an excellent joke.</p> + +<p>I am about to relate some of these spectral apparitions upon which the +reader will pronounce judgment for himself. Pliny[<a href="#f310">310</a><a name="f310.1" id="f310.1"></a>] the younger +says that there was a very handsome mansion at Athens which was +forsaken on account of a spectre which haunted it. The philosopher +Athenodorus, having arrived in the city, and seeing a board which +informed the public that this house was to be sold at a very low +price, bought it and went to sleep there with his people. As he was +busy reading and writing during the night, he heard on a sudden a +great noise, as if of chains being dragged along, and perceived at the +same time something like a frightful old man loaded with iron chains, +who drew near to him. Athenodorus continuing to write, the spectre +made him a sign to follow him; the philosopher in his turn made signs +to him to wait, and continued to write; at last he took his light and +followed the spectre, who conducted him into the court of the house, +then sank into the ground and disappeared.</p> + +<p>Athenodorus, without being frightened, tore up some of the grass to +mark the spot, and on leaving it, went to rest in his room. The next +day he informed the magistrates of what had happened; they came to the +house and searched the spot he designated, and there found the bones +of a human body loaded with chains. They caused him to be properly +buried, and the dwelling house remained quiet.</p> + +<p>Lucian[<a href="#f311">311</a><a name="f311.1" id="f311.1"></a>] relates a very similar story. There was, says he, a house +at Corinth which had belonged to one Eubatides, in the quarter named +Cranaüs: a man named Arignotes undertook to pass the night there, +without troubling himself about a spectre which was said to haunt it. +He furnished himself with certain magic books of the Egyptians to +conjure the spectre. Having gone into the house at night with a light, +he began to read quietly in the court. The spectre appeared in a +little while, taking sometimes the shape of a dog, then that of a +bull, and then that of a lion. Arignotes very composedly began to +pronounce certain magical invocations, which he read in his books, and +by their power forced the spectre into a corner of the court, where he +sank into the earth and disappeared.</p> + +<p>The next day Arignotes sent for Eubatides, the master of the house, +and having had the ground dug up where the phantom had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +disappeared, they found a skeleton, which they had properly interred, +and from that time nothing more was seen or heard.</p> + +<p>It is Lucian, that is to say, the man in the world the least credulous +concerning things of this kind, who makes Arignotes relate this event. +In the same passage he says that Democritus, who believed in neither +angels, nor demons, nor spirits, having shut himself up in a tomb +without the city of Athens, where he was writing and studying, a party +of young men, who wanted to frighten him, covered themselves with +black garments, as the dead are represented, and having taken hideous +disguises, came in the night, shrieking and jumping around the place +where he was; he let them do what they liked, and without at all +disturbing himself, coolly told them to have done with their jesting.</p> + +<p>I know not if the historian who wrote the life of St. Germain +l'Auxerrois[<a href="#f312">312</a><a name="f312.1" id="f312.1"></a>] had in his eye the stories we have just related, and +if he did not wish to ornament the life of the saint by a recital very +much like them. The saint traveling one day through his diocese, was +obliged to pass the night with his clerks in a house forsaken long +before on account of the spirits which haunted it. The clerk who read +to him during the night saw on a sudden a spectre, which alarmed him +at first; but having awakened the holy bishop, the latter commanded +the spectre in the name of Jesus Christ to declare to him who he was, +and what he wanted. The phantom told him that he and his companion had +been guilty of several crimes; that having died and been interred in +that house, they disturbed those who lodged there until the burial +rites should have been accorded them. St. Germain commanded him to +point out where their bodies were buried, and the spectre led him +thither. The next day he assembled the people in the neighborhood; +they sought amongst the ruins of the building where the brambles had +been disturbed, and they found the bones of two men thrown in a heap +together, and also loaded with chains; they were buried, prayers were +said for them, and they returned no more.</p> + +<p>If these men were wretches dead in crime and impenitence, all this can +be attributed only to the artifice of the devil, to show the living +that the reprobate take pains to procure rest for their bodies by +getting them interred, and to their souls by getting them prayed for. +But if these two men were Christians who had expiated their crimes by +repentance, and who died in communion with the church, God might +permit them to appear, to ask for clerical sepulture and those prayers +which the church is accustomed to say for the repose of defunct +persons who die while yet some slight fault remains to be expiated.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>Here is a fact of the same kind as those which precede, but which is +attended by circumstances which may render it more credible. It is +related by Antonio Torquemada, in his work entitled <i>Flores Curiosas</i>, +printed at Salamanca in 1570. He says that a little before his own +time, a young man named Vasquez de Ayola, being gone to Bologna with +two of his companions to study the law there, and not having found +such a lodging in the town as they wished to have, lodged themselves +in a large and handsome house, which was abandoned by everybody, +because it was haunted by a spectre which frightened away all those +who wished to live in it; they laughed at such discourse, and took up +their abode there.</p> + +<p>At the end of a month, as Ayola was sitting up alone in his chamber, +and his companions sleeping quietly in their beds, he heard at a +distance a noise as of several chains dragged along upon the ground, +and the noise advanced towards him by the great staircase; he +recommended himself to God, made the sign of the cross, took a shield +and sword, and having his taper in his hand, he saw the door opened by +a terrific spectre that was nothing but bones, but loaded with chains. +Ayola conjured him, and asked him what he wished for; the phantom +signed to him to follow, and he did so; but as he went down the +stairs, his light blew out; he went back to light it, and then +followed the spirit, which led him along a court where there was a +well. Ayola feared that he might throw him into it, and stopped short. +The spectre beckoned to him to continue to follow him; they entered +the garden, where the phantom disappeared. Ayola tore up some handfuls +of grass upon the spot, and returning to the house, related to his +companions what had happened. In the morning he gave notice of this +circumstance to the Principals of Bologna.</p> + +<p>They came to reconnoitre the spot, and had it dug up; they found there +a fleshless body, but loaded with chains. They inquired who it could +be, but nothing certain could be discovered, and the bones were +interred with suitable obsequies, and from that time the house was +never disquieted by such visits. Torquemada asserts that in his time +there were still living at Bologna and in Spain some who had been +witnesses of the fact; and that on his return to his own country, +Ayola was invested with a high office, and that his son, before this +narration was written, was President in a good city of the kingdom (of +Spain).</p> + +<p>Plautus, still more ancient than either Lucian or Pliny, composed a +comedy entitled "Mostellaria," or "Monstellaria," a name derived from +"Monstrum," or "Monstellum," from a monster, a spectre, which was said +to appear in a certain house, and which on that account had been +deserted. We agree that the foundation of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> comedy is only a +fable, but we may deduce from it the antiquity of this idea among the +Greeks and Romans.</p> + +<p>The poet[<a href="#f313">313</a><a name="f313.1" id="f313.1"></a>] makes this pretended spirit say that, having been +assassinated about sixty years before by a perfidious comrade who had +taken his money, he had been secretly interred in that house; that the +god of Hades would not receive him on the other side of Acheron, as he +had died prematurely; for which reason he was obliged to remain in +that house of which he had taken possession.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Hæc mihi dedita habitatio;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Nam me Acherontem recipere noluit,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Quia præmaturè vitâ careo."</span><br /> +</p> +<p> </p> +<p>The pagans, who had the simplicity to believe that the Lamiæ and evil +spirits disquieted those who dwelt in certain houses and certain +rooms, and who slept in certain beds, conjured them by magic verses, +and pretended to drive them away by fumigations composed of sulphur +and other stinking drugs, and certain herbs mixed with sea water. +Ovid, speaking of Medea, that celebrated magician, says[<a href="#f314">314</a><a name="f314.1" id="f314.1"></a>]—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Terque senem flammâ, ter aquâ, ter sulphure lustrat."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>And elsewhere he adds eggs:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Adveniat quæ lustret anus lectumque locumque,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Deferat et tremulâ sulphur et ova manu."</span><br /> +</p> +<p> </p> +<p>In addition to this they adduce the instance of the archangel +Raphael,[<a href="#f315">315</a><a name="f315.1" id="f315.1"></a>] who drove away the devil Asmodeus from the chamber of +Sarah by the smell of the liver of a fish which he burnt upon the +fire. But the instance of Raphael ought not to be placed along with +the superstitious ceremonies of magicians, which were laughed at by +the pagans themselves; if they had any power, it could only be by the +operation of the demon with the permission of God; whilst what is told +of the archangel Raphael is certainly the work of a good spirit, sent +by God to cure Sarah the daughter of Raguel, who was as much +distinguished by her piety as the magicians are degraded by their +malice and superstition.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f310.1">310</a><a name="f310" id="f310"></a>] Plin. junior, Epist. ad Suram. lib. vii. cap. 27.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f311.1">311</a><a name="f311" id="f311"></a>] In Philo pseud. p. 840.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f312.1">312</a><a name="f312" id="f312"></a>] Bolland, 31 Jul. p. 211.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f313.1">313</a><a name="f313" id="f313"></a>] Plaut. Mostell. act. ii. v. 67.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f314.1">314</a><a name="f314" id="f314"></a>] Vide Joan. Vier. de Curat. Malific. c. 215.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f315.1">315</a><a name="f315" id="f315"></a>] Tob. viii.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> + +<h3>OTHER INSTANCES OF SPECTRES WHICH HAUNT CERTAIN HOUSES.</h3> + + +<p>Father Pierre Thyree,[<a href="#f316">316</a><a name="f316.1" id="f316.1"></a>] a Jesuit, relates an infinite number of +anecdotes of houses haunted by ghosts, spirits, and demons; for +instance, that of a tribune, named Hesperius, whose house was infested +by a demon who tormented the domestics and animals, and who was driven +away, says St. Augustin,[<a href="#f317">317</a><a name="f317.1" id="f317.1"></a>] by a good priest of Hippo, who offered +therein the divine sacrifice of the body of our Lord.</p> + +<p>St. Germain,[<a href="#f318">318</a><a name="f318.1" id="f318.1"></a>] Bishop of Capua, taking a bath in one particular +quarter of the town, found there Paschaus, a deacon of the Roman +Church, who had been dead some time, and who began to wait upon him, +telling him that he underwent his purgatory in that place for having +favored the party of Laurentius the anti-pope, against Pope Symachus.</p> + +<p>St. Gregory of Nicea, in the life of St. Gregory of Neocæsarea, says +that a deacon of this holy bishop, having gone into a bath where no +one dared go after a certain hour in the evening, because all those +who had entered there had been put to death, beheld spectres of all +kinds, which threatened him in a thousand ways, but he got rid of them +by crossing himself and invoking the name of Jesus.</p> + +<p>Alexander ab Alexandro,[<a href="#f319">319</a><a name="f319.1" id="f319.1"></a>] a learned Neapolitan lawyer of the +fifteenth century, says that all the world knows that there are a +number of houses at Rome so much out of repute on account of the +ghosts which appear in them every night that nobody dares to inhabit +them. Nicholas Tuba, his friend, a man well known for his probity and +veracity, who came once with some of his comrades to try if all that +was said of those houses was true, would pass the night in one of them +with Alexander. As they were together, wide awake, and with plenty of +light, they beheld a horrible spectre, which frightened them so much +by its terrific voice and the great noise which it made, that they +hardly knew what they did, nor what they said; "and by degrees, as we +approached," says he, "with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +light, the phantom retreated; at last, after having thrown all the +house into confusion, it disappeared entirely."</p> + +<p>I might also relate here the spectre noticed by Father Sinson the +Jesuit, which he saw, and to which he spoke at Pont-à-Mousson, in the +cloister belonging to those fathers; but I shall content myself with +the instance which is reported in the <i>Causes Célèbres</i>,[<a href="#f320">320</a><a name="f320.1" id="f320.1"></a>] and +which may serve to undeceive those who too lightly give credit to +stories of this kind.</p> + +<p>At the Château d' Arsillier, in Picardy, on certain days of the year, +towards November, they saw flames and a horrible smoke proceeding +thence. Cries and frightful howlings were heard. The bailiff, or +farmer of the château, had got accustomed to this uproar, because he +himself caused it. All the village talked of it, and everybody told +his own story thereupon. The gentleman to whom the château belonged, +mistrusting some contrivance, came there near All-saints' day with two +gentlemen his friends, resolved to pursue the spirit, and fire upon it +with a brace of good pistols. A few days after they arrived, they +heard a great noise above the room where the owner of the château +slept; his two friends went up thither, holding a pistol in one hand +and a candle in the other; and a sort of black phantom with horns and +a tail presented itself, and began to gambol about before them.</p> + +<p>One of them fired off his pistol; the spectre, instead of falling, +turns and skips before him: the gentleman tries to seize it, but the +spirit escapes by the back staircase; the gentleman follows it, but +loses sight of it, and after several turnings, the spectre throws +itself into a granary, and disappears at the moment its pursuer +reckoned on seizing and stopping it. A light was brought, and it was +remarked that where the spectre had disappeared there was a trapdoor, +which had been bolted after it entered; they forced open the trap, and +found the pretended spirit. He owned all his artifices, and that what +had rendered him proof against the pistol shot was buffalo's hide +tightly fitted to his body.</p> + +<p>Cardinal de Retz,[<a href="#f321">321</a><a name="f321.1" id="f321.1"></a>] in his Memoirs, relates very agreeably the +alarm which seized himself and those with him on meeting a company of +black Augustine friars, who came to bathe in the river by night, and +whom they took for a troop of quite another description.</p> + +<p>A physician, in a dissertation which he has given on spirits or +ghosts, says that a maid servant in the Rue St. Victor, who had gone +down into the cellar, came back very much frightened, saying she had +seen a spectre standing upright between two barrels. Some persons who +were bolder went down, and saw the same thing. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> +was a dead body, which had fallen from a cart coming from the +Hôtel-Dieu. It had slid down by the cellar window (or grating), and +had remained standing between two casks. All these collective facts, +instead of confirming one another, and establishing the reality of +those ghosts which appear in certain houses, and keep away those who +would willingly dwell in them, are only calculated, on the contrary, +to render such stories in general very doubtful; for on what account +should those people who have been buried and turned to dust for a long +time find themselves able to walk about with their chains? How do they +drag them? How do they speak? What do they want? Is it sepulture? Are +they not interred? If they are heathens and reprobates, they have +nothing to do with prayers. If they are good people, who died in a +state of grace, they may require prayers to take them out of +purgatory; but can that be said of the spectres spoken of by Pliny and +Lucian? It is the devil, who sports with the simplicity of men? Is it +not ascribing to him most excessive power, by making him the author of +all these apparitions, which we conceive he cannot cause without the +permission of God? And we can still less imagine that God will concur +in the deceptions and illusions of the demon. There is then reason to +believe that all the apparitions of this kind, and all these stories, +are false, and must be absolutely rejected, as more fit to keep up the +superstition and idle credulity of the people than to edify and +instruct them.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f316.1">316</a><a name="f316" id="f316"></a>] Thyræi Demoniaci cum locis infestis.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f317.1">317</a><a name="f317" id="f317"></a>] S. Aug. de Civ. lib. xxii. 8.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f318.1">318</a><a name="f318" id="f318"></a>] S. Greg. Mag. Dial. cap. 39.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f319.1">319</a><a name="f319" id="f319"></a>] Alexander ab Alexandro, lib. v. 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f320.1">320</a><a name="f320" id="f320"></a>] Causes Célèbres, tom. xi. p. 374.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f321.1">321</a><a name="f321" id="f321"></a>] Mém. de Cardinal de Retz, tom. i. pp. 43, 44</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>PRODIGIOUS EFFECTS OF IMAGINATION IN THOSE MEN OR WOMEN WHO BELIEVE +THEY HOLD INTERCOURSE WITH THE DEMON.</h3> + + +<p>As soon as we admit it as a principle that angels and demons are +purely spiritual substances, we must consider, not only as chimerical +but also as impossible, all personal intercourse between a demon and a +man, or a woman, and consequently regard as the effect of a depraved +or deranged imagination all that is related of demons, whether incubi +or succubi, and of the <i>ephialtes</i> of which such strange tales are +told.</p> + +<p>The author of the Book of Enoch, which is cited by the fathers, and +regarded as canonical Scripture by some ancient writers, has taken +occasion, from these words of Moses,[<a href="#f322">322</a><a name="f322.1" id="f322.1"></a>] "The children of God, seeing +the daughters of men, who were of extraordinary beauty, took<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +them for wives, and begat the giants of them," of setting forth that +the angels, smitten with love for the daughters of men, wedded them, +and had by them children, which are those giants so famous in +antiquity.[<a href="#f323">323</a><a name="f323.1" id="f323.1"></a>] Some of the ancient fathers have thought that this +irregular love of the angels was the cause of their fall, and that +till then they had remained in the just and due subordination which +they owed to their Creator.</p> + +<p>It appears from Josephus that the Jews of his day seriously +believed[<a href="#f324">324</a><a name="f324.1" id="f324.1"></a>] that the angels were subject to these weaknesses like +men. St. Justin Martyr[<a href="#f325">325</a><a name="f325.1" id="f325.1"></a>] thought that the demons were the fruit of +this commerce of the angels with the daughters of men.</p> + +<p>But these ideas are now almost entirely given up, especially since the +belief in the spirituality of angels and demons has been adopted. +Commentators and the fathers have generally explained the passage in +Genesis which we have quoted as relating to the children of Seth, to +whom the Scripture gives the name of <i>children of God</i>, to distinguish +them from the sons of Cain, who were the fathers of those here called +<i>the daughters of men</i>. The race of Seth having then formed alliances +with the race of Cain, by means of those marriages before alluded to, +there proceeded from these unions powerful, violent, and impious men, +who drew down upon the earth the terrible effects of God's wrath, +which burst forth at the universal deluge.</p> + +<p>Thus, then, these marriages between the <i>children of God</i> and the +<i>daughters of men</i> have no relation to the question we are here +treating; what we have to examine is—if the demon can have personal +commerce with man or woman, and if what is said on that subject can be +connected with the apparitions of evil spirits amongst mankind, which +is the principal object of this dissertation.</p> + +<p>I will give some instances of those persons who have believed that +they held such intercourse with the demon. Torquemada relates, in a +detailed manner, what happened in his time, and to his knowledge, in +the town of Cagliari, in Sardinia, to a young lady, who suffered +herself to be corrupted by the demon; and having been arrested by the +Inquisition, she suffered the penalty of the flames, in the mad hope +that her pretended lover would come and deliver her.</p> + +<p>In the same place he speaks of a young girl who was sought in marriage +by a gentleman of good family; when the devil assumed the form of this +young man, associated with the young lady for several months, made her +promises of marriage, and took advantage of her. She was only +undeceived when the young lord who sought her in marriage informed her +that he was absent from town, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +more than fifty leagues off, the day that the promise in question had +been given, and that he never had the slightest knowledge of it. The +young girl, thus disabused, retired into a convent, and did penance +for her double crime.</p> + +<p>We read in the life of St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux,[<a href="#f326">326</a><a name="f326.1" id="f326.1"></a>] that a +woman of Nantes, in Brittany, saw, or thought she saw the demon every +night, even when lying by her husband. She remained six years in this +state; at the end of that period, having her disorderly life in +horror, she confessed herself to a priest, and by his advice began to +perform several acts of piety, as much to obtain pardon for her crime +as to deliver herself from her abominable lover. But when the husband +of this woman was informed of the circumstance, he left her, and would +never see her again.</p> + +<p>This unhappy woman was informed by the devil himself that St. Bernard +would soon come to Nantes, but she must mind not to speak to him, for +this abbot could by no means assist her; and if she did speak to him, +it would be a great misfortune to her; and that from being her lover, +he who warned her of it would become her most ardent persecutor.</p> + +<p>The saint reassured this woman, and desired her to make the sign of +the cross on herself on going to bed, and to place next her in the bed +the staff which he gave her. "If the demon comes," said he, "let him +do what he can." The demon came; but, without daring to approach the +bed, he threatened the woman greatly, and told her that after the +departure of St. Bernard he would come again to torment her.</p> + +<p>On the following Sunday, St. Bernard repaired to the Cathedral church, +with the Bishop of Nantes and the Bishop of Chartres, and having +caused lighted tapers to be given to all the people, who had assembled +in a great crowd, the saint, after having publicly related the +abominable action of the demon, exorcised and anathematized the evil +spirit, and forbade him, by the authority of Jesus Christ, ever again +to approach that woman, or any other. Everybody extinguished their +tapers, and the power of the demon was annihilated.</p> + +<p>This example and the two preceding ones, related in so circumstantial +a manner, might make us believe that there is some reality in what is +said of demons incubi and succubi; but if we deeply examine the facts, +we shall find that an imagination strongly possessed, and violent +prejudice, may produce all that we have just repeated.</p> + +<p>St. Bernard begins by curing the woman's mind, by giving her a stick, +which she was to place by her side in the bed. This staff<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +sufficed for the first impression; but to dispose her for a complete +cure, he exorcises the demon, and then anathematizes him, with all the +<i>éclat</i> he possibly could: the bishops are assembled in the cathedral, +the people repair thither in crowds; the circumstance is recounted in +pompous terms; the evil spirit is threatened; the tapers are +extinguished—all of them striking ceremonies: the woman is moved by +them, and her imagination is restored to a healthy tone.</p> + +<p>Jerome Cardan[<a href="#f327">327</a><a name="f327.1" id="f327.1"></a>] relates two singular examples of the power of +imagination in this way; he had them from Francis Pico de Mirandola. +"I know," says the latter, "a priest, seventy-five years of age, who +lived with a pretended woman, whom he called Hermeline, with whom he +slept, conversed, and conducted in the streets as if she had been his +wife. He alone saw her, or thought he saw her, so that he was looked +upon as a man who had lost his senses. This priest was named Benedict +Beïna. He had been arrested by the Inquisition, and punished for his +crimes; for he owned that in the sacrifice of the mass he did not +pronounce the sacramental words, that he had given the consecrated +wafer to women to make use of in sorcery, and that he had sucked the +blood of children. He avowed all this while undergoing the question.</p> + +<p>Another, named Pineto, held converse with a demon, whom he kept as his +wife, and with whom he had intercourse for more than forty years. This +man was still living in the time of Pico de Mirandola.</p> + +<p>Devotion and spirituality, when too contracted and carried to excess, +have also their derangements of imagination. Persons so affected often +believe they see, hear, and feel, what passes only in their brain, and +which takes all its reality from their prejudices and self-love. This +is less mistrusted, because the object of it is holy and pious; but +error and excess, even in matters of devotion, are subject to very +great inconveniences, and it is very important to undeceive all those +who give way to this kind of mental derangement.</p> + +<p>For instance, we have seen persons eminent for their devotion, who +believed they saw the Holy Virgin, St. Joseph, the Saviour, and their +guardian angel, who spoke to them, conversed with them, touched the +wounds of the Lord, and tasted the blood which flowed from his side +and his wounds. Others thought they were in company with the Holy +Virgin and the Infant Jesus, who spoke to them and conversed with +them; in idea, however, and without reality.</p> + +<p>In order to cure the two ecclesiastics of whom we have spoken, gentler +and perhaps more efficacious means might have been made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +use of than those employed by the tribunal of the Inquisition. Every +day hypochondriacs, or maniacs, with fevered imaginations, diseased +brains, or with the viscera too much heated, are cured by simple and +natural remedies, either by cooling the blood, and creating a +diversion in the humors thereof, or by striking the imagination +through some new device, or by giving so much exercise of body and +mind to those who are afflicted with such maladies of the brain that +they may have something else to do or to think of, than to nourish +such fancies, and strengthen them by reflections daily recurring, and +having always the same end and object.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f322.1">322</a><a name="f322" id="f322"></a>] Gen. vi. 1, 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f323.1">323</a><a name="f323" id="f323"></a>] Athenagorus and Clem. Alex. lib. iii. & v. Strom. & lib. ii. +Pedagog.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f324.1">324</a><a name="f324" id="f324"></a>] Joseph. Antiq. lib. i. c. 4.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f325.1">325</a><a name="f325" id="f325"></a>] Justin. Apolog. utroque.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f326.1">326</a><a name="f326" id="f326"></a>] Vita St. Bernard, tom. i. lib. 20.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f327.1">327</a><a name="f327" id="f327"></a>] Cardan, de Variet. lib. xv. c. lxxx. p. 290.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> + +<h3>RETURN AND APPARITIONS OF SOULS AFTER THE DEATH OF THE BODY, PROVED +FROM SCRIPTURE.</h3> + + +<p>The dogma of the immortality of the soul, and of its existence after +its separation from the body which it once animated, being taken for +indubitable, and Jesus Christ having invincibly established it against +the Sadducees, the return of souls and their apparition to the living, +by the command or permission of God, can no longer appear so +incredible, nor even so difficult.</p> + +<p>It was a known and received truth among the Jews in the time of our +Saviour; he assumed it as certain, and never pronounced a word which +could give any one reason to think that he disapproved of, or +condemned it; he only warned us that in common apparitions spirits +have neither flesh nor bones, as he had himself after his +resurrection. If St. Thomas doubted of the reality of the resurrection +of his Master, and the truth of his appearance, it was because he was +aware that those who suppose they see apparitions of spirits are +subject to illusion; and that one strongly prepossessed will often +believe he beholds what he does not see, and hear that which he hears +not; and even had Jesus Christ appeared to his apostles, that would +not prove that he was resuscitated, since a spirit can appear, while +its body is in the tomb and even corrupted or reduced to dust and +ashes.</p> + +<p>The apostles doubted not of the possibility of the apparition of +spirits: when they saw the Saviour coming towards them, walking upon +the waves of the Lake of Gennesareth,[<a href="#f328">328</a><a name="f328.1" id="f328.1"></a>] they at first believed that +it was a phantom.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>After St. Peter had left the prison by the aid of an angel, and came +and knocked at the door of the house where the brethren were +assembled, the servant whom they sent to open it, hearing Peter's +voice, thought it was his spirit, or an angel[<a href="#f329">329</a><a name="f329.1" id="f329.1"></a>] who had assumed his +form and voice. The wicked rich man, being in the flames of hell, +begged of Abraham to send Lazarus to earth, to warn his brothers[<a href="#f330">330</a><a name="f330.1" id="f330.1"></a>] +not to expose themselves to the danger of falling like him in the +extreme of misery: he believed, without doubt, that souls could return +to earth, make themselves visible, and speak to the living.</p> + +<p>In the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, Moses, who had been dead for +ages, appeared on Mount Tabor with Elias, conversing with Jesus Christ +then transfigured.[<a href="#f331">331</a><a name="f331.1" id="f331.1"></a>] After the resurrection of the Saviour, several +persons, who had long been dead, arose from their graves, went into +Jerusalem and appeared unto many.[<a href="#f332">332</a><a name="f332.1" id="f332.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>In the Old Testament, King Saul addresses himself to the witch of +Endor, to beg of her to evoke for him the soul of Samuel;[<a href="#f333">333</a><a name="f333.1" id="f333.1"></a>] that +prophet appeared and spoke to Saul. I know that considerable +difficulties and objections have been formed as to this evocation and +this apparition of Samuel. But whether he appeared or not—whether the +Pythoness did really evoke him, or only deluded Saul with a false +appearance—I deduce from it that Saul and those with him were +persuaded that the spirits of the dead could appear to the living, and +reveal to them things unknown to men.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine, in reply to Simplicius, who had proposed to him his +difficulties respecting the truth of this apparition, says at +first,[<a href="#f334">334</a><a name="f334.1" id="f334.1"></a>] that it is no more difficult to understand that the demon +could evoke Samuel by the help of a witch than it is to comprehend how +that Satan could speak to God, and tempt the holy man Job, and ask +permission to tempt the apostles; or that he could transport Jesus +Christ himself to the highest pinnacle of the Temple of Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>We may believe also that God, by a particular dispensation of his +will, may have permitted the demon to evoke Samuel, and make him +appear before Saul, to announce to him what was to happen to him, not +by virtue of magic, not by the power of the demon alone, but solely +because God willed it, and ordained it thus to be.</p> + +<p>He adds that it may be advanced that it is not Samuel who appears to +Saul, but a phantom, formed by the illusive power of the demon, and by +the force of magic; and that the Scripture, in giving the name of +Samuel to this phantom, has made use of ordinary language, which gives +the name of things themselves to that which is but their image or +representation in painting or in sculpture.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p><p>If it should be asked how this phantom could discover the future, and +predict to Saul his approaching death, we may likewise ask how the +demon could know Jesus Christ for God alone, while the Jews knew him +not, and the girl possessed with a spirit of divination, spoken of in +the Acts of the Apostles,[<a href="#f335">335</a><a name="f335.1" id="f335.1"></a>] could bear witness to the apostles, and +undertake to become their advocate in rendering good testimony to +their mission.</p> + +<p>Lastly, St. Augustine concludes by saying that he does not think +himself sufficiently enlightened to decide whether the demon can, or +cannot, by means of magical enchantments, evoke a soul after the death +of the body, so that it may appear and become visible in a corporeal +form, which may be recognized, and capable of speaking and revealing +the hidden future. And if this potency be not accorded to magic and +the demon, we must conclude that all which is related of this +apparition of Samuel to Saul is an illusion and a false apparition +made by the demon to deceive men.</p> + +<p>In the books of the Maccabees,[<a href="#f336">336</a><a name="f336.1" id="f336.1"></a>] the High-Priest Onias, who had +been dead several years before that time, appeared to Judas Maccabæus, +in the attitude of a man whose hands were outspread, and who was +praying for the people of the Lord: at the same time the Prophet +Jeremiah, long since dead, appeared to the same Maccabæus; and Onias +said to him, "Behold that holy man, who is the protector and friend of +his brethren; it is he who prays continually for the Lord's people, +and for the holy city of Jerusalem." So saying, he put into the hands +of Judas a golden sword, saying to him, "Receive this sword as a gift +from heaven, by means of which you shall destroy the enemies of my +people Israel."</p> + +<p>In the same second book of the Maccabees,[<a href="#f337">337</a><a name="f337.1" id="f337.1"></a>] it is related that in +the thickest of the battle fought by Timotheus, general of the armies +of Syria, against Judas Maccabæus, they saw five men as if descended +from heaven, mounted on horses with golden bridles, who were at the +head of the army of the Jews, two of them on each side of Judas +Maccabæus, the chief captain of the army of the Lord; they shielded +him with their arms, and launched against the enemy such fiery darts +and thunderbolts that they were blinded and mortally afraid and +terrified.</p> + +<p>These five armed horsemen, these combatants for Israel, are apparently +no other than Mattathias, the father of Judas Maccabæus,[<a href="#f338">338</a><a name="f338.1" id="f338.1"></a>] and four +of his sons, who were already dead; there yet remained of his seven +sons but Judas Maccabæus, Jonathan, and Simon. We may also understand +it as five angels, who were sent by God to the assistance of the +Maccabees. In whatever way we regard it, these are not doubtful +apparitions, both on account of the certainty of the book<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> in which +they are related, and the <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'testiomony'.">testimony</ins> of a whole army by which they +were seen.</p> + +<p>Whence I conclude, that the Hebrews had no doubt that the spirits of +the dead could return to earth, that they did return in fact, and that +they discovered to the living things beyond our natural knowledge. +Moses expressly forbids the Israelites to consult the dead.[<a href="#f339">339</a><a name="f339.1" id="f339.1"></a>] But +these apparitions did not show themselves in solid and material +bodies; the Saviour assures us of it when he says, "Spirits have +neither flesh nor bones." It was often only an aërial figure which +struck the senses and the imagination, like the images which we see in +sleep, or that we firmly believe we hear and see. The inhabitants of +Sodom were struck with a species of blindness,[<a href="#f340">340</a><a name="f340.1" id="f340.1"></a>] which prevented +them from seeing the door of Lot's house, into which the angels had +entered. The soldiers who sought for Elisha were in the same way +blinded in some sort,[<a href="#f341">341</a><a name="f341.1" id="f341.1"></a>] although they spoke to him they were +seeking for, who led them into Samaria without their perceiving him. +The two disciples who went on Easter-day to Emmaus, in company with +Jesus Christ their Master, did not recognize him till the breaking of +the bread.[<a href="#f342">342</a><a name="f342.1" id="f342.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>Thus, the apparitions of spirits to mankind are not always in a +corporeal form, palpable and real; but God, who ordains or permits +them, often causes the persons to whom these apparitions appear, to +behold, in a dream or otherwise, those spirits which speak to, warn, +or threaten them; who makes them see things as if present, which in +reality are not before their eyes, but only in their imagination; +which does not prove these visions and warnings not to be sent from +God, who, by himself, or by the ministration of his angels, or by +souls disengaged from the body, inspired the minds of men with what he +judges proper for them to know, whether in a dream, or by external +signs, or by words, or else by certain impressions made on their +senses, or in their imagination, in the absence of every external +object.</p> + +<p>If the apparitions of the souls of the dead were things in nature and +of their own choice, there would be few persons who would not come +back to visit the things or the persons which have been dear to them +during this life. St. Augustine says it of his mother, St. +Monica,[<a href="#f343">343</a><a name="f343.1" id="f343.1"></a>] who had so tender and constant an affection for him, and +who, while she lived, followed him and sought him by sea and land. The +bad rich man would not have failed, either, to come in person to his +brethren and relations to inform them of the wretched condition in +which he found himself in hell. It is a pure favor of the mercy or the +power of God, and which he grants to very few persons,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +to make their appearance after death; for which reason we should be +very much on our guard against all that is said, and all that we find +written on the subject in books.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f328.1">328</a><a name="f328" id="f328"></a>] Matt. vi. 16. Mark vi. 43.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f329.1">329</a><a name="f329" id="f329"></a>] Acts xii. 13, 14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f330.1">330</a><a name="f330" id="f330"></a>] Luke xxi. 14, 15.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f331.1">331</a><a name="f331" id="f331"></a>] Luke ix. 32.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f332.1">332</a><a name="f332" id="f332"></a>] Matt. xxvii. 34.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f333.1">333</a><a name="f333" id="f333"></a>] 1 Sam. xxviii. 7, ad finem.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f334.1">334</a><a name="f334" id="f334"></a>] Augustin de Diversis Quæst. ad Simplicium, Quæst. cxi.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f335.1">335</a><a name="f335" id="f335"></a>] Acts xxvi. 17.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f336.1">336</a><a name="f336" id="f336"></a>] Macc. x. 29.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f337.1">337</a><a name="f337" id="f337"></a>] 2 Macc. x. 29.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f338.1">338</a><a name="f338" id="f338"></a>] 1 Macc. xi. 1.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f339.1">339</a><a name="f339" id="f339"></a>] Deut. xviii. 11.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f340.1">340</a><a name="f340" id="f340"></a>] Gen. xix. 11.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f341.1">341</a><a name="f341" id="f341"></a>] 2 Kings vi. 19.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f342.1">342</a><a name="f342" id="f342"></a>] Luke xxvi. 16.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f343.1">343</a><a name="f343" id="f343"></a>] Aug. de Curâ gerendâ pro Mortuis, c. xiii.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL.</h2> + +<h3>APPARITIONS OF SPIRITS PROVED FROM HISTORY.</h3> + + +<p>St. Augustine[<a href="#f344">344</a><a name="f344.1" id="f344.1"></a>] acknowledges that the dead have often appeared to +the living, have revealed to them the spot where their body remained +unburied, and have shown them that where they wished to be interred. +He says, moreover, that a noise was often heard in churches where the +dead were inhumed, and that dead persons have been seen often to enter +the houses wherein they dwelt before their decease.</p> + +<p>We read that in the Council of Elvira,[<a href="#f345">345</a><a name="f345.1" id="f345.1"></a>] which was held about the +year 300, it was forbidden to light tapers in the cemeteries, that the +souls of the saints might not be disturbed. The night after the death +of Julian the Apostate, St. Basil[<a href="#f346">346</a><a name="f346.1" id="f346.1"></a>] had a vision in which he +fancied he saw the martyr, St. Mercurius, who received an order from +God to go and kill Julian. A little time afterwards the same saint +Mercurius returned and cried out, "Lord, Julian is pierced and wounded +to death, as thou commandedst me." In the morning St. Basil announced +this news to the people.</p> + +<p>St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who suffered martyrdom in 107,[<a href="#f347">347</a><a name="f347.1" id="f347.1"></a>] +appeared to his disciples, embracing them, and standing near them; and +as they persevered in praying with still greater fervor, they saw him +crowned with glory, as if in perspiration, coming from a great combat, +environed with light.</p> + +<p>After the death of St. Ambrose, which happened on Easter Eve, the same +night in which they baptized neophytes, several newly baptized +children saw the holy bishop,[<a href="#f348">348</a><a name="f348.1" id="f348.1"></a>] and pointed him out to their +parents, who could not see him because their eyes were not +purified—at least says St. Paulinus, a disciple of the saint, and who +wrote his life.</p> + +<p>He adds that on the day of his death the saint appeared to several<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +holy persons dwelling in the East, praying with them and giving them +the imposition of hands; they wrote to Milan, and it was found, on +comparing the dates, that this occurred on the very day he died. These +letters were still preserved in the time of Paulinus, who wrote all +these things. This holy bishop was also seen several times after his +death praying in the Ambrosian church at Milan, which he promised +during his life that he would often visit. During the siege of Milan, +St. Ambrose appeared to a man of that same city, and promised that the +next day succor would arrive, which happened accordingly. A blind man +having learnt in a vision that the bodies of the holy martyrs Sicineus +and Alexander would come by sea to Milan, and that Bishop Ambrose was +going to meet them, he prayed the same bishop to restore him to sight, +in a dream. Ambrose replied; "Go to Milan; come and meet my brethren; +they will arrive on such a day, and they will restore you to sight." +The blind man went to Milan, where he had never been before, touched +the shrine of the holy martyrs, and recovered his eyesight. He himself +related the circumstance to Paulinus.</p> + +<p>The lives of the saints are full of apparitions of deceased persons; +and if they were collected, large volumes might be filled. St. +Ambrose, of whom we have just spoken, discovered after a miraculous +fashion the bodies of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius,[<a href="#f349">349</a><a name="f349.1" id="f349.1"></a>] and those +of St. Nazairius and St. Celsus.</p> + +<p>Evodius, Bishop of Upsal in Africa,[<a href="#f350">350</a><a name="f350.1" id="f350.1"></a>] a great friend of St. +Augustine, was well persuaded of the reality of apparitions of the +dead, from his own experience, and he relates several instances of +such things which happened in his own time; as that of a good widow to +whom a deacon appeared who had been dead for four years. He was +accompanied by several of the servants of God, of both sexes, who were +preparing a palace of extraordinary beauty. This widow asked him for +whom they were making these preparations; he replied that it was for +the youth who died the preceding day. At the same time, a venerable +old man, who was in the same palace, commanded two young men, arrayed +in white, to take the deceased young man out of his grave and conduct +him to this place. As soon as he had left the grave, fresh roses and +rose-beds sprang up; and the young man appeared to a monk, and told +him that God had received him into the number of his elect, and had +sent him to fetch his father, who in fact died four days after of slow +fever.</p> + +<p>Evodius asks himself diverse questions on this recital: If the soul on +quitting its (mortal) body does not retain a certain subtile body, +with which it appears, and by means of which it is transported from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +one spot to another? If the angels even have not a certain kind of +body?—for if they are incorporeal, how can they be counted? And if +Samuel appeared to Saul, how could it take place if Samuel had no +members? He adds, "I remember well that Profuturus, Privatus and +Servitus, whom I had known in the monastery here, appeared to me, and +talked with me after their decease; and what they told me, happened. +Was it their soul which appeared to me, or was it some other spirit +which assumed their form?" He concludes from this that the soul is not +absolutely bodiless, since God alone is incorporeal.[<a href="#f351">351</a><a name="f351.1" id="f351.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>St. Augustine, who was consulted on this matter by Evodius, does not +think that the soul, after the death of the body, is clothed with any +material substantial form; but he confesses that it is very difficult +to explain how an infinite number of things are done, which pass in +our minds, as well in our sleep as when we are awake, in which we seem +to see, feel, and discourse, and do things which it would appear could +be done only by the body, although it is certain that nothing bodily +occurs. And how can we explain things so unknown, and so far beyond +anything that we experience every day, since we cannot explain even +what daily experience shows us.[<a href="#f352">352</a><a name="f352.1" id="f352.1"></a>] Evodius adds that several persons +after their decease have been going and coming in their houses as +before, both day and night; and that in churches where the dead were +buried, they often heard a noise in the night as of persons praying +aloud.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine, to whom Evodius writes all this, acknowledges that +there is a great distinction to be made between true and false +visions, and that he could wish he had some sure means of discerning +them correctly. The same saint relates on this occasion a remarkable +story, which has much connection with the matter we are treating upon. +A physician named Gennadius, a great friend of St. Augustine's, and +well known at Carthage for his great talent and his kindness to the +poor, doubted whether there was another life. One day he saw, in a +dream, a young man who said to him, "Follow me;" he followed him in +spirit, and found himself in a city, where, on his right hand, he +heard most admirable melody; he did not remember what he heard on his +left.</p> + +<p>Another time he saw the same young man, who said to him, "Do you know +me?" "Very well," answered he. "And whence comes it that you know me?" +He related to him what he had showed him in the city whither he had +led him. The young man added, "Was it in a dream, or awake, that you +saw all that?" "In a dream?" he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +replied. The young man then asked, "Where is your body now?" "In my +bed," said he. "Do you know that now you see nothing with the eyes of +your body?" "I know it," answered he. "Well, then, with what eyes do +you behold me?" As he hesitated, and knew not what to reply, the young +man said to him, "In the same way that you see and hear me now that +your eyes are shut, and your senses asleep; thus after death you will +live, you will see, you will hear, but with eyes of the spirit; so +doubt not that there is another life after the present one."</p> + +<p>The great St. Anthony, one day when he was wide awake, saw the soul of +the hermit St. Ammon being carried into heaven in the midst of choirs +of angels. Now, St. Ammon died that same day, at five days' journey +from thence, in the desert of Nitria. The same St. Anthony saw also +the soul of St. Paul Hermitus ascending to heaven surrounded by choirs +of angels and prophets. St. Benedict beheld the spirit of St. Germain, +Bishop of Capua, at the moment of his decease, who was carried into +heaven by angels. The same saint saw the soul of his sister, St. +Scholastica, rising to heaven in the form of a dove. We might multiply +such instances without end. They are true apparitions of souls +separated from their bodies.</p> + +<p>St. Sulpicius Severus, being at some distance from the city of Tours, +and ignorant of what was passing there, fell one morning into a light +slumber; as he slept he beheld St. Martin, who appeared to him in a +white garment, his countenance shining, his eyes sparkling, his hair +of a purple color; it was, nevertheless, very easy to recognise him by +his air and his face. St. Martin showed himself to him with a smiling +countenance, and holding in his hand the book which St. Sulpicius +Severus had composed upon his life. Sulpicius threw himself at his +feet, embraced his knees, and implored his benediction, which the +saint bestowed upon him. All this passed in a vision; and as St. +Martin rose into the air, Sulpicius Severus saw still in the spirit +the priest Clarus, a disciple of the saint, who went the same way and +rose towards heaven. At that moment Sulpicius awoke, and a lad who +served him, on entering, told him that two monks who were just arrived +from Tours, had brought word that St. Martin was dead.</p> + +<p>The Baron de Coussey, an old and respectable magistrate, has related +to me more than once that, being at more than sixty leagues from the +town where his mother died the night she breathed her last, he was +awakened by the barking of a dog which laid at the foot of his bed; +and at the same moment he perceived the head of his mother environed +by a great light, who, entering by the window into his chamber, spoke +to him distinctly, and announced to him various things concerning the +state of his affairs.</p> + +<p>St. Chrysostom, in his exile,[<a href="#f353">353</a><a name="f353.1" id="f353.1"></a>] and the night preceding his death,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +saw the martyr St. Basilicus, who said to him—"Courage, brother John; +to-morrow we shall be together." The same thing was foretold to a +priest who lived in the same place. St. Basilicus said to him, +"Prepare a place for my brother John; for, behold, he is coming."</p> + +<p>The discovery of the body of St. Stephen, the first martyr, is very +celebrated in the Church; this occurred in the year 415. St. Gamaliel, +who had been the master of St. Paul before his conversion, appeared to +a priest named Lucius, who slept in the baptistery of the Church at +Jerusalem to guard the sacred vases, and told him that his own body +and that of St. Stephen the proto-martyr were interred at +Caphargamala, in the suburb named Dilagabis; that the body of his son +named Abibas, and that of Nicodemus, reposed in the same spot. Lucius +had the same vision three times following, with an interval of a few +days between. John, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who was then at the +Council of Dioscopolis, repaired to the spot, made the discovery and +translation of the relics, which were transported to Jerusalem, and a +great number of miracles were performed there.</p> + +<p>Licinius, being in his tent,[<a href="#f354">354</a><a name="f354.1" id="f354.1"></a>] thinking of the battle he was to +fight on the morrow, saw an angel, who dictated to him a form of +prayer which he made his soldiers learn by heart, and by means of +which he gained the victory over the Emperor Maximian.</p> + +<p>Mascezel, general of the Roman troops which Stilicho sent into Africa +against Gildas, prepared himself for this war, in imitation of +Theodosius the Great, by prayer and the intervention of the servants +of God. He took with him in his vessel some monks, whose only +occupation during the voyage was to pray, fast, and sing psalms. +Gildas had an army of seventy thousand men; Mascezel had but five +thousand, and did not think he could without rashness attempt to +compete with an enemy so powerful and so far superior in the number of +his forces. As he was pondering uneasily on these things, St. Ambrose, +who died the year before, appeared to him by night, holding a staff in +his hand, and struck the ground three times, crying, "Here, here, +here!" Mascezel understood that the saint promised him the victory in +that same spot three days after. In fact, the third day he marched +upon the enemy, offering peace to the first whom he met; but an ensign +having replied to him very arrogantly, he gave him a severe blow with +his sword upon his arm, which made his standard swerve; those who were +afar off thought that he was yielding, and that he lowered his +standard in sign of submission, and they hastened to do the same. +Paulinus, who wrote the life of St. Ambrose, assures us that he had +these particulars from the lips of Mascezel himself; and Orosius heard +them from those who had been eye-witnesses of the fact.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>The persecutors having inflicted martyrdom on seven Christian +virgins,[<a href="#f355">355</a><a name="f355.1" id="f355.1"></a>] one of them appeared the following night to St. +Theodosius of Ancyra, and revealed to him the spot where herself and +her companions had been thrown into the lake, each one with a stone +tied around her neck. As Theodosius and his people were occupied in +searching for their bodies, a voice from heaven warned Theodosius to +be on his guard against the traitor, meaning to indicate Polycronius, +who betrayed Theodosius, and was the occasion of his being arrested +and martyred.</p> + +<p>St. Potamienna,[<a href="#f356">356</a><a name="f356.1" id="f356.1"></a>] a Christian virgin who suffered martyrdom at +Alexandria, appeared after her death to several persons, and was the +cause of their conversion to Christianity. She appeared in particular +to a soldier named Basilidus, who, as he was conducting her to the +place of execution, had protected her from the insults of the +populace. This soldier, encouraged by Potamienna, who in a vision +placed a garland upon his head, was baptized, and received the crown +of martyrdom.</p> + +<p>St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neocæsarea in Pontus, being +greatly occupied with certain theological difficulties, raised by +heretics concerning the mysteries of religion, and having passed great +part of the night in studying those matters, saw a venerable old man +enter his room, having by his side a lady of august and divine form; +he comprehended that these were the Holy Virgin and St. John the +Evangelist. The Virgin exhorted St. John to instruct the bishop, and +dissipate his embarrassment, by explaining clearly to him the mystery +of the Trinity and the Divinity of the Verb or Word. He did so, and +St. Gregory wrote it down instantly. It is the doctrine which he left +to his church, and which they have to this very day.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f344.1">344</a><a name="f344" id="f344"></a>] Aug. de Curâ gerend. pro Mortuis, c. x.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f345.1">345</a><a name="f345" id="f345"></a>] Concil. Eliber, auno circiter 300.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f346.1">346</a><a name="f346" id="f346"></a>] Amplilo. vita S. Basil. and Chronic. Alex. p. 692.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f347.1">347</a><a name="f347" id="f347"></a>] Acta sincera Mart. pp. 11, 22. Edit. 1713.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f348.1">348</a><a name="f348" id="f348"></a>] Paulin. vit. S. Ambros. n. 47, 48.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f349.1">349</a><a name="f349" id="f349"></a>] Ambros. Epist. 22, p. 874; vid. notes, ibid.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f350.1">350</a><a name="f350" id="f350"></a>] Evod. Upsal. apud Aug. Epist. clviii. Idem, Aug. Epist. clix.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f351.1">351</a><a name="f351" id="f351"></a>] "Animan igitur omni corpore carere omnino non posse, illud, ut +puto, ostendit quia Deus solus omni corpore semper caret."</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f352.1">352</a><a name="f352" id="f352"></a>] "Quid se præcipitat de rarissimis aut inexpertis quasi definitam +ferre sententiam, cum quotidiana et continua non solvat?"</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f353.1">353</a><a name="f353" id="f353"></a>] Palladius, Dialog, de Vita Chrysost. c. xi.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f354.1">354</a><a name="f354" id="f354"></a>] Lactant. de Mort. Persec. c. 46.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f355.1">355</a><a name="f355" id="f355"></a>] Acta sincera Martyr. passion. S. Theodos. M. pp. 343, 344.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f356.1">356</a><a name="f356" id="f356"></a>] Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. c. 8.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI.</h2> + +<h3>MORE INSTANCES OF APPARITIONS.</h3> + + +<p>Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, relates that a good priest named +Stephen, having received the confession of a lord named Guy, who was +mortally wounded in a combat, this lord appeared to him completely +armed some time after his death, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> begged of him to tell his +brother Anselm to restore an ox which he Guy had taken from a peasant, +whom he named, and repair the damage which he had done to a village +which did not belong to him, and which he had taxed with undue +charges; that he had forgotten to declare these two sins in his last +confession, and that he was cruelly tormented for it. "And as +assurance of the truth of what I tell you," added he, "when you return +home, you will find that you have been robbed of the money you +intended for your expenses in going to St. Jacques." The curé, on his +return to his house, found his money gone, but could not acquit +himself of his commission, because Anselm was absent. A few days +after, Guy appeared to him again, and reproached him for having +neglected to perform what he had asked of him. The curé excused +himself on account of the absence of Anselm; and at length went to him +and told him what he was charged to do. Anselm answered him harshly +that he was not obliged to do penance for his brother's sins.</p> + +<p>The dead man appeared a third time, and implored the curé to assist +him in this extremity; he did so, and restored the value of the ox; +but as the rest exceeded his power, he gave alms, and recommended Guy +to the worthy people of his acquaintance; and he appeared no more.</p> + +<p>Richer, a monk of Senones,[<a href="#f357">357</a><a name="f357.1" id="f357.1"></a>] speaks of a spirit which returned in +his time, in the town of Epinal, about the year 1212, in the house of +a burgess named Hugh de la Cour, and who, from Christmas to Midsummer, +did a variety of things in that same house, in sight of everybody. +They could hear him speak, they could see all he did, but nobody could +see him. He said he belonged to Cléxenteine, a village seven leagues +from Epinal; and what is also remarkable is that, during the six +months he was heard about the house, he did no harm to any one. One +day, Hugh having ordered his domestic to saddle his horse, and the +valet being busy about something else, deferred doing it, when the +spirit did his work, to the great astonishment of all the household. +Another time, when Hugh was absent, the spirit asked Stephen, the +son-in-law of Hugh, for a penny, to make an offering of it to St. +Goëric, the patron saint of Epinal. Stephen presented him with an old +denier of Provence; but the spirit refused it, saying he would have a +good denier of Thoulouse. Stephen placed on the threshold of the door +a Thoulousian denier, which disappeared immediately; and the following +night, a noise, as of a man who was walking therein, was heard in the +church of St. Goëric.</p> + +<p>Another time, Hugh having bought some fish to make his family a +repast, the spirit transported the fish to the garden which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +was behind the house, put half of it on a tile (<i>scandula</i>), and the +rest in a mortar, where it was found again. Another time, Hugh +desiring to be bled, told his daughter to get ready some bandages. +Immediately the spirit went into another room, and fetched a new +shirt, which he tore up into several bandages, presented them to the +master of the house, and told him to choose the best. Another day, the +servant having spread out some linen in the garden to dry, the spirit +carried it all up stairs, and folded them more neatly than the +cleverest laundress could have done.</p> + +<p>A man named Guy de la Torre,[<a href="#f358">358</a><a name="f358.1" id="f358.1"></a>] who died at Verona in 1306, at the +end of eight days spoke to his wife and the neighbors of both sexes, +to the prior of the Dominicians, and to the professor of theology, who +asked him several questions in theology, to which he replied very +pertinently. He declared that he was in purgatory for certain +unexpatiated sins. They asked him how he possibly could speak, not +having the organs of the voice; he replied that souls separated from +the body have the faculty of forming for themselves instruments of the +air capable of pronouncing words; he added that the fire of hell acted +upon spirits, not by its natural virtue, but by the power of God, of +which that fire is the instrument.</p> + +<p>Here follows another remarkable instance of an apparition, related by +M. d'Aubigné. "I affirm upon the word of the king[<a href="#f359">359</a><a name="f359.1" id="f359.1"></a>] the second +prodigy, as being one of the three stories which he reiterated to us, +his hair standing on end at the time, as we could perceive. This one +is, that the queen having gone to bed at an earlier hour than usual, +and there being present at her <i>coucher</i>, amongst other persons of +note, the king of Navarre,[<a href="#f360">360</a><a name="f360.1" id="f360.1"></a>] the Archbishop of Lyons, the Ladies de +Retz, de Lignerolles, and de Sauve, two of whom have since confirmed +this conversation. As she was hastening to bid them good night, she +threw herself with a start upon her bolster, put her hands before her +face, and crying out violently, she called to her assistance those who +were present, wishing to show them, at the foot of the bed, the +Cardinal (de Lorraine), who extended his hand towards her; she cried +out several times, 'M. the Cardinal, I have nothing to do with you.' +The King of Navarre at the same time sent out one of his gentlemen, +who brought back word that he had expired at that same moment."</p> + +<p>I take from Sully's Memoirs,[<a href="#f361">361</a><a name="f361.1" id="f361.1"></a>] which have just been reprinted in +better order than they were before, another singular fact, which may +be related with these. We still endeavor to find out what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +can be the nature of that illusion, seen so often and by the eyes of +so many persons in the Forest of Fontainebleau; it was a phantom +surrounded by a pack of hounds, whose cries were heard, while they +might be seen at a distance, but all disappeared if any one +approached.</p> + +<p>The note of M. d'Ecluse, editor of these Memoirs, enters into longer +details. He observes that M. de Peréfixe makes mention of this +phantom; and he makes him say, with a hoarse voice, one of these three +sentences: Do you expect me? or, Do you hear me? or, Amend yourself. +"And they believe," says he, "that these were sports of sorcerers, or +of the malignant spirit." The Journal of Henry IV., and the Septenary +Chronicle, speak of them also, and even assert that this phenomenon +alarmed Henry IV. and his courtiers very much. And Peter Matthew says +something of it in his History of France, tom. ii. p. 68. Bongars +speaks of it as others do,[<a href="#f362">362</a><a name="f362.1" id="f362.1"></a>] and asserts that it was a hunter who +had been killed in this forest in the time of Francis I. But now we +hear no more of this spectre, though there is still a road in this +forest which retains the name of the <i>Grand Veneur</i>, in memory, it is +said, of this visionary scene.</p> + +<p>A Chronicle of Metz,[<a href="#f363">363</a><a name="f363.1" id="f363.1"></a>] under the date of the year 1330, relates the +apparition of a spirit at Lagni sur Marne, six leagues from Paris. It +was a good lady, who after her death spoke to more than twenty +people—her father, sister, daughter, and son-in-law, and to her other +friends—asking them to have said for her particular masses, as being +more efficacious than the common mass. As they feared it might be an +evil spirit, they read to it the beginning of the Gospel of St. John; +and they made it say the <i>Pater</i>, <i>credo</i>, and <i>confiteor</i>. She said +she had beside her two angels, one bad and one good; and that the good +angel revealed to her what she ought to say. They asked her if they +should go and fetch the Holy Sacrament from the altar. She replied it +was with them, for her father, who was present, and several others +among them, had received it on Christmas day, which was the Tuesday +before.</p> + +<p>Father Taillepied, a Cordelier, and professor of theology at +Rouen,[<a href="#f364">364</a><a name="f364.1" id="f364.1"></a>] who composed a book expressly on the subject of +apparitions, which was printed at Rouen in 1600, says that one of his +fraternity with whom he was acquainted, named Brother Gabriel, +appeared to several monks of the convent at Nice, and begged of them +to satisfy the demand of a shop-keeper at Marseilles, of whom he had +taken a coat he had not paid for. On being asked why he made so much +noise,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +he replied that it was not himself, but a bad spirit who wished to +appear instead of him, and prevent him from declaring the cause of his +torment.</p> + +<p>I have been told by two canons of St. Diez, in our neighborhood, that +three months after the death of M. Henri, canon of St. Diez, of their +brotherhood, the canon to whom the house devolved, going with one of +his brethren, at two o'clock in the afternoon, to look at the said +house, and see what alterations it might suit him to make in it, they +went into the kitchen, and both of them saw in the next room, which +was large and very light, a tall ecclesiastic of the same height and +figure as the defunct canon, who, turning towards them, looked them in +the face for two minutes, then crossed the said room, and went up a +little dark staircase which led to the garret.</p> + +<p>These two gentlemen, being much frightened, left the house instantly, +and related the adventure to some of the brotherhood, who were of +opinion that they ought to return and see if there was not some one +hidden in the house; they went, they sought, they looked everywhere, +without finding any one.</p> + +<p>We read in the History of the Bishops of Mans,[<a href="#f365">365</a><a name="f365.1" id="f365.1"></a>] that in the time +of Bishop Hugh, who lived in 1135, they heard, in the house of Provost +Nicholas, a spirit who alarmed the neighbors and those who lived in +the house, by uproar and frightful noises, as if he had thrown +enormous stones against the walls, with a force which shook the roof, +walls, and ceilings; he transported the dishes and the plates from one +place to another, without their seeing the hand which moved them. This +genius lighted a candle, though very far from the fire. Sometimes, +when the meat was placed on the table, he would scatter bran, ashes, +or soot, to prevent them from touching any of it. Amica, the wife of +the Provost Nicholas, having prepared some thread to be made into +cloth, the spirit twisted and raveled it in such a way that all who +saw it could not sufficiently admire the manner in which it was done.</p> + +<p>Priests were called in, who sprinkled holy water everywhere, and +desired all those who were there to make the sign of the cross. +Towards the first and second night, they heard as it were the voice of +a young girl, who, with sighs that seemed drawn from the bottom of her +heart, said, in a lamentable and sobbing voice, that her name was +Garnier; and addressing itself to the provost, said, "Alas! whence do +I come? from what distant country, through how many storms, dangers, +through snow, cold, fire, and bad weather, have I arrived at this +place! I have not received power to harm any one—but prepare +yourselves with the sign of the cross against a band of evil spirits, +who are here only to do you harm; have a mass of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +Holy Ghost said for me, and a mass for those defunct; and you, my dear +sister-in-law, give some clothes to the poor, for me."</p> + +<p>They asked this spirit several questions on things past and to come, +to which it replied very pertinently; it explained even the salvation +and damnation of several persons; but it would not enter into any +argument, nor yet into conference with learned men, who were sent by +the Bishop of Mans; this last circumstance is very remarkable, and +casts some suspicion on this apparition.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f357.1">357</a><a name="f357" id="f357"></a>] Richer Senon. in Chronic. m. (Hoc non exstat in impresso).</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f358.1">358</a><a name="f358" id="f358"></a>] Herman Contraet. Chronic. p. 1006.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f359.1">359</a><a name="f359" id="f359"></a>] D'Aubigné, Hist. Univ. lib. ii. c. 12. Ap. 1574.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f360.1">360</a><a name="f360" id="f360"></a>] Henry IV.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f361.1">361</a><a name="f361" id="f361"></a>] Mém. de Sully, in 4to. tom. i. liv. x. p. 562, note 26. Or Edit. +in 12mo. tom. iii. p. 321, note 26.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f362.1">362</a><a name="f362" id="f362"></a>] Bongars, Epist. ad Camerarium.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f363.1">363</a><a name="f363" id="f363"></a>] Chronic. Metens. Anno, 1330.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f364.1">364</a><a name="f364" id="f364"></a>] Taillepied, Traité de l'Apparition des Esprits, c. xv. p. 173.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f365.1">365</a><a name="f365" id="f365"></a>] Anecdote Mabill, p. 320. Edition in fol.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLII" id="CHAPTER_XLII"></a>CHAPTER XLII.</h2> + +<h3>ON THE APPARITIONS OF SPIRITS WHO IMPRINT THEIR HANDS ON CLOTHES OR ON +WOOD.</h3> + + +<p>Within a short time, a work composed by a Father Prémontré, of the +Abbey of Toussaints, in the Black Forest, has been communicated to me. +His work is in manuscript, and entitled, "Umbra Humberti, hoc est +historia memorabilis D. Humberti Birkii, mirâ post mortem apparitione, +per A. G. N."</p> + +<p>This Humbert Birck was a burgess of note, in the town of Oppenheim, +and master of a country house called Berenbach; he died in the month +of November, 1620, a few days before the feast of St. Martin. On the +Saturday which followed his funeral, they began to hear certain noises +in the house where he had lived with his first wife; for at the time +of his death he had married again.</p> + +<p>The master of this house, suspecting that it was his brother-in-law +who haunted it, said to him, "If you are Humbert, my brother-in-law, +strike three times against the wall." At the same time, they heard +three strokes only, for ordinarily he struck several times. Sometimes, +also, he was heard at the fountain where they went for water, and he +frightened all the neighborhood; he did not always utter articulate +sounds, but he would knock repeatedly, make a noise, or a groan, or a +shrill whistle, or sounds as a person in lamentation; all this lasted +for six months, and then it suddenly ceased. At the end of a year he +made himself heard more loudly than ever. The master of the house, and +his domestics, the boldest amongst them, at last asked him what he +wished for, and in what they could help him? He replied, but in a +hoarse, low tone, "Let the curé come here next Saturday with my +children." The curé being indisposed, could not go thither on the +appointed day; but he went on the Monday following, accompanied by a +good many people.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>Humbert received notice of this, and he answered in a very +intelligible manner. They asked him if he required any masses to be +said? He asked for three. Then they wished to know if alms should be +given in his name? He said, "I wish them to give eight measures of +corn to the poor, and that my widow may give something to all my +children." He afterwards ordered that what had been badly distributed +in his succession, which amounted to about twenty florins, should be +set aside. They asked why he infested that house rather than another? +He answered that he was forced to it by conjuration and maledictions. +Had he received the sacraments of the Church? "I received them from +the curé, your predecessor." He was made to say the <i>Pater</i> and the +<i>Ave</i>; he recited them with difficulty, saying that he was prevented +by an evil spirit, who would not let him tell the curé many other +things.</p> + +<p>The curé, who was named Prémontré, of the abbey of Toussaints, came to +the monastery on Tuesday the 12th of January, 1621, in order to take +the opinion of the Superior on this singular affair; they let him have +three monks to help him with their counsels. They all repaired to the +house wherein Humbert continued his importunity; for nothing that he +had requested had as yet been executed. A great number of those who +lived near were assembled in the house. The master of it told Humbert +to rap against the wall; he knocked very gently: then the master +desired him to go and fetch a stone and knock louder; he deferred a +little, as if he had been to pick up a stone, and gave a stronger blow +upon the wall: the master whispered in his neighbor's ear as softly as +he could that he should rap seven times, and directly he rapped seven +times. He always showed great respect to the priests, and did not +reply to them so boldly as to the laity; and when he was asked +why—"It is," said he, "because they have with them the Holy +Sacrament." However, they had it no otherwise than because they had +said mass that day. The next day the three masses which he had +required were said, and all was disposed for a pilgrimage, which he +had specified in the last conversation they had with him; and they +promised to give alms for him the first day possible. From that time +Humbert haunted them no more.</p> + +<p>The same monk, Prémontré, relates that on the 9th of September, 1625, +a man named John Steinlin died at a place called Altheim, in the +diocese of Constance. Steinlin was a man in easy circumstances, and a +common-councilman of his town. Some days after his death he appeared +during the night to a tailor, named Simon Bauh, in the form of a man +surrounded by a sombre flame, like that of lighted sulphur, going and +coming in his own house, but without speaking. Bauh, who was +disquieted by this sight, resolved to ask him what he could do to +serve him. He found an opportunity to do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> so the 17th of November in +the same year, 1625; for, as he was reposing at night near his stove, +a little after eleven o'clock, he beheld this spectre environed by +fire like sulphur, who came into his room, going and coming, shutting +and opening the windows. The tailor asked him what he desired. He +replied, in a hoarse, interrupted voice, that he could help very much, +if he would; "but," added he, "do not promise me to do so, if you are +not resolved to execute your promises." "I will execute them, if they +are not beyond my power," replied he.</p> + +<p>"I wish, then," replied the spirit, "that you would cause a mass to be +said in the chapel of the Virgin at Rotembourg; I made a vow to that +intent during my life, and I have not acquitted myself of it. +Moreover, you must have two masses said at Altheim, the one of the +Defunct and the other of the Virgin; and as I did not always pay my +servants exactly, I wish that a quarter of corn should be distributed +to the poor." Simon promised to satisfy him on all these points. The +spectre held out his hand, as if to ensure his promise; but Simon, +fearing that some harm might happen to himself, tendered him the board +which come to hand, and the spectre having touched it, left the print +of his hand with the four fingers and thumb, as if fire had been +there, and had left a pretty deep impression. After that, he vanished +with so much noise that it was heard three houses off.</p> + +<p>I related in the first edition of this dissertation on the return of +spirits, an adventure which happened at Fontenoy on the Moselle, where +it was affirmed that a spirit had in the same manner made the +impression of its hand on a handkerchief, and had left the impress of +the hand and of the palm well marked. The handkerchief is in the hands +of one Casmar, a constable living at Toul, who received it from his +uncle, the curé of Fontenoy; but, on a careful investigation of the +thing, it was found that a young blacksmith, who courted a young girl +to whom the handkerchief belonged, had forged an iron hand to print it +on the handkerchief, and persuade people of the reality of the +apparition.</p> + +<p>At St. Avold, a town of German Lorraine, in the house of the curé, +named M. Royer de Monelos, there was something very similar which +appears to have been performed by a servant girl, sixteen years of +age, who heard and saw, as she said, a woman who made a great noise in +the house; but she was the only person who saw and heard her, although +others heard also the noise which was made in the house. They saw also +the young servant, as it were, pushed, dragged, and struck by the +spirit, but never saw it, nor yet heard his voice. This contrivance +began on the night of the 31st of January, 1694, and finished about +the end of February the same year. The curé conjured the spirit in +German and French. He made no reply<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> to the exorcisms in French but +sighs; and as they terminated the German exorcism, saying, "Let every +spirit praise the Lord," the girl said that the spirit had said, "And +me also;" but she alone heard it.</p> + +<p>Some monks of the abbey were requested to come also and exorcise the +spirit. They came, and with them some burgesses of note of St. Avold; +and neither before nor after the exorcisms did they see or hear +anything, except that the servant girl seemed to be pushed violently, +and the doors were roughly knocked at. By dint of exorcisms they +forced the spirit, or rather the servant who alone heard and saw it, +to declare that she was neither maid nor wife; that she was called +Claire Margaret Henri; that a hundred and fifty years ago she had died +at the age of twenty, after having lived servant at the curé of St. +Avold's first of all for eight years, and that she had died at +Guenviller of grief and regret for having killed her own child. At +last, the servant maintaining that she was not a good spirit, she said +to her, "Give me hold of your petticoat (or skirt)." She would do no +such thing; at the same time the spirit said to her, "Look at your +petticoat; my mark is upon it." She looked and saw upon her skirt the +five fingers of the hand so distinctly that it did not appear possible +for any living creature to have marked them better. This affair lasted +about two months; and at this day, at St. Avold, as in all the +country, they talk of the spirit of St. Avold as of a game played by +that girl, in concert, doubtless, with some persons who wished to +divert themselves by puzzling the good curé with his sisters, and all +those who fell into the trap. They printed at Cusson's, at Nancy, in +1718, a relation of this event, which at first gained credence with a +number of people, but who were quite undeceived in the end.</p> + +<p>I shall add to this story that which is related by Philip +Melancthon,[<a href="#f366">366</a><a name="f366.1" id="f366.1"></a>] whose testimony in this matter ought not to be +doubted. He says that his aunt having lost her husband when she was +enceinte and near her time, she saw one day, towards evening, two +persons come into her house; one of them wore the form of her deceased +husband, the other that of a tall Franciscan. At first she was +frightened, but her husband reassured her, and told her that he had +important things to communicate to her; at the same time he begged the +Franciscan to pass into the next room, whilst he imparted his wishes +to his wife. Then he begged of her to have some masses said for the +relief of his soul, and tried to persuade her to give her hand without +fear; as she was unwilling to give it, he assured her she would feel +no pain. She gave him her hand, and her hand felt no pain when she +withdrew it, but was so blackened that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +it remained discolored all her life. After that, the husband called in +the Franciscan; they went out, and disappeared. Melancthon believes +that these were two spectres; he adds that he knows several similar +instances related by persons worthy of credit.</p> + +<p>If these two men were only spectres, having neither flesh nor bones, +how could one of them imprint a black color on the hand of this widow? +How could he who appeared to the tailor Bauh imprint his hand on the +board which he presented to him? If they were evil genii, why did they +ask for masses and order restitution? Does Satan destroy his own +empire, and does he inspire the living with the idea of doing good +actions and of fearing the pains which the sins of the wicked are +punished by God?</p> + +<p>But on looking at the affair in another light, may not the demon in +this kind of apparitions, by which he asks for masses and prayers, +intend to foment superstition, by making the living believe that +masses and prayers made for them after their death would free them +from the pains of hell, even if they died in habitual crime and +impenitence? Several instances are cited of rascals who have appeared +after their death, asking for prayers like the bad rich man, and to +whom prayers and masses can be of no avail from the unhappy state in +which they died. Thus, in all this, Satan seeks to establish his +kingdom, and not to destroy it or diminish it.</p> + +<p>We shall speak hereafter, in the Dissertation on Vampires, of +apparitions of dead persons who have been seen, and acted like living +ones in their own bodies.</p> + +<p>The same Melancthon relates that a monk came one day and rapped loudly +at the door of Luther's dwelling, asking to speak to him; he entered +and said, "I entertained some popish errors upon which I shall be very +glad to confer with you." "Speak," said Luther. He at first proposed +to him several syllogisms, to which he easily replied; he then +proposed others, that were more difficult. Luther, being annoyed, +answered him hastily, "Go, you embarrass me; I have something else to +do just now besides answering you." However, he rose and replied to +his arguments. At the same time, having remarked that the pretended +monk had hands like the claws of a bird, he said to him, "Art not thou +he of whom it is said, in Genesis, 'He who shall be born of woman +shall break the head of the serpent?'" The demon added, "But <i>thou</i> +shalt engulf them all." At these words the confused demon retired +angrily and with much fracas; he left the room infested with a very +bad smell, which was perceptible for some days.</p> + +<p>Luther, who assumes so much the <i>esprit fort</i>, and inveighs with so +much warmth against private masses wherein they pray for the souls of +the defunct,[<a href="#f367">367</a><a name="f367.1" id="f367.1"></a>] maintains boldly +that all the apparitions of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +spirits which we read in the lives of the saints, and who ask for +masses for the repose of their souls, are only illusions of Satan, who +appears to deceive the simple, and inspire them with useless +confidence in the sacrifice of the mass. Whence he concludes that it +is better at once to deny absolutely that there is any purgatory.</p> + +<p>He, then, did not deny either apparitions or the operations of the +devil; and he maintained that Ecolampadius died under the blows of the +devil,[<a href="#f368">368</a><a name="f368.1" id="f368.1"></a>] whose efforts he could not rebut; and, speaking of +himself, he affirms that awaking once with a start in the middle of +the night, the devil appeared, to argue against him, when he was +seized with moral terror. The arguments of the demon were so pressing +that they left him no repose of mind; the sound of his powerful voice, +his overwhelming manner of disputing when the question and the reply +were perceived at once, left him no breathing time. He says again that +the devil can kill and strangle, and without doing all that, press a +man so home by his arguments that it is enough to kill one; "as I," +says he, "have experienced several times." After such avowals, what +can we think of the doctrine of this chief of the innovators?</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f366.1">366</a><a name="f366" id="f366"></a>] Philipp. Melancth. Theolog. c. i. Oper. fol. 326, 327.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f367.1">367</a><a name="f367" id="f367"></a>] Martin Luther, de Abroganda Missa Privata, part. ii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f368.1">368</a><a name="f368" id="f368"></a>] Ibid. tom. vii. 226.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII" id="CHAPTER_XLIII"></a>CHAPTER XLIII.</h2> + +<h3>OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, GREEKS, AND LATINS CONCERNING THE DEAD WHO ARE +LEFT UNBURIED.</h3> + + +<p>The ancient Hebrews, as well as the greater number of other nations, +were very careful in burying their dead. That appears from all +history; we see in the Scripture how much attention the patriarchs +paid in that respect to themselves and those belonging to them; we +know what praises are bestowed on the holy man Tobit, whose principal +devotion consisted in giving sepulture to the dead.</p> + +<p>Josephus the historian[<a href="#f369">369</a><a name="f369.1" id="f369.1"></a>] says that the Jews refused burial only to +those who committed suicide. Moses commanded them[<a href="#f370">370</a><a name="f370.1" id="f370.1"></a>] to give +sepulture the same day and before sunset to any who were executed and +hanged on a tree; "because," says he, "he who is hung upon the tree is +accursed of God; you will take care not to pollute the land which the +Lord your God has given you." That was practiced in regard to our +Saviour, who was taken down from the cross the same day that he had +been crucified, and a few hours after his death.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p><p>Homer,[<a href="#f371">371</a><a name="f371.1" id="f371.1"></a>] speaking +of the inhumanity of Achilles, who dragged the +body of Hector after his car, says that he dishonored and outraged the +earth by this barbarous conduct. The Rabbis write that the soul is not +received into heaven until the gross body is interred, and entirely +consumed. They believe, moreover, that after death the souls of the +wicked are clothed with a kind of covering with which they accustom +themselves to suffer the torments which are their due; and that the +souls of the just are invested with a resplendent body and a luminous +garment, with which they accustom themselves to the glory which awaits +them.</p> + +<p>Origen[<a href="#f372">372</a><a name="f372.1" id="f372.1"></a>] acknowledges that Plato, in his Dialogue of the Soul, +advances that the images and shades of the dead appeared sometimes +near their tombs. Origen concludes from that, that those shades and +those images must be produced by some cause; and that cause, according +to him, can only be that the soul of the dead is invested with a +subtile body like that of light, on which they are borne as in a car, +where they appear to the living. Celsus maintained that the +apparitions of Jesus Christ after his resurrection were only the +effects of an imagination smitten and prepossessed, which formed to +itself the object of its illusions according to its wishes. Origen +refutes this solidly by the recital of the evangelists, of the +appearance of our Saviour to Thomas, who would not believe it was +truly our Saviour until he had seen and touched his wounds; it was +not, then, purely the effect of his imagination.</p> + +<p>The same Origen,[<a href="#f373">373</a><a name="f373.1" id="f373.1"></a>] and Theophylact after him, assert that the Jews +and pagans believe that the soul remained for some time near the body +it had formerly animated; and that it is to destroy that futile +opinion that Jesus Christ, when he would resuscitate Lazarus, cries +with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth;" as if he would call from a +distance the soul of this man who had been dead three days.</p> + +<p>Tertullian places the angels in the category of extension,[<a href="#f374">374</a><a name="f374.1" id="f374.1"></a>] in +which he places God himself, and maintains that the soul is corporeal. +Origen believes also that the soul is material, and has a form;[<a href="#f375">375</a><a name="f375.1" id="f375.1"></a>] +an opinion which he may have taken from Plato. Arnobius, Lactantius, +St. Hilary, several of the ancient fathers, and some theologians, have +been of the same opinion; and Grotius is displeased with those who +have absolutely spiritualized the angels, demons and souls separated +from the body.</p> + +<p>The Jews of our days[<a href="#f376">376</a><a name="f376.1" id="f376.1"></a>] believe that after the body of a man is +interred, his spirit goes and comes, and departs from the spot where +it is destined to visit his body, and to know what passes around<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +him; that it is wandering during a whole year after the death of the +body, and that it was during that year of delay that the Pythoness of +Endor evoked the soul of Samuel, after which time the evocation would +have had no power over his spirit.</p> + +<p>The pagans thought much in the same manner upon it. Lucan introduces +Pompey, who consults a witch, and commands her to evoke the soul of a +dead man to reveal to him what success he would meet with in his war +against Cæsar; the poet makes this woman say, "Shade, obey my spells, +for I evoke not a soul from gloomy Tartarus, but one which hath gone +down thither a little while since, and which is still at the gate of +hell."[<a href="#f377">377</a><a name="f377.1" id="f377.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>The Egyptians[<a href="#f378">378</a><a name="f378.1" id="f378.1"></a>] believed that when the spirit of an animal is +separated from its body by violence, it does not go to a distance, but +remains near it. It is the same with the soul of a man who has died a +violent death; it remains near the body—nothing can make it go away; +it is retained there by sympathy; several have been seen sighing near +their bodies which were interred. The magicians abuse their power over +such in their incantations; they force them to obey, when they are +masters of the dead body, or even part of it. Frequent experience +taught them that there is a secret virtue in the body, which draws +towards it the spirit which has once inhabited it; wherefore those who +wish to receive or become the receptacles of the spirits of such +animals as know the future, eat the principle parts of them, as the +hearts of crows, moles, or hawks. The spirit of these creatures enters +into them at the moment they eat this food, and makes them give out +oracles like divinities.</p> + +<p>The Egyptians believed[<a href="#f379">379</a><a name="f379.1" id="f379.1"></a>] that when the spirit of a beast is +delivered from its body, it is rational and predicts the future, gives +oracles, and is capable of all that the soul of man can do when +disengaged from the body—for which reason they abstained from eating +the flesh of animals, and worshiped the gods in the form of beasts.</p> + +<p>At Rome and at Metz there were colleges of priests consecrated to the +service of the manes,[<a href="#f380">380</a><a name="f380.1" id="f380.1"></a>] lares, images, shades, spectres, Erebus, +Avernus or hell, under the protection of the god Sylvanus; which +demonstrates that the Latins and the Gauls recognized the return of +souls and their apparition, and considered them as divinities to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +whom sacrifices should be offered to appease them and prevent them +from doing harm. Nicander confirms the same thing, when he says that +the Celts or the Gauls watched near the tombs of their great men to +derive from them knowledge concerning the future.</p> + +<p>The ancient northern nations were fully persuaded that the spectres +which sometimes appear are no other than the souls of persons lately +deceased, and in their country they knew no remedy so proper to put a +stop to this kind of apparition as to cut off the head of the dead +person, or to impale him, or pierce him through the body with a stake, +or to burn it, as is now practiced at this day in Hungary and Moravia +with regard to vampires.</p> + +<p>The Greeks, who had derived their religion and theology from the +Egyptians and Orientals, and the Latins, who took it from the Greeks, +believed that the souls of the dead sometimes appeared to the living; +that the necromancers evoked them, and thus obtained answers +concerning the future, and instructions relating to the time present. +Homer, the greatest theologian, and perhaps the most curious of the +Grecian writers, relates several apparitions, both of gods and heroes, +and of men after their death.</p> + +<p>In the Odyssey,[<a href="#f381">381</a><a name="f381.1" id="f381.1"></a>] Ulysses goes to consult the diviner Tyresias; and +this sorcerer having prepared a grave full of blood to evoke the +manes, Ulysses draws his sword, and prevents them from coming to drink +this blood, for which they appear to thirst, and of which they would +not permit them to taste before they had replied to what was asked of +them; they (the Greeks and Latins) believed also that souls were not +at rest, and that they wandered around the corpses, so long as they +remained uninhumed.[<a href="#f382">382</a><a name="f382.1" id="f382.1"></a>] When they gave burial to a body, they called +that <i>animam condere</i>,[<a href="#f383">383</a><a name="f383.1" id="f383.1"></a>] to cover the soul, put it under the earth +and shelter it. They called it with a loud voice, and offered it +libations of milk and blood. They also called that ceremony, hiding +the shades,[<a href="#f384">384</a><a name="f384.1" id="f384.1"></a>] sending them with their body under ground.</p> + +<p>The sybil, speaking to Æneas, shows him the manes or shades wandering +on the banks of the Acheron; and tells him that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +are souls of persons who have not received sepulture, and who wander +about for a hundred years.[<a href="#f385">385</a><a name="f385.1" id="f385.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>The philosopher Sallust[<a href="#f386">386</a><a name="f386.1" id="f386.1"></a>] speaks of the apparitions of the dead +around their tombs in dark bodies; he tries to prove thereby the dogma +of the metempsychosis.</p> + +<p>Here is a singular instance of a dead man, who refuses the rite of +burial, acknowledging himself unworthy of it. Agathias relates[<a href="#f387">387</a><a name="f387.1" id="f387.1"></a>] +that some pagan philosophers, not being able to relish the dogma of +the unity of a God, resolved to go from Constantinople to the court of +Chosroes, King of Persia, who was spoken of as a humane prince, and +one who loved learning. Simplicius of Silicia, Eulamius the Phrygian, +Protanus the Lydian, Hermenes and Philogenes of Phœnicia, and +Isidorus of Gaza, repaired then to the court of Chosroes, and were +well received there; but they soon perceived that that country was +much more corrupt than Greece, and they resolved to return to +Constantinople, where Justinian then reigned.</p> + +<p>As they were on their way, they found an unburied corpse, took pity on +it, and had it put in the ground by their own servants. The following +night this man appeared to one of them, and told him not to inter him, +who was not worthy of receiving sepulture; for the earth abhorred one +who had defiled his own mother. The next day they found the same +corpse cast out of the ground, and they comprehended that it was +defiled by incest, which rendered it unworthy of the honor of +receiving burial, although such crimes were known in Persia, and did +not excite the same horror there as in other countries.</p> + +<p>The Greeks and Latins believed that the souls of the dead came and +tasted what was presented on their tombs, especially honey and wine; +that the demons loved the smoke and odor of sacrifices, melody, the +blood of victims, commerce with women; that they were attached for a +time to certain spots or to certain edifices, which they haunted, and +where they appeared; that souls separated from their terrestrial body, +retained after death a subtile one, flexible, aërial, which preserved +the form of that they once had animated during their life; that they +haunted those who had done them wrong and whom they hated. Thus Virgil +describes Dido, in a rage, threatening to haunt the perfidious +Æneas.[<a href="#f388">388</a><a name="f388.1" id="f388.1"></a>]</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p><p>When the spirit of Patroclus appeared +to Achilles,[<a href="#f389">389</a><a name="f389.1" id="f389.1"></a>] it had his +voice, his shape, his eyes, his garments, but not his palpable body. +When Ulysses went down to the infernal regions, he saw there the +divine Hercules,[<a href="#f390">390</a><a name="f390.1" id="f390.1"></a>] that is to say, says Homer, his likeness; for he +himself is with the immortal gods, seated at their feast. Æneas +recognized his wife Creüsa, who appeared to him in her usual form, +only taller and more majestic.[<a href="#f391">391</a><a name="f391.1" id="f391.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>We might cite a quantity of passages from the ancient poets, even from +the fathers of the church, who believed that spirits often appeared to +the living. Tertullian[<a href="#f392">392</a><a name="f392.1" id="f392.1"></a>] believes that the soul is corporeal, and +that it has a certain figure. He appeals to the experience of those to +whom the ghosts of dead persons have appeared, and who have seen them +sensibly, corporeally, and palpably, although of an aërial color and +consistency. He defines the soul[<a href="#f393">393</a><a name="f393.1" id="f393.1"></a>] a breath sent from God, +immortal, and having body and form. Speaking of the fictions of the +poets, who have asserted that souls were not at rest while their +bodies remain uninterred, he says all this is invented only to inspire +the living with that care which they ought to take for the burial of +the dead, and to take away from the relations of the dead the sight of +an object which would only uselessly augment their grief, if they kept +it too long in their houses; <i>ut instantiâ funeris et honor corporum +servetur et mœror affectuum temperetur</i>.</p> + +<p>St. Irenæus[<a href="#f394">394</a><a name="f394.1" id="f394.1"></a>] teaches, as a doctrine received from the Lord, that +souls not only subsist after the death of the body—without however +passing from one body into another, as those will have it who admit +the metempsychosis—but that they retain the form and remain near this +body, as faithful guardians of it, and remember naught of what they +have done or not done in this life. These fathers believed, then, in +the return of souls, their apparition, and their attachment to their +body; but we do not adopt their opinion on the corporeality of souls; +we are persuaded that they can appear with God's permission, +independently of all matter and of any corporeal substance which may +belong to them.</p> + +<p>As to the opinion of the soul being in a state of unrest while its +body is not interred, that it remains for some time near the tomb of +the body, and appears there in a bodily form; those are opinions which +have no solid foundation, either in Scripture or in the traditions of +the Church, which teach us that directly after death the soul is +presented before the judgment-seat of God, and is there destined to +the place that its good or bad actions have deserved.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f369.1">369</a><a name="f369" id="f369"></a>] Joseph Bell. Jud. lib. iii c. 25.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f370.1">370</a><a name="f370" id="f370"></a>] Deut. xxi. 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f371.1">371</a><a name="f371" id="f371"></a>] Homer, Iliad, XXIV.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f372.1">372</a><a name="f372" id="f372"></a>] Origenes contra Celsum, p. 97.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f373.1">373</a><a name="f373" id="f373"></a>] Origenes in Joan. ix. &c. Theophylac. ibid.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f374.1">374</a><a name="f374" id="f374"></a>] Tertull. lib. de Anima.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f375.1">375</a><a name="f375" id="f375"></a>] Origenes contra Cels. lib. ii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f376.1">376</a><a name="f376" id="f376"></a>] Bereseith Rabbæ. c. 22. Vide Menasse de Resurrect. Mort.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f377.1">377</a><a name="f377" id="f377"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 13em;">"Parete precanti</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Non in Tartareo latitantem poscimus antro,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Assuetamque diù tenebris; modò luce fugatâ</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Descendentem animam primo pallentis hiatu</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hæret adhuc orci."</span><span class="spacer"> </span> <i>Lucan, Pharsal.</i> 16.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f378.1">378</a><a name="f378" id="f378"></a>] Porphyr. de Abstin. lib. ii. art. 47.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f379.1">379</a><a name="f379" id="f379"></a>] Demet. lib. iv. art. 10.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f380.1">380</a><a name="f380" id="f380"></a>] Gruter, p. lxiii. Mauric. Hist. de Metz, preface, p. 15.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f381.1">381</a><a name="f381" id="f381"></a>] Homer, Odyss. sub finem. Horat. lib. i. satyr. 8. Aug. de Civit. +Dei, lib. vii. c. 35. Clem. Alex. Pædag. lib. ii. c. 1. Prudent. +lib. iv. contra Symmach. Tertull. de Anim. Lactantius, lib. iii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f382.1">382</a><a name="f382" id="f382"></a>] Virgil, Æn. iii. 150, <i>et seq.</i><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Proptereà jacet exanimum tibi corpus amici,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Heu nescis! totamque incestat funere classem.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sedibus hunc refer ante suis et conde sepulcre."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f383.1">383</a><a name="f383" id="f383"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"Animamque sepulchro</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Condimus, et magnâ supremum voce ciemus."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f384.1">384</a><a name="f384" id="f384"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Romulus ut tumulo fraternas condidit umbras,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Et malè veloci justa soluta Remo."</span> <br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f385.1">385</a><a name="f385" id="f385"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Hæc omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataque turba est.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Centum errant annos, volitantque hæc littora circum."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f386.1">386</a><a name="f386" id="f386"></a>] Sallust. Philos. c. 19, 20.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f387.1">387</a><a name="f387" id="f387"></a>] Stolust. lib. ii. de Bella Persico, sub fin.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f388.1">388</a><a name="f388" id="f388"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"Sequar atris ignibus absens;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Et cum frigida mors animæ subduxerit artus,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Omnibus umbra lecis adero: dubis, improbe, pœnas."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f389.1">389</a><a name="f389" id="f389"></a>] Homer, Iliad, XXIII.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f390.1">390</a><a name="f390" id="f390"></a>] Ibid. Odyss. V.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f391.1">391</a><a name="f391" id="f391"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Infelix simulacrum etque ipsius umbra Creüsæ</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Visa mihi ante oculos, et notâ major imago."</span> <i>Virgil</i>, <i>Æneid</i> I.<br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f392.1">392</a><a name="f392" id="f392"></a>] Tertull. de Anim.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f393.1">393</a><a name="f393" id="f393"></a>] Ibid.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f394.1">394</a><a name="f394" id="f394"></a>] Iren. lib. ii. c. 34.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV" id="CHAPTER_XLIV"></a>CHAPTER XLIV.</h2> + +<h3>EXAMINATION OF WHAT IS REQUIRED OR REVEALED TO THE LIVING BY THE DEAD +WHO RETURN TO EARTH.</h3> + + +<p>The apparitions which are seen are those of good angels, or of demons, +or the spirits of the dead, or of living persons to others still +living.</p> + +<p>Good angels usually bring only good news, and announce nothing but +what is fortunate; or if they do announce any future misfortunes, it +is to persuade men to prevent them, or turn them aside by repentance, +or to profit by the evils which God sends them by exercising their +patience, and showing submission to his orders.</p> + +<p>Bad angels generally foretell only misfortune; wars, the effect of the +wrath of God on nations; and often even they execute the evils, and +direct the wars and public calamities which desolate kingdoms, +provinces, cities, and families. The spectres whose appearance to +Brutus, Cassius, and Julian the Apostate we have related, are only +bearers of the fatal orders of the wrath of God. If they sometimes +promise any prosperity to those to whom they appear, it is only for +the present time, never for eternity, nor for the glory of God, nor +for the eternal salvation of those to whom they speak. It only extends +to a temporal fortune, always of short duration, and very often +deceitful.</p> + +<p>The souls of the defunct, if these be Christians, ask very often that +the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ should be offered, +according to the observation of St. Gregory the Great;[<a href="#f395">395</a><a name="f395.1" id="f395.1"></a>] and, as +experience shows, there is hardly any apparition of a Christian that +does not ask for masses, pilgrimages, restitutions, or that alms +should be distributed, or that they would satisfy those to whom the +deceased died indebted. They also often give salutary advice for the +salvation or correction of the morals, or good regulation of families. +They reveal the state in which certain persons find themselves in the +other world, in order to relieve their pain, or to put the living on +their guard, that the like misfortune may not befall them. They talk +of hell, paradise, purgatory, angels, demons, of the Supreme Judge, of +the rigor of his judgments, of the goodness he exercises<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +towards the just, and the rewards with which he crowns their good +works.</p> + +<p>But we must greatly mistrust those apparitions which ask for masses, +pilgrimages and restitution. St. Paul warns us that the demon often +transforms himself into an angel of light;[<a href="#f396">396</a><a name="f396.1" id="f396.1"></a>] and St. +John[<a href="#f397">397</a><a name="f397.1" id="f397.1"></a>] +warns us to distrust the "depths of Satan," his illusions, and +deceitful appearances; that spirit of malice and falsehood is found +among the true prophets to put into the mouth of the false prophets +falsehood and error. He makes a wrong use of the text of the +Scriptures, of the most sacred ceremonies, even of the sacraments and +prayers of the church, to seduce the simple, and win their confidence, +to share as much as in him lies the glory which is due to the Almighty +alone, and to appropriate it to himself. How many false miracles has +he not wrought? How many times has he foretold future events? What +cures has he not operated? How many holy actions has he not counseled? +How many enterprises, praiseworthy in appearance, has he not inspired, +in order to draw the faithful into his snare?</p> + +<p>Boden, in his Demonology,[<a href="#f398">398</a><a name="f398.1" id="f398.1"></a>] cites more than one instance of demons +who have requested prayers, and have even placed themselves in the +posture of persons praying over a grave, to point out that the dead +persons wanted prayers. Sometimes it will be the demon in the shape of +a wretch dead in crime, who will come and ask for masses, to show that +his soul is in purgatory, and has need of prayers, although it may be +certain that he finally died impenitent, and that prayers are useless +for his salvation. All this is only a stratagem of a demon, who seeks +to inspire the wicked with foolish and dangerous confidence in their +being saved, notwithstanding their criminal life and their +impenitence; and that they can obtain salvation by means of a few +prayers, and a few alms, which shall be made after their death; not +regarding that these good works can be useful only to those who died +in a state of grace, although stained by some venial fault, since the +Scripture informs us[<a href="#f399">399</a><a name="f399.1" id="f399.1"></a>] that nothing impure will enter the kingdom +of heaven.</p> + +<p>It is believed that the reprobate can sometimes return to earth by +permission, as persons dead in idolatry, and consequently in sin, and +excluded from the kingdom of God, have been seen to come to life +again, be converted, and receive baptism. St. Martin was as yet only +the simple abbot of his monastery of Ligugé,[<a href="#f400">400</a><a name="f400.1" id="f400.1"></a>] when, in his +absence, a catechumen who had placed himself under his discipline to +be instructed in the truths of the Christian religion died without +having been baptized. He had been three days deceased when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +saint arrived. He sent everybody away, prayed over the dead man, +resuscitated him, and administered to him the baptismal rite.</p> + +<p>This catechumen related that he had been led before the tribunal of +the Supreme Judge, who had condemned him to descend into the darkness +with an infinity of other persons condemned like himself; but that two +angels having represented to the Judge that it was this man for whom +St. Martin interceded, God commanded the two angels to bring him back +to earth, and restore him to Martin. This is an instance which proves +what I have just said, that the reprobate can return to life, do +penance, and receive baptism.</p> + +<p>But as to what some have affirmed of the salvation of Falconila, +procured by St. Thecla, of that of Trajan, saved by the prayers of St. +Gregory, pope, and of some others who died heathens, this is all +entirely contrary to the faith of the church and to the holy +Scripture, which teach us that without faith it is impossible to +please God, and that he who believes not and has not received baptism +is already judged and condemned. Thus the opinions of those who accord +salvation to Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, &c., because it may appear to +them that they lived in a praiseworthy manner, according to the rules +of a merely human and philosophical morality, must be considered as +rash, erroneous, false, and dangerous.</p> + +<p>Philip, Chancellor of the Church of Paris, maintained that it was +permitted to one man to hold a plurality of benefices. Being on his +death-bed, he was visited by William, Bishop of Paris, who died in +1248. This prelate urged the chancellor to give up all his benefices +save one only; he refused, saying that he wished to try if the holding +a plurality of livings was so wrong as it was said to be; and in this +disposition of mind he died in 1237.</p> + +<p>Some days after his decease, Bishop William, or Guillaume, praying by +night, after matins, in his cathedral, beheld before him the hideous +and frightful figure of a man. He made the sign of the cross, and said +to him, "If you are sent by God, speak." He spoke, and said: "I am +that wretched chancellor, and have been condemned to eternal +punishment." The bishop having asked him the cause, he replied, "I am +condemned, first, for not having distributed the superfluity of my +benefices; secondly, for having maintained that it was allowable to +hold several at once; thirdly, for having remained for several days in +the guilt of incontinence."</p> + +<p>The story was often preached by Bishop William to his clerks. It is +related by the Bishop Albertus Magnus, who was a cotemporary, in his +book on the sacraments; by William Durand, Bishop of Mande, in his +book <i>De Modo celebrandi Concilia</i>; and in Thomas de Cantimpré, in his +work <i>Des Abeilles</i>. He believed, then, that God sometimes permitted +the reprobate to appear to the living.</p> + +<p>Here is an instance of the apparition of a man and woman who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> were in +a state of reprobation. The Prince of Ratzivil,[<a href="#f401">401</a><a name="f401.1" id="f401.1"></a>] in his Journey to +Jerusalem, relates that when in Egypt he bought two mummies, had them +packed up, and secretly as possible conveyed on board his vessel, so +that only himself and his two servants were aware of it; the Turks +making a great difficulty of allowing mummies to be carried away, +because they fancy that the Christians make use of them for magical +operations. When they were at sea, there arose at sundry times such a +violent tempest that the pilot despaired of saving the vessel. A good +Polish priest, of the suite of the Prince de <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'Ratzival'.">Ratzivil</ins>, recited the +prayers suitable to the circumstance; but he was tormented, he said, +by two hideous black spectres, a man and a woman, who were on each +side of him, and threatened to take away his life. It was thought at +first that terror disturbed his mind.</p> + +<p>A calm coming on, he appeared tranquil; but very soon, the storm +beginning again, he was more tormented than before, and was only +delivered from these haunting spectres when the two mummies, which he +had not seen, were thrown into the sea, and neither himself nor the +pilot knew of their being in the ship. I will not deny the fact, which +is related by a prince incapable of desiring to impose on any one. But +how many reflections may we make on this event! Were they the souls of +these two pagans, or two demons who assumed their form? What interest +could the demon have in not permitting these bodies to come under the +power of the Christians?</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f395.1">395</a><a name="f395" id="f395"></a>] Greg. Mag. lib. iv. Dialog. c. 55.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f396.1">396</a><a name="f396" id="f396"></a>] Cor. xi. 14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f397.1">397</a><a name="f397" id="f397"></a>] Rev. xxi. 14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f398.1">398</a><a name="f398" id="f398"></a>] Bodin, Dæmon. tom. iii. c. 6.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f399.1">399</a><a name="f399" id="f399"></a>] Rev. xxi. 27.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f400.1">400</a><a name="f400" id="f400"></a>] Sulpit. Sever. Vita St. Martin. c. 5.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f401.1">401</a><a name="f401" id="f401"></a>] Ratzivil, Peregrin, Jerosol. p. 218.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLV" id="CHAPTER_XLV"></a>CHAPTER XLV.</h2> + +<h3>APPARITIONS OF MEN STILL ALIVE, TO OTHER LIVING MEN, ABSENT, AND VERY +DISTANT FROM EACH OTHER.</h3> + + +<p>We find in all history, both sacred and profane, ancient and modern, +an infinite number of examples of the apparition of persons alive to +other living persons. The prophet Ezekiel says of himself,[<a href="#f402">402</a><a name="f402.1" id="f402.1"></a>] "I was +seated in my house, in the midst of the elders of my people, when on a +sudden a hand, which came from a figure shining like fire, seized me +by the hair; and the spirit transported me between heaven and earth, +and took me to Jerusalem, where he placed me near the inner gate, +which looks towards the north, where I saw the idol of jealousy" +(apparently Adonis), "and I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +there remarked the majesty of the Lord, as I had seen it in the field; +he showed me the idol of jealousy, to which the Israelites burned +incense; and the angel of the Lord said to me: Thou seest the +abominations which the children of Israel commit, in turning away from +my sanctuary; thou shalt see still greater.</p> + +<p>"And having pierced the wall of the temple, I saw figures of reptiles +and animals, the abominations and idols of the house of Israel, and +seventy men of the elders of Israel, who were standing before these +figures, each one bearing a censer in his hand; after that the angel +said to me, Thou shalt see yet something yet more abominable; and he +showed me women who were mourning for Adonis. Lastly, having +introduced me into the inner court of the temple, I saw twenty men +between the vestibule and the altar, who turned their back upon the +temple of the Lord, and stood with their faces to the <i>east</i>, and paid +adoration to the rising sun."</p> + +<p>Here we may remark two things; first, that Ezekiel is transported from +Chaldæa to Jerusalem, through the air between heaven and earth by the +hand of an angel; which proves the possibility of transporting a +living man through the air to a very great distance from the place +where he was.</p> + +<p>The second is, the vision or apparition of those prevaricators who +commit even within the temple the greatest abominations, the most +contrary to the majesty of God, the sanctity of the spot, and the law +of the Lord. After all these things, the same angel brings back +Ezekiel into Chaldæa; but it was not until after God had showed him +the vengeance he intended to exercise upon the Israelites.</p> + +<p>It will, perhaps, be said that all this passed only in a vision; that +Ezekiel thought that he was transported to Jerusalem and afterwards +brought back again to Babylon; and that what he saw in the temple he +saw only by revelation. I reply, that the text of this prophet +indicates a real removal, and that he was transported by the hair of +his head between heaven and earth. He was brought back from Jerusalem +in the same way.</p> + +<p>I do not deny that the thing might have passed in a vision, and that +Ezekiel might have seen in spirit what was passing in the temple of +Jerusalem. But I shall still deduce from it a consequence which is +favorable to my design, that is, the possibility of a living man being +carried through the air to a very great distance from the place he was +in, or at least that a living man can imagine strongly that he is +being carried from one place to another, although this transportation +may be only imaginary and in a dream or vision, as they pretend it +happens in the transportation of sorcerers to the witches' sabbath.</p> + +<p>In short, there are true appearances of the living to others who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> are +also alive. How is this done? The thing is not difficult to explain in +following the recital of the prophet, who is transferred from Chaldæa +into Judea in his own body by the ministration of angels; but the +apparitions related in St. Augustine and in other authors are not of +the same kind: the two persons who see and converse with each other go +not from their places; and the one who appears knows nothing of what +is passing in regard to him to whom he appears, and to whom he +explains several things of which he did not even think at that moment.</p> + +<p>In the third book of Kings, Obadiah, steward of king Ahab, having met +the prophet Elijah, who had for some time kept himself concealed, +tells him that king Ahab had him sought for everywhere, and that not +having been able to discover him anywhere, had gone himself to seek +him out. Elijah desired him to go and tell the king that Elijah had +appeared; but Obadiah replied, "See to what you expose me; for if I go +and announce to Ahab that I have spoken to you, the spirit of God will +transport you into some unknown place, and the king, not finding you, +will put me to death."</p> + +<p>There again is an instance which proves the possibility of the +transportation of a living man to a very distant spot. The same +prophet, being on Mount Carmel, was seized by the Spirit of God, which +transported him thence to Jezreel in very little time, not through the +air, but by making him walk and run with a promptitude that was quite +extraordinary.</p> + +<p>In the Gospel, Elias[<a href="#f403">403</a><a name="f403.1" id="f403.1"></a>] appeared with Moses on Mount Tabor, at the +transfiguration of the Saviour. Moses had long been dead; but the +Church believes that Elijah (or Elias) is still living. In the Acts of +the Apostles,[<a href="#f404">404</a><a name="f404.1" id="f404.1"></a>] Annanias appeared to St. Paul, and put his hands on +him in a vision before he arrived at his house in Damascus.</p> + +<p>Two men of the court of the Emperor Valens, wishing to discover by the +aid of magical secrets who would succeed that emperor,[<a href="#f405">405</a><a name="f405.1" id="f405.1"></a>] caused a +table of laurel-wood to be made into a tripod, on which they placed a +basin made of divers metals. On the border of this basin were +engraved, at some distance from each other, the twenty-four letters of +the Greek alphabet. A magician with certain ceremonies approached the +basin, and holding in his hand a ring suspended by a thread, suffered +it at intervals to fall upon the letters of the alphabet whilst they +were rapidly turning the table; the ring falling on the different +letters formed obscure and enigmatical verses like those pronounced by +the oracle of Delphi.</p> + +<p>At last they asked what was the name of him who should succeed to the +Emperor Valens? The ring touched the four letters ΘΕΟΔ, +which they interpreted of Theodosius, the second secretary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> of the +Emperor Valens. Theodosius was arrested, interrogated, convicted, and +put to death; and with him all the culprits or accomplices in this +operation; search was made for all the books of magic, and a great +number were burnt. The great Theodosius, of whom they thought not at +all, and who was at a great distance from the court, was the person +designated by these letters. In 379, he was declared Augustus by the +Emperor Gratian, and in coming to Constantinople in 380, he had a +dream, in which it seemed to him that Melitus, Bishop of Antioch, whom +he had never seen, and knew only by reputation, invested him with the +imperial mantle and placed the diadem on his head.</p> + +<p>They were then assembling the Eastern bishops to hold the Council of +Constantinople. Theodosius begged that Melitus might not be pointed +out to him, saying that he should recognize him by the signs he had +seen in his dream. In fact, he distinguished him amongst all the other +bishops, embraced him, kissed his hands, and looked upon him ever +after as his father. This was a distinct apparition of a living +man.[<a href="#f406">406</a><a name="f406.1" id="f406.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>St. Augustine relates[<a href="#f407">407</a><a name="f407.1" id="f407.1"></a>] that a certain man saw, in the night before +he slept, a philosopher, who was known to him, enter his house, and +who explained to him some of Plato's opinions which he would not +explain to him before. This apparition of the Platonician was merely +fantastic; for the person to whom he had appeared having asked him why +he would not explain to him at his house what he had come to explain +to him when at home, the philosopher replied, "I did not do so, but I +dreamt I did so." Here, then, are two persons both alive, one of whom, +in his sleep and dreaming, speaks to another who is wide awake, and +sees him only in imagination.</p> + +<p>The same St. Augustine[<a href="#f408">408</a><a name="f408.1" id="f408.1"></a>] acknowledges in the presence of his people +that he had appeared to two persons who had never seen him, and knew +him only by reputation, and that he advised them to come to Hippo, to +be there cured by the merit of the martyr St. Stephen:—they came +there, and recovered their health.</p> + +<p>Evodius, teaching rhetoric at Carthage,[<a href="#f409">409</a><a name="f409.1" id="f409.1"></a>] and finding himself +puzzled concerning the sense of a passage in the books of the Rhetoric +of Cicero, which he was to explain the next day to his scholars, was +much disquieted when he went to bed, and could hardly get to sleep. +During his sleep he fancied he saw St. Augustine, who was then at +Milan, a great way from Carthage, who was not thinking of him at all, +and was apparently sleeping very quietly in his bed at Milan, who came +to him and explained the passage in question. St.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +Augustine avows that he does not know how it happens; but in whatever +way it may occur, it is very possible for us to see in a dream a dead +person as we see a living one, without either one or the other knowing +how, when, or where, these images are formed in our mind. It is also +possible that a dead man may appear to the living without being aware +of it, and discover to them secrets and hidden things, the result of +which reveals their truth and reality. When a living man appears in a +dream to another man, we do not say that his body or his spirit have +appeared, but simply that such a one has appeared to him. Why can we +not say that the dead appear without body and without soul, but simply +that their form presents itself to the mind and imagination of the +living person?</p> + +<p>St. Augustine, in the book which he has composed on the care which we +ought to take of the dead,[<a href="#f410">410</a><a name="f410.1" id="f410.1"></a>] says that a holy monk, named John, +appeared to a pious woman, who ardently desired to see him. The +saintly doctor reasons a great deal on this apparition;—whether this +solitary foresaw what would happen to him; if he went in spirit to +this woman; if it is his angel or his spirit in his bodily form which +appeared to her in her sleep, as we behold in our dreams absent +persons who are known to us. We should be able to speak to the monk +himself, to know from himself how that occurred, if by the power of +God, or by his permission; for there is little appearance that he did +it by any natural power.</p> + +<p>It is said that St. Simeon Stylites[<a href="#f411">411</a><a name="f411.1" id="f411.1"></a>] appeared to his disciple St. +Daniel, who had undertaken the journey to Jerusalem, where he would +have to suffer much for Jesus Christ's sake. St. Benedict[<a href="#f412">412</a><a name="f412.1" id="f412.1"></a>] had +promised to comply with the request of some architects, who had begged +him to come and show them how he wished them to build a certain +monastery; the saint did not go to them bodily, but he went thither in +spirit, and gave them the plan and design of the house which they were +to construct. These men did not comprehend that it was what he had +promised them, and came to him again to ask what were his intentions +relative to this edifice: he said to them, "I have explained it to you +in a dream; you can follow the plan which you have seen."</p> + +<p>The Cæsar Bardas, who had so mightily contributed to the deposition of +St. Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinople, had a vision, which he thus +related to Philothes his friend. "I thought I was that night going in +procession to the high church with the Emperor Michael. When we had +entered and were near the ambe, there appeared two eunuchs of the +chamber, with a cruel and ferocious mien, one of whom, having bound +the emperor, dragged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +him out of the choir on the right side; the other dragged me in the +same manner to the left. Then I saw on a sudden an old man seated on +the throne of the sanctuary. He resembled the image of St. Peter, and +two terrific men were standing near him, who looked like provosts. I +beheld, at the knees of St. Peter, St. Ignatius weeping, and crying +aloud, 'You have the keys of the kingdom of heaven; if you know the +injustice which has been done me, console my afflicted old age.'</p> + +<p>"St. Peter replied, 'Point out the man who has used you ill.' +Ignatius, turning round, pointed to me, saying, 'That is he who has +done me most wrong.' St. Peter made a sign to the one at his right, +and placing in his hand a short sword, he said to him aloud, 'Take +Bardas, the enemy of God, and cut him in pieces before the vestibule.' +As they were leading me to death, I saw that he said to the emperor, +holding up his hand in a threatening manner, 'Wait, unnatural son!' +after which I saw them cut me absolutely in pieces."</p> + +<p>This took place in 866. The year following, in the month of April, the +emperor having set out to attack the Isle of Crete, was made so +suspicious of Bardas, that he resolved to get rid of him. He +accompanied the Emperor Michael in this expedition. Bardas, seeing the +murderers enter the emperor's tent, sword in hand, threw himself at +his feet to ask his pardon; but they dragged him out, cut him in +pieces, and in derision carried some of his members about at the end +of a pike. This happened the 29th of April, 867.</p> + +<p>Roger, Count of Calabria and Sicily, besieging the town of Capua, one +named Sergius, a Greek by birth, to whom he had given the command of +200 men, having suffered himself to be bribed, formed the design of +betraying him, and of delivering the army of the count to the Prince +of Capua, during the night. It was on the 1st of March that he was to +execute his intention. St. Bruno, who then dwelt in the Desert of +Squilantia, appeared to Count Roger, and told him to fly to arms +promptly, if he would not be oppressed by his enemies. The count +starts from his sleep, commands his people to mount their horses and +see what is going on in the camp. They met the men belonging to +Sergius, with the Prince of Capua, who having perceived them retired +promptly into the town; those of Count Roger took 162 of them, from +whom they learned all the secret of the treason. Roger went, on the +29th of July following, to Squilantia, and having related to Bruno +what had happened to him, the saint said to him, "It was not I who +warned you; it was the angel of God, who is near princes in time of +war." Thus Count Roger relates the affair himself, in a privilege +granted to St. Bruno.</p> + +<p>A monk[<a href="#f413">413</a><a name="f413.1" id="f413.1"></a>] named Fidus, a disciple +of St. Euthymius, a celebrated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +abbot in Palestine, having been sent by Martyrius, the patriarch of +Jerusalem, on an important mission concerning the affairs of the +church, embarked at Joppa, and was shipwrecked the following night; he +supported himself above water for some time by clinging to a piece of +wood, which he found by chance. Then he invoked the help of St. +Euthymius, who appeared to him walking on the sea, and who said to +him, "Know that this voyage is not pleasing to God, and will be of no +utility to the mother of the Churches, that is to say, to Jerusalem. +Return to him who sent you, and tell him from me not to be uneasy at +the separation of the schismatics—union will take place ere long; for +you, you must go to my laurel grove, and you must build there a +monastery."</p> + +<p>Having said this, he enveloped Fidus in his mantle, and Fidus found +himself immediately at Jerusalem, and in his house, without knowing +how he came there; he related it all to the Patriarch Martyrius, who +remembered the prediction of St. Euthymius concerning the building in +the laurel grove a monastery.</p> + +<p>Queen Margaret, in her memoirs, asserts that God protects the great in +a particular manner, and that he lets them know, either in dreams or +otherwise, what is to happen to them. "As Queen Catherine de Medicis, +my mother," says she, "who the night before that unhappy day dreamt +she saw the king, Henry II., my father, wounded in the eye, as it +really happened; when she awoke she several times implored the king +not to tilt that day.</p> + +<p>"The same queen being dangerously ill at Metz, and having around her +bed the king (Charles IX.), my sister, and brother of Lorraine, and +many ladies and princesses, she cried out as if she had seen the +battle of Jarnac fought: 'See how they fly! my son has the victory! Do +you see the Prince of Condè dead in that hedge?' All those who were +present fancied she was dreaming; but the night after, M. de Losse +brought her the news. 'I knew it well,' said she; 'did I not behold it +the day before yesterday?'"</p> + +<p>The Duchess Philippa, of Gueldres, wife of the Duke of Lorraine, René +II., being a nun at St. Claire du Pont-à-Mousson, saw during her +orisons the unfortunate battle of Pavia. She cried out suddenly, "Ah! +my sisters, my dear sisters, for the love of God, say your prayers; my +son De Lambesc is dead, and the king (Francis I.) my cousin is made +prisoner." Some days after, news of this famous event, which happened +the day on which the duchess had seen it, was received at Nancy. +Certainly, neither the young Prince de Lambesc nor the king Francis I. +had any knowledge of this revelation, and they took no part in it. It +was, then, neither their spirit nor their phantoms which appeared to +the princess; it was apparently their angel, or God himself, who by +his power struck<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> her imagination, and represented to her what was +passing at that moment.</p> + +<p>Mezeray affirms that he had often heard people of quality relate that +the duke (Charles the Third) of Lorraine, who was at Paris when King +Henry II. was wounded with the splinter of a lance, of which he died, +told the circumstance often of a lady who lodged in his hotel having +seen in a dream, very distinctly, that the king had been struck and +brought to the ground by a blow from a lance.</p> + +<p>To these instances of the apparition of living persons to other living +persons in their sleep, we may add an infinite number of other +instances of apparitions of angels and holy personages, or even of +dead persons, to the living when asleep, to give them instructions, +warn them of dangers which menace them, inspire them with salutary +counsel relative to their salvation, or to give them aid; thick +volumes might be composed on such matters. I shall content myself with +relating here some examples of those apparitions drawn from profane +authors.</p> + +<p>Xerxes, king of Persia, when deliberating in council whether he should +carry the war into Greece, was strongly dissuaded from it by +Artabanes, his paternal uncle. Xerxes took offence at this liberty, +and uttered some very disobliging words to him. The following night he +reflected seriously on the arguments of Artabanes, and changed his +resolution. When he was asleep, he saw in a dream a man of +extraordinary size and beauty, who said to him, "You have then +renounced your intention of making war on the Greeks, although you +have already given orders to the Persian chiefs to assemble your army. +You have not done well to change your resolve, even should no one be +of your opinion. Go forward; believe me. Follow your first design." +Having said this, the vision disappeared. The next day he again +assembled his council, and without speaking of his dream, he testified +his regret for what he said in his rage the preceding day to his uncle +Artabanes, and declared that he had renounced his design of making war +upon the Greeks. Those who composed the council, transported with joy, +prostrated themselves before him, and congratulated him upon it.</p> + +<p>The following night he had a second time the same vision, and the same +phantom said to him, "Son of Darius, thou hast then abandoned thy +design of declaring war against the Greeks, regardless of what I said +to thee. Know that if thou dost not instantly undertake this +expedition, thou wilt soon be reduced to a situation as low as that in +which thou now findest thyself elevated." The king directly rose from +his bed, and sent in all haste for Artabanes, to whom he related the +two dreams which he had had two nights consecutively. He added, "I +pray you to put on my royal ornaments, sit down on my throne, and then +lie down in my bed. If the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> phantom which appeared to me appears to +you also, I shall believe that the thing is ordained by the decrees of +the gods, and I shall yield to their commands."</p> + +<p>Artabanes would in vain have excused himself from putting on the royal +ornaments, sitting on the king's throne, and lying down in his bed, +alleging that all those things would be useless if the gods had +resolved to let him know their will; that it would even be more likely +to exasperate the gods, as if he desired to deceive them by external +appearances. As for the rest, dreams in themselves deserve no +attention, and usually they are only the consequences and +representations of what is most strongly in the mind when awake.</p> + +<p>Xerxes did not yield to his arguments, and Artabanes did what the king +desired, persuaded that if the same thing should occur more than once, +it would be a proof of the will of the gods, of the reality of the +vision, and the truth of the dream. He then laid down in the king's +bed, and the same phantom appeared to him, and said, "It is you, then, +who prevent Xerxes from executing his resolve and accomplishing what +is decreed by fate. I have already declared to the king what he has to +fear if he disobeys my orders." At the same time it appeared to +Artabanes that the spectre would burn his eyes with a red-hot iron. He +directly sprang from the couch, and related to Xerxes what had +appeared to him and what had been said to him, adding, "I now +absolutely change my opinion, since it pleases the gods that we should +make war, and that the Greeks be threatened with great misfortunes; +give your orders and dispose everything for this war:"—which was +executed immediately.</p> + +<p>The terrible consequences of this war, which was so fatal to Persia, +and at last caused the overthrow of that famous monarchy, leads us to +judge that this apparition, if a true one, was announced by an evil +spirit, hostile to that monarchy, sent by God to dispose things for +events predicted by the prophets, and the succession of great empires +predestined by the decrees of the Almighty.</p> + +<p>Cicero remarks that two Arcadians, who were traveling together, +arrived at Megara, a city of Greece, situated between Athens and +Corinth. One of them, who could claim hospitality in the town, was +lodged at a friend's, and the other at an inn. After supper, he who +was at a friend's house retired to rest. In his sleep, it seemed to +him that the man whom he had left at the inn appeared to him, and +implored his help, because the innkeeper wanted to kill him. He arose +directly, much alarmed at this dream, but having reassured himself, +and fallen asleep again, the other again appeared to him, and told him +that since he had not had the kindness to aid him, at least he must +not leave his death unpunished; that the innkeeper, after having +killed him, had hidden his body in a wagon, and co<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>vered it over with +dung, and that he must not fail to be the next morning at the opening +of the city gate, before the wagon went forth. Struck with this new +dream, he went early in the morning to the city gate, saw the wagon, +and asked the driver what he had got under the manure. The carter took +flight directly, the body was extricated from the wagon, and the +innkeeper arrested and punished.</p> + +<p>Cicero relates also some other instances of similar apparitions which +occurred in sleep; one is of Sophocles, the other of Simonides. The +former saw Hercules in a dream, who told him the name of a robber who +had taken a golden patera from his temple. Sophocles neglected this +notice, as an effect of disturbed sleep; but Hercules appeared to him +a second time, and repeated to him the same thing, which induced +Sophocles to denounce the robber, who was convicted by the Areopagus, +and from that time the temple was dedicated to Hercules the Revealer.</p> + +<p>The dream or apparition of Simonides was more useful to himself +personally. He was on the point of embarking, when he found on the +shore the corpse of an unknown person, as yet without sepulture. +Simonides had him interred, from humanity. The next night the dead man +appeared to Simonides, and, through gratitude, counseled him not to +embark in the vessel then riding in the harbor, because he would be +shipwrecked if he did. Simonides believed him, and a few days after, +he heard of the wreck of the vessel in which he was to have embarked.</p> + +<p>John Pico de la Mirandola assures us in his treatise, <i>De Auro</i>, that +a man, who was not rich, finding himself reduced to the last +extremity, and without any resources either to pay his debts or +procure nourishment for a numerous family in a time of scarcity, +overcome with grief and uneasiness, fell asleep. At the same time, one +of the blessed appeared to him in a dream, taught him by some +enigmatical words the means of making gold, and pointed out to him at +the same moment the water he must make use of to succeed in it. On his +awaking, he took some of that water, and made gold of it, in small +quantity, indeed, but enough to maintain his family. He made some +twice with iron, and three times with orpiment. "He has convinced me +by my own eyes," says Pico de la Mirandola, "that the means of making +gold artificially is not a falsehood, but a true art."</p> + +<p>Here is another sort of apparition of one living man to another, which +is so much the more singular, because it proves at once the might of +spells, and that a magician can render himself invisible to several +persons, while he discovers himself to one man alone. The fact is +taken from the Treatise on Superstitions, of the reverend<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> father Le +Brun,[<a href="#f414">414</a><a name="f414.1" id="f414.1"></a>] and is characterized by all which can render it +incontestible. On Friday, the first day of May, 1705, about five +o'clock in the evening, Denis Misanger de la Richardière, eighteen +years of age, was attacked with an extraordinary malady, which began +by a sort of lethargy. They gave him every assistance that medicine +and surgery could afford. He fell afterwards into a kind of furor or +convulsion, and they were obliged to hold him, and have five or six +persons to keep watch over him, for fear that he should throw himself +out of the windows, or break his head against the wall. The emetic +which they gave him made him throw up a quantity of bile, and for four +or five days he remained pretty quiet.</p> + +<p>At the end of the month of May, they sent him into the country to take +the air; and some other circumstances occurred, so unusual, that they +judged he must be bewitched. And what confirmed this conjecture was +that he never had any fever, and retained all his strength, +notwithstanding all the pains and violent remedies which he had been +made to take. They asked him if he had not had some dispute with a +shepherd, or some other person suspected of sorcery or malpractices.</p> + +<p>He declared that on the 18th of April preceding, when he was going +through the village of Noysi on horseback for a ride, his horse +stopped short in the midst of the <i>Rue Feret</i>, opposite the chapel, +and he could not make him go forward, though he touched him several +times with the spur. There was a shepherd standing leaning against the +chapel, with his crook in his hand, and two black dogs at his side. +This man said to him, "Sir, I advise you to return home, for your +horse will not go forward." The young La Richardière, continuing to +spur his horse, said to the shepherd, "I do not understand what you +say." The shepherd replied, in a low tone, "I will make you +understand." In effect, the young man was obliged to get down from his +horse, and lead it back by the bridle to his father's dwelling in the +same village. Then the shepherd cast a spell upon him, which was to +take effect on the 1st of May, as was afterwards known.</p> + +<p>During this malady, they caused several masses to be said in different +places, especially at St. Maur des Fossés, at St. Amable, and at St. +Esprit. Young La Richardière was present at some of these masses which +were said at St. Maur; but he declared that he should not be cured +till Friday, the 26th of June, on his return from St. Maur. On +entering his chamber, the key of which he had in his pocket, he found +there that shepherd, seated in his arm-chair, with his crook, and his +two black dogs. He was the only person who saw him; none other in the +house could perceive him. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +said even that this man was called Damis, although he did not remember +that any one had before this revealed his name to him. He beheld him +all that day, and all the succeeding night. Towards six o'clock in the +evening, as he felt his usual sufferings, he fell on the ground, +exclaiming that the shepherd was upon him, and crushing him; at the +same time he drew his knife, and aimed five blows at the shepherd's +face, of which he retained the marks. The invalid told those who were +watching over him that he was going to be very faint at five different +times, and begged of them to help him, and move him violently. The +thing happened as he had predicted.</p> + +<p>On Friday, the 26th of June, M. de la Richardière, having gone to the +mass at St. Maur, asserted that he should be cured on that day. After +mass, the priest put the stole upon his head and recited the Gospel of +St. John, during which prayer the young man saw St. Maur standing, and +the unhappy shepherd at his left, with his face bleeding from the five +knife-wounds which he had given him. At that moment, the youth cried +out, unintentionally, "A miracle! a miracle!" and asserted that he was +cured, as in fact he was.</p> + +<p>On the 29th of June, the same M. de la Richardière returned to Noysi, +and amused himself with shooting. As he was shooting in the vineyards, +the shepherd presented himself before him; he hit him on the head with +the butt-end of his gun. The shepherd cried out, "Sir, you are killing +me!" and fled. The next day, this man presented himself again before +him, and asked his pardon, saying, "I am called Damis; it was I who +cast a spell over you which was to have lasted a year. By the aid of +masses and prayers which have been said for you, you have been cured +at the end of eight weeks. But the charm has fallen back upon myself, +and I can be cured of it only by a miracle. I implore you then to pray +for me."</p> + +<p>During all these reports, the <i>maré chausée</i> had set off in pursuit of +the shepherd; but he escaped them, having killed his two dogs and +thrown away his crook. On Sunday, the 13th of September, he came to M. +de la Richardière, and related to him his adventure; that after having +passed twenty years without approaching the sacraments, God had given +him grace to confess himself at Troyes; and that after divers delays +he had been admitted to the holy communion. Eight days after, M. de la +Richardière received a letter from a woman who said she was a relation +of the shepherd's, informing him of his death, and begging him to +cause a requiem mass to be said for him, which was done.</p> + +<p>How many difficulties may we make about this story! How could this +wretched shepherd cast the spell without touching the person? How +could he introduce himself into young M. de la Richardière's chamber +without either opening or forcing the door?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> How could he render +himself visible to him alone, whilst none other beheld him? Can one +doubt of his corporeal presence, since he received five cuts from a +knife in his face, of which he afterwards bore the marks, when, by the +merit of the holy mass and the intercession of the saints, the spell +was taken off? How could St. Maur appear to him in his Benedictine +habit, having the wizard on his left hand? If the circumstance is +certain, as it appears, who shall explain the manner in which all +passed or took place?</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f402.1">402</a><a name="f402" id="f402"></a>] Ezek. viii. 1, 2, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f403.1">403</a><a name="f403" id="f403"></a>] Matt. xvii. 3.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f404.1">404</a><a name="f404" id="f404"></a>] Acts ix. 10.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f405.1">405</a><a name="f405" id="f405"></a>] Acts ix. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f406.1">406</a><a name="f406" id="f406"></a>] Ammian. Marcell. lib. xix. Sozomen. lib. vi. c. 35.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f407.1">407</a><a name="f407" id="f407"></a>] Aug. lib. viii. de Civit. c. 18.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f408.1">408</a><a name="f408" id="f408"></a>] Aug. Serm. cxxiii. pp. 1277, 1278.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f409.1">409</a><a name="f409" id="f409"></a>] Aug. de curâ gerendâ pro Mortuis, c. 11, 12.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f410.1">410</a><a name="f410" id="f410"></a>] Aug. de curâ gerend. pro Mort. c. xxvii. p. 529.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f411.1">411</a><a name="f411" id="f411"></a>] Vita Daniel Stylit. xi. Decemb.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f412.1">412</a><a name="f412" id="f412"></a>] Gregor. lib. ii. Dialog. c. xxii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f413.1">413</a><a name="f413" id="f413"></a>] Vita Sancti Euthym. pp. 86, 87.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f414.1">414</a><a name="f414" id="f414"></a>] Le Brun, Traité des Superstit. tom. i. pp. 281, 282, et seq.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI" id="CHAPTER_XLVI"></a>CHAPTER XLVI.</h2> + +<h3>ARGUMENTS CONCERNING APPARITIONS.</h3> + + +<p>After having spoken at some length upon apparitions, and after having +established the truth of them, as far as it has been possible for us +to do so, from the authority of the Scripture, from examples, and by +arguments, we must now exercise our judgment on the causes, means, and +reasons for these apparitions, and reply to the objections which may +be made to destroy the reality of them, or at least to raise doubts on +the subject.</p> + +<p>We have supposed that apparitions were the work of angels, demons, or +souls of the defunct; we do not talk of the appearance of God himself; +his will, his operations, his power, are above our reach; we +acknowledge that he can do all that he wills to do, that his will is +all-powerful, and that he places himself, when he chooses, above the +laws which he has made. As to the apparitions of the living to others +also living, they are of a different nature from what we propose to +examine in this place; we shall not fail to speak of them hereafter.</p> + +<p>Whatever system we may follow on the nature of angels, or demons, or +souls separated from the body; whether we consider them as purely +spiritual substances, as the Christian church at this day holds; +whether we give them an aërial body, subtile, and invisible, as many +have taught; it appears almost as difficult to render palpable, +perceptible, and thick a subtile and aërial body, as it is to condense +the air, and make it seem like a solid and perceptible body; as, when +the angels appeared to Abraham and Lot, the angel Raphael to Tobias, +whom he conducted into Mesopotamia; or when the demon appeared to +Jesus Christ, and led him to a high mountain, and on the pinnacle of +the Temple at Jerusalem; or when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> Moses appeared with Elias on Mount +Tabor: for those apparitions are certain from Scripture.</p> + +<p>If you will say that these apparitions were seen only in the +imagination and mind of those who saw, or believed they saw angels, +demons, or souls separated from the body, as it happens every day in +our sleep, and sometimes when awake, if we are strongly occupied with +certain objects, or struck with certain things which we desire +ardently or fear exceedingly—as when Ajax, thinking he saw Ulysses +and Agamemnon, or Menelaüs, threw himself upon some animals, which he +killed, thinking he was killing those two men his enemies, and whom he +was dying with the desire to wreak his vengeance upon—on this +supposition, the apparition will not be less difficult to explain. +There was neither prepossession nor disturbed imagination, nor any +preceding emotion, which led Abraham to figure to himself that he saw +three persons, to whom he gave hospitality, to whom he spoke, who +promised him the birth of a son, of which he was scarcely thinking at +that time. The three apostles who saw Moses conversing with Jesus +Christ on Mount Tabor were not prepared for that appearance; there was +no emotion of fear, love, revenge, ambition, or any other passion +which struck their imagination, to dispose them to see Moses; as +neither was there in Abraham, when he perceived the three angels who +appeared to him.</p> + +<p>Often in our sleep we see, or we believe we see, what has struck our +attention very much when awake; sometimes we represent to ourselves in +sleep things of which we have never thought, which even are repugnant +to us, and which present themselves to our mind in spite of ourselves. +None bethink themselves of seeking the causes of these kinds of +representations; they are attributed to chance, or to some disposition +of the humors of the blood or of the brain, or even of the way in +which the body is placed in bed; but nothing like that is applicable +to the apparitions of angels, demons, or spirits, when these +apparitions are accompanied and followed by converse, predictions and +real effects preceded and predicted by those which appear.</p> + +<p>If we have recourse to a pretended fascination of the eyes or the +other senses, which sometimes make us believe that we see and hear +what we do not, or that we neither see nor hear what is passing before +our eyes, or which strikes our ears; as when the soldiers sent to +arrest Elisha spoke to him and saw him before they recognized him, or +when the inhabitants of Sodom could not discover Lot's door, although +it was before their eyes, or when the disciples of Emmaus knew not +that it was Jesus Christ who accompanied them and expounded the +Scriptures; they opened their eyes and knew him <i>only by the breaking +of bread</i>.</p> + +<p>That fascination of the senses which makes us believe that we see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +what we do not see, or that suspension of the exercise and natural +functions of our senses which prevents us from seeing and recognizing +what is passing before our eyes, is all of it hardly less miraculous +than to condense the air, or rarefy it, or give solidity and +consistence to what is purely spiritual and disengaged from matter.</p> + +<p>From all this, it follows that no apparition can take place without a +sort of miracle, and without a concurrence, both extraordinary and +supernatural, of the power of God who commands, or causes, or permits +an angel, or a demon, or a disembodied soul to appear, act, speak, +walk, and perform other functions which belong only to an organized +body.</p> + +<p>I shall be told that it is useless to recur to the miraculous and the +supernatural, if we have acknowledged in spiritual substances a +natural power of showing themselves, whether by condensing the air, or +by producing a massive and palpable body, or in raising up some dead +body, to which these spirits give life and motion for a certain time.</p> + +<p>I own it all; but I dare maintain that that is not possible either to +angel or demon, nor to any spiritual substance whatsoever. The soul +can produce in herself thoughts, will, and wishes; she can give her +impulsion to the movements of her body, and repress its sallies and +agitations; but how does she do that? Philosophy can hardly explain +it, but by saying that by virtue of the union between herself and the +body, God, by an effect of his wisdom, has given her power to act upon +the humors, its organs, and impress them with certain movements; but +there is reason to believe that the soul performs all that only as an +occasional cause, and that it is God as the first, necessary, +immediate, and essential cause, which produces all the movements of +the body that are made in a natural way.</p> + +<p>Neither angel nor demon has more privilege in this respect over matter +than the soul of man has over its own body. They can neither modify +matter, change it, nor impress it with action and motion, save by the +power of God, and with his concurrence both necessary and immediate; +our knowledge does not permit us to judge otherwise; there is no +physical proportion between the spirit and the body; those two +substances cannot act mutually and immediately one upon the other; +they can act only occasionally, by determining the first cause, in +virtue of the laws which wisdom has judged it proper to prescribe to +herself for the reciprocal action of the creatures upon each other, to +give them being, to preserve it, and perpetuate movement in the mass +of matter which composes the universe, in himself giving life to +spiritual substances, and permitting them with his concurrence, as the +First Cause, to act, the body on the soul, and the soul on the body, +one on the other, as secondary causes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>Porphyry, when consulted by Anebo, an Egyptian priest, if those who +foretell the future and perform prodigies have more powerful souls, or +whether they receive power from some strange spirit, replies that, +according to appearance, all these things are done by means of certain +evil spirits that are naturally knavish, and take all sorts of shapes, +and do everything that one sees happen, whether good or evil; but that +in the end they never lead men to what is truly good.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine,[<a href="#f415">415</a><a name="f415.1" id="f415.1"></a>] who cites this passage of Porphyry, lays much +stress on his testimony, and says that every extraordinary thing which +is done by certain tones of the voice, by figures or phantoms, is +usually the work of the demon, who sports with the credulity and +blindness of men; that everything marvellous which is transacted in +nature, and has no relation to the worship of the true God, ought to +pass for an illusion of the devil. The most ancient Fathers of the +Church, Minutius Felix, Arnobius, St. Cyprian, attribute equally all +these kinds of extraordinary effects to the evil spirit.</p> + +<p>Tertullian[<a href="#f416">416</a><a name="f416.1" id="f416.1"></a>] had no doubt that the apparitions which are produced +by magic, and by the evocation of souls, which, forced by +enchantments, come out, say they, from the depth of hell (or Hades), +are but pure illusions of the demon, who causes to appear to those +present a fantastical form, which fascinates the eyes of those who +think they see what they see not; "which is not more difficult for the +demon," says he, "than to seduce and blind the souls which he leads +into sin. Pharaoh thought he saw real serpents produced by his +magicians: it was mere illusion. The truth of Moses devoured the +falsehood of these impostors."</p> + +<p>Is it more easy to cause the fascination of the eyes of Pharaoh and +his servants than to produce serpents, and can it be done without +God's concurring thereto? And how can we reconcile this concurrence +with the wisdom, independence, and truth of God? Has the devil in this +respect a greater power than an angel and a disembodied soul? And if +once we open the door to this fascination, everything which appears +supernatural and miraculous will become uncertain and doubtful. It +will be said that the wonders related in the Old and New Testament are +in this respect, in regard both to those who are witnesses of them, +and those to whom they happened, only illusions and fascinations: and +whither may not these premises lead? It leads us to doubt everything, +to deny everything; to believe that God in concert with the devil +leads us into error, and fascinates our eyes and other senses, to make +us believe that we see, hear, and know what is neither present to our +eyes, nor known to our mind, nor supported by our reasoning power, +since by that the principles of reasoning are overthrown.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p><p>We must, then, have recourse to the solid and unshaken principles of +religion, which teach us—</p> + +<p>1. That angels, demons, and souls disembodied are pure spirit, free +from all matter.</p> + +<p>2. That it is only by the order or permission of God that spiritual +substances can appear to men, and seem to them to be true and tangible +bodies, in which and by which they perform what they are seen to do.</p> + +<p>3. That to make these bodies appear, and make them act, speak, walk, +eat, &c., they must produce tangible bodies, either by condensing the +air or substituting other terrestrial, solid bodies, capable of +performing the functions we speak of.</p> + +<p>4. That the way in which this production and apparition of a +perceptible body is achieved is absolutely unknown to us; that we have +no proof that spiritual substances have a natural power of producing +this kind of change when it pleases them, and that they cannot produce +them independently of God.</p> + +<p>5. That although there may be often a great deal of illusion, +prepossession, and imagination in what is related of the operations +and apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls, there is +still some reality in many of these things; and we cannot reasonably +doubt of them all, and still less deny them all.</p> + +<p>6. That there are apparitions which bear about them the character and +proof of truth, from the quality of him who relates them; from the +circumstances which accompany them; from the events following those +apparitions that announce things to come; which perform things +impossible to the natural strength of man, and too much in opposition +to the interest of the demon, and his malicious and deceitful +character, for us to be able to suspect him to be the author or +contriver of them. In short, these apparitions are certified by the +belief, the prayers, and the practice of the church, which recognizes +them, and supposes their reality.</p> + +<p>7. That although what appears miraculous is not so always, we must at +least usually perceive in it <i>some</i> illusion and operation of the +demon; consequently, that the demon can, with the permission of God, +do many things which surpass our knowledge, and the natural power +which we suppose him to have.</p> + +<p>8. That those who wish to explain them by fascination of the eyes and +other senses, do not resolve the difficulty, and throw themselves into +still greater <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'embarrasment'.">embarrassment</ins> than those who admit simply that +apparitions appear by the order or the permission of God.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f415.1">415</a><a name="f415" id="f415"></a>] Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. x. c. 11, 12.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f416.1">416</a><a name="f416" id="f416"></a>] Tertull. de Animâ, c. 57.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII" id="CHAPTER_XLVII"></a>CHAPTER XLVII.</h2> + +<h3>OBJECTIONS AGAINST APPARITIONS, AND REPLIES TO THOSE OBJECTIONS.</h3> + + +<p>The greatest objection that can be raised against the apparitions of +angels, demons, and disembodied souls, takes its rise in the nature of +these substances, which being purely spiritual, cannot appear with +evident, solid, and palpable bodies, nor perform those functions which +belong only to matter, and living or animated bodies.</p> + +<p>For, either spiritual substances are united to the bodies which appear +or not. If they are not united to them, how can they move them, and +cause them to act, walk, speak, reason, and eat? If they are united to +them, then they form but one individual; and how can they separate +themselves from them, after being united to them? Do they take them +and leave them at will, as we lay aside a habit or a mask? That would +be to suppose that they are at liberty to appear or disappear, which +is not the case, since all apparitions are solely by the order or +permission of God. Are those bodies which appear only instruments +which the angels, demons, or souls make use of to affright, warn, +chastise, or instruct the person or persons to whom they appear? This +is, in fact, the most rational thing that can be said concerning these +apparitions; the exorcisms of the church fall directly on the agent +and cause of these apparitions, and not on the phantom which appears, +nor on the first author, which is God, who orders and permits it.</p> + +<p>Another objection, both very common and very striking, is that which +is drawn from the multitude of false stories and ridiculous reports +which are spread amongst the people, of the apparitions of spirits, +demons, and elves, of possessions and obsessions.</p> + +<p>It must be owned that, out of a hundred of these pretended +appearances, hardly two will be found to be true. The ancients are not +more to be credited on that point than the moderns, since they were, +at least, equally as credulous as people are in our own age, or rather +they were more credulous than we are at this day.</p> + +<p>I grant that the foolish credulity of the people, and the love of +everything that seems marvelous and extraordinary, have produced an +infinite number of false histories on the subject we are now treating +of. There are here two dangers to avoid: a too great credulity, and an +excessive difficulty in believing what is above the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> ordinary course +of nature; as likewise, we must not conclude what is general from what +is particular, or make a general case of a particular one, nor say +that all is false because some stories are so; also, we must not +assert that such a particular history is a mere invention, because +there are many stories of this latter kind. It is allowable to +examine, prove, and select; we must never form our judgment but with +knowledge of the case; a story may be false in many of its +circumstances (as related), but true in its foundation.</p> + +<p>The history of the deluge, and that of the passage across the Red Sea, +are certain in themselves, and in the simple and natural recital given +of them by Moses. The profane historians, and some Hebrew writers, and +even Christians, have added some embellishment which must militate +against the story in itself. Josephus the historian has much +embellished the history of Moses; Christian authors have added much to +that of Josephus; the <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'Mohometans'.">Mahometans</ins> have altered several points of the +sacred history of the Old and New Testament. Must we, on this account, +consider these histories as problematical? The life of St. Gregory +Thaumaturgus is full of miracles, as are also those of St. Martin and +St. Bernard. St. Augustine relates several miraculous cures worked by +the relics of St. Stephen. Many extraordinary things are related in +the life of St. Ambrose. Why not give faith to them after the +testimony of these great men, and that of their disciples, who had +lived with them, and had been witnesses of a good part of what they +relate?</p> + +<p>It is not permitted us to dispute the truth of the apparitions noted +in the Old and New Testament; but we may be permitted to explain them. +For instance, it is said that the Lord appeared to Abraham in the +valley of Mamre;[<a href="#f417">417</a><a name="f417.1" id="f417.1"></a>] that he entered Abraham's tent, and that he +promised him the birth of a son; also, it is allowed that he received +three angels, who went from thence to Sodom. St. Paul[<a href="#f418">418</a><a name="f418.1" id="f418.1"></a>] notices it +expressly in his Epistle to the Hebrews; <i>angelis hospitio receptis</i>. +It is also said that the Lord appeared unto Moses, and gave him the +law; and St. Stephen, in the Acts,[<a href="#f419">419</a><a name="f419.1" id="f419.1"></a>] informs us that it was an +angel who spoke to him from the burning bush, and on Mount Horeb; and +St. Paul, writing to the Galatians, says, that the law was given by +angels.[<a href="#f420">420</a><a name="f420.1" id="f420.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>Sometimes, the name of angel of the Lord is taken for a prophet, a man +filled with his Spirit, and deputed by him. It is certain that the +Hebrew <i>malae</i> and the Greek <i>angelos</i> bear the same signification as +our <i>envoy</i>. For instance, at the beginning of the Book of +Judges,[<a href="#f421">421</a><a name="f421.1" id="f421.1"></a>] it is said that there came an angel of the Lord from +Gilgal to the place of tears (or Bochim), and that he there reproved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +the Israelites for their infidelity and ingratitude. The ablest +commentators[<a href="#f422">422</a><a name="f422.1" id="f422.1"></a>] think that this <i>angel of the Lord</i> is no other than +Phineas, or the then high priest, or rather a prophet, sent expressly +to the people assembled at Gilgal.</p> + +<p>In the Scripture, the prophets are sometimes styled angels of the +Lord.[<a href="#f423">423</a><a name="f423.1" id="f423.1"></a>] "Here is what saith the envoy of the Lord, amongst the +envoys of the Lord," says Haggai, speaking of himself.</p> + +<p>The prophet Malachi, the last of the lesser prophets, says that "the +Lord will send his angel, who will prepare the way before his +face."[<a href="#f424">424</a><a name="f424.1" id="f424.1"></a>] This angel is St. John the Baptist, who prepares the way +for Jesus Christ, who is himself styled the Angel of the Lord—"And +soon the Lord whom ye demand, and the so much desired Angel of the +Lord, will come into his temple." This same Saviour is designated by +Moses under the name of a prophet:[<a href="#f425">425</a><a name="f425.1" id="f425.1"></a>] "The Lord will raise up in the +midst of your nation, a prophet like myself." The name of angel is +given to the prophet Nathan, who reproved David for his sin. I do not +pretend, by these testimonies, to deny that the angels have often +appeared to men; but I infer from them that sometimes these angels +were only prophets or other persons, raised up and sent by God to his +people.</p> + +<p>As to apparitions of the demon, it is well to observe that in +Scripture the greater part of public calamities and maladies are +attributed to evil spirits; for example, it is said that Satan +inspired David[<a href="#f426">426</a><a name="f426.1" id="f426.1"></a>] with the idea of numbering his people; but in +another place it is simply said that the anger of the Lord was +inflamed[<a href="#f427">427</a><a name="f427.1" id="f427.1"></a>] against Israel, and led David to cause his subjects to +be numbered. There are several other passages in the Holy Books, where +they relate what the demon said and what he did, in a popular manner, +by the figure termed prosopopœia; for instance, the conversation +between Satan and the first woman,[<a href="#f428">428</a><a name="f428.1" id="f428.1"></a>] and the discourse which the +demon holds in company with the good angels before the Lord, when he +talks to him of Job,[<a href="#f429">429</a><a name="f429.1" id="f429.1"></a>] and obtains permission to tempt and afflict +him. In the New Testament, it appears that the Jews attributed to the +malice of the demon and to his possession almost all the maladies with +which they were afflicted. In St. Luke,[<a href="#f430">430</a><a name="f430.1" id="f430.1"></a>] the woman who was bent +and could not raise herself up, and had suffered this for eighteen +years, "had," says the evangelist, "a spirit of infirmity;" and Jesus +Christ, after having healed her, says "that Satan held her bound for +eighteen years;" and in another place, it is said that a lunatic or +epileptic person was possessed by the demon. It is clear, from what is +said by St. Matthew and St. Luke,[<a href="#f431">431</a><a name="f431.1" id="f431.1"></a>] that he was +attacked by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +epilepsy. The Saviour cured him of this evil malady, and by that +means took from the demon the opportunity of tormenting him still +more; as David, by dissipating with the sound of his harp the sombre +melancholy of Saul, delivered him from the evil spirit, who abused the +power of those inclinations which he found in him, to awaken his +jealousy against David. All this means, that we often ascribed to the +demon things of which he is not guilty, and that we must not lightly +adopt all the prejudices of the people, nor take literally all that is +related of the works of Satan.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f417.1">417</a><a name="f417" id="f417"></a>] Gen. xviii. 10.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f418.1">418</a><a name="f418" id="f418"></a>] Heb. xiii. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f419.1">419</a><a name="f419" id="f419"></a>] Acts vii. 30, 33.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f420.1">420</a><a name="f420" id="f420"></a>] Gal. iii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f421.1">421</a><a name="f421" id="f421"></a>] Judges ii. 1.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f422.1">422</a><a name="f422" id="f422"></a>] Vide commentar. in Judic. ii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f423.1">423</a><a name="f423" id="f423"></a>] Hagg. i. 13.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f424.1">424</a><a name="f424" id="f424"></a>] Malac. iii. 1.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f425.1">425</a><a name="f425" id="f425"></a>] Deut. xviii. 18.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f426.1">426</a><a name="f426" id="f426"></a>] Chron. xxi. 1.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f427.1">427</a><a name="f427" id="f427"></a>] 2 Sam. xxiv. 1.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f428.1">428</a><a name="f428" id="f428"></a>] Gen. iii. 2, 3.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f429.1">429</a><a name="f429" id="f429"></a>] Job i. 7-9.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f430.1">430</a><a name="f430" id="f430"></a>] Luke xiii. 16.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f431.1">431</a><a name="f431" id="f431"></a>] Matt. xvii. 14. Luke ix. 37.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII" id="CHAPTER_XLVIII"></a>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h2> + +<h3>SOME OTHER OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES.</h3> + + +<p>In order to combat the apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied +souls, we still bring forward the effects of a prepossessed fancy, +struck with an idea, and of a weak and timid mind, which imagine they +see and hear what subsists only in idea; we advert to the inventions +of the malignant spirits, who like to make sport of and to delude us; +we call to our assistance the artifices of the charlatans, who do so +many things which pass for supernatural in the eyes of the ignorant. +Philosophers, by means of certain glasses, and what are called magic +lanterns, by optical secrets, sympathetic powders, by their +phosphorus, and lately by means of the electrical machine, show us an +infinite number of things which the simpletons take for magic, because +they know not how they are produced.</p> + +<p>Eyes that are diseased do not see things as others see them, or else +behold them differently. A drunken man will see objects double; to one +who has the jaundice, they will appear yellow; in the obscurity, +people fancy they see a spectre, when they see only the trunk of a +tree.</p> + +<p>A mountebank will appear to eat a sword; another will vomit coals or +pebbles; one will drink wine and send it out again at his forehead; +another will cut off his companion's head, and put it on again. You +will think you see a chicken dragging a beam. The mountebank will +swallow fire and vomit it forth, he will draw blood from fruit, he +will send from his mouth strings of iron nails, he will put a sword on +his stomach and press it strongly, and instead of running into him, it +will bend back to the hilt; another will run a sword through his body +without wounding himself; you will sometimes see a child without a +head, then a head without a child, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> all of them alive. That +appears very wonderful; nevertheless, if it were known how all those +things are done, people would only laugh, and be surprised that they +could wonder at and admire such things.</p> + +<p>What has not been said for and against the divining-rod of Jacques +Aimar? Scripture proves to us the antiquity of divination by the +divining-rod, in the instance of Nebuchadnezzar,[<a href="#f432">432</a><a name="f432.1" id="f432.1"></a>] and in what is +said of the prophet Hosea.[<a href="#f433">433</a><a name="f433.1" id="f433.1"></a>] Fable speaks of the wonders wrought by +the golden rod of Mercury. The Gauls and Germans also used the rod for +divination; and there is reason to believe that often God permitted +that the rods should make known by their movements what was to happen; +for that reason they were consulted. Every body knows the secret of +Circé's wand, which changed men into beasts. I do not compare it with +the rod of Moses, by means of which God worked so many miracles in +Egypt; but we may compare it with those of the magicians of Pharaoh, +which produced so many marvelous effects.</p> + +<p>Albertus Magnus relates that there had been seen in Germany two +brothers, one of whom passing near a door securely locked, and +presenting his left side, would cause it to open of itself; the other +brother had the same virtue in the right side. St. Augustine says that +there are men[<a href="#f434">434</a><a name="f434.1" id="f434.1"></a>] who move their two ears one after another, or both +together, without moving their heads; others, without moving it also, +make all the skin of their head with the hair thereon come down over +their forehead, and put it back as it was before; some imitate so +perfectly the voices of animals, that it is almost impossible not to +mistake them. We have seen men speak from the hollow of the stomach, +and make themselves heard as if speaking from a distance, although +they were close by. Others swallow an incredible quantity of different +things, and by tightening their stomachs ever so little, throw up +whole, as from a bag, whatever they please. Last year, in Alsatia, +there was seen and heard a German who played on two French horns at +once, and gave airs in two parts, the first and the second, at the +same time. Who can explain to us the secret of intermitting fevers, of +the flux and reflux of the sea, and the cause of many effects which +are certainly all natural?</p> + +<p>Galen relates[<a href="#f435">435</a><a name="f435.1" id="f435.1"></a>] that a physician named Theophilus, having fallen +ill, fancied that he saw near his bed a great number of musicians, +whose noise split his head and augmented his illness. He cried out +incessantly for them to send those people away. Having recovered his +health and good sense, he perfectly well remembered all that had been +said to him; but he could not get those players on musical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +instruments out of his head, and he affirmed that they tired him to +death.</p> + +<p>In 1629, Desbordes, valet-de-chambre of Charles IV., Duke of Lorraine, +was accused of having hastened the death of the Princess Christina of +Salms, wife of Duke Francis II., and mother of the Duke Charles IV., +and of having inflicted maladies on different persons, which maladies +the doctors attribute to evil spells. Charles IV. had conceived +violent suspicions against Desbordes, since one day when in a +hunting-party this valet-de-chambre had served a grand dinner to the +duke and his company, without any other preparation than having to +open a box with three shelves; and to wind up the wonders, he had +ordered three robbers, who were dead and hung to a gibbet, to come +down from it, and come and make their bow to the duke, and then to go +back and resume their place at the gallows. It was said, moreover, +that on another occasion he had commanded the personages in a piece of +tapestry to detach themselves from it, and to come and present +themselves in the middle of the room.</p> + +<p>Charles IV. was not very credulous; nevertheless, he allowed Desbordes +to be tried. He was, it is said, convicted of magic, and condemned to +the flames; but I have since been assured[<a href="#f436">436</a><a name="f436.1" id="f436.1"></a>] that he made his +escape; and some years after, on presenting himself before the duke, +and clearing himself, he demanded the restitution of his property, +which had been confiscated; but he recovered only a very small part of +it. Since the adventure of Desbordes, the partisans of Charles IV. +wished to cast a doubt on the validity of the baptism of the Duchess +Nichola, his wife, because she had been baptized by Lavallée, Chantre +de St. George, a friend of Desbordes, and like him convicted of +several crimes, which drew upon him similar condemnation. From a doubt +of the baptism of the duchess, they wished to infer the invalidity of +her marriage with Charles, which was then the grand business of +Charles IV.</p> + +<p>Father Delrio, a Jesuit, says that the magician called Trois-Echelles, +by his enchantments, detached in the presence of King Charles IX. the +rings or links of a collar of the Order of the King, worn by some +knights who were at a great distance from him; he made them come into +his hand, and after that replaced them, without the collar appearing +deranged.</p> + +<p>John Faust Cudlingen, a German, was requested, in a company of gay +people, to perform in their presence some tricks of his trade; he +promised to show them a vine loaded with grapes, ripe and ready to +gather. They thought, as it was then the month of December, he could +not execute his promise. He strongly recommended them not to stir from +their places, and not to lift up their hands to cut<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +the grapes, unless by his express order. The vine appeared directly, +covered with leaves and loaded with grapes, to the great astonishment +of all present; every one took up his knife, awaiting the order of +Cudlingen to cut some grapes; but after having kept them for some time +in that expectation, he suddenly caused the vine and the grapes to +disappear: then every one found himself armed with his knife and +holding his neighbor's nose with one hand, so that if they had cut off +a bunch without the order of Cudlingen, they would have cut off one +another's noses.</p> + +<p>We have seen in these parts a horse which appeared gifted with wit and +discernment, and to understand what his master said. All the secret +consisted in the horse's having been taught to observe certain motions +of his master; and from these motions he was led to do certain things +to which he was accustomed, and to go to certain persons, which he +would never have done but for the sign or motion which he saw his +master make.</p> + +<p>A hundred other similar facts might be cited, which might pass for +magical operations, if we did not know that they are simple +contrivances and tricks of art, performed by persons well exercised in +such things. It may be that sometimes people have ascribed to magic +and the evil spirit operations like those we have just related, and +that what have been taken for the spirits of deceased persons were +often arranged on purpose by young people to frighten passers-by. They +will cover themselves with white or black, and show themselves in a +cemetery in the posture of persons requesting prayers; after that they +will be the first to exclaim that they have seen a spirit: at other +times it will be pick-pockets, or young men, who will hide their +amorous intrigues, or their thefts and knavish tricks, under this +disguise.</p> + +<p>Sometimes a widow, or heirs, from interested motives, will publicly +declare that the deceased husband appears in his house, and is in +torment; that he has asked or commanded such and such things, or such +and such restitutions. I own that this may happen, and does happen +sometimes; but it does not follow that spirits never return. The +return of souls is infinitely more rare than the common people +believe; I say the same of pretended magical operations and +apparitions of the demon.</p> + +<p>It is remarked that the greater the ignorance which prevails in a +country, the more superstition reigns there; and that the spirit of +darkness there exercises greater power, in proportion as the nations +we plunged in irregularity, and into deeper moral darkness. Louis +Vivez[<a href="#f437">437</a><a name="f437.1" id="f437.1"></a>] testifies that, in the newly-discovered countries in +America, nothing is more common than to see spirits which appear at +noon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>day, not only in the country, but in towns and villages, +speaking, commanding, sometimes even striking men. Olaüs Magnus, +Archbishop of Upsal, who has written on the antiquities of the +northern nations, observes that in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Finmark, +and Lapland, they frequently see spectres or spirits, which do many +wonderful things; that there are even some amongst them who serve as +domestics to men, and take the horses and other cattle to pasture.</p> + +<p>The Laplanders, even at this day, as well those who have remained in +idolatry as those who have embraced Christianity, believe the +apparition of the manes or ghosts, and offer them a kind of sacrifice. +I believe that prepossession, and the prejudices of childhood, have +much more to do with this belief than reason and experience. In +effect, among the Tartars, where barbarism and ignorance reign as much +as in any country in the world, they talk neither of spirits nor of +apparitions, no more than among the Mahometans, although they admit +the apparitions of angels made to Abraham and the patriarchs, and that +of the Archangel Gabriel to Mahomet himself.</p> + +<p>The Abyssinians, a very rude and ignorant people, believe neither in +sorcerers, nor spells, nor magicians; they say that it is giving too +much power to the demon, and by that they fall into the error of the +Manichæans, who admit two principles, the one of good, which is God, +and the other of evil, which is the devil. The Minister Becker, in his +work entitled "The Enchanted World," (Le Monde Enchanté,) laughs at +apparitions of spirits and evil angels, and ridicules all that is said +of the effects of magic: he maintains that to believe in magic is +contrary to Scripture and religion.</p> + +<p>But whence comes it, then, that the Scriptures forbid us to consult +magicians, and that they make mention of Simon the magician, of +Elymas, another magician, and of the works of Satan? What will become +of the apparitions of angels, so well noted in the Old and New +Testaments? What will become of the apparitions of Onias to Judas +Maccabeus, and of the devil to Jesus Christ himself, after his fast of +forty days? What will be said of the apparition of Moses at the +transfiguration of the Saviour; and an infinity of other appearances +made to all kinds of persons, and related by wise, grave, and +enlightened authors? Are the apparitions of devils and spirits more +difficult to explain and conceive than those of angels, which we +cannot rationally dispute without overthrowing the entire Scriptures, +and practices and belief of the churches?</p> + +<p>Does not the apostle tell us that the angel of darkness transforms +himself into an angel of light? Is not the absolute renunciation of +all belief in apparitions assaulting Christianity in its most sacred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +authority, in the belief of another life, of a church still subsisting +in another world, of rewards for good actions, and of punishments for +bad ones; the utility of prayers for the dead, and the efficacy of +exorcisms? We must then in these matters keep the medium between +excessive credulity and extreme incredulity; we must be prudent, +moderate, and enlightened; we must, according to the advice of St. +Paul, test everything, examine everything, yield only to evidence and +known truth.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f432.1">432</a><a name="f432" id="f432"></a>] Ezek. xxi. 21.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f433.1">433</a><a name="f433" id="f433"></a>] Hosea iv. 12.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f434.1">434</a><a name="f434" id="f434"></a>] Aug. lib. xiv. de Civit. Dei, c. 24.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f435.1">435</a><a name="f435" id="f435"></a>] Galen. de Differ. Sympt.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f436.1">436</a><a name="f436" id="f436"></a>] By M. Fransquin Chanoine de Taul.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f437.1">437</a><a name="f437" id="f437"></a>] Ludov. Vives, lib. i. de Veritate Fidei, p. 540.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIX" id="CHAPTER_XLIX"></a>CHAPTER XLIX.</h2> + +<h3>THE SECRETS OF PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY TAKEN FOR SUPERNATURAL THINGS.</h3> + + +<p>It is possible to allege against my reasoning the secrets of physics +and chemistry, which produce an infinity of wonderful effects, and +appear beyond the power of natural agency. We have the composition of +a phosphorus, with which they write; the characters do not appear by +daylight, but in the dark we see them shine; with this phosphorus, +figures can be traced which would surprise and even alarm during the +night, as has been done more than once, apparently to cause +maliciously useless fright. <i>La poudre ardente</i> is another phosphorus, +which, provided it is exposed to the air, sheds a light both by night +and by day. How many people have been frightened by those little worms +which are found in certain kinds of rotten wood, and which give a +brilliant flame by night.</p> + +<p>We have the daily experience of an infinite number of things, all of +them natural, which appear above the ordinary course of nature,[<a href="#f438">438</a><a name="f438.1" id="f438.1"></a>] +but which have nothing miraculous in them, and ought not to be +attributed to angels or demons; for instance, teeth and noses taken +from other persons, and applied to those who have lost similar parts; +of this we find many instances in authors. These teeth and noses fall +off directly when the person from whom they were taken dies, however +great the distance between these two persons may be.</p> + +<p>The presentiments experienced by certain persons of what happens to +their relations and friends, and even of their own death, are not at +all miraculous. There are many instances of persons who are in the +habit of feeling these presentiments, and who in the night, even when +asleep, will say that such a thing has happened, or is about to +happen; that such messengers are coming, and will announce to them +such and such things.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>There are dogs that have the sense of smelling so keen that they scent +from a good distance the approach of any person who has done them good +or harm. This has been proved many times, and can only proceed from +the diversity of organs in those animals, some of which have the scent +much keener than others, and upon which the spirits which exhale from +other bodies act more quickly and at a greater distance than in +others. Certain persons have such an acute sense of hearing that they +can hear what is whispered even in another chamber, of which the door +is well closed. They cite as an example of this, a certain Marie +Bucaille, to whom it was thought that her guardian angel discovered +what was said at a great distance from her.</p> + +<p>Others have the smell so keen that they distinguish by the odor all +the men and animals they have ever seen, and scent their approach a +long way off. Blind persons pretty often possess this faculty, as well +as that of discerning the color of different stuffs by the touch, from +horse-hair to playing-cards.</p> + +<p>Others discern by the taste everything that composes a ragoût, better +than the most expert cook could do. Others possess so piercing a sight +that at the first glance they can distinguish the most confused and +distant objects, and remark the least change which takes place in +them.</p> + +<p>There are both men and women who, without intending to hurt, do a +great deal of harm to children, and all the tender and delicate +animals which they look at attentively, or which they touch. This +happens particularly in hot countries; and many examples might be +cited of it; from which arises what both ancients and moderns call +fascination (or the evil eye); hence the precautions which were taken +against these effects by amulets and preservatives, which were +suspended to children's necks.</p> + +<p>There have been known to be men from whose eyes there proceeded such +venomous spirits that they did harm to everybody or thing they looked +at, even to the breast of nurses, which they caused to dry up—to +plants, flowers, the leaves of trees, which were seen to wither and +fall off. They dare not enter any place till they had warned the +people beforehand to send away the children and nurses, new-born +animals, and, generally speaking, everything which they could infect +by their breath or their looks.</p> + +<p>We should laugh, and with reason, at those who, to explain all these +singular effects, should have recourse to charms, spells, to the +operations of demons, or of good angels. The evaporation of +corpuscles, or atoms, or the insensible perspiration of the bodies +which produce all these effects, suffice to account for it. We have +recourse neither to miracles, nor to superior causes, above all when +these effects are produced near, and at a short distance; but when the +distance is great, the exhalation of the spirits, or essence, and of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +insensible corpuscles, does not equally satisfy us, no more than when +we meet with things and effects which go beyond the known force of +nature, such as foretelling future events, speaking unknown languages, +<i>i. e.</i>, languages unknown to the speaker, to be in such ecstasy that +the person is beyond earthly feeling, to rise up from the ground, and +remain so a long time.</p> + +<p>The chemists demonstrate that the<span class="spacer"> </span>or a sort of +restoration or resurrection of animals, insects, and plants, is +possible and natural. When the ashes of a plant are placed in a phial, +these ashes rise, and arrange themselves as much as they can in the +form which was first impressed on them by the Author of Nature.</p> + +<p>Father Schol, a Jesuit, affirms that he has often seen a rose which +was made to arise from its ashes every time they wished to see it +done, by means of a little heat.</p> + +<p>The secret of a mineral water has been found by means of which a dead +plant which has its root can be made green again, and brought to the +same state as if it were growing in the ground. Digby asserts that he +has drawn from dead animals, which were beaten and bruised in a +mortar, the representation of these animals, or other animals of the +same species.</p> + +<p>Duchesne, a famous chemist, relates that a physician of Cracow +preserved in phials the ashes of almost every kind of plant, so that +when any one from curiosity desired to see, for instance, a rose in +these phials, he took that in which the ashes of the rose-bush were +preserved, and placing it over a lighted candle, as soon as it felt a +little warmth, they saw the ashes stir and rise like a little dark +cloud, and, after some movements, they represented a rose as beautiful +and fresh as if newly gathered from the rose-tree.</p> + +<p>Gaffard assures us that M. de Cleves, a celebrated chemist, showed +every day plants drawn from their own ashes. David Vanderbroch affirms +that the blood of animals contains the idea of their species as well +as their seed; he relates on this subject the experiment of M. +Borelli, who asserts that the human blood, when warm, is still full of +its spirits or sulphurs, acid and volatile, and that, being excited in +cemeteries and in places where great battles are fought by some heat +in the ground, the phantoms or ideas of the persons who are there +interred are seen to rise; that we should see them as well by day as +by night, were it not for the excess of light which prevents us even +from seeing the stars. He adds that by this means we might behold the +idea, and represent by a lawful and natural necromancy the figure or +phantom of all the great men of antiquity, our friends and our +<ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'ancesters'.">ancestors</ins>, provided we possess their ashes.</p> + +<p>These are the most plausible objections intended to destroy or obviate +all that is said of the apparitions of spirits. Whence some conclude +that these are either very natural phenomena and exhala<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>tions produced +by the heat of the earth imbued with blood and the volatile spirit of +the dead, above all, those dead by violence; or that they are the +consequences of a stricken and prepossessed fancy, or simply illusions +of the mind, or sports of persons who like to divert themselves by the +panics into which they terrify others; or, lastly, movements produced +naturally by men, rats, monkeys, and other animals; for it is true +that the oftener we examine into what have been taken for apparitions, +nothing is found that is real, extraordinary, or supernatural; but to +conclude from thence that all the apparitions and operations +attributed to angels, spirits or souls, and demons are chimerical, is +carrying things to excess; it is to conclude that we mistake always, +because we mistake often.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f438.1">438</a><a name="f438" id="f438"></a>] M. de S. André, Lett. iii. sur les Maléfices.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_L" id="CHAPTER_L"></a>CHAPTER L.</h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION OF THE TREATISE ON APPARITIONS.</h3> + + +<p>After having made this exposition of my opinion concerning the +apparitions of angels, demons, souls of the dead, and even of one +living person to another, and having spoken of magic, of oracles, of +obsessions and possessions of the demon; of sprites and familiar +spirits; of sorcerers and witches; of spectres which predict the +future; of those which haunt houses—after having stated the +objections which are made against apparitions, and having replied to +them in as weighty a manner as I possibly could, I think I may +conclude that although this matter labors still under very great +difficulties, as much respecting the foundation of the thing—I mean +as regards the truth and reality of apparitions in general—as for the +way in which they are made, still we cannot reasonably disallow that +there may be true apparitions of all the kinds of which we have +spoken, and that there may be also a great number very disputable, and +some others which are manifestly the work of knavery, of +maliciousness, of the art of charlatans, and flexibility of those who +play sleight of hand tricks.</p> + +<p>I acknowledge, moreover, that imagination, prepossession, simplicity, +superstition, excess of credulity, and weakness of mind have given +rise to several stories which are related; that ignorance of pure +philosophy has caused to be taken for miraculous effects, and black +magic, what is the simple effect of white magic, and the secrets of a +philosophy hidden from the ignorant and common herd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> of men. Moreover, +I confess that I see insurmountable difficulties in explaining the +manner or properties of apparitions, whether we admit with several +ancients that angels, demons, and disembodied souls have a sort of +subtile transparent body of the nature of air, whether we believe them +purely spiritual and disengaged from all matter, visible, gross, or +subtile.</p> + +<p>I lay down as a principle that to explain the affair of apparitions, +and to give on this subject any certain rules, we should—</p> + +<p>1st. Know perfectly the nature of spirits, angels and souls, and +demons. We should know whether souls by nature are so spiritualized +that they have no longer any relation to matter; or if they have, +again, any alliance with an aërial, subtile, invisible body, which +they still govern after death; or whether they exert any power over +the body they once animated, to impel it to certain movements, as the +soul which animates us gives to our bodies such impulsions as she +thinks proper; or whether the soul determines simply by its will, as +occasional or secondary cause, the first cause, which is God, to put +in motion the machine which it once animated.</p> + +<p>2d. If after death the soul still retains that power over its own +body, or over others; for instance, over the air and other elements.</p> + +<p>3d. If angels and demons have respectively the same power over +sublunary bodies—for instance, to thicken air, inflame it, produce in +it clouds and storms; to make phantoms appear in it; to spoil or +preserve fruits and crops; to cause animals to perish, produce +maladies, excite tempests and shipwrecks at sea; or even to fascinate +the eyes and deceive the other senses.</p> + +<p>4th. If they can do all these things naturally, and by their own +virtue, as often as they think proper; or if there must be a +particular order, or at least permission from God, for them to do what +we have just said.</p> + +<p>5th. Lastly, we should know exactly what power is possessed by these +substances which we suppose to be purely spiritual, and how far the +power of the angels, demons, and souls separated from their gross +bodies, extends, in regard to the apparitions, operations and +movements attributed to them. For whilst we are ignorant of the power +which the Creator has given or left to disembodied souls, or to +demons, we can in no way define what is miraculous, or prescribe the +just bound to which may extend, or within which may be limited, the +natural operations of spirits, angels, and demons.</p> + +<p>If we accord the demon the faculty of fascinating our eyes when it +pleases him, or of disposing the air so as to form the appearance of a +phantom, or phenomenon; or of restoring movement to a body which is +dead but not entirely corrupted; or of disturbing the living by ill +dreams, or terrific representations, we should no longer admire many +things which we admire at present, nor regard as miracles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> certain +cures and certain apparitions, if they are only the natural effects of +the power of souls, angels and demons.</p> + +<p>If a man invested with his body produced such effects of himself, we +should say with reason that they are supernatural operations, because +they exceed the known ordinary and natural power of the living man; +but if a man held commerce with a spirit, an angel, or a demon, whom +by virtue of some compact, explicit or implicit, he commanded to +perform certain things which would be above his natural powers, but +not beyond the powers of the spirit whom he commanded, would the +effect resulting from it be miraculous or supernatural? No, without +doubt, supposing that the spirit which produced the result did nothing +that was above his natural powers and faculties.</p> + +<p>But would it be a miracle if a man had anything to do with an angel or +a demon, and that he should make an explicit and implicit compact with +them, to oblige them on certain conditions, and with certain +ceremonies, to produce effects which would appear externally, and in +our minds, to be beyond the power of man? For instance, in the +operations of certain magicians who boast of having an explicit +compact with the devil, and who by this means raise tempests, or go +with extraordinary haste when they walk, or cause the death of +animals, and to men incurable maladies; or who enchant arms; or in +other operations, as in the use of the divining rod, and in certain +remedies against the maladies of men and horses, which having no +natural proportion to these maladies do not fail to cure them, +although those who use these remedies protest that they have never +thought of contracting any alliance with the devil.</p> + +<p>To reply to this question, the difficulty always recurs to know if +there is between living and mortal man a proportion or natural +relation, which renders him capable of contracting an alliance with +the angel or the demon, by virtue of which these spirits obey him and +exert, under his empire over them, by virtue of the preceding compact, +a power which is natural to them; for if in all that there is nothing +beyond the ordinary force of nature, either on the side of man, or on +that of angels and demons, there is nothing miraculous in one or the +other; neither is there either in God's permitting secondary causes to +act according to their natural faculties, of which he is nevertheless +always the principle, and the absolute master, to limit, stop, +suspend, extend, or augment them, according to his good pleasure.</p> + +<p>But as we know not, and it seems even impossible that we should know +by the light of reason, the nature and natural extent of the power of +angels, demons, and disembodied souls, it seems that it would be rash +to decide in this matter, as deriving consequences of causes by their +effects, or effects by causes. For instance, to say<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> that souls, +demons, and angels have sometimes appeared to men—<i>then</i> they have +naturally the faculty of returning and appearing, is a bold and rash +proposition. For it is very possible that angels and demons appear +only by the particular will of God, and not in consequence of his +general will, and by virtue of his natural and physical concurrence +with his creatures.</p> + +<p>In the first case, these apparitions are miraculous, as being above +the natural power of the agents in question; in the second case, there +is nothing supernatural in them except the permission which God rarely +grants to souls to return, to angels and demons to appear, and to +produce the effects of which we have spoken.</p> + +<p>According to these principles we may advance without temerity—</p> + +<p>1st. That angels and demons have often appeared unto men, that souls +separated from the body have often returned, and that both the one and +the other may do the same thing again.</p> + +<p>2d. That the manner of these apparitions, and of these returns to +earth, is perfectly unknown, and given up by God to the discussions +and researches of mankind.</p> + +<p>3d. That there is some likelihood that these kinds of apparitions are +not absolutely miraculous on the part of the good and evil angels, but +that God allows them sometimes to take place, for reasons the +knowledge of which is reserved to himself alone.</p> + +<p>4th. That no certain rule on this point can be given, nor any +demonstrative argument formed, for want of knowing perfectly the +nature and extent of the power of the spiritual beings in question.</p> + +<p>5th. That we should reason upon those apparitions which appear in +dreams otherwise than upon those which appear when we are awake; +differently also upon apparitions wearing solid bodies, speaking, +walking, eating and drinking, and those which seem like a shade, or a +nebulous and aërial body.</p> + +<p>6th. Thus it would be rash to lay down principles, and raise uniform +arguments, and all these things in common, every species of apparition +demanding its own particular explanation.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LI" id="CHAPTER_LI"></a>CHAPTER LI.</h2> + +<h3>WAY OF EXPLAINING APPARITIONS.</h3> + + +<p>Apparitions in dreams, for instance, that of the angel[<a href="#f439">439</a><a name="f439.1" id="f439.1"></a>] who told +St. Joseph to carry the infant Jesus into Egypt because King He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>rod +wished to put him to death; there are two things appertaining to this +apparition—the first is, the impression made on the mind of St. +Joseph that an angel appeared to him; the second is, the prediction or +revelation of the ill-will of Herod. Both these are above the ordinary +powers of our nature, but we know not if they be above the power of +angels; it is certain that it could not have been done except by the +will and command of God.</p> + +<p>The apparitions of a spirit, or of an angel and a demon, which show +themselves clothed in an apparent body, and only as a shadow or a +phantom, as that of the angel who showed himself to Manoah the father +of Samson, and vanished with the smoke of the sacrifice, and of him +who extricated St. Peter from prison, and disappeared in the same way +after having conducted him the length of a street; the bodies which +these angels assumed, and which we suppose to have been only apparent +and aërial, present great difficulties; for either those bodies were +their own, or they were assumed or borrowed.</p> + +<p>If those forms were their own, and we suppose with several ancient and +some new writers that angels, demons, and even human souls have a kind +of subtile, transparent, and aërial body, the difficulty lies in +knowing how they can condense the transparent body, and render it +visible when it was before invisible; for if it was always and +naturally evident to the senses and visible, there would be another +kind of continual miracle to render it invisible, and hide it from our +sight; and if of its nature it is invisible, what might can render it +visible? On whatever side we regard this object it seems equally +miraculous, whether to make evident to the senses that which is purely +spiritual, or to render invisible that which in its nature is palpable +and corporeal.</p> + +<p>The ancient fathers of the church, who gave to angels subtile bodies +of an airy nature, explained, according to their principles, more +easily the predictions made by the demons, and the wonderful +operations which they cause in the air, in the elements, in our +bodies, and which are far beyond what the cleverest and the most +learned men can know, predict, and perform. They likewise conceived +more easily that evil angels can cause maladies, render the air impure +and contagious, that they inspire the wicked with wrong thoughts and +unjust desires, that they can penetrate our thoughts and wishes, that +they foresee tempests and changes in the air, and derangements in the +seasons; all that can be explained with much more facility on the +hypothesis that demons have bodies composed of very fine and subtile +air.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine[<a href="#f440">440</a><a name="f440.1" id="f440.1"></a>] had written +that they could also discover what is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +passing in our mind, and at the bottom of our heart, not only by our +words, but also by certain signs and movements, which escape from the +most circumspect; but reflecting on what he had advanced in this +passage, he retracted, and owned that he had spoken too affirmatively +upon a subject but little known, and that the manner in which the evil +angels penetrate our thoughts is a very hidden thing, and very +difficult for men to discover and explain; thus he preferred +suspending his judgment upon it, and remaining in doubt.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f439.1">439</a><a name="f439" id="f439"></a>] Matt. ii. 13,14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f440.1">440</a><a name="f440" id="f440"></a>] S. Aug. lib. ii. retract. c. 30.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LII" id="CHAPTER_LII"></a>CHAPTER LII.</h2> + +<h3>THE DIFFICULTY OF EXPLAINING THE MANNER IN WHICH APPARITIONS MAKE +THEIR APPEARANCE, WHATEVER SYSTEM MAY BE PROPOSED ON THE SUBJECT.</h3> + + +<p>The difficulty is much greater, if we suppose that these spirits are +absolutely disengaged from any kind of matter; for how can they +assemble about them a certain quantity of matter, clothe themselves +with it, give it a human form, which can be discerned; is capable of +acting, speaking, conversing, eating and drinking, as did the angels +who appeared to Abraham,[<a href="#f441">441</a><a name="f441.1" id="f441.1"></a>] and the one who appeared to the young +Tobias,[<a href="#f442">442</a><a name="f442.1" id="f442.1"></a>] and conducted him to Ragés! Is all that accomplished by +the natural power of these spirits? Has God bestowed on them this +power in creating them, and has he engaged himself by virtue of his +natural laws, and by a consequence of his acting intimately and +essentially on the creature, in his quality of Creator, to impress on +occasion at the will of these spirits certain motions in the air, and +in the bodies which they would move, condense, and cause to act, in +the same manner proportionally that he has willed by virtue of the +union of the soul with a living body, that that soul should impress on +that body motions proportioned to its own will, although, naturally, +there is no natural proportion between matter and spirit, and, +according to the laws of physics, the one cannot act upon the other, +unless the first cause, the Creator, has chosen to subject himself to +create this movement, and to produce these effects at the will of man, +movements which without that would pass for superhuman (supernatural).</p> + +<p>Or shall we say, with some new philosophers,[<a href="#f443">443</a><a name="f443.1" id="f443.1"></a>] that although we may +have ideas of matter and thought, perhaps we shall never be capable of +knowing whether a being purely material thinks or not,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +because it is impossible for us to discover by the contemplative +powers of our own minds without revelation, if God has not given to +some collections of matter, disposed as he thinks proper, the power to +perceive and to think, or whether he has joined and united to the +matter thus arranged, an immaterial substance which thinks? Now in +relation to our notions, it is not less easy for us to conceive that +God can add to our idea of matter the faculty of thinking, since we +know not in what thought consists, and to what species <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'cf'.">of</ins> substance +that Almighty being has judged proper to grant this faculty, which +could exist in no created being except by virtue of the goodness and +the will of the Creator.</p> + +<p>This system certainly embraces great absurdities, and greater to my +mind than those it would fain avoid. We conceive clearly that matter +is divisible, and capable of motion; but we do not conceive that it is +capable of thought, nor that thought can consist of a certain +configuration or a certain motion of matter. And even could thought +depend on an arrangement, or on a certain subtility, or on a certain +motion of matter, as soon as that arrangement should be disturbed, or +the motion interrupted, or this heap of subtile matter dispersed, +thought would cease to be produced, and consequently that which +constitutes man, or the reasoning animal, would no longer subsist; +thus all the economy of our religion, all our hopes of a future life, +all our fears of eternal punishment would vanish; even the principles +of our philosophy would be overthrown.</p> + +<p>God forbid that we should wish to set bounds to the almighty power of +God; but that all-powerful Being having given us as a rule of our +knowledge the clearness of the ideas which we form of everything, and +not being permitted to affirm that which we know but indistinctly, it +follows that we ought not to assert that thought can be attributed to +matter. If the thing were known to us through revelation, and taught +by the authority of the Scriptures, then we might impose silence on +human reason, and make captive our judgment in obedience to faith; but +it is owned that the thing is not at all revealed; neither is it +demonstrated, either by its cause, or by its effects. It must, then, +be considered as a simple system, invented to do away certain +difficulties which result from the opinion opposed to it.</p> + +<p>If the difficulty of explaining how the soul acts upon our bodies +appears so great, how can we comprehend that the soul itself should be +material and extended? In the latter case will it act upon itself, and +give itself the impulsion to think, or will this movement or impulsion +be thought itself, or will it produce thought? Will this thinking +matter think on always, or only at times; and when it has ceased to +think, who will make it think anew? Will it be God, will it be itself? +Can so simple an agent as the soul act upon itself,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> and reproduce it +in some sort by thinking, after it has ceased to think?</p> + +<p>My reader will say that I leave him here embarrassed, and that instead +of giving him any light on the subject of the apparition of spirits, I +cast doubt and uncertainty on the subject. I own it; but I better like +to doubt prudently, than to affirm that which I know not. And if I +hold by what my religion teaches me concerning the nature of souls, +angels, and demons, I shall say that being purely spiritual, it is +impossible that they should appear clothed with a body except through +a miracle; always in the supposition that God has not created them +naturally capable of these operations, with subordination to his +sovereignly powerful will, which but rarely allows them to use this +faculty of showing themselves corporeally to mortals.</p> + +<p>If sometimes angels have eaten, spoken, acted, walked, like men, it +was not from any need they had to drink or eat to sustain themselves +and to be able to live, but to execute the designs of God, whose will +it was that they should appear to men acting, drinking, and eating, as +the angel Raphael observes,[<a href="#f444">444</a><a name="f444.1" id="f444.1"></a>]—"When I was staying with you, I was +there by the will of God; I seemed to you to eat and drink, but for my +part I make use of an invisible nourishment which is unknown to men."</p> + +<p>It is true that we know not what may be the food of angels who are +substances which are purely spiritual, nor what became of that food +which Raphael and the angels that Abraham entertained in his tent, +took, or seemed to take, in the company of men. But there are so many +other things in nature which are unknown and incomprehensible to us, +that we may very well console ourselves for not knowing how it is that +the apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls are made to +appear.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f441.1">441</a><a name="f441" id="f441"></a>] Gen. xviii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f442.1">442</a><a name="f442" id="f442"></a>] Tob. xii. 19.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f443.1">443</a><a name="f443" id="f443"></a>] M. Lock. de Intellectu Human. lib. iv. c. 3.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f444.1">444</a><a name="f444" id="f444"></a>] Tob. xii. 18, 19.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 240]</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="DISSERTATION" id="DISSERTATION"></a>DISSERTATION</h2> + +<h3>ON THE GHOSTS WHO RETURN TO EARTH BODILY,</h3> + +<h3>THE EXCOMMUNICATED,</h3> + +<h3>THE OUPIRES OR VAMPIRES, VROUCOLACAS, ETC.</h3> +<p> </p> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 242]</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE_2" id="PREFACE_2"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + +<p>Every age, every nation, every country has its prejudices, its +maladies, its customs, its inclinations, which characterize them, and +which pass away, and succeed to one another; often that which has +appeared admirable at one time, becomes pitiful and ridiculous at +another. We have seen that in some ages all was turned towards a +certain kind of devotion, of studies and of exercises. It is known +that, for more than one century, the prevailing taste of Europe was +the journey to Jerusalem. Kings, princes, nobles, bishops, +ecclesiastics, monks, all pressed thither in crowds. The pilgrimages +to Rome were formerly very frequent and very famous. All that is +fallen away. We have seen provinces over-run with flagellants, and now +none of them remain except in the brotherhoods of penitents which are +still found in several parts.</p> + +<p>We have seen in these countries jumpers and dancers, who every moment +jumped and danced in the streets, squares or market-places, and even +in the churches. The convulsionaries of our own days seem to have +revived them; posterity will be surprised at them, as we laugh at them +now. Towards the end of the sixteenth and at the beginning of the +seventeenth century, nothing was talked of in Lorraine but wizards and +witches. For a long time we have heard nothing of them. When the +philosophy of M. Descartes appeared, what a vogue it had! The ancient +philosophy was despised; nothing was talked of but experiments in +physics, new systems, new discoveries. M. Newton appears; all minds +turn to him. The system of M. Law, bank notes, the rage of the Rue +Quinquampoix, what movements did they not cause in the kingdom? A sort +of convulsion had seized on the French. In this age, a new scene +presents<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> itself to our eyes, and has done for about sixty years in +Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland: they see, it is said, men who +have been dead for several months, come back to earth, talk, walk, +infest villages, ill use both men and beasts, suck the blood of their +near relations, make them ill, and finally cause their death; so that +people can only save themselves from their dangerous visits and their +hauntings by exhuming them, impaling them, cutting off their heads, +tearing out the heart, or burning them. These <i>revenans</i> are called by +the name of oupires or vampires, that is to say, leeches; and such +particulars are related of them, so singular, so detailed, and +invested with such probable circumstances and such judicial +information, that one can hardly refuse to credit the belief which is +held in those countries, that these <i>revenans</i> come out of their tombs +and produce those effects which are proclaimed of them.</p> + +<p>Antiquity certainly neither saw nor knew anything like it. Let us read +through the histories of the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and +the Latins; nothing approaching to it will be met with.</p> + +<p>It is true that we remark in history, though rarely, that certain +persons after having been some time in their tombs and considered as +dead, have returned to life. We shall see even that the ancients +believed that magic could cause death and evoke the souls of the dead. +Several passages are cited, which prove that at certain times they +fancied that sorcerers sucked the blood of men and children, and +caused their death. They saw also in the twelfth century in England +and Denmark, some <i>revenans</i> similar to those of Hungary. But in no +history do we read anything so usual or so pronounced, as what is +related to us of the vampires of Poland, Hungary, and Moravia.</p> + +<p>Christian antiquity furnishes some instances of excommunicated persons +who have visibly come out of their tombs and left the churches, when +the deacon commanded the excommunicated, and those who did not partake +of the communion, to retire. For several centuries nothing like this +has been seen, although it is known that the bodies of several +excommunicated persons who died while under sentence of +excommunication and censure of the Church are buried in churches.</p> + +<p>The belief of the modern Greeks, who will have it that the bodies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> of +the excommunicated do not decay in their tombs or graves, is an +opinion which has no foundation, either in antiquity, in good +theology, or even in history. This idea seems to have been invented by +the modern Greek schismatics, only to authorize and confirm them in +their separation from the church of Rome. Christian antiquity +believed, on the contrary, that the incorruptibility of a body was +rather a probable mark of the sanctity of the person and a proof of +the particular protection of God, extended to a body which during its +lifetime had been the temple of the Holy Spirit, and of one who had +retained in justice and innocence the mark of Christianity.</p> + +<p>The vroucolacas of Greece and the Archipelago are again <i>revenans</i> of +a new kind. We can hardly persuade ourselves that a nation so witty as +the Greeks could fall into so extraordinary an opinion. Ignorance or +prejudice, must be extreme among them since neither an ecclesiastic +nor any other writer has undertaken to undeceive them.</p> + +<p>The imagination of those who believe that the dead chew in their +graves, with a noise similar to that made by hogs when they eat, is so +ridiculous that it does not deserve to be seriously refuted. I +undertake to treat here on the matter of the <i>revenans</i> or vampires of +Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland, at the risk of being criticised +however I may discuss it; those who believe them to be true, will +accuse me of rashness and presumption, for having raised a doubt on +the subject, or even of having denied their existence and reality; +others will blame me for having employed my time in discussing this +matter which is considered as frivolous and useless by many sensible +people. Whatever may be thought of it, I shall be pleased with myself +for having sounded a question which appeared to me important in a +religious point of view. For if the return of vampires is real, it is +of import to defend it, and prove it; and if it is illusory, it is of +consequence to the interests of religion to undeceive those who +believe in its truth, and destroy an error which may produce dangerous +effects.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 246]</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="DISSERTATION_2" id="DISSERTATION_2"></a>DISSERTATION</h2> + +<h3>ON THE GHOSTS WHO RETURN TO EARTH BODILY,</h3> +<h3>THE EXCOMMUNICATED,</h3> +<h3>THE OUPIRES OR VAMPIRES, VROUCOLACAS, ETC.</h3> + +<p> </p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I_2" id="CHAPTER_I_2"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>THE RESURRECTION OF A DEAD PERSON IS THE WORK OF GOD ONLY.</h3> + + +<p>After having treated in a separate dissertation on the matter of the +apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls, the connection +of the subject invites me to speak also of the ghosts and +excommunicated persons, whom, it is said, the earth rejects from her +bosom; of the vampires of Hungary, Silesia, Bohemia, Moravia, and +Poland; and of the vroucolacas of Greece. I shall report first of all, +what has been said and written of them; then I shall deduce some +consequences, and bring forward the reasons or arguments that may be +adduced for, and against, their existence and reality.</p> + +<p>The <i>revenans</i> of Hungary, or vampires, which form the principal +object of this dissertation, are men who have been dead a considerable +time, sometimes more, sometimes less; who leave their tombs, and come +and disturb the living, sucking their blood, appearing to them, making +a racket at their doors, and in their houses, and lastly, often +causing their death. They are named vampires, or oupires, which +signifies, they say, in Sclavonic, a leech. The only way to be +delivered from their haunting, is to disinter them, cut off their +head, impale them, burn them, or pierce their heart.</p> + +<p>Several systems have been propounded to explain the return, and these +apparitions of the vampires. Some persons have denied and rejected +them as chimerical, and as an effect of the prepossession and +ignorance of the people of those countries, where they are said to +come back or return.</p> + +<p>Others have thought that these people were not really dead, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> that +they had been interred alive, and returned naturally to themselves, +and came out of their tombs.</p> + +<p><ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'Other'.">Others</ins> believe that these people are very truly dead, but that God, by +a particular permission, or command, permits or commands them to come +back to earth, and resume for a time their own body; for when they are +exhumed, their bodies are found entire, their blood vermilion and +fluid, and their limbs supple and pliable.</p> + +<p>Others maintain that it is the demon who causes these <i>revenans</i> to +appear, and by their means does all the harm he occasions both men and +animals.</p> + +<p>In the supposition that vampires veritably resuscitate, we may raise +an infinity of difficulties on the subject. How is this resurrection +accomplished? It is by the strength of the <i>revenant</i>, by the return +of his soul into his body? Is it an angel, is it a demon who +reanimates it? Is it by the order, or by the permission of God that he +resuscitates? Is this resurrection voluntary on his part, and by his +own choice? Is it for a long time, like that of the persons who were +restored to life by Jesus Christ? or that of persons resuscitated by +the Prophets and Apostles? Or is it only momentary, and for a few days +and a few hours, like the resurrection operated by St. Stanislaus upon +the lord who had sold him a field; or that spoken of in the life of +St. Macarius of Egypt, and of St. Spiridion, who made the dead to +speak, simply to bear testimony to the truth, and then left them to +sleep in peace, awaiting the last, the judgment day.</p> + +<p>First of all, I lay it down as an undoubted principle, that the +resurrection of a person really dead is effected by the power of God +alone. No man can either resuscitate himself, or restore another man +to life, without a visible miracle.</p> + +<p>Jesus Christ resuscitated himself, as he had promised he would; he did +it by his own power; he did it with circumstances which were all +miraculous. If he had returned to life as soon as he was taken down +from the cross, it might have been thought that he was not quite dead, +that there remained yet in him some remains of life, that they might +have been revived by warming him, or by giving him cordials and +something capable of bringing him back to his senses.</p> + +<p>But he revives only on the third day. He had, as it were, been killed +after his death, by the opening made in his side with a lance, which +pierced him to the heart, and would have put him to death, if he had +not then been beyond receiving it.</p> + +<p>When he resuscitated Lazarus,[<a href="#f445">445</a><a name="f445.1" id="f445.1"></a>] he waited until he had been four +days in the tomb, and began to show corruption; which is the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +certain mark that a man is really deceased, without a hope of +returning to life, except by supernatural means.</p> + +<p>The resurrection which Job so firmly expected,[<a href="#f446">446</a><a name="f446.1" id="f446.1"></a>] and that of the +man who came to life, on touching the body of the prophet Elisha in +his tomb;[<a href="#f447">447</a><a name="f447.1" id="f447.1"></a>] and the child of the widow of Shunem, whom the same +Elisha restored to life;[<a href="#f448">448</a><a name="f448.1" id="f448.1"></a>] that army of skeletons, whose +resurrection was predicted by Ezekiel,[<a href="#f449">449</a><a name="f449.1" id="f449.1"></a>] and which in spirit he saw +executed before his eyes, as a type and pledge as the return of the +Hebrews from their captivity at Babylon;—in short, all the +resurrections related in the sacred books of the Old and New +Testament, are manifestly miraculous effects, and attributed solely to +the Almighty power of God. Neither angels, nor demons, nor men, the +holiest and most favored of God, could by their own power restore to +life a person really dead. They can do it by the power of God alone, +who when he thinks proper so to do, is free to grant this favor to +their prayers and intercession.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f445.1">445</a><a name="f445" id="f445"></a>] John xi. 39.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f446.1">446</a><a name="f446" id="f446"></a>] Job xxi. 25.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f447.1">447</a><a name="f447" id="f447"></a>] 1 Kings xiii. 21, 22.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f448.1">448</a><a name="f448" id="f448"></a>] 2 Kings iv.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f449.1">449</a><a name="f449" id="f449"></a>] Ezek. xxxvii. 1, 2, 3.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II_2" id="CHAPTER_II_2"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>ON THE REVIVAL OF PERSONS WHO WERE NOT REALLY DEAD.</h3> + + +<p>The resuscitation of some persons who were believed to be dead, and +who were not so, but simply asleep, or in a lethargy; and of those who +were supposed to be dead, having been drowned, and who came to life +again through the care taken of them, or by medical skill. Such +persons must not pass for being really resuscitated; they were not +dead, or were so only in appearance.</p> + +<p>We intend to speak in this place of another order of resuscitated +persons, who had been buried sometimes for several months, or even +several years; who ought to have been suffocated in their graves, had +they been interred alive, and in whom are still found signs of life: +the blood in a liquid state, the flesh entire, the complexion fine and +florid, the limbs flexible and pliable. Those persons who return +either by night or by day, disturb the living, suck their blood, kill +them, appear in their clothes, in their families, sit down to table, +and do a thousand other things; then return to their graves without +any one seeing how they re-enter them. This is a kind of momentary +resurrection, or revival; for whereas the other dead persons spoken of +in Scripture have lived, drank, eaten and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> conversed with other men +after their return to life, as Lazarus, the brother of Mary and +Martha,[<a href="#f450">450</a><a name="f450.1" id="f450.1"></a>] and the son of the widow of Shunem, resuscitated by +Elisha.[<a href="#f451">451</a><a name="f451.1" id="f451.1"></a>] These appeared during a certain time, in certain places, +in certain circumstances; and appear no more as soon as they have been +impaled, or burned, or have had their heads cut off.</p> + +<p>If this last order of resuscitated persons were not really dead, there +is nothing wonderful in their revisiting the world, except the manner +in which it is done, and the circumstances by which that return is +accompanied. Do these <i>revenans</i> simply awaken from their sleep, or do +they recover themselves like those who fall down in syncope, in +fainting fits, or in swoons, and who at the end of a certain time come +naturally to themselves when the blood and animal spirits have resumed +their natural course and motion.</p> + +<p>But how can they come out of their graves without opening the earth, +and how re-enter them again without its appearing? Have we ever seen +lethargies, or swoons, or syncopes last whole years together? If +people insist on these resurrections being real ones, did we ever see +dead persons resuscitate themselves, and by their own power?</p> + +<p>If they are not resuscitated by themselves, is it by the power of God +that they have left their graves? What proof is there that God has +anything to do with it? What is the object of these resurrections? Is +it to show forth the works of God in these vampires? What glory does +the Divinity derive from them? If it is not God who drags them from +their graves, is it an angel? is it a demon? is it their own spirit? +Can the soul when separated from the body re-enter it when it will, +and give it new life, were it but for a quarter of an hour? Can an +angel or a demon restore a dead man to life? Undoubtedly not, without +the order, or at least the permission of God. This question of the +natural power of angels and demons over human bodies has been examined +in another place, and we have shown that neither revelation nor reason +throws any certain light on the subject.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f450.1">450</a><a name="f450" id="f450"></a>] 1 John xii. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f451.1">451</a><a name="f451" id="f451"></a>] 2 Kings viii. 5.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III_2" id="CHAPTER_III_2"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>REVIVAL OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN INTERRED FOR THREE YEARS, AND WAS +RESUSCITATED BY ST. STANISLAUS.</h3> + + +<p>All the lives of the saints are full of resurrections of the dead; +thick volumes might be composed on the subject.</p> + +<p>These resurrections have a manifest relation to the matter which we +are here treating of, since it relates to persons who are dead, or +held to be so, who appear bodily and animated to the living, and who +live after their return to life. I shall content myself with relating +the history of St. Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, who restored to life +a man that had been dead for three years, attended by such singular +circumstances, and in so public a manner, that the thing is beyond the +severest criticism. If it is really true, it must be regarded as one +of the most unheard of miracles which are read of in history. They +assert that the life of this saint was written either at the time of +martyrdom,[<a href="#f452">452</a><a name="f452.1" id="f452.1"></a>] or a short time afterwards, by different well-informed +authors; for the martyrdom of the saint, and, above all, the +restoration to life of the dead man of whom we are about to speak, +were seen and known by an infinite number of persons, by all the court +of king Boleslaus. And this event having taken place in Poland, where +vampires are frequently met with even in our days, it concerns, for +that reason, more particularly the subject we are treating.</p> + +<p>The bishop, St. Stanislaus, having bought of a gentleman, named<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +Pierre, an estate situated on the banks of the Vistula, in the +territory of Lublin, for the profit of his church at Cracow, gave the +price of it to the seller, in the presence of witnesses, and with the +solemnities requisite in that country, but without written deeds, for +they then wrote but seldom in Poland on the occasion of sales of this +kind; they contented themselves with having witnesses. Stanislaus took +possession of this estate by the king's authority, and his church +enjoyed it peaceably for about three years.</p> + +<p>In the interim, Pierre, who had sold it, happened to die. The king of +Poland, Boleslaus, who had conceived an implacable hatred against the +holy bishop, because he had freely reproved him for his excesses, +seeking occasion to cause him trouble, excited against him the three +sons of Pierre, and his heirs, and told them to claim the estate which +their father had sold, on pretence of its not having been paid for. He +promised to support their demand, and to cause it to be restored to +them. Thus these three gentlemen had the bishop cited to appear before +the king, who was then at Solech, occupied in rendering justice under +some tents in the country, according to the ancient custom of the +land, in the general assembly of the nation. The bishop was cited +before the king, and maintained that he had bought and paid for the +estate in question. The day was beginning to close, and the bishop ran +great risk of being condemned by the king and his counselors. +Suddenly, as if inspired by the Divine Spirit, he promised the king to +bring him in three days Pierre, of whom he had bought it, and the +condition was accepted mockingly, as a thing impossible to be +executed.</p> + +<p>The holy bishop repairs to Pictravin, remains in prayer, and keeps +fast with his household for three days; on the third day he goes in +his pontifical robes, accompanied by his clergy and a multitude of +people, causes the grave-stone to be raised, and makes them dig until +they found the corpse of the defunct all fleshless and corrupted. The +saint commands him to come forth and bear witness to the truth before +the king's tribunal. He rises; they cover him with a cloak; the saint +takes him by the hand, and leads him alive to the feet of the king. No +one had the boldness to interrogate him; but he took the word, and +declared that he had in good faith sold the estate to the prelate, and +that he had received the value of it; after which he severely +reprimanded his sons, who had so maliciously accused the holy bishop.</p> + +<p>Stanislaus asked Pierre if he wished to remain alive to do penance. He +thanked him, and said he would not anew expose himself to the danger +of sinning. Stanislaus reconducted him to his tomb, and being arrived +there, he again fell asleep in the Lord. It may be supposed that such +a scene had an infinite number of witnesses, and that all Poland was +quickly informed of it. The king was only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> the more irritated against +the saint. He some time after killed him with his own hand, as he was +coming from the altar, and had his body cut into seventy-two parts, in +order that they might never more be collected together in order to pay +them the worship which was due to them as the body of a martyr for the +truth and for pastoral liberty.</p> + +<p>Now then let us come to that which is the principal subject of these +researches, the vampires, or <i>revenans</i>, of Hungary, Moravia, and +similar ones, which appear only for a little time in their natural +bodies.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f452.1">452</a><a name="f452" id="f452"></a>] The reverend fathers the Bollandists, believed that the life of +St. Stanislaus, which they had printed, was very old, and nearly of +the time of the martyrdom of the saint; or at least that it was taken +from a life by an author almost his cotemporary, and original. But +since the first edition of this dissertation it has been observed to +me that the thing was by no means certain; that M. Baillet, on the 7th +of May, in the critical table of authors, asserts that the life of St. +Stanislaus was only written 400 years after his death, from uncertain +and mutilated memoirs. And in the life of the saint he owns that it is +only the tradition of the writers of the country which can render +credible the account of the resurrection of Pierre. The Abbé Fleuri, +tom. xiii. of the Ecclesiastical History, l. 62, year 1079, does not +agree either to what is written in that life or to what has followed +it. At any rate, the miracle of the resurrection of Pierre is related +as certain in a discourse of John de Polemac, delivered at the Council +of Constance, 1433; tom. xii. Councils, p. 1397.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV_2" id="CHAPTER_IV_2"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>CAN A MAN WHO IS REALLY DEAD APPEAR IN HIS OWN BODY?</h3> + + +<p>If what is related of vampires were certainly true, the question here +proposed would be frivolous and useless; they would reply to us +directly—In Hungary, Moravia, and Poland, persons who were dead and +interred a long time, have been seen to return, to appear, and torment +men and animals, suck their blood, and cause their death.</p> + +<p>These persons come back to earth in their own bodies; people see them, +know them, exhume them, try them, impale them, cut off their heads, +burn them. It is then not only possible, but very true and very real, +that they appear in their own bodies.</p> + +<p>It might be added in support of this belief, that the Scriptures +themselves give instances of these apparitions: for example, at the +Transfiguration of our Saviour, Elias and Moses appeared on Mount +Tabor,[<a href="#f453">453</a><a name="f453.1" id="f453.1"></a>] there conversing with Jesus Christ. We know that Elias is +still alive. I do not cite him as an instance; but in regard to Moses, +his death is not doubtful; and yet he appeared bodily talking with +Jesus Christ. The dead who came out of their graves at the +resurrection of the Saviour,[<a href="#f454">454</a><a name="f454.1" id="f454.1"></a>] and who appeared to many persons in +Jerusalem, had been in their sepulchres for several years; there was +no doubt of their being dead; and nevertheless they appeared and bore +testimony to the resurrection of the Saviour.</p> + +<p>When Jeremiah appeared to Judas Maccabæus,[<a href="#f455">455</a><a name="f455.1" id="f455.1"></a>] and placed in his hand +a golden sword, saying to him, "Receive this sword as a gift from God, +with which you will vanquish the enemies of my people of Israel;" it +was apparently this prophet in his own person<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +who appeared to him and made him that present, since by his mien he +was recognized as the prophet Jeremiah.</p> + +<p>I do not speak of those persons who were really restored to life by a +miracle, as the son of the widow of Shunem resuscitated by Elijah; nor +of the dead man who, on touching the coffin of the same prophet, rose +upon his feet and revived; nor of Lazarus, to whom Jesus Christ +restored life in a way so miraculous and striking. Those persons +lived, drank, ate, and conversed with mankind, after, as before their +death and resurrection.</p> + +<p>It is not of such persons that we now speak. I speak, for instance, of +Pierre resuscitated by Stanislaus for a few hours; of those persons of +whom I made mention in the <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'treaties'.">treatise</ins> on the Apparitions of Spirits, who +appeared, spoke, and revealed hidden things, and whose resurrection +was but momentary, and only to manifest the power of God, in order to +bear witness to truth and innocence, or to maintain the credit of the +church against obstinate heretics, as we read in various instances.</p> + +<p>St. Martin, being newly made Archbishop of Tours, conceived some +suspicions against an altar which the bishops his predecessors had +erected to a pretended martyr, of whom they knew neither the name nor +the history, and of whom none of the priests or ministers of the +chapel could give any certain account. He abstained for some time from +going to this spot, which was not far from the city; but one day he +repaired thither accompanied by a few monks, and having prayed, he +besought God to let him know who it was that was interred there. He +then perceived on his left a hideous and dirty-looking apparition; and +having commanded it to tell him who he was, the spectre declared his +name, and confessed to him that he was a robber, who had been put to +death for his crimes and acts of violence, and that he had nothing in +common with the martyrs. Those who were present heard distinctly what +he said, but saw no one. St. Martin had the tomb overthrown, and cured +the ignorant people of their superstitions.</p> + +<p>The philosopher Celsus, writing against the Christians, maintained +that the apparitions of Jesus Christ to his apostles were not real, +but that they were simply shadowy forms which appeared. Origen, +retorting his reasoning, tells him[<a href="#f456">456</a><a name="f456.1" id="f456.1"></a>] that the pagans give an +account of various apparitions of Æsculapius and Apollo, to which they +attribute the power of predicting future events. If these appearances +are admitted to be real, because they are attested by some, why not +receive as true those of Jesus Christ, which are related by ocular +witnesses, and believed by millions of persons?</p> + +<p>He afterwards relates this history. Aristeus, who belonged to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> one of +the first families of Proconnesus, having one day entered a foulon +shop, died there suddenly. The<span class="spacer"> </span>having locked the door, +ran directly to inform the relations of the deceased; but as the +report was instantly spread in the town, a man of Cyzica, who came +from Astacia, affirmed that it could not be, because he had met +Aristeus on the road from Cyzica, and had spoken to him, which he +loudly maintained before all the people of Proconnesus.</p> + +<p>Thereupon the relations arrive at the foulon's, with all the necessary +apparatus for carrying away the body; but when they entered the house, +they could not find Aristeus there, either dead or alive. Seven years +after, he showed himself in the very town of Proconnesus; made there +those verses which are termed Arimaspean, and then disappeared for the +second time. Such is the story related of him in those places.</p> + +<p>Three hundred and forty years after that event, the same Aristeus +showed himself in Metapontus, in Italy, and commanded the Metapontines +to build an altar to Apollo, and afterwards to erect a statue in honor +of Aristeus of Proconnesus, adding that they were the only people of +Italy whom Apollo had honored with his presence; as for himself who +spoke to them, he had accompanied that god in the form of a crow; and +having thus spoken he disappeared.</p> + +<p>The Metapontines sent to consult the oracle of Delphi concerning this +apparition; the Delphic oracle told them to follow the counsel which +Aristeus had given them, and it would be well for them; in fact, they +did erect a statue to Apollo, which was still to be seen there in the +time of Herodotus;[<a href="#f457">457</a><a name="f457.1" id="f457.1"></a>] and at the same time, another statue to +Aristeus, which stood in a small plantation of laurels, in the midst +of the public square of Metapontus. Celsus made no difficulty of +believing all that on the word of Herodotus, though Pindar and he +refused credence to what the Christians taught of the miracles wrought +by Jesus Christ, related in the Gospel and sealed with the blood of +martyrs. Origen adds, What could Providence have designed in +performing for this Proconnesian the miracles we have just mentioned? +What benefit could mankind derive from them? Whereas, what the +Christians relate of Jesus Christ serves to confirm a doctrine which +is beneficial to the human race. We must, then, either reject this +story of Aristeus as fabulous, or ascribe all that is told of it as +the work of the evil spirit.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f453.1">453</a><a name="f453" id="f453"></a>] Matt. ix. 34.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f454.1">454</a><a name="f454" id="f454"></a>] Matt. xxvii. 53.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f455.1">455</a><a name="f455" id="f455"></a>] Macc. xiv. 14, 15.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f456.1">456</a><a name="f456" id="f456"></a>] Origen. contra Celsum, lib. i. pp. 123, 124.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f457.1">457</a><a name="f457" id="f457"></a>] Herodot. lib. iv.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V_2" id="CHAPTER_V_2"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>REVIVAL OR APPARITION OF A GIRL WHO HAD BEEN DEAD SOME MONTHS.</h3> + + +<p>Phlegonus, freed-man of the Emperor Adrian,[<a href="#f458">458</a><a name="f458.1" id="f458.1"></a>] in the fragment of +the book which he wrote on wonderful things, says that at Tralla, in +Asia, a certain man named Machates, an innkeeper, was connected with a +girl named Philinium, the daughter of Demostrates and Chariton. This +girl being dead, and placed in her grave, continued to come every +night for six months to see her gallant, to drink, eat, and sleep with +him. One day this girl was recognized by her nurse, when she was +sitting by Machates. The nurse ran to give notice of this to Chariton, +the girl's mother, who, after making many difficulties, came at last +to the inn; but as it was very late, and everybody gone to bed, she +could not satisfy her curiosity. However, she recognized her +daughter's clothes, and thought she recognized the girl herself in bed +with Machates. She returned the next morning, but having missed her +way, she no longer found her daughter, who had already withdrawn. +Machates related everything to her; how, since a certain time, she had +come to him every night; and in proof of what he said, he opened his +casket and showed her the gold ring which Philinium had given him, and +the band with which she covered her bosom, and which she had left with +him the preceding night.</p> + +<p>Chariton, who could no longer doubt the truth of the circumstance, now +gave way to cries and tears; but as they promised to inform her the +following night, when Philinium should return, she went away home. In +the evening the girl came back as usual, and Machates sent directly to +let her father and mother know, for he began to fear that some other +girl might have taken Philinium's clothes from the sepulchre, in order +to deceive him by the illusion.</p> + +<p>Demostrates and Chariton, on arriving, recognized their daughter and +ran to embrace her; but she cried out, "Oh, father and mother, why +have you grudged me my happiness, by preventing me from remaining +three days longer with this innkeeper without injury to any one? for I +did not come here without permission from the gods, that is to say, +from the demon, since we cannot attribute to God, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +to a good spirit, a thing like that. Your curiosity will cost you +dear." At the same time, she fell down stiff and dead, and extended on +the bed.</p> + +<p>Phlegon, who had some command in the town, stayed the crowd and +prevented a tumult. The next day, the people being assembled at the +theatre, they agreed to go and inspect the vault in which Philinium, +who had died six months before, had been laid. They found there the +corpses of her family arranged in their places, but they found not the +body of Philinium. There was only an iron ring, which Machates had +given her, with a gilded cup, which she had also received from him. +Afterwards they went back to the dwelling of Machates, where the body +of the girl remained lying on the ground.</p> + +<p>They consulted a diviner, who said that she must be interred beyond +the limits of the town; they must appease the furies and terrestrial +Mercury, make solemn funeral ceremonies to the god Manes, and +sacrifice to Jupiter Hospitaller, to Mercury, and Mars. Phlegon adds, +speaking to him to whom he was writing: "If you think proper to inform +the emperor of it, write to me, that I may send you some of those +persons who were eye-witnesses of all these things."</p> + +<p>Here is the fact circumstantially related, and invested with all the +marks which can make it pass for true. Nevertheless, how numerous are +the difficulties it presents! Was this young girl really dead, or only +sleeping? Was her resurrection effected by her own strength and will, +or was it a demon who restored her to life? It appears that it cannot +be doubted that it was her own body; all the circumstances noted in +the recital of Phlegon persuade us of it. If she was not dead, and all +she did was merely a game and a play which she performed to satisfy +her passion for Machates, there is nothing in all this recital very +incredible. We know what illicit love is capable of, and how far it +may lead any one who is devoured by a violent passion. The same +Phlegon says that a Syrian soldier of the army of Antiochus, after +having been killed at Thermopylæ, appeared in open day in the Roman +camp, where he spoke to several persons.</p> + +<p>Haralde, or Harappe, a Dane, who caused himself to be buried at the +entrance of his kitchen, appeared after his death, and was wounded by +one Olaüs Pa, who left the iron of his lance in the wound. This Dane, +then, appeared bodily. Was it his soul which moved his body, or a +demon which made use of this corpse to disturb and frighten the +living? Did he do this by his own strength, or by the permission of +God? And what glory to God, what advantage to men, could accrue from +these apparitions? Shall we deny all these facts, related in so +circumstantial a manner by en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>lightened authors, who have no interest +in deceiving us, nor any wish to do so?</p> + +<p>St. Augustine relates that, during his abode at Milan,[<a href="#f459">459</a><a name="f459.1" id="f459.1"></a>] a young +man had a suit instituted against him by a person who repeated his +demand for a debt already paid the young man's father, but the receipt +for which could not be found. The ghost of the father appeared to the +son, and informed him where the receipt was which occasioned him so +much trouble.</p> + +<p>St. Macarius, the Egyptian, made a dead man[<a href="#f460">460</a><a name="f460.1" id="f460.1"></a>] speak who had been +interred some time, in order to discover a deposit which he had +received and hidden unknown to his wife. The dead man declared that +the money was slipt down at the foot of his bed.</p> + +<p>The same St. Macarius, not being able to refute in any other way a +heretic Eunomian, according to some, or Hieracitus, according to +others, said to him, "Let us go to the grave of a dead man, and ask +him to inform us of the truth which you will not agree to." The +heretic dared not present himself at the grave; but St. Macarius went +thither, accompanied by a multitude of persons. He interrogated the +dead, who replied from the depth of the tomb, that if the heretic had +appeared in the crowd he should have arisen to convince him, and to +bear testimony to the truth. St. Macarius commanded him to fall asleep +again in the Lord, till the time when Jesus Christ should awaken him +in his place at the end of the world.</p> + +<p>The ancients, who have related the same fact, vary in some of the +circumstances, as is usual enough when those things are related only +from memory.</p> + +<p>St. Spiridion, Bishop of Trinitontis, in Egypt,[<a href="#f461">461</a><a name="f461.1" id="f461.1"></a>] had a daughter +named Irene, who lived in virginity till her death. After her decease, +a person came to Spiridion and asked him for a deposit which he had +confided to Irene unknown to her father. They sought in every part of +the house, but could find nothing. At last Spiridion went to his +daughter's tomb, and calling her by her name, asked her where the +deposit was. She declared the same, and <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'Spiridon'.">Spiridion</ins> restored it.</p> + +<p>A holy abbot named Erricles resuscitated for a moment a man who had +been killed,[<a href="#f462">462</a><a name="f462.1" id="f462.1"></a>] and of whose death they accused a monk who was +perfectly innocent. The dead man did justice to the accused, and the +Abbot Erricles said to him, "Sleep in peace, till the Lord shall come +at the last day to resuscitate you to all eternity."</p> + +<p>All these momentary resurrections may serve to explain how the +<i>revenans</i> of Hungary come out of their graves, then return to them, +after having caused themselves to be seen and felt for some time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> But the difficulty will always be to know, 1st, If the thing be true; +2d, If they can resuscitate themselves; and, 3d, If they are really +dead, or only asleep. In what way soever we regard this circumstance, +it always appears equally impossible and incredible.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f458.1">458</a><a name="f458" id="f458"></a>] Phlegon. de Mirabilib. 18. Gronov. Antiq. Græc. p. 2694.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f459.1">459</a><a name="f459" id="f459"></a>] Aug. de Curâ pro Mortuis.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f460.1">460</a><a name="f460" id="f460"></a>] Rosweid. vit. P. P. lib. ii. p. 480.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f461.1">461</a><a name="f461" id="f461"></a>] Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. 11.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f462.1">462</a><a name="f462" id="f462"></a>] Vit. P. P. lib. ii. p. 650.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI_2" id="CHAPTER_VI_2"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>A WOMAN TAKEN ALIVE FROM HER GRAVE.</h3> + + +<p>We read in a new work, a story which has some connection with this +subject. A shopkeeper of the Rue St. Honoré, at Paris, had promised +his daughter to one of his friends, a shopkeeper like himself, +residing also in the same street. A financier having presented himself +as a husband for this young girl, was accepted instead of the young +man to whom she had been promised. The marriage was accomplished, and +the young bride falling ill, was looked upon as dead, enshrouded and +interred. The first lover having an idea that she had fallen into a +lethargy or a trance, had her taken out of the ground during the +night; they brought her to herself and he espoused her. They crossed +the channel, and lived quietly in England for some years. At the end +of ten years, they returned to Paris, where the first husband having +recognized his wife in a public walk, claimed her in a court of +justice; and this was the subject of a great law suit.</p> + +<p>The wife and her (second) husband defended themselves on the ground +that death had broken the bonds of the first marriage. The first +husband was even accused of having caused his wife to be too +precipitately interred. The lovers foreseeing that they might be +non-suited, again withdrew to a foreign land, where they ended their +days. This circumstance is so singular that our readers will have some +difficulty in giving credence to it. I only give it as it is told. It +is for those who advance the fact to guarantee and prove it.</p> + +<p>Who can say that, in the story of Phlegon, the young Philinium was not +thus placed in the vault without being dead, and that every night she +came to see her lover Machates? That was much easier for her than +would have been the return of the Parisian woman, who had been +enshrouded, buried, and remained covered with earth, and enveloped in +linen, during a pretty long time.</p> + +<p>The other example related in the same work, is of a girl who fell into +a trance and was regarded as dead, and became enceinte during this +interval, without knowing the author of her pregnancy. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> a monk, +who, having made himself known, asserted that his vows should be +annulled, he having been forced into the sacred profession. A great +lawsuit ensued upon it, of which the documents are preserved to this +day. The monk obtained a dispensation from his vows, and married the +young girl.</p> + +<p>This instance may be adduced with that of Philinium, and the young +woman of the Rue St. Honoré. It is possible that these persons might +not be dead, and consequently not restored to life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII_2" id="CHAPTER_VII_2"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>LET US NOW EXAMINE THE FACT OF THE REVENANS OR VAMPIRES OF MORAVIA.</h3> + + +<p>I have been told by the late Monsieur de Vassimont, counsellor of the +Chamber of the Counts of Bar, that having been sent into Moravia by +his late Royal Highness Leopold, first Duke of Lorraine, for the +affairs of my Lord the Prince Charles his brother, Bishop of Olmutz +and Osnaburgh, he was informed by public report that it was common +enough in that country to see men who had died some time before, +present themselves in a party, and sit down to table with persons of +their acquaintance without saying anything; but that nodding to one of +the party, he would infallibly die some days afterwards. This fact was +confirmed by several persons, and amongst others by an old curé, who +said he had seen more than one instance of it.</p> + +<p>The bishops and priests of the country consulted Rome on so +extraordinary a fact; but they received no answer, because, +apparently, all those things were regarded there as simple visions, or +popular fancies. They afterwards bethought themselves of taking up the +corpses of those who came back in that way, of burning them, or of +destroying them in some other manner. Thus they delivered themselves +from the importunity of these spectres, which are now much less +frequently seen than before. So said that good priest.</p> + +<p>These apparitions have given rise to a little work, entitled <i>Magia +Posthuma</i>, printed at Olmutz, in 1706, composed by Charles Ferdinand +de Schertz, dedicated to Prince Charles, of Lorraine, Bishop of Olmutz +and Osnaburgh. The author relates that, in a certain village, a woman +being just dead, who had taken all her sacraments, she was buried in +the usual way in the cemetery. Four days after her decease, the +inhabitants of this village heard a great noise and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> extraordinary +uproar, and saw a spectre, which appeared sometimes in the shape of a +dog, sometimes in the form of a man, not to one person only, but to +several, and caused them great pain, grasping their throats, and +compressing their stomachs, so as to suffocate them. It bruised almost +the whole body, and reduced them to extreme weakness, so that they +became pale, lean and attenuated.</p> + +<p>The spectre attacked even the animals, and some cows were found +debilitated and half dead. Sometimes it tied them together by their +tails. These animals gave sufficient evidence by their bellowing of +the pain they suffered. The horses seemed overcome with fatigue, all +in a perspiration, principally on the back; heated, out of breath, +covered with foam, as they are after a long and rough journey. These +calamities lasted several months.</p> + +<p>The author whom I have mentioned examines the affair in a lawyer-like +way, and reasons much on the fact and the law. He asks if, supposing +that those disturbances, those noises and vexations proceeded from +that person who is suspected of causing them, they can burn her, as is +done to other ghosts who do harm to the living. He relates several +instances of similar apparitions, and of the evils which ensued; as of +a shepherd of the village of Blow, near the town of Kadam, in Bohemia, +who appeared during some time, and called certain persons, who never +failed to die within eight days after. The peasants of Blow took up +the body of this shepherd, and fixed it in the ground with a stake +which they drove through it.</p> + +<p>This man, when in that condition, derided them for what they made him +suffer, and told them they were very good to give him thus a stick to +defend himself from the dogs. The same night he got up again, and by +his presence alarmed several persons, and strangled more amongst them +than he had hitherto done. Afterwards, they delivered him into the +hands of the executioner, who put him in a cart to carry him beyond +the village and there burn him. This corpse howled like a madman, and +moved his feet and hands as if alive. And when they again pierced him +through with stakes he uttered very loud cries, and a great quantity +of bright vermilion blood flowed from him. At last he was consumed, +and this execution put an end to the appearance and hauntings of this +spectre.</p> + +<p>The same has been practiced in other places, where similar ghosts have +been seen; and when they have been taken out of the ground they have +appeared red, with their limbs supple and pliable, without worms or +decay; but not without a great stink. The author cites divers other +writers, who attest what he says of these spectres, which still +appear, he says, pretty often in the mountains of Silesia and Moravia. +They are seen by night and by day; the things which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> once belonged to +them are seen to move themselves and change their place without being +touched by any one. The only remedy for these apparitions is to cut +off the heads and burn the bodies of those who come back to haunt +people.</p> + +<p>At any rate, they do <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'not not'.">not</ins> proceed to this without a form of justicial +law. They call for and hear the witnesses; they examine the arguments; +they look at the exhumed bodies, to see if they can find any of the +usual marks which lead them to conjecture that they are the parties +who molest the living, as the mobility and suppleness of the limbs, +the fluidity of the blood, and the flesh remaining uncorrupted. If all +these marks are found, then these bodies are given up to the +executioner, who burns them. It sometimes happens that the spectres +appear again for three or four days after the execution. Sometimes the +interment of the bodies of suspicious persons is deferred for six or +seven weeks. When they do not decay, and their limbs remain as supple +and pliable as when they were alive, then they burn them. It is +affirmed as certain that the clothes of these persons move without any +one living touching them; and within a short time, continues our +author, a spectre was seen at Olmutz, which threw stones, and gave +great trouble to the inhabitants.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII_2" id="CHAPTER_VIII_2"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>DEAD PERSONS IN HUNGARY WHO SUCK THE BLOOD OF THE LIVING.</h3> + + +<p>About fifteen years ago, a soldier who was billeted at the house of a +Haidamagne peasant, on the frontiers of Hungary, as he was one day +sitting at table near his host, the master of the house saw a person +he did not know come in and sit down to table also with them. The +master of the house was strangely frightened at this, as were the rest +of the company. The soldier knew not what to think of it, being +ignorant of the matter in question. But the master of the house being +dead the very next day, the soldier inquired what it meant. They told +him that it was the body of the father of his host, who had been dead +and buried for ten years, which had thus come to sit down next to him, +and had announced and caused his death.</p> + +<p>The soldier informed the regiment of it in the first place, and the +regiment gave notice of it to the general officers, who commissioned +the Count de Cabreras, captain of the regiment of Alandetti infantry, +to make information concerning this circumstance. Having gone to the +place, with some other officers, a surgeon and an auditor, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> heard +the depositions of all the people belonging to the house, who attested +unanimously that the ghost was the father of the master of the house, +and that all the soldier had said and reported was the exact truth, +which was confirmed by all the inhabitants of the village.</p> + +<p>In consequence of this, the corpse of this spectre was exhumed, and +found to be like that of a man who has just expired, and his blood +like that of a living man. The Count de Cabreras had his head cut off, +and caused him to be laid again in his tomb. He also took information +concerning other similar ghosts, amongst others, of a man dead more +than thirty years, who had come back three times to his house at meal +time. The first time he had sucked the blood from the neck of his own +brother, the second time from one of his sons, and the third from one +of the servants in the house; and all three died of it instantly and +on the spot. Upon this deposition the commissary had this man taken +out of his grave, and finding that, like the first, his blood was in a +fluid state, like that of a living person, he ordered them to run a +large nail into his temple, and then to lay him again in the grave.</p> + +<p>He caused a third to be burnt, who had been buried more than sixteen +years, and had sucked the blood and caused the death of two of his +sons. The commissary having made his report to the general officers, +was deputed to the court of the emperor, who commanded that some +officers, both of war and justice, some physicians and surgeons, and +some learned men, should be sent to examine the causes of these +extraordinary events. The person who related these particulars to us +had heard them from Monsieur the Count de Cabreras, at Fribourg en +Brigau, in 1730.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX_2" id="CHAPTER_IX_2"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>ACCOUNT OF A VAMPIRE, TAKEN FROM THE JEWISH LETTERS (LETTRES JUIVES); +LETTER 137.</h3> + + +<p>This is what we read in the "Lettres Juives," new edition, 1738, +Letter 137.</p> + +<p>We have just had in this part of Hungary a scene of vampirism, which +is duly attested by two officers of the tribunal of Belgrade, who went +down to the places specified; and by an officer of the emperor's +troops at Graditz, who was an ocular witness of the proceedings.</p> + +<p>In the beginning of September there died in the village of Kiv<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>siloa, +three leagues from Graditz, an old man who was sixty-two years of age. +Three days after he had been buried, he appeared in the night to his +son, and asked him for something to eat; the son having given him +something, he ate and disappeared. The next day the son recounted to +his neighbors what had happened. That night the father did not appear; +but the following night he showed himself, and asked for something to +eat. They know not whether the son gave him anything or not; but the +next day he was found dead in his bed. On the same day, five or six +persons fell suddenly ill in the village, and died one after the other +in a few days.</p> + +<p>The officer or bailiff of the place, when informed of what had +happened, sent an account of it to the tribunal of Belgrade, which +dispatched to the village two of these officers and an executioner to +examine into this affair. The imperial officer from whom we have this +account repaired thither from Graditz, to be witness of a circumstance +which he had so often heard spoken of.</p> + +<p>They opened the graves of those who had been dead six weeks. When they +came to that of the old man, they found him with his eyes open, having +a fine color, with natural respiration, nevertheless motionless as the +dead; whence they concluded that he was most evidently a vampire. The +executioner drove a stake into his heart; they then raised a pile and +reduced the corpse to ashes. No mark of vampirism was found either on +the corpse of the son or on the others.</p> + +<p>Thanks be to God, we are by no means credulous. We avow that all the +light which physics can throw on this fact discovers none of the +causes of it. Nevertheless, we cannot refuse to believe that to be +true which is juridically attested, and by persons of probity. We will +here give a copy of what happened in 1732, and which we inserted in +the Gleaner (<i>Glaneur</i>), No. XVIII.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X_2" id="CHAPTER_X_2"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>OTHER INSTANCES OF GHOSTS—CONTINUATION OF THE GLEANER.</h3> + + +<p>In a certain canton of Hungary, named in Latin <i>Oppida Heidanum</i>, +beyond the Tibisk, <i>vulgo</i> Teiss, that is to say, between that river +which waters the fortunate territory of Tokay and Transylvania, the +people known by the name of <i>Heyducqs</i>[<a href="#f463">463</a><a name="f463.1" id="f463.1"></a>] +believe that cer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>tain dead +persons, whom they call vampires, suck all the blood from the living, +so that these become visibly attenuated, whilst the corpses, like +leeches, fill themselves with blood in such abundance that it is seen +to come from them by the conduits, and even oozing through the pores. +This opinion has just been confirmed by several facts which cannot be +doubted, from the rank of the witnesses who have certified them. We +will here relate some of the most remarkable.</p> + +<p>About five years ago, a certain Heyducq, inhabitant of Madreiga, named +Arnald Paul, was crushed to death by the fall of a wagonload of hay. +Thirty days after his death four persons died suddenly, and in the +same manner in which according to the tradition of the country, those +die who are molested by vampires. They then remembered that this +Arnald Paul had often related that in the environs of Cassovia, and on +the frontiers of Turkish Servia, he had often been tormented by a +Turkish vampire; for they believe also that those who have been +passive vampires during life become active ones after their death, +that is to say, that those who have been sucked suck also in their +turn; but that he had found means to cure himself by eating earth from +the grave of the vampire, and smearing himself with his blood; a +precaution which, however, did not prevent him from becoming so after +his death, since, on being exhumed forty days after his interment, +they found on his corpse all the indications of an arch-vampire. His +body was red, his hair, nails, and beard had all grown again, and his +veins were replete with fluid blood, which flowed from all parts of +his body upon the winding-sheet which encompassed him. The hadnagi, or +bailli of the village, in whose presence the exhumation took place, +and who was skilled in vampirism, had, according to custom, a very +sharp stake driven into the heart of the defunct Arnald Paul, and +which pierced his body through and through, which made him, as they +say, utter a frightful shriek, as if he had been alive: that done, +they cut off his head, and burnt the whole body. After that they +performed the same on the corpses of the four other persons who died +of vampirism, fearing that they in their turn might cause the death of +others.</p> + +<p>All these performances, however, could not prevent the recommencement +of these fatal prodigies towards the end of last year, that is to say, +five years after, when several inhabitants of the same village +perished miserably. In the space of three months, seventeen persons of +different sexes and different ages died of vampirism; some without +being ill, and others after languishing two or three days. It is +reported, amongst other things, that a girl named Stanoska, daughter +of the Heyducq Jotiützo, who went to bed in perfect health, awoke in +the middle of the night all in a tremble, uttering terrible shrieks, +and saying that the son of the Heyducq Millo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> who had been dead nine +weeks, had nearly strangled her in her sleep. She fell into a languid +state from that moment, and at the end of three days she died. What +this girl had said of Millo's son made him known at once for a +vampire: he was exhumed, and found to be such. The principal people of +the place, with the doctors and surgeons, examined how vampirism could +have sprung up again after the precautions they had taken some years +before.</p> + +<p>They discovered at last, after much search, that the defunct Arnald +Paul had killed not only the four persons of whom we have spoken, but +also several oxen, of which the new vampires had eaten, and amongst +others the son of Millo. Upon these indications they resolved to +disinter all those who had died within a certain time, &c. Amongst +forty, seventeen were found with all the most evident signs of +vampirism; so they transfixed their hearts and cut off their heads +also, and then cast their ashes into the river.</p> + +<p>All the informations and executions we have just mentioned were made +juridically, in proper form, and attested by several officers who were +garrisoned in the country, by the chief surgeons of the regiments, and +by the principal inhabitants of the place. The verbal process of it +was sent towards the end of last January to the Imperial Counsel of +War at Vienna, which had established a military commission to examine +into the truth of all these circumstances.</p> + +<p>Such was the declaration of the Hadnagi Barriarar and the ancient +Heyducqs; and it was signed by Battuer, first lieutenant of the +regiment of Alexander of Wurtemburg, Clickstenger, surgeon-in-chief of +the regiment of Frustemburch, three other surgeons of the company, and +Guoichitz, captain at Stallach.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f463.1">463</a><a name="f463" id="f463"></a>] This story is apparently the same which we related before under +the name of Haidamaque, and which happened in 1729 or 1730.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI_2" id="CHAPTER_XI_2"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>ARGUMENTS OF THE AUTHOR OF THE "LETTRES JUIVES," ON THE SUBJECT OF +THESE PRETENDED GHOSTS.</h3> + + +<p>There are two different ways of effacing the opinion concerning these +pretended ghosts, and showing the impossibility of the effects which +are made to be produced by corpses entirely deprived of sensation. The +first is, to explain by physical causes all the prodigies of +vampirism; the second is, to deny totally the truth of these stories; +and the latter means, without doubt, is the surest and the wisest. But +as there are persons to whom the authority of a certificate given by +people in a certain place appears a plain demonstra<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>tion of the +reality of the most absurd story, before I show how little they ought +to rely on the formalities of the law in matters which relate solely +to philosophy, I will for a moment suppose that several persons do +really die of the disease which they term vampirism.</p> + +<p>I lay down at first this principle, that it may be that there are +corpses which, although interred some days, shed fluid blood through +the conduits of their body. I add, moreover, that it is very easy for +certain people to fancy themselves sucked by vampires, and that the +fear caused by that fancy should make a revolution in their frame +sufficiently violent to deprive them of life. Being occupied all day +with the terror inspired by these pretended ghosts or <i>revenans</i>, is +it very extraordinary, that during their sleep the idea of these +phantoms should present itself to their imagination and cause them +such violent terror? that some of them die of it instantaneously, and +others a short time afterwards? How many instances have we not seen of +people who expired with fright in a moment? and has not joy itself +sometimes produced an equally fatal effect?</p> + +<p>I have seen in the Leipsic journals[<a href="#f464">464</a><a name="f464.1" id="f464.1"></a>] an account of a little work +entitled, <i>Philosophicæ et Christianæ Cogitationes de Vampiriis, à +Joanne Christophoro Herenbergio</i>; "Philosophical and Christian +Thoughts upon Vampires, by John Christopher Herenberg," at +Gerolferliste, in 1733, in 8vo. The author names a pretty large number +of writers who have already discussed this matter; he speaks, <i>en +passant</i>, of a spectre which appeared to him at noonday. He maintains +that the vampires do not cause the death of the living, and that all +that is said about them ought to be attributed only to the troubled +fancy of the invalids; he proves by divers experiments that the +imagination is capable of causing very great derangements in the body, +and the humors of the body; he shows that in Sclavonia they impaled +murderers, and drove a stake through the heart of the culprit; that +they used the same chastisement for vampires, supposing them to be the +authors of the death of those whose blood they were said to suck. He +gives some examples of this punishment exercised upon them, the one in +the year 1337, and the other in 1347. He speaks of the opinion of +those who believe that the dead eat in their tombs; a sentiment of +which he endeavors to prove the antiquity by the authority of +Tertullian, at the beginning of his book on the Resurrection, and by +that of St. Augustine, b. viii. c. 27, on the City of God, and in +Sermon xv. on the Saints.</p> + +<p>Such are nearly the contents of the work of M. Herenberg on vampires. +The passage of Tertullian[<a href="#f465">465</a><a name="f465.1" id="f465.1"></a>] which he cites, proves very well that +the pagans offered food to their dead, even to those whose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +bodies had been burned, believing that their spirits regaled +themselves with it: <i>Defunctis parentant, et quidem impensissimo +studio, pro moribus eorum pro temporibus esculentorum, ut quos sentire +quicquam negant escam desiderare prœsumant.</i> This concerns only the +pagans.</p> + +<p>But St. Augustine, in several places, speaks of the custom of the +Christians, above all those of Africa, of carrying to the tombs meats +and wine, which they placed upon them as a repast of devotion, and to +which the poor were invited, in whose favor these offerings were +principally instituted. This practice is founded on the passage of the +book of Tobit;—"Place your bread and wine on the sepulchre of the +just, and be careful not to eat or drink of it with sinners." St. +Monico, the mother of St. Augustine,[<a href="#f466">466</a><a name="f466.1" id="f466.1"></a>] having desired to do at +Milan what she had been accustomed to do in Africa, St. Ambrose, +bishop of Milan, testified that he did not approve of this practice, +which was unknown in his church. The holy woman restrained herself to +carrying thither a basket full of fruits and wine, of which she +partook very soberly with the women who accompanied her, leaving the +rest for the poor. St. Augustine remarks, in the same passage, that +some intemperate Christians abused these offerings by drinking wine to +excess: <i>Ne ulla occasio se ingurgitandi daretur ebriosis</i>.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine,[<a href="#f467">467</a><a name="f467.1" id="f467.1"></a>] however, by his preaching and remonstrances, did +so much good, that he entirely uprooted this custom, which was common +throughout the African Church, and the abuse of which was too general. +In his books on the City of God,[<a href="#f468">468</a><a name="f468.1" id="f468.1"></a>] he avows that this usage is +neither general nor approved in the Church, and that those who +practice it content themselves with offering this food upon the tombs +of the martyrs, in order that through their merits these offerings +should be sanctified; after which they carry them away, and make use +of them for their own nourishment and that of the poor: <i>Quicumque +suas epulas eò deferant, quad quidem à melioribus Christianis non fit, +et in plerisque terrarum nulla talis est consuetudo; tamen quicumque +id faciunt, quas cùm appossuerint, orant, et auferunt, ut vescantur +vel ex eis etiam indigentibus largiantur</i>. It appears, from two +sermons which have been attributed to St. Augustine,[<a href="#f469">469</a><a name="f469.1" id="f469.1"></a>] that in +former times this custom had crept in at Rome, but did not subsist +there any time, and was blamed and condemned.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>Now, if it were true that the dead could eat in their tombs, and that +they had a wish or occasion to eat, as is believed by those of whom +Tertullian speaks, and as it appears may be inferred from the custom +of carrying fruit and wine to be placed on the graves of martyrs and +other Christians, I think even that I have good proof that in certain +places they placed near the bodies of the dead, whether buried in the +cemeteries or the churches, meat, wine, and other liquors. I have in +our study several vases of clay and glass, and even plates, where may +be seen small bones of pig and fowls, all found deep underground in +the church of the Abbey of St. Mansuy, near the town of Toul.</p> + +<p>It has been remarked to me that these vestiges found in the ground +were plunged in virgin earth which had never been disturbed, and near +certain vases or urns filled with ashes, and containing some small +bones which the flames could not consume; and as it is known that the +Christians did not burn their dead, and that these vases we are +speaking of are placed beneath the disturbed earth, in which the +graves of Christians are found, it has been inferred, with much +semblance of probability, that these vases with the food and beverage +buried near them, were intended not for Christians but for heathens. +The latter, then, at least, believed that the dead ate in the other +life. There is no doubt that the ancient Gauls[<a href="#f470">470</a><a name="f470.1" id="f470.1"></a>] were persuaded of +this; they are often represented on their tombs with bottles in their +hands, and baskets and other comestibles, or drinking vessels and +goblets;[<a href="#f471">471</a><a name="f471.1" id="f471.1"></a>] they carried with them even the contracts and bonds for +what was due to them, to have it paid to them in Hades. <i>Negotiorum +ratio, etiam exactio crediti deferebatur ad inferos.</i></p> + +<p>Now, if they believed that the dead ate in their tombs, that they +could return to earth, visit, console, instruct, or disturb the +living, and predict to them their approaching death, the return of +vampires is neither impossible nor incredible in the opinion of these +ancients.</p> + +<p>But as all that is said of dead men who eat in their graves and out of +their graves is chimerical and beyond all likelihood, and the thing is +even impossible and incredible, whatever may be the number and quality +of those who have believed it, or appeared to believe it, I shall +always say that the return (to earth) of the vampires is +unmaintainable and impracticable.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f464.1">464</a><a name="f464" id="f464"></a>] Supplem. ad visu Erudit. Lips. an. 1738, tom. ii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f465.1">465</a><a name="f465" id="f465"></a>] Tertull. de Resurrect. initio.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f466.1">466</a><a name="f466" id="f466"></a>] Aug. Confess. lib. vi. c. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f467.1">467</a><a name="f467" id="f467"></a>] Aug. Epist. 22, ad Aurel. Carthag. et Epist. 29, ad Alipi. Item +de Moribus Eccl. c. 34.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f468.1">468</a><a name="f468" id="f468"></a>] Aug. lib. viii. de Civit. Dei, c. 27.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f469.1">469</a><a name="f469" id="f469"></a>] Aug. Serm. 35, de Sanctis, nunc in Appendice, c. 5. Serm. cxc. +cxci. p. 328.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f470.1">470</a><a name="f470" id="f470"></a>] Antiquité expliquée, tom. iv. p. 86.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f471.1">471</a><a name="f471" id="f471"></a>] Mela. lib. ii. c. 4.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII_2" id="CHAPTER_XII_2"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>CONTINUATION OF THE ARGUMENT OF THE "DUTCH GLEANERS," OR "GLANEUR +HOLLANDAIS."</h3> + + +<p>On examining the narrative of the death of the pretended martyrs of +vampirism, I discover the symptoms of an epidemical fanaticism; and I +see clearly that the impression made upon them by fear is the true +cause of their being lost. A girl named Stanoska, say they, daughter +of the Heyducq Sovitzo, who went to bed in perfect health, awoke in +the middle of the night all in a tremble, and shrieking dreadfully, +saying that the son of the Heyducq Millo, who had been dead for nine +weeks, had nearly strangled her in her sleep. From that moment she +fell into a languishing state, and at the end of three days died.</p> + +<p>For any one who has eyes, however little philosophical they may be, +must not this recital alone clearly show him that this pretended +vampirism is merely the result of a stricken imagination? There is a +girl who awakes and says that some one wanted to strangle her, and who +nevertheless has not been sucked, since her cries have prevented the +vampire from making his repast. She apparently was not so served +afterwards either, since, doubtlessly, they did not leave her by +herself during the other nights; and if the vampire had wished to +molest her, her moans would have warned those of it who were present. +Nevertheless, she dies three days afterwards. Her fright and lowness, +her sadness and languor, evidently show how strongly her imagination +had been affected.</p> + +<p>Those persons who find themselves in cities afflicted with the plague, +know by experience how many people lose their lives through fear. As +soon as a man finds himself attacked with the least illness, he +fancies that he is seized with the epidemical disease, which idea +occasions him so great a sensation, that it is almost impossible for +the system to resist such a revolution. The Chevalier de Maifin +assured me, when I was at Paris, that being at Marseilles during the +contagion which prevailed in that city, he had seen a woman die of the +fear she felt at a slight illness of her servant, whom she believed +attacked with the pestilence. This woman's daughter was sick and near +dying.</p> + +<p>Other persons who were in the same house went to bed, sent for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> a +doctor, and assured him they had the plague. The doctor, on arriving, +visited the servant, and the other patients, and none of them had the +epidemical disorder. He tried to calm their minds, and ordered them to +rise, and live in their usual way; but his care was useless as +regarded the mistress of the family, who died in two days of the +fright alone.</p> + +<p>Reflect upon the second narrative of the death of a passive vampire, +and you will see most evident proofs of the terrible effects of fear +and prejudice. (See the preceding chapter.) This man, three days after +he was buried, appears in the night to his son, asks for something to +eat, eats, and disappears. On the morrow, the son relates to his +neighbors what had happened to him. That night the father does not +appear; but the following night they find the son dead in his bed. Who +cannot perceive in these words the surest marks of prepossession and +fear? The first time these act upon the imagination of the pretended +victim of vampirism they do not produce their entire effect, and not +only dispose his mind to be more vividly struck by them; that also +does not fail to happen, and to produce the effect which would +naturally follow.</p> + +<p>Notice well that the dead man did not return on the night of the day +that his son communicated his dream to his friends, because, according +to all appearances, these sat up with him, and prevented him from +yielding to his fear.</p> + +<p>I now come to those corpses full of fluid blood, and whose beard, hair +and nails had grown again. One may dispute three parts of these +prodigies, and be very complaisant if we admit the truth of a few of +them. All philosophers know well enough how much the people, and even +certain historians, enlarge upon things which appear but a little +extraordinary. Nevertheless, it is not impossible to explain their +cause physically.</p> + +<p>Experience teaches us that there are certain kinds of earth which will +preserve dead bodies perfectly fresh. The reasons of this have been +often explained, without my giving myself the trouble to make a +particular recital of them. There is at Thoulouse a vault in a church +belonging to some monks, where the bodies remain so entirely perfect +that there are some which have been there nearly two centuries, and +appear still living.</p> + +<p>They have been ranged in an upright posture against the wall, and are +clothed in the dress they usually wore. What is very remarkable is, +that the bodies which are placed on the other side of this same vault +become in two or three days the food of worms.</p> + +<p>As to the growth of the nails, the hair and the beard, it is often +perceived in many corpses. While there yet remains a great deal of +moisture in the body, it is not surprising that during some time we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +see some augmentation in those parts which do not demand a vital +spirit.</p> + +<p>The fluid blood flowing through the canals of the body seems to form a +greater difficulty; but physical reasons may be given for this. It +might very well happen that the heat of the sun warming the nitrous +and sulphureous particles which are found in those earths that are +proper for preserving the body, those particles having incorporated +themselves in the newly interred corpses, ferment, decoagulate, and +melt the curdled blood, render it liquid, and give it the power of +flowing by degrees through all the channels.</p> + +<p>This opinion appears so much the more probable from its being +confirmed by an experiment. If you boil in a glass or earthen vessel +one part of chyle, or milk, mixed with two parts of cream of tartar, +the liquor will turn from white to red, because the tartaric salt will +have rarified and entirely dissolved the most oily part of the milk, +and converted it into a kind of blood. That which is formed in the +vessels of the body is a little redder, but it is not thicker; it is, +then, not impossible that the heat may cause a fermentation which +produces nearly the same effects as this experiment. And this will be +found easier, if we consider that the juices of the flesh and bones +resemble chyle very much, and that the fat and marrow are the most +oily parts of the chyle. Now all these particles in fermenting must, +by the rule of the experiment, be changed into a kind of blood. Thus, +besides that which has been discoagulated and melted, the pretended +vampires shed also that blood which must be formed from the melting of +the fat and marrow.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII_2" id="CHAPTER_XIII_2"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>NARRATION EXTRACTED FROM THE "MERCURE GALENT" OF 1693 AND 1694, +CONCERNING GHOSTS.</h3> + + +<p>The public memorials of the years 1693 and 1694 speak of <i>oupires</i>, +vampires or ghosts, which are seen in Poland, and above all in Russia. +They make their appearance from noon to midnight, and come and suck +the blood of living men or animals in such abundance that sometimes it +flows from them at the nose, and principally at the ears, and +sometimes the corpse swims in its own blood oozed out in its +coffin.[<a href="#f472">472</a><a name="f472.1" id="f472.1"></a>] It is said that the vampire has a sort of hunger, which +makes him eat the linen which envelops him. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +reviving being, or <i>oupire</i>, comes out of his grave, or a demon in his +likeness, goes by night to embrace and hug violently his near +relations or his friends, and sucks their blood so much as to weaken +and attenuate them, and at last cause their death. This persecution +does not stop at one single person; it extends to the last person of +the family, if the course be not interrupted by cutting off the head +or opening the heart of the ghost, whose corpse is found in his +coffin, yielding, flexible, swollen, and rubicund, although he may +have been dead some time. There proceeds from his body a great +quantity of blood, which some mix up with flour to make bread of; and +that bread eaten in ordinary protects them from being tormented by the +spirit, which returns no more.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f472.1">472</a><a name="f472" id="f472"></a>] V. Moréri on the word <i>stryges</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV_2" id="CHAPTER_XIV_2"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>CONJECTURES OF THE "GLANEUR DE HOLLANDE," DUTCH GLEANER, IN 1733.—NO. +IX.</h3> + + +<p>The Dutch Gleaner, who is by no means credulous, supposes the truth of +these facts as certain, having no good reason for disputing them, and +reasons upon them in a way which shows he thinks lightly of the +matter; he asserts that the people, amongst whom vampires are seen, +are very ignorant and very credulous, so that the apparitions we are +speaking of are only the effects of a prejudiced fancy. The whole is +occasioned and augmented by the bad nourishment of these people, who, +the greater part of their time, eat only bread made of oats, roots, +and the bark of trees—aliments which can only engender gross blood, +which is consequently much disposed to corruption, and produces dark +and bad ideas in the imagination.</p> + +<p>He compares this disease to the bite of a mad dog, which communicates +its venom to the person who is bitten; thus, those who are infected by +vampirism communicate this dangerous poison to those with whom they +associate. Thence the wakefulness, dreams, and pretended apparitions +of vampires.</p> + +<p>He conjectures that this poison is nothing else than a worm, which +feeds upon the purest substance of man, constantly gnaws his heart, +makes the body die away, and does not forsake it even in the depth of +the grave. It is certain that the bodies of those who have been +poisoned, or who die of contagion, do not become stiff after their +death, because the blood does not congeal in the veins; on the +contrary, it rarifies and bubbles much the same as in vampires, whose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +beard, hair, and nails grow, whose skin is rosy, who appear to have +grown fat, on account of the blood which swells and abounds in them +everywhere.</p> + +<p>As to the cry uttered by the vampires when the stake is driven through +their heart, nothing is more natural; the air which is there confined, +and thus expelled with violence, necessarily produces that noise in +passing through the throat. Dead bodies often do as much without being +touched. He concludes that it is only an imagination that is deranged +by melancholy or superstition, which can fancy that the malady we have +just spoken of can be produced by vampire corpses, which come and suck +away, even to the last drop, all the blood in the body.</p> + +<p>A little before, he says that in 1732 they discovered again some +vampires in Hungary, Moravia, and Turkish Servia; that this phenomenon +is too well averred for it to be doubted; that several German +physicians have composed pretty thick volumes in Latin and German on +this matter; that the Germanic Academies and Universities still +resound with the names of Arnald Paul, of Stanoska, daughter of +Sovitzo, and of the Heyducq Millo, all famous vampires of the quarter +of Médreiga, in Hungary.</p> + +<p>Here is a letter which has been written to one of my friends, to be +communicated to me; it is on the subject of the ghosts of +Hungary;[<a href="#f473">473</a><a name="f473.1" id="f473.1"></a>] the writer thinks very differently from the Gleaner on +the subject of vampires.</p> + +<p>"In reply to the questions of the Abbé dom Calmet concerning vampires, +the undersigned has the honor to assure him that nothing is more true +or more certain than what he will doubtless have read about it in the +deeds or attestations which have been made public, and printed in all +the Gazettes in Europe. But amongst all these public attestations +which have appeared, the Abbé must fix his attention as a true and +notorious fact on that of the deputation from Belgrade, ordered by his +late Majesty Charles VI., of glorious memory, and executed by his +Serene Highness the late Duke Charles Alexander of Wirtemberg, then +Viceroy or Governor of the kingdom of Servia; but I cannot at present +cite the year or the day, for want of papers which I have not now by +me.</p> + +<p>"That prince sent off a deputation from Belgrade, half consisting of +military officers and half of civil, with the auditor-general of the +kingdom, to go to a village where a famous vampire, several years +deceased, was making great havoc amongst his kin; for note well, that +it is only in their family and amongst their own relations that these +blood-suckers delight in destroying our species. This deputa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>tion was +composed of men and persons well known for their morality and even +their information, of irreproachable character; and there were even +some learned men amongst the two orders: they were put to the oath, +and accompanied by a lieutenant of the grenadiers of the regiment of +Prince Alexander of Wirtemberg, and by twenty-four grenadiers of the +said regiment.</p> + +<p>"All that were most respectable, and the duke himself, who was then at +Belgrade, joined this deputation in order to be ocular spectators of +the veracious proof about to be made.</p> + +<p>"When they arrived at the place, they found that in the space of a +fortnight the vampire, uncle of five persons, nephews and nieces, had +already dispatched three of them and one of his own brothers. He had +begun with his fifth victim, the beautiful young daughter of his +niece, and had already sucked her twice, when a stop was put to this +sad tragedy by the following operations.</p> + +<p>"They repaired with the deputed commissaries to a village not far from +Belgrade, and that publicly, at night-fall, and went to the vampire's +grave. The gentleman could not tell me the time when those who had +died had been sucked, nor the particulars of the subject. The persons +whose blood had been sucked found themselves in a pitiable state of +languor, weakness, and lassitude, so violent is the torment. He had +been interred three years, and they saw on this grave a light +resembling that of a lamp, but not so bright.</p> + +<p>"They opened the grave, and found there a man as whole and apparently +as sound as any of us who were present; his hair, and the hairs on his +body, the nails, teeth, and eyes as firmly fast as they now are in +ourselves who exist, and his heart palpitating.</p> + +<p>"Next they proceeded to draw him out of his grave, the body in truth +not being flexible, but wanting neither flesh nor bone; then they +pierced his heart with a sort of round, pointed, iron lance; there +came out a whitish and fluid matter mixed with blood, but the blood +prevailing more than the matter, and all without any bad smell. After +that they cut off his head with a hatchet, like what is used in +England at executions; there came out also a matter and blood like +what I have just described, but more abundantly in proportion to what +had flowed from the heart.</p> + +<p>"And after all this they threw him back again into his grave, with +quick-lime to consume him promptly; and thenceforth his niece, who had +been twice sucked, grew better. At the place where these persons are +sucked a very blue spot is formed; the part whence the blood is drawn +is not determinate, sometimes it is in one place and sometimes in +another. It is a notorious fact, attested by the most authentic +documents, and passed or executed in sight of more than 1,300 persons, +all worthy of belief.</p> + +<p>"But I reserve, to satisfy more fully the curiosity of the learned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +Abbé dom Calmet, the pleasure of detailing to him more at length what +I have seen with my own eyes on this subject, and will give it to the +Chevalier de St. Urbain to send to him; too glad in that, as in +everything else, to find an occasion of proving to him that no one is +with such perfect veneration and respect as his very humble, and very +obedient servant, L. de Beloz, ci-devant Captain in the regiment of +his Serene Highness the late Prince Alexander of Wirtemberg, and his +Aid-de-Camp, and at this time first Captain of grenadiers in the +regiment of Monsieur the Baron Trenck."</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f473.1">473</a><a name="f473" id="f473"></a>] There is reason to believe that this is only a repetition of +what has already been said in Chapter X.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV_2" id="CHAPTER_XV_2"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>ANOTHER LETTER ON GHOSTS.</h3> + + +<p>In order to omit nothing which can throw light on this matter, I shall +insert here the letter of a very honest man, who is well informed +respecting ghosts. This letter was written to a relation.</p> + +<p>"You wish, my dear cousin, to be exactly informed of what takes place +in Hungary concerning ghosts who cause the death of many people in +that country. I can write to you learnedly upon it, for I have been +several years in those quarters, and I am naturally curious. I have +heard in my lifetime an infinite number of stories, true, or pretended +to be such, concerning spirits and sorceries, but out of a thousand I +have hardly believed a single one. We cannot be too circumspect on +this point without running the risk of being duped. Nevertheless, +there are certain facts so well attested that one cannot help +believing them. As to the ghosts of Hungary, the thing takes place in +this manner: A person finds himself attacked with languor, loses his +appetite, grows visibly thinner, and, at the end of eight or ten days, +sometimes a fortnight, dies, without fever, or any other symptom than +thinness and drying up of the blood.</p> + +<p>"They say in that country that it is a ghost which attaches itself to +such a person and sucks his blood. Of those who are attacked by this +malady the greater part think they see a white spectre which follows +them everywhere as the shadow follows the body. When we were quartered +among the Wallachians, in the ban of Temeswar, two horsemen of the +company in which I was cornet, died of this malady, and several +others, who also were attacked by it, would have died in the same +manner, if a corporal of our company had not put a stop to the +disorder by employing the remedy used by the people of the country in +such case. It is very remarkable, and although infallible, I never +read it in any ritual. This is it:—</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>"They choose a boy young enough to be certain that he is innocent of +any impurity; they place him on an unmutilated horse, which has never +stumbled, and is absolutely black. They make him ride about the +cemetery and pass over all the graves; that over which the animal +refuses to pass, in spite of repeated blows from a switch that is +delivered to his rider, is reputed to be filled by a vampire. They +open this grave, and find therein a corpse as fat and handsome as if +he were a man happily and quietly sleeping. They cut the throat of +this corpse with the stroke of a spade, and there flows forth the +finest vermilion blood in a great quantity. One might swear that it +was a healthy living man whose throat they were cutting. That done, +they fill up the grave, and we may reckon that the malady will cease, +and that all those who had been attacked by it will recover their +strength by degrees, like people recovering from a long illness, and +who have been greatly extenuated. That happened precisely to our +horsemen who had been seized with it. I was then commandant of the +company, my captain and my lieutenant being absent. I was piqued at +that corporal's having made the experiment without me, and I had all +the trouble in the world to resist the inclination I felt to give him +a severe caning—a merchandize which is very cheap in the emperor's +troops. I would have given the world to be present at this operation; +but I was obliged to make myself contented as it was."</p> + +<p>A relation of this same officer has written me word, the 17th of +October, 1746, that his brother, who has served during twenty years in +Hungary, and has very curiously examined into everything which is said +there concerning ghosts, acknowledges that the people of that country +are more credulous and superstitious than other nations, and they +attribute the maladies which happen to them to spells. That as soon as +they suspect a dead person of having sent them this illness, they +inform the magistrate of it, who, on the deposition of some witnesses, +causes the dead body to be exhumed. They cut off the head with a +spade, and if a drop of blood comes from it, they conclude that it is +the blood which he has sucked from the sick person. But the person who +writes appears to me very far from believing what is thought of these +things in that country.</p> + +<p>At Warsaw, a priest having ordered a saddler to make him a bridle for +his horse, died before the bridle was made, and as he was one of those +whom they call vampires in Poland, he came out of his grave dressed as +the ecclesiastics usually are when inhumed, took his horse from the +stable, mounted it, and went in the sight of all Warsaw to the +saddler's shop, where at first he found only the saddler's wife, who +was frightened, and called her husband; he came, and the priest having +asked for his bridle, he replied, "But you are dead, Mr. Curé." To +which he answered, "I am going to show<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> you I am not," and at the same +time struck him so hard that the poor saddler died a few days after, +and the priest returned to his grave.</p> + +<p>The steward of Count Simon Labienski, starost of Posnania, being dead, +the Countess Dowager de Labienski wished, from gratitude for his +services, to have him inhumed in the vault of the lords of that +family. This was done; and some time after, the sexton, who had the +care of the vault, perceived that there was some <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'drangement'.">derangement</ins> in the +place, and gave notice of it to the<span class="spacer"> </span>, who desired, +according to the received custom in Poland, that the steward's head +might be cut off, which was done in the presence of several persons, +and amongst others of the Sieur Jouvinski, a Polish officer, and +governor of the young Count Simon Labienski, who saw that when the +sexton took this corpse out of his tomb to cut off his head, he ground +his teeth, and the blood came from him as fluidly as that of a person +who died a violent death, which caused the hair of all those who were +present to stand on end; and they dipped a white pocket-handkerchief +in the blood of this corpse, and made all the family drink some of the +blood, that they might not be tormented.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI_2" id="CHAPTER_XVI_2"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>PRETENDED VESTIGES OF VAMPIRISM IN ANTIQUITY.</h3> + + +<p>Some learned men have thought they discovered some vestiges of +vampirism in the remotest antiquity; but all that they say of it does +not come near what is related of the vampires. The lamiæ, the strigæ, +the sorcerers whom they accused of sucking the blood of living +persons, and of thus causing their death, the magicians who were said +to cause the death of new-born children by charms and malignant +spells, are nothing less than what we understand by the name of +vampires; even were it to be owned that these lamiæ and strigæ have +really existed, which we do not believe can ever be well proved.</p> + +<p>I own that these terms are found in the versions of Holy Scripture. +For instance, Isaiah, describing the condition to which Babylon was to +be reduced after her ruin, says that she shall become the abode of +satyrs, lamiæ, and strigæ (in Hebrew, <i>lilith</i>). This last term, +according to the Hebrews, signifies the same thing, as the Greeks +express by <i>strix</i> and <i>lamiæ</i>, which are sorceresses or magicians, +who seek to put to death new-born children. Whence it comes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> that the +Jews are accustomed to write in the four corners of the chamber of a +woman just delivered, "Adam, Eve, begone from hence <i>lilith</i>."</p> + +<p>The ancient Greeks knew these dangerous sorceresses by the name of +<i>lamiæ</i>, and they believed that they devoured children, or sucked away +all their blood till they died.[<a href="#f474">474</a><a name="f474.1" id="f474.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>The Seventy, in Isaiah, translate the Hebrew <i>lilith</i> by <i>lamia</i>. +Euripides and the Scholiast of Aristophanes also make mention of it as +a fatal monster, the enemy of mortals. Ovid, speaking of the strigæ, +describes them as dangerous birds, which fly by night, and seek for +infants to devour them and nourish themselves with their blood.[<a href="#f475">475</a><a name="f475.1" id="f475.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>These prejudices had taken such deep root in the minds of the +barbarous people that they put to death persons suspected of being +strigæ, or sorceresses, and of eating people alive. Charlemagne, in +his Capitularies, which he composed for his new subjects,[<a href="#f476">476</a><a name="f476.1" id="f476.1"></a>] the +Saxons, condemns to death those who shall believe that a man or a +woman are sorcerers (striges esse) and eat living men. He condemns in +the same manner those who shall have them burnt, or give their flesh +to be eaten, or shall eat of it themselves.</p> + +<p>Wherein it may be remarked, first of all, that they believed there +were people who ate men alive; that they killed and burnt them; that +sometimes their flesh was eaten, as we have seen that in Russia they +eat bread kneaded with the blood of vampires; and that formerly their +corpses were exposed to wild beasts, as is still done in countries +where these ghosts are found, after having impaled them, or cut off +their head.</p> + +<p>The laws of the Lombards, in the same way, forbid that the servant of +another person should be put to death as a witch, <i>strix</i>, or <i>masca</i>. +This last word, <i>masca</i>, whence <i>mask</i>, has the same signification as +the Latin <i>larva</i>, a spirit, a phantom, a spectre.</p> + +<p>We may class in the number of ghosts the one spoken of in the +Chronicle of Sigibert, in the year 858.</p> + +<p>Theodore de Gaza[<a href="#f477">477</a><a name="f477.1" id="f477.1"></a>] had a little farm in Campania, which he had +cultivated by a laborer. As he was busy digging up the ground,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +he discovered a round vase, in which were the ashes of a dead man; +directly, a spectre appeared to him, who commanded him to put this +vase back again in the ground, with what it contained, or if he did +not do so he would kill his eldest son. The laborer gave no heed to +these threats, and in a few days his eldest son was found dead in his +bed. A little time after, the same spectre appeared to him again, +reiterating the same order, and threatening to kill his second son. +The laborer gave notice of all this to his master, Theodore de Gaza, +who came himself to his farm, and had everything put back into its +place. This spectre was apparently a demon, or the spirit of a pagan +interred in that spot.</p> + +<p>Michael Glycas[<a href="#f478">478</a><a name="f478.1" id="f478.1"></a>] relates that the emperor Basilius, having lost his +beloved son, obtained by means of a black monk of Santabaren, power to +behold his said son, who had died a little while before; he saw him, +and held him embraced a pretty long time, until he vanished away in +his arms. It was, then, only a phantom which appeared in his son's +form.</p> + +<p>In the diocese of Mayence, there was a spirit that year which made +itself manifest first of all by throwing stones, striking against the +walls of a house, as if with strong blows of a mallet; then talking, +and revealing unknown things; the authors of certain thefts, and other +things fit to spread the spirit of discord among the neighbors. At +last he directed his fury against one person in particular, whom he +liked to persecute and render odious to all the neighborhood, +proclaiming that he it was who excited the wrath of God against all +the village. He pursued him in every place, without giving him the +least moment of relaxation. He burnt all his harvest collected in his +house, and set fire to all the places he entered.</p> + +<p>The priests exorcised, said their prayers, dashed holy water about. +The spirit threw stones at them, and wounded several persons. After +the priests had withdrawn, they heard him bemoaning himself, and +saying that he had hidden himself under the hood of a priest, whom he +named, and accused of having seduced the daughter of a lawyer of the +place. He continued these troublesome hauntings for three years, and +did not leave off till he had burnt all the houses in the village.</p> + +<p>Here follows an instance which bears connection with what is related +of the ghosts of Hungary, who come to announce the death of their near +relations. Evodius, Bishop of Upsala, in Africa, writes to St. +Augustine, in 415,[<a href="#f479">479</a><a name="f479.1" id="f479.1"></a>] that a young man whom he had with him, as a +writer, or secretary, and who led a life of rare innocence and purity, +having just died at the age of twenty-two, a virtuous widow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +saw in a dream a certain deacon who, with other servants of God, of +both sexes, ornamented a palace which seemed to shine as if it were of +silver. She asked who they were preparing it for, and they told her it +was for a young man who died the day before. She afterwards beheld in +the same palace an old man, clad in white, who commanded two persons +to take this young man out of his tomb and lead him to heaven.</p> + +<p>In the same house where this young man died, an aged man, half asleep, +saw a man with a branch of laurel in his hand, upon which something +was written.</p> + +<p>Three days after the death of the young man, his father, who was a +priest named Armenius, having retired to a monastery to console +himself with the saintly old man, Theasus, Bishop of Manblosa, the +deceased son appeared to a monk of this monastery, and told him that +God had received him among the blessed, and that he had sent him to +fetch his father. In effect, four days after, his father had a slight +degree of fever, but it was so slight that the physician assured him +there was nothing to fear. He nevertheless took to his bed, and at the +same time, as he was yet speaking, he expired.</p> + +<p>It was not of fright that he died, for it does not appear that he knew +anything of what the monk had seen in his dream.</p> + +<p>The same bishop, Evodius, relates that several persons had been seen +after their death to go and come in their houses as during their +lifetime, either in the night, or even in open day. "They say also," +adds Evodius, "that in the places where bodies are interred, and +especially in the churches, they often hear a noise at a certain hour +of the night like persons praying aloud. I remember," continues +Evodius, "having heard it said by several, and, amongst others, by a +holy priest, who was witness to these apparitions, that they had seen +coming out of the baptistry a great number of these spirits, with +shining bodies of light, and had afterwards heard them pray in the +middle of the church." The same Evodius says, moreover, that +Profuturus, Privus, and Servilius, who had lived very piously in the +monastery, had talked with himself since their death, and what they +had told him had come to pass.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine, after having related what Evodius said, acknowledges +that a great distinction is to be made between true and false visions, +and testifies that he could wish to have some sure means of justly +discerning between them.</p> + +<p>But who shall give us the knowledge necessary for such discerning, so +difficult and yet so requisite, since we have not even any certain and +demonstrative marks by which to discern infallibly between true and +false miracles, or to distinguish the works of the Almighty from the +illusions of the angel of darkness.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f474.1">474</a><a name="f474" id="f474"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Neu pransæ lamiæ vivum puerum ex trahat alvo."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"><i>Horat. Art. Poet.</i> 340.</span></p> + +<p>[<a href="#f475.1">475</a><a name="f475" id="f475"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Carpere dicuntur lactentia viscera rostris,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Et plenum poco sanguine guttur habent,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Est illis strigibus nomen."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f476.1">476</a><a name="f476" id="f476"></a>] Capitul. Caroli Magni pro partibus Saxoniæ, i. 6:—"Si quis à +Diabolo deceptus crediderit secundùm morem Paganorum, virum aliquem +aut fœminam strigem esse, et homines comedere; et propter hoc ipsum +incenderit, vel carnem ejus ad comedendum dederit, vel ipsam comederit +capitis sententià puniatur."</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f477.1">477</a><a name="f477" id="f477"></a>] Le Loyer, des Spectres, lib. ii. p. 427.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f478.1">478</a><a name="f478" id="f478"></a>] Mich. Glycas, part iv. Annal.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f479.1">479</a><a name="f479" id="f479"></a>] Aug. Epist. 658, and Epist. 258, p. 361.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII_2" id="CHAPTER_XVII_2"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>OF GHOSTS IN THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES.</h3> + + +<p>Thomas Bartholin, the son, in his treatise entitled "<i>Of the Causes of +the contempt of Death felt by the Ancient Danes while yet Gentiles</i>," +remarks[<a href="#f480">480</a><a name="f480.1" id="f480.1"></a>] that a certain Hordus, an Icelander, saw spectres with +his bodily eyes, fought against them and resisted them. These +thoroughly believed that the spirits of the dead came back with their +bodies, which they afterwards forsook and returned to their graves. +Bartholinus relates in particular that a man named Asmond, son of +Alfus, having had himself buried alive in the same sepulchre with his +friend Asvitus, and having had victuals brought there, was taken out +from thence some time after covered with blood, in consequence of a +combat he had been obliged to maintain against Asvitus, who had +haunted him and cruelly assaulted him.</p> + +<p>He reports after that what the poets teach concerning the vocation of +spirits by the power of magic, and of their return into bodies which +are not decayed although a long time dead. He shows that the Jews have +believed the same—that the souls came back from time to time to +revisit their dead bodies during the first year after their decease. +He demonstrates that the ancient northern nations were persuaded that +persons recently deceased often made their bodily appearance; and he +relates some examples of it: he adds that they attacked these +dangerous spectres, which haunted and maltreated all who had any +fields in the <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'neigborhood'.">neighborhood</ins> of their tombs; that they cut off the head +of a man named Gretter, who also returned to earth. At other times +they thrust a stake through the body and thus fixed them to the +ground.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Nam ferro secui mox caput ejus,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Perfodique nocens stipite corpus."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Formerly, they took the corpse from the tomb and reduced it to ashes; +they did thus towards a spectre named Gardus, which they believed the +author of all the fatal apparitions that had appeared during the +winter.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f480.1">480</a><a name="f480" id="f480"></a>] Thomas Bartolin, de Causis Contemptûs Mortis à Danis, lib. ii. +c. 2.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII_2" id="CHAPTER_XVIII_2"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>GHOSTS IN ENGLAND.</h3> + + +<p>William of Malmsbury says[<a href="#f481">481</a><a name="f481.1" id="f481.1"></a>] that in England they believed that the +wicked came back to earth after their death, and were brought back in +their own bodies by the devil, who governed them and caused them to +act; <i>Nequam hominis cadaver post mortem dæmone agente discurrere</i>.</p> + +<p>William of Newbridge, who flourished after the middle of the twelfth +century, relates that in his time was seen in England, in the county +of Buckingham, a man who appeared bodily, as when alive, three +succeeding nights to his wife, and after that to his nearest +relatives. They only defended themselves from his frightful visits by +watching and making a noise when they perceived him coming. He even +showed himself to a few persons in the day time. Upon that, the Bishop +of Lincoln assembled his council, who told him that similar things had +often happened in England, and that the only known remedy against this +evil was to burn the body of the ghost. The bishop was averse to this +opinion, which appeared cruel to him: he first of all wrote a schedule +of absolution, which was placed on the body of the defunct, which was +found in the same state as if he had been buried that very day; and +from that time they heard no more of him.</p> + +<p>The author of this narrative adds, that this sort of apparitions would +appear incredible, if several instances had not occurred in his time, +and if they did not know several persons who believed in them.</p> + +<p>The same Newbridge says, in the following chapter, that a man who had +been interred at Berwick, came out of his grave every night and caused +great confusion in all the neighborhood. It was even said that he had +boasted that he should not cease to disturb the living till they had +reduced him to ashes. Then they selected ten bold and vigorous young +men, who took him up out of the ground, cut his body to pieces, and +placed it on a pile, whereon it was burned to ashes; but beforehand, +some one amongst them having said that he could not be consumed by +fire until they had torn out his heart,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +his side was pierced with a stake, and when they had taken out his +heart through the opening, they set fire to the pile; he was consumed +by the flames and appeared no more.</p> + +<p>The pagans also believed that the bodies of the dead rested not, +neither were they safe from magical evocations, so long as they +remained unconsumed by fire, or undecayed underground.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Tali tua membra sepulchro,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Talibus exuram Stygio cum carmine Sylvis,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ut nullos cantata Magos exaudiat umbra,"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>said an enchantress, in Lucan, to a spirit she evoked.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f481.1">481</a><a name="f481" id="f481"></a>] William of Malms. lib. ii. c. 4.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX_2" id="CHAPTER_XIX_2"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>GHOSTS IN PERU.</h3> + + +<p>The instance we are about to relate occurred in Peru, in the country +of the Ititans. A girl named Catharine died at the age of sixteen an +unhappy death, and she had been guilty of several sacrilegious +actions. Her body immediately after her decease was so putrid that +they were obliged to put it out of the dwelling in the open air, to +escape from the bad smell which exhaled from it. At the same time they +heard as it were dogs howling; and a horse which before then was very +gentle began to rear, to prance, strike the ground with its feet, and +break its bonds; a young man who was in bed was pulled out of bed +violently by the arm; a servant maid received a kick on the shoulder, +of which she bore the marks for several days. All that happened before +the body of Catharine was inhumed. Some time afterwards, several +inhabitants of the place saw a great quantity of tiles and bricks +thrown down with a great noise in the house where she died. The +servant of the house was dragged about by the foot, without any one +appearing to touch her, and that in the presence of her mistress and +ten or twelve other women.</p> + +<p>The same servant, on entering a room to fetch some clothes, perceived +Catharine, who rose up to seize hold of an earthen pot; the girl ran +away directly, but the spectre took the vase, dashed it against the +wall, and broke it into a thousand pieces. The mistress, who ran +thither on hearing the noise, saw that a quantity of bricks were +thrown against the wall. The next day an image of the crucifix fixed +against the wall was all on a sudden torn from its place in the +presence of them all, and broken into three pieces.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX_2" id="CHAPTER_XX_2"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>GHOSTS IN LAPLAND.</h3> + + +<p>Vestiges of these ghosts are still found in Lapland, where it is said +they see a great number of spectres, who appear among those people, +speak to them, and eat with them, without their being able to get rid +of them; and as they are persuaded that these are the manes or shades +of their relations who thus disturb them, they have no means of +guarding against their intrusions more efficacious than to inter the +bodies of their nearest relatives under the hearthstone, in order, +apparently, that there they may be sooner consumed. In general, they +believe that the manes, or spirits, which come out of bodies, or +corpses, are usually malevolent till they have re-entered other +bodies. They pay some respect to the spectres, or demons, which they +believe roam about rocks, mountains, lakes, and rivers, much as in +former times the Romans paid honor to the fauns, the gods of the +woods, the nymphs, and the tritons.</p> + +<p>Andrew Alciat[<a href="#f482">482</a><a name="f482.1" id="f482.1"></a>] says that he was consulted concerning certain women +whom the Inquisition had caused to be burnt as witches for having +occasioned the death of some children by their spells, and for having +threatened the mothers of other children to kill these also; and in +fact they did die the following night of disorders unknown to the +physicians. Here we again see those strigæ, or witches, who delight in +destroying children.</p> + +<p>But all this relates to our subject very indirectly. The vampires of +which we are discoursing are very different from all those just +mentioned.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f482.1">482</a><a name="f482" id="f482"></a>] Andr. Alciat. Parergon Juris, viii. c. 22.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI_2" id="CHAPTER_XXI_2"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>REAPPEARANCE OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN DEAD FOR SOME MONTHS.</h3> + + +<p>Peter, the venerable[<a href="#f483">483</a><a name="f483.1" id="f483.1"></a>] abbot of Clugni, relates the conversation +which he had in the presence of the bishops of Oleron and of Osma, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +in Spain, together with several monks, with an old monk named Pierre +<ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'd'Englebert'.">d'Engelbert</ins>, who, after living a long time in his day in high +reputation for valor and honor, had withdrawn from the world after the +death of his wife, and entered the order of Clugni. Peter the +Venerable having come to see him, Pierre d'Engelbert related to him +that one day when in his bed and wide awake, he saw in his chamber, +whilst the moon shone very brightly, a man named Sancho, whom he had +several years before sent at his own expense to the assistance of +Alphonso, king of Arragon, who was making war on Castile. Sancho had +returned safe and sound from this expedition, but some time after he +fell sick and died in his house.</p> + +<p>Four months after his death, Sancho showed himself to Pierre +d'Engelbert, as we have said. Sancho was naked, with the exception of +a rag for mere decency round him. He began to uncover the burning +wood, as if to warm himself, or that he might be more distinguishable. +Peter asked him who he was. "I am," replied he, in a broken and hoarse +voice, "Sancho, your servant." "And what do you come here for?" "I am +going," said he, "into Castile, with a number of others, in order to +expiate the harm we did during the last war, on the same spot where it +was committed: for my own part, I pillaged the ornaments of a church, +and for that I am condemned to take this journey. You can assist me +very much by your good works; and madame, your spouse, who owes me yet +eight sols for the remainder of my salary, will oblige me infinitely +if she will bestow them on the poor in my name." Peter then asked him +news of one Pierre de Fais, his friend, who had been dead a short +time. Sancho told him that he was saved.</p> + +<p>"And Bernier, our fellow-citizen, what is become of him?" "He is +damned," said he, "for having badly performed his office of judge, and +for having troubled and plundered the widow and the innocent."</p> + +<p>Peter added, "Could you tell me any news of Alphonso, king of Arragon, +who died a few years ago?"</p> + +<p>Then another spectre, that Peter had not before seen, and which he now +observed distinctly by the light of the moon, seated in the recess of +the window, said to him—"Do not ask him for news of King Alphonso; he +has not been with us long enough to know anything about him. I, who +have been dead five years, can give you news of him. Alphonso was with +us for some time, but the monks of Clugni extricated him from thence. +I know not where he is now." Then, addressing himself to his +companion, Sancho, "Come," said he, "let us follow our companions; it +is time to set off." Sancho reiterated his entreaties to Peter, his +lord, and went out of the house.</p> + +<p>Peter waked his wife who was lying by him, and who had neither<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> seen +nor heard anything of all this dialogue, and asked her the question, +"Do not you owe something to Sancho, that domestic who was in our +service, and died a little while ago?" She answered, "I owe him still +eight sols." From this, Peter had no more doubt of the truth of what +Sancho had said to him, gave these eight sols to the poor, adding a +large sum of his own, and caused masses and prayers to be said for the +soul of the defunct. Peter was then in the world and married; but when +he related this to Peter the Venerable, he was a monk of Clugni.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine relates that Sylla,[<a href="#f484">484</a><a name="f484.1" id="f484.1"></a>] on arriving at Tarentum, +offered there sacrifices to the gods, that is to say, to the demons; +and having observed on the upper part of the liver of the victim a +sort of crown of gold, the aruspice assured him that this crown was +the presage of a certain victory, and told him to eat alone that liver +whereon he had seen the crown.</p> + +<p>Almost at the same moment, a servitor of Lucius Pontius came to him +and said, "Sylla, I am come from the goddess Bellona. The victory is +yours; and as a proof of my prediction, I announce to you that, ere +long, the capitol will be reduced to ashes." At the same time, this +man left the camp in great haste, and on the morrow he returned with +still more eagerness, and affirmed that the capitol had been burnt, +which was found to be true.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine had no doubt but that the demon who had caused the crown +of gold to appear on the liver of the victim had inspired this +diviner, and that the same bad spirit having foreseen the +conflagration of the capitol had announced it after the event by that +same man.</p> + +<p>The same holy doctor relates,[<a href="#f485">485</a><a name="f485.1" id="f485.1"></a>] after Julius Obsequens, in his Book +of Prodigies, that in the open country of Campania, where some time +after the Roman armies fought with such animosity during the civil +war, they heard at first loud noises like soldiers fighting; and +afterwards several persons affirmed that they had seen for some days +two armies, who joined battle; after which they remarked in the same +part as it were vestiges of the combatants, and the marks of horses' +feet, as if the combat had really taken place there. St. Augustine +doubts not that all this was the work of the devil, who wished to +reassure mankind against the horrors of civil warfare, by making them +believe that their gods being at war amongst themselves, mankind need +not be more moderate, nor more touched by the evils which war brings +with it.</p> + +<p>The abbot of Ursperg, in his Chronicle, year 1123, says that in the +territory of Worms they saw during many days a multitude of armed men, +on foot and on horseback, going and coming with great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +noise, like people who are going to a solemn assembly. Every day they +marched, towards the hour of noon, to a mountain, which appeared to be +their place of rendezvous. Some one in the neighborhood bolder than +the rest, having guarded himself with the sign of the cross, +approached one of these armed men, conjuring him in the name of God to +declare the meaning of this army, and their design. The soldier or +phantom replied, "We are not what you imagine; we are neither vain +phantoms, nor true soldiers; we are the spirits of those who were +killed on this spot a long time ago. The arms and horses which you +behold are the instruments of our punishment, as they were of our +sins. We are all on fire, though you can see nothing about us which +appears inflamed." It is said that they remarked in this company the +Count Emico, who had been killed a few years before, and who declared +that he might be extricated from that state by alms and prayers.</p> + +<p>Trithemius, in his <i>Annales Hirsauginses</i>, year 1013,[<a href="#f486">486</a><a name="f486.1" id="f486.1"></a>] asserts +that there was seen in broad day, on a certain day in the year, an +army of cavalry and infantry, which came down from a mountain and +ranged themselves on a neighboring plain. They were spoken to and +conjured to speak, and they declared themselves to be the spirits of +those who a few years before had been killed, with arms in their +hands, in that same spot.</p> + +<p>The same Trithemius relates elsewhere[<a href="#f487">487</a><a name="f487.1" id="f487.1"></a>] the apparition of the Count +of Spanheim, deceased a little while before, who appeared in the +fields with his pack of hounds. This count spoke to his curé, and +asked his prayers.</p> + +<p>Vipert, Archdeacon of the Church of Toul, cotemporary author of the +Life of the holy Pope Leo IX., who died 1059, relates[<a href="#f488">488</a><a name="f488.1" id="f488.1"></a>] that, some +years before the death of this holy pope, an infinite multitude of +persons, habited in white, was seen to pass by the town of Narni, +advancing from the eastern side. This troop defiled from the morning +until three in the afternoon, but towards evening it notably +diminished. At this sight all the population of the town of Narni +mounted upon the walls, fearing they might be hostile troops, and saw +them defile with extreme surprise.</p> + +<p>One burgher, more resolute than the others, went out of the town, and +having observed in the crowd a man of his acquaintance, called to him +by name, and asked him the meaning of this multitude of travelers: he +replied, "We are spirits which not having yet expiated all our sins, +and not being as yet sufficiently pure to enter the kingdom of heaven, +we are going into holy places in a spirit of repentance; we are now +coming from visiting the tomb of St. Martin, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> +we are going straight to Notre-Dame de Farse." The man was so +frightened at this vision that he was ill for a twelvemonth—it was he +who recounted the circumstance to Pope Leo IX. All the town of Narni +was witness to this procession, which took place in broad day.</p> + +<p>The night preceding the battle which was fought in Egypt between Mark +Antony and Cæsar,[<a href="#f489">489</a><a name="f489.1" id="f489.1"></a>] whilst all the city of Alexandria was in +extreme uneasiness in expectation of this action, they saw in the city +what appeared a multitude of people, who shouted and howled like +bacchanals, and they heard a confused sound of instruments in honor of +Bacchus, as Mark Antony was accustomed to celebrate this kind of +festivals. This troop, after having run through the greater part of +the town, went out of it by the door leading to the enemy, and +disappeared.</p> + +<p>That is all which has come to my knowledge concerning the vampires and +ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland, and of the other +ghosts of France and Germany. We will explain our opinion after this +on the reality, and other circumstances of these sorts of revived and +resuscitated beings. Here follows another species, which is not less +marvelous—I mean the excommunicated, who leave the church and their +graves with their bodies, and do not re-enter till after the sacrifice +is completed.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f483.1">483</a><a name="f483" id="f483"></a>] Betrus Venerab. Abb. Cluniac. de miracul. lib. i. c. 28. p. +1293.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f484.1">484</a><a name="f484" id="f484"></a>] Lib. ii. de Civ. Dei, cap. 24.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f485.1">485</a><a name="f485" id="f485"></a>] Aug. lib. ii. de Civ. Dei, c. 25.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f486.1">486</a><a name="f486" id="f486"></a>] Trith. Chron. Hirs. p. 155, ad an. 1013.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f487.1">487</a><a name="f487" id="f487"></a>] Idem, tom. ii. Chron. Hirs. p. 227.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f488.1">488</a><a name="f488" id="f488"></a>] Vita S. Leonis Papæ.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f489.1">489</a><a name="f489" id="f489"></a>] Plutarch, in Anton.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII_2" id="CHAPTER_XXII_2"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS WHO GO OUT OF THE CHURCHES.</h3> + + +<p>St. Gregory the Great relates[<a href="#f490">490</a><a name="f490.1" id="f490.1"></a>] that St. Benedict having threatened +to excommunicate two nuns, these nuns died in that state. Some time +after, their nurse saw them go out of the church, as soon as the +deacon had cried out, "Let all those who do not receive the communion +withdraw." The nurse having informed St. Benedict of the circumstance, +that saint sent an oblation, or a loaf, in order that it might be +offered for them in token of reconciliation; and from that time the +two nuns remained in quiet in their sepulchres.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine says[<a href="#f491">491</a><a name="f491.1" id="f491.1"></a>] that the names of martyrs were recited in the +diptychs not to pray for them, and the names of the virgin nuns +deceased to pray for them. "Perhibet præclarissimum testimonium +ecclesiastica auctoritas, in quâ fidelibus notum est quo loco<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +martyres et que defunctæ sanctimoniales ad altaris sacramenta +recitantur." It was then, perhaps, when they were named at the altar, +that they left the church. But St. Gregory says expressly, that it was +when the deacon cried aloud, "Let those who do not receive the +communion retire."</p> + +<p>The same St. Gregory relates that a young priest of the same St. +Benedict,[<a href="#f492">492</a><a name="f492.1" id="f492.1"></a>] having gone out of his monastery without leave and +without receiving the benediction of the abbot, died in his +disobedience, and was interred in consecrated ground. The next day +they found his body out of the grave: the relations gave notice of it +to St. Benedict, who gave them a consecrated wafer, and told them to +place it with proper respect on the breast of the young priest; it was +placed there, and the earth no more rejected him from her bosom.</p> + +<p>This usage, or rather this abuse, of placing the holy wafer in the +grave with the dead, is very singular; but it was not unknown to +antiquity. The author of the Life of St. Basil[<a href="#f493">493</a><a name="f493.1" id="f493.1"></a>] the Great, given +under the name of St. Amphilochus, says that that saint reserved the +third part of a consecrated wafer to be interred with him; he received +it and expired while it was yet in his mouth; but some councils had +already condemned this practice, and others have since then proscribed +it, as contrary to the institutions of Jesus Christ.[<a href="#f494">494</a><a name="f494.1" id="f494.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>Still, they did not omit in a few places putting holy wafers in the +tombs or graves of some persons who were remarkable for their +sanctity, as in the tomb of St. Othmar, abbot of St. Gal,[<a href="#f495">495</a><a name="f495.1" id="f495.1"></a>] wherein +were found under his head several round leaves, which were indubitably +believed to be the Host.</p> + +<p>In the Life of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarn,[<a href="#f496">496</a><a name="f496.1" id="f496.1"></a>] we read that a +quantity of consecrated wafers were found on his breast. Amalarius +cites of the Venerable Bede, that a holy wafer was placed on the +breast of this saint before he was inhumed; "oblata super sanctum +pectus positâ."[<a href="#f497">497</a><a name="f497.1" id="f497.1"></a>] This particularity is not noted in Bede's +History, but in the second Life of St. Cuthbert. Amalarius remarks +that this custom proceeds doubtless from the Church of Rome, which had +communicated it to the English; and the Reverend Father Menard[<a href="#f498">498</a><a name="f498.1" id="f498.1"></a>] +maintains that it is not this practice which is condemned by the +above-mentioned Councils, but that of giving the communion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> +to the dead by insinuating the holy wafer into their mouths. However +it may be regarding this practice, we know that Cardinal Humbert,[<a href="#f499">499</a><a name="f499.1" id="f499.1"></a>] +in his reply to the<span class="spacer"> </span>of the patriarch Michael +Cerularius, reproves the Greeks for burying the Host, when there +remained any of it after the communion of the faithful.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f490.1">490</a><a name="f490" id="f490"></a>] Greg. Magn. lib. ii. Dialog. c. 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f491.1">491</a><a name="f491" id="f491"></a>] Aug. de St. Virgin. c. xlv. 364.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f492.1">492</a><a name="f492" id="f492"></a>] Greg. lib. ii. Dialog. c. 34.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f493.1">493</a><a name="f493" id="f493"></a>] Amphil. in Vit. S. Basilii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f494.1">494</a><a name="f494" id="f494"></a>] Vide Balsamon. ad Canon. 83. Concil. in Trullo, et Concil. +Carthagin. III. c. 6. Hippon. c. 5. Antissiod. c. 12.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f495.1">495</a><a name="f495" id="f495"></a>] Vit. S. Othmari, c. 3.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f496.1">496</a><a name="f496" id="f496"></a>] Vit. S. Cuthberti, lib. iv. c. 2. apud Bolland. 26 Martii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f497.1">497</a><a name="f497" id="f497"></a>] Amalar. de Offic. Eccles. lib. iv. c. 41.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f498.1">498</a><a name="f498" id="f498"></a>] Menard. not. in Sacrament. S. Greg. Magn. pp. 484, 485.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f499.1">499</a><a name="f499" id="f499"></a>] Humbert. Card. Bibliot. P. P. lib. xviii. et tom. iv. Concil.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII_2" id="CHAPTER_XXIII_2"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>SOME OTHER INSTANCES OF EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS BEING CAST OUT OF +CONSECRATED GROUND.</h3> + + +<p>We see again in history, several other examples of the dead bodies of +excommunicated persons being cast out of consecrated earth; for +instance, in the life of St. Gothard, Bishop of Hildesheim,[<a href="#f500">500</a><a name="f500.1" id="f500.1"></a>] it is +related that this saint having excommunicated certain persons for +their rebellion and their sins, they did not cease, in spite of his +excommunications, to enter the church, and remain there though +forbidden by the saint, whilst even the dead, who had been interred +there years since, and had been placed there without their sentence of +excommunication being removed, obeyed him, arose from their tombs, and +left the church. After mass, the saint, addressing himself to these +rebels, reproached them for their hardness of heart, and told them +those dead people would rise against them in the day of judgment. At +the same time, going out of the church, he gave absolution to the +excommunicated dead, and allowed them to re-enter it, and repose in +their graves as before. The Life of St. Gothard was written by one of +his disciples, a canon of his cathedral; and this saint died on the +4th of May, 938.</p> + +<p>In the second Council, held at Limoges,[<a href="#f501">501</a><a name="f501.1" id="f501.1"></a>] in 1031, at which a great +many bishops, abbots, priests and deacons were present, they reported +the instances which we had just cited from St. Benedict, to show the +respect in which sentences of excommunication, pronounced by +ecclesiastical superiors, were held. Then the Bishop of Cahors, who +was present, related a circumstance which had happened to him a short +time before. "A cavalier of my diocese, having been killed in +excommunication, I would not accede to the prayers of his friends, who +implored to grant him absolution; I desired to make an example of him, +in order to inspire others with fear. But he was in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>terred by soldiers +or gentlemen (<i>milites</i>) without my permission, without the presence +of the priests, in a church dedicated to St. Peter. The next morning +his body was found out of the ground, and thrown naked far from the +spot; his grave remaining entire, and without any sign of having been +touched. The soldiers or gentlemen (<i>milites</i>) who had interred him, +having opened the grave, found in it only the linen in which he had +been wrapped; they buried him again, and covered him with an enormous +quantity of earth and stones. The next day they found the corpse +outside the tomb, without its appearing that any one had worked at it. +The same thing happened five times; at last they buried him as they +could, at a distance from the cemetery, in unconsecrated ground; which +filled the neighboring seigneurs with so much terror that they all +came to me to make their peace. That is a fact, invested with +everything which can render it incontestable."</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f500.1">500</a><a name="f500" id="f500"></a>] Vit. S. Gothardi, Sæcul. vi. Bened. parte c. p. 434.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f501.1">501</a><a name="f501" id="f501"></a>] Tom. ix. Concil. an 1031, p. 702.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV_2" id="CHAPTER_XXIV_2"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3>AN INSTANCE OF AN EXCOMMUNICATED MARTYR BEING CAST OUT OF THE EARTH.</h3> + + +<p>We read in the <i>menées</i> of the Greeks, on the 15th of October, that a +monk of the Desert of Sheti, having been excommunicated by him who had +the care of his conduct, for some act of disobedience, he left the +desert, and came to Alexandria, where he was arrested by the governor +of the city, despoiled of his conventual habit, and ardently solicited +to sacrifice to false gods. The solitary resisted nobly, and was +tormented in various ways, until at last they cut off his head, and +threw his body outside of the city, to be devoured by dogs. The +Christians took it away in the night, and having embalmed it and +enveloped it in fine linen, they interred it in the church as a +martyr, in an honorable place; but during the holy sacrifice, the +deacon having cried aloud, as usual, that the catechumens and those +who did not take the communion were to withdraw, they suddenly beheld +the martyr's tomb open of itself, and his body retire into the +vestibule of the church; after the mass, it returned to its sepulchre.</p> + + +<p>A pious person having prayed for three days, learnt by the voice of an +angel that this monk had incurred excommunication for having disobeyed +his superior, and that he would remain bound until that same superior +had given him absolution. Then they went to the desert directly, and +brought the saintly old man, who caused<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> the coffin of the martyr to +be opened, and absolved him, after which he remained in peace in his +tomb.</p> + +<p>This instance appears to me rather suspicious. 1. In the time that the +Desert of Sheti was peopled with solitary monks, there were no longer +any persecutors at Alexandria. They troubled no one there, either +concerning the profession of Christianity, or on the religious +profession—they would sooner have persecuted these idolators and +pagans. The Christian religion was then dominant and respected +throughout all Egypt, above all, in Alexandria. 2. The monks of Sheti +were rather hermits than cenobites, and a monk had no authority there +to excommunicate his brother. 3. It does not appear that the monk in +question had deserved excommunication, at least major excommunication, +which deprives the faithful of the entry of the church, and the +participation of the holy mysteries. The bearing of the Greek text is +simply, that he remained obedient for some time to his spiritual +father, but that having afterwards fallen into disobedience, he +withdrew from the hands of the old man without any legitimate cause, +and went away to Alexandria. All that deserves doubtlessly even major +excommunication, if this monk had quitted his profession and retired +from the monastery to lead a secular life; but at that time the monks +were not, as now, bound by vows of stability and obedience to their +regular superiors, who had not a right to excommunicate them with +grand excommunication. We will speak of this again by-and-by.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV_2" id="CHAPTER_XXV_2"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h3>A MAN REJECTED FROM THE CHURCH FOR HAVING REFUSED TO PAY TITHES.</h3> + + +<p>John Brompton, Abbot of Sornat in England,[<a href="#f502">502</a><a name="f502.1" id="f502.1"></a>] says that we may read +in very old histories that St. Augustin, the Apostle of England, +wishing to persuade a gentleman to pay the tithes, God permitted that +this saint having said before all the people, before the commencement +of the mass, that no excommunicated person should assist at the holy +sacrifice, they saw a man who had been interred for 150 years leave +the church.</p> + +<p>After mass, St. Augustin, preceded by the cross, went to ask this dead +man why he went out? The dead man replied that it was because he had +died in a state of excommunication. The saint asked him, where was the +sepulchre of the priest who had pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>nounced against him the sentence +of excommunication? They went thither; St. Augustin commanded him to +rise; he came to life, and avowed that he had excommunicated the man +for his crimes, and particularly for his obstinacy in refusing to pay +tithes; then, by order of St. Augustin, he gave him absolution, and +the dead man returned to his tomb. The priest entreated the saint to +permit him also to return to his sepulchre, which was granted him. +This story appears to me still more suspicious than the preceding one. +In the time of St. Augustin, the Apostle of England, there was no +obligation as yet to pay tithes on pain of excommunication, and much +less a hundred and fifty years before that time—above all in England.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f502.1">502</a><a name="f502" id="f502"></a>] John Brompton, Chronic. vide ex Bolland. 26 Maii, p. 396.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI_2" id="CHAPTER_XXVI_2"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE SHOWN SIGNS OF LIFE AFTER THEIR DEATH, +AND WHO HAVE DRAWN BACK FROM RESPECT, TO MAKE ROOM OR GIVE PLACE TO +SOME WHO WERE MORE WORTHY THAN THEMSELVES.</h3> + + +<p>Tertullian relates[<a href="#f503">503</a><a name="f503.1" id="f503.1"></a>] an instance to which he had been witness—<i>de +meo didici</i>. A woman who belonged to the church, to which she had been +given as a slave, died in the prime of life, after being once married +only, and that for a short time, was brought to the church. Before +putting her in the ground, the priest offering the sacrifice and +raising his hands in prayer, this woman, who had her hands extended at +her side, raised them at the same time, and put them together as a +supplicant; then, when the peace was given, she replaced herself in +her former position.</p> + +<p>Tertullian adds that another body, dead, and buried in a cemetery, +withdrew on one side to give place to another corpse which they were +about to inter near it. He relates these instances as a suite to what +was said by Plato and Democritus, that souls remained some time near +the dead bodies they had inhabited, which they preserved sometimes +from corruption, and often caused their hair, beard, and nails to grow +in their graves. Tertullian does not approve of the opinion of these; +he even refutes them pretty well; but he owns that the instances I +have just spoken of are favorable enough to that opinion, which is +also that of the Hebrews, as we have before seen.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>It is said that after the death of the celebrated +Abelard,[<a href="#f504">504</a><a name="f504.1" id="f504.1"></a>] who +was interred at the Monastery of the Paraclete, the Abbess Heloisa, +his spouse, being also deceased, and having requested to be buried in +the same grave, at her approach Abelard extended his arms and received +her into his bosom: <i>elevatis brachiis illam recepit, et ita eam +amplexatus brachia sua strinxit</i>. This circumstance is certainly +neither proved nor probable; the Chronicle whence it is extracted had +probably taken it from some popular rumor.</p> + +<p>The author of the Life of St. John the Almoner,[<a href="#f505">505</a><a name="f505.1" id="f505.1"></a>] which was written +immediately after his death by Leontius, Bishop of Naples, a town in +the Isle of Cyprus, relates that St. John the Almoner being dead at +Amatunta, in the same island, his body was placed between that of two +bishops, who drew back on each side respectfully to make room for him +in sight of all present; <i>non unus, neque decem, neque centum +viderunt, sed omnis turba, quæ convenit ad ejus sepulturam</i>, says the +author cited. Metaphrastes, who had read the life of the saint in +Greek, repeats the same fact.</p> + +<p>Evagrius de Pont[<a href="#f506">506</a><a name="f506.1" id="f506.1"></a>] says, that a holy hermit named Thomas, and +surnamed Salus, because he counterfeited madness, dying in the +hospital of Daphné, near the city of Antioch, was buried in the +strangers' cemetery, but every day he was found out of the ground at a +distance from the other dead bodies, which he avoided. The inhabitants +of the place informed Ephraim, Bishop of Antioch, of this, and he had +him solemnly carried into the city and honorably buried in the +cemetery, and from that time the people of Antioch keep the feast of +his translation.</p> + +<p>John Mosch[<a href="#f507">507</a><a name="f507.1" id="f507.1"></a>] reports the same story, only he says that it was some +women who were buried near Thomas Salus, who left their graves through +respect for the saint.</p> + +<p>The Hebrews ridiculously believe that the Jews who are buried without +Judea will roll underground at the last day, to repair to the Promised +Land, as they cannot come to life again elsewhere than in Judea.</p> + +<p>The Persians recognize also a transporting angel, whose care it is to +assign to dead bodies the place and rank due to their merits: if a +worthy man is buried in an infidel country, the transporting angel +leads him underground to a spot near one of the faithful, while he +casts into the sewer the body of any infidel interred in holy ground. +Other Mahometans have the same notion; they believe that the +transporting angel placed the body of Noah, and afterwards that of +Ali, in the grave of Adam. I relate these fantastical ideas only to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +show their absurdity. As to the other stories related in this same +chapter, they must not be accepted without examination, for they +require confirmation.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f503.1">503</a><a name="f503" id="f503"></a>] Tertull. de Animo, c. 5. p. 597. Edit. Pamelii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f504.1">504</a><a name="f504" id="f504"></a>] Chronic. Turon. inter opera Abælardi, p. 1195.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f505.1">505</a><a name="f505" id="f505"></a>] Bolland. tom. ii. p. 315, 13 Januar.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f506.1">506</a><a name="f506" id="f506"></a>] Evagrius Pont. lib. iv. c. 53.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f507.1">507</a><a name="f507" id="f507"></a>] Jean Mosch. pras. spirit. c. 88.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII_2" id="CHAPTER_XXVII_2"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h3>OF PERSONS WHO PERFORM A PILGRIMAGE AFTER THEIR DEATH.</h3> + + +<p>A scholar of the town of Saint Pons, near Narbonne,[<a href="#f508">508</a><a name="f508.1" id="f508.1"></a>] having died +in a state of excommunication, appeared to one of his friends, and +begged of him to go to the city of Rhodes, and ask the bishop to grant +him absolution. He set off in snowy weather; the spirit, who +accompanied him without being seen by him showed him the road and +cleared away the snow. On arriving at Rhodes, he asked and obtained +for his friend the required absolution, when the spirit reconducted +him to Saint Pons, gave him thanks for this service, and took leave, +promising to testify to him his gratitude.</p> + +<p>Here follows a letter written to me on the 5th of April, 1745, and +which somewhat relates to what we have just seen. "Something has +occurred here within the last few days, relatively to your +Dissertation upon Ghosts, which I think I ought to inform you of. A +man of Letrage, a village a few miles from Remiremont, lost his wife +at the beginning of February last, and married again the week before +Lent. At eleven o'clock in the evening of his wedding-day, his wife +appeared and spoke to his new spouse; the result of the conversation +was to oblige the bride to perform seven pilgrimages for the defunct. +From that day, and always at the same hour, the defunct appeared, and +spoke in presence of the curé of the place and several other persons; +on the 15th of March, at the moment that the bride was preparing to +repair to St. Nicholas, she had a visit from the defunct, who told her +to make haste, and not to be alarmed at any pain or trouble which she +might undergo on her journey.</p> + +<p>This woman with her husband and her brother and sister-in-law, set off +on their way, not expecting that the dead wife would be of the party; +but she never left them until they were at the door of the Church of +St. Nicholas. These good people, when they were arrived at two +leagues' distance from St. Nicholas, were obliged to put up at a +little inn called the Barracks. There the wife found herself so ill, +that the two men were obliged to carry her to the burgh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> +of St. Nicholas. Directly she was under the church porch, she walked +easily, and felt no more pain. This fact has been reported to me by +the sacristan and the four persons. The last thing that the defunct +said to the bride was, that she should neither speak to nor appear to +her again until half the pilgrimages should be accomplished. The +simple and natural manner in which these good people related this fact +to us makes me believe that it is certain.</p> + +<p>It is not said that this young woman had incurred excommunication, but +apparently she was bound by a vow or promise which she had made, to +accomplish these pilgrimages, which she imposed upon the other young +wife who succeeded her. Also, we see that she did not enter the Church +of St. Nicholas; she only accompanied the pilgrims to the church door.</p> + +<p>We may here add the instance of that crowd of pilgrims who, in the +time of Pope Leo IX., passed at the foot of the wall of Narne, as I +have before related, and who performed their purgatory by going from +pilgrimage to pilgrimage.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f508.1">508</a><a name="f508" id="f508"></a>] Melchior. lib. de Statu Mortuorum.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII_2" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII_2"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>ARGUMENT CONCERNING THE EXCOMMUNICATED WHO QUIT CHURCHES.</h3> + + +<p>All that we have just reported concerning the bodies of persons who +had been excommunicated leaving their tombs during mass, and returning +into them after the service, deserves particular attention.</p> + +<p>It seems that a thing which passed before the eyes of a whole +population in broad day, and in the midst of the most redoubtable +mysteries, can be neither denied nor disputed. Nevertheless, it may be +asked, How these bodies came out? Were they whole, or in a state of +decay? naked, or clad in their own dress, or in the linen and bandages +which had enveloped them in the tomb? Where, also, did they go?</p> + +<p>The cause of their forthcoming is well noted; it was the major +excommunication. This penalty is decreed only to mortal sin.[<a href="#f509">509</a><a name="f509.1" id="f509.1"></a>] +Those persons had, then, died in the career of deadly sin, and were +consequently condemned and in hell; for if there is naught in question +but a minor excommunication, why should they go out of the church +after death with such terrible and extraordinary circumstances, since +that ecclesiastical excommunication does not deprive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> one absolutely +of communion with the faithful, or of entrance to church?</p> + +<p>If it be said that the crime was remitted, but not the penalty of +excommunication, and that these persons remained excluded from church +communion until after their absolution, given by the ecclesiastical +judge, we ask if a dead man can be absolved and be restored to +communion with the church, unless there are unequivocal proofs of his +repentance and conversion preceding his death.</p> + +<p>Moreover, the persons just cited as instances do not appear to have +been released from crime or guilt, as might be supposed. The texts +which we have cited sufficiently note that they died in their guilt +and sins; and what St. Gregory the Great says in the part of his +Dialogues there quoted, replying to his interlocutor, Peter, supposes +that these nuns had died without doing penance.</p> + +<p>Besides, it is a constant rule of the church that we cannot +communicate or have communion with a dead man, whom we have not had +any communication with during his lifetime. "Quibus viventibus non +communicavimus, mortuis, communicare non possumus," says Pope St. +Leo.[<a href="#f510">510</a><a name="f510.1" id="f510.1"></a>] At any rate, it is allowed that an excommunicated person who +has given signs of sincere repentance, although there may not have +been time for him to confess himself, can be reconciled to the +church[<a href="#f511">511</a><a name="f511.1" id="f511.1"></a>] and receive ecclesiastical sepulture after his death. But, +in general, before receiving absolution from sin, they must have been +absolved from the censures and excommunication, if such have been +incurred: "Absolutio ab excommunicatione debet præcedere absolutionem +à peccatis; quia quandiu aliquis est excommunicatus, non potest +recipere aliquod Ecclesiæ Sacramentum," says St. Thomas.[<a href="#f512">512</a><a name="f512.1" id="f512.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>Following this decision, it would have been necessary to absolve these +persons from their excommunication, before they could receive +absolution from the guilt of their sins. Here, on the contrary, they +are supposed to be absolved from their sins as to their criminality, +in order to be able to receive absolution from the censures of the +church.</p> + +<p>I do not see how these difficulties can be resolved.</p> + +<p>1. How can you absolve the dead? 2. How can you absolve him from +excommunication before he has received absolution from sin? 3. How can +he be absolved without asking for absolution, or its appearing that he +hath requested it? 4. How can people be absolved who died in mortal +sin, and without doing penance? 5. Why do these excommunicated persons +return to their tombs after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +mass? 6. If they dared not stay in the church during the mass, when +were they?</p> + +<p>It appears certain that the nuns and the young monk spoken of by St. +Gregory died in their sins, and without having received absolution +from them. St. Benedict, probably, was not a priest, and had not +absolved them as regards their guilt.</p> + +<p>It may be said that the excommunication spoken of by St. Gregory was +not major, and in that case the holy abbot could absolve them; but +would this minor and regular excommunication deserve that they should +quit the church in so miraculous and public a manner? The persons +excommunicated by St. Gothard, and the gentleman mentioned at the +Council of Limoges, in 1031, had died unrepentant, and under sentence +of excommunication; consequently in mortal sin; and yet they are +granted peace and absolution after their death, at the simple entreaty +of their friends.</p> + +<p>The young solitary spoken of in the <i>acta sanctorum</i> of the Greeks, +who after having quitted his cell through incontinency and +disobedience, had incurred excommunication, could he receive the crown +of martyrdom in that state? And if he had received it, was he not at +the same time reconciled to the church? Did he not wash away his fault +with his blood? And if his excommunication was only regular and minor, +would he deserve after his martyrdom to be excluded from the presence +of the holy mysteries?</p> + +<p>I see no other way of explaining these facts, if they are as they are +related, than by saying that the story has not preserved the +circumstances which might have deserved the absolution of these +persons, and we must presume that the saints—above all, the bishops +who absolved them—knew the rules of the church, and did nothing in +the matter but what was right and conformable to the canons.</p> + +<p>But it results from all that we have just said, that as the bodies of +the wicked withdraw from the company of the holy through a principle +of veneration and a feeling of their own unworthiness, so also the +bodies of the holy separate themselves from the wicked, from opposite +motives, that they may not appear to have any connection with them, +even after death, or to approve of their bad life. In short, if what +is just related be true, the righteous and the saints feel deference +for one another, and honor each other ever in the other world; which +is probable enough.</p> + +<p>We are about to see some instances which seem to render equivocal and +uncertain, as a proof of sanctity, the uncorrupted state of the body +of a just man, since it is maintained that the bodies of the +excommunicated do not rot in the earth until the sentence of +excommunication pronounced against them be taken off.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f509.1">509</a><a name="f509" id="f509"></a>] Concil. Meli. in Can. Nemo. 41, n. 43. D. Thom. iv. distinct. +18, 9. 2, art. 1. quæstiuncula in corpore, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f510.1">510</a><a name="f510" id="f510"></a>] S. Leo canone Commun. 1. a. 4. 9. 2. See also Clemens III. in +Capit. Sacris, 12. de Sepult. Eccl.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f511.1">511</a><a name="f511" id="f511"></a>] Eveillon, traité des Excommunicat. et Manitoires.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f512.1">512</a><a name="f512" id="f512"></a>] D. Thom. in iv. Sentent. dist. 1. qu. 1. art. 3. quæstiunc. 2. +ad. 2.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX_2" id="CHAPTER_XXIX_2"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<h3>DO THE EXCOMMUNICATED ROT IN THE GROUND?</h3> + + +<p>It is a very ancient opinion that the bodies of the excommunicated do +not decompose; it appears in the Life of St Libentius, Archbishop of +Bremen, who died on the 4th of January, 1013. That holy prelate having +excommunicated some pirates, one of them died, and was buried in +Norway; at the end of seventy years they found his body entire and +without decay, nor did it fall to dust until after absolution received +from Archbishop Alvaridius.</p> + +<p>The modern Greeks, to authorize their schism, and to prove that the +gift of miracles, and the power of binding and unbinding, subsist in +their church even more visibly and more certainly than in the Latin +and Roman church, maintain that amongst themselves the bodies of those +who are excommunicated do not decay, but become swollen +extraordinarily, like drums, and can neither be corrupted nor reduced +to ashes till after they have received absolution from their bishops +or their priests. They relate divers instances of this kind of dead +bodies, found uncorrupted in their graves, and which are afterwards +reduced to ashes as soon as the excommunication is taken off. They do +not deny, however, that the uncorrupted state of a body is sometimes a +mark of sanctity,[<a href="#f513">513</a><a name="f513.1" id="f513.1"></a>] but they require that a body thus preserved +should exhale a good smell, be white or reddish, and not black, +offensive and swollen.</p> + +<p>It is affirmed that persons who have been struck dead by lightning do +not decay, and for that reason the ancients neither burnt them nor +buried them. That is the opinion of the physician Zachias; but Paré, +after Comines, thinks that the reason they are not subject to +corruption is because they are, as it were, embalmed by the sulphur of +the thunderbolt, which serves them instead of salt.</p> + +<p>In 1727, they discovered in the vault of an hospital near Quebec the +unimpaired corpses of five nuns, who had been dead for more than +twenty years; and these corpses, though covered with quicklime, still +contained blood.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f513.1">513</a><a name="f513" id="f513"></a>] Goar, not. in Eucholog. p. 688.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX_2" id="CHAPTER_XXX_2"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCES TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE EXCOMMUNICATED DO NOT DECAY, AND +THAT THEY APPEAR TO THE LIVING.</h3> + + +<p>The Greeks relate[<a href="#f514">514</a><a name="f514.1" id="f514.1"></a>] that under the Patriarch of Constantinople +Manuel, or Maximus, who lived in the fifteenth century, the Turkish +Emperor of Constantinople wished to know the truth of what the Greeks +asserted concerning the uncorrupted state of those who died under +sentence of excommunication. The patriarch caused the tomb of a woman +to be opened; she had had a criminal connection with an archbishop of +Constantinople; her body was whole, black, and much swollen. The Turks +shut it up in a coffin, sealed with the emperor's seal; the patriarch +said his prayer, gave absolution to the dead woman, and at the end of +three days the coffin or box being opened they found the body fallen +to dust.</p> + +<p>I see no miracle in this: everybody knows that bodies which are +sometimes found quite whole in their tombs fall to dust as soon as +they are exposed to the air. I except those which have been well +embalmed, as the mummies of Egypt, and bodies which are buried in +extremely dry spots, or in an earth replete with nitre and salt, which +dissipate in a short time all the moisture there may be in the dead +bodies, either of men or animals; but I do not understand that the +Archbishop of Constantinople could validly absolve after death a +person who died in deadly sin and bound by excommunication. They +believe also that the bodies of these excommunicated persons often +appear to the living, whether by day or by night, speaking to them, +calling them, and molesting them. Leon Allatius enters into long +details on this subject; he says that in the Isle of Chio the +inhabitants do not answer to the first voice that calls them, for fear +that it should be a spirit or ghost; but if they are called twice, it +is not a vroucolaca,[<a href="#f515">515</a><a name="f515.1" id="f515.1"></a>] which is the name they give those spectres. +If any one answers to them at the first sound, the spectre disappears; +but he who has spoken to it infallibly dies.</p> + +<p>There is no other way of guarding against these bad genii than by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +taking up the corpse of the person who has appeared, and burning it +after certain prayers have been recited over it; then the body is +reduced to ashes, and appears no more. They have then no doubt that +these are the bodies of criminal and malevolent men, which come out of +their graves and cause the death of those who see and reply to them; +or that it is the demon, who makes use of their bodies to frighten +mortals, and cause their death.</p> + +<p>They know of no means more certain to deliver themselves from being +infested by these dangerous apparitions than to burn and hack to +pieces these bodies, which served as instruments of malice, or to tear +out their hearts, or to let them putrefy before they are buried, or to +cut off their heads, or to pierce their temples with a large nail.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f514.1">514</a><a name="f514" id="f514"></a>] Vide Malva. lib. i. Turco-græcia, pp. 26, 27.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f515.1">515</a><a name="f515" id="f515"></a>] Vide Bolland. mense Augusto, tom. ii. pp. 201-203, et Allat. +Epist. ad Zachiam, p. 12.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI_2" id="CHAPTER_XXXI_2"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCE OF THE REAPPEARANCES OF THE EXCOMMUNICATED.</h3> + + +<p>Ricaut, in the history he has given us of the present state of the +Greek church, acknowledges that this opinion, that the bodies of +excommunicated persons do not decay, is general, not only among the +Greeks of the present day, but also among the Turks. He relates a fact +which he heard from a Candiote caloyer, who had affirmed the thing to +him on oath; his name was Sophronius, and he was well known and highly +respected at Smyrna. A man who died in the Isle of Milo, had been +excommunicated for some fault which he had committed in the Morea, and +he was interred without any funeral ceremony in a spot apart, and not +in consecrated ground. His relations and friends were deeply moved to +see him in this plight; and the inhabitants of the isle were every +night alarmed by baneful apparitions, which they attributed to this +unfortunate man.</p> + +<p>They opened his grave, and found his body quite entire, with the veins +swollen with blood. After having deliberated upon it, the caloyers +were of opinion that they should dismember the body, hack it to +pieces, and boil it in wine; for it is thus they treat the bodies of +<i>revenans</i>.</p> + +<p>But the relations of the dead man, by dint of entreaties, succeeded in +deferring this execution, and in the mean time sent in all haste to +Constantinople, to obtain the absolution of the young man from the +patriarch. Meanwhile, the body was placed in the church, and every day +prayers were offered up for the repose of his soul. One<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> day when the +caloyer Sophronius, above mentioned, was performing divine service, +all on a sudden a great noise was heard in the coffin; they opened it, +and found his body decayed as if he had been dead seven years. They +observed the moment when the noise was heard, and it was found to be +precisely at that hour that his absolution had been signed by the +patriarch.</p> + +<p>M. le Chevalier Ricaut, from whom we have this narrative, was neither +a Greek, nor a Roman Catholic, but a staunch Anglican; he remarks on +this occasion that the Greeks believe that an evil spirit enters the +bodies of the excommunicated, and preserves them from putrefaction, by +animating them, and causing them to act, nearly as the soul animates +and inspires the body.</p> + +<p>They imagine, moreover, that these corpses eat during the night, walk +about, digest what they have eaten, and really nourish +themselves—that some have been found who were of a rosy hue, and had +their veins still fully replete with the quantity of blood; and +although they had been dead forty days, have ejected, when opened, a +stream of blood as bubbling and fresh as that of a young man of +sanguine temperament would be; and this belief so generally prevails +that every one relates facts circumstantially concerning it.</p> + +<p>Father Theophilus Reynard, who has written a particular treatise on +this subject, maintains that this return of the dead is an indubitable +fact, and that there are very certain proofs and experience of the +same; but that to pretend that those ghosts who come to disturb the +living are always those of excommunicated persons, and that it is a +privilege of the schismatic Greek church to preserve from decay those +who incurred excommunication, and have died under censure of their +church, is an untenable assumption; since it is certain that the +bodies of the excommunicated decay like others, and there are some +which have died in communion with the church, whether the Greek or the +Latin, who remain uncorrupted. Such are found even among the Pagans, +and amongst animals, of which the dead bodies are sometimes found in +an uncorrupted state, both in the ground, and in the ruins of old +buildings.[<a href="#f516">516</a><a name="f516.1" id="f516.1"></a>]</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f516.1">516</a><a name="f516" id="f516"></a>] See, concerning the bodies of the excommunicated which are +affirmed to be exempt from decay, Father Goar, Ritual of the Greeks, +pp. 687, 688; Matthew Paris, History of England, tom. ii. p. 687; Adam +de Brême, c. lxxv.; Albert de Stade, on the year 1050, and Monsieur du +Cange, Glossar. Latinit. at the word <i>imblocatus</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII_2" id="CHAPTER_XXXII_2"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + +<h3>VROUCOLACA EXHUMED IN PRESENCE OF MONSIEUR DE TOURNEFORT.</h3> + + +<p>Monsieur Pitton de Tournefort relates the manner in which they exhumed +a pretended vroucolaca, in the Isle of Micon, where he was on the 1st +of January, 1701. These are his own words: "We saw a very different +scene, (in the same Isle of Micon,) on the occasion of one of those +dead people, whom they believe to return to earth after their +interment. This one, whose history we shall relate, was a peasant of +Micon, naturally sullen and quarrelsome; which is a circumstance to be +remarked relatively to such subjects; he was killed in the country, no +one knows when, or by whom. Two days after he had been inhumed in a +chapel in the town, it was rumored that he was seen by night walking +very fast; that he came into the house, overturning the furniture, +extinguishing the lamps, throwing his arms around persons from behind, +and playing a thousand sly tricks.</p> + +<p>"At first people only laughed at it; but the affair began to be +serious, when the most respectable people in the place began to +complain: the priests even owned the fact, and doubtless they had +their reasons. People did not fail to have masses said; nevertheless +the peasant continued to lead the same life without correcting +himself. After several assemblies of the principal men of the city, +with priests and monks, it was concluded that they must, according to +some ancient ceremonial, await the expiration of nine days after +burial.</p> + +<p>"On the tenth day a mass was said in the chapel where the corpse lay, +in order to expel the demon which they believed to have inclosed +himself therein. This body was taken up after mass, and they began to +set about tearing out his heart; the butcher of the town, who was old, +and very awkward, began by opening the belly instead of the breast; he +felt for a long time in the entrails without finding what he sought. +At last some one told him that he must pierce the diaphragm; then the +heart was torn out, to the admiration of all present. The corpse, +however, gave out such a bad smell, that they were obliged to burn +incense; but the vapor, mixed with the exhalations of the carrion, +only augmented the stink, and began to heat the brain of these poor +people.</p> + +<p>"Their imagination, struck with the spectacle, was full of visions;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +some one thought proper to say that a thick smoke came from this body. +We dared not say that it was the vapor of the incense. They only +exclaimed "Vroucolacas," in the chapel, and in the square before it. +(This is the name which they give to these pretended <i>Revenans</i>.) The +rumor spread and was bellowed in the street, and the noise seemed +likely to shake the vaulted roof of the chapel. Several present +affirmed that the blood of this wretched man was quite vermilion; the +butcher swore that the body was still quite warm; whence it was +concluded that the dead man was very wrong not to be quite dead, or, +to express myself better, to suffer himself to be reanimated by the +devil. This is precisely the idea of a vroucolaca; and they made this +name resound in an astonishing manner. At this time there entered a +crowd of people, who protested aloud that they clearly perceived this +body was not stiff when they brought it from the country to the church +to bury it, and that consequently it was a true vroucolaca; this was +the chorus.</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt that they would have maintained it did not stink, if +we had not been present; so stupefied were these poor people with the +circumstance, and infatuated with the idea of the return of the dead. +For ourselves, who got next to the corpse in order to make our +<ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'obervations'.">observations</ins> exactly, we were ready to die from the offensive odor +which proceeded from it. When they asked us what we thought of this +dead man, we replied that we believed him thoroughly dead; but as we +wished to cure, or at least not to irritate their stricken fancy, we +represented to them that it was not surprising if the butcher had +perceived some heat in searching amidst entrails which were decaying; +neither was it extraordinary that some vapor had proceeded from them; +since such will issue from a dunghill that is stirred up; as for this +pretended red blood, it still might be seen on the butcher's hands +that it was only a very fœtid mud.</p> + +<p>"After all these arguments, they bethought themselves of going to the +marine, and burning the heart of the dead man, who in spite of this +execution was less docile, and made more noise than before. They +accused him of beating people by night, of breaking open the doors and +even terraces, of breaking windows, tearing clothes, and emptying jugs +and bottles. He was a very thirsty dead man; I believe he only spared +the consul's house, where I was lodged. In the mean time I never saw +anything so pitiable as the state of this island.</p> + +<p>"Everybody seemed to have lost their senses. The most sensible people +appeared as phrenzied as the others; it was a veritable brain fever, +as dangerous as any mania or madness. Whole families were seen to +forsake their houses, and coming from the ends of the town, bring +their flock beds to the market-place to pass the night there. Every +one complained of some new insult; you heard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> nothing but lamentations +at night-fall; and the most sensible people went into the country.</p> + +<p>"Amidst such a general prepossession we made up our minds to say +nothing; we should not only have been considered as absurd, but as +infidels. How can you convince a whole people of error? Those who +believed in their own minds that we had our doubts of the truth of the +fact, came and reproached us for our incredulity, and pretended to +prove that there were such things as vroucolacas, by some authority +which they derived from Father Richard, a Jesuit missionary. It is +Latin, said they, and consequently you ought to believe it. We should +have done no good by denying this consequence. They every morning +entertained us with the comedy of a faithful recital of all the new +follies which had been committed by this bird of night; he was even +accused of having committed the most abominable sins.</p> + +<p>"The citizens who were most zealous for the public good believed that +they had missed the most essential point of the ceremony. They said +that the mass ought not to be celebrated until after the heart of this +wretched man had been torn out; they affirmed that with that +precaution they could not have failed to surprise the devil, and +doubtless he would have taken care not to come back again; instead of +which had they begun by saying mass, he would have had, said they, +plenty of time to take flight, and to return afterwards at his +leisure.</p> + +<p>"After all these arguments they found themselves in the same +embarrassment as the first day it began; they assembled night and +morning; they reasoned upon it, made processions which lasted three +days and three nights; they obliged the priests to fast; they were +seen running about in the houses with the asperser or sprinkling brush +in their hands, sprinkling holy water and washing the doors with it; +they even filled the mouth of that poor vroucolaca with holy water. We +so often told the administration of the town that in all Christendom +people would not fail in such a case to watch by night, to observe all +that was going forward in the town, that at last they arrested some +vagabonds, who assuredly had a share in all these disturbances. +Apparently they were not the principal authors of them, or they were +too soon set at liberty; for two days after, to make themselves amends +for the fast they had kept in prison, they began again to empty the +stone bottles of wine belonging to those persons who were silly enough +to forsake their houses at night. Thus, then, they were again obliged +to have recourse to prayers.</p> + +<p>"One day as certain orisons were being recited, after having stuck I +know not how many naked swords upon the grave of this corpse, which +was disinterred three or four times a day, according to the caprice of +the first comer, an Albanian, who chanced to be at Mico<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> accidentally, +bethought himself of saying in a sententious tone, that it was very +ridiculous to make use of the swords of Christians in such a case. Do +you not see, blind as ye are, said he, that the hilt of these swords, +forming a cross with the handle, prevents the devil from coming out of +that body? why do you not rather make use of the sabres of the Turks? +The advice of this clever man was of no use; the vroucolaca did not +appear more tractable, and everybody was in a strange consternation; +they no longer knew to which saint to pay their vows; when, with one +voice, as if the signal word had been given, they began to shout in +all parts of the town that they had waited too long: that the +vroucolaca ought to be burnt altogether; that after that, they would +defy the devil to return and ensconce himself there; that it would be +better to have recourse to that extremity than to let the island be +deserted. In fact, there were whole families who were packing up in +the intention of retiring to Sira or Tina.</p> + +<p>"So they carried the vroucolaca, by order of the administration, to +the point of the Island of St. George, where they had prepared a great +pile made up with a mixture of tow, for fear that wood, however dry it +might be, would not burn quickly enough by itself. The remains of this +unfortunate corpse were thrown upon it and consumed in a very little +time; it was on the first day of January, 1701. We saw this fire as we +returned from Delos: it might be called a real <i>feu de joie</i>; since +then, there have been no more complaints against the vroucolaca. They +contented themselves with saying that the devil had been properly +caught that time, and they made up a song to turn him into ridicule.</p> + +<p>"Throughout the Archipelago, the people are persuaded that it is only +the Greeks of the Greek church whose corpses are reanimated by the +devil. The inhabitants of the Isle of Santorin have great +apprehensions of these bugbears; those of Maco, after their visions +were dissipated, felt an equal fear of being punished by the Turks and +by the Bishop of Tina. None of the papas would be present at St. +George when this body was burned, lest the bishop should exact a sum +of money for having disinterred and burned the dead body without his +permission. As for the Turks, it is certain that at their first visit +they did not fail to make the community of Maco pay the price of the +blood of this poor devil, who in every way became the abomination and +horror of his country. After this, must we not own that the Greeks of +to-day are not great Greeks, and that there is only ignorance and +superstition among them?"[<a href="#f517">517</a><a name="f517.1" id="f517.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>So says Monsieur de Tournefort.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f517.1">517</a><a name="f517" id="f517"></a>] This took place nearly a hundred and fifty years ago.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII_2" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII_2"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + +<h3>HAS THE DEMON POWER TO CAUSE ANY ONE TO DIE AND THEN TO RESTORE THE +DEAD TO LIFE?</h3> + + +<p>Supposing the principle which we established as indubitable at the +commencement of this dissertation—that God alone is the sovereign +arbitrator of life and death; that he alone can give life to men, and +restore it to them after he has taken it from them—the question that +we here propose appears unseasonable and absolutely frivolous, since +it concerns a supposition notoriously impossible.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, as some learned men have believed that the demon has +power to restore life, and to preserve from corruption, for a time, +certain bodies which he makes use of to delude mankind and frighten +them, as it happens with the ghosts of Hungary, we shall treat of it +in this place, and relate a remarkable instance furnished by Monsieur +Nicholas Remy, procureur-general of Lorraine, and which occurred in +his own time;[<a href="#f518">518</a><a name="f518.1" id="f518.1"></a>] that is to say, in 1581, at Dalhem, a village +situated between the Moselle and the Sare. A goatherd of this village, +named Pierron, a married man and father of a boy, conceived a violent +passion for a girl of the village. One day, when his thoughts were +occupied with this young girl, she appeared to him in the fields, or +the demon in her likeness. Pierron declared his love to her; she +promised to reply to it on condition that he would give himself up to +her, and obey her in all things. Pierron consented to this, and +consummated his abominable passion with this spectre. Some time +afterwards, Abrahel, which was the name assumed by the demon, asked of +him as a pledge of his love, that he would sacrifice to her his only +son, and gave him an apple for this boy to eat, who, on tasting it, +fell down dead. The father and mother, in despair at this fatal and to +both unexpected accident, uttered lamentations, and were inconsolable.</p> + +<p>Abrahel appeared again to the goatherd, and promised to restore the +child to life if the father would ask this favor of him by paying him +the kind of adoration due only to God. The peasant knelt down, +worshiped Abrahel, and immediately the boy began to revive. He opened +his eyes; they warmed him, chafed his limbs, and at last he began to +walk and to speak. He was the same as before,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> +only thinner, paler, and more languid; his eyes heavy and sunken, his +movements slower and less free, his mind duller and more stupid. At +the end of a year, the demon that had animated him quitted him with a +great noise; the youth fell backwards, and his body, which was +fœtid and stunk insupportably, was dragged with a hook out of his +father's house, and buried in a field without any ceremony.</p> + +<p>This event was reported at Nancy, and examined into by the +magistrates, who informed themselves exactly of the circumstance, +heard the witnesses, and found that the thing was such as has been +related. For the rest, the story does not say how the peasant was +punished, nor whether he was so at all. Perhaps his crime with the +demon could not be proved; to that there was probably no witness. In +regard to the death of his son, it was difficult to prove that he was +the cause of it.</p> + +<p>Procopius, in his secret history of the Emperor Justinian, seriously +asserts that he is persuaded, as well as several other persons, that +that emperor was a demon incarnate. He says the same thing of the +Empress Theodora his wife. Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that +the souls of the wicked enter the bodies of the possessed, whom they +torment, and cause to act and speak.</p> + +<p>We see by St. Chrysostom that in his time many Christians believed +that the spirits of persons who died a violent death were changed into +demons, and that the magicians made use of the spirit of a child they +had killed for their magical operations, and to discover the future. +St. Philastrius places among heretics those persons who believed that +the souls of worthless men were changed into demons.</p> + +<p>According to the system of these authors, the demon might have entered +into the body of the child of the shepherd Pierron, moved it and +maintained it in a kind of life whilst his body was uncorrupted and +the organs underanged; it was not the soul of the boy which animated +it, but the demon which replaced his spirit.</p> + +<p>Philo believed that as there are good and bad angels, there are also +good and bad souls or spirits, and that the souls which descend into +the bodies bring to them their own good or bad qualities.</p> + +<p>We see by the Gospel that the Jews of the time of our Saviour believed +that one man could be animated by several souls. Herod imagined that +the spirit of John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded, had entered into +Jesus Christ,[<a href="#f519">519</a><a name="f519.1" id="f519.1"></a>] and worked miracles in him. Others fancied that +Jesus Christ was animated by the spirit of Elias,[<a href="#f520">520</a><a name="f520.1" id="f520.1"></a>] or of Jeremiah, +or some other of the ancient prophets.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f518.1">518</a><a name="f518" id="f518"></a>] Art. ii. p. 14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f519.1">519</a><a name="f519" id="f519"></a>] Mark vi. 16, 17.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f520.1">520</a><a name="f520" id="f520"></a>] Matt. xvi. 14.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV_2" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV_2"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> + +<h3>EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION WHICH CONCLUDES THAT THE DEMON CAN RESTORE +MOTION TO A DEAD BODY.</h3> + + +<p>We cannot approve these opinions of Jews which we have just shown. +They are contrary to our holy religion, and to the dogmas of our +schools. But we believe that the spirit which once inspired Elijah, +for instance, rested on Elisha, his disciple; and that the Holy Spirit +which inspired the first animated the second also, and even St. John +the Baptist, who, according to the words of Jesus Christ, came in the +power of Elijah to prepare a highway for the Messiah. Thus, in the +prayers of the Church, we pray to God to fill his faithful servants +with the spirit of the saints, and to inspire them with a love for +that which they loved, and a detestation of that which they hated.</p> + +<p>That the demon, and even a good angel by the permission or commission +of God, can take away the life of a man appears indubitable. The angel +which appeared to Zipporah,[<a href="#f521">521</a><a name="f521.1" id="f521.1"></a>] as Moses was returning from Midian to +Egypt, and threatened to slay his two sons because they were not +circumcised; as well as the one who slew the first-born of the +Egyptians,[<a href="#f522">522</a><a name="f522.1" id="f522.1"></a>] and the one who is termed in Scripture <i>the Destroying +Angel</i>, and who slew the Hebrew murmurers in the wilderness;[<a href="#f523">523</a><a name="f523.1" id="f523.1"></a>] and +the angel who was near slaying Balaam and his ass;[<a href="#f524">524</a><a name="f524.1" id="f524.1"></a>] the angel who +killed the soldiers of Sennacherib, he who smote the first seven +husbands of Sara, the daughter of Raguel;[<a href="#f525">525</a><a name="f525.1" id="f525.1"></a>] and, finally, the one +with whom the Psalmist menaces his enemies, all are instances in proof +of this.[<a href="#f526">526</a><a name="f526.1" id="f526.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>Does not St. Paul, speaking to the Corinthians of those who took the +Communion unworthily,[<a href="#f527">527</a><a name="f527.1" id="f527.1"></a>] say that the demon occasioned them +dangerous maladies, of which many died? Will it be believed that those +whom the same Apostle delivered over to Satan[<a href="#f528">528</a><a name="f528.1" id="f528.1"></a>] suffered nothing +bodily; and that Judas, having received from the Son of God a bit of +bread dipped in the dish,[<a href="#f529">529</a><a name="f529.1" id="f529.1"></a>] and Satan having entered into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> +him, that bad spirit did not disturb his reason, his imagination, and +his heart, until at last he led him to destroy himself, and to hang +himself in despair?</p> + +<p>We may believe that all these angels were evil angels, although it +cannot be denied that God employs sometimes the good angels also to +exercise his vengeance against the wicked, as well as to chastise, +correct, and punish those to whom God desires to be merciful; as he +sends his Prophets to announce good and bad tidings, to threaten +punishment, and excite to repentance.</p> + +<p>But nowhere do we read that either the good or the evil angels have of +their own authority alone either given life to any person or restored +it. This power is reserved to God alone.[<a href="#f530">530</a><a name="f530.1" id="f530.1"></a>] The demon, according to +the Gospel,[<a href="#f531">531</a><a name="f531.1" id="f531.1"></a>] in the last days, and before the last Judgment, will +perform, either by his own power or that of Antichrist and his +subordinates, such wonders as would, were it possible, lead the elect +themselves into error. From the time of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, +Satan raised up false Christs and false Apostles, who performed many +seeming miracles, and even resuscitated the dead. At least, it was +maintained that they had resuscitated some: St. Clement of Alexandria +and Hegesippus make mention of a few resurrections operated by Simon +the magician;[<a href="#f532">532</a><a name="f532.1" id="f532.1"></a>] it is also said that Apollonius of Thyana brought +to life a girl they were carrying to be buried. If we may believe +Apuleius,[<a href="#f533">533</a><a name="f533.1" id="f533.1"></a>] Asclepiades, meeting a funeral convoy, resuscitated the +body they were carrying to the pile. It is asserted that Æsculapius +restored to life Hippolytus, the son of Theseus; also Glaucus, the son +of Minos, and Campanes, killed at the assault of Thebes, and Admetus, +King of Phera in Thessaly. Elian[<a href="#f534">534</a><a name="f534.1" id="f534.1"></a>] attests that the same Æsculapius +joined on again the head of a woman to her corpse, and restored her to +life.</p> + +<p>But if we possessed the certainty of all these events which we have +just cited—I mean to say, were they attested by ocular witnesses, +well-informed and disinterested, which is not the case—we ought to +know the circumstances attending these events, and then we should be +better able to dispute or assent to them. For there is every +appearance that the dead people resuscitated by Æsculapius were only +persons who were dangerously ill, and restored to health by that +skillful physician. The girl revived by Apollonius of Thyana was not +really dead; even those who were carrying her to the funeral pile had +their doubts if she were deceased. What is said of Simon the magician +is anything but certain; and even if that impostor by his magical +secrets could have performed some wonders on dead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> +persons, it should be imputed to his delusions and to some artifice, +which may have substituted living bodies or phantoms for the dead +bodies which he boasted of having recalled to life. In a word, we hold +it as indubitable that it is God only who can impart life to a person +really dead, either by power proceeding immediately from himself, or +by means of angels or of demons, who perform his behests.</p> + +<p>I own that the instance of that boy of Dalhem is perplexing. Whether +it was the spirit of the child that returned into his body to animate +it anew, or the demon who replaced his soul, the puzzle appears to me +the same; in all this circumstance we behold only the work of the evil +spirit. God does not seem to have had any share in it. Now, if the +demon can take the place of a spirit in a body newly dead, or if he +can make the soul by which it was animated before death return into +it, we can no longer dispute his power to restore a kind of life to a +dead person; which would be a terrible temptation for us, who might be +led to believe that the demon has a power which religion does not +permit us to think that God shares with any created being.</p> + +<p>I would then say, supposing the truth of the fact, of which I see no +room to doubt, that God, to punish the abominable crime of the father, +and to give an example of his just vengeance to mankind, permitted the +demon to do on this occasion what he perhaps had never done, nor ever +will again—to possess a body, and serve it in some sort as a soul, +and give it action and motion whilst he could retain the body without +its being too much corrupted.</p> + +<p>And this example applies admirably to the ghosts of Hungary and +Moravia, whom the demon will move and animate—will cause to appear +and disturb the living, so far as to occasion their death. I say all +this under the supposition that what is said of the vampires is true; +for if it all be false and fabulous, it is losing time to seek the +means of explaining it.</p> + +<p>For the rest, several of the ancients, as Tertullian[<a href="#f535">535</a><a name="f535.1" id="f535.1"></a>] and +Lactantius, believed that the demons were the only authors of all the +magicians do when they evoke the souls of the dead. They cause +borrowed bodies or phantoms to appear, say they, and fascinate the +eyes of those present, to make them believe that to be real which is +only seeming.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f521.1">521</a><a name="f521" id="f521"></a>] Exod. iv. 24, 25.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f522.1">522</a><a name="f522" id="f522"></a>] Exod. xii. 12.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f523.1">523</a><a name="f523" id="f523"></a>] 1 Cor. x. 10; Judith viii. 25.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f524.1">524</a><a name="f524" id="f524"></a>] Numb. xxii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f525.1">525</a><a name="f525" id="f525"></a>] Tob. iii. 7.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f526.1">526</a><a name="f526" id="f526"></a>] Psa. xxxiv. 7.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f527.1">527</a><a name="f527" id="f527"></a>] 1 Cor. xi. 30.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f528.1">528</a><a name="f528" id="f528"></a>] 1 Tim. i. 20.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f529.1">529</a><a name="f529" id="f529"></a>] John xiii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f530.1">530</a><a name="f530" id="f530"></a>] 1 Sam. ii. 6.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f531.1">531</a><a name="f531" id="f531"></a>] Matt. xxiv. 24.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f532.1">532</a><a name="f532" id="f532"></a>] Clem. Alex. Itinerario; Hegesippus de Excidio Jerusalem, c. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f533.1">533</a><a name="f533" id="f533"></a>] Apulei Flondo. lib. ii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f534.1">534</a><a name="f534" id="f534"></a>] Ælian, de Animalib. lib. ix. c. 77.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f535.1">535</a><a name="f535" id="f535"></a>] Tertull. de Anim. c. 22.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV_2" id="CHAPTER_XXXV_2"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCES OF PHANTOMS WHICH HAVE APPEARED TO BE ALIVE, AND HAVE GIVE +MANY SIGNS OF LIFE.</h3> + + +<p>Le Loyer, in his book upon spectres, maintains[<a href="#f536">536</a><a name="f536.1" id="f536.1"></a>] that the demon can +cause the possessed to make extraordinary and involuntary movements. +He can then, if allowed by God, give motion to a dead and insensible +man.</p> + +<p>He relates the instance of Polycrites, a magistrate of Ætolia, who +appeared to the people of Locria nine or ten months after his death, +and told them to show him his child, which being born monstrous, they +wished to burn with its mother. The Locrians, in spite of the +remonstrance of the spectre of Polycrites, persisting in their +determination, Polycrites took his child, tore it to pieces and +devoured it, leaving only the head, while the people could neither +send him away nor prevent him; after that, he disappeared. The +Ætolians were desirous of sending to consult the Delphian oracle, but +the head of the child began to speak, and foretold the misfortunes +which were to happen to their country and to his own mother.</p> + +<p>After the battle between King Antiochus and the Romans, an officer +named Buptages, left dead on the field of battle, with twelve mortal +wounds, rose up suddenly, and began to threaten the Romans with the +evils which were to happen to them through the foreign nations who +were to destroy the Roman empire. He pointed out in particular, that +armies would come from Asia, and desolate Europe, which may designate +the irruption of the Turks upon the domains of the Roman empire.</p> + +<p>After that, Buptages climbed up an oak tree, and foretold that he was +about to be devoured by a wolf, which happened. After the wolf had +devoured the body, the head again spoke to the Romans, and forbade +them to bury him. All that appears very incredible, and was not +accomplished in fact. It was not the people of Asia, but those of the +north, who overthrew the Roman empire.</p> + +<p>In the war of Augustus against Sextus Pompey, son of the great +Pompey,[<a href="#f537">537</a><a name="f537.1" id="f537.1"></a>] a soldier of Augustus, +named Gabinius, had his head cut<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> +off by order of young Pompey, so that it only held on to the neck by +a narrow strip of flesh. Towards evening they heard Gabinius +lamenting; they ran to him, and he said that he had returned from hell +to reveal very important things to Pompey. Pompey did not think proper +to go to him, but he sent one of his men, to whom Gabinius declared +that the gods on high had decreed the happy destiny of Pompey, and +that he would succeed in all his designs. Directly Gabinius had thus +spoken, he fell down dead and stiff. This pretended prediction was +falsified by the facts. Pompey was vanquished, and Cæsar gained all +the advantage in this war.</p> + +<p>A certain female juggler had died, but a magician of the band put a +charm under her armpits, which gave her power to move; but another +wizard having looked at her, cried out that it was only vile carrion, +and immediately she fell down dead, and appeared what she was in fact.</p> + +<p>Nicole Aubri, a native of Vervius, being possessed by several devils, +one of these devils, named Baltazo, took from the gibbet the body of a +man who had been hanged near the plain of Arlon, and in this body went +to the husband of Nicole Aubri, promising to deliver his wife from her +possession if he would let him pass the night with her. The husband +consulted the schoolmaster, who practiced exorcising, and who told him +on no account to grant what was asked of him. The husband and Baltazo +having entered the church, the woman who was possessed called him by +his name, and immediately this Baltazo disappeared. The schoolmaster +conjuring the possessed, Beelzebub, one of the demons, revealed what +Baltazo had done, and that if the husband had granted what he asked, +he would have flown away with Nicole Aubri, both body and soul.</p> + +<p>Le Loyer again relates[<a href="#f538">538</a><a name="f538.1" id="f538.1"></a>] four other instances of persons whom the +demon had seemed to restore to life, to satisfy the brutal passion of +two lovers.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f536.1">536</a><a name="f536" id="f536"></a>] Le Loyer, des Spectres, lib. ii. pp. 376, 392, 393.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f537.1">537</a><a name="f537" id="f537"></a>] Pliny, lib. vii. c. 52.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f538.1">538</a><a name="f538" id="f538"></a>] Le Loyer, pp. 412-414.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI_2" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI_2"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> + +<h3>DEVOTING TO DEATH, A PRACTICE AMONG THE PAGANS.</h3> + + +<p>The ancient heathens, both Greeks and Romans, attributed to magic and +to the demon the power of occasioning the destruction of any person by +a manner of devoting them to death, which consisted in forming a waxen +image as much as possible like the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> person whose life they wished to +take. They devoted him or her to death by their magical secrets: then +they burned the waxen statue, and as that by degrees was consumed, so +the doomed person became languid and at last died. Theocritus[<a href="#f539">539</a><a name="f539.1" id="f539.1"></a>] +makes a woman transported with love speak thus: she invokes the image +of the shepherd, and prays that the heart of Daphnis, her beloved, may +melt like the image of wax which represents him.</p> + +<p>Horace[<a href="#f540">540</a><a name="f540.1" id="f540.1"></a>] brings forward two enchantresses, who evoke the shades to +make them announce the future. First of all, the witches tear a sheep +with their teeth, shedding the blood into a grave, in order to bring +those spirits from whom they expect an answer; then they place next to +themselves two statues, one of wax, the other of wool; the latter is +the largest, and mistress of the other. The waxen image is at its +feet, as a suppliant, and awaiting only death. After divers magical +ceremonies, the waxen image was inflamed and consumed.</p> + +<p>He speaks of this again elsewhere; and after having with a mocking +laugh made his complaints to the enchantress Canidia, saying that he +is ready to make her honorable reparation, he owns that he feels all +the effects of her too-powerful art, as he himself has experienced it +to give motion to waxen figures, and bring down the moon from the +sky.[<a href="#f541">541</a><a name="f541.1" id="f541.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>Virgil also speaks[<a href="#f542">542</a><a name="f542.1" id="f542.1"></a>] of these diabolical operations, and these +waxen images, devoted by magic art.</p> + +<p>There is reason to believe that these poets only repeat these things +to show the absurdity of the pretended secrets of magic, and the vain +and impotent ceremonies of sorcerers.</p> + +<p>But it cannot be denied that, idle as all these practices may be, they +have been used in ancient times; that many have put faith in them, and +foolishly dreaded those attempts.</p> + +<p>Lucian relates the effects[<a href="#f543">543</a><a name="f543.1" id="f543.1"></a>] of the magic of a certain Hyperborean, +who, having formed a Cupid with clay, infused life into it, and sent +it to fetch a girl named Chryseïs, with whom a young man had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> +fallen in love. The little Cupid brought her, and on the morrow, at +dawn of day, the moon, which the magician had brought down from the +sky, returned thither. Hecate, whom he had evoked from the bottom of +hell, fled away, and all the rest of the scene disappeared. Lucian, +with great reason, ridicules all this, and observes that these +magicians, who boast of having so much power, ordinarily exercise it +only upon contemptible people, and are such themselves.</p> + +<p>The oldest instances of this dooming are those which are set down in +Scripture, in the Old Testament. God commands Moses to devote to +anathema the Canaanites of the kingdom of Arad.[<a href="#f544">544</a><a name="f544.1" id="f544.1"></a>] He devotes also +to anathema all the nations of the land of Canaan.[<a href="#f545">545</a><a name="f545.1" id="f545.1"></a>] Balac, King of +Moab,[<a href="#f546">546</a><a name="f546.1" id="f546.1"></a>] sends to the diviner Balaam to engage him to curse and +devote the people of Israel. "Come," says he to him, by his messenger, +"and curse me Israel; for I know that those whom you have cursed and +doomed to destruction shall be cursed, and he whom you have blessed +shall be crowned with blessings."</p> + +<p>We have in history instances of these devotings and maledictions, and +evocations of the tutelary gods of cities by magic art. The ancients +kept very secret the proper names of towns,[<a href="#f547">547</a><a name="f547.1" id="f547.1"></a>] for fear that if they +came to the knowledge of the enemy, they might make use of them in +their invocations, which to their mind had no might unless the proper +name of the town was expressed. The usual names of Rome, Tyre, and +Carthage, were not their true and secret names. Rome, for instance, +was called Valentia, a name known to very few persons, and Valerius +Soranus was severely punished for having revealed it.</p> + +<p>Macrobius[<a href="#f548">548</a><a name="f548.1" id="f548.1"></a>] has preserved for us the formula of a solemn devoting +or dooming of a city, and of imprecations against her, by devoting her +to some hurtful and dangerous demon. We find in the heathen poets a +great number of these invocations and magical doomings, to inspire a +dangerous passion, or to occasion maladies. It is surprising that +these superstitious and abominable practices should have gained +entrance among Christians, and have been dreaded by persons who ought +to have known their vanity and impotency.</p> + +<p>Tacitus relates[<a href="#f549">549</a><a name="f549.1" id="f549.1"></a>] that at the death of Germanicus, who was said to +have been poisoned by Piso and Plautina, there were found in the +ground and in the walls bones of human bodies, doomings, and charms, +or magic verses, with the name of Germanicus engraved upon thin plates +of lead steeped in corrupted blood, half-burnt ashes, and other +charms, by virtue of which it was believed that spirits could be +evoked.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f539.1">539</a><a name="f539" id="f539"></a>] Theocrit Idyl. ii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f540.1">540</a><a name="f540" id="f540"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Lanea et effigies erat, altera cerea major</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Lanea, que pœnis compesceret inferiorem.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Cerea suppliciter stabat, servilibus ut quæ</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Jam peritura modis....</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Et imagine cereâ</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Largior arserit ignis."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f541.1">541</a><a name="f541" id="f541"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"An quæ movere cereas imagines,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ut ipse curiosus, et polo</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Deripere lunam."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f542.1">542</a><a name="f542" id="f542"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Limus ut hic durescit, et hæc ut cera liquescit.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Uno eodemque igni; sic nostro Daphnis amore."—<i>Virgil, Eclog.</i></span></p> + +<p>[<a href="#f543.1">543</a><a name="f543" id="f543"></a>] Lucian in Philops.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f544.1">544</a><a name="f544" id="f544"></a>] Numb. xxi. 3.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f545.1">545</a><a name="f545" id="f545"></a>] Deut. vii. 2, 3; xii. 1-3, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f546.1">546</a><a name="f546" id="f546"></a>] Numb. xxii. 5, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f547.1">547</a><a name="f547" id="f547"></a>] Peir. lib. iii. c. 5; xxviii. c. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f548.1">548</a><a name="f548" id="f548"></a>] Macrobius, lib. iii. c. 9.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f549.1">549</a><a name="f549" id="f549"></a>] Tacit. Ann. lib. ii. art. 69.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII_2" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII_2"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCES OF DEVOTING OR DOOMING AMONGST CHRISTIANS.</h3> + + +<p>Hector Boëthius,[<a href="#f550">550</a><a name="f550.1" id="f550.1"></a>] in his History of Scotland, relates that Duffus, +king of that country, falling ill of a disorder unknown to the +physicians, was consumed by a slow fever, passed his nights without +sleep, and insensibly wasted away; his body melted in perspiration +every night; he became weak, languid, and in a dying state, without, +however, his pulse undergoing any alteration. Everything was done to +relieve him, but uselessly. His life was despaired of, and those about +him began to suspect some evil spell. In the mean time, the people of +Moray, a county of Scotland, mutinied, supposing that the king must +soon sink under his malady.</p> + +<p>It was whispered abroad that the king had been bewitched by some +witches who lived at Forres, a little town in the north of Scotland. +People were sent there to arrest them, and they were surprised in +their dwellings, where one of them was basting an image of King +Duffus, made of wax, turning on a wooden spit before a large fire, +before which she was reciting certain magical prayers; and she +affirmed that as the figure melted the king would lose his strength, +and at last he would die when the figure should be entirely melted. +These women declared that they had been hired to perform these evil +spells by the principal men of the county of Moray, who only awaited +the king's decease to burst into open revolt.</p> + +<p>These witches were immediately arrested and burnt at the stake. The +king was much better, and in a few days he perfectly recovered his +health. This account is found also in the History of Scotland by +Buchanan, who says he heard it from his elders.</p> + +<p>He makes the King Duffus live in 960, and he who has added notes to +the text of these historians, says that this custom of melting waxen +images by magic art, to occasion the death of certain persons, was not +unknown to the Romans, as appears from Virgil and Ovid; and of this we +have related a sufficient number of instances. But it must be owned +that all which is related concerning it is very doubtful; not that +wizards and witches have not been found who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> +have attempted to cause the death of persons of high rank by these +means, and who attributed the effect to the demon, but there is little +appearance that they ever succeeded in it. If magicians possessed the +secret of thus occasioning the death of any one they pleased, where is +the prince, prelate, or lord who would be safe? If they could thus +roast them slowly to death, why not kill them at once, by throwing the +waxen image in the fire? Who can have given such power to the devil? +Is it the Almighty, to satisfy the revenge of an insignificant woman, +or the jealousy of lovers of either sex?</p> + +<p>M. de St. André, physician to the king, in his Letters on Witchcraft, +would explain the effects of these devotings, supposing them to be +true, by the evaporation of animal spirits, which, proceeding from the +bodies of the wizards or witches, and uniting with the atoms which +fall from the wax, and the atoms of the fire, which render them still +more pungent, should fly towards the person they desire to bewitch, +and cause in him or her sensations of heat or pain, more or less +violent according to the action of the fire. But I do not think that +this clever man finds many to approve of his idea. The shortest way, +in my opinion, would be, to deny the effects of these charms; for if +these effects are real, they are inexplicable by physics, and can only +be attributed to the devil.</p> + +<p>We read in the History of the Archbishops of Treves that Eberard, +archbishop of that church, who died in 1067, having threatened to send +away the Jews from his city, if they did not embrace Christianity, +these unhappy people, being reduced to despair, suborned an +ecclesiastic, who for money baptized for them, by the name of the +bishop, a waxen image, to which they tied wicks or wax tapers, and +lighted them on Holy Saturday (Easter Eve), as the prelate was going +solemnly to administer the baptismal rite.</p> + +<p>Whilst he was occupied in this holy function, the statue being half +consumed, Eberard felt himself extremely ill; he was led into the vestry, where he soon after expired.</p> + +<p>The Pope John XXII., in 1317, complained, in public letters, that some +scoundrels had attempted his life by similar operations; and he +appeared persuaded of their power, and that he had been preserved from +death only by the particular protection of God. "We inform you," says +he, "that some traitors have conspired against us, and against some of +our brothers the cardinals, and have prepared beverages and images to +take away our life, which they have sought to do on every occasion; +but God has always preserved us." The letter is dated the 27th of +July.</p> + +<p>From the 27th of February, the pope had issued a commission to inform +against these poisoners; his letter is addressed to Bartholomew, +Bishop of Fréjus, who had succeeded the pope in that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> see, and to +Peter Tessier, doctor <i>en decret</i>, afterwards cardinal. The pope says +therein, in substance—We have heard that John de Limoges, Jacques de +Crabançon, Jean d'Arrant, physician, and some others, have applied +themselves, through a damnable curiosity, to necromancy and other +magical arts, on which they have books; that they have often made use +of mirrors, and images consecrated in their manner; that, placing +themselves within circles, they have often invoked the evil spirits to +occasion the death of men by the might of their enchantments, or by +sending maladies which abridge their days. Sometimes they have +enclosed demons in mirrors, or circles, or rings, to interrogate them, +not only on the past, but on the future, and made predictions. They +pretend to have made many experiments in these matters, and fearlessly +assert, that they can not only by means of certain beverages, or +certain meats, but by simple words, abridge or prolong life, and cure +all sorts of diseases.</p> + +<p>The pope gave a similar commission, April 22d, 1317, to the Bishop of +Riés, to the same Pierre Tessier, to Pierre Després, and two others, +to inquire into the conspiracy formed against him and against the +cardinals; and in this commission he says:—"They have prepared +beverages to poison us, and not having been able conveniently to make +us take them, they have had waxen images, made with our names, to +attack our lives, by pricking these images with magical enchantments, +and innovations of demons; but God has preserved us, and caused three +of these images to fall into our hands."</p> + +<p>We see a description of similar charms in a letter, written three +years after, to the Inquisitor of Carcassone, by William de Godin, +Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina, in which he says:—"The pope commands you +to inquire and proceed against those who sacrifice to demons, worship +them, or pay them homage, by giving them for a token a written paper, +or something else, to bind the demon, or to work some charm by +invoking him; who, abusing the sacrament of baptism, baptize images of +wax, or of other matters with invocation of demons; who abuse the +eucharist, or consecrated wafer, or other sacraments, by exercising +their evil spells. You will proceed against them with the prelates, as +you do in matters of heresy; for the pope gives you the power to do +so." The letter is dated from Avignon, the 22d of August, 1320.</p> + +<p>At the trial of Enguerrand de Marigni, they brought forward a wizard +whom they had surprised making waxen images, representing King Louis +le Hutin and Charles de Valois, and meaning to kill them by pricking +or melting these images.</p> + +<p>It is related also that Cosmo Rugieri, a Florentine, a great atheist +and pretended magician, had a secret chamber, where he shut himself up +alone, and pricked with a needle a wax image representing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> the king, +after having loaded it with maledictions and devoted it to destruction +by horrible enchantments, hoping thus to cause the prince to languish +away and die.</p> + +<p>Whether these conjurations, these waxen images, these magical words, +may have produced their effects or not, it proves at any rate the +opinion that was entertained on the subject—the ill will of the +wizards, and the fear in which they were held. Although their +enchantments and imprecations might not be followed by any effect, it +is apparently thought that experience on that point made them dreaded, +whether with reason or not.</p> + +<p>The general ignorance of physics made people at that time take many +things to be supernatural which were simply the effects of natural +causes; and as it is certain, as our faith teaches us, that God has +often permitted demons to deceive mankind by prodigies, and do them +injury by extraordinary means, it was supposed without examining into +the matter that there was an art of magic and sure rules for +discovering certain secrets, or causing certain evils by means of +demons; as if God had not always been the Supreme Master, to permit or +to hinder them; or as if He would have ratified the compacts made with +evil spirits.</p> + +<p>But on examining closely this pretended magic, we have found nothing +but poisonings, attended by superstition and imposture. All that we +have just related of the effects of magic, enchantments, and +witchcraft, which were pretended to cause such terrible effects on the +bodies and the possessions of mankind, and all that is recounted of +doomings, evocations, and magic figures, which, being consumed by +fire, occasioned the death of those who were destined or enchanted, +relate but very imperfectly to the affair of vampires, which we are +treating of in this volume; unless it may be said that those ghosts +are raised and evoked by magic art, and that the persons who fancy +themselves strangled and finally stricken with death by vampires, only +suffer these miseries through the malice of the demon, who makes their +deceased parents or relations appear to them, and produces all these +effects upon them; or simply strikes the imagination of the persons to +whom it happens, and makes them believe that it is their deceased +relations, who come to torment and kill them; although in all this it +is only an imagination strongly affected which acts upon them.</p> + +<p>We may also connect with the history of ghosts what is related of +certain persons who have promised each other to return after their +death, and to reveal what passes in the other world, and the state in +which they find themselves.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f550.1">550</a><a name="f550" id="f550"></a>] Hector Boëthius, Hist. Scot. lib. xi. c. 216, 219.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII_2" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII_2"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE PROMISED TO GIVE EACH OTHER NEWS OF THE +OTHER WORLD AFTER THEIR DEATH.</h3> + + +<p>The story of the Marquis de Rambouillet, who appeared after his death +to the Marquis de Précy, is very celebrated. These two lords, +conversing on the subject of the other world, like people who were not +very strongly persuaded of the truth of all that is said upon it, +promised each other that the first of the two who died should bring +the news of it to the other. The Marquis de Rambouillet set off for +Flanders, where the war was then carried on; and the Marquis de Précy +remained at Paris, detained by a low fever. Six weeks after, in broad +day, he heard some one undraw his bed-curtains, and turning to see who +it was, he perceived the Marquis de Rambouillet, in buff-leather +jacket and boots. He sprang from his bed to embrace his friend; but +Rambouillet, stepping back a few paces, told him that he was come to +keep his word as he had promised—that all that was said of the next +life was very certain—that he must change his conduct, and in the +first action wherein he was engaged he would lose his life.</p> + +<p>Précy again attempted to embrace his friend, but he embraced only +empty air. Then Rambouillet, seeing that his friend was incredulous as +to what he said, showed him where he had received the wound in his +side, whence the blood still seemed to flow. Précy soon after +received, by the post, confirmation of the death of the Marquis de +Rambouillet; and being himself some time after, during the civil wars, +at the battle of the Faubourg of St. Antoine, he was there killed.</p> + +<p>Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Clugni,[<a href="#f551">551</a><a name="f551.1" id="f551.1"></a>] relates a very similar +story. A gentleman named Humbert, son of a lord named Guichard de +Belioc, in the diocese of Macon, having declared war against the other +principal men in his neighborhood, a gentleman named Geoffrey d'Iden +received in the mélée a wound of which he died immediately.</p> + +<p>About two months afterwards, this same Geoffrey appeared to a +gentleman named Milo d'Ansa, and begged him to tell Humbert de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> +Belioc, in whose service he had lost his life, that he was tormented +for having assisted him in an unjust war, and for not having expiated +his sins by penance before he died; that he begged him to have +compassion on him, and on his own father, Guichard, who had left him +great wealth, of which he made a bad use, and of which a part had been +badly acquired. That in truth Guichard, the father of Humbert, had +embraced a religious life at Clugni; but that he had not time to +satisfy the justice of God for the sins of his past life; that he +conjured him to have mass performed for him and for his father, to +give alms, and to employ the prayers of good people, to procure them +both a prompt deliverance from the pains they endured. He added, "Tell +him, that if he will not mind what you say, I shall be obliged to go +to him myself, and announce to him what I have just told you."</p> + +<p>Milo d'Ansa acquitted himself faithfully of his commission; Humbert +was frightened at it, but it did not make him better. Still, fearing +that Guichard, his father, or Geoffrey d'Iden might come and disturb +him, above all during the night, he dare not remain alone, and would +always have one of his people by him.</p> + +<p>One morning, then, as he was lying awake in his bed, he beheld in his +presence Geoffrey, armed as in a day of battle, who showed him the +mortal wound he had received, and which appeared yet quite fresh. He +reproached him keenly for his want of pity towards his own father, who +was groaning in torment. "Take care," added he, "that God does not +treat you rigorously, and refuse to you that mercy which you refuse to +us; and, above all, take care not to execute your intention of going +to the wars with Count Amedeus. If you go, you will there lose both +life and property."</p> + +<p>He said, and Humbert was about to reply, when the Squire Vichard de +Maracy, Humbert's counselor, arrived from mass, and immediately the +dead man disappeared. From that moment, Humbert endeavored seriously +to relieve his father Geoffrey, and resolved to take a journey to +Jerusalem to expiate his sins. Peter the Venerable had been well +informed of all the details of this story, which occurred in the year +he went into Spain, and made a great noise in the country. The +Cardinal Baronius,[<a href="#f552">552</a><a name="f552.1" id="f552.1"></a>] a very grave and respectable man, says that he +had heard from several very sensible people, and who have often heard +it preached to the people, and in particular from Michael Mercati, +Prothonotary of the Holy See, a man of acknowledged probity and well +informed, above all in the platonic philosophy, to which he applied +himself unweariedly with Marsilius Ficin, his friend, as zealous as +himself for the doctrine of Plato.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>One day, these two great philosophers were conversing on the +immortality of the soul, and if it remained and existed after the +death of the body. After having had much discourse on this matter, +they promised each other, and shook hands upon it, that the first of +them who quitted this world should come and tell the other somewhat of +the state of the other life.</p> + +<p>Having thus separated, it happened some time afterwards that the same +Michael Mercati, being wide awake and studying, one morning very +early, the same philosophical matters, heard on a sudden a noise like +a horseman who was coming hastily to his door, and at the same he +heard the voice of his friend Marsilius Ficin, who cried out to him, +"Michael, Michael, nothing is more true than what is said of the other +life." At the same, Michael opened his window, and saw Marsilius +mounted on a white horse, who was galloping away. Michael cried out to +him to stop, but he continued his course till Michael could no longer +see him.</p> + +<p>Marsilius Ficin was at that time dwelling at Florence, and died there +at the same hour that he had appeared and spoken to his friend. The +latter wrote directly to Florence, to inquire into the truth of the +circumstance; and they replied to him that Marsilius had died at the +same moment that Michael had heard his voice and the noise of his +horse at his door. Ever after that adventure, Michael Mercati, +although very regular in his conduct before then, became quite an +altered man, and lived in so exemplary a manner that he became a +perfect model of Christian life. We find a great many such instances +in Henri Morus, and in Joshua Grandville, in his work entitled +"Sadduceeism Combated."</p> + +<p>Here is one taken from the life of B. Joseph de Lionisse, a missionary +capuchin.[<a href="#f553">553</a><a name="f553.1" id="f553.1"></a>] One day, when he was conversing with his companion on +the duties of religion, and the fidelity which God requires of those +who have consecrated themselves to them, of the reward reserved for +those who are perfectly religious, and the severe justice which he +exercises against unfaithful servants, Brother Joseph said to him, +"Let us promise each other mutually that the one who dies the first +will appear to the other, if God allows him so to do, to inform him of +what passes in the other world, and the condition in which he finds +himself." "I am willing," replied the holy companion; "I give you my +word upon it." "And I pledge you mine," replied Brother Joseph.</p> + +<p>Some days after this, the pious companion was attacked by a malady +which brought him to the tomb. Brother Joseph felt this the more +sensibly, because he knew better than the others all the virtues of +this holy monk. He had no doubt of the fulfilment of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> +their agreement, or that the deceased would appear to him, when he +least thought of it, to acquit himself of his promise.</p> + +<p>In effect, one day when Brother Joseph had retired to his room, in the +afternoon, he saw a young capuchin enter horribly haggard, with a pale +thin face, who saluted him with a feeble, trembling voice. As, at the +sight of this spectre, Joseph appeared a little disturbed, "Don't be +alarmed," it said to him; "I am come here as permitted by God, to +fulfill my promise, and to tell you that I have the happiness to be +amongst the elect through the mercy of the Lord. But learn that it is +even more difficult to be saved than is thought in this world; that +God, whose wisdom can penetrate the most secret folds of the heart, +weighs exactly the actions which we have done during life, the +thoughts, wishes, and motives, which we propose to ourselves in +acting; and as much as he is inexorable in regard to sinners, so much +is he good, indulgent, and rich in mercy, towards those just souls who +have served him in this life." At these words, the phantom +dissappeared.</p> + +<p>Here follows an instance of a spirit which comes after death to visit +his friend without having made an agreement with him to do so.[<a href="#f554">554</a><a name="f554.1" id="f554.1"></a>] +Peter Garmate, Bishop of Cracow, was translated to the archbishopric +of Gnesnes, in 1548, and obtained a dispensation from Paul III. to +retain still his bishopric of Cracow. This prelate, after having led a +very irregular life during his youth, began towards the end of his +life, to perform many charitable actions, feeding every day a hundred +poor, to whom he sent food from his own table. And when he traveled, +he was followed by two wagons, loaded with coats and shirts, which he +distributed amongst the poor according as they needed them.</p> + +<p>One day, when he was preparing to go to church, towards evening, (it +being the eve of a festival,) and he was alone in his closet, he +suddenly beheld before him a gentleman named Curosius, who had been +dead some time, with whom he had formerly been too intimately +associated in evil doing.</p> + +<p>The Archbishop Gamrate was at first affrighted, but the defunct +reassured him and told him that he was of the number of the blessed. +"What!" said the prelate to him; "after such a life as you led! For +you know the excesses which both you and myself committed in our +youth." "I know it," replied the defunct; "but this is what saved me. +One day, when in Germany, I found myself with a man who uttered +blasphemous discourse, most injurious to the Holy Virgin. I was +irritated at it, and gave him a blow; we drew our swords; I killed +him; and for fear of being arrested and punished as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> homicide, I +took flight without reflecting much on the action I had committed. But +at the hour of death, I found myself most terribly disturbed by +remorse on my past life, and I only expected certain destruction; when +the Holy Virgin came to my aid, and made such powerful intercession +for me with her Son, that she obtained for me the pardon of my sins; +and I have the happiness to enjoy beatitude. For yourself, who have +only six months to live, I am sent to warn you, that in consideration +of your alms, and your charity to the poor, God will show you mercy, +and expects you to do penance. Profit while it is time, and expiate +your past sins." After having said this, he disappeared; and the +archbishop, bursting into tears, began to live in so Christianly a +manner that he was the edification of all who knew him. He related the +circumstance to his most intimate friends, and died in 1545, after +having directed the Church of Gnesnes for about five years.</p> + +<p>The daughter of Dumoulin, a celebrated lawyer, having been inhumanly +massacred in her dwelling,[<a href="#f555">555</a><a name="f555.1" id="f555.1"></a>] appeared by night to her husband, who +was wide awake, and declared to him the names of those who had killed +herself and her children, conjuring him to revenge her death.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f551.1">551</a><a name="f551" id="f551"></a>] Biblioth. Cluniæ. de Miraculis, lib. i. c. 7, p. 1290.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f552.1">552</a><a name="f552" id="f552"></a>] Baronius ad an. Christi 401. Annal. tom. v.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f553.1">553</a><a name="f553" id="f553"></a>] Tom. i. p. 64, <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p>[<a href="#f554.1">554</a><a name="f554" id="f554"></a>] Stephâni Damalevini Historia, p. 291. apud Ranald continuat +Baronii, ad. an. 1545. tom. xxi art. 62.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f555.1">555</a><a name="f555" id="f555"></a>] Le Loyer, lib. iii. pp. 46, 47.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX_2" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX_2"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> + +<h3>EXTRACT FROM THE POLITICAL WORKS OF M. L'ABBE DE ST. PIERRE.[<a href="#f556">556</a><a name="f556.1" id="f556.1"></a>]</h3> + + +<p>I was told lately at Valogne, that a good priest of the town who +teaches the children to read, had had an apparition in broad day ten +or twelve years ago. As that had made a great deal of noise at first +on account of his reputation for probity and sincerity, I had the +curiosity to hear him relate his adventure himself. A lady, one of my +relations, who was acquainted with him, sent to invite him to dine +with her yesterday, the 7th of January, 1708, and as on the one hand I +showed a desire to learn the thing from himself, and on the other it +was a kind of honorable distinction to have had by daylight an +apparition of one of his comrades, he related it before dinner without +requiring to be pressed, and in a very naïve manner.</p> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Circumstance.</span></h4> + +<p>"In 1695," said M. Bezuel to us, "being a schoolboy of about fifteen +years of age, I became acquainted with the two children of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> +M. Abaquene, attorney, schoolboys like myself. The eldest was of my +own age, the second was eighteen months younger; he was named +Desfontaines; we took all our walks and all our parties of pleasure +together, and whether it was that Desfontaines had more affection for +me, or that he was more gay, obliging, and clever than his brother, I +loved him the best.</p> + +<p>"In 1696, we were walking both of us in the cloister of the Capuchins. +He told me that he had lately read a story of two friends who had +promised each other that the first of them who died should come and +bring news of his condition to the one still living; that the one who +died came back to earth, and told his friend surprising things. Upon +that, Desfontaines told me that he had a favor to ask of me; that he +begged me to grant it instantly: it was to make him a similar promise, +and on his part he would do the same. I told him that I would not. For +several months he talked to me of it, often and seriously; I always +resisted his wish. At last, towards the month of August, 1696, as he +was to leave to go and study at Caen, he pressed me so much with tears +in his eyes, that I consented to it. He drew out at that moment two +little papers which he had ready written: one was signed with his +blood, in which he promised me that in case of his death he would come +and bring me news of his condition; in the other I promised him the +same thing. I pricked my finger; a drop of blood came, with which I +signed my name. He was delighted to have my billet, and embracing me, +he thanked me a thousand times.</p> + +<p>"Some time after, he set <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'of'.">off</ins> with his brother. Our separation caused +us much grief, but we wrote to each other now and then, and it was but +six weeks since I had had a letter from him, when what I am going to +relate to you happened to me.</p> + +<p>"The 31st of July, 1697, one Thursday—I shall remember it all my +life—the late M. Sortoville, with whom I lodged, and who had been +very kind to me, begged of me to go to a meadow near the Cordeliers, +and help his people, who were making hay, to make haste. I had not +been there a quarter of an hour, when about half-past-two, I all of a +sudden felt giddy and weak. In vain I leant upon my hay-fork; I was +obliged to place myself on a little hay, where I was nearly half an +hour recovering my senses. That passed off; but as nothing of the kind +had ever occurred to me before, I was surprised at it and feared it +might be the commencement of an illness. Nevertheless it did not make +much impression upon me during the remainder of the day. It is true I +did not sleep that night so well as usual.</p> + +<p>"The next day, at the same hour, as I was conducting to the meadow M. +de St. Simon, the grandson of M. de Sortoville, who was then ten years +old, I felt myself seized on the way with a similar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> faintness, and I +sat down on a stone in the shade. That passed off, and we continued +our way; nothing more happened to me that day, and at night I had +hardly any sleep.</p> + +<p>"At last, on the morrow, the second day of August, being in the loft +where they laid up the hay they brought from the meadow, I was taken +with a similar giddiness and a similar faintness, but still more +violent than the other. I fainted away completely; one of the men +perceived it. I have been told that I was asked what was the matter +with me, and that I replied, 'I have seen what I should never have +believed;' but I have no recollection of either the question or the +answer. That, however, accords with what I do remember to have seen +just then; as it were some one naked to the middle, but whom, however, +I did not recognize. They helped me down from the ladder. The +faintness seized me again, my head swam as I was between two rounds of +the ladder, and again I fainted. They took me down and placed me on a +large beam which served for a seat in the large square of the +capuchins. I sat down on it and then I no longer saw M. de Sortoville +nor his domestics, although present; but perceiving Desfontaines near +the foot of the ladder, who made me a sign to come to him, I moved on +my seat as if to make room for him; and those who saw me and whom I +did not see, although my eyes were open, remarked this movement.</p> + +<p>"As he did not come, I rose to go to him. He advanced towards me, took +my left arm with his right arm, and led me about thirty paces from +thence into a retired street, holding me still under the arm. The +domestics, supposing that my giddiness had passed off, and that I had +purposely retired, went every one to their work, except a little +servant, who went and told M. de Sortoville that I was talking all +alone. M. de Sortoville thought I was tipsy; he drew near, and heard +me ask some questions, and make some answers, which he has told me +since.</p> + +<p>"I was there nearly three-quarters of an hour, conversing with +Desfontaines. 'I promised you,' said he to me, 'that if I died before +you I would come and tell you of it. I was drowned the day before +yesterday in the river of Caen, at nearly this same hour. I was out +walking with such and such a one. It was very warm, and we had a wish +to bathe; a faintness seized me in the water, and I fell to the +bottom. The Abbé de Menil-Jean, my comrade, dived to bring me up. I +seized hold of his foot; but whether he was afraid it might be a +salmon, because I held him so fast, or that he wished to remount +promptly to the surface of the water, he shook his leg so roughly, +that he gave me a violent kick on the breast, which sent me to the +bottom of the river, which is there very deep.</p> + +<p>"Desmoulins related to me afterwards all that had occurred to them in +their walk, and the subjects they had conversed upon. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> was in vain +for me to ask him questions—whether he was saved, whether he was +damned, if he was in purgatory, if I was in a state of grace, and if I +should soon follow him; he continued to discourse as if he had not +heard me, and as if he would not hear me.</p> + +<p>"I approached him several times to embrace him, but it seemed to me +that I embraced nothing, and yet I felt very sensibly that he held me +tightly by the arm, and that when I tried to turn away my head that I +might not see him, because I could not look at him without feeling +afflicted, he shook my arm as if to oblige me to look at and listen to +him.</p> + +<p>"He always appeared to me taller than I had seen him, and taller even +than he was at the time of his death, although he had grown during the +eighteen months in which we had not met. I beheld him always naked to +the middle of his body, his head uncovered, with his fine fair hair, +and a white scroll twisted in his hair over his forehead, on which +there was some writing, but I could only make out the word <i>in</i>, &c.</p> + +<p>"It was his same tone of voice. He appeared to me neither gay nor sad, +but in a calm and tranquil state. He begged of me when his brother +returned, to tell him certain things to say to his father and mother. +He begged me to say the Seven Psalms which had been given him as a +penance the preceding Sunday, which he had not yet recited; again he +recommended me to speak to his brother, and then he bade me adieu, +saying, as he left me, <i>Jusques</i>, <i>jusques</i>, (<i>till</i>, <i>till</i>,) which +was the usual term he made use of when at the end of our walk we bade +each other good-bye, to go home.</p> + +<p>"He told me that at the time he was drowned, his brother, who was +writing a translation, regretted having let him go without +accompanying him, fearing some accident. He described to me so well +where he was drowned, and the tree in the avenue of Louvigni on which +he had written a few words, that two years afterwards, being there +with the late Chevalier de Gotol, one of those who were with him at +the time he was drowned, I pointed out to him the very spot; and by +counting the trees in a particular direction which Desfontaines had +specified to me, I went straight up to the tree, and I found his +writing. He (the Chevalier) told me also that the article of the Seven +Psalms was true, and that on coming from confession they had told each +other their penance; and since then his brother has told me that it +was quite true that at that hour he was writing his exercise, and he +reproached himself for not having accompanied his brother. As nearly a +month passed by without my being able to do what Desfontaines had told +me in regard to his brother, he appeared to me again twice before +dinner at a country house whither I had gone to dine a league from +hence. I was very faint. I told them not to mind me, that it was +nothing, and that I should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> soon recover myself; and I went to a +corner of the garden. Desfontaines having appeared to me, reproached +me for not having yet spoken to his brother, and again conversed with +me for a quarter of an hour without answering any of my questions.</p> + +<p>"As I was going in the morning to Notre-Dame de la Victoire, he +appeared to me again, but for a shorter time, and pressed me always to +speak to his brother, and left me, saying still, <i>Jusques</i>, <i>Jusques</i>, +and without choosing to reply to my questions.</p> + +<p>"It is a remarkable thing that I always felt a pain in that part of my +arm which he had held me by the first time, until I had spoken to his +brother. I was three days without being able to sleep, from the +astonishment and agitation I felt. At the end of the first +conversation, I told M. de Varonville, my neighbor and schoolfellow, +that Desfontaines had been drowned; that he himself had just appeared +to me and told me so. He went away and ran to the parents' house to +know if it was true; they had just received the news, but by a mistake +he understood that it was the eldest. He assured me that he had read +the letter of Desfontaines, and he believed it; but I maintained +always that it could not be, and that Desfontaines himself had +appeared to me. He returned, came back, and told me in tears that it +was but too true.</p> + +<p>"Nothing has occurred to me since, and there is my adventure just as +it happened. It has been related in various ways; but I have recounted +it only as I have just told it to you. The Chevalier de Gotol told me +that Desfontaines had appeared also to M. de Menil-Jean; but I am not +acquainted with him; he lives twenty leagues from hence near Argentan, +and I can say no more about it."</p> + +<p>This is a very singular and circumstantial narrative, related by M. +l'Abbé de St. Pierre, who is by no means credulous, and sets his whole +mind and all his philosophy to explain the most extraordinary events +by physical reasonings, by the concurrence of atoms, <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'corpuscules'.">corpuscles</ins>, +insensible evaporation of spirit, and perspiration. But all that is so +far-fetched, and does such palpable violence to the subjects and the +attending circumstances, that the most credulous would not yield to +such arguments. It is surprising that these gentlemen, who pique +themselves on strength of mind, and so haughtily reject everything +that appears supernatural, can so easily admit philosophical systems +much more incredible than even the facts they oppose. They raise +doubts which are often very ill-founded, and attack them upon +principles still more uncertain. That may be called refuting one +difficulty by another, and resolving a doubt by principles still more +doubtful.</p> + +<p>But, it will be said, whence comes it that so many other persons who +had engaged themselves to come and bring news of the immortality of +the soul, after their death, have not come back. Seneca<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> speaks of a +Stoic philosopher named Julius Canus, who, having been condemned to +death by Julius Cæsar, said aloud that he was about to learn the truth +of that question on which they were divided; to wit, whether the soul +was immortal or not. And we do not read that he revisited this world. +La Motte de Vayer had agreed with his friend Baranzan Barnabite that +the first of the two who died should warn the other of the state in +which he found himself. Baranzan died, and returned not.</p> + +<p>Because the dead sometimes return to earth, it would be imprudent to +conclude that they always do so. And it would be equally wrong +reasoning to say that they never do return, because having promised to +revisit this world they have not done so. For that, we should imagine +that it is in the power of spirits to return and make their appearance +when they will, and if they will; but it seems indubitable, that on +the contrary, it is not in their power, and that it is only by the +express permission of God that disembodied spirits sometimes appear to +the living.</p> + +<p>We see, in the history of the bad rich man, that God would not grant +him the favor which he asked, to send to earth some of those who were +with him in hell. Similar reasons, derived from the hardness of heart +or the incredulity of mortals, may have prevented, in the same manner, +the return of Julius Canus or of Baranzan. The return of spirits and +their apparition is neither a natural thing nor dependent on the +choice of those who are dead. It is a supernatural effect, and allied +to the miraculous.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine says on this subject[<a href="#f557">557</a><a name="f557.1" id="f557.1"></a>] that if the dead interest +themselves in what concerns the living, St. Monica, his mother, who +loved him so tenderly, and went with him by sea and land everywhere +during her life, would not have failed to visit him every night, and +come to console him in his troubles; for we must not suppose that she +was become less compassionate since she became one of the blest: +<i>absit ut facta sit vitâ feliciore crudelis</i>.</p> + +<p>The return of spirits, their apparition, the execution of the promises +which certain persons have made each other, to come and tell their +friends what passes in the other world, is not in their own power. All +that is in the hands of God.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f556.1">556</a><a name="f556" id="f556"></a>] Vol. iv. p. 57.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f557.1">557</a><a name="f557" id="f557"></a>] Aug. de Cura gerend. pro Mortuis, c. xiii. p. 526.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL_2" id="CHAPTER_XL_2"></a>CHAPTER XL.</h2> + +<h3>DIVERS SYSTEMS FOR EXPLAINING THE RETURN OF SPIRITS.</h3> + + +<p>The affair of ghosts having made so much noise in the world as it has +done, it is not surprising that a diversity of systems should have +been formed upon it, and that so many manners should have been +proposed to explain their return to earth and their operations.</p> + +<p>Some have thought that it was a momentary resurrection caused by the +soul of the defunct, which re-entered his body, or by the demon, who +reanimated him, and caused him to act for a while, whilst his blood +retained its consistency and fluidity, and his organic functions were +not entirely corrupted and deranged.</p> + +<p>Others, struck with the consequence of such principles, and the +arguments which might be deduced from them, have liked better to +suppose that these vampires were not really dead; that they still +retained certain seeds of life, and that their spirits could from time +to time reanimate and bring them out of their tombs, to make their +appearance amongst men, take refreshment, and renew the nourishing +juices and animal spirits by sucking the blood of their near kindred.</p> + +<p>There has lately been printed a dissertation on the uncertainty of the +signs of death, and the abuse of hasty interments, by M. Jacques +Benigne Vinslow, Doctor, Regent of the Faculty at Paris, translated, +with a commentary, by Jacques Jean Bruhier, physician, at Paris, 1742, +in 8vo. This work may serve to explain how persons who have been +believed to be dead, and have been buried as such, have nevertheless +been found alive a pretty long time after their funeral obsequies had +been performed. That will perhaps render vampirism less incredible.</p> + +<p>M. Vinslow, Doctor, and Regent of the Medical Faculty at Paris, +maintained, in the month of April, 1740, a thesis, in which he asks if +the experiments of surgery are fitter than all others to discover some +less uncertain signs of doubtful death. He therein maintained that +there are several occurrences in which the signs of death are very +doubtful; and he adduces several instances of persons believed to be +dead, and interred as such, who nevertheless were afterwards found to +be alive.</p> + +<p>M. Bruhier, M.D., has translated this thesis into French, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> has +made some learned additions to it, which serve to strengthen the +opinion of M. Vinslow. The work is very interesting, from the matter +it treats upon, and very agreeable to read, from the manner in which +it is written. I am about to make some extracts from it, which may be +useful to my subject. I shall adhere principally to the most certain +and singular facts; for to relate them all, we must transcribe the +whole work.</p> + +<p>It is known that John Duns, surnamed Scot,[<a href="#f558">558</a><a name="f558.1" id="f558.1"></a>] or the Subtile Doctor, +had the misfortune to be interred alive at Cologne, and that when his +tomb was opened some time afterwards, it was found that he had gnawn +his arm.[<a href="#f559">559</a><a name="f559.1" id="f559.1"></a>] The same thing is related of the Emperor Zeno, who made +himself heard from the depth of his tomb by repeated cries to those +who were watching over him. Lancisi, a celebrated physician of the +Pope Clement XI., relates that at Rome he was witness to a person of +distinction being still alive when he wrote, who resumed sense and +motion whilst they were chanting his funeral service at church.</p> + +<p>Pierre Zacchias, another celebrated physician of Rome, says, that in +the hospital of the Saint Esprit, a young man, who was attacked with +the plague, fell into so complete a state of syncope, that he was +believed to be really dead. Whilst they were carrying his corpse, +along with a great many others, on the other side of the Tiber, the +young man gave signs of life. He was brought back to the hospital and +cured. Two days after, he fell into a similar syncope, and that time +he was reputed to be dead beyond recovery. He was placed amongst +others intended for burial, came to himself a second time, and was yet +living when Zacchias wrote.</p> + +<p>It is related, that a man named William Foxley, when forty years of +age,[<a href="#f560">560</a><a name="f560.1" id="f560.1"></a>] falling asleep on the 27th of April, 1546, remained plunged +in sleep for fourteen days and fourteen nights, without any preceding +malady. He could not persuade himself that he had slept more than one +night, and was convinced of his long sleep only by being shown a +building begun some days before this drowsy attack, and which he +beheld completed on his awaking. It is said that in the time of Pope +Gregory II. a scholar of Lubec slept for seven years <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>consecutively. +Lilius Giraldus[<a href="#f561">561</a><a name="f561.1" id="f561.1"></a>] relates that a peasant slept through the whole +autumn and winter.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f558.1">558</a><a name="f558" id="f558"></a>] Duns Scotus.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f559.1">559</a><a name="f559" id="f559"></a>] This fact is more than doubtful. Bzovius, for having advanced it +upon the authority of some others, was called <i>Bovius</i>, that is, +"Great Ox." It is, therefore, better to stand by what Moreri thought +of it. "The enemies of Scotus have proclaimed," says he, "that, having +died of apoplexy, he was at first interred, and, some time after this +accident having elapsed, he died in despair, gnawing his hands. But +this calumny, which was authorized by Paulus Jovius, Latomias, and +Bzovius, has been so well refuted that no one now will give credit to +it."</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f560.1">560</a><a name="f560" id="f560"></a>] Larrey, in Henri VIII. Roi d'Angleterre.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f561.1">561</a><a name="f561" id="f561"></a>] Lilius Giraldus, Hist. Poët. Dialog.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI_2" id="CHAPTER_XLI_2"></a>CHAPTER XLI.</h2> + +<h3>VARIOUS INSTANCES OF PERSONS BEING BURIED ALIVE.</h3> + + +<p>Plutarch relates that a man who fell from a great height, having +pitched upon his neck, was believed to be dead, without there being +the appearance of any hurt. As they were carrying him to be buried, +the day after, he all at once recovered his strength and his senses. +Asclepiades[<a href="#f562">562</a><a name="f562.1" id="f562.1"></a>] meeting a great funeral train of a person they were +taking to be interred, obtained permission to look at and to touch the +dead man; he found some signs of life in him, and by means of proper +remedies, he immediately recalled him to life, and restored him in +sound health to his parents and relations.</p> + +<p>There are several instances of persons who after being interred came +to themselves, and lived a long time in perfect health. They relate in +particular,[<a href="#f563">563</a><a name="f563.1" id="f563.1"></a>] that a woman of Orleans was buried in a cemetery, +with a ring on her finger, which they had not been able to draw off +her finger when she was placed in her coffin. The following night, a +domestic, attracted by the hope of gain, broke open the coffin, and as +he could not tear the ring off her finger, was about to cut her finger +off, when she uttered a loud shriek. The servant fled. The woman +disengaged herself as she could from her winding sheet, returned home, +and survived her husband.</p> + +<p>M. Bernard, a principal surgeon at Paris, attests that, being with his +father at the parish of Réal, they took from the tombs, living and +breathing, a monk of the order of St. Francis, who had been shut up in +it three or four days, and who had gnawed his hands around the bands +which confined them. But he died almost the moment that he was in the +air.</p> + +<p>Several persons have made mention of that wife of a counselor of +Cologne,[<a href="#f564">564</a><a name="f564.1" id="f564.1"></a>] who having been interred with a valuable ring on her +finger, in 1571, the grave-digger opened the grave the succeeding +night to steal the ring. But the good lady caught hold of him, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> +forced him to take her out of the coffin. He, however, disengaged +himself from her hands, and fled. The resuscitated lady went and +rapped at the door of her house. At first they thought it was a +phantom, and left her a long time at the door, waiting anxiously to be +let in; but at last they opened it for her. They warmed her, and she +recovered her health perfectly, and had after that three sons, who all +belonged to the church. This event is represented on her sepulchre in +a picture, or painting, in which the story is represented, and +moreover, written, in German verses.</p> + +<p>It is added that the lady, in order to convince those of the house +that it was herself, told the footman who came to the door that the +horses had gone up to the hay-loft, which was true; and there are +still to be seen at the windows of the <i>grenier</i> of that house, +horses' heads, carved in wood, as a sign of the truth of the matter.</p> + +<p>François de Civile, a Norman gentleman,[<a href="#f565">565</a><a name="f565.1" id="f565.1"></a>] was the captain of a +hundred men in the city of Rouen, when it was besieged by Charles IX., +and he was then six-and-twenty. He was wounded to death at the end of +an assault; and having fallen into the moat, some pioneers placed him +in a grave with some other bodies, and covered them over with a little +earth. He remained there from eleven in the morning till half-past six +in the evening, when his servant went to disinter him. This domestic, +having remarked some signs of life, put him in a bed, where he +remained for five days and nights, without speaking, or giving any +other sign of feeling, but as burning hot with fever as he had been +cold in the grave. The city having been taken by storm, the servants +of an officer of the victorious army, who was to lodge in the house +wherein was Civile, threw the latter upon a paillasse in a back room, +whence his brother's enemies tossed him out of the window upon a +dunghill, where he remained for more than seventy-two hours in his +shirt. At the end of that time, one of his relations, surprised to +find him still alive, sent him to a league's distance from Rouen,[<a href="#f566">566</a><a name="f566.1" id="f566.1"></a>] +where he was attended to, and at last was perfectly cured.</p> + +<p>During a great plague, which attacked the city of Dijon in 1558, a +lady, named Nicole Lentillet, being reputed dead of the epidemic, was +thrown into a great pit, wherein they buried the dead. The day after +her interment, in the morning, she came to herself again, and made +vain efforts to get out, but her weakness, and the weight of the other +bodies with which she was covered, prevented her doing so. She +remained in this horrible situation for four days, when the burial men +drew her out, and carried her back to her house, where she perfectly +recovered her health.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p><p>A +young lady of Augsburg,[<a href="#f567">567</a><a name="f567.1" id="f567.1"></a>] having fallen into a swoon, or trance, +her body was placed under a deep vault, without being covered with +earth; but the entrance to this subterranean vault was closely walled +up. Some years after that time, some one of the same family died. The +vault was opened, and the body of the young lady was found at the very +entrance, without any fingers to her right hand, which she had +devoured in despair.</p> + +<p>On the 25th of July, 1688, there died at Metz a hair-dresser's boy, of +an apoplectic fit, in the evening, after supper.</p> + +<p>On the 28th of the same month, he was heard to moan again several +times. They took him out of his grave, and he was attended by doctors +and surgeons. The physician maintained, after he had been opened, that +the young man had not been dead two hours. This is extracted from the +manuscript of a bourgeois of Metz, who was cotemporary with him.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f562.1">562</a><a name="f562" id="f562"></a>] Cels. lib. ii. c. 6.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f563.1">563</a><a name="f563" id="f563"></a>] Le P. Le Clerc, <i>ci devant</i> attorney of the boarders of the +college of Louis le Grand.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f564.1">564</a><a name="f564" id="f564"></a>] Mísson, Voyage d'Italie, tom. i. Lettre 5. Goulart, des +Histoires admirables; et mémorables printed at Geneva, in 1678.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f565.1">565</a><a name="f565" id="f565"></a>] Mísson, Voyage, tom. iii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f566.1">566</a><a name="f566" id="f566"></a>] Goulart, loca cetata.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f567.1">567</a><a name="f567" id="f567"></a>] M. Graffe, Epit. à Guil. Frabi, Centurie 2, observ chirurg. 516.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLII_2" id="CHAPTER_XLII_2"></a>CHAPTER XLII.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCES OF DROWNED PERSONS RECOVERING THEIR HEALTH.</h3> + + +<p>Here follow some instances of drowned persons[<a href="#f568">568</a><a name="f568.1" id="f568.1"></a>] who came to +themselves several days after they were believed to be dead. Peclin +relates the story of a gardener of Troninghalm, in Sweden, who was +still alive, and sixty-five years of age, when the author wrote. This +man being on the ice to assist another man who had fallen into the +water, the ice broke under him, and he sunk under water to the depth +of eight ells, his feet sticking in the mud: he remained sixteen hours +before they drew him out of the water. In this condition, he lost all +sense, except that he thought he heard the bells ringing at Stockholm. +He felt the water, which entered his body, not by his mouth, but his +ears. After having sought for him during sixteen hours, they caught +hold of his head with a hook, and drew him out of the water; they +placed him between sheets, put him near the fire, rubbed him, shook +him, and at last brought him to himself. The king and court would see +him and hear his story, and gave him a pension.</p> + +<p>A woman of the same country, after having been three days in the +water, was also revived by the same means as the gardener. Another +person named Janas, having drowned himself at seventeen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> +years of age, was taken out of the water seven weeks after; they +warmed him, and brought him back to life.</p> + +<p>M. D'Egly, of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, at +Paris, relates, that a Swiss, an expert diver, having plunged down +into one of the hollows in the bed of the river, where he hoped to +find fine fish, remained there about nine hours; they drew him out of +the water after having hurt him in several places with their hooks. M. +D'Egly, seeing that the water bubbled strongly from his mouth, +maintained that he was not dead. They made him throw up as much water +as he could for three quarters of an hour, wrapped him up in hot +linen, put him to bed, bled him, and saved him.</p> + +<p>Some have been recovered after being seven weeks in the water, others +after a less time; for instance, Gocellin, a nephew of the Archbishop +of Cologne, having fallen into the Rhine, remained under water for +fifteen hours before they could find him again; at the end of that +time, they carried him to the tomb of St. Suitbert, and he recovered +his health.[<a href="#f569">569</a><a name="f569.1" id="f569.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>The same St. Suitbert resuscitated also another young man who had been +drowned several hours. But the author who relates these miracles is of +no great authority.</p> + +<p>Several instances are related of drowned persons who have remained +under water for several days, and at last recovered and enjoyed good +health. In the second part of the dissertation on the uncertainty of +the signs of death, by M. Bruhier, physician, printed at Paris in +1744, pp. 102, 103, &c., it is shown that they have seen some who have +been under water forty-eight hours, others during three days, and +during eight days. He adds to this the example of the insect +chrysalis, which passes all the winter without giving any signs of +life, and the aquatic insects which remain all the winter motionless +in the mud; which also happens to the frogs and toads; ants even, +against the common opinion, are during the winter in a death-like +state, which ceases only on the return of spring. Swallows, in the +northern countries, bury themselves in heaps, in the lakes and ponds, +in rivers even, in the sea, in the sand, in the holes of walls, and +the hollows of trees, or at the bottom of caverns; whilst other kinds +of swallows cross the sea to find warmer and more temperate climes.</p> + +<p>What has just been said of swallows being found at the bottom of +lakes, ponds, and rivers, is commonly remarked in Silesia, Poland, +Bohemia, and Moravia. Sometimes even storks are fished up as if dead, +having their beaks fixed in the anus of one another; many of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> +these have been seen in the environs of Geneva, and even in the +environs of Metz, in the year 1467.</p> + +<p>To these may be added quails and herons. Sparrows and cuckoos have +been found during the winter in hollow trees, torpid and without the +least appearance of life, which being warmed recovered themselves and +took flight. We know that hedgehogs, marmots, sloths, and serpents, +live underground without breathing, and the circulation of the blood +is very feeble in them during all the winter. It is even said that +bears sleep during almost all that period.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f568.1">568</a><a name="f568" id="f568"></a>] Guill. Derham, Extrait. Peclin, c. x. de aëre et alim. def.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f569.1">569</a><a name="f569" id="f569"></a>] Vita S. Suitberti, apud Surium, I. Martii.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII_2" id="CHAPTER_XLIII_2"></a>CHAPTER XLIII.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCES OF WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN BELIEVED TO BE DEAD, AND WHO HAVE +COME TO LIFE AGAIN.</h3> + + +<p>Very clever physicians assert[<a href="#f570">570</a><a name="f570.1" id="f570.1"></a>] that in cases of the suffocation of +the womb, a woman may live thirty days without breathing. I know that +a very excellent woman was six-and-thirty hours without giving any +sign of life. Everybody thought she was dead, and they wanted to +enshroud her, but her husband always opposed it. At the end of +thirty-six hours she came to herself, and has lived a long time since +then. She told them that she heard very well all that was said about +her, and knew that they wanted to lay her out; but her torpor was such +that she could not surmount it, and she should have let them do +whatever they pleased without the least resistance.</p> + +<p>This applies to what St. Augustine says of the priest Pretextas, who +in his trances and swoons heard, as if from afar off, what was said, +and nevertheless would have let himself be burned, and his flesh cut, +without opposing it or feeling it.</p> + +<p>Corneille le Bruyn,[<a href="#f571">571</a><a name="f571.1" id="f571.1"></a>] in his Voyages, relates that he saw at +Damietta, in Egypt, a Turk whom they called the Dead Child, because +when his mother was with child with him, she fell ill, and as they +believed she was dead, they buried her pretty quickly, according to +the custom of the country, where they let the dead remain but a very +short time unburied, above all during the plague. She was put into a +vault which this Turk had for the sepulture of his family.</p> + +<p>Towards evening, some hours after the interment of this woman,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> +it entered the mind of the Turk her husband, that the child she bore +might still be alive; he then had the vault opened, and found that his +wife had delivered herself, and that his child was alive, but the +mother was dead. Some people said that the child had been heard to +cry, and that it was on receiving intimation of this that the father +had the tomb opened. This man, surnamed the Dead Child, was still +living in 1677. Le Bruyn thinks that the woman was dead when her child +was born; but being dead, it would not have been possible for her to +bring him into the world. It must be remembered, that in Egypt, where +this happened, the women have an extraordinary facility of delivery, +as both ancients and moderns bear witness, and that this woman was +simply shut up in a vault, without being covered with earth.</p> + +<p>A woman at Strasburg, who was with child, being reputed to be dead, +was buried in a subterranean vault;[<a href="#f572">572</a><a name="f572.1" id="f572.1"></a>] at the end of some time, this +vault having been opened for another body to be placed in it, the +woman was found out of the coffin lying on the ground, and having +between her hands a child, of which she had delivered herself, and +whose arm she held in her mouth, as if she would fain eat it.</p> + +<p>Another woman, a Spaniard,[<a href="#f573">573</a><a name="f573.1" id="f573.1"></a>] the wife of Francisco Aravallos, of +Suasso, being dead, or believed to be so, in the last months of her +pregnancy, was put in the ground; her husband, whom they had sent for +from the country, whither he had gone on business, would see his wife +at the church, and had her exhumed: hardly had they opened the coffin, +when they heard the cry of a child, who was making efforts to leave +the bosom of its mother.</p> + +<p>He was taken away alive and lived a long time, being known by the name +of the Child of the Earth; and since then he was lieutenant-general of +the town of Héréz, on the frontier of Spain. These instances might be +multiplied to infinity, of persons buried alive, and of others who +have recovered as they were being carried to the grave, and others who +have been taken out of it by fortuitous circumstances. Upon this +subject you may consult the new work of Messrs. Vinslow and Bruyer, +and those authors who have expressly treated on this subject.[<a href="#f574">574</a><a name="f574.1" id="f574.1"></a>] +These gentlemen, the doctors, derive from thence a very wise and very +judicious conclusion, which is, that people should never be buried +without the absolute certainty of their being dead, above all in times +of pestilence, and in certain maladies in which those who are +suffering under them lose on a sudden both sense and motion.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f570.1">570</a><a name="f570" id="f570"></a>] Le Clerc, Hist. de la Médecine.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f571.1">571</a><a name="f571" id="f571"></a>] Corneille le Bruyn, tom. i. p. 579.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f572.1">572</a><a name="f572" id="f572"></a>] Cronstand, Philos. veter. restit.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f573.1">573</a><a name="f573" id="f573"></a>] Gaspard Reïes, Campus Elysias jucund.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f574.1">574</a><a name="f574" id="f574"></a>] Page 167, des additions de M. Bruhier.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV_2" id="CHAPTER_XLIV_2"></a>CHAPTER XLIV.</h2> + +<h3>CAN THESE INSTANCES BE APPLIED TO THE HUNGARIAN GHOSTS?</h3> + + +<p>Some advantage of these instances and these arguments may be derived +in favor of vampirism, by saying that the ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, +and Poland are not really dead, that they continue to live in their +graves, although without motion and without respiration; the blood +which is found in them being fine and red, the flexibility of their +limbs, the cries which they utter when their heart is pierced or their +head being cut off, all prove that they still exist.</p> + +<p>That is not the principal difficulty which arrests my judgment; it is +to know how they come out of their graves without any appearance of +the earth having been removed, and how they have replaced it as it +was; how they appear dressed in their clothes, go and come, and eat. +If it is so, why do they return to their graves? why do they not +remain amongst the living? why do they suck the blood of their +relations? Why do they haunt and fatigue persons who ought to be dear +to them, and who have done nothing to offend them? If all that is only +imagination on the part of those who are molested, whence comes it +that these vampires are found in their graves in an uncorrupted state, +full of blood, supple, and pliable; that their feet are found to be in +a muddy condition the day after they have run about and frightened the +neighbors, and that nothing similar is remarked in the other corpses +interred at the same time and in the same cemetery. Whence does it +happen that they neither come back nor infest the place any more when +they are burned or impaled? Would it be again the imagination of the +living and their prejudices which reassure them after these +executions? Whence comes it that these scenes recur so frequently in +those countries, that the people are not cured of their prejudices, +and daily experience, instead of destroying, only augments and +strengthens them?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLV_2" id="CHAPTER_XLV_2"></a>CHAPTER XLV.</h2> + +<h3>DEAD PERSONS WHO CHEW IN THEIR GRAVES LIKE HOGS, AND DEVOUR THEIR OWN +FLESH.</h3> + + +<p>It is an opinion widely spread in Germany, that certain dead persons +chew in their graves, and devour whatever may be close to them; that +they are even heard to eat like pigs, with a certain low cry, and as +if growling and grunting.</p> + +<p>A German author,[<a href="#f575">575</a><a name="f575.1" id="f575.1"></a>] named Michael Rauff, has composed a work, +entitled <i>De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis</i>—"Of the Dead who +Masticate in their Graves." He sets it down as a proved and sure +thing, that there are certain dead persons who have devoured the linen +and everything that was within reach of their mouth, and even their +own flesh, in their graves. He remarks,[<a href="#f576">576</a><a name="f576.1" id="f576.1"></a>] that in some parts of +Germany, to prevent the dead from masticating, they place a motte of +earth under their chin in the coffin; elsewhere they place a little +piece of money and a stone in their mouth; elsewhere they tie a +handkerchief tightly round their throat. The author cites some German +writers who make mention of this ridiculous custom; he quotes several +others who speak of dead people that have devoured their own flesh in +their sepulchre. This work was printed at Leipsic in 1728. It speaks +of an author named Philip Rehrius, who printed in 1679 a treatise with +the same title—<i>De Masticatione Mortuorum</i>.</p> + +<p>He might have added to it the circumstance of Henry Count of +Salm,[<a href="#f577">577</a><a name="f577.1" id="f577.1"></a>] who, being supposed to be dead, was interred alive; they +heard during the night, in the church of the Abbey of Haute-Seille, +where he was buried, loud cries; and the next day, on his tomb being +opened, they found him turned upon his face, whilst in fact he had +been buried lying upon his back.</p> + +<p>Some years ago, at Bar-le-Duc, a man was buried in the cemetery, and a +noise was heard in his grave; the next day they disinterred him, and +found that he had gnawed the flesh of his arms; and this we learned +from ocular witnesses. This man had drunk brandy, and had been buried +as dead. Rauff speaks of a woman of Bohe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>mia,[<a href="#f578">578</a><a name="f578.1" id="f578.1"></a>] who, in 1355, had +eaten in her grave half her shroud. In the time of Luther, a man who +was dead and buried, and a woman the same, gnawed their own entrails. +Another dead man in Moravia ate the linen clothes of a woman who was +buried next to him.</p> + +<p>All that is very possible, but that those who are really dead move +their jaws, and amuse themselves with masticating whatever may be near +them, is a childish fancy—like what the ancient Romans said of their +<i>Manducus</i>, which was a grotesque figure of a man with an enormous +mouth, and teeth proportioned thereto, which they caused to move by +springs, and grind his teeth together, as if this figure had wanted to +eat. They frightened children with them, and threatened them with the +Manducus.[<a href="#f579">579</a><a name="f579.1" id="f579.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>Some remains of this old custom may be seen in certain processions, +where they carry a sort of serpent, which at intervals opens and shuts +a vast jaw, armed with teeth, into which they throw cakes, as if to +gorge it, or satisfy its appetite.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f575.1">575</a><a name="f575" id="f575"></a>] Mich. Rauff, alterâ Dissert. Art. lvii. pp. 98, 99, et Art. lix. +p. 100.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f576.1">576</a><a name="f576" id="f576"></a>] De Nummis in Ore Defunctorum repertis, Art. ix. à Beyermuller, +&c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f577.1">577</a><a name="f577" id="f577"></a>] Richer, Senon, tom. iii. Spicileg. Ducherii, p. 392.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f578.1">578</a><a name="f578" id="f578"></a>] Rauff, Art. xlii. p. 43.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f579.1">579</a><a name="f579" id="f579"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Tandemque venit ad pulpita nostrum</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Exodium, cum personæ pallentis hiatum</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In gremio matris fastidit rusticus infans."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><i>Juvenal</i>, Sat. iii. 174.</span><br /> +</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI_2" id="CHAPTER_XLVI_2"></a>CHAPTER XLVI.</h2> + +<h3>SINGULAR INSTANCE OF A HUNGARIAN GHOST.</h3> + + +<p>The most remarkable instance cited by Rauff[<a href="#f580">580</a><a name="f580.1" id="f580.1"></a>] is that of one Peter +Plogojovitz, who had been buried ten weeks in a village of Hungary, +called Kisolova. This man appeared by night to some of the inhabitants +of the village while they were asleep, and grasped their throat so +tightly that in four-and-twenty hours it caused their death. Nine +persons, young and old, perished thus in the course of eight days.</p> + +<p>The widow of the same Plogojovitz declared that her husband since his +death had come and asked her for his shoes, which frightened her so +much that she left Kisolova to retire to some other spot.</p> + +<p>From these circumstances the inhabitants of the village determined +upon disinterring the body of Plogojovitz and burning it, to deliver +themselves from these visitations. They applied to the emperor's +officer, who commanded in the territory of Gradiska, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> +Hungary, and even to the curé of the same place, <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'or'.">for</ins> permission to +exhume the body of Peter Plogojovitz. The officer and the curé made +much demur in granting this permission, but the peasants declared that +if they were refused permission to disinter the body of this man, whom +they had no doubt was a true vampire (for so they called these revived +corpses), they should be obliged to forsake the village, and go where +they could.</p> + +<p>The emperor's officer, who wrote this account, seeing he could hinder +them neither by threats nor promises, went with the curé of Gradiska +to the village of Kisolova, and having caused Peter Plogojovitz to be +exhumed, they found that his body exhaled no bad smell; that he looked +as when alive, except the tip of the nose; that his hair and beard had +grown, and instead of his nails, which had fallen off, new ones had +come; that under his upper skin, which appeared whitish, there +appeared a new one, which looked healthy, and of a natural color; his +feet and hands were as whole as could be desired in a living man. They +remarked also in his mouth some fresh blood, which these people +believed that this vampire had sucked from the men whose death he had +occasioned.</p> + +<p>The emperor's officer and the curé having diligently examined all +these things, and the people who were present feeling their +indignation awakened anew, and being more fully persuaded that he was +the true cause of the death of their compatriots, ran directly for a +sharp-pointed stake, which they thrust into his breast, whence there +issued a quantity of fresh and crimson blood, and also from the nose +and mouth; something also proceeded from that part of his body which +decency does not allow us to mention. After this the peasants placed +the body on a pile of wood and saw it reduced to ashes.</p> + +<p>M. Rauff,[<a href="#f581">581</a><a name="f581.1" id="f581.1"></a>] from whom we have these particulars, cites several +authors who have written on the same subject, and have related +instances of dead people who have eaten in their tombs. He cites +particularly Gabril Rzaczincki in his history of the Natural +Curiosities of the Kingdom of Poland, printed at Sandomic in 1721.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f580.1">580</a><a name="f580" id="f580"></a>] Rauff, Art. xii. p. 15.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f581.1">581</a><a name="f581" id="f581"></a>] Rauff, Art. xxi. p. 14.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII_2" id="CHAPTER_XLVII_2"></a>CHAPTER XLVII.</h2> + +<h3>REASONINGS ON THIS MATTER.</h3> + + +<p>Those authors have reasoned a great deal on these events. 1. Some have +believed them to be miraculous. 2. Others have looked upon them simply +as the effect of a heated imagination, or a sort of prepossession. 3. +Others again have believed that there was nothing in all that but what +was very simple and very natural, these persons not being dead, and +acting naturally upon other bodies. 4. Others have asserted[<a href="#f582">582</a><a name="f582.1" id="f582.1"></a>] that +it was the work of the devil himself; amongst these, some have +advanced the opinion that there were certain benign demons, differing +from those who are malevolent and hostile to mankind, to which (benign +demons) they have attributed playful and harmless operations, in +contradistinction to those bad demons who inspire the minds of men +with crime and sin, ill use them, kill them, and occasion them an +infinity of evils. But what greater evils can one have to fear from +veritable demons and the most malignant spirits, than those which the +ghouls of Hungary cause the persons whose blood they suck, and thus +cause to die? 5. Others will have it that it is not the dead who eat +their own flesh or clothes, but serpents, rats, moles, ferrets, or +other voracious animals, or even what the peasants call +<i>striges</i>,[<a href="#f583">583</a><a name="f583.1" id="f583.1"></a>] which are birds that devour animals and men, and suck +their blood. Some have said that these instances are principally +remarked in women, and, above all, in a time of pestilence; but there +are instances of ghouls of both sexes, and principally of men; +although those who die of plague, poison, hydrophobia, drunkenness, +and any epidemical malady, are more apt to return, apparently because +their blood coagulates with more difficulty; and sometimes some are +buried who are not quite dead, on account of the danger there is in +leaving them long without sepulture, from fear of the infection they +would cause.</p> + +<p>It is added that these vampires are known only to certain countries, +as Hungary, Moravia, and Silesia, where those maladies are more +common, and where the people, being badly fed, are subject<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> +to certain disorders caused or occasioned by the climate and the +food, and augmented by prejudice, fancy, and fright, capable of +producing or of increasing the most dangerous maladies, as daily +experience proves too well. As to what some have asserted that the +dead have been heard to eat and chew like pigs in their graves, it is +manifestly fabulous, and such an idea can have its foundation only in +ridiculous prepossessions of the mind.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f582.1">582</a><a name="f582" id="f582"></a>] Rudiga, Physio. Dur. lib. i. c. 4. Theophrast. Paracels. Georg. +Agricola, de Anim. Subterran. p. 76.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f583.1">583</a><a name="f583" id="f583"></a>] Ovid, lib. vi. Vide Debrio, Disquisit. Magic. lib. i. p. 6, and +lib. iii. p. 355.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII_2" id="CHAPTER_XLVIII_2"></a>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h2> + +<h3>ARE THE VAMPIRES OR REVENANS REALLY DEAD?</h3> + + +<p>The opinion of those who hold that all that is related of vampires is +the effect of imagination, fascination, or of that disorder which the +Greeks term <i>phrenesis</i> or <i>coribantism</i>, and who pretend by that +means to explain all the phenomena of vampirism, will never persuade +us that these maladies of the brain can produce such real effects as +those we have just recounted. It is impossible that on a sudden, +several persons should believe they see a thing which is not there, +and that they should die in so short a time of a disorder purely +imaginary. And who has revealed to them that such a vampire is +undecayed in his grave, that he is full of blood, that he in some +measure lives there after his death? Is there not to be found in the +nation one sensible man who is exempt from this fancy, or who has +soared above the effects of this fascination, these sympathies and +antipathies—this natural magic? And besides, who can explain to us +clearly and distinctly what these grand terms signify, and the manner +of these operations so occult and so mysterious? It is trying to +explain a thing which is obscure and doubtful, by another still more +uncertain and incomprehensible.</p> + +<p>If these persons believe nothing of all that is related of the +apparition, the return, and the actions of vampires, they lose their +time very uselessly in proposing systems and forming arguments to +explain what exists only in the imagination of certain prejudiced +persons struck with an idea; but, if all that is related, or at least +a part, is true, these systems and these arguments will not easily +satisfy those minds which desire proofs far more weighty than those.</p> + +<p>Let us see, then, if the system which asserts that these vampires are +not really dead is well founded. It is certain that death consists in +the separation of the soul from the body, and that neither<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> the one +nor the other perishes, nor is annihilated by death; that the soul is +immortal, and that the body destitute of its soul, still remains +entire, and becomes only in part corrupt, sometimes in a few days, and +sometimes in a longer space of time; sometimes even it remains +uncorrupted during many years or even ages, either by reason of a good +constitution, as in Hector[<a href="#f584">584</a><a name="f584.1" id="f584.1"></a>] and Alexander the Great, whose bodies +remained several days undecayed;[<a href="#f585">585</a><a name="f585.1" id="f585.1"></a>] or by means of the art of +embalming; or lastly, owing to the nature of the earth in which they +are interred, which has the power of drying up the radical humidity +and the principles of corruption. I do not stop to prove all these +things, which besides are very well known.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the body, without being dead and forsaken by its reasonable +soul, remains as if dead and motionless, or at least with so slow a +motion and such feeble respiration, that it is almost imperceptible, +as it happens in faintings, swoons, in certain disorders very common +amongst women, in trances—as we remarked in the case of Pretextat, +priest of Calame; we have also reported more than one instance, +considered dead and buried as such; I may add that of the Abbé Salin, +prior of St. Christopher,[<a href="#f586">586</a><a name="f586.1" id="f586.1"></a>] who being in his coffin, and about to +be interred, was resuscitated by some of his friends, who made him +swallow a glass of champagne.</p> + +<p>Several instances of the same kind are related.[<a href="#f587">587</a><a name="f587.1" id="f587.1"></a>] In the "Causes +Célèbres," they make mention of a girl who became <i>enceinte</i> during a +long swoon; we have already noticed this. Pliny cites[<a href="#f588">588</a><a name="f588.1" id="f588.1"></a>] a great +number of instances of persons who have been thought dead, and who +have come to life again, and lived for a long time. He mentions a +young man, who having fallen asleep in a cavern, remained there forty +years without waking. Our historians[<a href="#f589">589</a><a name="f589.1" id="f589.1"></a>] speak of the seven sleepers, +who slept for 150 years, from the year of Christ 253 to 403. It is +said that the philosopher Epimenides slept in a cavern during +fifty-seven years, or according to others, forty-seven, or only forty +years; for the ancients do not agree concerning the number of years; +they even affirm, that this philosopher had the power to detach his +soul from his body, and recall it when he pleased. The same thing is +related of Aristæus of Proconnesus. I am willing to allow that that is +fabulous; but we cannot gainsay the truth of several other stories of +persons who have come to life again, after having appeared dead for +three, four, five, six, and seven days. Pliny acknowledges that there +are several instances of dead people who have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> +appeared after they were interred; but he will not mention them more +particularly, because, he says, he relates only natural things and not +prodigies—"Post sepulturam quoque visorum exempla sunt, nisi quod +naturæ opera non prodigia sectamur." We believe that Enoch and Elijah +are still living. Several have thought that St. John the Evangelist +was not dead,[<a href="#f590">590</a><a name="f590.1" id="f590.1"></a>] but that he is still alive in his tomb.</p> + +<p>Plato and St. Clement of Alexandria[<a href="#f591">591</a><a name="f591.1" id="f591.1"></a>] relate, that the son of +Zoroaster was resuscitated twelve days after his (supposed) death, and +when his body had been laid upon the funeral pyre. Phlegon says,[<a href="#f592">592</a><a name="f592.1" id="f592.1"></a>] +that a Syrian soldier in the army of Antiochus, after having been +killed at Thermopylæ, appeared in open day in the Roman camp, and +spoke to several. And Plutarch relates,[<a href="#f593">593</a><a name="f593.1" id="f593.1"></a>] that a man named +Thespesius, who had fallen from the roof of a house, came to himself +the third day after he died (or seemed to die) of his fall.</p> + +<p>St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians,[<a href="#f594">594</a><a name="f594.1" id="f594.1"></a>] seems to suppose that +sometimes the soul transported itself without the body, to repair to +the spot where it is in mind or thought; for instance, he says, that +he has been transported to the third heaven; but he adds that he knows +not whether in the body, or only in spirit—"Sive in corpora, sive +extra corpus, nescio, Deus scit." We have already cited St. +Augustine,[<a href="#f595">595</a><a name="f595.1" id="f595.1"></a>] who mentions a priest of Calamus, named Pretextat, +who, at the sound of the voices of some persons who lamented their +sins, fell into such an ecstasy of delight, that he no longer breathed +or felt anything; and they might have cut and burnt his flesh without +his perceiving it; his soul was absent, or really so occupied with +these lamentations, that he was insensible to pain. In swoons and +syncope, the soul no longer performs her ordinary functions. She is +nevertheless in the body, and continues to animate it, but she +perceives not her own action.</p> + +<p>A curé of the Diocese of Constance, named Bayer, writes me word that +in 1728, having been appointed to the curé of Rutheim, he was +disturbed a month afterwards by a spectre, or an evil genius, in the +form of a peasant, badly made, and ill-dressed, very ill-looking, and +stinking insupportably, who came and knocked at the door in an +insolent manner, and having entered his study told him that he had +been sent by an official of the Prince of Constance, his bishop, upon +a certain commission which was found to be absolutely false. He then +asked for something to eat, and they placed before him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> +meat, bread, and wine. He took up the meat with both hands, and +devoured it bones and all, saying, "See how I eat both flesh and +bone—do the same." Then he took up the wine-cup, and swallowed it at +a draught, asking for another, which he drank off in the same fashion. +After that he withdrew, without bidding the curé good-bye; and the +servant who showed him to the door having asked his name, he replied, +"I was born at Rutsingen, and my name is George Raulin," which was +false. As he was going down stairs he said to the curé in German, in a +menacing tone, "I will show you who I am."</p> + +<p>He passed all the rest of the day in the village, showing himself to +everybody. Towards midnight he returned to the curé's door, crying out +three times in a terrible voice, "Monsieur Bayer!" and adding, "I will +let you know who I am." In fact, during three years he returned every +day towards four o'clock in the afternoon, and every night till dawn +of day. He appeared in different forms, sometimes like a water-dog, +sometimes as a lion, or some other terrible animal; sometimes in the +shape of a man, or a girl, when the curé was at table, or in bed, +enticing him to lasciviousness. Sometimes he made an uproar in the +house, like a cooper putting hoops on his casks; then again you might +have thought he wanted to throw the house down by the noise he made in +it. To have witnesses to all this, the curé often sent for the beadle +and other personages of the village to bear testimony to it. The +spectre emitted, wherever he showed himself, an insupportable stench.</p> + +<p>At last the curé had recourse to exorcisms, but they produced no +effect. And as they despaired almost of being delivered from these +vexations, he was advised, at the end of the third year, to provide +himself with a holy branch on Palm Sunday, and also with a sword +sprinkled with holy water, and to make use of it against the spectre. +He did so once or twice, and from that time he was no more molested. +This is attested by a Capuchin monk, witness of the greater part of +these things, the 29th of August, 1749.</p> + +<p>I will not guarantee the truth of all these circumstances; the +judicious reader will make what induction he pleases from them. If +they are true, here is a real ghost, who eats, drinks, and speaks, and +gives tokens of his presence for three whole years, without any +appearance of religion. Here follows another instance of a ghost who +manifested himself by actions alone.</p> + +<p>They write me word from Constance, the 8th of August, 1748, that +towards the end of the year 1746 sighs were heard, which seemed to +proceed from the corner of the printing-office of the Sieur Lahart, +one of the common council men of the city of Constance. The printers +only laughed at it at first, but in the following year, 1747, in the +beginning of January, they heard more noise than be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>fore. There was a +hard knocking near the same corner whence they had at first heard some +sighs; things went so far that the printers received slaps, and their +hats were thrown on the ground. They had recourse to the Capuchins, +who came with the books proper for exorcising the spirit. The exorcism +completed they returned home, and the noise ceased for three days.</p> + +<p>At the end of that time the noise recommenced more violently than +before; the spirit threw the characters for printing, whether letters +or figures, against the windows. They sent out of the city for a +famous exorcist, who exorcised the spirit for a week. One day the +spirit boxed the ears of a lad; and again the letters, &c., were +thrown against the window-panes. The foreign exorcist, not having been +able to effect anything by his exorcisms, returned to his own home.</p> + +<p>The spirit went on as usual, giving slaps in the face to one, and +throwing stones and other things at another, so that the compositors +were obliged to leave that corner of the printing-office and place +themselves in the middle of the room, but they were not the quieter +for that.</p> + +<p>They then sent for other exorcists, one of whom had a particle of the +true cross, which he placed upon the table. The spirit did not, +however, cease disturbing as usual the workmen belonging to the +printing-office; and the Capuchin brother who accompanied the exorcist +received such buffets that they were both obliged to withdraw to their +convent. Then came others, who, having mixed a quantity of sand and +ashes in a bucket of water, blessed the water, and sprinkled with it +every part of the printing-office. They also scattered the sand and +ashes all over the room upon the paved floor; and being provided with +swords, the whole party began to strike at random right and left in +every part of the room, to see if they could hit the ghost, and to +observe if he left any foot-marks upon the sand or ashes which covered +the floor. They perceived at last that he had perched himself on the +top of the stove or furnace, and they remarked on the angles of it +marks of his feet and hands impressed on the sand and ashes they had +blessed.</p> + +<p>They succeeded in ousting him from there, and they very soon perceived +that he had slid under the table, and left marks of his hands and feet +on the pavement. The dust raised by all this movement in the office +caused them to disperse, and they discontinued the pursuit. But the +principal exorcist having taken out a screw from the angle where they +had first heard the noise, found in a hole in the wall some feathers, +three bones wrapped up in a dirty piece of linen, some bits of glass, +and a hair-pin, or bodkin. He blessed a fire which they lighted, and +had all that thrown into it. But this monk had hardly reached his +convent when one of the printers came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> to tell him that the bodkin had +come out of the flames three times of itself, and that a boy who was +holding a pair of tongs, and who put this bodkin in the fire again, +had been violently struck in the face. The rest of the things which +had been found having been brought to the Capuchin convent, they were +burnt without further resistance; but the lad who had carried them +there saw a naked woman in the public market-place, and that and the +following days groans were heard in the market-place of Constance.</p> + +<p>Some days after this the printer's house was again infested in this +manner, the ghost giving slaps, throwing stones, and molesting the +domestics in divers ways. The Sieur Lahart, the master of the house, +received a great wound in his head, two boys who slept in the same bed +were thrown on the ground, so that the house was entirely forsaken +during the night. One Sunday a servant girl carrying away some linen +from the house had stones thrown at her, and another time two boys +were thrown down from a ladder.</p> + +<p>There was in the city of Constance an executioner who passed for a +sorcerer. The monk who writes to me suspected him of having some part +in this game; he began to exhort those who sat up with him in the +house, to put their confidence in God, and to be strong in faith. He +gave them to understand that the executioner was likely to be of the +party. They passed the night thus in the house, and about ten o'clock +in the evening, one of the companions of the exorcist threw himself at +his feet in tears, and revealed to him, that that same night he and +one of his companions had been sent to consult the executioner in +Turgau, and that by order of the Sieur Lahart, printer, in whose house +all this took place. This avowal strangely surprised the good father, +and he declared that he would not continue to exorcise, if they did +not assure him that they had not spoken to the executioners to put an +end to the haunting. They protested that they had not spoken to them +at all. The Capuchin father had everything picked up that was found +about the house, wrapped up in packets, and had them carried to his +convent.</p> + +<p>The following night, two domestics tried to pass the night in the +house, but they were thrown <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'our'.">out</ins> of their beds, and constrained to go +and sleep elsewhere. After this, they sent for a peasant of the +village of Annanstorf, who was considered a good exorcist. He passed +the night in the haunted house, drinking, singing, and shouting. He +received slaps and blows from a stick, and was obliged to own that he +could not prevail against the spirit.</p> + +<p>The widow of an executioner presented herself then to perform the +exorcisms; she began by using fumigations in all parts of the +dwelling, to drive away the evil spirits. But before she had finished +these fumigations, seeing that the master was struck in the face and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> +on his body by the spirit, she ran away from the house, without asking +for her pay.</p> + +<p>They next called in the Curé of Valburg, who passed for a clever +exorcist. He came with four other secular curés, and continued the +exorcisms for three days, without any success. He withdrew to his +parish, imputing the inutility of his prayers to the want of faith of +those who were present.</p> + +<p>During this time, one of the four priests was struck with a knife, +then with a fork, but he was not hurt. The son of Sieur Lahart, master +of the dwelling, received upon his jaw a blow from a pascal taper, +which did him no harm. All that being of no service, they sent for the +executioners of the neighborhood. Two of the persons who went to fetch +them were well thrashed and pelted with stones. Another had his thigh +so tightly pressed that he felt the pain for a long time. The +executioners carefully collected all the packets they found wrapped up +about the house, and put others in their room; but the spirit took +them up and threw them into the market-place. After this, the +executioners persuaded the Sieur Lahart that he might boldly return +with his people to the house; he did so, but the first night, when +they were at supper, one of his workmen named Solomon was wounded on +the foot, and then followed a great effusion of blood. They then sent +again for the executioner, who appeared much surprised that the house +was not yet entirely freed, but at that moment he was himself attacked +by a shower of stones, boxes on the ears, and other blows, which +constrained him to run away quickly.</p> + +<p>Some heretics in the neighborhood, being informed of all these things, +came one day to the bookseller's shop, and upon attempting to read in +a Catholic Bible which was there, were well boxed and beaten; but +having taken up a Calvinist Bible, they received no harm. Two men of +Constance having entered the bookseller's shop from sheer curiosity, +one of them was immediately thrown down upon the ground, and the other +ran away as fast as he could. Another person, who had come in the same +way from curiosity, was punished for his presumption, by having a +quantity of water thrown upon him. A young girl of Ausburg, a relation +of the Sieur Lahart, printer, was chased away with violent blows, and +pursued even to the neighboring house, where she entered.</p> + +<p>At last the hauntings ceased, on the 8th of February. On that day the +spectre opened the shop door, went in, deranged a few articles, went +out, shut the door, and from that time nothing more was seen or heard +of it.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f584.1">584</a><a name="f584" id="f584"></a>] Homer de Hectore, Iliad XXIV. 411.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f585.1">585</a><a name="f585" id="f585"></a>] Plutarch de Alexandro in ejus Vita.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f586.1">586</a><a name="f586" id="f586"></a>] About the year 1680; he died after the year 1694.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f587.1">587</a><a name="f587" id="f587"></a>] Causes Célèbres, tom. viii. p. 585.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f588.1">588</a><a name="f588" id="f588"></a>] Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. vii. c. 52.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f589.1">589</a><a name="f589" id="f589"></a>] St. Gregor. Turon. de Gloria Martyr. c. 95.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f590.1">590</a><a name="f590" id="f590"></a>] I have touched upon this matter in a particular Dissertation at +the Head of the Gospel of St. John.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f591.1">591</a><a name="f591" id="f591"></a>] Plato, de Republ. lib. x.; Clemens Alexandr. lib. v. Stromat.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f592.1">592</a><a name="f592" id="f592"></a>] Phleg. de Mirabilis, c. 3.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f593.1">593</a><a name="f593" id="f593"></a>] Plutarch, de Serâ Numinis Vindicta.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f594.1">594</a><a name="f594" id="f594"></a>] 1 Cor. xiii. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f595.1">595</a><a name="f595" id="f595"></a>] Aug. lib. xiv. de Civit. Dei, c. 24.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIX_2" id="CHAPTER_XLIX_2"></a>CHAPTER XLIX.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCE OF A MAN NAMED CURMA WHO WAS SENT BACK INTO THE WORLD.</h3> + + +<p>St. Augustine relates on this subject,[<a href="#f596">596</a><a name="f596.1" id="f596.1"></a>] that a countryman named +Curma, who held a small place in the village of Tullia, near Hippoma, +having fallen sick, remained for some days senseless and speechless, +having just respiration enough left to prevent their burying him. At +the end of several days he began to open his eyes, and sent to ask +what they were about in the house of another peasant of the same +place, and like himself named Curma. They brought him back word, that +he had just expired at the very moment that he himself had recovered +and was resuscitated from his deep slumber.</p> + +<p>Then he began to talk, and related what he had seen and heard; that it +was not Curma the <i>curial</i>,[<a href="#f597">597</a><a name="f597.1" id="f597.1"></a>] but Curma the blacksmith, who ought +to have been brought; he added, that among those whom he had seen +treated in different ways, he had recognized some of his deceased +acquaintance, and other ecclesiastics, who were still alive, who had +advised him to come to Hippoma, and be baptized by the Bishop +Augustine; that according to their advice he had received baptism in +his vision; that afterwards he had been introduced into Paradise, but +that he had not remained there long, and that they had told him that +if he wished to dwell there, he must be baptized. He replied, "I am +so;" but they told him, that he had been so only in a vision, and that +he must go to Hippoma to receive that sacrament in reality. He came +there as soon as he was cured, and received the rite of baptism with +the other catechumens.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine was not informed of this adventure till about two years +afterwards. He sent for Curma, and learnt from his own lips what I +have just related. Now it is certain that Curma saw nothing with his +bodily eyes of all that had been represented to him in his vision; +neither the town of Hippoma, nor Bishop Augustine, nor the +ecclesiastics who counseled him to be baptized, nor the persons living +and deceased whom he saw and recognized. We may believe, then, that +these things are effects of the power of God, who makes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> +use of the ministry of angels to warn, console, or alarm mortals, +according as his judgment sees best.</p> + +<p>St. Augustine inquires afterwards if the dead have any knowledge of +what is passing in this world? He doubts the fact, and shows that at +least they have no knowledge of it by ordinary and natural means. He +remarks, that it is said God took Josiah, for instance, from this +world,[<a href="#f598">598</a><a name="f598.1" id="f598.1"></a>] that he might now witness the evil which was to befall his +nation; and we say every day, Such-a-one is happy to have left the +world, and so escaped feeling the miseries which have happened to his +family or his country. But if the dead know not what is passing in +this world, how can they be troubled about their bodies being interred +or not? How do the saints hear our prayers? and why do we ask them for +their intercession?</p> + +<p>It is then true that the dead can learn what is passing on the earth, +either by the agency of angels, or by that of the dead who arrive in +the other world, or by the revelation of the Spirit of God, who +discovers to them what he judges proper, and what it is expedient that +they should learn. God may also sometimes send men who have long been +dead to living men, as he permitted Moses and Elias to appear at the +Transfiguration of the Lord, and as an infinite number of the saints +have appeared to the living. The invocation of saints has always been +taught and practised in the Church; whence we may infer that they hear +our prayers, are moved by our wants, and can help us by their +intercession. But the way in which all that is done is not distinctly +known; neither reason nor revelation furnishes us with anything +certain, as to the means it pleases God to make use of to reveal our +wants to them.</p> + +<p>Lucian, in his dialogue entitled <i>Philopseudes</i>, or the "Lover of +Falsehood," relates[<a href="#f599">599</a><a name="f599.1" id="f599.1"></a>] something similar. A man named Eucratés, +having been taken down to hell, was presented to Pluto, who was angry +with him who presented him, saying—"That man has not yet completed +his course; his turn has not yet come. Bring hither Demilius, for the +thread of his life is finished." Then they sent Eucratés back to this +world, where he announced that Demilius would die soon. Demilius lived +near him, and was already a little ill.</p> + +<p>But a moment after they heard the noise of those who were bewailing +his death. Lucian makes a jest of all that was said on this subject, +but he owns that it was the common opinion in his time. He says in the +same part of his work, that a man has been seen to come to life again +after having been looked upon as dead during twenty days.</p> + +<p>The story of Curma which we have just told, reminds me of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> another +very like it, related by Plutarch in his Book on the Soul, of a +certain man named Enarchus,[<a href="#f600">600</a><a name="f600.1" id="f600.1"></a>] who, being dead, came to life again +soon after, and related that the demons who had taken away his soul +were severely reprimanded by their chief, who told them that they had +made a mistake, and that it was Nicander, and not Enarchus whom they +ought to bring. He sent them for Nicander, who was directly seized +with a fever, and died during the day. Plutarch heard this from +Enarchus himself, who to confirm what he had asserted said to +him—"You will get well certainly, and that very soon, of the illness +which has attacked you."</p> + +<p>St. Gregory the Great relates[<a href="#f601">601</a><a name="f601.1" id="f601.1"></a>] something very similar to what we +have just mentioned. An illustrious man of rank named Stephen well +known to St. Gregory and Peter his interlocutor, was accustomed to +relate to him, that going to Constantinople on business he died there; +and as the doctor who was to embalm him was not in town that day, they +were obliged to leave the body unburied that night. During this +interval Stephen was led before the judge who presided in hell, where +he saw many things which he had heard of, but did not believe. When +they brought him to the judge, the latter refused to receive him, +saying, "It is not that man whom I commanded you to bring here, but +Stephen the blacksmith." In consequence of this order the soul of the +dead man was directly brought back to his body, and at the same +instant Stephen the blacksmith expired; which confirmed all that the +former had said of the other life.</p> + +<p>The plague ravaging the city of Rome in the time that Narses was +governor of Italy, a young Livonian, a shepherd by profession, and of +a good and quiet disposition, was taken ill with the plague in the +house of the advocate Valerian, his master. Just when they thought him +all but dead, he suddenly came to himself, and related to them that he +had been transported to heaven, where he had learnt the names of those +who were to die of the plague in his master's house; having named them +to him, he predicted to Valerian that he should survive him; and to +convince him that he was saying the truth, he let him see that he had +acquired by infusion the knowledge of several different languages; in +effect he who had never known how to speak any but the Italian tongue, +spoke Greek to his master, and other languages to those who knew them.</p> + +<p>After having lived in this state for two days, he had fits of madness, +and having laid hold of his hands with his teeth, he died a second +time, and was followed by those whom he had named. His master, who +survived, fully justified his prediction. Men and women<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> who fall into +trances remain sometimes for several days without food, respiration, +or pulsation of the heart, as if they were dead. Thauler, a famous +contemplative (philosopher) maintains that a man may remain entranced +during a week, a month, or even a year. We have seen an abbess, who +when in a trance, into which she often fell, lost the use of her +natural functions, and passed thirty days in that state without taking +any nourishment, and without sensation. Instances of these trances are +not rare in the lives of the saints, though they are not all of the +same kind, or duration.</p> + +<p>Women in hysterical fits remain likewise many days as if dead, +speechless, inert, pulseless. Galen mentions a woman who was six days +in this state.[<a href="#f602">602</a><a name="f602.1" id="f602.1"></a>] Some of them pass ten whole days motionless, +senseless, without respiration and without food.</p> + +<p>Some persons who have seemed dead and motionless, had however the +sense of hearing very strong, heard all that was said about +themselves, made efforts to speak and show that they were not dead, +but who could neither speak, nor give any signs of life.[<a href="#f603">603</a><a name="f603.1" id="f603.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>I might here add an infinity of trances of saintly personages of both +sexes, who in their delight in God, in prayer remained motionless, +without sensation, almost breathless, and who felt nothing of what was +done to them, or around them.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f596.1">596</a><a name="f596" id="f596"></a>] August. lib. de Curâ pro Mortuis, c. xii. p. 524.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f597.1">597</a><a name="f597" id="f597"></a>] <i>Curialis</i>—this word signifies a small employment in a village.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f598.1">598</a><a name="f598" id="f598"></a>] IV. Reg. 18, et. seq.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f599.1">599</a><a name="f599" id="f599"></a>] Lucian, in Phliopseud. p. 830.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f600.1">600</a><a name="f600" id="f600"></a>] Plutarch, de Animâ, apud Eusebius de Præp. Evang. lib. ii. c. +18.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f601.1">601</a><a name="f601" id="f601"></a>] Gregor. Dial. lib. iv. c. 36.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f602.1">602</a><a name="f602" id="f602"></a>] See the treatise on the Uncertainty of the Signs of Death, tom. +ii. pp. 404, 407, <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p>[<a href="#f603.1">603</a><a name="f603" id="f603"></a>] Ibid. lib. ii. pp. 504, 505, 506, 514.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_L_2" id="CHAPTER_L_2"></a>CHAPTER L.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO COULD FALL INTO A TRANCE WHEN THEY PLEASED, +AND REMAINED PERFECTLY SENSELESS.</h3> + + +<p>Jerome Cardan says[<a href="#f604">604</a><a name="f604.1" id="f604.1"></a>] that he fell into a trance when he liked; he +owns that he does not know if, like the priest Pretextat, he should +not feel great wounds or hurts, but he did not feel the pain of the +gout, or the pulling him about. He adds, the priest of Calama heard +the voices of those who spoke aloud near him, but as if from a +distance. "For my part," says Cardan, "I hear the voice, though +slightly, and without understanding what is said. And when I wish to +entrance myself, I feel about my heart as it were a separation of the +soul from the rest of my body, and that communicates as if by a little +door with all the machine, principally by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> +head and brain. Then I have no sensation except that of being beside +myself."</p> + +<p>We may report here what is related of the Laplanders,[<a href="#f605">605</a><a name="f605.1" id="f605.1"></a>] who when +they wish to learn something that is passing at a distance from the +spot where they are, send their demon, or their souls, by means of +certain magic ceremonies, and by the sound of a drum which they beat, +or upon a shield painted in a certain manner; then on a sudden the +Laplander falls into a trance, and remains as if lifeless and +motionless sometimes during four-and-twenty hours. But all this time +some one must remain near him to prevent him from being touched, or +called; even the movement of a fly would wake him, and they say he +would die directly or be carried away by the demon. We have already +mentioned this subject in the Dissertation on Apparitions.</p> + +<p>We have also remarked that serpents, worms, flies, snails, marmots, +sloths, &c., remain asleep during the winter, and in blocks of stone +have been found toads, snakes, and oysters alive, which had been +enclosed there for many years, and perhaps for more than a century. +Cardinal de Retz relates in his Memoirs,[<a href="#f606">606</a><a name="f606.1" id="f606.1"></a>] that being at Minorca, +the governor of the island caused to be drawn up from the bottom of +the sea by main force with cables, whole rocks, which on being broken +with maces, enclosed living oysters, that were served up to him at +table, and were found very good.</p> + +<p>On the coasts of Malta, Sardinia, Italy, &c., they find a fish called +the Dactylus, or Date, or Dale, because it resembles the palm-date in +form; this first insinuates itself into the stone by a hole not bigger +than the hole made by a needle. When he has got in he feeds upon the +stone, and grows so big that he cannot get out again, unless the stone +is broken and he is extricated. Then they wash it, clean it, and dress +it for the table. It has the shape of a date, or of a finger; whence +its name of <i>Dactylus</i>, which in Greek signifies a finger.</p> + +<p>Again, I imagine that in many persons death is caused by the +coagulation of the blood, which freezes and hardens in their veins, as +it happens with those who have eaten hemlock, or who have been bitten +by certain serpents; but there are others whose death is caused by too +great an ebullition of blood, as in painful maladies, and in certain +poisons, and even, they say, in certain kinds of plague, and when +people die a violent death, or have been drowned.</p> + +<p>The first mentioned cannot return to life without an evident miracle; +for that purpose the fluidity of the blood must be re-established,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> +and the peristaltic motion must be restored to the heart. But in the +second kind of death, people can sometimes be restored without a +miracle, by taking away the obstacle which retards or suspends the +palpitation of the heart, as we see in time-pieces, the action of +which is restored by taking away anything foreign to the mechanism, as +a hair, a bit of thread, an atom, some almost imperceptible body which +stops them.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f604.1">604</a><a name="f604" id="f604"></a>] Hieron. Cardanus, lib. viii. de Varietate Verum, c. 34.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f605.1">605</a><a name="f605" id="f605"></a>] Olaus Magnus, lib. iii. Epitom. Hist. Septent. Perecer de Variis +Divinat. Generib. p. 282.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f606.1">606</a><a name="f606" id="f606"></a>] Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, tom. iii. lib. iv. p. 297.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LI_2" id="CHAPTER_LI_2"></a>CHAPTER LI.</h2> + +<h3>APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING INSTANCES TO VAMPIRES.</h3> + + +<p>Supposing these facts, which I believe to be incontestably true, may +we not imagine that the vampires of Hungary, Silesia, and Moldavia, +are some of those men who have died of maladies which heat the blood, +and who have retained some remains of life in their graves, much like +those animals which we have mentioned, and those birds which plunge +themselves during the winter in the lakes and marshes of Poland, and +in the northern countries? They are without respiration or motion, but +still not destitute of vitality. They resume their motion and activity +when, on the return of spring, the sun warms the waters, or when they +are brought near a moderate fire, or laid in a room of temperate heat; +then they are seen to revive, and perform their ordinary functions, +which had been suspended by the cold.</p> + +<p>Thus, vampires in their graves returned to life after a certain time, +and their soul does not forsake them absolutely until after the entire +dissolution of their body, and when the organs of life, being +absolutely broken, corrupted, and deranged, they can no longer by +their agency perform any vital functions. Whence it happens, that the +people of those countries impale them, cut off their heads, burn them, +to deprive their spirit of all hope of animating them again, and of +making use of them to molest the living.</p> + +<p>Pliny,[<a href="#f607">607</a><a name="f607.1" id="f607.1"></a>] mentioning the soul of Hermotimes, of Lazomene, which +absented itself from his body, and recounted various things that had +been done afar off, which the spirit said it had seen, and which, in +fact, could only be known to a person who had been present at them, +says that the enemies of Hermotimes, named Cantandes, burned that +body, which gave hardly any sign of life, and thus deprived the soul +of the means of returning to lodge in its envelop;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> "donec cremato +corpore interim semianimi, remeanti animæ vetut vaginam ademerint."</p> + +<p>Origen had doubtless derived from the ancients what he teaches,[<a href="#f608">608</a><a name="f608.1" id="f608.1"></a>] +that the souls which are of a spiritual nature take, on leaving their +earthly body, another, more subtile, of a similar form to the grosser +one they have just quitted, which serves them as a kind of sheath, or +case, and that it is invested with this subtile body that they +sometimes appear about their graves. He founds this opinion on what is +said of Lazarus and the rich man in the Gospel,[<a href="#f609">609</a><a name="f609.1" id="f609.1"></a>] who both of them +have bodies, since they speak and see, and the wicked rich man asks +for a drop of water to cool his tongue.</p> + +<p>I do not defend this reasoning of Origen; but what he says of a +subtile body, which has the form of the earthly one which clothed the +soul before death, quite resembles the opinion of which we spoke in +Chapter IV.</p> + +<p>That bodies which have died of violent maladies, or which have been +executed when full of health, or have simply swooned, should vegetate +underground in their graves; that their beards, hair, and nails should +grow; that they should emit blood, be supple and pliant; that they +should have no bad smell, &c.—all these things do not embarrass us: +the vegetation of the human body may produce all these effects. That +they should even eat and devour what is about them, the madness with +which a man interred alive must be transported when he awakes from his +torpor, or his swoon, must naturally lead him to these violent +excesses. But the grand difficulty is to explain how the vampires come +out of their graves to haunt the living, and how they return to them +again. For all the accounts that we see suppose the thing as certain, +without informing us either of the way or the circumstances, which +would, however, be the most interesting part of the narrative.</p> + +<p>How a body covered with four or five feet of earth, having no room to +move about and disengage itself, wrapped up in linen, covered with +pitch, can make its way out, and come back upon the earth, and there +occasion such effects as are related of it; and how after that it +returns to its former state, and re-enters underground, where it is +found sound, whole, and full of blood, and in the same condition as a +living body? Will it be said that these bodies evaporate through the +ground without opening it, like the water and vapors which enter into +the earth, or proceed from it, without sensibly deranging its +particles? It were to be wished that the accounts which have been +given us concerning the return of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> +vampires had been more minute in their explanations of this subject.</p> + +<p>Supposing that their bodies do not stir from their graves, that it is +only their phantoms which appear to the living, what cause produces +and animates these phantoms? Can it be the spirit of the defunct, +which has not yet forsaken them, or some demon, which makes their +apparition in a fantastic and borrowed body? And if these bodies are +merely phantomic, how can they suck the blood of living people? We +always find ourselves in a difficulty to know if these appearances are +natural or miraculous.</p> + +<p>A sensible priest related to me, a little while ago, that, traveling +in Moravia, he was invited by M. Jeanin, a canon of the cathedral at +Olmutz, to accompany him to their village, called Liebava, where he +had been appointed commissioner by the consistory of the bishopric, to +take information concerning the fact of a certain famous vampire, +which had caused much confusion in this village of Liebava some years +before.</p> + +<p>The case proceeded. They heard the witnesses, they observed the usual +forms of the law. The witnesses deposed that a certain notable +inhabitant of Liebava had often disturbed the living in their beds at +night, that he had come out of the cemetery, and had appeared in +several houses three or four years ago; that his troublesome visits +had ceased because a Hungarian stranger, passing through the village +at the time of these reports, had boasted that he could put an end to +them, and make the vampire disappear. To perform his promise, he +mounted on the church steeple, and observed the moment when the +vampire came out of his grave, leaving near it the linen clothes in +which he had been enveloped, and then went to disturb the inhabitants +of the village.</p> + +<p>The Hungarian, having seen him come out of his grave, went down +quickly from the steeple, took up the linen envelops of the vampire, +and carried them with him up the tower. The vampire having returned +from his prowlings, cried loudly against the Hungarian, who made him a +sign from the top of the tower that if he wished to have his clothes +again he must fetch them; the vampire began to ascend the steeple, but +the Hungarian threw him down backwards from the ladder, and cut his +head off with a spade. Such was the end of this tragedy.</p> + +<p>The person who related this story to me saw nothing, neither did the +noble who had been sent as commissioner; they only heard the report of +the peasants of the place, people extremely ignorant, superstitious +and credulous, and most exceedingly prejudiced on the subject of +vampirism.</p> + +<p>But supposing that there be any reality in the fact of these +apparitions of vampires, shall they be attributed to God, to angels,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> +to the spirits of these ghosts, or to the devil? In this last case, +will it be said that the devil will subtilize these bodies, and give +them power to penetrate through the ground without disturbing, to +glide through the cracks and joints of a door, to pass through a +keyhole, to lengthen or shorten themselves, to reduce themselves to +the nature of air, or water, to evaporate through the ground—in +short, to put them in the same state in which we believe the bodies of +the blessed will be after the resurrection, and in which was that of +our Saviour after his resurrection, who showed himself only to those +whom he thought proper, and who without opening the doors,[<a href="#f610">610</a><a name="f610.1" id="f610.1"></a>] +appeared suddenly in the midst of his disciples.</p> + +<p>But should it be allowed that the demon could reanimate these bodies, +and give them the power of motion for a time, could he also lengthen, +diminish, rarefy, subtilize the bodies of these ghosts, and give them +the faculty of penetrating through the ground, the doors and windows? +There is no appearance of his having received this power from God, and +we cannot even conceive that an earthly body, material and gross, can +be reduced to that state of subtility and spiritualization without +destroying the configuration of its parts and spoiling the economy of +its structure; which would be contrary to the intention of the demon, +and render this body incapable of appearing, showing itself, acting +and speaking, and, in short, of being cut to pieces and burned, as is +commonly seen and practiced in Moravia, Poland, and Silesia. These +difficulties exist in regard to those persons of whom we have made +mention, who, being excommunicated, rose from their tombs, and left +the church in sight of everybody.</p> + +<p>We must then keep silence on this article, since it has not pleased +God to reveal to us either the extent of the demon's power, or the way +in which these things can be done. There is even much appearance of +illusion; and even if some reality were mixed up with it, we may +easily console ourselves for our ignorance in that respect, since +there are so many natural things which take place within us and around +us, of which the cause and manner are unknown to us.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f607.1">607</a><a name="f607" id="f607"></a>] Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. vii. c. 52.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f608.1">608</a><a name="f608" id="f608"></a>] Orig. de Resurrect. Fragment. lib. i. p. 35. Nov. edit. Et +contra Celsum, lib. vii. p. 679.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f609.1">609</a><a name="f609" id="f609"></a>] Luke xvi. 22, 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f610.1">610</a><a name="f610" id="f610"></a>] John xx. 26.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LII_2" id="CHAPTER_LII_2"></a>CHAPTER LII.</h2> + +<h3>EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION THAT THE DEMON FASCINATES THE EYES OF THOSE +TO WHOM VAMPIRES APPEAR.</h3> + + +<p>Those who have recourse to the fascination of the senses to explain +what is related concerning the apparition of vampires, throw +themselves into as great a perplexity as those who acknowledge +sincerely the reality of these events; for fascination consists either +in the suspension of the senses, which cannot see what is passing +before their sight, like that with which the men of Sodom were +struck[<a href="#f611">611</a><a name="f611.1" id="f611.1"></a>] when they could not discover the door of Lot's house, +though it was before their eyes; or that of the disciples at Emmaus, +of whom it is said that "their eyes were holden, so that they might +not recognize Jesus Christ, who was talking with them on the way, and +whom they knew not again until the breaking of the bread revealed him +to them;"[<a href="#f612">612</a><a name="f612.1" id="f612.1"></a>]—or else it consists in an object being represented to +the senses in a different form from that it wears in reality, as that +of the Moabites,[<a href="#f613">613</a><a name="f613.1" id="f613.1"></a>] who believed they saw the waters tinged with the +blood of the Israelites, although nothing was there but the simple +waters, on which the rays of the sun being reflected, gave them a +reddish hue; or that of the Syrian soldiers sent to take Elisha,[<a href="#f614">614</a><a name="f614.1" id="f614.1"></a>] +who were led by this prophet into Samaria, without their recognising +either the prophet or the city.</p> + +<p>This fascination, in what way soever it may be conceived, is certainly +above the usual power known unto man, consequently man cannot +naturally produce it; but is it above the natural powers of an angel +or a demon? That is what is unknown to us, and obliges us to suspend +our judgment on this question.</p> + +<p>There is another kind of fascination, which consists in this, that the +sight of a person or a thing, the praise bestowed upon them, the envy +felt towards them, produce in the object certain bad effects, against +which the ancients took great care to guard themselves and their +<ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'childen'.">children</ins>, by making them wear round their necks preservatives, or +amulets, or charms.</p> + +<p>A great number of passages on this subject might be cited from the +Greek and Latin authors; and I find that at this day, in various<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> +parts of Christendom, people are persuaded of the efficacy of these +fascinations. But we must own three things; first, that the effect of +these pretended fascinations (or spells) is very doubtful; the second, +that if it were certain, it is very difficult, not to say impossible, +to explain it; and lastly, that it cannot be rationally applied to the +matter of apparitions or of vampires.</p> + +<p>If the vampires or ghosts are not really resuscitated nor their bodies +spiritualized and subtilized, as we believe we have proved, and if our +senses are not deceived by fascination, as we have just seen it, I +doubt if there be any other way to act on this question than to +absolutely deny the return of these vampires, or to believe that they +are only asleep or torpid; for if they truly are resuscitated, and if +what is told of their return be true—if they speak, act, reason, if +they suck the blood of the living, they must know what passes in the +other world, and they ought to inform their relations and friends of +it, and that is what they do not. On the contrary, they treat them as +enemies; torment them, take away their life, suck their blood, cause +them to die with lassitude.</p> + +<p>If they are predestinated and blessed, whence happens it that they +disturb and torment the living, their nearest relations, their +children, and all that for nothing, and simply for the sake of doing +harm? If these are persons who have still something to expiate in +purgatory, and who require the prayers of the living, why do they not +explain their condition? If they are reprobate and condemned, what +have they to do on this earth? Can we conceive that God allows them +thus to come without reason or necessity and molest their families, +and even cause their death?</p> + +<p>If these <i>revenans</i> are really dead, whatever state they may be in in +the other world, they play a very bad part here, and keep it up still +worse.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f611.1">611</a><a name="f611" id="f611"></a>] Gen. xix. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f612.1">612</a><a name="f612" id="f612"></a>] Luke xxiv. 16.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f613.1">613</a><a name="f613" id="f613"></a>] 2 Kings iii. 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f614.1">614</a><a name="f614" id="f614"></a>] 2 Kings iv. 19, 20.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIII" id="CHAPTER_LIII"></a>CHAPTER LIII.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCES OF PERSONS RESUSCITATED, WHO RELATE WHAT THEY HAVE SEEN IN +THE OTHER WORLD.</h3> + + +<p>We have just seen that the vampires never speak of the other world, +nor ask for either masses or prayers, nor give any warning to the +living to lead them to correct their morals, or bring them to a better +life. It is surely very prejudicial to the reality of their return +from the other world; but their silence on that head may favor the +opinion which supposes that they are not really dead.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span>It is true that we do not read either that Lazarus, resuscitated by +Jesus Christ,[<a href="#f615">615</a><a name="f615.1" id="f615.1"></a>] nor the son of the widow of Nain,[<a href="#f616">616</a><a name="f616.1" id="f616.1"></a>] nor that of the woman of Shunam, brought to life by Elisha,[<a href="#f617">617</a><a name="f617.1" id="f617.1"></a>] nor that +Israelite who came to life by simply touching the body of the same +prophet Elisha,[<a href="#f618">618</a><a name="f618.1" id="f618.1"></a>] after their resurrection revealed anything to +mankind of the state of souls in the other world.</p> + +<p>But we see in the Gospel[<a href="#f619">619</a><a name="f619.1" id="f619.1"></a>] that the bad rich man, having begged of +Abraham to permit him to send some one to this world to warn his +brethren to lead a better life, and take care not to fall into the +unhappy condition in which he found himself, was answered, "They have +the law and the prophets, they can listen to them and follow their +instructions." And as the rich man persisted, saying—"If some one +went to them from the other world, they would be more impressed," +Abraham replied, "If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, +neither will they attend the more though one should go to them from +the dead." The dead man resuscitated by St. Stanislaus replied in the +same manner to those who asked him to give them news of the other +world—"You have the law, the prophets, and the Gospel—hear them!"</p> + +<p>The deceased Pagans who have returned to life, and some Christians who +have likewise returned to the world by a kind of resurrection, and who +have seen what passed beyond the bounds of this world, have not kept +silence on the subject. They have related at length what they saw and +heard on leaving their bodies.</p> + +<p>We have already touched upon the story of a man named Eros, of the +country of Pamphilia,[<a href="#f620">620</a><a name="f620.1" id="f620.1"></a>] who, having been wounded in battle, was +found ten days after amongst the dead. They carried him senseless and +motionless into the house. Two days afterwards, when they were about +to place him on the funeral pile to burn his body, he revived, began +to speak, and to relate in what manner people were lodged after their +death, and how the good were rewarded and the wicked punished and +tormented.</p> + +<p>He said that his soul, being separated from his body, went with a +large company to a very agreeable place, where they saw as it were two +great openings, which gave entrance to those who came from earth, and +two others to go to heaven. He saw at this same place judges who +examined those arrived from this world, and sent up to the right those +who had lived well, and sent down to the left those who had been +guilty of crimes. Each of them bore upon his back a label on which was +written what he had done well or ill, the reason of his condemnation +or his absolution.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span></p><p>When it came to the turn of Eros, the judges told him that he must +return to earth, to announce to men what passed in the other world, +and that he must well observe everything, in order to be able to +render a faithful account to the living. Thus he witnessed the +miserable state of the wicked, which was to last a thousand years, and +the delights enjoyed by the just; that both the good and the bad +received the reward or the punishment of their good or bad deeds, ten +times greater than the measure of their crimes or of all their +virtues.</p> + +<p>He remarked amongst other things, that the judges inquired where was a +certain man named Andæus, celebrated in all Pamphylia for his crimes +and tyranny. They were answered that he was not yet come, and that he +would not be there; in fact, having presented himself with much +trouble, and by making great efforts, at the grand opening before +mentioned, he was repulsed and sent back to go below with other +scoundrels like himself, whom they tortured in a thousand different +ways, and who were always violently repulsed, whenever they tried to +reascend.</p> + +<p>He saw, moreover, the three Fates, daughters of Necessity or Destiny. +These are, Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos. Lachesis announced the past, +Clotho the present, and Atropos the future. The souls were obliged to +appear before these three goddesses. Lachesis cast the lots upwards, +and every soul laid hold of the one which it could reach; which, +however, did not prevent them still from sometimes missing the kind of +life which was most conformable to justice and reason.</p> + +<p>Eros added that he had remarked some of the souls who sought to enter +into animals; for instance, Orpheus, from hatred to the female sex, +who had killed him (by tearing him to pieces), entered into a swan, +and Thamaris into a nightingale. Ajax, the son of Telamon, chose the +body of a lion, from detestation of the injustice of the Greeks, who +had refused to let him have the arms of Hector, which he asserted were +his due. Agamemnon, grieved at the crosses he had endured in this +life, chose the form of the eagle. Atalanta chose the life of the +athletics, delighted with the honors heaped upon them. Thersites, the +ugliest of mortals, chose the form of an ape. Ulysses, weary of the +miseries he had suffered upon earth, asked to live quietly as a +private man. He had some trouble to find a lot for that kind of life; +but he found it at last thrown down on the ground and neglected, and +he joyfully snatched it up.</p> + +<p>Eros affirmed also that the souls of some animals entered into the +bodies of men; and by the contrary rule, the souls of the wicked took +possession of savage and cruel beasts, and the souls of just men of +those animals which are gentle, tame, and domestic.</p> + +<p>After these various metempsychoses, Lachesis gave to each his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> +guardian or defender, who guided and guarded him during the course of +his life. Eros was then led to the river of oblivion (Lethe), which +takes away all memory of the past, but he was prevented from drinking +of its water. Lastly, he said he could not tell how he came back to +life.</p> + +<p>Plato, after having related this fable, as he terms it, or this +apologue, concludes from it that the soul is immortal, and that to +gain a blessed life we must live uprightly, which will lead us to +heaven, where we shall enjoy that beatitude of a thousand years which +is promised us.</p> + +<p>We see by this, 1. That a man may live a good while without eating or +breathing, or giving any sign or life. 2. That the Greeks believed in +the metempsychosis, in a state of beatitude for the just, and pains of +a thousand years duration for the wicked. 3. That destiny does not +hinder a man from doing either good or evil. 4. That he had a genius, +or an angel, who guided and protected him. They believed in judgment +after death, and that the souls of the just were received into what +they called the Elysian Fields.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f615.1">615</a><a name="f615" id="f615"></a>] John xi. 14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f616.1">616</a><a name="f616" id="f616"></a>] Luke vii. 11, 12.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f617.1">617</a><a name="f617" id="f617"></a>] 2 Kings iv. 25.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f618.1">618</a><a name="f618" id="f618"></a>] 2 Kings xiii. 21.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f619.1">619</a><a name="f619" id="f619"></a>] Luke xvi. 24.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f620.1">620</a><a name="f620" id="f620"></a>] Plato, lib. x. de Rep. p. 614.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIV" id="CHAPTER_LIV"></a>CHAPTER LIV.</h2> + +<h3>THE TRADITIONS OF THE PAGANS CONCERNING THE FUTURE LIFE ARE DERIVED +FROM THE HEBREWS AND EGYPTIANS.</h3> + + +<p>All these traditions are clearly to be found in Homer, Virgil, and +other Greek and Latin authors; they were doubtless originally derived +from the Hebrews, or rather the Egyptians, from whom the Greeks took +their religion, which they arranged to their own taste. The Hebrews +speak of the <i>Rephaims</i>,[<a href="#f621">621</a><a name="f621.1" id="f621.1"></a>] of the impious giants "who groan under +the waters." Solomon says[<a href="#f622">622</a><a name="f622.1" id="f622.1"></a>] that the wicked shall go down to the +abyss, or hell, with the Rephaims. Isaiah, describing the arrival of +the King of Babylon in hell, says[<a href="#f623">623</a><a name="f623.1" id="f623.1"></a>] that "the giants have raised +themselves up to meet him with honor, and have said unto him, thou has +been pierced with wounds even as we are; thy pride has been +precipitated into hell. Thy bed shall be of rottenness, and thy +covering of worms." Ezekiel describes[<a href="#f624">624</a><a name="f624.1" id="f624.1"></a>] in the same manner the +descent of the King of Assyria into hell—"In the day that Ahasuerus +went down into hell, I commanded a general mourning; for him I closed +up the abyss, and arrested the course of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> +the waters. You are at last brought down to the bottom of the earth +with the trees of Eden; you will rest there with all those who have +been killed by the sword; there is Pharaoh with all his host," &c. In +the Gospel,[<a href="#f625">625</a><a name="f625.1" id="f625.1"></a>] there is a great gulf between the bosom of Abraham +and the abode of the bad rich man, and of those who resemble him.</p> + +<p>The Egyptians called <i>Amenthés</i>, that is to say, "he who receives and +gives," what the Greeks named Hades, or hell, or the kingdom of Hades, +or Pluto. They believed that Amenthés received the souls of men when +they died, and restored them to them when they returned to the world; +that when a man died, his soul passed into the body of some other +animal by metempsychosis; first of all into a terrestrial animal, then +into one that was aquatic, afterwards into the body of a bird, and +lastly, after having animated all sorts of animals, he returned at the +end of three thousand years to the body of a man.</p> + +<p>It is from the Egyptians that Orpheus, Homer, and the other Greeks +derived the idea of the immortality of the soul, as well as the cave +of the Nymphs described by Homer, who says there are two gates, the +one to the north, through which the soul enters the cavern, and the +other to the south, by which they leave the nymphic abode.</p> + +<p>A certain Thespisius, a native of Soloe in Cilicia, well known to +Plutarch,[<a href="#f626">626</a><a name="f626.1" id="f626.1"></a>] having passed a great part of his life in debauchery, +and ruined himself entirely, in order to gain a livelihood lent +himself to everything that was bad, and contrived to amass money. +Having sent to consult the oracle of Amphilochus, he received for +answer, that his affairs would go on better after his death. A short +time after, he fell from the top of his house, broke his neck, and +died. Three days after, when they were about to perform the funeral +obsequies, he came to life again, and changed his way of life so +greatly that there was not in Cilicia a worthier or more pious man +than himself.</p> + +<p>As they asked him the reason of such a change, he said that at the +moment of his fall he felt the same as a pilot who is thrown back from +the top of the helm into the sea; after which, his soul was sensible +of being raised as high as the stars, of which he admired the immense +size and admirable lustre; that the souls once out of the body rise +into the air, and are enclosed in a kind of globe, or inflamed vortex, +whence having escaped, some rise on high with incredible rapidity, +while others whirl about the air, and are thrown in divers directions, +sometimes up and sometimes down.</p> + +<p>The greater part appeared to him very much perplexed, and uttered +groans and frightful wailings; others, but in a less number,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> +rose and rejoiced with their fellows. At last he learnt that +Adrastia, the daughter of Jupiter and Necessity, left nothing +unpunished, and that she treated every one according to their merit. +He then details all he saw at full length, and relates the various +punishments with which the bad are tormented in the next world.</p> + +<p>He adds that a man of his acquaintance said to him, "You are not dead, +but by God's permission your soul is come into this place, and has +left your body with all its faculties." At last he was sent back into +his body as through a channel, and urged on by an impetuous breeze.</p> + +<p>We may make two reflections on this recital; the first on this soul, +which quits its body for three days and then comes back to reanimate +it; the second, on the certainty of the oracle, which promised +Thespisius a happier life when he should be dead.</p> + +<p>In the Sicilian war[<a href="#f627">627</a><a name="f627.1" id="f627.1"></a>] between Cæsar and Pompey, Gabienus, commander +of Cæsar's fleet, having been taken, was beheaded by order of Pompey. +He remained all day on the sea-shore, his head only held on to his +body by a fillet. Towards evening he begged that Pompey or some of his +people might come to him, because he came from the shades, and he had +things of consequence to impart to him. Pompey sent to him several of +his friends, to whom Gabienus declared that the gods of the infernal +regions favored the cause and the party of Pompey, and that he would +succeed according to his wishes; that he was ordered to announce this, +"and as a proof of the truth of what I say, I must die directly," +which happened. But we do not see that Pompey's party succeeded; we +know, on the contrary, that it fell, and Cæsar was victorious. But the +God of the infernal regions, that is to say, the devil, found it very +good for him, since it sent him so many unhappy victims of revenge and +ambition.[<a href="#f628">628</a><a name="f628.1" id="f628.1"></a>]</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f621.1">621</a><a name="f621" id="f621"></a>] Job xxvi. 5.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f622.1">622</a><a name="f622" id="f622"></a>] Prov. ix. 18.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f623.1">623</a><a name="f623" id="f623"></a>] Isa. xix. 9, <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p>[<a href="#f624.1">624</a><a name="f624" id="f624"></a>] Ezek. xxxi. 15.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f625.1">625</a><a name="f625" id="f625"></a>] Luke xvi. 26.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f626.1">626</a><a name="f626" id="f626"></a>] Plutarch, de his qui misero à Numine puniuntur.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f627.1">627</a><a name="f627" id="f627"></a>] Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. vii. c. 52.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f628.1">628</a><a name="f628" id="f628"></a>] This story is related before, and is here related on account of +the bearing it has on the subject of this chapter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LV" id="CHAPTER_LV"></a>CHAPTER LV.</h2> + +<h3>INSTANCES OF CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE BEEN RESUSCITATED AND SENT BACK TO +THE WORLD—VISION OF VETINUS, A MONK OF AUGIA.</h3> + + +<p>We read in an old work, written in the time of St. Augustine,[<a href="#f629">629</a><a name="f629.1" id="f629.1"></a>] +that a man having been crushed by a wall which fell upon him, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> +wife ran to the church to invoke St. Stephen whilst they were +preparing to bury the man who was supposed to be dead. Suddenly they +saw him open his eyes, and move his body; and after a time he sat up, +and related that his soul, having quitted his body, had met a crowd of +other souls of dead persons, some of whom he knew, and others he did +not; that a young man, in a deacon's habit, having entered the room +where he was, put aside all those souls, and said to them three times, +"Return what you have received." He understood at last that he meant +the creed, which he recited instantly; and also the Lord's Prayer; +then the deacon (St. Stephen) made the sign of the cross upon his +heart, and told him to rise in perfect health. A young man,[<a href="#f630">630</a><a name="f630.1" id="f630.1"></a>] a +catechumen, who had been dead for three days, and was brought back to +life by the prayers of St. Martin, related that after his death he had +been presented before the tribunal of the Sovereign Judge, who had +condemned him, and sent him with a crowd of others into a dark place; +and then two angels, having represented to the Judge that he was a man +for whom St. Martin had interceded, the Judge commanded the angels to +send him back to earth, and restore him to St. Martin, which was done. +He was baptized, and lived a long time afterwards.</p> + +<p>St. Salvius, Bishop of Albi,[<a href="#f631">631</a><a name="f631.1" id="f631.1"></a>] having been seized with a violent +fever, was thought to be dead. They washed him, clothed him, laid him +on a bier, and passed the night in prayer by him: the next morning he +was seen to move; he appeared to awake from a deep sleep, opened his +eyes, and raising his hand towards heaven said, "Ah! Lord, why hast +thou sent me back to this gloomy abode?" He rose completely cured, but +would then reveal nothing.</p> + +<p>Some days after, he related how two angels had carried him to heaven, +where he had seen the glory of Paradise, and had been sent back +against his will to live some time longer on earth. St. Gregory of +Tours takes God to witness that he heard this history from the mouth +of St. Salvius himself.</p> + +<p>A monk of Augia, named Vetinus, or Guetinus, who was living in 824, +was ill, and lying upon his couch with his eyes shut; but not being +quite asleep, he saw a demon in the shape of a priest, most horribly +deformed, who, showing him some instruments of torture which he held +in his hand, threatened to make him soon feel the rigorous effects of +them. At the same time he saw a multitude of evil spirits enter his +chamber, carrying tools, as if to build him a tomb or a coffin, and +enclose him in it.</p> + +<p>Immediately he saw appear some serious and grave-looking per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span>sonages, +wearing religious habits, who chased these demons away; and then +Vetinus saw an angel, surrounded with a blaze of light, who came to +the foot of the bed, and conducted him by a path between mountains of +an extraordinary height, at the foot of which flowed a large river, in +which he beheld a multitude of the damned, who were suffering diverse +torments, according to the kind and enormity of their crimes. He saw +amongst them many of his acquaintance; amongst others, some prelates +and priests, guilty of incontinence, who were tied with their backs to +stakes, and burned by a fire lighted under them; the women, their +companions in crime, suffering the same torment opposite to them.</p> + +<p>He beheld there also, a monk who had given himself up to avarice, and +possessed money of his own, who was to expiate his crime in a leaden +coffin till the day of judgment. He remarked there abbots and bishops, +and even the Emperor Charlemagne, who were expiating their faults by +fire, but were to be released from it after a certain time. He +remarked there also the abode of the blessed in heaven, each one in +his place, and according to his merits. The Angel of the Lord after +this revealed to him the crimes which were the most common, and the +most odious in the eyes of God. He mentioned sodomy in particular, as +the most abominable crime.</p> + +<p>After the service for the night, the abbot came to visit the sick man, +who related this vision to him in full, and the abbot had it written +down directly. Vetinus lived two days longer, and having predicted +that he had only the third day to live, he recommended himself to the +prayers of the monks, received the holy viaticum, and died in peace, +the 31st of October, 824.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f629.1">629</a><a name="f629" id="f629"></a>] Lib. i. de Miracul. Sancti Stephani, cap. 4. p. 28. Lib. vii. +Oper. St. Aug. in Appendice.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f630.1">630</a><a name="f630" id="f630"></a>] Sulpit. Sever. in Vitâ S. Martini, cap. 3.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f631.1">631</a><a name="f631" id="f631"></a>] Gregor. Turon. lib. vii. c. 1.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVI" id="CHAPTER_LVI"></a>CHAPTER LVI.</h2> + +<h3>THE VISION OF BERTHOLDUS, AS RELATED BY HINCMAR, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS.</h3> + + +<p>The famous Hincmar,[<a href="#f632">632</a><a name="f632.1" id="f632.1"></a>] Archbishop of Rheims, in a circular letter +which he wrote to the bishops, his suffragans, and the faithful of his +diocese, relates, that a man named Bertholdus, with whom he was +acquainted, having fallen ill, and received all the sacraments, +remained during four days without taking any food. On the fourth day +he was so weak that there was hardly a feeble palpitation and +respiration found in him. About midnight he called to his wife, and +told her to send quickly for his confessor.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span>The priest was as yet only in the court before the house, when +Bertholdus said, "Place a seat here, for the priest is coming." He +entered the room and said some prayers, to which Bertholdus uttered +the responses, and then related to him the vision he had had. "On +leaving this world," said he, "I saw forty-one bishops, amongst whom +were Ebonius, Leopardellus, Eneas, who were clothed in coarse black +garments, dirty, and singed by the flames. As for themselves, they +were sometimes burned by the flames, and at others frozen with +insupportable cold." Ebonius said to him, "Go to my clergy and my +friends, and tell them to offer for us the holy sacrifice." Bertholdus +obeyed, and returning to the place where he had seen the bishops, he +found them well clothed, shaved, bathed, and rejoicing.</p> + +<p>A little farther on, he met King Charles,[<a href="#f633">633</a><a name="f633.1" id="f633.1"></a>] who was as if eaten by +worms. This prince begged him to go and tell Hincmar to relieve his +misery. Hincmar said mass for him, and King Charles found relief. +After that he saw Bishop Jessé, of Orleans, who was over a well, and +four demons plunged him into boiling pitch, and then threw him into +icy water. They prayed for him, and he was relieved. He then saw the +Count Othaire, who was likewise in torment. Bertholdus begged the wife +of Othaire, with his vassals and friends, to pray for him, and give +alms, and he was delivered from his torments. Bertholdus after that +received the holy communion, and began to find himself better, with +the hope of living fourteen years longer, as he had been promised by +his guide, who had shown him all that we have just related.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f632.1">632</a><a name="f632" id="f632"></a>] Hincmar, lib. ii. p. 805.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f633.1">633</a><a name="f633" id="f633"></a>] Apparently Charles the Bald, who died in 875.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVII" id="CHAPTER_LVII"></a>CHAPTER LVII.</h2> + +<h3>THE VISION OF SAINT FURSIUS.</h3> + + +<p>The Life of St. Fursius,[<a href="#f634">634</a><a name="f634.1" id="f634.1"></a>] written a short time after his death, +which happened about the year 653, reports several visions seen by +this holy man. Being grievously ill, and unable to stir, he saw +himself in the midst of the darkness raised up, as it were, by the +hands of three angels, who carried him out of the world, then brought +him back to it, and made his soul re-enter his body, to complete the +destination assigned him by God. Then he found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> +himself in the midst of several people, who wept for him as if he were +dead, and told him how, the day before, he had fallen down in a swoon, +so that they believed him to be dead. He could have wished to have +some intelligent persons about him to relate to them what he had seen; +but having no one near him but rustics, he asked for and received the +communion of the body and blood of the Saviour, and continued three +days longer awake.</p> + +<p>The following Tuesday, he fell into a similar swoon, in the middle of +the night; his feet became cold, and raising his hands to pray, he +received death with joy. Then he saw the same three angels descend who +had already guided him. They raised him as the first time, but instead +of the agreeable and melodious songs which he had then heard, he could +now hear only the frightful howlings of the demons, who began to fight +against him, and shoot inflamed darts at him. The Angel of the Lord +received them on his buckler, and extinguished them. The devil +reproached Fursius with some bad thoughts, and some human weaknesses, +but the angels defended him, saying, "If he has not committed any +capital sins, he shall not perish."</p> + +<p>As the devil could not reproach him with anything that was worthy of +eternal death, he saw two saints from his own country—St. Béan and +St. Medan, who comforted him and announced to him the evils with which +God would punish mankind, principally because of the sins of the +doctors or learned men of the church, and the princes who governed the +people;—the doctors for neglecting to declare the word of God, and +the princes for the bad examples they gave their people. After which, +they sent him back into his body again. He returned into it with +repugnance, and began to relate all that he had seen; they poured +spring water upon his body, and he felt a great warmth between his +shoulders. After this, he began to preach throughout Hibernia; and the +Venerable Bede[<a href="#f635">635</a><a name="f635.1" id="f635.1"></a>] says that there was in his monastery an aged monk +who said that he had learned from a grave personage well worthy of +belief, that he had heard these visions described by St. Fursius +himself. This saint had not the least doubt that his soul was really +separated from his body, when he was carried away in his trance.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f634.1">634</a><a name="f634" id="f634"></a>] Vita Sti. Fursci, apud Bolland. 16 Januarii, pp. 37, 38. Item, +pp. 47, 48. Sæcul. xi. Bened. p. 299.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f635.1">635</a><a name="f635" id="f635"></a>] Bede, lib. iii. Hist. c. 19.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVIII" id="CHAPTER_LVIII"></a>CHAPTER LVIII.</h2> + +<h3>VISION OF A PROTESTANT OF YORK, AND OTHERS.</h3> + + +<p>Here is another instance, which happened in 1698 to one of the +so-called reformed religion.[<a href="#f636">636</a><a name="f636.1" id="f636.1"></a>] A minister of the county of York, at +a place called Hipley, and whose name was Henry Vatz (Watts), being +struck with apoplexy the 15th of August, was on the 17th placed in a +coffin to be buried. But as they were about to put him in the grave, +he uttered a loud cry, which frightened all the persons who had +attended him to the grave; they took him quickly out of the coffin, +and as soon as he had come to himself, he related several surprising +things which he said had been revealed to him during his trance, which +had lasted eight-and-forty hours. The 24th of the same month, he +preached a very moving discourse to those who had accompanied him the +day they were carrying him to the tomb.</p> + +<p>People may, if they please, treat all that we have related as dreams +and tales, but it cannot be denied that we recognize in these +resurrections, and in these narrations of men who have come to life +again after their real or seeming death, the belief of the church +concerning hell, paradise, purgatory, the efficacy of prayers for the +dead, and the apparitions of angels and demons who torment the damned, +and of the souls who have yet something to expiate in the other world.</p> + +<p>We see also, that which has a visible connection with the matter we +are treating upon—persons really dead, and others regarded as such, +who return to life in health and live a long time afterwards. Lastly, +we may observe therein opinions on the state of souls after this life, +which are nearly the same as among the Hebrews, Egyptians, Greeks, +Romans, barbarous nations, and Christians. If the Hungarian ghosts do +not speak of what they have seen in the other world, it is either that +they are not really dead, or more likely that all which is related of +these <i>revenans</i> is fabulous and chimerical. I will add some more +instances which will serve to confirm the belief of the primitive +church on the subject of apparitions.</p> + +<p>St. Perpetua, who suffered martyrdom in Africa in 202 or 203, being in +prison for the faith, saw a brother named Dinocrates, who had died at +the age of seven years of a cancer in the cheek; she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> +saw him as if in a very large dungeon, so that they could not approach +each other. He seemed to be placed in a reservoir of water, the sides +of which were higher than himself, so that he could not reach the +water, for which he appeared to thirst very much. Perpetua was much +moved at this, and prayed to God with tears and groans for his relief. +Some days after, she saw in spirit the same Dinocrates, well clothed, +washed, and refreshed, and the water of the reservoir in which he was, +only came up to his middle, and on the edge a cup, from which he +drank, without the water diminishing, and the skin of the cancer in +his cheek well healed, so that nothing now remained of the cancer but +the scar. By these things she understood that Dinocrates was no longer +in pain.</p> + +<p>Dinocrates was there apparently[<a href="#f637">637</a><a name="f637.1" id="f637.1"></a>] to expiate some faults which he +had committed since his baptism, for Perpetua says a little before +this that only her father had remained in infidelity.</p> + +<p>The same St. Perpetua, being in prison some days before she suffered +martyrdom[<a href="#f638">638</a><a name="f638.1" id="f638.1"></a>] had a vision of the deacon Pomponius, who had suffered +martyrdom some days before, and who said to her, "Come, we are waiting +for you." He led her through a rugged and winding path into the arena +of the amphitheatre, where she had to combat with a very ugly +Egyptian, accompanied by some other men like him. Perpetua found +herself changed into a man, and began to fight naked, assisted by some +well-made youths who came to her service and assistance.</p> + +<p>Then she beheld a man of extraordinary size, who cried aloud, "If the +Egyptian gains the victory over her, he will kill her with his sword; +but if she conquers, she shall have this branch ornamented with golden +apples for her reward." Perpetua began the combat, and having +overthrown the Egyptian, trampled his head under her feet. The people +shouted victory, and Perpetua approaching him who held the branch +above mentioned, he put it in her hands, and said to her, "Peace be +with you." Then she awoke, and understood that she would have to +combat, not against wild beasts, but against the devil.</p> + +<p>Saturus, one of the companions of the martyrdom of St. Perpetua, had +also a vision, which he relates thus: "We had suffered martyrdom, and +were disengaged from this mortal body. Four angels carried us towards +the East without touching us. We arrived at a place shining with +intense lustre; Perpetua was at my side, and I said unto <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'her her'.">her</ins>, 'Behold +what the Lord promised us.'</p> + +<p>"We entered a large garden full of trees and flowers; the four angels +who had borne us thither placed us in the hands of other angels, who +conducted us by a wide road to a place where we found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> +Jocondus, Saturninus, and Artazes, who had suffered with us, and +invited us to come and salute the Lord. We followed them, and beheld +in the midst of this place the Almighty, crowned with dazzling light, +and we heard repeated incessantly by those around him, Holy! holy! +holy! They raised us towards him, and we stopped before his throne. We +gave him the kiss of peace, and he stroked our faces with his hand.</p> + +<p>"We came out, and we saw before the door the bishop Optatus and the +priest Aspasius, who threw themselves at our feet. We raised and +embraced them. We recognized in this place several of our brethren and +some martyrs." Such was the vision of Saturus.</p> + +<p>There are visions of all sorts; of holy martyrs, and of holy angels. +It is related of St. Exuperus, bishop of Thoulouse,[<a href="#f639">639</a><a name="f639.1" id="f639.1"></a>] that having +conceived the design of transporting the relics of St. Saturnus, a +former bishop of that church, to place them in a new church built in +his honor, he could with difficulty resolve to take this holy body +from the tomb, fearing to displease the saint, or to diminish the +honor which was due to him. But while in this doubt, he had a vision +which gave him to understand that this translation would neither +lessen the respect which was due to the ashes of the martyr, nor be +prejudicial to his honor; but that on the contrary it would contribute +to the salvation of the faithful, and to the greater glorification of +God.</p> + +<p>Some days before[<a href="#f640">640</a><a name="f640.1" id="f640.1"></a>] St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, suffered +martyrdom, in 258, he had a vision, not being as yet quite asleep, in +which a young man whose height was extraordinary, seemed to lead him +to the Prætorium before the Proconsul, who was seated on his tribunal. +This magistrate, having caught sight of Cyprian, began to write his +sentence before he had interrogated him as was usual. Cyprian knew not +what the sentence condemned him to; but the young man above mentioned, +and who was behind the judge, made a sign by opening his hand and +spreading in form of a sword, that he was condemned to have his head +cut off.</p> + +<p>Cyprian easily understood what was meant by this sign, and having +earnestly requested to be allowed a day's delay to put his affairs in +order, the judge, having granted his request, again wrote upon his +tablets, and the young man by a sign of his hand let him know that the +delay was granted. These predictions were exactly fulfilled, and we +see many similar ones in the works of St. Cyprian.</p> + +<p>St. Fructueux, Bishop of Tarragona,[<a href="#f641">641</a><a name="f641.1" id="f641.1"></a>] who suffered martyrdom in +259, was seen after his death ascending to heaven with the deacons who +had suffered with him; they appeared as if they were still<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> +attached to the stakes near which they had been burnt. They were seen +by two Christians, who showed them to the wife and daughter of +Emilian, who had condemned them. The saint appeared to Emilian himself +and to the Christians, who had taken away their ashes, and desired +that they might be all collected in one spot. We see similar +apparitions[<a href="#f642">642</a><a name="f642.1" id="f642.1"></a>] in the acts of St. James, of St. Marienus, martyrs, +and some others who suffered in Numidia in 259. We may observe the +like[<a href="#f643">643</a><a name="f643.1" id="f643.1"></a>] in the acts of St. Montanus, St. Lucius, and other African +martyrs in 259 or 260, and in those of St. Vincent, a martyr in Spain, +in 304, and in the life of St. Theodore, martyr, in 306, of whose +sufferings St. Gregory of Nicea has written an account. Everybody +knows what happened at Sebastus, in Armenia, in the martyrdom of the +famous forty martyrs, of whom St. Basil the Great has written the +eulogium. One of the forty, overcome by the excess of cold, which was +extreme, threw himself into a hot bath that was prepared just by. Then +he who guarded them having perceived some angels who brought crowns to +the thirty-nine who had persevered in their sufferings, despoiled +himself of his garments, joined himself to the martyrs, and declared +himself a Christian.</p> + +<p>All these instances invincibly prove that, at least in the first ages +of the church, the greatest and most learned bishops, the holy +martyrs, and the generality of the faithful, were well persuaded of +the possibility and reality of apparitions.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f636.1">636</a><a name="f636" id="f636"></a>] Larrey, Hist. de Louis XIV. year 1698, p. 68.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f637.1">637</a><a name="f637" id="f637"></a>] Aug. lib. i. de Origine Animæ.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f638.1">638</a><a name="f638" id="f638"></a>] Ibid. p. 97.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f639.1">639</a><a name="f639" id="f639"></a>] Aug. lib. i. de Origine Animæ, p. 132.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f640.1">640</a><a name="f640" id="f640"></a>] Acta Martyr. Sincera, p. 212. Vita et Passio S. Cypriani, p. +268.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f641.1">641</a><a name="f641" id="f641"></a>] Acta Martyr. Sincera, pp. 219, 221.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f642.1">642</a><a name="f642" id="f642"></a>] Acta Martyr. Sincera, p. 226.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f643.1">643</a><a name="f643" id="f643"></a>] Ibid. pp. 231-233, 237.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIX" id="CHAPTER_LIX"></a>CHAPTER LIX.</h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSIONS OF THIS DISSERTATION.</h3> + + +<p>To resume, in a few words, all that we have related in this +dissertation: we have therein shown that a resurrection, properly so +called, of a person who has been dead for a considerable time, and +whose body was either corrupted, or stinking, or ready to putrefy, +like that of Pierre, who had been three years buried, and was +resuscitated by St. Stanislaus, or that of Lazarus, who had been four +days in the tomb, and already possessing a corpse-like smell—such a +resurrection can be the work of the almighty power of God alone.</p> + +<p>That persons who have been drowned, fallen into syncope, into a +lethargy or trance, or looked upon as dead, in any manner whatever,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> +can be cured and brought back to life, even to their former state of +life, without any miracle, but by the power of medicine alone, or by +natural efforts, or by dint of patience; so that nature re-establishes +herself in her former state, that the heart resumes its pulsation, and +the blood circulates freely again in the arteries, and the vital and +animal spirits in the nerves.</p> + +<p>That the oupires, or vampires, or <i>revenans</i> of Moravia, Hungary, +Poland, &c., of which such extraordinary things are related, so +detailed, so circumstantial, invested with all the necessary +formalities to make them believed, and to prove them even judicially +before judges, and at the most exact and severe tribunals; that all +which is said of their return to life; of their apparition, and the +confusion which they cause in the towns and country places; of their +killing people by sucking their blood, or in making a sign to them to +follow them; that all those things are mere illusions, and the +consequence of a heated and prejudiced imagination. They cannot cite +any witness who is sensible, grave and unprejudiced, who can testify +that he has seen, touched, interrogated these ghosts, who can affirm +the reality of their return, and of the effects which are attributed +to them.</p> + +<p>I shall not deny that some persons may have died of fright, imagining +that their near relatives called them to the tomb; that others have +thought they heard some one rap at their doors, worry them, disturb +them, in a word, occasion them mortal maladies; and that these persons +judicially interrogated, have replied that they had seen and heard +what their panic-struck imagination had represented to them. But I +require unprejudiced witnesses, free from terror and disinterested, +quite calm, who can affirm upon serious reflection, that they have +seen, heard, and interrogated these vampires, and who have been the +witnesses of their operations; and I am persuaded that no such witness +will be found.</p> + +<p>I have by me a letter, which has been sent me from Warsaw, the 3d of +February, 1745, by M. Slivisk, visitor of the province of priests of +the mission of Poland. He sends me word, that having studied with +great care this matter, and having proposed to compose on this subject +a theological and physical dissertation, he had collected some memoirs +with that view; but that the occupations of visitor and superior in +the house of his congregation of Warsaw, had not allowed of his +putting his project in execution; that he has since sought in vain for +these memoirs or notes, which have probably remained in the hands of +some of those to whom he had communicated them; that amongst these +notes were two resolutions of the Sorbonne, which both forbade cutting +off the head and maiming the body of any of these pretended oupires or +vampires. He adds, that these decisions may be found in the registers +of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> Sorbonne, from the year 1700 to 1710. I shall report by and +by, a decision of the Sorbonne on this subject, dated in the year +1691.</p> + +<p>He says, moreover, that in Poland they are so persuaded of the +existence of these oupires, that any one who thought otherwise would +be regarded almost as a heretic. There are several facts concerning +this matter, which are looked upon as incontestable, and many persons +are named as witnesses of them. "I gave myself the trouble," says he, +"to go to the fountain-head, and examine those who are cited as ocular +witnesses." He found that no one dared to affirm that they had really +seen the circumstances in question, and that it was all merely +reveries and fancies, caused by fear and unfounded discourse. So +writes to me this wise and judicious priest.</p> + +<p>I have also received since, another letter from Vienna in Austria, +written the 3d of August, 1746, by a Lorraine baron,[<a href="#f644">644</a><a name="f644.1" id="f644.1"></a>] who has +always followed his prince. He tells me, that in 1742, his imperial +majesty, then his royal highness of Lorraine, had several verbal acts +drawn up concerning these cases, which happened in Moravia. I have +them by me still; I have read them over and over again; and to be +frank, I have not found in them the shadow of truth, nor even of +probability, in what is advanced. They are, nevertheless, documents +which in that country are looked upon as true as the Gospel.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f644.1">644</a><a name="f644" id="f644"></a>] M. le Baron Toussaint.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LX" id="CHAPTER_LX"></a>CHAPTER LX.</h2> + +<h3>THE MORAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF THE REVENANS COMING OUT OF THEIR GRAVES.</h3> + + +<p>I have already proposed the objection formed upon the impossibility of +these vampires coming out of their graves, and returning to them +again, without its appearing that they have disturbed the earth, +either in coming out or going in again. No one has ever replied to +this difficulty, and never will. To say that the demon subtilizes and +spiritualizes the bodies of vampires, is a thing asserted without +proof or likelihood.</p> + +<p>The fluidity of the blood, the ruddiness, the suppleness of these +vampires, ought not to surprise any one, any more than the growth of +the nails and hair, and their bodies remaining undecayed. We see every +day, bodies which remain uncorrupted, and retain a ruddy color after +death. This ought not to appear strange in those who die without +malady and a sudden death; or of certain maladies,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> known to our +physicians, which do not deprive the blood of its fluidity, or the +limbs of their suppleness.</p> + +<p>With regard to the growth of the hair and nails in bodies which are +not yet decayed, the thing is quite natural. There remains in those +bodies a certain slow and imperceptible circulation of the humors, +which causes this growth of the nails and hair, in the same way that +we every day see common bulbs grow and shoot, although without any +nourishment derived from the earth.</p> + +<p>The same may be said of flowers, and in general of all that depends on +vegetation in animals and plants.</p> + +<p>The belief of the common people of Greece in the return to earth of +the vroucolacas, is not much better founded than that of vampires and +ghosts. It is only the ignorance, the prejudice, the terror of the +Greeks, which have given rise to this vain and ridiculous belief, and +which they keep up even to this very day. The narrative which we have +reported after M. Tournefort, an ocular witness and a good +philosopher, may suffice to undeceive those who would maintain the +contrary.</p> + +<p>The incorruption of the bodies of those who died in a state of +excommunication, has still less foundation than the return of the +vampires, and the vexations of the living caused by the vroucolacas; +antiquity has had no similar belief. The schismatic Greeks, and the +heretics separated from the Church of Rome, who certainly died +excommunicated, ought, upon this principle, to remain uncorrupted; +which is contrary to experience, and repugnant to good sense. And if +the Greeks pretend to be the true Church, all the Roman Catholics, who +have a separate communion from them, ought then also to remain +undecayed. The instances cited by the Greeks either prove nothing, or +prove too much. Those bodies which have not decayed, were really +excommunicated, or not. If they were canonically and really +excommunicated, then the question falls to the ground. If they were +not really and canonically excommunicated, then it must be proved that +there was no other cause of incorruption—which can never be proved.</p> + +<p>Moreover, anything so equivocal as incorruption, cannot be adduced as +a proof in so serious a matter as this. It is owned, that often the +bodies of saints are preserved from decay; that is looked upon as +certain, among the Greeks as among the Latins—therefore, we cannot +thence conclude that this same incorruption is a proof that a person +is excommunicated.</p> + +<p>In short, this proof is universal and general, or only particular. I +mean to say, either all excommunicated persons remain undecayed, or +only a few of them. We cannot maintain that all those who die in a +state of excommunication, are incorruptible. For then all the Greeks +towards the Latins, and the Latins towards the Greeks,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> would be +undecayed, which is not the case. That proof then is very frivolous, +and nothing can be concluded from it. I mistrust, a great deal, all +those stories which are related to prove this pretended +incorruptibility of excommunicated persons. If well examined, many of +them would doubtless be found to be false.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXI" id="CHAPTER_LXI"></a>CHAPTER LXI.</h2> + +<h3>WHAT IS RELATED CONCERNING THE BODIES OF THE EXCOMMUNICATED LEAVING +THE CHURCH, IS SUBJECT TO VERY GREAT DIFFICULTIES.</h3> + + +<p>Whatever respect I may feel for St. Gregory the Great, who relates +some instances of deceased persons who died in a state of +excommunication going out of the church before the eyes of every one +present; and whatever consideration may be due to other authors whom I +have cited, and who relate other circumstances of a similar nature, +and even still more incredible, I cannot believe that we have these +legends with all the circumstances belonging to them; and after the +reasons for doubt which I have recorded at the end of these stories, I +believe I may again say, that God, to inspire the people with still +greater fear of excommunication, and a greater regard for the +sentences and censures of the church, has willed on these occasions, +for reasons unknown to us, to show forth his power, and work a miracle +in the sight of the faithful; for how can we explain all these things +without having recourse to the miraculous? All that is said of persons +who being dead chew under ground in their graves, is so pitiful, so +puerile, that it is not worthy of being seriously refuted. Everybody +owns that too often people are buried who are not quite dead. There +are but too many instances of this in ancient and modern histories. +The thesis of M. Vinslow, and the notes added thereto by M. Bruhier, +serve to prove that there are few certain signs of real death except +the putridity of a body being at least begun. We have an infinite +number of instances of persons supposed to be dead, who have come to +life again, even after they have been put in the ground. There are I +know not how many maladies in which the patient remains for a long +time speechless, motionless, and without sensible respiration. Some +drowned persons who have been thought dead, have been revived by care +and attention.</p> + +<p>All this is well known and may serve to explain how some vampires have +been taken out of their graves, and have spoken, cried, howled, +vomited blood, and all that because they were not yet dead.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> They have +been killed by beheading them, piercing their heart, and burning them; +in all which people were very wrong, for the pretext on which they +acted, of their pretended reappearance to disturb the living, causing +their death, and maltreating them, is not a sufficient reason for +treating them thus. Besides, their pretended return has never been +proved or attested in such a way as to authorize any one to show such +inhumanity, nor to dishonor and put rigorously to death on vague, +frivolous, unproved accusations, persons who were certainly innocent +of the thing laid to their charge.</p> + +<p>For nothing is more ill-founded than what is said of the apparitions, +vexations, and confusion caused by the pretended vampires and the +vroucolacas. I am not surprised that the Sorbonne should have +condemned the bloody and violent executions which are exercised on +these kinds of dead bodies. But it is astonishing that the secular +powers and the magistrates do not employ their authority and the +severity of the laws to repress them.</p> + +<p>The magic devotions, the fascinations, the evocations of which we have +spoken, are works of darkness, operations of Satan, if they have any +reality, which I can with difficulty believe, especially in regard to +magical devotions, and the evocations of the manes or souls of dead +persons; for, as to fascinations of the sight, or illusions of the +senses, it is foolish not to admit some of these, as when we think we +see what is not, or do not behold what is present before our eyes; or +when we think we hear a sound which in reality does not strike our +ears, or the contrary. But to say that the demon can cause a person's +death, because they have made a wax image of him, or given his name +with some superstitious ceremonies, and have devoted him or her, so +that the persons feel themselves dying as their image melts away, is +ascribing to the demon too much power, and to magic too much might. +God can, when he wills it, loosen the reign of the enemy of mankind, +and permit him to do us the harm which he and his agents may seek to +do us; but it would be ridiculous to believe that the Sovereign Master +of nature can be determined by magical incantations to allow the demon +to hurt us; or to imagine that the magician has the power to excite +the demon against us, independently of God.</p> + +<p>The instance of that peasant who gave his child to the devil, and +whose life the devil first took away and then restored, is one of +those extraordinary and almost incredible circumstances which are +sometimes to be met with in history, and which neither theology nor +philosophy knows how to explain. Was it a demon who animated the body +of the boy, or did his soul re-enter his body by the permission of +God? By what authority did the demon take away this boy's life, and +then restore it to him? God may have permitted it to punish the +impiety of the wretched father, who had given him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span>self to the devil to +satisfy a shameful and criminal passion. And again, how could he +satisfy it with a demon, who appeared to him in the form of a girl he +loved? In all that I see only darkness and difficulties, which I leave +to be resolved by those who are more learned or bolder than myself.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXII" id="CHAPTER_LXII"></a>CHAPTER LXII.</h2> + +<h3>REMARKS ON THE DISSERTATION CONCERNING THE SPIRIT WHICH REAPPEARED AT +ST. MAUR DES FOSSES.</h3> + + +<p>The following Dissertation on the apparition which happened at St. +Maur, near Paris, in 1706, was entirely unknown to me. A friend who +took some part in my work on apparitions, had asked me by letter if I +should have any objection to its being printed at the end of my work. +I readily consented, on his testifying that it was from a worthy hand, +and deserved to be saved from the oblivion into which it was fallen. I +have since found that it was printed in the fourth volume of the +Treatise on Superstitions, by the Reverend Father le Brun, of the +Oratoire.</p> + +<p>After the impression, a learned monk[<a href="#f645">645</a><a name="f645.1" id="f645.1"></a>] wrote to me from Amiens, in +Picardy, that he had remarked in this dissertation five or six +propositions which appeared to him to be false.</p> + +<p>1st. That the author says, all the holy doctors agree that no means of +deceiving us is left to the demons except suggestion, which has been +left them by God to try our virtue.</p> + +<p>2d. In respect to all those prodigies and spells which the common +people attribute to sorcery and intercourse with the demon, it is +proved that they can only be done by means of natural magic; this is +the opinion of the greater number of the fathers of the church.</p> + +<p>3d. All that demons have to do with the criminal practices of those +who are commonly called sorcerers is suggestion, by which he invites +them to the abominable research of all those natural causes which can +hurt our neighbor.</p> + +<p>4th. Although those who have desired to maintain the popular error of +the return to earth of souls from purgatory, may have endeavored to +support their opinion by different passages, taken from St. Augustine, +St. Jerome, St. Thomas, &c., it is attested that all these fathers +speak only of the return of the blessed to manifest the glory of God.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span></p> + +<p>5th. Of what may we not believe the imagination capable after so +strong a proof of its power? Can it be doubted that among all the +pretended apparitions of which stories are related, the fancy alone +works for all those which do not proceed from angels and the spirits +of the blessed, and that the rest are the invention of men?</p> + +<p>6th. After having sufficiently established the fact, that all +apparitions which cannot be attributed to angels, or the spirits of +the blessed, are produced only by one of these causes: the writer +names them—first, the power of imagination; secondly, the extreme +subtility of the senses; and thirdly, the derangement of the organs, +as in madness and high fevers.</p> + +<p>The monk who writes to me maintains that the first proposition is +false; that the ancient fathers of the church ascribe to the demon the +greater number of those extraordinary effects produced by certain +sounds of the voice, by figures, and by phantoms; that the exorcists +in the primitive church expelled devils, even by the avowal of the +heathen; that angels and demons have often appeared to men; that no +one has spoken more strongly of apparitions, of hauntings, and the +power of the demon, than the ancient fathers; that the church has +always employed exorcism on children presented for baptism, and +against those who were haunted and possessed by the demon. Add to +which, the author of the dissertation cites not one of the fathers to +support his general proposition.[<a href="#f646">646</a><a name="f646.1" id="f646.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>The second proposition, again, is false; for if we must attribute to +natural magic all that is ascribed to sorcerers, there are then no +sorcerers, properly so called, and the church is mistaken in offering +up prayers against their power.</p> + +<p>The third proposition is false for the same reason.</p> + +<p>The fourth is falser still, and absolutely contrary to St. Thomas, +who, speaking of the dead in general who appear, says that this occurs +either by a miracle, or by the particular permission of God, or by the +operation of good or evil angels.[<a href="#f647">647</a><a name="f647.1" id="f647.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>The fifth proposition, again, is false, and contrary to the fathers, +to the opinion commonly received among the faithful, and to the +customs of the church. If all the apparitions which do not proceed +from the angels or the blessed, or the inventive malice of mankind, +proceed only from fancy, what becomes of all the apparitions of demons +related by the saints, and which occurred to the saints? What becomes, +in particular, of all the stories of the holy solitaries, of St. +Anthony, St. Hilarion, &c.?[<a href="#f648">648</a><a name="f648.1" id="f648.1"></a>] What becomes of the prayers and +ceremonies of the church against demons, who infest, possess,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> +and haunt, and appear often in these disturbances, possessions, and +hauntings?</p> + +<p>The sixth proposition is false for the same reasons, and many others +which might be added.</p> + +<p>"These," adds the reverend father who writes to me, "are the causes of +my doubting if the third dissertation was added to the two others with +your knowledge. I suspected that the printer, of his own accord, or +persuaded by evil intentioned persons, might have added it himself, +and without your participation, although under your name. For I said +to myself, either the reverend father approves this dissertation, or +he does not approve of it. It appears that he approves of it, since he +says that it is from a clever writer, and he would wish to preserve it +from oblivion.</p> + +<p>"Now, how can he approve a dissertation false in itself and contrary +to himself? If he approves it not, is it not too much to unite to his +work a foolish composition full of falsehoods, disguises, false and +weak arguments, opposed to the common belief, the customs, and prayers +of the church; consequently dangerous, and quite favorable to the free +and incredulous thinkers which this age is so full of? Ought he not +rather to combat this writing, and show its weakness, falsehood, and +dangerous tendency? There, my reverend father, lies all my +difficulty."</p> + +<p>Others have sent me word that they could have wished that I had +treated the subject of apparitions in the same way as the author of +this dissertation, that is to say, simply as a philosopher, with the +aim of destroying the credence and reality, rather than with any +design of supporting the belief in apparitions which is so observable +in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, in the fathers, and in +the customs and prayers of the church. The author of whom we speak has +cited the fathers, but in a general manner, and without marking the +testimonies, and the express and formal passages. I do not know if he +thinks much of them, and if he is well versed in them, but it would +hardly appear so from his work.</p> + +<p>The grand principle on which this third dissertation turns is, that +since the advent and the death of Jesus Christ, all the power of the +devil is limited to enticing, inspiring, and persuading to evil; but +for the rest, he is tied up like a lion or a dog in his prison. He may +bark, he may menace, but he cannot bite unless he is too nearly +approached and yielded to, as St. Augustine truly says:[<a href="#f649">649</a><a name="f649.1" id="f649.1"></a>] "Mordere +omnino non potest nisi volentem."</p> + +<p>But to pretend that Satan can do no harm, either to the health of +mankind, or to the fruits of the earth; can neither attack us by his +stratagems, his malice, and his fury against us, nor torment those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> +whom he pursues or possesses; that magicians and wizards can make use +of no spells and charms to cause both men and animals dreadful +maladies, and even death, is a direct attack on the faith of the +church, the Holy Scriptures, the most sacred practices, and the +opinions of not only the holy fathers and the best theologians, but +also on the laws and ordinances of princes, and the decrees of the +most respectable parliaments.</p> + +<p>I will not here cite the instances taken from the Old Testament, the +author having limited himself to what has passed since the death and +resurrection of our Saviour; because, he says, Jesus Christ has +destroyed the kingdom of Satan, and the prince of this world is +already judged.[<a href="#f650">650</a><a name="f650.1" id="f650.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John, and the Evangelists, who were well +informed of the words of the Son of God, and the sense given to them, +teach us that Satan asked to have power over the apostles of Jesus +Christ, to sift them like wheat;[<a href="#f651">651</a><a name="f651.1" id="f651.1"></a>] that is to say, to try them by +persecutions and make them renounce the faith. Does not St. Paul +complain of the <i>angel of Satan</i> who buffeted him?[<a href="#f652">652</a><a name="f652.1" id="f652.1"></a>] Did those whom +he gave up to Satan for their crimes,[<a href="#f653">653</a><a name="f653.1" id="f653.1"></a>] suffer nothing bodily? +Those who took the communion unworthily, and were struck with +sickness, or even with death, did they not undergo these chastisements +by the operation of the demon?[<a href="#f654">654</a><a name="f654.1" id="f654.1"></a>] The apostle warns the Corinthians +not to suffer themselves to be surprised by Satan, who sometimes +transforms himself into an angel of light.[<a href="#f655">655</a><a name="f655.1" id="f655.1"></a>] The same apostle, +speaking to the Thessalonians, says to them, that before the last day +antichrist will appear,[<a href="#f656">656</a><a name="f656.1" id="f656.1"></a>] according to the working of Satan, with +extraordinary power, with wonders and deceitful signs. In the +Apocalypse the demon is the instrument made use of by God, to punish +mortals and make them drink of the cup of his wrath. Does not St. +Peter[<a href="#f657">657</a><a name="f657.1" id="f657.1"></a>] tell us that "the devil prowls about us like a roaring +lion, always ready to devour us?" And St. Paul to the Ephesians,[<a href="#f658">658</a><a name="f658.1" id="f658.1"></a>] +"that we have to fight not against men of flesh and blood, but against +principalities and powers, against the princes of this world," that is +to say, of this age of darkness, "against the spirits of malice spread +about in the air?"</p> + +<p>The fathers of the first ages speak often of the power that the +Christians exercised against the demons, against those who called +themselves diviners, against magicians and other subalterns of the +devil; principally against those who were possessed, who were then +frequently seen, and are so still from time to time, both in the +church and out of the church. Exorcisms and other prayers of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span> +church have always been employed against these, and with success. +Emperors and kings have employed their authority and the rigor of the +laws against those who have devoted themselves to the service of the +demon, and used spells, charms, and other methods which the demon +employs, to entice and destroy both men and animals, or the fruits of +the country.</p> + +<p>We might add to the remarks of the reverend Dominican father divers +other propositions drawn from the same work; for instance, when the +author says that "the angels know everything here below; for if it is +by means of specialties, which God communicates to them every day, as +St. Augustine thinks, there is no reason to believe that they do not +know all the wants of mankind, and that they cannot console and +strengthen them, render themselves visible to them by the permission +of God, without always receiving from him an express order so to do."</p> + +<p>This proposition is rather rash: it is not certain that the angels +know everything that passes here below. Jesus Christ, in St. Matthew +xxiv. 36, says that the angels do not know the day of his coming. It +is still more doubtful that the angels can appear without an express +command from God, and that St. Augustine has so taught.</p> + +<p>He says, a little while after—"That demons often appeared before +Jesus Christ in fantastic forms, which they assumed as the angels do," +that is to say, in aërial bodies which they organized; "whilst at +present, and since the coming of Jesus Christ, those wonders and +spells have been so common that the people attributed them to sorcery +and commerce with the devil, whereas it is attested that they can be +operated only by natural magic, which is the knowledge of secret +effects from natural causes, and many of them by the subtilty of the +air alone. This is the opinion of the greater number of the fathers +who have spoken of them."</p> + +<p>This proposition is false, and contrary to the doctrine and practice +of the church; and it is not true that it is the opinion of the +greater number of the fathers; he should have cited some of them.[<a href="#f659">659</a><a name="f659.1" id="f659.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>He says that "the Book of Job and the song of Hezekiah are full of +testimonies that the Holy Spirit seems to have taught us, that our +souls cannot return to earth after our death, until God has made +angels of them."</p> + +<p>It is true that the Holy Scriptures speak of the resurrection and +return of souls into their bodies as of a thing that is impossible in +the natural course. Man cannot raise up himself from the dead, neither +can he raise up his fellow-man without an effort of the supreme might +of God. Neither can the spirits of the deceased<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span> +appear to the living without the command or permission of God. But it +is false to say, "that God makes angels of our souls, and that then +they can appear to the living."</p> + +<p>Our souls will never become angels; but Jesus Christ tells us that +after our death our souls will be <i>as</i> the angels of God, (Matt. xxii. +30); that is to say, spiritual, incorporeal, immortal, and exempt from +all the wants and weaknesses of this present life; but he does not say +that our souls must <i>become</i> angels.</p> + +<p>He affirms "that what Jesus Christ said, 'that spirits have neither +flesh nor bones,' far from leading us to believe that spirits can +return to earth, proves, on the contrary, evidently that they cannot +without a miracle render themselves visible to mankind; since it +requires absolutely a corporeal substance and organs of speech to make +ourselves heard, which does not agree with the spirits, who naturally +cannot be subject to our senses."</p> + +<p>This is no more impossible than what he said beforehand of the +apparitions of angels, since our souls, after the death of the body, +are "like unto the angels," according to the Gospel. He acknowledges +himself, with St. Jerome against Vigilantius, that the saints who are +in heaven appear sometimes visibly to men. "Whence comes it that +animals have, as well as ourselves, the faculty of memory, but not the +reflection which accompanies it, which proceeds only from the soul, +which they have not?"</p> + +<p>Is not memory itself the reflection of what we have seen, done, or +heard; and in animals is not memory followed by reflection,[<a href="#f660">660</a><a name="f660.1" id="f660.1"></a>] since +they avenge themselves on those who hurt them, avoid that which has +incommoded them, foreseeing what might happen to themselves from it if +they fell again into the same mistake?</p> + +<p>After having spoken of natural palingenesis, he concludes—"And thus +we see how little cause there is to attribute these appearances to the +return of souls to earth, or to demons, as do some ignorant persons."</p> + +<p>If those who work the wonders of natural palingenesis, and admit the +natural return of phantoms in the cemeteries, and fields of battle, +which I do not think happens naturally, could show that these phantoms +speak, act, move, foretell the future, and do what is related of +returned souls or other apparitions, whether good angels or bad ones, +we might conclude that there is no reason to attribute them to souls, +angels, and demons; but, 1, they have never been able to cause the +appearance of the phantom of a dead man, by any secret of art. 2. If +it had been possible to raise his shade, they could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> +never have inspired it with thought or reasoning powers, as we see in +the angels and demons, who appear, reason, and act, as intelligent +beings, and gifted with the knowledge of the past, the present, and +sometimes of the future.</p> + +<p>He denies that the souls in purgatory return to earth; for if they +could come back, "everybody would receive similar visits from their +relations and friends, since all the souls would feel disposed to do +the same. Apparently," says he, "God would grant them this permission, +and if they had this permission, every person of good sense would be +at a loss to comprehend why they should accompany all their +appearances with all the follies so circumstantially related."</p> + +<p>We may reply, that the return of souls to earth may depend neither on +their inclination nor their will, but on the will of God, who grants +this permission to whom he pleases, when he will, and as he will.</p> + +<p>The wicked rich man asked that Lazarus[<a href="#f661">661</a><a name="f661.1" id="f661.1"></a>] might be sent to this +world to warn his brothers not to fall into the same misfortune as +himself, but he could not obtain it. There are an infinity of souls in +the same case and disposition, who cannot obtain leave to return +themselves or to send others in their place.</p> + +<p>If certain narratives of the return of spirits to earth have been +accompanied by circumstances somewhat comic, it does not militate +against the truth of the thing; since for one recital imprudently +embellished by uncertain circumstances, there are a thousand written +sensibly and seriously, and in a manner very conformable to truth.</p> + +<p>He maintains that all the apparitions which cannot be attributed to +angels or to blessed spirits, are produced only by one of these three +causes:—the power of imagination; the extreme subtility of the +senses; and the derangement of the organs, as in cases of madness and +in high fevers.</p> + +<p>This proposition is rash, and has before been refuted by the Reverend +Father Richard.</p> + +<p>The author recounts all that he has said of the spirit of St. Maur, in +causing the motion of the bed in the presence of three persons who +were wide awake, the repeated shrieks of a person whom they did not +see, of a door well-bolted, of repeated blows upon the walls, of panes +of glass struck with violence in the presence of three persons, +without their being <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'abe'.">able</ins> to see the author of all this movement;—he +reduces all this to a derangement of the imagination, the subtilty of +the air, or the vapors casually arising in the brain of an invalid. +Why did he not deny all these facts? Why did he give himself the +trouble to compose so carefully a dissertation to explain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> +a phenomenon, which, according to him, can boast neither truth nor +reality? For my part, I am very glad to give the public notice that I +neither adopt nor approve this anonymous dissertation, which I never +saw before it was printed; that I know nothing of the author, take no +part in it, and have no interest in defending him. If the subject of +apparitions be purely philosophical, and it can without injury to +religion be reduced to a problem, I should have taken a different +method to destroy it, and I should have suffered my reasoning and my +imagination to act more freely.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f645.1">645</a><a name="f645" id="f645"></a>] Letter of the Reverend Father Richard, a Dominican of Amiens, of +the 29th of July, 1746.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f646.1">646</a><a name="f646" id="f646"></a>] See on this subject the letter of the Marquis Maffei, which +follows.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f647.1">647</a><a name="f647" id="f647"></a>] St. Thomas, i. part 9, 89, art. 8, ad. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f648.1">648</a><a name="f648" id="f648"></a>] The author had foreseen this objection from the beginning of his +dissertation.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f649.1">649</a><a name="f649" id="f649"></a>] Aug. Serm. de Semp. 197.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f650.1">650</a><a name="f650" id="f650"></a>] John xvi. 11.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f651.1">651</a><a name="f651" id="f651"></a>] Luke xxii. 31.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f652.1">652</a><a name="f652" id="f652"></a>] 2 Cor. xi. 7.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f653.1">653</a><a name="f653" id="f653"></a>] 1 Tim. i. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f654.1">654</a><a name="f654" id="f654"></a>] 1 Cor. xi. 30.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f655.1">655</a><a name="f655" id="f655"></a>] 2 Cor. ii. 11, and xi. 14.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f656.1">656</a><a name="f656" id="f656"></a>] 2 Thess. ii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f657.1">657</a><a name="f657" id="f657"></a>] 1 Pet. v. 8.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f658.1">658</a><a name="f658" id="f658"></a>] Ephes. vi. 12.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f659.1">659</a><a name="f659" id="f659"></a>] They are cited in the letter of the Marquis Maffei.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f660.1">660</a><a name="f660" id="f660"></a>] The author, as we may see, is not a Cartesian, since he assigns +reflection even to animals. But if they reflect, they choose; whence +it consequently follows that they are free.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f661.1">661</a><a name="f661" id="f661"></a>] Luke xiii. 14.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXIII" id="CHAPTER_LXIII"></a>CHAPTER LXIII.</h2> + +<h3>DISSERTATION BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER.</h3> + +<p><i>Answer to a Letter on the subject of the Apparition of St. Maur.</i></p> + + +<p>"You have been before me, sir, respecting the spirit of St. Maur, +which causes so much conversation at Paris; for I had resolved to send +you a short detail of that event, in order that you might impart to me +your reflections on a matter so delicate and so interesting to all +Paris. But since you have read an account of it, I cannot understand +why you have hesitated a moment to decide what you ought to think of +it. What you do me the honor to tell me, that you have suspended your +judgment of the case until I have informed you of mine, does me too +much honor for me to be persuaded of it; and I think there is more +probability in believing that it is a trick you are playing me, to see +how I shall extricate myself from such slippery ground. Nevertheless, +I cannot resist the entreaties, or rather the orders, with which your +letter is filled; and I prefer to expose myself to the pleasantry of +the free thinkers, or the reproaches of the credulous, than the anger +of those with which I am threatened by yourself.</p> + +<p>"You ask if I believe that spirits come back, and if the circumstance +which occurred at St. Maur can be attributed to one of those +incorporeal substances?</p> + +<p>"To answer your two questions in the same order that you propose them +to me, I must first tell you, that the ancient heathens acknowledge +various kinds of spirits, which they called <i>lares</i>, <i>larvæ</i>, +<i>lemures</i>, <i>genii</i>, <i>manes</i>.</p> + +<p>"For ourselves, without pausing at the folly of our cabalistic +philosophers, who fancy spirits in every element, calling those sylphs +which they pretend to inhabit the air; <i>gnomes</i>, those which they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> +feign to be under the earth; <i>ondines</i>, those which dwell in the +water; and <i>salamanders</i>, those of fire; we acknowledge but three +sorts of created spirits, namely, angels, demons, and the souls which +God has united to our bodies, and which are separated from them by +death.</p> + +<p>"The Holy Scriptures speak in too many places of the apparitions of +the angels to Abraham, Jacob, Tobit, and several other holy patriarchs +and prophets, for us to doubt of it. Besides, as their name signifies +their ministry, being created by God to be his messengers, and to +execute his commands, it is easy to believe that they have often +appeared visibly to men, to announce to them the will of the Almighty. +Almost all the theologians agree that the angels appear in the aërial +bodies with which they clothe themselves.</p> + +<p>"To make you understand in what manner they take and invest themselves +with these bodies, in order to render themselves visible to men, and +to make themselves heard by them, we must first of all explain what is +vision, which is only the bringing of the <i>species</i> within the compass +of the organ of sight. This "<i>species</i>" is the ray of light broken and +modified upon a body, on which, forming different angles, this light +is converted into colors. For an angle of a certain kind makes red, +another green, blue or yellow, and so on of all the colors, as we +perceive in the prism, on which the reflected rays of the sun forms +the different colors of the rainbow; the <i>species</i> visible is then +nothing else than the ray of light which returns from the object on +which it breaks to the eyes.</p> + +<p>"Now, light falls only on three kinds of objects or bodies, of which +some are diaphanous, others opake, and the others participate in these +two qualities, being partly diaphanous and partly opake. When the +light falls on a diaphanous body which is full of an infinity of +little pores, as the air, it passes through without causing any +reflection. When the light falls on a body entirely opake, as a +flower, for instance, not being able to penetrate it, its ray is +reflected from it, and returns from the flower to the eye, to which it +carries the <i>species</i>, and renders the colors distinguishable, +according to the angles formed by reflection. If the body on which the +light falls is in part opake and in part diaphanous, like glass, it +passes through the diaphanous part, that is to say, through the pores +of the glass which it penetrates, and reflects itself on the opake +particles, that is to say, which are not porous. Thus the air is +invisible, because it is absolutely penetrated with light: the flower +sends back a color to the eye, because, being impenetrable to the +light, it obliges it to reflect itself; and the glass is visible only +because it contains some opake particles, which, according to the +diversity of angles formed upon it by the ray of light, reflect +different colors.</p> + +<p>"That is the manner in which vision is formed, so that air being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> +invisible, on account of its extreme transparency, an angel could not +clothe himself with it and render himself visible, but by thickening +the air so much, that from diaphanous it became opake, and capable of +reflecting the ray of light to the eye of him who perceived him. Now, +as the angels possess knowledge and power far beyond anything we can +imagine, we need not be astonished if they can form aërial bodies, +which are rendered visible by the opacity they impart to them. In +respect to the organs necessary to these aërial bodies, to form sounds +and make themselves heard, without having any recourse to the +disposition of matter, we must attribute them entirely to a miracle.</p> + +<p>"It is thus that angels have appeared to the holy patriarchs. It is +thus that the glorious souls that participate the angelic nature can +assume an aërial body to render themselves visible, and that even +demons, by thickening and condensing the air, can make to themselves a +body of it, so as to become visible to men, by the particular +permission of God, to accomplish the secrets of his providence, as +they are said to have appeared to St. Anthony the Hermit, and to other +saints, in order to tempt them.</p> + +<p>"Excuse, sir, this little physical digression, with which I could not +dispense, in order to make you understand the manner in which angels, +who are purely spiritual substances, can be perceived by our fleshly +senses.</p> + +<p>"The only point on which the holy doctors do not agree on this subject +is, to know if angels appear to men of their own accord, or whether +they can do it only by an express command from God. It seems to me +that nothing can better contribute to the decision of this difficulty, +than to determine the way in which the angels know all things here +below; for if it is by means of "<i>species</i>" which God communicates to +them every day, as St. Augustine believes, there is no reason to doubt +of their knowing all the wants of mankind, or that they can, in order +to console and strengthen them, render their presence sensible to +them, by God's permission, without receiving an express command from +him on the subject; which may be concluded from what St. Ambrose says +on the subject of the apparition of angels, who are by nature +invisible to us, and whom their will renders visible. <i>Hujus naturæ +est non videri, voluntatis, videri.</i>[<a href="#f662">662</a><a name="f662.1" id="f662.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>"On the subject of demons, it is certain that their power was very +great before the coming of Jesus Christ, since he calls them himself, +the powers of darkness, and the princes of this world. It cannot be +doubted that they had for a long time deceived mankind, by the wonders +which they caused to be performed by those who devoted themselves more +particularly to their service; that several<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> +oracles have been the effect of their power and knowledge, although +part of them must be ascribed to the subtlety of men; and that they +may have appeared under fantastic forms, which they assumed in the +same way as the angels, that is to say, in aërial bodies, which they +organized. The Holy Scriptures assure us even, that they took +possession of the bodies of living persons. But Jesus Christ says too +precisely, that he has destroyed the kingdom of the demons, and +delivered us from their tyranny, for us possibly to think rationally +that they still possess that power over us which they had formerly, so +far as to work wonderful things which appeared miraculous; such as +they relate of the vestal virgin, who, to prove her virginity, carried +water in a sieve; and of her who by means of her sash alone, towed up +the Tiber a boat, which had been so completely stranded that no human +power could move it. Almost all the holy doctors agree, that the only +means they now have of deceiving us is by suggestion, which God has +left in their power to try our virtue.</p> + +<p>"I shall not amuse myself by combating all the impositions which have +been published concerning demons, incubi, and succubi, with which some +authors have disfigured their works, any more than I shall reply to +the pretended possession of the nuns of Loudun, and of Martha +Brossier,[<a href="#f663">663</a><a name="f663.1" id="f663.1"></a>] which made so much noise at Paris at the commencement +of the last century; because several learned men who have favored us +with their reflections <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'or'.">on</ins> these adventures, have sufficiently shown +that the demons had nothing to do with them; and the last, above all, +is perfectly quashed by the report of Marescot, a celebrated +physician, who was deputed by the Faculty of Theology to examine this +girl who performed so many wonders. Here are his own words, which may +serve as a general reply to all these kind of adventures:—<i>A naturâ +multa plura ficta, à Dæmone nulla.</i> That is to say, that the +constitution of Martha Brossier, who was apparently very melancholy +and hypochondriacal, contributed greatly to her fits of enthusiasm; +that she feigned still more, and that the devil had nothing to do with +it.</p> + +<p>"If some of the fathers, as St. Thomas, believe that the demons +sometimes produce sensible effects, they always add, that it can be +only by the particular permission of God, for his glory and the +salvation of mankind.</p> + +<p>"In regard to all those prodigies and those common spells, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> +the people ascribe to sorcery or commerce with the demon, it is proved +that they can be performed only by natural magic, which is the +knowledge of secret effects of natural causes, and several by the +subtlety of art. It is the opinion of the greater number of the +fathers of the church who have spoken of it; and without seeking +testimony of it in Pagan authors, such as Xenophon, Athenæus, and +Pliny, whose works are full of an infinity of wonders which are all +natural, we see in our own time the surprising effects of nature, as +those of the magnet, of steel, and mercury, which we should attribute +to sorcery as did the ancients, had we not seen sensible +demonstrations of their powers. We also see jugglers do such +extraordinary things, which seem so contrary to nature, that we should +look upon these charlatans as magicians, if we did not know by +experience, that their address alone, joined to constant practice, +makes them able to perform so many things which seem marvelous to us.</p> + +<p>"All the share that the demons have in the criminal practices of those +who are commonly called sorcerers, is suggestion; by which means they +invite them to the abominable research of every natural cause which +can do injury to others.</p> + +<p>"I am now, sir, at the most delicate point of your question, which is, +to know if our souls can return to earth after they are separated from +our bodies.</p> + +<p>"As the ancient philosophers erred so strongly on the nature of the +soul—some believing that it was but a fire which animated us, and +others a subtile air, and others affirming that it was nothing else +but the proper arrangement of all the machine of the body, a doctrine +which could not be admitted any more as the cause of in men than in +beasts; we cannot therefore be surprised that they had such gross +ideas concerning their state after death.</p> + +<p>"The error of the Greeks, which they communicated to the Romans, and +the latter to our ancestors was, that the souls whose bodies were not +solemnly interred by the ministry of the priests of religion, wandered +out of Hades without finding any repose, until their bodies had been +burned and their ashes collected. Homer makes Patroclus, who was +killed by Hector, appear to his friend Achilles in the night to ask +him for burial, without which, he is deprived, he says, of the +privilege of passing the river Acheron. There were only the souls of +those who had been drowned, whom they believed unable to return to +earth after death; for which we find a curious reason in Servius, the +interpreter of Virgil, who says, the greater number of the learned in +Virgil's time, and Virgil himself, believing that the soul was nothing +but a fire, which animated and moved the body, were persuaded that the +fire was entirely extinguished by the water—as if the material could +act upon the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> spiritual. Virgil explains his opinions on the subject +of souls very clearly in these verses:—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">'Igneus est ollis vigor, et celestis origo.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>And a little after,</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">'totos infusa per artus</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Mens agitat molem, et toto se corpore miscet;'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>to mark the universal soul of the world, which he believed with the +greater part of the philosophers of his time.</p> + +<p>"Again, it was a common error amongst the pagans, to believe that the +souls of those who died before they were of their proper age, which +they placed at the end of their growth, wandered about until the time +came when they ought naturally to be separated from their bodies. +Plato, more penetrating and better informed than the others, although +like them mistaken, said, that the souls of the just who had obeyed +virtue ascended to the sky; and that those who had been guilty of +impiety, retaining still the contagion of the earthly matter of the +body, wandered incessantly around the tombs, appearing like shadows +and phantoms.</p> + +<p>"For us, whom religion teaches that our souls are spiritual substances +created by God, and united for a time to bodies, we know that there +are three different states after death.</p> + +<p>"Those who enjoy eternal beatitude, absorbed, as the holy doctors say, +in the contemplation of the glory of God, cease not to interest +themselves in all that concerns mankind, whose miseries they have +undergone; and as they have attained the happiness of angels, all the +sacred writers ascribe to them the same privilege of possessing the +power, as aërial bodies, of rendering themselves visible to their +brethren who are still upon earth, to console them, and inform them of +the Divine will; and they relate several apparitions, which always +happened by the particular permission of God.</p> + +<p>"The souls whose abominable crimes have plunged them into that gulf of +torment, which the Scripture terms hell, being condemned to be +detained there forever, without being able to hope for any relief, +care not to have permission to come and speak to mankind in fantastic +forms. The Scripture clearly set forth the impossibility of this +return, by the discourse which is put into the mouth of the wicked +rich man in hell, introduced speaking to Abraham; he does not ask +leave to go himself, to warn his brethren on earth to avoid the +torments which he suffers, because he knows that it is not possible; +but he implores Abraham to send thither Lazarus, who was in glory. And +to observe <i>en passant</i> how very rare are the apparitions of the +blessed and of angels, Abraham replies to him, that it would be +useless, since those who are upon earth have the Law and the Prophets, +which they have but to follow.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span>"The story of the canon of Rheims, in the eleventh century, who, in +the midst of the solemn service which was being performed for the +repose of his soul, spoke aloud and said, That he was sentenced and +condemned,[<a href="#f664">664</a><a name="f664.1" id="f664.1"></a>] has been refuted by so many of the learned, who have +shown that this circumstance is clearly supposititious, since it is +not found in any contemporaneous author; that I think no enlightened +person can object it against me. But even were this story as +incontestable as it is apocryphal, it would be easy for me to say in +reply, that the conversion of St. Bruno, who has won so many souls to +God, was motive enough for the Divine Providence to perform so +striking a miracle.</p> + +<p>"It now remains for me to examine if the souls which are in purgatory, +where they expiate the rest of their crimes before they pass to the +abode of the blessed, can come and converse with men, and ask them to +pray for their relief.</p> + +<p>"Although those who have desired to maintain this popular error, have +done their endeavors to support it by different passages from St. +Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Thomas, it is certain that all these +fathers speak only of the return of the blessed to manifest the glory +of God; and of St. Augustine says precisely, that if it were possible +for the souls of the dead to appear to men, not a day would pass +without his receiving a visit from Monica his mother.</p> + +<p>"Tertullian, in his Treatise on the Soul, laughs at those who in his +time believed in apparitions. St. John Chrysostom, speaking on the +subject of Lazarus, formally denies them; as well as the law +glossographer, Canon John Andreas, who calls them phantoms of a sickly +imagination, and all that is reported about spirits which people think +they hear or see, vain apparitions. The 7th chapter of Job, and the +song of King Hezekiah, reported in the 38th chapter of Isaiah, are all +full of the witnesses which the Holy Spirit seems to have desired to +give us of this truth, that our souls cannot return to earth after our +death until God has made them angels.</p> + +<p>"But in order to establish this still better, we must reply to the +strongest objections of those who combat it. They adduce the opinion +of the Jews, which they pretend to prove by the testimony of Josephus +and the rabbis; the words of Jesus Christ to his apostles, when he +appeared to them after his resurrection; the authority of the council +of Elvira;[<a href="#f665">665</a><a name="f665.1" id="f665.1"></a>] some passages from St. Jerome, in his Treatise against +Vigilantius; of decrees issued by different Parlia<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span>ments, by which the +leases of several houses had been broken on account of the spirits +which haunted them daily, and tormented the lodgers or tenants; in +short an infinite number of instances, which are scattered in every +story.</p> + +<p>"To destroy all these authorities in a few words, I say first of all, +that it cannot be concluded that the Jews believed in the return of +spirits after death, because Josephus assures us that the spirit which +the Pythoness caused to appear to Saul was the true spirit of Samuel; +for, besides that the holiness of this prophet had placed him in the +number of the blessed, there are circumstances attending this +apparition which have caused most of the holy fathers[<a href="#f666">666</a><a name="f666.1" id="f666.1"></a>] to doubt +whether it really was the ghost of Samuel, believing that it might be +an illusion with which the Pythoness deceived Saul, and made him +believe that he saw that which he desired to see.</p> + +<p>"What several rabbis relate of patriarchs, prophets, and kings whom +they saw on the mountain of Gerizim, does not prove either that the +Jews believed that the spirits of the dead could come back, since it +was only a vision proceeding from the spirit in ecstasy, which +believed it saw what it saw not truly; all those who compose this +appearance were persons of whose holiness the Jews were persuaded. +What Jesus Christ says to his apostles, that the spirits have 'neither +flesh nor bones,' far from making us believe that spirits can come +back again, proves on the contrary evidently, that they cannot without +a miracle make us sensible of their presence, since it requires +absolutely a corporeal substance and bodily organs to utter sounds; +the description does agree with souls, they being pure substances, +exempt from matter, invisibles, and therefore cannot <i>naturally</i> be +subject to our senses.</p> + +<p>"The Provincial Council held in Spain during the pontificate of +Sylvester I., which forbids us to light a taper by day in the +cemeteries of martyrs, adding, as a reason, that we must not disturb +the spirits of the saints, is of no consideration; because besides +that these words are liable to different interpretations, and may even +have been inserted by some copyist, as some learned men believe, they +only relate to the martyrs, of whom we cannot doubt that their spirits +are blessed.</p> + +<p>"I make the same reply to a passage of St. Jerome, because arguing +against the heresiarch Vigilantius, who treated as illusions all the +miracles which were worked at the tombs of the martyrs; he endeavors +to prove to him that the saints who are in heaven always take part in +the miseries of mankind, and sometimes even appear to them visibly to +strengthen and console them.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span>"As for the decrees which have annulled the leases of several houses +on account of the inconvenience caused by ghosts to those who lodged +therein, it suffices to examine the means and the reasons upon which +they were obtained, to comprehend that either the judges were led into +error by the prejudices of their childhood, or that they were obliged +to yield to the proofs produced, often even against their own superior +knowledge, or they have been deceived by imposture, or by the +simplicity of the witnesses.</p> + +<p>"With respect to the apparitions, with which all such stories are +filled, one of the strongest which can be objected against my +argument, and to which I think myself the more obliged to reply, is +that which is affirmed to have occurred at Paris in the last century, +and of which five hundred witnesses are cited, who have examined into +the truth of the matter with particular attention. Here is the +adventure, as related by those who wrote at the time it took +place.[<a href="#f667">667</a><a name="f667.1" id="f667.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>"The Marquis de Rambouillet, eldest brother of the Duchess of +Montauzier, and the Marquis de Précy, eldest son of the family of +Nantouillet, both of them between twenty and thirty, were intimate +friends, and went to the wars, as in France do all men of quality. As +they were conversing one day together on the subject of the other +world, after several speeches which sufficiently showed that they were +not too well persuaded of the truth of all that is said concerning it, +they promised each other that the first who died should come and bring +the news to his companion. At the end of three months the Marquis de +Rambouillet set off for Flanders, where the war was then being carried +on; and de Précy, detained by a high fever, remained at Paris. Six +weeks afterwards de Précy, at six in the morning, heard the curtains +of his bed drawn, and turning to see who it was, he perceived the +Marquis de Rambouillet in his buff vest and boots; he sprung out of +bed to embrace him to show his joy at his return, but Rambouillet, +retreating a few steps, told him that these caresses were no longer +seasonable, for he only came to keep his word with him; that he had +been killed the day before on such an occasion; that all that was said +of the other world was certainly true; that he must think of leading a +different life; and that he had no time to lose, as he would be killed +the first action he was engaged in.</p> + +<p>"It is impossible to express the surprise of the Marquis de Précy at +this discourse; as he could not believe what he heard, he made several +efforts to embrace his friend, whom he thought desirous of deceiving +him, but he embraced only air; and Rambouillet, seeing that he was +incredulous, showed the wound he had received, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span> was in the side, +whence the blood still appeared to flow. After that the phantom +disappeared, and left de Précy in a state of alarm more easy to +comprehend than describe; he called at the same time his +valet-de-chambre, and awakened all the family with his cries. Several +persons ran to his room, and he related to them what he had just seen. +Every one attributed this vision to the violence of the fever, which +might have deranged his imagination; they begged him to go to bed +again, assuring him that he must have dreamed what he told them.</p> + +<p>"The Marquis in despair, on seeing that they took him for a visionary, +related all the circumstances I have just recounted; but it was in +vain for him to protest that he had seen and heard his friend, being +wide awake; they persisted in the same idea until the arrival of the +post from Flanders, which brought the news of the death of the Marquis +de Rambouillet.</p> + +<p>"This first circumstance being found true, and in the same manner as de +Précy had said, those to whom he had related the adventure began to +think that there might be something in it, because Rambouillet having +been killed precisely the eve of the day he had said it, it was +impossible de Précy should have known of it in a natural way. This +event having spread in Paris, they thought it was the effect of a +disturbed imagination, or a made up story; and whatever might be said +by the persons who examined the thing seriously, there remained in +people's minds a suspicion, which time alone could disperse: this +depended on what might happen to the Marquis de Précy, who was +threatened that he should be slain in the first engagement; thus every +one regarded his fate as the dénouement of the piece; but he soon +confirmed everything they had doubted the truth of, for as soon as he +recovered from his illness he would go to the combat of St. Antoine, +although his father and mother, who were afraid of the prophecy, said +all they could to prevent him; he was killed there, to the great +regret of all his family.</p> + +<p>"Supposing all these circumstances to be true, this is what I should +say to counteract the deductions that some wish to derive from them.</p> + +<p>"It is not difficult to understand that the imagination of the Marquis +de Précy, heated by fever, and troubled by the recollection of the +promise that the Marquis de Rambouillet and himself had exchanged, may +have represented to itself the phantom of his friend, whom he knew to +be fighting, and in danger every moment of being killed. The +circumstances of the wound of the Marquis de Rambouillet, and the +prediction of the death of de Précy, which was fulfilled, appears more +serious: nevertheless, those who have experienced the power of +presentiments, the effects of which are so common every day, will +easily conceive that the Marquis de Précy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> whose mind, agitated by a +burning fever, followed his friend in all the chances of war, and +expected continually to see announced to himself by the phantom of his +friend what was to happen, may have imagined that the Marquis de +Rambouillet had been killed by a musket-shot in the side, and that the +ardor which he himself felt for war might prove fatal to him in the +first action. We shall see by the words of St. Augustine, which I +shall cite by-and-by, how fully that Doctor of the Church was +persuaded of the power of imagination, to which he attributes the +knowledge of things to come. I shall again establish the authority of +presentiments by a most singular instance.</p> + +<p>"A lady of talent, whom I knew particularly well, being at Chartres, +where she was residing, dreamt in the night that in her sleep she saw +Paradise, which she fancied to herself was a magnificent hall, around +which were in different ranks the angels and spirits of the blessed, +and God, who presided in the midst, on a shining throne. She heard +some one knock at the door of this delightful place; and St. Peter +having opened it, she saw two pretty children, one of them clothed in +a white robe, and the other quite naked. St. Peter took the first by +the hand and led him to the foot of the throne, and left the other +crying bitterly at the door. She awoke at that moment, and related her +dream to several persons, who thought it very remarkable. A letter +which she received from Paris in the afternoon informed her that one +of her daughters was brought to bed with two children, who were dead, +and only one of them had been baptized.</p> + +<p>"Of what may we not believe the imagination capable, after so strong a +proof of its power? Can we doubt that amongst all the pretended +apparitions that are related, imagination alone produces all those +which do not proceed from angels and blessed spirits, or which are not +the effect of fraudulent contrivance?</p> + +<p>"To explain more fully what has given rise to those phantoms, the +apparition of which has been published in all ages, without availing +myself of the ridiculous opinion of the skeptics, who doubt of +everything, and assert that our senses, however sound they may be, can +only imagine everything falsely, I shall remark that the wisest +amongst the philosophers maintain that deep melancholy, anger, frenzy, +fever, depraved or debilitated senses, whether naturally, or by +accident, can make us see and hear many things which have no +foundation.</p> + +<p>"Aristotle says[<a href="#f668">668</a><a name="f668.1" id="f668.1"></a>] that in sleep the interior senses act by the +local movement of the humors and the blood, and that this action +descends<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> +sometimes to the sensitive organs, so that on awaking, the wisest +persons think they see the images they have dreamt of.</p> + +<p>"Plutarch, in the Life of Brutus, relates that Cassius persuaded +Brutus that a spectre which the latter declared he had seen on waking, +was an effect of his imagination; and this is the argument which he +puts in his mouth:—</p> + +<p>"'The spirit of man being extremely active in its nature, and in +continual motion, which produces always some fantasy; above all, +melancholy persons, like you, Brutus, are more apt to form to +themselves in the imagination ideal images, which sometimes pass to +their external senses.'</p> + +<p>"Galen, so skilled in the knowledge of all the springs of the human +body, attributes spectres to the extreme subtility of sight and +hearing.</p> + +<p>"What I have read in Cardan seems to establish the opinion of Galen. +He says that, being in the city of Milan, it was reported that there +was an angel in the air, who appeared visibly, and having ran to the +market-place, he, with two thousand others, saw the same. As even the +most learned were in admiration at this wonder, a clever lawyer, who +came to the spot, having observed the thing attentively, sensibly made +them remark that what they saw was not an angel, but the figure of an +angel, in stone, placed on the top of the belfry of St. Gothard, which +being imprinted in a thick cloud by means of a sunbeam which fell upon +it, was reflected to the eyes of those who possessed the most piercing +vision. If this fact had not been cleared up on the spot by a man +exempt from all prejudice, it would have passed for certain that it +was a real angel, since it had been seen by the most enlightened +persons in the town to the number of two thousand.</p> + +<p>"The celebrated du Laurent, in his treatise on Melancholy, attributes +to it the most surprising effects; of which he gives an infinite +number of instances, which seem to surpass the power of nature.</p> + +<p>"St. Augustine, when consulted by Evodius, Bishop of Upsal, on the +subject I am treating of, answers him in these terms: 'In regard to +visions, even of those by which we learn something of the future, it +is not possible to explain how they are formed, unless we could first +of all know how everything arises which passes through our minds when +we think; for we see clearly that a number of images are excited in +our minds, which images represent to us what has struck either our +eyes or our other senses. We experience it every day and every hour.' +And a little after, he adds: 'At the moment I dictate this letter, I +see you with the eyes of my mind, without your being present, or your +knowing anything about it; and I represent to myself, through my +knowledge of your character, the im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span>pression that my words will make +on your mind, without nevertheless knowing or being able to understand +how all this passes within me.'</p> + +<p>"I think, sir, you will require nothing more precise than these words +of St. Augustine to persuade you that we must attribute to the power +of imagination the greater number of apparitions, even of those +through which we learn things which it would seem could not be known +naturally; and you will easily excuse my undertaking to explain to you +how the imagination works all these wonders, since this holy doctor +owns that he cannot himself comprehend it, though quite convinced of +the fact.</p> + +<p>"I can tell you only that the blood which circulates incessantly in +our arteries and veins, being purified and warmed in the heart, throws +out thin vapors, which are its most subtile parts, and are called +animal spirits; which, being carried into the cavities of the brain, +set in motion the small gland which is, they say, the seat of the +soul, and by this means awaken and resuscitate the species of the +things that they have heard or seen formerly, which are, as it were, +enveloped within it, and form the internal reasoning which we call +thought. Whence comes it that beasts have memory as well as ourselves, +but not the reflections which accompany it, which proceed from the +soul, and that they have not.</p> + +<p>"If what Mr. Digby, a learned Englishman, and chancellor of Henrietta, +Queen of England, Father Kircher, a celebrated Jesuit, Father Schort, +of the same society, Gaffarelli and Vallemont, publish of the +admirable secret of the palingenesis, or resurrection of plants, has +any foundation, we might account for the shades and phantoms which +many persons declare to have seen in cemeteries.</p> + +<p>"This is the way in which these curious researchers arrive at the +marvelous operation of the palingenesis:—</p> + +<p>"They take a flower, burn it, and collect all the ashes of it, from +which they extract the salts by calcination. They put these salts into +a glass phial, wherein having mixed certain compositions capable of +setting them in motion when heated, all this matter forms a dust of a +bluish hue; of this dust, excited by a gentle warmth, arises a stem, +leaves, and a flower; in a word, they perceive the apparition of a +plant springing from its ashes. As soon as the warmth ceases, all the +spectacle vanishes, the matter deranges itself and falls to the bottom +of the vessel, to form there a new chaos. The return of heat +resuscitates this vegetable phœnix, hidden in its ashes. And as the +presence of warmth gives it life, its absence causes its death.</p> + +<p>"Father Kircher, who tries to give a reason for this admirable +phenomenon, says that the seminal virtue of every mixture is +concentrated in the salts, and that as soon as warmth sets them in +motion they rise directly and circulate like a whirlwind in this glass +vessel. These salts, in this suspension, which gives them liberty to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> +arrange themselves, take the same situation and form the same figure +as nature had primitively bestowed on them; retaining the inclination +to become what they had been, they return to their first destination, +and form themselves into the same lines as they occupied in the living +plant; each corpuscle of salt re-entering its original arrangement +which it received from nature; those which were at the foot of the +plant place themselves there; in the same manner, those which compose +the top of the stem, the branches, the leaves, and the flowers, resume +their former place, and thus form a perfect apparition of the whole +plant.</p> + +<p>"It is affirmed that this operation has been performed upon a +sparrow;[<a href="#f669">669</a><a name="f669.1" id="f669.1"></a>] and the gentlemen of the Royal Society of England, who +are making their experiments on this matter, hope to succeed in making +them on human beings also.[<a href="#f670">670</a><a name="f670.1" id="f670.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>"Now, according to the principle of Father Kircher and the most +learned chemists, who assert that the substantial form of bodies +resides in the salts, and that these salts, set in motion by warmth, +form the same figure as that which had been given to them by nature, +it is not difficult to comprehend that dead bodies being consumed away +in the earth, the salts which exhale from them with the vapors, by +means of the fermentations which so often occur in this element, may +very well, in arranging themselves above ground, form those shadows +and phantoms which have frightened so many people. Thus we may +perceive how little reason there is to ascribe them to the return of +spirits, or to demons, as some ignorant people have done.</p> + +<p>"To all the authorities by means of which I have combated the +apparitions of spirits which are in purgatory, I shall still add some +very natural reflections. If the souls which are in purgatory could +return hither to ask for prayers to pass into the abode of glory, +there would be no one who would not receive similar entreaties from +his relations and friends, since all the spirits being disposed to do +the same thing, apparently, God would grant them all the same +permission. Besides, if they possessed this liberty, no sensible +person could understand why they should accompany their appearance +with all the follies so circumstantially related in those stories, as +rolling up a bed, opening the curtains, pulling off a blanket, +overturning the furniture, and making a frightful noise. In short, if +there were any reality in these apparitions, it is morally impossible +that in so many ages <i>one</i> would not have been found so well +authenticated that it could not be doubted.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span></p><p>"After having sufficiently proved that all the apparitions which +cannot be ascribed to angels or to the souls of the blessed are +produced only by one of the three following causes—the extreme +subtility of the senses; the derangement of the organs, as in madness +and high fever; and the power of imagination—let us see what we must +think of the circumstance which occurred at St. Maur.</p> + +<p>"Although you have already seen the account that has been given of it, +I believe, sir, that you will not be displeased if I here give you the +detail of the more particular circumstances. I shall endeavor to omit +nothing that has been done to confirm the truth of the circumstance, +and I shall even make use of the exact words of the author, as much as +I can, that I may not be accused of detracting from the adventure.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur de S——, to whom it happened, is a young man, short in +stature, well made for his height, between four and five-and-twenty +years of age. Being in bed, he heard several loud knocks at his door +without the maid servant, who ran thither directly, finding any one; +and then the curtains of his bed were drawn, although there was only +himself in the room. The 22d of last March, being, about eleven +o'clock at night, busy looking over some lists of works in his study, +with three lads who are his domestics, they all heard distinctly a +rustling of the papers on the table; the cat was suspected of this +performance, but M. de S. having taken a light and looked diligently +about, found nothing.</p> + +<p>"A little after this he went to bed, and sent to bed also those who +had been with him in his kitchen, which is next to his sleeping-room; +he again heard the same noise in his study or closet; he rose to see +what it was, and not having found anything more than he did the first +time, he was going to shut the door, but he felt some resistance to +his doing so; he then went in to see what this obstacle might be, and +at the same time heard a noise above his head towards the corner of +the room, like a great blow on the wall; at this he cried out, and his +people ran to him; he tried to reassure them, though alarmed himself; +and having found naught he went to bed again and fell asleep. Hardly +had these lads extinguished the light, than M. de S. was suddenly +awakened by a shake, like that of a boat striking against the arch of +a bridge; he was so much alarmed at it that he called his domestics; +and when they had brought the light, he was strangely surprised to +find his bed at least four feet out of its place, and he was then +aware that the shock he had felt was when his bedstead ran against the +wall. His people having replaced the bed, saw, with as much +astonishment as alarm, all the bed-curtains open at the same moment, +and the bedstead set off running towards the fire-place. M. de S. +immediately got up, and sat up the rest of the night by the fire-side. +About six in the morning,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> having made another attempt to sleep, he +was no sooner in bed than the bedstead made the same movement again, +twice, in the presence of his servants, who held the bed-posts to +prevent it from displacing itself. At last, being obliged to give up +the game, he went out to walk till dinner time; after which, having +tried to take some rest, and his bed having twice changed its place, +he sent for a man who lodged in the same house, as much to reassure +himself in his company, as to render him a witness of so surprising a +circumstance. But the shock which took place before this man was so +violent, that the left foot at the upper part of the bedstead was +broken; which had such an effect upon him, that in reply to the offers +that were made to him to stay and see a second, he replied that what +he had seen, with the frightful noise he had heard all night, were +quite sufficient to convince him of the fact.</p> + +<p>"It was thus that the affair, which till then had remained between M. +de S. and his domestics, became public; and the report of it being +immediately spread, and reaching the ears of a great prince who had +just arrived at St. Maur, his highness was desirous of enlightening +himself upon the matter, and took the trouble to examine carefully +into the circumstances which were related to him. As this adventure +became the subject of every conversation, very soon nothing was heard +but stories of ghosts, related by the credulous, and laughed at and +joked upon by the free-thinkers. However, M. de S. tried to reassure +himself, and go the following night into his bed, and become worthy of +conversing with the spirit, which he doubted not had something to +disclose to him. He slept till nine o'clock the next morning, without +having felt anything but slight shakes, as the mattresses were raised +up, which had only served to rock him and promote sleep. The next day +passed off pretty quietly; but on the 26th, the spirit, who seemed to +have become well-behaved, resumed its fantastic humor, and began the +morning by making a great noise in the kitchen; they would have +forgiven it for this sport if it had stopped there, but it was much +worse in the afternoon. M. de S., who owns that he felt himself +particularly attracted towards his study, though he felt a repugnance +to enter it, having gone into it about six o'clock, went to the end of +the room, and returning towards the door to go into his bed-room +again, was much surprised to see it shut of itself and barricade +itself with the two bolts. At the same time, the two doors of a large +press opened behind him, and rather darkened his study, because the +window, which was open, was behind these doors.</p> + +<p>"At this sight, the fright of M. de S. is more easy to imagine than to +describe; however, he had sufficient calmness left, to hear at his +left ear a distinct voice, which came from a corner of the closet, and +seemed to him to be about a foot above his head. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> voice spoke to +him in very good terms during the space of half a <i>miserere</i>; and +ordered him, <i>theeing</i> and <i>thouing</i> him to do some one particular +thing, which he was recommended to keep secret. What he has made +public is that the voice allowed him a fortnight to accomplish it in; +and ordered him to go to a place, where he would find some persons who +would inform him what he had to do; and that it would come back and +torment him if he failed to obey. The conversation ended by an adieu.</p> + +<p>"After that, M. de S. remembers that he fainted and fell down on the +edge of a box, which caused him a pain in his side. The loud noise and +the cries which he afterwards uttered brought several people in haste +to the door, and after useless efforts to open it, they were going to +force it open with a hatchet, when they heard M. de S. dragging +himself towards the door, which he with much difficulty opened. +Disordered as he was, and unable to speak, they first of all carried +him to the fire, and then they laid him on his bed, where he received +all the compassion of the great prince, of whom I have already spoken, +who hastened to the house the moment this event was noised abroad. His +highness having caused all the recesses and corners of the house to be +inspected, and no one being found therein, wished that M. de S. should +be bled; but his surgeon finding he had a very feeble pulsation, +thought he could not do so without danger.</p> + +<p>"When he recovered from his swoon, his highness, who wished to +discover the truth, questioned him concerning his adventure; but he +only heard the circumstances I have mentioned—M. de S. having +protested to him that he could not, without risk to his life, tell him +more.</p> + +<p>"The spirit was heard of no more for a fortnight; but when that term +was expired—whether his orders had not been faithfully executed, or +that he was glad to come and thank M. de S. for being so exact—as he +was, during the night, lying in a little bed near the window of his +bed-room, his mother in the great bed, and one of his friends in an +arm-chair near the fire, they all three heard some one rap several +times against the wall, and such a blow against the window, that they +thought all the panes were broken. M. de S. got up that moment, and +went into his closet to see if this troublesome spirit had something +else to say to him; but when there, he could neither find nor hear +anything. And thus ended this adventure, which has made so much noise +and drawn so many inquisitive persons to St. Maur.</p> + +<p>"Now let us make some reflections on those circumstances which are the +most striking, and most likely to make any impression.</p> + +<p>"The noise which was heard several times during the night by the +master, the female servant, and the neighbors, is quite equivocal;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> +and the most prejudiced persons cannot deny that it may have been +produced by different causes which are all quite natural.</p> + +<p>"The same reply may be given as to the papers which were heard to +rustle, since a breath of air or a mouse might have moved them.</p> + +<p>"The moving of the bed is something more serious, because it is +reported to have been witnessed by several persons; but I hope that a +little reflection will dispense us from having recourse to fantastic +hands in order to explain it.</p> + +<p>"Let us imagine a bedstead upon castors; a person whose imagination is +impressed, or who wishes to enliven himself by frightening his +domestics, is lying upon it, and rolls about very much, complaining +that he is tormented. Is it surprising that the bedstead should be +seen to move, especially when the floor of the room is waxed and +rubbed? But, you will say, some of the witnesses even made useless +efforts to prevent this movement. Who are these witnesses? Two are +youths in the service of the patient, who trembled all over with +fright, and were not capable of examining the secret causes of this +movement; and the other has since told several people that he would +give ten pistoles not to have affirmed that he saw this bedstead +remove itself without help.</p> + +<p>"In regard to the voice, whose secret has been so carefully kept, as +there is no witness of it, we can only judge of it by the state in +which he who had been favored with this pretended revelation was +found. Repeated cries from the man who, hearing his closet door beaten +in, draws back the bolts which he had apparently drawn himself, his +eyes quite wild, and his whole person in extraordinary disorder, would +have caused the ancient heathens to take him for a sibyl full of +enthusiasm, and must appear to us rather the consequence of some +convulsion than of a conversation with a spiritual being.</p> + +<p>"Lastly, the violent blows given upon the walls and panes of glass, in +the night, in the presence of two witnesses, might make some +impression, if we were sure that the patient, who was lying directly +under the window in a small bed, had no part in the matter; for of the +two witnesses who heard this noise, one was his mother, and the other +an intimate friend, who, even reflecting on what he saw and heard, +declares that it can only be the effect of a spell.</p> + +<p>"How much good soever you may wish for this place, I do not believe, +sir, that what I have just remarked on the circumstances of the +adventure, will lead you to believe that it has been honored with an +angelic apparition; I should rather fear that, attributing it to a +disordered imagination, you may accuse the subtility of the air which +there predominates as having caused it. As I am somewhat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> interested +in not doing the climate of St. Maur such an injury, I am compelled to +add something else to what I have said of the person in question, in +order that you may know his character.</p> + +<p>"You need not be very clever in the art of physiognomy to remark in +his countenance the melancholy which prevails in his temperament. This +sad disposition, joined to the fever which has tormented him for some +time, carried some vapors to his brain, which might easily lead him to +believe that he heard all he has publicly declared; besides which, the +desire to divert himself by alarming his domestics may have induced +him to feign several things, when he saw that the adventure had come +to the ears of a prince who might not approve of such a joke, and be +severe upon it. Thus then, sir, you will think as I do, that the +report of the celebrated Marescot on the subject of the famous +Margaret Brossier agrees perfectly with our melancholy man, and well +explains his adventure: <i>à naturâ multa, plura ficta, à dæmone nulla</i>. +His temperament has made him fancy he saw and heard many things; he +feigned still more in support of what his wanderings or his sport had +induced him to assert; and no kind of spirit has had any share in his +adventure. Without stopping to relate several effects of his +melancholy, I shall simply remark that an embarkation which he made on +one of the last <i>jours gras</i>, setting off at ten o'clock at night to +make the tour of the peninsula of St. Maur, in a boat where he covered +himself up with straw on account of the cold, appeared so singular to +the great prince before mentioned, that he took the trouble to +question him as to his motives for making such a voyage at so late an +hour.</p> + +<p>"I shall add that the discernment of his highness made him easily +judge whence this adventure proceeded, and his behavior on this +occasion has shown that he is not easily deceived. I do not think it +is allowable for me to omit the opinion of his father, a man of +distinguished merit, on this adventure of his son, when he learned all +the circumstances by a letter from his wife, who was at St. Maur. He +told several persons that he was certain that the spirit which acted +on this occasion was that of his wife and son. The author of the +relation was right in endeavoring to weaken such testimony; but I do +not know if he flatters himself that he has succeeded, in saying that +he who gave this opinion is an <i>esprit fort</i>, or freethinker who makes +it a point of honor to be of the fashionable opinion concerning +spirits.</p> + +<p>"Lastly, to fix your judgment and terminate agreeably this little +dissertation in which you have engaged me, I know of nothing better +than to repeat the words of a princess,[<a href="#f671">671</a><a name="f671.1" id="f671.1"></a>] who is not less +distinguished at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> +court by the delicacy of her wit than by her high rank and personal +charms. As they were conversing in her presence of the singularity of +the adventure which here happened at St. Maur, 'Why are you so much +astonished?' said she, with that gracious air which is so natural to +her; 'Is it surprising that the son should have to do with spirits, +since the mother sees the eternal Father three times every week? This +woman is very happy,' added the witty princess; 'for my part, I should +ask no other favor than to see him once in my life.'</p> + +<p>"Laugh with your friends at this agreeable reflection; but, above all, +take care, sir, not to make my letter public: it is the only reward +that I ask for the exactitude with which I have obeyed you on so +delicate an occasion.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">"I am, sir,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"Your very humble, &c.</span><br /> +<br /> +<i>St. Maur</i>, <i>May</i> 8, 1706."<br /> +</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><span class="smcap">Approbation.</span></h4> + + +<p>"By order of the Lord Chancellor, this dissertation on what we must +think of spirits in general, and of that of St. Maur in particular, +has been read by me, and I have found nothing therein which ought to +hinder its being printed.</p> + +<p> +"Done at Paris, the 17th of October, 1706.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;">(<i>Signed</i>) "<span class="smcap">La Marque Tilladet.</span></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"The king's permission bears date the 21st November, 1706."</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f662.1">662</a><a name="f662" id="f662"></a>] St. Ambrose, Com. on St. Luke, i. c. 1.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f663.1">663</a><a name="f663" id="f663"></a>] Martha Brossier, daughter of a weaver at Romorantin, was shown +as a demoniac, in 1578. See De Thou on this subject, book cxxiii. and +tom. v. of the Journal of Henry III., edition of 1744, p. 206, &c. The +affair of Loudun took place in the reign of Louis XIII.; and Cardinal +Richelieu is accused of having caused this tragedy to be enacted, in +order to ruin Urban Grandier, the curé of Loudun, for having written a +cutting satire against him.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f664.1">664</a><a name="f664" id="f664"></a>] M. de Lannoy has made a particular dissertation De Causà +Secessionis S. Brunonis: he solidly refutes this fable. Nevertheless, +this event is to be found painted in the fine pictures of the little +monastery of the Chartreux at Paris.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f665.1">665</a><a name="f665" id="f665"></a>] Eliberitan Council, an. 305 or 313, in the kingdom of Grenada. +Others have thought, but mistakenly, that it was Collioure in +Roussillon.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f666.1">666</a><a name="f666" id="f666"></a>] Jesus, the son of Sirach, author of Ecclesiasticus, believes +this apparition to be true. Ecclus. xlvi. 23.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f667.1">667</a><a name="f667" id="f667"></a>] This story has been related in the former part of the work, but +more succinctly.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f668.1">668</a><a name="f668" id="f668"></a>] Arist. Treatise on Dreams and Vigils.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f669.1">669</a><a name="f669" id="f669"></a>] The Abbé de Vallemont, in his work on the Singularities of +Vegetation. Paris, 1 vol. 12mo.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f670.1">670</a><a name="f670" id="f670"></a>] This was a century and a half ago; but the Philosophical +Transactions record no account of any successful result to such +experiments.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f671.1">671</a><a name="f671" id="f671"></a>] Madame the Duchess-mother, daughter of the late king, Louis +XIV., and mother of the duke lately dead, of M. the Count de +Charolois, and of M. the Count de Clermont.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span></p> +<h3>LETTER OF M. THE MARQUIS MAFFEI</h3> +<h2>ON MAGIC;</h2> +<h5>ADDRESSED TO</h5> +<h3>THE REVEREND FATHER INNOCENT ANSALDI,</h3> +<h5>OF THE ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC;</h5> +<h3>TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN OF THE AUTHOR.</h3> +<p> </p> +<p><span class='pagenum'>[Pg 408]</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span></p> +<h3>LETTER OF M. THE MARQUIS MAFFEI</h3> +<h2>ON MAGIC.</h2> + +<p> </p> +<p> +<span class="smcap">My Reverend Father</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>It is to the goodness of your reverence, in regard to myself, that I +must attribute the curiosity you appear to feel to know what I think +concerning the book which the Sieur Jerome Tartarotti has just +published on the <i>Nocturnal Assemblies of the Sorcerers</i>. I reply to +you with the greatest pleasure; and I am going to tell my opinion +fully and unreservedly, on condition that you will examine what I +write to you with your usual acuteness, and that you will tell me +frankly whatever you remark in it, whether good or bad, and that may +appear to deserve either your approbation or your censure. I had +already read this book, and passed an eulogium on it, both for the +great erudition displayed therein by the author, as because he +refutes, in a very sensible manner, some ridiculous opinions with +which people are infatuated concerning sorcerers, and some other +equally dangerous abuses. But, to tell the truth, with that exception, +I am little disposed to approve it; if M. Muratori has done so in his +letter, which has been seen by several persons, either he has not read +the work through, or he and I on that point entertain very different +sentiments. In regard to my opinion, your reverence will see, by what +I shall say, that it is the same as your own on this subject, as you +have done me the favor to show by your letter.</p> + +<p>I. In this work there is laid down, in the first place, as a certain +and indubitable principle, the existence and reality of magic, and the +truth of the effects produced by it—superior, they say, to all +natural powers; he gives it the name of "diabolical magic," and +defines it, "The knowledge of certain superstitious practices, such as +words, verses, characters, images, signs (<i>qy.</i> moles), &c., by means +of which magicians succeed in their designs." For my part, I am much +inclined to believe that all the science of the pretended magicians +had no other design than to deceive others, and ended<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span> sometimes in +deceiving themselves; and that this magic, now so much vaunted, is +only a chimera. Perhaps even it would be giving one's self superfluous +trouble to undertake to show that everything related of those +nocturnal hypogryphes,[<a href="#f672">672</a><a name="f672.1" id="f672.1"></a>] of those pretended journeys through the +air, of those assemblies and feasts of sorcerers, is only idle and +imaginary; because those fables being done away with would not prevent +that an infinite number of others would still remain, which have been +repeated and spread on the same subject, and which, although more +foolish and ridiculous than all the extravagances we read in romances, +are so much the more dangerous, because they are more easily believed. +It would, in the opinion of many, be doing these tales too much honor +to attempt to refute them seriously, as there is no one at this day, +in Italy, at least, even amongst the people, who has common sense, +that does not laugh at all that is said of the witches' sabbath, and +of those troops or bands of sorcerers who go through the air during +the night to assemble in retired spots and dance. It is true, that +notwithstanding, that if a man of any credit, whether amongst the +learned or persons of high dignity, maintains an opinion, he will +immediately find partisans; it will be useless to write or speak to +the contrary, it will not be the less followed; and it is hardly +possible that it can be otherwise, so many minds as there are, and so +many different ways of thinking. But here the only question is, what +is the common opinion, and what is most universally believed. It is +not my intention to compose a work expressly on magic, nor to enter +very lengthily on this matter; I shall only exhibit, in a few words, +the reasons which oblige me to laugh at it, and which induce me to +incline to the opinion of those who look upon it as a <i>pure</i> illusion, +and a <i>real</i> chimera. I must, first of all, give notice that you must +not be dazzled by the truth of the magical operations in the Old +Testament, as if from thence we could derive a conclusive argument to +prove the reality of the pretended magic of our own times. I shall +demonstrate this clearly at the end of this discourse, in which I hope +to show that my opinion on this subject is conformable to the +Scripture, and founded on the tradition of the fathers. Now, then, let +us speak of modern magicians.</p> + +<p>II. If there is any reality in this art, to which so many wonders are +ascribed, it must be the effect of a knowledge acquired by study, or +of the impiety of some one who renounces what he owes to God to give +himself up to the demon, and invokes him. It seems, in fact, that they +would sometimes attribute it to acquired knowledge, since in the book +I am combating the author often speaks "of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> +true mysteries of the magic art;" and he asserts that few "are +perfectly instructed in the secret and difficult principles of this +science;" which is not surprising, he says, since "the life of man +would hardly suffice" to read all the works which have treated of it. +He calls it sometimes the "magical science," or "magical philosophy;" +he carries back the origin of it to the philosopher Pythagoras; he +regards "ignorance of the magic art as one of the reasons why we see +so few magicians in our days." He speaks only of the mysterious scale +enclosed by Orpheus in unity, in the numbers of two and twelve; of the +harmony of nature, composed of proportionable parts, which are the +octave, or the double, and the fifth, or one and a half; of strange +and barbarous names which mean nothing, and to which he attributes +supernatural virtues; of the concert or the agreement of the inferior +and superior parts of this universe, when understood; makes us, by +means of certain words or certain stones, hold intercourse with +invisible substances; of numbers and signs, which answer to the +spirits which preside over different days, or different parts of the +body; of circles, triangles, and pentagons, which have power to bind +spirits; and of several other secrets of the same kind, very +ridiculous, to tell the truth, but very fit to impose on those who +admire everything which they do not understand.</p> + +<p><ins class="correction" title="'III.' not in original.">III.</ins> But however thick may be the darkness with which nature is hidden from +us, and although we may know but very imperfectly the essential +principles and properties of things, who does not see, nevertheless, +that there can be no proportion, no connection, between circles and +triangles which we trace, or the long words which signify nothing, and +immaterial spirits? Can people not conceive that it is a folly to +believe that by means of a few herbs, certain stones, and certain +signs or characters, we can make ourselves obeyed by invisible +substances which are unknown to us? Let a man study as much as he will +the pretended soul of the world, the harmony of nature, the agreement +of the influence of all the parts it is composed of—is it not evident +that all he will gain by his labor will be terms and words, and never +any effects which are above the natural power of man? To be convinced +of this truth, it suffices to observe that the pretended magicians +are, and ever have been, anything but learned; on the contrary, they +are very ignorant and illiterate men. Is it credible that so many +celebrated persons, so many famous men, versed in all kinds of +literature, should never have been able or willing to sound and +penetrate the mysterious secrets of this art; and that of so many +philosophers spoken of by Diogenes Laërtius, neither Plato, nor +Aristotle, nor any other, should have left us some treatise? It would +be useless to attack the opinions of the world at that time on this +subject. Do we not know with how many errors it has been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span> infatuated +in all ages, and which, though shared in common, were not the less +mistakes? Was it not generally believed in former times, that there +were no antipodes? that according to whether the sacred fowls had +eaten or not, it was <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'permittted'.">permitted</ins> or forbidden to fight? that the statues +of the gods had spoken or changed their place? Add to those things all +the knavery and artifice which the charlatans put in practice to +deceive and delude the people, and then can we be surprised that they +succeeded in imposing on them and gaining their belief? But let it not +be imagined, nevertheless, that everyone was their dupe, and that +amongst so many blind and credulous people there were not always to be +found some men sensible and clear-sighted enough to perceive the +truth.</p> + +<p>IV. To be convinced of this, let us only consider what was thought of +it by one of the most learned amongst the ancients, and we may say, +one of the most curious and attentive observers of the wonders of +nature—I speak of Pliny, who thus expresses himself at the beginning +of his Thirtieth Book;[<a href="#f673">673</a><a name="f673.1" id="f673.1"></a>] "Hitherto I have shown in this work, every +time that it was necessary and the occasion presented itself, how very +little reality there is in all that is said of magic; and I shall +continue to do so as it goes on. But because during several centuries +this art, the most deceptive of all, has enjoyed great credit among +several nations, I think it is proper to speak of it more fully." "No +men are more clever in hiding their knaveries than magicians;" and in +seven or eight other places he endeavors to expose "their falsehoods, +their deceptions, the uselessness of their art," and laughs at it. But +one thing to which we should pay attention above all, is an invincible +argument which he brings forward against this pretended art. For after +having enumerated the diverse sorts of magic, which were employed with +different kinds of instruments, and in several different ways, and +from which they promised themselves effects that were "quite divine;" +that is to say, superior to all the force of nature, even of "the +power to converse with the shades and souls of the dead;" he adds, +"But in our days the Emperor Nero has discovered that in all these +things there is nothing but deceit and vanity." "Never prince," says +he, a little lower down, "sought with more eagerness to render himself +clever in any other art; and as he was the master of the world, it is +certain that he wanted neither riches, nor power, nor wit, nor any +other aid necessary to succeed therein. What stronger proof of the +falsity of this art can we have than to see that Nero renounced it?" +Suetonius informs us also, "That this prince uselessly employed magic +sacrifices to evoke the shade of his mother, and speak to her." Again, +Pliny says "that Tirdates the Mage (for it is thus it should be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> read, +and not Tiridates the Great, as it is in the edition of P. Hardouin), +having repaired to the court of Nero, and having brought several magi +with him, initiated this prince in all the mysteries of magic. +Nevertheless," he adds, "it was in vain for Nero to make him a present +of a kingdom—he could not obtain from him the knowledge of this art; +which ought to convince us that this detestable science is only +vanity, or, if some shadow of truth is to be met within it, its real +effects have less to do with the art of magic than the art of +poisoning." Seneca, who also was very clever, after having repeated a +law of the Twelve Tables, "which forbade the use of enchantments to +destroy the fruits of the earth," makes this commentary upon it: "When +our fathers were yet rude and ignorant, they imagined that by means of +enchantments rain could be brought down upon the ground, or could be +prevented from falling; but at this day it is so clear that both one +and the other is impossible, that to be convinced of it it does not +require to be a philosopher." It would be useless to collect in this +place an infinity of passages from the ancients, which all prove the +same thing; we can only<span class="spacer"> </span>the book written by +Hippocrates on Caducity, which usually passed for the effect of the +vengeance of the gods, and which for that reason was called the +"sacred malady." We shall there see how he laughs "at magicians and +charlatans," who boasted of being able to cure it by their +enchantments and expiations. He shows there that by the profession +which they made of being able to darken the sun, bring down the moon +to the earth, give fine or bad weather, procure abundance or +sterility, they seemed to wish to attribute to man more power than to +the Divinity itself, showing therein much less religion than "impiety, +and proving that they did not believe in the gods." I do not speak of +the fables and tales invented by Philostrates on the subject of +Apollonius of Thyana, they have been sufficiently refuted by the best +pens: but I must not omit to warn you that the name of magic has been +used in a good sense for any uncommon science, and a sublimer sort of +philosophy. It is in this sense that it must be understood where Pliny +says,[<a href="#f674">674</a><a name="f674.1" id="f674.1"></a>] although rather obscurely, "that Pythagoras, Empedocles, +Democritus, and Plato, traveled a great deal to acquire instruction in +it." For the rest, people are naturally led to attribute to sorcery +everything that appears new and marvelous. Have not we ourselves, with +M. Leguier, passed for magicians in the minds of some persons, because +in our experiments on electricity they have seen us easily extinguish +lights by putting them near cold water, which then appeared an +unheard-of thing, and which many still firmly maintain even now cannot +be done without a tacit compact? It is true that in the effects of +electricity there is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span> +something so extraordinary and so wonderful, that we should be more +disposed to excuse those persons who could not easily believe them to +be natural than those who have fancied tacit compacts for things which +it would be much more easy to explain naturally.</p> + +<p>V. From what has just been said, it evidently results that it is folly +to believe that by means of study and knowledge one can ever attain +any of those marvelous effects attributed to magic; and it is +profaning the name of science to give it an imposture so grossly +imagined; it remains then that these effects might be produced by a +diabolical power. In fact, we read in the work in question that all +the effects of magic "must be attributed to the operation of the +demon; that it is in virtue of the compact, express or tacit, that he +has made with him that the magician works all these pretended +prodigies; and that it is in regard to the different effects of this +art, and the different ways in which they are produced, that authors +have since divided it into several classes." But I beg, at first, that +the reader will reflect seriously, if it is credible, that as soon as +some miserable woman or unlucky knave have a fancy for it, God, whose +wisdom and goodness are infinite, will ever permit the demon to appear +to them, instruct them, obey them, and that they should make a compact +with him. Is it credible that to please a scoundrel he would grant the +demon power to raise storms, ravage all the country by hail, inflict +the greatest pain on little innocent children, and even sometimes "to +cause the death of a man by magic?" Does any one imagine that such +things can be believed without offending God, and without showing a +very injurious mistrust of his almighty power? It has several times +happened to me, especially when I was in the army, to hear that some +wretched creatures had given themselves to the devil, and had called +upon him to appear to them with the most horrible blasphemies, without +his appearing to them for all that, or their attempts being followed +by any success. And, certainly, if to obtain what is promised by the +art of magic it sufficed to renounce God and invoke the devil, how +many people would soon perform the dreadful act? How many impious men +do we see every day who for money, or to revenge themselves on some +one, or to satisfy a criminal desire, rush without remorse into the +greatest excesses! How many wretches who are suffering in prison, at +the galleys, or otherwise, would have recourse to the demon to +extricate them from their troubles! It would be very easy for me to +relate here a great number of curious stories of persons generally +believed to be bewitched, of haunted houses, or horses rubbed down by +will-o'-the-wisp, which I have myself seen at different times and +places, at last reduced to nothing. This I can affirm, that two monks, +very sensible men, who had exercised the office of inquisitors, one +for twenty-four years, and the other during twenty-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span>eight, have +assured me that of different accusations of sorcery which had been +laid before them, and which appeared to be well proved, after having +examined them carefully and maturely, they had not found one which was +not mere knavery. How can any one imagine that the devil, who is the +father of lies, should teach the magician the true secret of this art; +and that this spirit, full of pride, of which he is the source, should +teach an enchanter the means of forcing him to obey him? As soon as we +rise above some old prejudices, which make us excuse those who in past +ages gave credence to such follies, can we put faith in certain +extravagant opinions, as what is related of demons, incubes, and +seccubes, from a commerce with whom it is pretended children are born. +Who will believe in our days that Ezzelin was the son of a +will-o'-the-wisp? But can anything more strange be thought of than +what is said of tacit compacts? They will have it, that when any one, +of whatever country he may be, and however far he may be from wishing +to make any compact with the devil, every time he shall say certain +words, or make certain signs, a certain effect will follow; if I, who +am perfectly ignorant of this convention, should happen to pronounce +these same words, or make the same signs, the same effect ought to +follow. They say that whoever makes a compact with the devil has a +right to oblige him to produce a certain effect, not only when he +shall make himself, for instance, certain figures, but also every time +that they shall be made by any other person you please, at any time, +or in any place whatever, and although the intention may be quite +different. Certainly nothing is more proper to humble us than such +ideas, and to show how very little man can count on the feeble light +of his mind. Of all the extraordinary things said to have been +performed by tacit compacts, many are absolutely false, and others +have occurred quite differently than as they are related; some are +true, and such as require no need of the demon's intervention to +explain them.</p> + +<p>VI. The evidence of these reasons seems to suffice to prove that all +which is said of magic in our days is merely chimerical; but because, +in reply to the substantial difficulties which were proposed to him by +the Count Rinaldi Carli, the author of the book pretends that to deny +is a heretical opinion condemned by the laws, it is proper to examine +this article again. For the first proof of its reality, is advanced +the general consent of all mankind; the tradition of all nations; +stories and witnesses <i>ad infinitum</i> of theologians, philosophers, and +jurisconsults; whence he concludes "that its existence cannot be +denied, or even a doubt cast upon it, without sapping the foundations +of what is called human belief." But the little I have said in No. IV. +alone suffices to prove how false is this assertion concerning this +pretended general consent. Horace, who passes for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> one of the wisest +and most enlightened men amongst the ancients, reckons, on the +contrary, among the virtues necessary to an honest man, the not +putting faith in what is said concerning magic, and to laugh at it. +His friend, believing himself very virtuous because he was not +avaricious—"That is not sufficient," said he: "are you exempt from +every other vice and every other fault; not ambitious, not passionate, +fearless of death? Do you laugh at all that is told of dreams, magical +operations, miracles, sorcerers, ghosts, and Thessalian +wonders?"[<a href="#f675">675</a><a name="f675.1" id="f675.1"></a>]—that is to say, in one word, of all kinds of magic. +What is the aim of Lucian, in his Dialogue entitled "Philopseudis," +but to turn into ridicule the magic art? and also is it not what he +proposed to himself in the other, entitled "The Ass," whence Apuleius +derived his "Golden Ass?" It is easy to perceive that in all this +work, wherein he speaks so often, the power ascribed to magic of +making rivers return to their source, staying the course of the sun, +darkening the stars, and constraining the gods themselves to obey it, +he had no other intention than to laugh at it, which he certainly +would not have done if he had believed it able to produce, as they +pretend, effects beyond those of nature. It is, then, jokingly and +ironically that he says they see wonders worked "by the invincible +power of magic,"[<a href="#f676">676</a><a name="f676.1" id="f676.1"></a>] and by the blind necessity which imposes upon +the gods themselves to be obedient to it. The poor man thinking he was +to be changed into a bird, had had the grief to see himself +metamorphosed into an ass, through the mistake of a woman who in a +hurry had mistaken the box, and giving him one ointment for another. +The most usual terms made use of by the ancients, in speaking of +magic, were "play" and "badinage," which plainly shows that they saw +nothing real in it. St. Cyprian, speaking of the mysteries of the +magicians, calls them "hurtful and juggling operations." "If by their +delusions and their jugglery," says Tertullian, "the charlatans seem +to perform many wonders." And in his treatise on the soul, he +exclaims, "What shall we say of magic? what almost all the world says +of it—that it is mere knavery." Arnobius calls it, "the sports of the +magic art;" and on these words of Minutius Felix, "all the marvels +which they seem to work by their <i>jugglery</i>," his commentator remarks +that the word <i>badinage</i> is in this place the proper term. This manner +of expressing himself shows what was then the common opinion of all +wise persons. "Let the farmer," says Columella, "frequent with neither +soothsayers nor witches, because by their foolish superstitions they +all cause the ignorant to spend much money, and thence they lead them +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span>to be criminal." We learn from Suidas, "that those were called +magicians who filled their heads with vain imaginations." Thus, when +speaking of one of these imposters, Dante was right when he said[<a href="#f677">677</a><a name="f677.1" id="f677.1"></a>] +"he knew all the trickery and knavery of the magic art." Thus, then, +it is not true that a general belief in the art of magic has ever +prevailed; and if, in our days, any one would gather the voice and +opinion of men of letters, and the most celebrated academies, I am +persuaded that hardly would one or two in ten be found who were +convinced of its existence. It would not be, at least, one of the +learned friends of the author of the book in question, who having been +consulted by the latter on this matter, answers him in these +terms—"Magic is a ridiculous art, which has no reality but in the +head of a madman, who fancies that he is able to lead the devil to +satisfy all his wishes." I have read in some catalogues which come +from Germany, that they are preparing to give the public a "Magic +Library:" <i>oder grundliche nagrichen</i>, &c. It is a vast collection of +different writings, all tending to prove the uselessness and +insufficiency of magic. I must remark that the poets have greatly +contributed to set all these imaginations in vogue. Without this +fruitful source, what becomes of the most ingenious fictions of Homer? +We may say as much of Ariosto and of our modern poets. For the rest, +what I have before remarked concerning Pliny must not be +forgotten—that in the ancient authors, the word magic is often +equivocal. For in certain countries, they gave the name of magi, or +magicians, to those who applied as a particular profession to the +study of astronomy, philosophy, or medicine; in others, philosophers +of a certain sect were thus called: for this, the preface of Diogenes +Laërtius can be consulted. Plato writes that in Persia, by the name of +magic was understood "the worship of the gods." "According to a great +number of authors," says Apuleius, in his Apology, "the Persians +called those magi to whom we give the name of priests." St. Jerome, +writing against Jovinian, thus expresses himself—"Eubulus, who wrote +the history of Mithras, in several volumes, relates that among the +Persians they distinguish three kinds of magi, of whom the first are +most learned and the most eloquent," &c. Notwithstanding that, there +are still people to be found, who confound the chimera of pretended +diabolical magic with philosophical magic, as Corneillus Agrippa has +done in his books on "Secret Philosophy."</p> + +<p>VII. Another reason which is brought forward to prove the reality and +the power of the magic art, is that the laws decree the penalty of +death against enchanters. "What idea," says he, "could we have of the +ancient legislators, if we believe them capable of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span> +having recourse to such rigorous penalties to repress a chimera, an +art which produced no effect?" Upon which it is proper to observe +that, supposing this error to be universally spread, it would not be +impossible that even those who made the laws might suffer themselves +to be prejudiced by them; in which case, we might make the same +commentary on Seneca, applied, as we have seen, to the Twelve Tables. +But I go further still. This is not the place to speak of the +punishments decreed in the Scripture against the impiety of the +Canaanites, who joined to idolatry the most extravagant magic. In +regard to the Greek laws, of which authors have preserved for us so +great a number, I do not remember that they anywhere make mention of +this crime, or that they subject it to any penalty. I can say the same +of the Roman laws, contained in the Digest. It is true that in the +Code of Theodosius, and in that of Justinian, there is an entire title +concerning <i>malefactors</i>, in which we find many laws which condemn to +the most cruel death magicians of all kinds; but are we not forced to +confess that this condemnation was very just? Those wretches boasted +that they were able to occasion when they pleased public calamities +and mortalities; with this aim, they kept their charms and dark plots +as secret as it was possible, which led the Emperor Constans to say, +"Let all the magicians, in whatever part of the empire they may be +found, be looked upon as the public enemies of mankind." What does it +matter, in fact, that they made false boastings, and that their +attempts were useless? "In evil doings," says the law, "it is the +will, and not the event, which makes the crime." Also, Constantine +wills that those amongst them should be pardoned who professed to cure +people by such means, and to preserve the products of the earth. But +in general these kind of persons aimed only at doing harm; for which +reason the laws ordain that they should be regarded as "public +enemies." The least harm they could be accused of was deluding the +people, misleading the simple, and causing by that means an infinity +of trouble and disorder. Besides that, of how many crimes were they +not guilty in the use of their spells? It was that which led the +Emperor Valentinian to decree the pain of death "against whomsoever +should work at night, by impious prayers and detestable sacrifices, at +magic operations." Sometimes even they adroitly made use of some other +way to procure the evil which they desired to cause; after which, they +gave out that it must be attributed to the power of their art. But +what is the use of so many arguments? Is it not certain that the first +step taken by those who had recourse to magic was to renounce God and +Jesus Christ, and to invoke the demon? Was not magic looked upon as a +species of idolatry; and was not that sufficient to render this crime +capital, should the punishment have depended on the result? Honorius +commanded that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span> these kind of people should be treated with all the +rigor of the laws, "unless they would promise to conform for the +future to what was required by the Catholic religion, after having +themselves, in presence of the bishops, burned the pernicious writings +which served to maintain their error."</p> + +<p>VIII. What is remarkable is, that if ever any one laughed at magic, it +must certainly be the author in question—since all his book only +tends to prove that there are no witches, and that all that is said of +them is merely foolish and chimerical. But what appears surprising is, +that at the same time he maintains that while in truth there are no +witches, but that there are enchantresses or female magicians; that +witchcraft is only a chimera, but that diabolical magic is very real. +Is not that, as it appears to some, denying and affirming at the same +time the same thing under different names? Tibullus took care not to +make nothing of these distinctions, when he said: "As I was promised +by a witch, whose magical operations never fail." While treating in +this book of witchcraft and magic, it is affirmed that the demon +intervenes on both, and that both work wonders." But if that is true, +it is impossible to find any difference between them. If both perform +wonders, and that by the intervention of the demon, they are then +essentially the same. After that, is it not a contradiction to say +that the magician acts and the witch has no power—that the former +commands the devil and the latter obeys him—that magic is founded on +compacts, expressed or tacit, while in witchcraft there is nothing but +what is imaginary and chimerical? What reason is given for this? If +the demon is always ready to appear to any one who invokes him, and is +ready to enter into compact with him, why does he not show himself as +directly to her whom the author terms a witch as to her to whom he is +pleased to give the more respectable title of enchantress? If he is +disposed to appear and take to himself the worship and adoration which +are due to God alone, what matters it to him whether they proceed from +a vile or a distinguished person, from an ignoramus or a learned man? +The principal difference which the author admits between witchcraft +and magic, is, that the latter "belongs properly to priests, doctors, +and other persons who cultivate learning;" whilst witchcraft is purely +fanaticism, "which only suits the vulgar and poor wretched women;" +"also, it does not," says he, "derive its origin from philosophy or +any other science, and has no foundation but in popular stories." For +my part, I think it is very wrong that so much honor should here be +paid to magic. I have proved above in a few words, by the authority of +several ancient authors, that the most sensible men have always made a +jest of it; that they have regarded it only as a play and a game; and +that after having spared neither application nor expense, a Roman +emperor could never succeed in behold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span>ing any effect. I have even +remarked the equivocation of the name, which has often caused these +popular opinions with philosophy and the sublimest sciences. But I +think I can find in the book itself of the author, enough to prove +that one cannot in fact make this distinction, since he says therein +"that superstitious practices, such as figures, characters, +conjurations, and enchantments, passing from one to the other, and +coming to the knowledge of these unhappy women, operate in virtue of +the tacit consent which they give to the operation of the demon." +There then all distinction is taken away. He says again that, +according to some, "nails, pins, bones, coals, packets of hair, or +rags, found by the head, of children's beds, are indications of a +compact express or tacit, because of the resemblance to the symbols +made use of by true magicians." Thus, then, witches and those who are +here styled <i>true magicians</i> employ equally the same follies; they +equally place confidence in imaginary compacts—and consequently they +should both be classed in the same category.</p> + +<p>IX. It is proper to notice here that it is not so great a novelty as +is generally believed, to make a distinction between witches and +magicians. Nearly two hundred years ago James Wier, a doctor by +profession, had already said the same thing. Never did an author write +more at length upon this matter; you may consult the sixth edition of +his book, <i>De Præstigiis Dæmonum et Incantationibus</i>, published at +Basle. He there proves that witches ought not to be condemned to +death, because they are women whose brain is disturbed; because all +the crimes that are imputed to them are imaginary, having no reality +but in their ill will, and none at all in the execution; lastly, +because, according to the rules of the soundest jurisprudence, the +confession of having done impossible things is of no weight, and +cannot serve as the foundation of condemnation. He shows how these +foolish old women come to believe that they have held intercourse with +some evil spirit, or been carried through the air; so far nothing can +be better; but otherwise, being persuaded that there are really magic +wonders,[<a href="#f678">678</a><a name="f678.1" id="f678.1"></a>] and thinking that he has himself experienced something +of the kind, he will have magicians severely punished. He says,[<a href="#f679">679</a><a name="f679.1" id="f679.1"></a>] +"that very often they are learned men, who, to acquire this diabolical +art, have traveled a great deal; and who, learned[<a href="#f680">680</a><a name="f680.1" id="f680.1"></a>] in Goësy and +Theurgy,[<a href="#f681">681</a><a name="f681.1" id="f681.1"></a>] whether<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span> +through the demon or through study,[<a href="#f682">682</a><a name="f682.1" id="f682.1"></a>] make use of strange terms, +characters, exorcisms, and imprecations;" employ "sacred words and +divine names, and neglect nothing which can render them skillful in +the black art;"[<a href="#f683">683</a><a name="f683.1" id="f683.1"></a>] which makes them deserving of the punishment of +death.[<a href="#f684">684</a><a name="f684.1" id="f684.1"></a>] "But," according to him, "there is a great difference +between magicians and witches, inasmuch as these latter[<a href="#f685">685</a><a name="f685.1" id="f685.1"></a>] make use +neither of books, nor exorcisms, nor characters, but have only their +mind and imagination corrupted by the demon." He calls witches "those +women who pass for doing a great deal of harm, either by virtue[<a href="#f686">686</a><a name="f686.1" id="f686.1"></a>] +of some imaginary compact, or by their own will, or some diabolical +instinct;" and who, having their brain deranged, confess they have +done many things, which they never have nor could have performed. +"Magicians,"[<a href="#f687">687</a><a name="f687.1" id="f687.1"></a>] he says, "are led of themselves, and by their own +inclination, to learn this forbidden art, and seek masters who can +instruct them in it; wizards, on the contrary, seek neither masters +nor instructions; but the devil takes possession of those women," whom +he thinks the most likely to be deceived, "on account of their old +age, of their melancholy temperament, or their poverty and misery." +Everybody must see, and I have sufficiently shown it already, to how +many difficulties and contradictions all this doctrine is subject; +what we must conclude from it is, that wizards as well as magicians +have equally recourse to the demon, and place their hope in him, +without either of them ever obtaining what they wish. The author +sometimes believes he renders what he says of the power of magic, and +in short reduces it to nothing, by saying, that all the wonderful +effects attributed to it have no reality, and are but illusions and +vain phantoms; but he does not remark that it is even miraculous to +cause to appear that which is not. Whether the wands of Pharaoh's +magicians were really metamorphosed into serpents, or that they +appeared to be thus changed to the eyes of the beholders, would either +of them equally surpass all the power and industry of men. I shall not +amuse myself with discussing largely many inutilities which may be +found in this work; for instance, he does not fail to relate the +impertinent story of the pretended magic of Sylvester II., which, as +Panvinius has shown, had no other foundation than this pope's being +much given to the study of mathematics and philosophy.</p> + +<p>X. It is owned in the new book, that it is very likely some woman may +be found "who, with the help of the demon, may be capable of +performing a great many things even hurtful to mankind,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span> and that by +virtue "of a compact, express or tacit;" and it is added, that it +cannot be denied that it may be, without absolutely denying the +reality of magic. But when, so far from denying it, every effort on +the contrary is made to establish it; when it is loudly maintained +that persons may be found who, with the assistance of the demon, are +able to produce real effects, even of doing harm to people; how, after +that, can it be denied that there are witches, since, according to the +common opinion, witchcraft is nothing else? Let them, if they will, +regard as a fable what is said of their journeys through the air to +repair to their nocturnal meetings; what will he gain by that, if, +notwithstanding that, he believes that they possess the power to kill +children by their spells, to send the devil into the body of the first +person who presents himself, and a hundred other things of the same +kind? He says, that "to render the presents which he makes more +precious and estimable, and the more to be desired, the demon sells +them very dear, as if he could not be excited to act otherwise than by +employing powerful means, and making use of a most mysterious and very +hidden art," which, doubtless, he would have witches ignorant of, and +known only to magicians. But then they pretend that this art can be +learned only from the devil, and to obtain it from him they say that +he must be invoked and worshiped. Now, as there is hardly an impious +character, who, having taken it into his head to operate something +important by his charms or spells, would not be disposed to go to that +shocking extreme, we cannot see why one should succeed in what he +wishes, whilst the other does not succeed; nor what distinction can be +made between rascals and madmen, who are precisely of a kind. I hold +even, that if the reality and power of magic are granted, we could not +without great difficulty refuse to those who profess it the power of +entering places shut up, and of going through the air to their +nocturnal assemblies. It will, doubtless, be said that that is +impossible, and surpasses the power of man; but who can affirm it, +since we know not how far the power of the rebel angels extends?</p> + +<p>I remember to have formerly heard some persons at Rome reason very +sensibly on the difficulty there is sometimes of deciding upon the +truth of a miracle, which difficulty is founded on our ignorance of +the extent of the powers of nature.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f688">688</a><a name="f688.1" id="f688.1"></a>] [It is true that it would be dangerous to carry this principle +too far; doubtless, we are not to deduce from it that nothing ever +happens but what is natural, as if the Sovereign Author of all had in +some measure bound his hands, and had not reserved unto himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span> the +liberty to comply with the wishes and prayers of his servants—of +sometimes according favors which manifestly surpass the powers he has +granted to nature. It may often happen that we doubt whether an effect +is natural or supernatural; but also how many effects do we see on +which no sensible and rational person can form a doubt, good sense +concurring with the soundest philosophy to teach us that certain +wonders can only happen by a secret and divine virtue? One of the most +certain proofs which can be had of this is the sudden and durable cure +of certain long and cruel maladies. I know that simple and pious +persons have sometimes attributed to a miracle cures which might very +well be looked upon as purely natural; but what can be opposed to +certain extraordinary facts which have sometimes happened to very wise +and wide-awake persons, in the presence of sensible and judicious +witnesses who have attested them, and confirmed by the report of the +cleverest physicians, who have shown their astonishment at them? In +this city of Verona, where I live, an event of this kind happened very +recently, and it has excited the wonder of every one; but as the truth +of it is not yet juridically attested I abstain from relating it. But +such is not the case with a similar fact, verified, ten years ago, +after the strictest examination. I speak of the miraculous cure of +Dame Victoire Buri, of the monastery of St. Daniel, who after a +chronic ague of nearly five years' duration, after having been +tortured for several days with a stitch in her side, or acute pain, +and with violent colics—having, in short, lost her voice, and fallen +into a languid state, received the holy viaticum on the day of the +fête of St. Louis de Gonzaga. In this condition, having fervently +recommended herself to the intercession of the saint, she in one +moment felt her strength return, her pains ceased, and she began to +cry out that she was cured. At these cries the abbess and the nuns ran +to her; she dressed herself, went up the stairs alone and without +assistance, and repaired to the choir with the others to render thanks +to God for her recovery. I had the curiosity to wish to inform myself +personally of the fact and of these circumstances, and after having +interrogated the lady herself, those who had witnessed her cure, and +the physicians who had attended her, I remained fully convinced of the +truth of the fact. I, I repeat, whose defect is not that of being too +credulous, as it sufficiently appears by what I write here.</p> + +<p>Again, I may say, that finding myself fourteen years ago at Florence, +I was in that city acquainted with a young girl, named Sister +Catherine Biondi, of the third order of St. Francis; through her +prayers a lady was cured in a moment and for ever of a very painful +dislocation. This circumstance was known by everybody, and I have no +doubt that it will one day be juridically attested.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span> For myself, I +believe I obtained several singular favors of God through the +intercession of this holy maiden, to whose intercession I have +recommended myself several times since her death. The wise and learned +father Pellicioni, abbot of the order of St. Benedict, her confessor, +said that if we knew the life and family arrangements of this inferior +sister, we should soon be delivered from all sorts of temptations +against faith.</p> + +<p>In effect, what things we are taught by these facts, which remain as +if buried in oblivion! What subtile questions are cleared up by them +in a very short time! Why do not the learned, who shine in other +communions, give themselves the trouble to assure themselves of only +one of these facts, as it would be very easy for them to do? One alone +suffices to render evident the truth of the catholic dogmas. There is +not one article of controversy for the defence of which it would not +be necessary to compose a folio; whereas, only one of these facts +decides them all instantly. We advance but little by disputation, +because each one seeks only to show forth his own wit and erudition, +and no one will give up a point; while by this method all becomes so +evident that no reply remains in answer to it. And who could imagine +that among so many miracles verified on the spot, in different places, +and reported in the strictest examinations made for the canonization +of saints, there would not be one which was true? To do so, we must +refuse to believe anything at all, and to make use of one's reason. +But when one of these facts becomes so notorious that there is no +longer room to doubt it, if after that some difficulty presents itself +to our feeble mind, which, so far from grasping the infinite, has only +most confused knowledge of material bodies, will not any one who +wishes to reason upon them be obliged to decide them suddenly by +saying, "I do not understand it at all, but I believe the whole?" +Those also, who, through the high opinion they have of their own +knowledge, laugh at all which is above them; what can these men oppose +to facts, in which Divine Providence shines forth in a manner so +evident not only to the mind but to the eyes? In regard to those who, +from the bad education which they have received, or from the idle and +voluptuous life which they lead, stagnate in gross ignorance; with +what facility would not one of these well-proved facts instruct them +in what they most require to know, and enlighten them in a moment on +every subject?]</p> + +<p>To return to my subject. If it is sometimes difficult to decide on the +truth of a miracle, how much more difficulty would there be in +observing all the qualities which suit the superior and spiritual +nature, and prescribing limits to it. In regard to the penalties which +the author would have them inflict on magicians and witches, +pretending that the former are to be treated with rigor, while, on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span> +the contrary, we must be indulgent to the latter, I do not see any +foundation for it. Charity would certainly have us begin by +instructing an old fool, who, having her fancy distorted, or her heart +perverted, from having read, or heard related, certain things, will +condemn herself, by avowing crimes which she has not committed. But if +we are told, for instance, that, after having made a little image, an +ignoramus has pierced it several times, muttering some ridiculous +words, how can we distinguish whether this charm is to be attributed +to sorcery or magic? and consequently, how can we know whether it +ought to be punished leniently or rigorously? However it may be done, +no effect will follow it, as has often been proved; and whether the +spell is the work of a magician or a wizard, the person aimed at by it +will not be in worse health. We must only remark, that although +ineffectual, the attempt of such wizards is not less a crime, since to +arrive at that point, "they must have renounced all their duty to God, +and have made themselves the slaves of the demon:" also do they avow +that to cast their spells they must "give up Jesus Christ, and +renounce the baptismal rite." It is commonly held that "the demons +appear to them, and cause themselves to be worshiped by them." This is +certainly not the case; but if it were so, why should witches have +less power than magicians? and on what foundation can it be asserted +that they are less criminal?</p> + +<p>XI. Now, then, let us come to the point, which has deceived many, and +which still deludes some. Because in the Scripture, in the Old +Testament, magic is often spoken of as it then was, they conclude that +it still exists, and is on the same footing at this day. To that a +reply is easy. Before the advent of the Saviour, the demon had that +power; but he no longer possesses it, since Jesus Christ by his death +consummated the great work of our redemption. It is what St. John +clearly teaches in the Apocalypse, when he says[<a href="#f689">689</a><a name="f689.1" id="f689.1"></a>]—"I saw an angel +descend from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the well of the +abyss, and a long chain with which he enchained the dragon, the old +serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and he bound him for a thousand +years." The Evangelist here makes use of the term "a thousand years" +to designate a period both very long and indeterminate, since we read, +a little lower down, that the demon shall be unbound at the coming of +Antichrist.[<a href="#f690">690</a><a name="f690.1" id="f690.1"></a>] And "after a thousand years," says St. John, "Satan +shall be unbound, and shall come out of his prison." Whence it +happens, that in the time of Antichrist all the wonders of magic shall +be renewed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> +as the apostle tells us, when he says[<a href="#f691">691</a><a name="f691.1" id="f691.1"></a>] that his arrival shall be +marked with the greatest wonders that Satan is capable of working, and +by all sorts of signs and lying prodigies. But till then, "the prince +of this world," that is to say, the demon, "will be cast out." Which +made St. Peter say, that in ascending to heaven, Jesus Christ has +subjugated "the angels, the powers, and the virtues;" and St. Paul +says, that "he has enriched himself with the spoils of principalities +and powers;" and that "when he shall give up the kingdom to God even +the Father, and destroyed all principalities, and powers, and rule." +These various names indicate the different orders of reprobate +spirits, as we learn from different parts of the New Testament. Now, +to understand that the might and power which the demon has been +deprived of by the Saviour, is precisely that which he had enjoyed +until then of deceiving the world by magical practices, it is proper +to observe, that until the coming of Jesus Christ there were three +ways or means by which the reprobate spirits exercised their power and +malice upon men:—1. By tempting them and leading them to do evil. 2. +By entering into their bodies and possessing them. 3. By seconding +magical operations, and sometimes working wonders, to wrest the +worship which was due to Him. At this day, of these three kinds of +power, the demon has certainly not lost the first by the coming of the +Saviour, since we know with what determination he has continued since +then, and daily does continue, to tempt us. Neither has he been +deprived of the second, since we still find persons who are possessed; +and it cannot be denied, that even since Jesus Christ, God has often +permitted this kind of possession to chastise mankind, and serve as a +warning. Thence it remains, that the demon has only been absolutely +despoiled of the third; and that it is in this sense we must +understand what St. Paul says, "that Satan has been enchained." Thence +it comes, that since the death of our Saviour all these diabolical +<span class="spacer"> </span>having no longer the same success as before, those who +until then had made a profession of them, brought their books to the +apostles' feet, and burned them in their presence." For that these +books treated principally of magic, we learn from St. Athanasius, who +alludes to this part of the Scripture, when he says, that "those who +had been celebrated for this art burned their books." It is not that, +even in the most distant time, braggarts and impostors have been +wanting who falsely boasted of what they could not perform. Thus we +read in Ecclesiasticus—"Who will pity the enchanter that is bitten by +the serpent?" In the time of St. Paul, some exorcists, who were Jews, +ran about the country, vainly endeavoring to expel demons; this was +the case<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> with +seven sons of one of the chief priests at Ephesus. It is this +prejudice which made Josephus believe[<a href="#f692">692</a><a name="f692.1" id="f692.1"></a>] that in the presence of +Vespasian and all his court attendants, a Jew had expelled demons from +the bodies of the possessed by piercing their nose with a ring, in +which had been encased a root pointed out by Solomon. In his narrative +of this event, we may see, in truth, that the demons were obliged to +give some sign of their exit; but who does not perceive that what he +relates can proceed only from one who has suffered himself to be +deceived, or who seeks to deceive others?</p> + +<p>XII. From what I have said, it is obvious, that if in the Old +Testament the magic power, and the prodigies worked by magic, are +often spoken of, there is in return no mention made of it in the New. +It is true, that as the world was never wanting in impostors, who +sought to appropriate to themselves the name and reputation of +magician, we find two of these seducers named in the Acts of the +Apostles. The one is Elymas,[<a href="#f693">693</a><a name="f693.1" id="f693.1"></a>] who, in the isle of Cyprus, wished +to turn the attention of the Roman proconsul from listening to the +preaching of the apostles, and for that was punished with blindness. +The other is Simon, who for a long time preaching in Samaria that he +was something great, had misled all the people of that city, so that +he was generally regarded there as a sort of divine man, because +"through the effect of his magic he had for a long time turned the +heads of all the inhabitants;" that is to say, he had seduced and +dazzled them by his knaveries, as has often happened in many other +places. For it is evidently shown that he could never succeed in +working any wonder, not only by the silence of the Scripture on that +point, but also on seeing the miracles of St. Philip he was so +surprised at them, and so filled with admiration, that he directly +asked to be baptized, and never after quitted this apostle. But having +offered some money to St. Peter, in order to obtain from him the +apostolical gift, he was severely reprimanded by him, and threatened +with the most terrible punishments, to which he made no other reply +than to entreat the apostles to intercede for him themselves with +Jesus Christ, that nothing of the kind might happen to him. This is +all we have that is certain and authentic on the subject of Simon the +magician. But in times nearer to the apostles, the authors of +apocryphal books and stories invented at pleasure, profited well by +the profession of magic, which Simon had for a long time skillfully +practiced; and because the magic art is fruitful in wonders, which +certainly render a narrative agreeable and amusing, they attributed +endless prodigies to him; amongst others they imagined that, in a sort +of public discussion between him and St. Peter, he raised himself into +the air, and was precipitated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span> +from thence to the ground at the prayers of that apostle. Sigebert +mentions this, and, if I mistake not, it has appeared in print at +Florence. The most ancient apocryphal works which remain to us, are +the Recognitions of St. Clement, and the Apostolical Constitutions. In +the first, they make Simon say that he can render himself invisible, +traverse the most frightful precipices, fall from a great height +without hurting himself, bind with his own bonds those who enchained +him, open fastened doors, animate statues, pass through fire without +burning himself, change his form, metamorphose himself into a goat or +a sheep, fly in the air, &c. In the second they make St. Peter say, +that Simon being at Rome, and gone to the theatre about noon, he +ordered the people to go back and make room for him, promising them +that he would rise up into the air. It is added, that he did in effect +rise up into the air, carried by the demons, saying he was ascending +to heaven, at which all the people applauded; but at that moment St. +Peter's prayers were successful, and Simon was hurled down, after he +had spoken beforehand to him, as if they had been close to each other. +You can read the whole story, which is evidently false and +ill-imagined. It is true that these old writings, and a few others of +the same kind, have served to deceive some of the fathers and +ecclesiastical authors, who, without examining into the truth, have +permitted themselves to go with the stream, and have followed the +public opinion, upon which many things might be said did time allow. +How, for instance, can any one unhesitatingly believe that St. Jerome +could ever have written that St. Peter went to Rome, not to plant the +faith in that capital, and establish therein the first seat of +Christianity, but to expel from thence Simon the magician? Is there +not, on the contrary, reason to suspect that these few words have +passed in ancient times, from a note inadvertently placed in the +margin, into the text itself? But to confine myself within the limits +of my subject, I say that it suffices to pay attention to the impure +source of so many doubtful books, published under feigned names, by +the diversity and contradiction which predominate amongst them +relatively to the circumstance in question, by the silence, in short, +of the sovereign pontiffs and other writers upon the same, even of the +profane authors who ought principally to speak of it, to remain +convinced that all that is said of it, as well as all the other +prodigies ascribed to the magic power of Simon, is but a fable founded +solely on public report. Is there not even an ancient inscription, +which is thought to be still in existence, and which, according to the +copy that I formerly took of it at Rome, bears: "Sanco Sancto Semoni +Deo Filio," which upon the equivoque of the name, has been applied to +Simon the magician by St. Justin, and upon his authority by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span> some +other writers, which occasioned P. Pagi to say on the year 42, "That +St. Justin was deceived either by a resemblance of name, or by some +unfaithful relation;" but that which must above all decide this matter +is the testimony of Origen, who says that indeed Simon could deceive +some persons in his time by magic, but that soon after he lost his +credit so much, that there were not in all the world thirty persons of +his sect to be found, and that only in Palestine, his name never +having been known elsewhere; so far was it from true that he had been +to Rome, worked miracles there, and had statues raised to him in that +capital of the world! Origen concludes by saying, that where the name +of Simon was known, it was so only by the Acts of the Apostles, and +that the truth of the circumstances evidently shows that there was +nothing divine in this man, that is to say, nothing miraculous or +extraordinary. In a word, the Acts of the Apostles relate no wonder of +him, because the Saviour had destroyed all the power of magic.</p> + +<p>XIII. To render this principle more solid still, after having based it +upon the Scripture, I am going to establish again with my usual +frankness, upon tradition, and show that it is truly in this sense the +passages in the fathers, and ancient ecclesiastical writers, must be +understood. I begin with St. Ignatius the Martyr, bishop, and +successor of the apostles in the pulpit of Antioch. This father, in +the first of the Epistles which are really his, speaking of the birth +of the Saviour, and of the star which then appeared, adds, "Because +all the power of magic vanished, all the bonds of malice were broken, +ignorance was abolished, and the old kingdom of Satan destroyed;" on +which the learned Cotelerius makes this remark: "It was also at that +time that all the illusions of magic ceased, as is attested by so many +celebrated authors." Tertullian, in the book which he has written on +Idolatry, says, "We know the strict union there is between magic and +astrology. God permitted that science to reign on the earth till the +time of the Gospel, in order that after the birth of Jesus Christ no +one might be found who should undertake to read in the heavens the +happiness or misfortunes of any person whomsoever." A little after, he +adds: "It is thus that, till the time of the Gospel, God tolerated on +the earth that other kind of magic which performs wonders, and dared +even to enter into rivalry with Moses."</p> + +<p>Origen, in his books against Celsus, speaking of the three magi, and +the star which appeared to them, says that then the power of magic +extended so far, that there was no art more powerful and more divine; +but at the birth of the Saviour hell was disconcerted, the demons lost +their power, all their spells were destroyed, and their might passed +away. The magi wishing them to perform their enchantments and their +usual works, and not being able to succeed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span> sought the reason; and +having seen that new star appear in the heavens, they conjectured that +"He who was to command all spirits was born," which decided them to go +and adore him.</p> + +<p>St. Athanasius, in his treatise on the Incarnation, teaches that the +Saviour has delivered all creatures from the deceits and illusions of +Satan, and that he has enriched himself, as St. Paul says, with the +spoils of principalities and powers. "When is it," he says afterwards, +"that the oracles have ceased to reply throughout all Greece, but +since the advent of the Saviour on earth? When did they begin to +despise the magic art? Is it not since mankind began to enjoy the +divine presence of the Word? Formerly," he continues, "the demons +deluded men by divers phantoms, and attaching themselves to rivers and +fountains, stones and wood, they drew by their allusions the +admiration of weak mortals; but since the advent of the Divine Word, +all their stratagems have passed away." A little while after, he adds, +"But what shall we say of that magic they held in such admiration? +Before the incarnation of the Word, it was in honor among the +Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the Indians, and won the admiration of those +nations by prodigies; but since the Truth has come down to earth, and +the Word has shown himself amongst men, this power has been destroyed, +and is itself fallen into oblivion." In another place, refuting the +Gentiles, who ascribed the miracles of the Saviour to magic, "They +call him a magician," says he, "but can they say that a magician would +destroy all sorts of magic, instead of working to establish it?"</p> + +<p>In his Commentary on Isaiah, St. Jerome joins this interpretation to +several passages in the prophet—"Since the advent of the Saviour, all +that must be understood in an allegorical sense; for all the error of +the waters of Egypt, and all the pernicious arts which deluded the +nations who suffered themselves to be infatuated by them, have been +destroyed by the coming of Jesus Christ." A little after, he +adds—"That Memphis was also strongly addicted to magic, the vestiges +which subsist at this day of her ancient superstitions allow us not to +doubt." Now this informs us in a few words, or in the approach of the +desolation of Babylon, that all the projects of the magicians, and of +those who promise to unveil the future, are a pure folly, and dissolve +like smoke at the presence of Jesus Christ. Again, he says elsewhere, +that "Jesus Christ being come into the world, all kinds of divination, +and all the deceits of idolatry, lost their efficacy; so that the +Eastern magi understanding that a Son of God was born who had +destroyed all the power of their art, came to Bethlehem."</p> + +<p>Theophilus of Alexandria, in his Paschal Letter addressed to the +bishops of Egypt, and after him St. Jerome, who has given us a Latin +translation of this letter, says that Jesus Christ by his coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span> has +destroyed all the illusions of magic. They add, "Jesus Christ by his +presence having destroyed idolatry, it follows that magic, which is +its mother, has been destroyed likewise." They call magic the mother +of idolatry, because it transfers to another the confidence and +submission which are due to God alone. St. Ambrose says, "The magician +perceives the inutility of his art, and you do not yet understand that +the promised Redeemer is come." I could bring forward here many other +passages from the fathers if I had the books at hand, or if time +allowed me to select them.</p> + +<p>XIV. But why amuse ourselves with fruitless researches? What I have +said will suffice to show that this opinion has been that of not only +one or two of the fathers, which would prove nothing, but of the +greater number of those among them who have discoursed of this matter, +which constitutes the greater number. After that it is of little +import if in after and darker ages a thousand stories were spread on +the subject of witchcraft and enchantments, and that those tales may +have gained credit with the people in proportion to their rudeness and +ignorance. You may read, if you have any curiosity on the subject, a +hundred stories of that kind, related by Saxo Grammaticus and Olaus +Magnus. You will find also in Lucian and in Apuleius, how, even in +their time, those who wished to be carried through the air, or to be +metamorphosed into beasts, began by stripping themselves, and then +anointing themselves with certain oils from head to foot; there were +then found impostors, who promised as of old to perform by means of +magic all kinds of prodigies, and still continued the same +extravagances as ever.</p> + +<p>A great many persons feel a certain repugnance to refusing belief in +all that is said of the prodigies of magic, as if it was denying the +truth of miracles, and the existence of the devil; and on this subject +they fail not to allege, that amongst the orders in the church is +found that of exorcists, and that the rituals are full of prayers and +blessings against the malice and the snares of Satan. But we must not +here confound two very different things. So far from the miracles and +wonders performed by Divine power leading us to believe the truth of +those which are ascribed to the demon, they teach us on the contrary +that God has reserved this power to himself alone. We experience but +too often that there are truly evil spirits, who do not cease to tempt +us. In respect to the order of Exorcists, we know that it was +established in the church in the first ages of Christianity; the most +ancient fathers make mention of them; but from none of them do we +learn that their order was instituted against witchcraft and other +knaveries of the same kind, but only as at this day, to deliver those +possessed; "to expel demons from the bodies of the possessed;" says +the Manual of the Ordination. It is not, then, denied, that for +reasons which it belongs not to us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span> to examine, God sometimes allows +the demon to take hold of some one and to torment him; we only deny +that the spirit of darkness can ever arrive at that to please a +wretched woman of the dregs of the people. We do not deny that to +punish the sins of mankind, the Almighty may not sometimes make use in +different ways of the ministry of evil spirits; for, as St. Jerome +says,[<a href="#f694">694</a><a name="f694.1" id="f694.1"></a>] "God makes men feel his anger and fury by the ministry of +rebel angels;" but we do deny that it ever happens by virtue of certain +figures, certain words, and certain signs, made by ignoramuses or +scoundrels, or some wretched females, or old mad women, or by any +authority they have over the demon. The sovereign pontiff who at this +day governs the church with so much glory, discourses very fully[<a href="#f695">695</a><a name="f695.1" id="f695.1"></a>] +in his excellent works on the wonders worked by the demon and related +in the Old Testament, but he nowhere speaks of any effect produced by +magic or by sorcery since the coming of Jesus Christ. In the Roman +ritual we have prayers and orisons for all occasions; we find there +conjurations and exorcisms against demons; but nowhere, if the text is +not corrupted, is there mention made either of persons or things +bewitched, and if they are mentioned therein, it is only in after +additions made by private individuals. We know, on the contrary, that +many books treating of this subject, and containing prayers newly +composed by some individuals, have been prohibited. Thus they have +forbidden the book entitled <i>Circulus Aureus</i>, in which are set down +the conjurations necessary for "invoking demons of all kinds, of the +sky, of hell, the earth, fire, air, and water," to destroy all sorts +of "enchantments, charms, spells, and snares," in whatever place they +may be hidden, and of whatever matter they may be composed, whether +male or female, magician or witch, who may have made or given them, +and notwithstanding "all compacts and all conventions made between +them." Ought not the fact that the church forbids any one to read or +to keep these kind of books, to be sufficient to convince us of the +falsehood of what they imagine, and to teach us how contrary they are +to true religion and sound devotion. Three years ago they printed in +this town a little book, of which the author, however, was not of +Verona, in which they promised to teach the way "to deliver the +possessed, and to break all kinds of spells." We read in it that +"those over whom a malignant spell has been cast, lead such a wretched +life that it ought rather to be called a long death, like the corpse +of a man who had just died," &c. That is not all, for "almost all die +of it," and if they are children, "they hardly ever <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span> +live." See now the power which simple people ascribe, not only to the +devil, but to the vilest of men, whom they really believe to be +connected with, and to hold commerce with him. They say afterwards in +this same book[<a href="#f696">696</a><a name="f696.1" id="f696.1"></a>] that the signs which denote a malignant spell are +parings, herbs, feathers, bones, nails, and hairs; but they give +notice that the feathers prove that there is witchcraft "only when +they are intermingled in the form of a circle or nearly so." And, +again, you must take care that some woman has not given you something +to eat, some flowers to smell, or if she has touched the shoulder of +the person on whom the spell is cast. We have an excellent +preservative against these simplicities in the vast selection of Dom +Martenus, entitled <i>De Antiquis Ecclesiæ Ritibus</i>, in which we see +that amidst an infinity of prayers, orisons and exorcisms used at all +times throughout Christendom, there is not a passage in which mention +is made of spells, sorcery, or magic, or magical operations. They +therein command the demon in the name of Jesus Christ to come out and +go away—they therein implore the divine protection, to be delivered +from his power, to which we are all born subject by the stain of +original sin; they therein teach that holy water, salt, and incense +sanctified by the prayers of the church may drive away the enemy; that +we may not fall into his toils, and that we may have nothing to dread +from the attacks of evil spirits; but in no part does it say that +spells have power over them, neither do they anywhere pray God to +deliver us from them, or to heal us. It is so far from being true that +we ought to believe the fables spread abroad on this subject, that I +perfectly well remember having read a long time ago in the old +casuists, that we ought to class in the number of grievous sins the +believing that magic can really work the wonders related of it. I +shall remark, on this occasion, that I know not how the author of the +book in question can have committed the oversight of twice citing a +certain manuscript as to be found in any other cabinet than mine, when +it is a well known fact that I formerly purchased it very dear, not +knowing that the most important and curious part was wanting. What I +have said of it may be seen in the Opuscules which I have joined to +the "History of Theology."[<a href="#f697">697</a><a name="f697.1" id="f697.1"></a>] For the present, it suffices to +remember that in the famous canon <i>Episcopi</i>, related first by +Réginon,[<a href="#f698">698</a><a name="f698.1" id="f698.1"></a>] we read these remarkable words—"An infinite number of +people, deceived by this false prejudice, believe all that to be true, +and in believing it stray from the true faith into the superstition of +the heathen, imagining that they can find elsewhere than in God any +divinity, or any supernatural power."</p> + +<p>XV. From all I have hitherto said, it appears how far from truth <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span> +is all that is commonly said of this pretended magic; how contrary to +all the maxims of the church, and in opposition to the most venerated +authority, and what harm might be done to sound doctrine and true +piety by entertaining and favoring such extravagant opinions. We read, +in the author I am combating, "What shall we say of the fairies, a +prodigy so notorious and so common?" It is marvelous that it should be +a <i>prodigy</i> and at the same time <i>common</i>. He adds, "There is not a +town, not to say a village, which cannot furnish several instances +concerning them." For my part, I have seen a great many places; I am +seventy-four years of age, and I have perhaps been only too curious on +this head; and I own that I have never happened to meet with any +prodigy of that kind. I may even add that several inquisitors, very +sensible men, after having exercised that duty a long time, have +assured me that they also never knew such a thing. It is not often +that fairies of all kinds of shapes and different faces have passed +through my hands, but I have always discovered and shown that this was +nothing but fancy and reverie. <ins class="correction" title="Original reads 'One'.">On</ins> one side, it is affirmed that there +is a malicious species among them, who were amorous of beautiful +girls; and on the other, they will have it, on the contrary, that all +witches are old and ugly. How desirable it would be, if the people +could be once undeceived in respect to all these follies, which accord +so little with sound doctrine and true piety! Are they not still, in +our days, infatuated with what is said of charms which render +invulnerable rings in which fairies are enclosed, billets which cure +the quartan ague, words which lead you to guess the number to which +the lot will fall; of the pas key, which is made to turn to find out a +thief; of the cabala, which by means of certain verses and certain +answers, which are falsely supposed to contain a certain number of +words, unveils the most secret things? Are there not still to be found +people who are so simple, or who have so little religion, as to buy +these trifles very dear? For the world at this day is not wanting in +those prophets spoken of by Micah,[<a href="#f699">699</a><a name="f699.1" id="f699.1"></a>] whom money inspired and +rendered learned. Have we not again calendars in which are marked the +lucky and unlucky days, as has been done during a time, under the name +of Egyptians? Do they not prevent people from inhabiting certain +houses, under pretence of their being haunted? that is to say, that in +the night spectres are seen in them, and a great noise of chains is +heard, some saying that it is devils who cause all this, and others +the spirits of the dead who make all this clang; which is surprising +enough that it should be spirits or devils, and that they should only +have the power to make themselves perceived in the night. And how many +times have we seen the most fatal quarrels occur, principally amongst +the peasants, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span> +because one amongst them has accused others of sorcery? But what shall +we say of spirits incube and succube, of which, notwithstanding the +impossibility of the thing, the existence and reality is maintained? +M. Muratori, in that part where he treats of imagination, places the +tales on this subject in the same line with what is said of the +witches' sabbath; and he says[<a href="#f700">700</a><a name="f700.1" id="f700.1"></a>] "that these extravagant opinions +are at this day so discredited, that it is only the rudest and most +ignorant who suffer themselves to be amused by them." One of my +friends made me laugh the other day, when, speaking of the pretended +incubuses, he said that those who believed in them were not wise to +marry. Again, what shall we say of those tacit compacts so often +mentioned by the author, and which he supposes to be real? Can we not +see that such an opinion is making a god of the devil? For that any +one, for example, living three or four hundred leagues off, may have +made a compact with the devil, that every time a pendulum shall be +suspended above a glass it shall mark the hour as regularly as the +most exact clock. According to this idea, that same marvel will happen +equally, and at the same moment, not only in this town where we are, +but all over the earth, and will be repeated as often as they may wish +to make the experiment. Now this is quite another thing from carrying +a witch to the sabbath through the air, which the author asserts is +beyond the power of the demon; it is attributing to this malicious +spirit a kind of almightiness and immensity. But what would happen if +some one, having made a compact with a demon for fine weather, another +on his part shall have made a compact with the demon for bad weather? +Good Father Le Brun wishes us to ascribe to tacit compacts all those +effects which we cannot explain by natural causes. If it be so, what a +number of tacit compacts there must be in the world! He believes in +the stories about the divining rod, and the virtue ascribed to it of +finding out robbers and murderers; although all France has since +acknowledged that the first author of this fable was a knave, who +having been summoned to Paris, could never show there any of those +effects he had boasted of. Let any one have the least idea of the +invisible atoms scattered abroad throughout the world, of their +continually issuing from natural bodies, and the hidden and wonderful +effects which they produce, one can never be astonished that at a +moderate distance water and metals should operate on certain kinds of +wood. The same author sincerely believes what was said, that the +contagion and mortality spread amongst the cattle proceeded from a +spell; like the man who affirmed that his father and mother remained +impotent for seven years, and this ceased only when an old woman had +broken the spell. On this subject, he cites <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span> +a ritual of which Father Martenus does not speak at all, whence it +follows that he did not recognize it for authentic. To give an idea of +the credulity of this writer, it will suffice to read the story he +relates of one Damis. But we find, above all, an incomparable +abridgment of those extravagant wonders in a little book dedicated to +the Cardinal Horace Maffei, entitled, "Compendium Melificarum," or the +"Abridgment of Witches," printed at Milan in 1608.</p> + +<p>XVI. In a word, it is of no little importance to destroy the popular +errors which attack the unalterable attributes of the Supreme Being, +as if he had laid it down as a law to himself that he would condescend +to all the impious and fantastic wishes of malignant spirits, and of +the madman who had recourse to them, by seconding them, and permitting +the wonderful effects that they desire to produce. Do reason and good +sense allow us to imagine that the Sovereign Master of all things, who +for reasons which we are not permitted to examine, refuses so often to +grant our most ardent prayers for what we need, whether it be public +or private, can be so prompt to lend an ear to the requests of the +vilest and most wicked, by allowing that which they desire to happen? +So long as they believe in the reality of magic, that it is able to +work wonders, and that by means of it man can force the demon to obey, +it will be in vain to preach against the superstition, impiety, and +folly of wizards. There will always be found too many people who will +try to succeed in it, and will even fancy they have succeeded in it in +fact. To uproot this pest we must begin by making men clearly +understand that it is useless in them to be guilty of this horrible +crime; that in this way they never obtain anything they wish for, and +that all that is said on this subject is fabulous and chimerical. It +will not be difficult to persuade any sensible person of this truth, +by only leading him to pay attention, and mark if it be possible that +all these pretended miracles can be true, whilst it is proved that +magic has never possessed the power to enrich those who professed it, +which would be much more easy. How could this wonderful art send +maladies to those who were in good health, render a married couple +impotent, or make any one invisible or invulnerable, whilst it has +never been able to bring a hundred crowns, which another would keep +locked up in his strong box? And why do we not make any use of so +wonderful an art in armies? Why is it so little sought after by +princes and their ministers? The most efficacious means for +dissipating all these vain fancies would be never to speak of them, +and to bury them in silence and oblivion. In any place where for time +immemorial no one has ever been suspected of witchcraft, let them only +hear that a monk is arrived to take cognizance of this crime and +punish it, and directly you will see troops of green-sick girls, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span> +hypochondriacal men; crowds of children will be brought to him ill +with unknown maladies; and it will not fail to be affirmed that these +things are caused by spells cast over them, and even when and how the +thing happened. It is certainly a wrong way of proceeding, whether in +sermons, or in the works published against witches, to amuse +themselves with giving the history of all these mad-headed people +boast of, of the circumstances in which they have taken a part, and +the way in which they happened. It is in vain then to declaim against +them, for you may be assured that people are not wanting who suffer +themselves to be dazzled by these pretended miracles, who become +smitten with these effects, so extraordinary and so wonderful, and try +by every means to succeed in them by the very method which has just +been taught them, and forget nothing which can place them in the +number of this imaginary society. It is then with reason that the +author says in his book, that punishment even sometimes serves to +render crime more common, and "that there are never more witches than +in those places where they are most persecuted." I am delighted to be +able to finish with this eulogium, in order that it may be the more +clearly seen that if I have herein attacked magic, it is only with +upright intentions.</p> + +<p>XVII. The eagerness with which I have written this letter has made me +forget several things which might very well have a place in it. The +greatest difficulty which can be opposed to my argument is that we +sometimes find, even amongst people who possess a certain degree of +knowledge and good sense, some persons who will say to you, "But I +have seen this, or that; such and such things have happened to +myself." Upon which it is proper, first of all, to pay attention to +the wonderful tricks of certain jugglers, who, by practice and +address, succeed in deceiving even the most clear-sighted and sensible +persons. It must next be considered that the most natural effects may +sometimes appear beyond the power of nature, when cleverly presented +in the most favorable point of view. I formerly saw a charlatan who, +having driven a nail or a large pin into the head of a chicken, with +that nailed it to a table, so that it appeared dead, and was believed +to be so by all present; after that, the charlatan having taken out +the nail and played some apish tricks, the chicken came to life again +and walked about the room. The secret of all this is that these birds +have in the forepart of the head two bones, joined in such a way that +if anything is driven through with address, though it causes them +pain, yet they do not die of it. You may run large pins into a man's +leg without wounding or hurting him, or but very slightly, just like a +prick which is felt when the pin first enters; which has sometimes +served as a pastime for jokers. In my garden, which, thanks to the +care of M. Seguier, is become quite a botanic garden,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span> I have a plant +called the <i>onagra</i>,[<a href="#f701">701</a><a name="f701.1" id="f701.1"></a>] which rises to the height of a man, and +bears very beautiful flowers; but they remain closed all day, and only +open towards sunset, and that not by degrees, as with all other night +plants, but in budding all at once, and showing themselves in a moment +in all their beauty. A little before their chalice bursts open, it +swells and becomes a little inflated. Now, if any one, profiting by +the last-named peculiarity, which is but little known, wished to +persuade any simple persons that by the help of some magical words he +could, when he would, cause a beautiful flower to bloom, is it not +certain that he would find plenty of people disposed to believe him? +The common people in our days leave nothing undone to find out the +secret of making themselves invulnerable; by which they show that they +ascribe to magic more power than was granted to it by the ancients, +who believed it very capable of doing harm, but not of doing good. So, +when the greater number of the Jews attributed the miracles wrought by +the Saviour to the devil, some of the more sensible and reasonable +among them asked, "Can the devil restore sight to the blind?"[<a href="#f702">702</a><a name="f702.1" id="f702.1"></a>] At +this day, there are more ways than ever of making simple and ignorant +persons believe in magic. For instance, would it be very difficult for +a man to pass himself off as a magician, if he said to those who were +present, "I can, at my will, either send the bullet in this pistol +through this board, or make it simply touch it and fall down at our +feet without piercing it?" Nevertheless, nothing is easier; it only +requires when the pistol is loaded, that instead of pressing the +wadding immediately upon the bullet as is customary, to put it, on the +contrary, at the mouth of the barrel. That being done, when they fire, +if the end of the pistol is raised, the ball, which is not displaced, +will produce the usual effect; but if, on the contrary, the pistol is +lowered, so that the ball runs into the barrel and joins the wadding, +it will fall on the ground from the board without having penetrated +it. It seems to me that something like this may be found in the +"Natural Experiments" of Redi, which I have not at hand just now. But +on this subject, you can consult Jean Baptista, Porta, and others. We +must not, however, place amongst the effects of this kind of magic, +what a friend jokingly observed to me in a very polite letter which he +wrote to me two months ago:—A noisy exhalation having ignited in a +house, and not having been perceived by him who was in the spot +adjoining, nor in any other place, he writes me word that those who, +according to the vulgar prejudice, persisted in believing that these +kinds of fire came from the sky and the clouds, were necessarily +forced to attribute this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span> +effect to real magic. I shall again add, on the subject of electrical +phenomena, that those who think to explain them by means of two +electrical fluids, the one hidden in bodies, and the other circulating +around them, would perhaps say something less strange and surprising, +if they ascribed them to magic. I have endeavored, in the last letter +which is joined to that I wrote upon the subject of exhalations, to +give some explanation of these wonders; and I have done so, at least, +without being obliged to invent from my own head, and without any +foundation, to universal electrical matters which circulate within +bodies and without them. Certainly, the ancient philosophers, who +reasoned so much on the magnet, would have spared themselves a great +deal of trouble, if they had believed it possible to attribute its +admirable properties to a magnetic spirit which proceeded from it. But +the pleasure I should find in arguing with them, might perhaps engage +me in other matters; for which reason I now end my letter.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f672.1">672</a><a name="f672" id="f672"></a>] The author here alludes to the hypogryphe, a winged horse, +invented by Ariosto, that carried the Paladins through the air.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f673.1">673</a><a name="f673" id="f673"></a>] Magicus Vanitates.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f674.1">674</a><a name="f674" id="f674"></a>] Plin. lib. xxx. c. 1.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f675.1">675</a><a name="f675" id="f675"></a>]<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Nocturnos lemures, portentaque Thessala rides?"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 14em;"><span class="smcap">Horat.</span> lib. ii. Ep. 2.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f676.1">676</a><a name="f676" id="f676"></a>] Inexpugnabili magicæ disciplinæ potestate, &c.—Lib. iii.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f677.1">677</a><a name="f677" id="f677"></a>] Delle magiche frodi seppe il Givoco.—<i>Dante, Inf.</i> c. 20.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f678.1">678</a><a name="f678" id="f678"></a>] Pp. 139 and 145.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f679.1">679</a><a name="f679" id="f679"></a>] P. 9.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f680.1">680</a><a name="f680" id="f680"></a>] P. 144.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f681.1">681</a><a name="f681" id="f681"></a>] <i>Goësy</i>, or <i>Goësia</i>, is said to be a kind of magic. It is +asserted that those who profess it repair at night to the tombs, where +they invoke the demon and evil genii by lamentations and complaints.</p> + +<p>In regard to <i>Theurgy</i>, the ancients gave this name to that part of +magic which is called <i>white magic</i>. The word <i>Theurgy</i> signifies the +art of doing divine things, or such as God only can perform—the power +of producing wonderful and supernatural effects by licit means, in +invoking the aid of God and angels. <i>Theurgy</i> differs from <i>natural +magic</i>, which is performed by the powers of nature; and from +<i>necromancy</i>, which is operated only by the invocation of the demons.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f682.1">682</a><a name="f682" id="f682"></a>] P. 170.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f683.1">683</a><a name="f683" id="f683"></a>] P. 654.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f684.1">684</a><a name="f684" id="f684"></a>] P. 749.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f685.1">685</a><a name="f685" id="f685"></a>] P. 9.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f686.1">686</a><a name="f686" id="f686"></a>] P. 30, de Lam.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f687.1">687</a><a name="f687" id="f687"></a>] P. 94.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f688.1">688</a><a name="f688" id="f688"></a>] What is enclosed between the brackets is a long addition sent by +the author to the printer whilst they were working at a second edition +of his letter.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f689.1">689</a><a name="f689" id="f689"></a>] Et vidi angelum descendentem de cœlo habentem clavem abyssi et +catenam magnam in manu suà; et appehendit draconem, serpentem, +antiquum, qui est Diabolus et Satanas, et ligavit eum per annos +mille.—<i>Apoc.</i> xx. 1.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f690.1">690</a><a name="f690" id="f690"></a>] Et cum consummati fuerint mille anni, solvetur Satanas de +carcere suo.—<i>Apoc.</i> v. 7.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f691.1">691</a><a name="f691" id="f691"></a>] Cujus est adventus secundùm operationem Satanæ in omni virtute +et signis et prodigiis mendacibus.—2 Thess. ii. 9.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f692.1">692</a><a name="f692" id="f692"></a>] Joseph. Antiq. lib. viii. c. 2.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f693.1">693</a><a name="f693" id="f693"></a>] Acts viii. 6.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f694.1">694</a><a name="f694" id="f694"></a>] Mittet siquidem Dominus in iram et furorem suum per angelos +pessimos. Hier. ad Eph. i. 7. p. 574.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f695.1">695</a><a name="f695" id="f695"></a>] Vid. de Beatif. lib. iv. p. i. c. 3.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f696.1">696</a><a name="f696" id="f696"></a>] Pp. 67, 75.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f697.1">697</a><a name="f697" id="f697"></a>] P. 243.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f698.1">698</a><a name="f698" id="f698"></a>] Lib. ii. p. 364.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f699.1">699</a><a name="f699" id="f699"></a>] In pecunia divinabunt.—Mich. iii. 11.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f700.1">700</a><a name="f700" id="f700"></a>] P. 127.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f701.1">701</a><a name="f701" id="f701"></a>] Now well known as the evening primrose.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f702.1">702</a><a name="f702" id="f702"></a>] Numquid dæmonium potest cœcorum oculos asperire? Joan. ix, +21.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="LETTER" id="LETTER"></a>LETTER</h2> + +<h3><i>From the</i> <span class="smcap">Reverend Father Dom. Augustine Calmet</span>, <i>Abbot of Sénones, +to</i> <span class="smcap">M. de Bure Senior</span>, <i>Librarian at Paris</i>.</h3> + +<p> </p> +<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>—I have received The Historical and Dogmatical Treatise on +Apparitions, Visions, and particular Revelations, with Observations on +the Dissertations of the Reverend Father Dom. Calmet, Abbot of +Sénones, on Apparitions and Ghosts. At Avignon, 1751. By the Abbé +Lenglet du Frenoy.</p> + +<p>I have looked over this work with pleasure. M. du Frenoy wished to +turn to account therein what he wrote fifty-five years ago, as he says +himself, on the subject of visions, and the life of Maria d'Agreda, of +whom they spoke then, and of whom they still speak even now in so +undecided a manner. M. du Frenoy had undertaken at that time to +examine the affair thoroughly and to show the illusions of it; there +is yet time for him to give his opinion upon it, since the Church has +not declared herself upon the work, on the life and visions of that +famous Spanish abbess.</p> + +<p>It is only accidentally that he composed his remarks on my +Dissertations on Apparitions and Vampires. I have no reason to +complain of him; he has observed towards me the rules of politeness +and good breeding, and I shall try to imitate him in what I say in my +own defence. But if he had read the second edition of my work, printed +at Einsidlen in Switzerland, in 1749; the third, printed in Germany at +Augsburg, in 1750; and the fourth, on which you are now actually +engaged; he might have spared himself the trouble of censuring several +passages which I have corrected, reformed, suppressed, or explained +myself.</p> + +<p>If I had wished to swell my work, I could have added to it some rules, +remarks, and reflections, with a vast number of circumstances. But by +that means I should have fallen into the same error which he seems to +have acknowledged himself, when he says that he has perhaps placed in +his works too many such rules and remarks: and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span> I am persuaded that it +is, in fact, the part that will be least read and least used.[<a href="#f703">703</a><a name="f703.1" id="f703.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>People will be much more struck with stories squeamishly extracted +from Thomas de Cantimpré and Cesarius, whose works are everywhere +decried, and that one dare no longer cite openly without exposing them +to mockery. They will read, with only too much pleasure, what he +relates of the apparitions of Jesus Christ to St. Francis d'Assis, on +the Indulgence of the Partionculus, and the particularities of the +establishment of the Carmelite Fathers, and of the Brotherhood of the +Scapulary, by Simon Stock, to whom the Holy Virgin herself gave the +Scapulary of the order. It will be seen in his work that there are few +religious establishments or societies which are not founded on some +vision or revelation. It seemed even as if it was necessary for the +propagation of certain orders and certain congregations; <i>so that +these kind of revelations were, as it were, taken by storm</i>; and there +seems to have been a competition as to who should produce the greatest +number of them, and the most extraordinary, to have them believed. I +could not persuade myself that he related seriously the pretended +apparition of St. Francis to Erasmus. It is easy to comprehend that it +was a joke of Erasmus, who wished to divert himself at the expense of +the Cordeliers. But one cannot help being pained at the way in which +he treats several fathers of the church, as St. Gregory the Great, St. +Gregory of Tours, St. Sulpicius Severus, Peter the Venerable, Abbot of +Clugny, St. Anselm, Cardinal Pierre Damien, St. Athanasius even, and +St. Ambrose,[<a href="#f704">704</a><a name="f704.1" id="f704.1"></a>] in regard to their credulity, and the account they +have given us of several apparitions and visions, which are little +thought of at this day. I say the same of what he relates of the +visions of St. Elizabeth of Schonau, of St. Hildegrade, of St. +Gertrude, of St. Mecthelda, of St. Bridget, of St. Catherine of +Sienna, and hardly does he show any favor to those of St. Theresa.</p> + +<p>Would it not have been better to leave the world in this respect as it +is,[<a href="#f705">705</a><a name="f705.1" id="f705.1"></a>] rather than disturb the ashes of so many holy personages and +saintly nuns, whose lives are held blessed by the church, and whose +writings and revelations have so little influence over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span> +salvation and the morals of the faithful in general. What service +does it render the church to speak disparagingly of the works of the +contemplatives, of the Thaulers, the Rushbrooks, the Bartholomews of +Pisa, of St. Vincent Ferrier, of St. Bernardine of Sienna, of Henry +Harphius, of Pierre de Natalibus, of Bernardine de Bustis, of Ludolf +the Chartreux, and other authors of that kind, whose writings are so +little read and so little known, whose sectaries are so few in number, +and have so little weight in the world, and even in the church?</p> + +<p>The Abbé du Frenoy acknowledges the visions and revelations which are +clearly marked in Scripture; but is there not reason to fear that +certain persons may apply the rules of criticism which he employs +against the visions of the male and female saints of whom he speaks in +his work, and that they may say, for instance, that Jeremiah yielded +to his melancholy humor, and Ezekiel to his caustic disposition, to +predict sad and disagreeable things to the Jewish people?[<a href="#f706">706</a><a name="f706.1" id="f706.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>We know how many vexations the prophets endured from the Jews, and +that in particular[<a href="#f707">707</a><a name="f707.1" id="f707.1"></a>] those of Anathoth had resolved to put their +countryman Jeremiah to death, to prevent him from prophesying in the +name of the Lord. To what persecutions were not himself and Baruch his +disciple exposed for having spoken in the name of the Lord? Did not +King Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, throw the book of Baruch into the +fire,[<a href="#f708">708</a><a name="f708.1" id="f708.1"></a>] after having hacked it with a penknife, in hatred of the +truths which it announced to him?</p> + +<p>The Jews sometimes went so far as to insult them in their dwellings, +and even to say to them,[<a href="#f709">709</a><a name="f709.1" id="f709.1"></a>] <i>Ubi est verbum Domini? veniat</i>; and +elsewhere, "Let us plot against Jeremiah; for the priests will not +fail to cite the law, and the prophets will not fail to allege the +words of the Lord: come, let us attack him with derision, and pay no +regard to his discourse."</p> + +<p>Isaiah did not endure less vexation and insult, the libertine Jews +having gone even into his house, and said to him +insolently[<a href="#f710">710</a><a name="f710.1" id="f710.1"></a>]—<i>Manda, remanda; expecta, re-expecta; modicum ibi, et +modicum ibi</i>, as if to mock at his threats.</p> + +<p>But all that has not prevailed, nor ever will prevail, against the +truth and word of God; the faithful and exact execution of the threats +of the Lord has justified, and ever will justify, the predictions and +visions of the prophets. The gates of hell will not prevail against +the Christian church, and the word of God will triumph over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span> +malice of hell, the artifice of corrupt men, of libertines, and over +all the subtlety of pretended free-thinkers. True and real visions, +revelations, and apparitions will always bear in themselves a +character of truth, and will serve to destroy those which are false, +and proceed from the spirit of error and delusion. And coming now to +what regards myself in particular, M. du Frenoy says, that the public +have been surprised that instead of placing my proofs before the +circumstances of my apparitions, I have given them afterwards, and +that I have not entered fully enough into the subject of these proofs.</p> + +<p>I am going to give the public an account of my method and design. +Having proposed to myself to prove the truth, the reality, and +consequently the possibility of apparitions, I have related a great +many authentic instances, derived from the Old and New Testament, +which forms a complete proof of my opinion, for the certainty of the +facts carries with it here the certainty of the dogma.</p> + +<p>After that I have related instances and opinions taken from the +Hebrews, Mahometans, Greeks, and Latins, to assure the same truth. I +have been careful not to draw any parallel between these testimonies +and the scriptural ones which preceded. My object in this was to +demonstrate that in every age, and in all civilized nations, the idea +of the immortality of the soul, of its existence after death, of its +return and appearance, is one of those truths which the length of ages +has never been able to efface from the mind of nations.</p> + +<p>I draw the same inference from the instances which I have related, and +of which I do not pretend to guarantee either the truth or the +certainty. I willingly yield all the circumstances that are not +revealed to censure and criticism; I only esteem as true that which is +so in fact.</p> + +<p>M. du Frenoy finds that the proof of the immortality of the soul which +I infer from the apparition of the spirit after death, is not +sufficiently solid; but it is certainly one of the most palpable and +most easy of comprehension to the generality of mankind; it would make +more impression upon them than arguments drawn from philosophy and +metaphysics. I do not intend for that reason to attack any other +proofs of the same truth, or to weaken a dogma so essential to +religion.</p> + +<p>He endeavors to prove, at great length,[<a href="#f711">711</a><a name="f711.1" id="f711.1"></a>] that the salvation of the +Emperor Trajan is not a thing which the Christian religion can +confirm. I agree with him; and it was useless to take any trouble to +demonstrate it.[<a href="#f712">712</a><a name="f712.1" id="f712.1"></a>]</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span>He speaks of the young man of Delme,[<a href="#f713">713</a><a name="f713.1" id="f713.1"></a>] who having fallen into a +swoon remained in it some days; they brought him back to life, and a +languor remained upon him which at last led to his death at the end of +the year. It is thus he arranges that story.</p> + +<p>M. du Frenoy disguises the affair a little; and although I do not +believe that the devil could restore the youth to life, nevertheless +the original and cotemporaneous authors whom I have quoted maintain +that the demon had much to do with this event.[<a href="#f714">714</a><a name="f714.1" id="f714.1"></a>]</p> + +<p>What has principally prevented me from giving rules and prescribing a +method for discerning true and false apparitions is, that I am quite +persuaded that the way in which they occur is absolutely unknown to +us; that it contains insurmountable difficulties; and that consulting +only the rules of philosophy, I should be more disposed to believe +them impossible than to affirm their truth and possibility. But I am +restrained by respect for the Holy Scriptures, by the testimony of all +antiquity and by the tradition of the Church.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;">"I am, sir,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Your very humble</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">and very obedient servant,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 10em;"><span class="smcap">D. A. Calmet</span>, Abbot of Sénones."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p>Footnotes:</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f703.1">703</a><a name="f703" id="f703"></a>] Dom. Calmet has a very bad opinion of the public, to believe +that it values so little what is, perhaps, the best and most sensible +part of the book. Wise people think quite differently from himself.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f704.1">704</a><a name="f704" id="f704"></a>] Neither Gregory of Tours, nor Sulpicius Severus, nor Peter the +Venerable, nor Pierre Damien, have ever been placed in a parallel line +with the fathers of the Church. In regard to the latter, it has always +been allowable, without failing in the respect which is due to them, +to remark certain weaknesses in their works, sometimes even errors, as +the Church has done in condemning the Millenaries, &c.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f705.1">705</a><a name="f705" id="f705"></a>] An excellent maxim for fomenting credulity and nourishing +superstition.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f706.1">706</a><a name="f706" id="f706"></a>] What a parallel! how could any one make it without renouncing +common sense?</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f707.1">707</a><a name="f707" id="f707"></a>] Jeremiah xxi. 21.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f708.1">708</a><a name="f708" id="f708"></a>] Jerem. xxxvi.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f709.1">709</a><a name="f709" id="f709"></a>] Jerem. xvii. 15.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f710.1">710</a><a name="f710" id="f710"></a>] Isai. xxviii. 10.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f711.1">711</a><a name="f711" id="f711"></a>] Tom. ii. p. 92 <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p>[<a href="#f712.1">712</a><a name="f712" id="f712"></a>] It is true that what Dom. Calmet had said of this in his first +edition, the only one M. Lenglet has seen, has been corrected in the +following ones.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f713.1">713</a><a name="f713" id="f713"></a>] P. 155.</p> + +<p>[<a href="#f714.1">714</a><a name="f714" id="f714"></a>] A bad foundation; credulous or interested authors.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2><a name="THE_END" id="THE_END"></a>THE END.</h2> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p>Transcriber's Notes:</p> +<p>Original does not include pages 1-36.</p> + +<p>Blank spaces represent corresponding blank spaces in the original.</p> + +<p>Punctuation in footnotes has been standardized.</p> + +<p>Footnote marker removed on page 268; no corresponding footnote + text. Original text: "the passage of the book of Tobit;[1]..."</p> + +<p>Other than noted corrections, spelling and punctuation is presented as in the original.</p> + +<p>Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to +indicate both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as +presented in the original text.</p> + +<p>Some quotes are opened with marks but are not closed. Obvious errors + have been silently closed, while those requiring interpretation have + been left open.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom World, by Augustin Calmet + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM WORLD *** + +***** This file should be named 29412-h.htm or 29412-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/4/1/29412/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Stephanie Eason and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This book was produced from scanned images of public +domain material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Phantom World + or, The philosophy of spirits, apparitions, &c, &c. + +Author: Augustin Calmet + +Editor: Henry Christmas + +Release Date: July 14, 2009 [EBook #29412] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM WORLD *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Stephanie Eason and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This book was produced from scanned images of public +domain material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + THE + PHANTOM WORLD: + THE HISTORY + AND + PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITS, APPARITIONS, + &c. &c. + + + FROM THE FRENCH OF AUGUSTINE CALMET. + + + WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES + BY THE + REV. HENRY CHRISTMAS, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., LIBRARIAN AND SECRETARY OF + SION COLLEGE. + + +Quemadmodum multa fieri non posse, priusquam facta sunt, judicantur; +ita multa quoque, quae antiquitus facta, quia nos ea non vidimus, neque +ratione assequimur, ex iis esse, quae fieri non potuerunt, judicamus. +Quae certe summa insipientia est.--PLIN. _Hist. Nat._ lib. vii. c. 1. + + + + TWO VOLUMES IN ONE. + + PHILADELPHIA: + A. HART, LATE CAREY & HART. + 1850. + + + + + PHILADELPHIA: + T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS. + + + + + TO + HENRY JAMES SLACK, ESQ., F.G.S. + &c. &c. &c. + + + + MY DEAR HENRY-- + +I inscribe these volumes with your name to record a friendship which +has lasted from our infancy, tain____________ suspicion, and darkened +by no shadow. + +So long as eminent talents can challenge admiration, varied and +extensive acquirements command respect, and unfeigned virtues ensure +esteem and regard, so long will you have no common claim to them all; +and none will pay the tribute more gladly than your affectionate + + Friend and Cousin, + HENRY CHRISTMAS. + + SION COLLEGE, _March, 1850._ + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Among the many phases presented by human credulity, few are more +interesting than those which regard the realities of the invisible +world. If the opinions which have been held on this subject were +written and gathered together they would form hundreds of volumes--if +they were arranged and digested they would form a few, but most +important. It is not merely because there is in almost every human +error a substratum of truth, and that the more important the subject +the more important the substratum, but because the investigation will +give almost a history of human aberrations, that this otherwise +unpromising topic assumes so high an interest. The superstitions of +every age, for no age is free from them, will present the popular +modes of thinking in an intelligible and easily accessible form, and +may be taken as a means of gauging (if the expression be permitted) +the philosophical and metaphysical capacities of the period. In this +light, the volumes here presented to the reader will be found of great +value, for they give a picture of the popular mind at a time or great +interest, and furnish a clue to many difficulties in the ecclesiastical +affairs of that era. In the time of Calmet, cases of demoniacal +possession, and instances of returns from the world of spirits, were +reputed to be of no uncommon occurrence. The church was continually +called on to exert her powers of exorcism; and the instances gathered +by Calmet, and related in this work, may be taken as fair specimens of +the rest. It is then, first, as a storehouse of facts, or reputed +facts, that Calmet compiled the work now in the reader's hands--as the +foundation on which to rear what superstructure of system they pleased; +and secondly, as a means of giving his own opinions, in a detached and +desultory way, as the subjects came under his notice. The value of the +first will consist in their _evidence_--and of this the reader will be +as capable of judging as the compiler; that of the second will depend +on their truth--and of this, too, we are as well, and in some respects +better, able to judge than Calmet himself. Those accustomed to require +rigid evidence will be but ill satisfied with the greater part of that +which will be found in this work; simple assertion for the most part +suffices--often first made long after the facts, or supposed facts, +related, and not unfrequently far off from the places where they were +alleged to have taken place. But these cases are often the _best_ +authenticated, for in the more modern ones there is frequently such an +evident mistake in the whole nature of the case, that all the +spiritual deductions made from it fall to the ground. + +Not a few instances of so-called demoniacal possession are capable of +being resolved into cataleptic trance, a state not unlike that +produced by mesmerism, and in which many of the same phenomena seem +naturally to display themselves; the well-known instance of the young +servant girl, related by Coleridge, who, though ignorant and uneducated, +could during her sleep-walking discourse learnedly in rabbinical +Hebrew, would furnish a case in point. The circumstance of her old +master having been in the habit of walking about the house at night, +reading from rabbinical books aloud and in a declamatory manner; the +impression made by the strange sounds upon her youthful imagination; +their accurate retention by a memory, which, however, could only +reproduce them in an abnormal condition--all teach us many most +interesting psychological facts, which, had this young girl fallen +into other hands, would have been useless in a philosophical point of +view, and would have been only used to establish the doctrine of +diabolical possession and ecclesiastical exorcism. We should have been +told how skilled was the fallen angel in rabbinical traditions, and +how wholesome a terror he entertained of the Jesuits, the Capuchins, +or the _Fratres Minimi_, as the case might be. Not a few of the most +remarkable cases of supposed _modern_ possession are to be accounted +for by involuntary or natural mesmerism. Indeed the same view seems to +be taken by a popular minister of the church (Mr. Mac Niel), in our +own day, viz., that mesmerism and diabolical possession are frequently +identical. Our difference with him is that we should consider the +cases called by the two names as all natural, and he would consider +them as all supernatural. And here, to avoid misconception, or rather +misinterpretation, let me at once observe, that I speak thus of +_modern_ and _recorded_ cases only, accepting _literally_ all related +in the New Testament, and not presuming to say that similar cases +_might_ not occur now. Calmet, however, may be supposed to have +collected all the most remarkable of modern times, and I am compelled +to say I believe not one of them. But when we pass from the evidence +of truth, in which they are so wanting, to the evidence of fraud and +collusion by which many are so characterized, we shall have less wonder +at the general spread of infidelity in times somewhat later, on all +subjects not susceptible of ocular demonstration. Where a system +claimed to be received as a whole, or not at all, it is hardly to be +wondered at that when some portion was manifestly wrong, its own +requirements should be complied with, and the whole rejected. The +system which required an implicit belief in such absurdities as those +related in these volumes, and placed them on a level with the most +awful verities of religion, might indeed make some interested use of +them in an age of comparative darkness, but certainly contained within +itself the seeds of destruction, and which could not fail to germinate +as soon as light fell upon them. The state of Calmet's own mind, as +revealed in this book, is curious and interesting. The belief _of the +intellect_ in much which he relates is evidently gone, the belief _of +the will_ but partially remains. There is a painful sense of +uncertainty as to whether certain things _ought_ not to be received +more fully than he felt himself able to receive them, and he gladly +follows in many cases the example of Herodotus of old, merely relating +stories without comment, save by stating that they had not fallen +under his own observation. + +The time, indeed, had hardly come to assert freedom of belief on +subjects such as these. Theology embraced philosophy, and the Holy +Inquisition defended the orthodoxy of both; and if the investigators +of Calmet's day were permitted to hold, with some limitation, the +Copernican theory, it was far otherwise with regard to the world of +spirits, and its connection with our own. The rotundity of the earth +affected neither shrines nor exorcisms; metaphysical truth might do +both one and the other; and the cry of "Great is Diana of the +Ephesians," was not raised in the capital of Asia Minor, till the +"craft by which we get our wealth" was proved to be in danger. + +Reflections such as these are painfully forced on us by the evident +fraud exhibited by many of the actors in the scenes of exorcism +narrated by Calmet, the vile purposes to which the services of the +church were turned, and the recklessness with which the supposed or +pretended evil, and equally pretended remedy, were used for political +intrigue or state oppression. + +Independent of these conclusions, there is something lamentable in a +state of the public mind, which was so little prone to examination as +to receive such a mass of superstition without sifting the wheat, for +such there undoubtedly is, from the chaff. Calmet's work contains +enough, had we the minor circumstances in each case preserved, to set +at rest many philosophic doubts, and to illustrate many physical +facts; and to those who desire to know what was believed by our +Christian forefathers, and why it was believed, the compilation is +absolutely invaluable. Calmet was a man of naturally cool, calm +judgment, possessed of singular learning, and was pious and truthful. +A short sketch of his life will not, perhaps, be unacceptable to the +reader. + +Augustine Calmet was born in the year 1672, at a village near +Commerci, in Lorraine. He early gave proofs of aptitude for study, and +an opportunity was speedily offered of devoting himself to a life of +learning. In his sixteenth year he became a Benedictine of the +Congregation of St. Vannes, and prosecuted his theological and such +philosophical studies as the time allowed with great success. He was +soon appointed to teach the younger portion of the community, and gave +in this employment such decided satisfaction to his superiors, that he +was soon marked for preferment. His chief study was the Scriptures; +and in the twenty-second year of his age, a period unusually early, in +an age when all benefices and beneficial employments were matters of +sale, he was appointed to be sub-prior of the monastery of Munster, in +Alsace, where he presided over an academy. This academy consisted of +ten or twelve monks, and its object was the investigation of +Scripture. Calmet was not idle in his new position; besides +communicating so much valuable information as to make his pupils the +best biblical scholars of the country, he made extensive collections +for his Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, and for his still +more celebrated work, the History of the Bible. These materials he +subsequently digested and arranged. The Commentary, a work of immense +value, was published in separate volumes from 1707 to 1716. His labors +attracted renewed and increased attention, and the offer of a +bishopric was made to him, which he unhesitatingly declined. + +In 1718, he was elected to the abbacy of St. Leopold, in Nancy; and +ten years afterwards, to that of Senones, where he spent the remainder +of his days. His writings are numerous--two have been already +mentioned--and so great was the popularity attained by his +Commentaries, that they have been translated into no fewer than six +languages within ten years. It exhibits a favorable aspect of the +author's mind, and gives a very high idea of his erudition. One cause +which tended greatly to its universal acceptability, was its singular +freedom from sectarian bitterness. Protestants as well as Romanists +may use it with equal satisfaction; and accordingly, it is considered +a work of standard authority in England as much as on the continent. + +In addition to these Commentaries, and his History of the Bible, and +Fragments, (the best edition of which latter work in English, is by +Isaac Taylor,) he wrote the "Ecclesiastical and Civil History of +Lorraine;" "A Catalogue of the Writers of Lorraine;" "Universal +History, Sacred and Profane;" a small collection of Reveries; and a +work entitled, "A Literal, Moral, and Historical Commentary on the +Rule of St. Benedict," a work which is full of curious information on +ancient customs, particularly ecclesiastical. He is among the few, +also, who have written on ancient music. He lived to a good old age; +and died regretted and much respected in 1757. + +Of all his works, the one presented here to the reader, is perhaps the +most popular; it went rapidly through many editions, and received from +the author's hand continual corrections and additions. To say that it +is characterized by uniform judgment, would be to give it a praise +somewhat different as well as somewhat greater than that which it +merits. It is a vast repertory of legends, more or less probable; some +of which have very little foundation--and some which Calmet himself +would have done well to omit, though _now_, as a picture of the belief +entertained in that day, they greatly add to the value of the book. +For the same reasons which have caused the retention of these +passages, no alterations have been made in the citations from +Scripture, which being translations from the Vulgate, necessarily +differ in phraseology from the version in use among ourselves. The +apocryphal books too are quoted, and the story of Bel and the Dragon +referred to as a part of the prophecy of Daniel; but what is of +consequence to observe, is, that _doctrines_ are founded on these +translations, and on those very points in which they differ from our +own. + +If the history of popery, and especially that form and development of +it exhibited in the monastic orders, be ever written, this work will +be of the greatest importance:--it will show the means by which +dominion was obtained over the minds of the ignorant; how the most +sacred mysteries were perverted; and frauds, which can hardly be +termed pious, used to support institutions which can scarcely be +called religious. That the spirits of the dead should be permitted to +return to earth, under circumstances the most grotesque, to support +the doctrines of masses for the dead, purgatory and propitiatory +penance; that demons should be exorcised to give testimony to the +merits of rival orders of monks and friars; that relics, many of them +supposititious, and many of the most disgusting and blasphemous +character, should have power to affect the eternal state of the +departed; and that _all_ saints, angels, demons, and the ghosts of the +departed, should support, with great variations indeed, the corrupt +dealings of a corrupt priesthood--form a creed worthy of the darkest +and most unworthy days of heathenism. + +There is, however, one excuse, or rather palliation, for the +superstition of that time. In periods of great public depravity--and +few epochs have been more depraved than that in which Calmet +lived--Satan has great power. With a ruler like the regent Duke of +Orleans, with a Church governor like Cardinal Dubois, it would appear +that the civil and ecclesiastical authority of France had sold itself, +like Ahab of old, to work wickedness; or, as the apostle says, "to +work all uncleanness with greediness." In an age so characterized, it +does not seem at all improbable that portentous events should from +time to time occur; that the servants of the devil should be +strengthened together with their master; that many should be given +over to strong delusions and to believe a lie; and that the evil part +of the invisible world should be permitted to ally itself more closely +with the men of an age so congenial. Real cases of demoniacal +possession might, perhaps, be met with, and though scarcely amenable +to the exorcisms of a clergy so corrupt as that of France in that day, +they would yet justify a belief in the reality of those cases got up +for the sake of filthy lucre, personal ambition, or private revenge. +If the public mind was prepared for a belief in such cases, there were +not wanting men to turn it to profitable account; and the quiet +student who believed the efficacy of the means used, and was scarcely +aware of the wickedness of the age in which he lived, might easily be +induced to credit the tales told him of demons expelled by the power +of a church, to which in the beginning an authority to do so had +undoubtedly been given, and whose awful corruptions were to him at +least greatly veiled. + +Calmet was a man of great integrity and considerable acumen, but he +passed an innocent and exemplary life in studious seclusion; he mixed +little with the world at large, resided remote "from courts, and +camps, and strife of war or peace;" and there appears occasionally in +his writings a kind of nervous apprehension lest the dogmas of the +church to which he was pledged should be less capable than he could +wish of satisfactory investigation. When he meets with tales like +those of the vampires or vroucolacas, which concern only what he +considered a heretical church, and with which, therefore, he might +deal according to his own will--apply to them the ordinary rules of +evidence, and treat them as mundane affairs--there he is +clear-sighted, critical and acute, and accordingly he discusses the +matter philosophically and logically, and concludes without fear of +sinning against the church, that the whole is delusion. When, on the +other hand, he has to deal with cases of demoniacal possession, in +countries under the rule of the Roman hierarchy, he contents himself +with the decisions of the scholastic divines and the opinions of the +fathers, and makes frequent references to the decrees of various +provincial parliaments. The effects of such a state of mind upon +scientific and especially metaphysical investigation, may be easily +imagined, and are to be traced more or less distinctly in every page +of the work before us. + +To conclude: books like this--the "Disquisitiones Magicae" of Delrio, +the "Demonomanie" of Bodin, the "Malleus Maleficarum" of Sprengel, and +the like, are at no time to be regarded merely as subjects of +amusement; they have their philosophical value; they have a still +greater historical value; and they show how far even upright minds may +be warped by imperfect education, and slavish deference to authority. + +The edition here followed is that of 1751, which contains the latest +corrections of the author, and several additional pieces, which are +all included in the present volumes. + + SION COLLEGE, LONDON WALL, + _April, 1850._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + PAGE + +PREFACE xv + +CHAPTER + +I. The Appearance of Good Angels proved by the Books of the + Old Testament 37 + +II. The Appearance of Good Angels proved by the Books of the + New Testament 38 + +III. Under what form have Good Angels appeared? 41 + +IV. Opinions of the Jews, Christians, Mahometans, and Oriental + Nations, concerning the Apparitions of Good Angels 44 + +V. Opinion of the Greeks and Romans on the Apparitions of + Good Genii 47 + +VI. The Apparition of Bad Angels proved by the Holy + Scriptures--Under what Form they have appeared 50 + +VII. Of Magic 57 + +VIII. Objections to the Reality of Magic 61 + +IX. Reply to the Objections 63 + +X. Examination of the Affair of Hocque, Magician 67 + +XI. Magic of the Egyptians and Chaldeans 70 + +XII. Magic among the Greeks and Romans 73 + +XIII. Examples which prove the Reality of Magic 75 + +XIV. Effects of Magic according to the Poets 81 + +XV. Of the Pagan Oracles 83 + +XVI. The Certainty of the Event predicted, is not always a + proof that the Prediction comes from God 86 + +XVII. Reasons which lead us to believe that the greater part + of the Ancient Oracles were only Impositions of the + Priests and Priestesses, who feigned that they were + inspired by God 89 + +XVIII. On Sorcerers and Sorceresses, or Witches 93 + +XIX. Instances of Sorcerers and Witches being, as they said, + transported to the Sabbath 98 + +XX. Story of Louis Gaufredi and Magdalen de la Palud, owned + by themselves to be a Sorcerer and Sorceress 102 + +XXI. Reasons which prove the Possibility of Sorcerers and + Witches being transported to the Sabbath 106 + +XXII. Continuation of the same Subject 111 + +XXIII. Obsession and Possession of the Devil 114 + +XXIV. The Truth and Reality of Possession and Obsession by + the Devil proved from Scripture 117 + +XXV. Examples of Real Possessions caused by the Devil 119 + +XXVI. Continuation of the same Subject 123 + +XXVII. Objections against the Obsessions and Possessions of + the Demon--Reply to the Objections 128 + +XXVIII. Continuation of Objections against Possessions, and + some Replies to those Objections 132 + +XXIX. Of Familiar Spirits 138 + +XXX. Some other Examples of Elves 142 + +XXXI. Spirits that keep Watch over Treasure 149 + +XXXII. Other instances of Hidden Treasures, which were guarded + by Good or Bad Spirits 153 + +XXXIII. Spectres which appear, and predict things unknown and + to come 156 + +XXXIV. Other Apparitions of Spectres 159 + +XXXV. Examination of the Apparition of a pretended Spectre 163 + +XXXVI. Of Spectres which haunt Houses 165 + +XXXVII. Other Instances of Spectres which haunt certain Houses 170 + +XXXVIII. Prodigious effects of Imagination in those Men or + Women who believe they hold Intercourse with the + Demon 172 + +XXXIX. Return and Apparitions of Souls after the Death of the + Body, proved from Scripture 176 + +XL. Apparitions of Spirits proved from History 180 + +XLI. More Instances of Apparitions 185 + +XLII. On the Apparitions of Spirits who imprint their Hands + on Clothes or on Wood 190 + +XLIII. Opinions of the Jews, Greeks, and Latins, concerning + the Dead who are left unburied 195 + +XLIV. Examination of what is required or revealed to the Living + by the Dead who return to Earth 201 + +XLV. Apparitions of Men still alive, to other living Men, + absent, and very distant from each other 204 + +XLVI. Arguments concerning Apparitions 216 + +XLVII. Objections against Apparitions, and Replies to those + Objections 221 + +XLVIII. Some other Objections and Replies 224 + +XLIX. The Secrets of Physics and Chemistry taken for + supernatural things 229 + +L. Conclusion of the Treatise on Apparitions 232 + +LI. Way of explaining Apparitions 235 + +LII. The difficulty of explaining the manner in which + Apparitions make their appearance, whatever system may + be proposed on the subject 237 + + + +DISSERTATION ON THE GHOSTS WHO RETURN TO EARTH BODILY, THE +EXCOMMUNICATED, THE OUPIRES OR VAMPIRES, VROUCOLACAS, ETC. 241 + +PREFACE 243 + +CHAPTER + +I. The Resurrection of a Dead Person is the Work of God only 247 + +II. Revival of Persons who were not really Dead 249 + +III. Resurrection of a Man who had been buried Three Years, + resuscitated by St. Stanislaus 251 + +IV. Can a Man really Dead appear in his own Body? 253 + +V. Revival or Apparition of a Girl who had been Dead some + Months 256 + +VI. A Woman taken Alive from her Tomb 259 + +VII. Revenans, or Vampires of Moravia 260 + +VIII. Dead Persons in Hungary who suck the Blood of the Living 262 + +IX. Narrative of a Vampire from the Jewish Letters, Letter 137 263 + +X. Other Instances of Revenans.--Continuation of the "Gleaner" 264 + +XI. Argument of the Author of the Jewish Letters, concerning + Revenans 266 + +XII. Continuation of the argument of the Dutch Gleaner 270 + +XIII. Narrative from the "Mercure Gallant" of 1693 and 1694 + on Revenans 272 + +XIV. Conjectures of the "Glaneur de Hollandais" 273 + +XV. Another Letter on Ghosts 276 + +XVI. Pretended Vestiges of Vampirism in Antiquity 278 + +XVII. Ghosts in Northern Countries 282 + +XVIII. Ghosts in England 283 + +XIX. Ghosts in Peru 284 + +XX. Ghosts in Lapland 285 + +XXI. Return of a Man who had been Dead some Months 285 + +XXII. Excommunicated Persons who went out of Churches 289 + +XXIII. Some Instances of the Excommunicated being rejected or + cast out of Consecrated Ground 291 + +XXIV. Instance of an Excommunicated Martyr being cast out of + the Ground 292 + +XXV. A Man cast out of the Church for having refused to pay + Tithes 293 + +XXVI. Instances of Persons who have given Signs of Life after + their Death, and have withdrawn themselves respectfully + to make room for more worthy Persons 294 + +XXVII. People who perform Pilgrimage after Death 296 + +XXVIII. Reasoning upon the Excommunicated who go out of + Churches 297 + +XXIX. Do the Excommunicated rot in the Earth? 300 + +XXX. Instances to show that the Excommunicated do not rot, and + that they appear to the Living 301 + +XXXI. Instances of these Returns to Earth of the Excommunicated 302 + +XXXII. A Vroucolacan exhumed in the presence of M. de + Tournefort 304 + +XXXIII. Has the Demon power to kill, and then to restore to + Life? 308 + +XXXIV. Examination of the Opinion that the Demon can restore + Animation to a Dead Body 310 + +XXXV. Instances of Phantoms which have appeared to the Living + and given many Signs of Life 313 + +XXXVI. Devoting People to Death, practised by the Heathens 314 + +XXXVII. Instances of dooming to Death among Christians 317 + +XXXVIII. Instances of Persons who have promised to give each + other News of themselves from the other World 321 + +XXXIX. Extracts from the Political Works of the Abbe de St. + Pierre 325 + +XL. Divers Systems to explain Ghosts 331 + +XLI. Divers Instances of Persons being Buried Alive 333 + +XLII. Instances of Drowned Persons who have come back to Life + and Health 335 + +XLIII. Instances of Women thought Dead who came to Life again 337 + +XLIV. Can these Instances be applied to the Hungarian Revenans? 339 + +XLV. Dead People who chew in their Graves and devour their own + Flesh 340 + +XLVI. Singular Example of a Hungarian Revenant 341 + +XLVII. Argument on this matter 343 + +XLVIII. Are the Vampires or Revenans really Dead? 344 + +XLIX. Instance of a Man named Curma being sent back to this + World 351 + +L. Instances of Persons who fall into Ecstatic Trances when + they will, and remain senseless 354 + +LI. Application of such Instances to Vampires 356 + +LII. Examination of the Opinion that the Demon fascinates the + Eyes of those to whom Vampires appear 360 + +LIII. Instances of Resuscitated Persons who relate what they + saw in the other World 361 + +LIV. The Traditions of the Pagans on the other Life, are + derived from the Hebrews and Egyptians 364 + +LV. Instances of Christians being Resuscitated and sent back + to this World.--Vision of Vetinus, a Monk of Augia 366 + +LVI. Vision of Bertholdas, related by Hincmar, Archbishop of + Rheims 368 + +LVII. Vision of St. Fursius 369 + +LVIII. Vision of a Protestant of York, and others 371 + +LIX. Conclusion of this Dissertation 374 + +LX. Moral Impossibility that Ghosts can come out of their Tombs 376 + +LXI. What is related of the Bodies of the Excommunicated who + walk out of Churches, is subject to very great + Difficulties (in Belief and Explanation) 378 + +LXII. Remarks on the Dissertation, concerning the Spirit which + came to St. Maur des Fosses 380 + +LXIII. Dissertation of an Anonymous Writer on what should be + thought of the Appearance of Spirits, on Occasion of + the Adventure at St. Maur, in 1706 387 + + Letter of the Marquis Maffei on Magic 407 + + Letter of the Reverend Father Dom Calmet, to M. Debure 440 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The great number of authors who have written upon the apparitions of +angels, demons, and disembodied souls is not unknown to me; and I do +not presume sufficiently on my own capacity to believe that I shall +succeed better in it than they have done, and that I shall enhance +their knowledge and their discoveries. I am perfectly sensible that I +expose myself to criticism, and perhaps to the mockery of many +readers, who regard this matter as done with, and decried in the minds +of philosophers, learned men, and many theologians. I must not reckon +either on the approbation of the people, whose want of discernment +prevents their being competent judges of this same. My aim is not to +foment superstition, nor to feed the vain curiosity of visionaries, +and those who believe without examination everything that is related +to them as soon as they find therein anything marvelous and +supernatural. I write only for reasonable and unprejudiced minds, +which examine things seriously and coolly; I speak only for those who +assent even to known truth but after mature reflection, who know how +to doubt of what is uncertain, to suspend their judgment on what is +doubtful, and to deny what is manifestly false. + +As for pretended freethinkers, who reject everything to distinguish +themselves, and to place themselves above the common herd, I leave +them in their elevated sphere; they will think of this work as they +may consider proper, and as it is not calculated for them, apparently +they will not take the trouble to read it. + +I undertook it for my own information, and to form to myself a just +idea of all that is said on the apparitions of angels, of the demon, +and of disembodied souls. I wished to see how far that matter was +certain or uncertain, true or false, known or unknown, clear or +obscure. + +In this great number of facts which I have collected I have endeavored +to make a choice, and not to heap together too great a multitude of +them, for fear that in the too numerous examples the doubtful might +not harm the certain, and in wishing to prove too much I might prove +absolutely nothing. There will, even amongst those I have cited, be +found some which will not easily be credited by many readers, and I +allow them to regard them as not related. + +I beg those readers, nevertheless, to discern justly amongst these +facts and instances; after which they can with me form their +opinion--affirm, deny, or remain in doubt. + +From the respect which every man owes to truth, and the veneration +which a Christian and a priest owes to religion, it appeared to me +very important to undeceive people respecting the opinion which they +have of apparitions, if they believe them all to be true; or to +instruct them and show them the truth and reality of a great number, +if they think them all false. It is always shameful to be deceived; +_____________________and in regard to religion, to believe on light +grounds, to remain wilfully in doubt, or to maintain oneself without +any reason in superstition and illusion; it is already much to know +how to doubt wisely, and not to form a decided opinion beyond what one +really knows. + +I never had any idea of treating profoundly the matter of apparitions; +I have treated of it, as it were, by chance, and occasionally. My +first and principal object was to discourse of the vampires of +Hungary. In collecting my materials on that subject, I found many +things concerning apparitions; the great number of these embarrassed +this treatise on vampires. I detached some of them, and thus have +composed this treatise on apparitions: there still remains a large +number of them, which I might have separated for the better +arrangement of this treatise. Many persons here have taken the +accessory for the principal, and have paid more attention to the first +part than to the second, which was, however, the first and the +principal in my design. For I own I have always been much struck with +what was related of the vampires or ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, and +Poland; of the vroucolacas of Greece; and of the excommunicated, who +are said not to rot. I thought I ought to bestow on it all the +attention in my power; and I have deemed it right to treat on this +subject in a particular dissertation. After having deeply studied it, +and obtaining as much information as I was able, I found little +solidity and certainty on the subject; which, joined to the opinion of +some prudent and respectable persons whom I consulted, had induced me +to give up my design entirely, and to renounce laboring on a subject +which is so contradictory, and embraces so much uncertainty. + +But looking at the matter in another point of view, I resumed my pen, +decided upon undeceiving the public, if I found that what was said of +it was absolutely false; showing that what is uttered on this subject +is uncertain, and that one ought to be very reserved in pronouncing on +these vampires, which have made so much noise in the world for a +certain time, and still divide opinions at this day, even in the +countries which are the scene of their pretended return, and where +they appear; or to show that what has been said and written on this +subject is not destitute of probability, and that the subject of the +return of vampires is worthy the attention of the curious and the +learned, and deserves to be seriously studied, to have the facts +related of it examined, and the causes, circumstances, and means +sounded deeply. + +I am then about to examine this question as a historian, philosopher, +and theologian. As a historian, I shall endeavor to discover the truth +of the facts; as a philosopher, I shall examine the causes and +circumstances; lastly, the knowledge or light of theology will cause +me to deduce consequences as relating to religion. Thus I do not write +in the hope of convincing freethinkers and pyrrhonians, who will not +allow the existence of ghosts or vampires, nor even of the apparitions +of angels, demons, and spirits; nor to intimidate those weak and +credulous, by relating to them extraordinary stories of apparitions. I +do not reckon either on curing the superstitious of their errors, nor +the people of their prepossessions; not even on correcting the abuses +which arise from this unenlightened belief, nor of doing away all the +doubts which may be formed on apparitions; still less do I pretend to +erect myself as a judge and censor of the works and sentiments of +others, nor to distinguish myself, make myself a name, or divert +myself, by spreading abroad dangerous doubts upon a subject which +concerns religion, and from which they might make wrong deductions +against the certainty of the Scriptures, and against the unshaken +dogmas of our creed. I shall treat it as solidly and gravely as it +merits; and I pray God to give me that knowledge which is necessary to +do it successfully. + +I exhort my reader to distinguish between the facts related, and the +manner in which they happened. The fact may be certain, and the way in +which it occurred unknown. Scripture relates certain apparitions of +angels and disembodied souls; these instances are indubitable and +found in the revelations of the holy books; but the manner in which +God operated the resurrections, or in which he permitted these +apparitions to take place, is hidden among his secrets. It is +allowable for us to examine them, to seek out the circumstances, and +propound some conjectures on the manner in which it all came to pass; +but it would be rash to decide upon a matter which God has not thought +proper to reveal to us. I say as much in proportion, concerning the +stories related by sensible, contemporary, and judicious authors, who +simply relate the facts without entering into the examination of the +circumstances, of which, perhaps, they themselves were not well +informed. + +It has already been objected to me, that I cited poets and authors of +little credit, in support of a thing so grave and so disputed as the +apparition of spirits: such authorities, they say, are more calculated +to cast a doubt on apparitions, than to establish the truth of them. + +But I cite those authors as witnesses of the opinions of nations; and +I count it not a small thing in the extreme license of opinions, which +at this day predominates in the world, amongst those even who make a +profession of Christianity, to be able to show that the ancient Greeks +and Romans thought that souls were immortal, that they subsisted after +the death of the body, and that there was another life, in which they +received the reward of their good actions, or the chastisement of +their crimes. + +Those sentiments which we read in the poets, are also repeated in the +fathers of the church, and the pagan and Christian historians; but as +they did not pretend to think them weighty, nor to approve them in +repeating them, it must not be imputed to me either, that I have any +intention of authorizing. For instance, what I have related of the +manes, or lares; of the evocation of souls after the death of the +body; of the avidity of these souls to suck the blood of the immolated +animals, of the shape of the soul separated from the body, of the +inquietude of souls which have no rest until their bodies are under +ground; of those superstitious statues of wax which are devoted and +consecrated under the name of certain persons whom the magicians +pretended to kill by burning and stabbing their effigies of wax; of +the transportation of wizards and witches through the air, and of +their assemblies of the Sabbath; all those things are related both in +the works of the philosophers and pagan historians, as well as in the +poets. + +I know the value of one and the other, and I esteem them as they +deserve; but I think that in treating this matter, it is important to +make known to our readers the ancient superstitions, the vulgar or +common opinions, and the prejudices of nations, to be able to refute +them, and bring back the figures to truths, by freeing them from what +poesy had added for the embellishment of the poem, and the amusement +of the reader. + +Moreover, I generally repeat this kind of thing, only when it is +apropos of certain facts avowed by historians, and by other grave and +rational authors; and sometimes rather as an ornament of the +discourse, or to enliven the matter, than to derive thence certain +proofs and consequences necessary for the dogma, or to certify the +facts and give weight to my recital. + +I know how little we must depend on what Lucian says on this subject; +he only speaks of it to make game of it. Philostratus, Jamblicus, and +some others, do not merit more consideration; therefore I quote them +only to refute them, or to show how far idle and ridiculous credulity +has been carried on these matters, which were laughed at by the most +sensible among the heathens themselves. + +The consequences which I deduce from all these stories, and these +poetical fictions, and the manner in which I speak of them in the +course of this dissertation, sufficiently vouch that esteem, and give +as true and certain only what is so in fact; and that I do not wish to +impose on my reader, by relating many things which I myself regard as +false, or as doubtful, or even as fabulous. But that ought to be +prejudicial to the dogma of the immortality of the soul, and to that +of another life, not to the truth of certain apparitions related in +Scripture, or proved elsewhere by good testimony. + +The first edition of this work having been printed in my absence, and +upon an incorrect copy, several misprints have occurred, and even +expressions and phrases displeasing and interrupted. I have tried to +remedy this in a second edition, and to cast light on those passages +which they noticed as demanding explanation, and correcting what might +offend scrupulous readers, and prevent the bad consequences which +might be derived from what I had said. I have even done more in this +third edition. I have retrenched several passages; others I have +suppressed; I have profited by the advice which has been given me; and +I have replied to the objections which have been made. + +People have complained that I took no part, and did not come to a +decision on several difficulties which I propose, and that I leave my +reader in uncertainty. + +I make but little defence against this reproach; I should require more +justification if I decided without a perfect knowledge of causes, for +one side of the question, at the risk of embracing an error, and of +falling into a still greater impropriety. There is wisdom in +suspending one's judgment till we have succeeded in finding the very +truth. + +I have also been told, that certain persons have made a joke of some +facts which I have related. If I have related them as certain, and +they afford just cause for pleasantry, let the condemnation pass; but +if I cited them as fabulous and false, they present no subject for +pleasantry; _Falsum non est de ratione faceti._ + +There are certain persons who delight in jesting on the most serious +things, and who spare nothing, either sacred or profane. The histories +of the Old and New Testament, the most sacred ceremonies of our +religion, the lives of the most respectable saints, are not safe from +their dull, tasteless pleasantry. + +I have been reproached for having related several false histories, +several doubtful facts, and several fabulous events. This is true; but +I give them for what they are. I have declared several times, that I +did not vouch for their truth, that I repeated them to show how false +and ridiculous they were, and to deprive them of the credit they might +have with the people; and if I had gone at length into their +refutation, I thought it right to let my reader have the pleasure of +refuting them, supposing him to possess enough good sense and +self-sufficiency, to form his own judgment upon them, and feel the +same contempt for such stories that I do myself. It is doing too much +honor to certain things to refute them seriously. + +But another objection, and a much more serious one, is said to be, +what I say of the illusions of the demon, leading some persons to +doubt of the truth of the apparitions related in Scripture, as well as +of the others suspected of falsehood. + +I answer, that the consequences deduced from principles are not right, +except when things are equal, and the subjects and circumstances the +same; without that there can be no application of principles. The +facts to which my reasoning applies are related by authors of small +authority, by ordinary or common-place historians, bearing no +character which deserves a belief of anything superhuman. I can, +without attacking their person or their merit, advance that they may +have been badly informed, prepossessed, and mistaken; that the spirit +of seduction may have been of the party; that the senses, the +imagination, and superstition, may have made them take that for truth, +which was only seeming. + +But, in regard to the apparitions related in the Holy Scriptures, they +borrow their infallible authority from the sacred and inspired authors +who wrote them; they are verified by the events which followed them, +by the execution or fulfilment of predictions made many ages +preceding; and which could neither be done, nor foreseen, nor +performed, either by the human mind, or by the strength of man, not +even by the angel of darkness. + +I am but little concerned at the opinion passed on myself and my +intentions in the publication of this treatise. Some have thought that +I did it to destroy the popular and common idea of apparitions, and to +make it appear ridiculous; and I acknowledge that those who read this +work attentively and without prejudice, will remark in it more +arguments for doubting what the people believe on this point, than +they will find to favor the contrary opinion. If I have treated this +subject seriously, it is only in what regards those facts in which +religion and the truth of Scripture is interested; those which are +indifferent I have left to the censure of sensible people, and the +criticism of the learned and of philosophical minds. + +I declare that I consider as true all the apparitions related in the +sacred books of the Old and New Testament; without pretending, +however, that it is not allowable to explain them, and reduce them to +a natural and likely sense, by retrenching what is too marvelous about +them, which might rebut enlightened persons. I think on that point I +may apply the principle of St. Paul;[1] "the letter killeth, and the +Spirit giveth life." + +As to the other apparitions and visions related in Christian, Jewish, +or heathen authors, I do my best to discern amongst them, and I exhort +my readers to do the same; but I blame and disapprove the outrageous +criticism of those who deny everything, and make difficulties of +everything, in order to distinguish themselves by their pretended +strength of mind, and to authorize themselves to deny everything, and +to dispute the most certain facts, and in general all that savors of +the marvelous, and which appears above the ordinary laws of nature. +St. Paul permits us to examine and prove everything: _Omnia probate_; +but he desires us to hold fast that which is good and true: _quod +bonum est tenete_.[2] + + +Footnotes: + +[1] 2 Cor. iii. 16. + +[2] 1 Thess. v. 21. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + + +Every body talks of apparitions of angels and demons, and of souls +separated from the body. The reality of these apparitions is +considered as certain by many persons, while others deride them and +treat them as altogether visionary. + +I have determined to examine this matter, just to see what certitude +there can be on this point; and I shall divide this Dissertation into +four parts. In the first, I shall speak of good angels; in the second, +of the appearance of bad angels; in the third, of the apparitions of +souls of the dead; and in the fourth, of the appearance of living men +to others living, absent, distant, and this unknown to those who +appear. I shall occasionally add something on magic, wizards, and +witches; on the Sabbath, oracles, and obsession and possession by +demons. + + + + +THE PHANTOM WORLD. + +CHAPTER I. + +THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE OLD +TESTAMENT. + + +The apparitions or appearances of good angels are frequently mentioned +in the books of the Old Testament. He who was stationed at the +entrance of the terrestrial Paradise[3] was a cherub, armed with a +flaming sword; those who appeared to Abraham, and who promised that he +should have a son;[4] those who appeared to Lot, and predicted to him +the ruin of Sodom, and other guilty cities;[5] he who spoke to Hagar +in the desert,[6] and commanded her to return to the dwelling of +Abraham, and to remain submissive to Sarah, her mistress; those who +appeared to Jacob, on his journey into Mesopotamia, ascending and +descending the mysterious ladder;[7] he who taught him how to cause +his sheep to bring forth young differently marked;[8] he who wrestled +with Jacob on his return from Mesopotamia,[9]--were angels of light, +and benevolent ones; the same as he who spoke with Moses from the +burning bush on Horeb,[10] and who gave him the tables of the law on +Mount Sinai. That Angel who takes generally the name of GOD, and +acts in his name, and with his authority;[11] who served as a guide to +the Hebrews in the desert, hidden during the day in a dark cloud, and +shining during the night; he who spoke to Balaam, and threatened to +kill his she-ass;[12] he, lastly, who contended with Satan for the +body of Moses;[13]--all these angels were without doubt good angels. + +We must think the same of him who presented himself armed to Joshua on +the plain of Jericho,[14] and who declared himself head of the army of +the Lord; it is believed, with reason, that it was the angel Michael. +He who showed himself to the wife of Manoah,[15] the father of Samson, +and afterwards to Manoah himself. He who announced to Gideon that he +should deliver Israel from the power of the Midianites.[16] The angel +Gabriel, who appeared to Daniel, at Babylon;[17] and Raphael who +conducted the young Tobias to Rages, in Media.[18] + +The prophecy of the Prophet Zechariah is full of visions of +angels.[19] In the books of the Old Testament the throne of the Lord +is described as resting on cherubim; and the God of Israel is +represented as having before his throne[20] seven principal angels, +always ready to execute his orders, and four cherubim singing his +praises, and adoring his sovereign holiness; the whole making a sort +of allusion to what they saw in the court of the ancient Persian +kings,[21] where there were seven principal officers who saw his face, +approached his person, and were called the eyes and ears of the king. + + +Footnotes: + +[3] Gen. iii. 24. + +[4] Gen. xviii. 1-3. + +[5] Gen. xix. + +[6] Gen. xxi. 17. + +[7] Gen. xxviii. 12. + +[8] Gen. xxxi. 10, 11. + +[9] Gen. xxxii. + +[10] Exod. iii. 6, 7. + +[11] Exod. iii. iv. + +[12] Numb. xxii. xxiii. + +[13] Jude 9. + +[14] Josh. v. 13. + +[15] Judges xiii. + +[16] Judges vi. vii. + +[17] Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21. + +[18] Tobit v. + +[19] Zech. v. 9, 10, 11, &c. + +[20] Psalm xvii. 10; lxxix. 2, &c. + +[21] Tobit xii. Zech. iv. 10. Rev. i. 4. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD ANGELS PROVED BY THE BOOKS OF THE NEW +TESTAMENT. + + +The books of the New Testament are in the same manner full of facts +which prove the apparition of good angels. The angel Gabriel appeared +to Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, and predicted to him the +future birth of the Forerunner.[22] The Jews, who saw Zachariah come +out of the temple, after having remained within it a longer time than +usual, having remarked that he was struck dumb, had no doubt but that +he had seen some apparition of an angel. The same Gabriel announced to +Mary the future birth of the Messiah.[23] When Jesus was born in +Bethlehem, the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the +night,[24] and declared to them that the Saviour of the world was born +at Bethlehem. There is every reason to believe that the star which +appeared to the Magi in the East, and which led them straight to +Jerusalem, and thence to Bethlehem, was directed by a good angel.[25] +St. Joseph was warned by a celestial spirit to retire into Egypt, with +the mother and the infant Christ, for fear that Jesus should fall into +the hands of Herod, and be involved in the massacre of the Innocents. +The same angel informed Joseph of the death of King Herod, and told +him to return to the land of Israel. + +After the temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness, angels came +and brought him food.[26] The demon tempter said to Jesus Christ that +God had commanded his angels to lead him, and to prevent him from +stumbling against a stone; which is taken from the 92d Psalm, and +proves the belief of the Jews on the article of guardian angels. The +Saviour confirms the same truth when he says that the angels of +children constantly behold the face of the celestial Father.[27] At +the last judgment, the good angels will separate the just,[28] and +lead them to the kingdom of heaven, while they will precipitate the +wicked into eternal fire. + +At the agony of Jesus Christ in the garden of Olives, an angel +descended from heaven to console him.[29] After his resurrection, +angels appeared to the holy women who had come to his tomb to embalm +him.[30] In the Acts of the Apostles, they appeared to the apostles as +soon as Jesus had ascended into heaven; and the angel of the Lord came +and opened the doors of the prison where the apostles were confined, +and set them at liberty.[31] In the same book, St. Stephen tells us +that the law was given to Moses by the ministration of angels;[32] +consequently, those were angels who appeared on Sinai and Horeb, and +who spoke to him in the name of God, as his ambassadors, and as +invested with his authority; also, the same Moses, speaking of the +angel of the Lord, who was to introduce Israel into the Promised Land, +says that "the name of God is in him."[33] St. Peter, being in prison, +is delivered from thence by an angel,[34] who conducted him the length +of a street, and disappeared. St. Peter, knocking at the door of the +house in which his brethren were, they could not believe that it was +he; they thought that it was his angel who knocked and spoke. St. +Paul, instructed in the school of the Pharisees, thought as they did +on the subject of angels; he believed in their existence, in +opposition to the Sadducees,[35] and supposed that they could appear. +When this apostle, having been arrested by the Romans, related to the +people how he had been overthrown at Damascus, the Pharisees, who were +present, replied to those who exclaimed against him--"How do we know, +if an angel or a spirit hath not spoken to him?" St. Luke says that a +Macedonian (apparently the angel of Macedonia) appeared to St. Paul, +and begged him to come and announce the Gospel in that country. + +St. John, in the Apocalypse, speaks of the seven angels who presided +over the churches in Asia. I know that these seven angels are the +bishops of these churches, but the ecclesiastical tradition will have +it that every church has its tutelary angel. In the same book, the +Apocalypse, are related divers appearances of angels. All Christian +antiquity has recognized them; the synagogue also has recognized them; +so that it may be affirmed that nothing is more certain than the +existence of good angels and their apparitions. + +I place in the number of apparitions, not only those of good or bad +angels, and the spirits of the dead who show themselves to the living, +but also those of the living who show themselves to the angels or +souls of the dead; whether these apparitions are seen in dreams, or +during sleep, or awaking; whether they manifest themselves to all +those who are present, or only to the persons to whom God judges +proper to manifest them. For instance, in the Apocalypse,[36] St. John +saw the four animals, and the four-and-twenty elders, who were clothed +in white garments and wore crowns of gold upon their heads, and were +seated on thrones around that of the Almighty, who prostrated +themselves before the throne of the Eternal, and cast their crowns at +his feet. + +And, elsewhere: "I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the +world,[37] who held back the four winds and prevented them from +blowing on the earth; then I saw another angel, who rose on the side +of the east, and who cried out to the four angels who had orders to +hurt the earth, Do no harm to the earth, or the sea, or the trees, +until we have impressed a sign on the foreheads of the servants of +God. And I heard that the number of those who received this sign (or +mark) was a hundred and forty-four thousand. Afterwards I saw an +innumerable multitude of all nations, tribes, people, and languages, +standing before the throne of the Most High, arrayed in white +garments, and having palms in their hands." + +And in the same book[38] St. John says, after having described the +majesty of the throne of God, and the adoration paid to him by the +angels and saints prostrate before him, one of the elders said to +him,--"Those whom you see covered with white robes, are those who have +suffered great trials and afflictions, and have washed their robes in +the blood of the Lamb; for which reason they stand before the throne +of God, and will do so night and day in his temple; and He who is +seated on the throne will reign over them, and the angel which is in +the midst of the throne will conduct them to the fountains of living +water." And, again,[39] "I saw under the altar of God the souls of +those who have been put to death for defending the Word of God, and +for the testimony which they have rendered; they cried with a loud +voice, saying, When, O Lord, wilt thou not avenge our blood upon those +who are on the earth?" &c. + +All these apparitions, and several others similar to them, which might +be related as being derived from the holy books as well as from +authentic histories, are true apparitions, although neither the angels +nor the martyrs spoken of in the Apocalypse came and presented +themselves to St. John; but, on the contrary, this apostle was +transported in spirit to heaven, to see there what we have just +related. These are apparitions which may be called passive on the part +of the angels and holy martyrs, and active on the part of the holy +apostle who saw them. + + +Footnotes: + +[22] Luke i. 10-12, &c. + +[23] Luke i. 26, 27, &c. + +[24] Luke ii. 9, 10. + +[25] Matt. ii. 13, 14, 20. + +[26] Matt. iv. 6, 11. + +[27] Matt. xviii. 16. + +[28] Matt. xiii. 45, 46. + +[29] Luke xxii. 43. + +[30] Matt. xxviii. John. + +[31] Acts v. 19. + +[32] Acts vii. 30, 35. + +[33] Exod. xxiii. 21. + +[34] Acts xii. 8, 9. + +[35] Rom. i. 18. 1 Cor. iv. 9; vi. 3; xii. 7. Gal. iii. 19. Acts xvi. +9; xxiii. 9. Rev. i. 11. + +[36] Rev. iv. 4, 10. + +[37] Rev. vii. 1-3, 9, &c. + +[38] Rev. vii. 13, 14. + +[39] Rev. vi. 9, 10. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +UNDER WHAT FORM HAVE GOOD ANGELS APPEARED? + + +The most usual form in which good angels appear, both in the Old +Testament and the New, is the human form. It was in that shape they +showed themselves to Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Manoah the +father of Samson, to David, Tobit, the Prophets; and in the New +Testament they appeared in the same form to the Holy Virgin, to +Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, to Jesus Christ after his +fast of forty days, and to him again in his agony in the Garden of +Olives. They showed themselves in the same form to the holy women +after the resurrection of the Saviour. The one who appeared to +Joshua[40] on the plain of Jericho appeared apparently in the guise of +a warrior, since Joshua asks him, "Art thou for us, or for our +adversaries?" + +Sometimes they hide themselves under some form which has resemblance +to the human shape, like him who appeared to Moses in the burning +bush,[41] and who led the Israelites in the desert in the form of a +cloud, dense and dark during the day, but luminous at night.[42] The +Psalmist tells us that God makes his angels serve as a piercing wind +and a burning fire, to execute his orders.[43] + +The cherubim, so often spoken of in the Scriptures, and who are +described as serving for a throne to the majesty of God, were +hieroglyphical figures, something like the sphinx of the Egyptians; +those which are described in Ezekiel[44] are like animals composed of +the figure of a man, having the wings of an eagle, the feet of an ox; +their heads were composed of the face of a man, an ox, a lion, and an +eagle, two of their wings were spread towards their fellows, and two +others covered their body; they were brilliant as burning coals, as +lighted lamps, as the fiery heavens when they send forth the +lightning's flash--they were terrible to look upon. + +The one who appeared to Daniel[45] was different from those we have +just described; he was in the shape of a man, covered with a linen +garment, and round his loins a girdle of very fine gold; his body was +shining as a chrysolite, his face as a flash of lightning; his eyes +darted fire like a lamp; his arms and all the lower part of his body +was like brass melted in the furnace; his voice was loud as that of a +multitude of people. + +St. John, in the Apocalypse,[46] saw around the throne of the Most +High four animals, which doubtless were four angels; they were covered +with eyes before and behind. The first resembled a lion, the second an +ox, the third had the form of a man, and the fourth was like an eagle +with outspread wings; each of them had six wings, and they never +ceased to cry night and day, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who +was, and is, and is to come." + +The angel who was placed at the entrance of the terrestrial paradise +was armed with a shining sword,[47] as well as the one who appeared to +Balaam,[48] and who threatened, or was near killing both himself and +his ass; and so, apparently, was the one who showed himself to Joshua +in the plain of Jericho,[49] and the angel who appeared to David, +ready to smite all Israel. The angel Raphael guided the young Tobias +to Rages under the human form of a traveler.[50] The angel who was +seen by the holy woman at the sepulchre of the Saviour, who overthrew +the large stone which closed the mouth of the tomb, and who was seated +upon it, had a countenance which shone like lightning, and garments +white as snow.[51] + +In the Acts of the Apostles,[52] the angel who extricated them from +prison, and told them to go boldly and preach Jesus Christ in the +temple, also appeared to them in a human form. The manner in which he +delivered them from the dungeon is quite miraculous; for the chief +priests having commanded that they should appear before them, those +who were sent found the prison securely closed, the guards wide awake; +but having caused the doors to be opened, they found the dungeon +empty. How could an angel without opening, or any fracture of the +doors, thus extricate men from prison without either the guards or the +jailer perceiving anything of the matter? The thing is beyond any +known powers of nature; but it is no more impossible than to see our +Saviour, after his resurrection, invested with flesh and bones, as he +himself says, come forth from his sepulchre, without opening it, and +without breaking the seals,[53] enter the chamber wherein were the +apostles without opening the doors,[54] and speak to the disciples +going to Emmaus without making himself known to them; then, after +having opened their eyes, disappear and become invisible.[55] During +the forty days that he remained upon earth till his ascension, he +drank and ate with them, he spoke to them, he appeared to them; but he +showed himself only to those witnesses who were pre-ordained by the +eternal Father to bear testimony to his resurrection. + +The angel who appeared to the centurion Cornelius, a pagan, but +fearing God, answered his questions, and discovered to him unknown +things, which things came to pass. + +Sometimes the angels, without assuming any visible shape, give proofs +of their presence by intelligible voices, by inspirations, by sensible +effects, by dreams, or by revelations of things unknown, whether +future or past. Sometimes by striking with blindness, or infusing a +spirit of uncertainty or stupidity in the minds of those whom God +wills should feel the effects of his wrath; for instance, it is said +in the Scriptures that the Israelites heard no distinct speech, and +beheld no form on Horeb when God spoke to Moses and gave him the +Law.[56] + +The angel who might have killed Balaam's ass was not at first +perceived by the prophet;[57] Daniel was the only one who beheld the +angel Gabriel, who revealed to him the mystery of the great empires +which were to succeed each other.[58] + +When the Lord spoke for the first time to Samuel, and predicted to him +the evils which he would inflict on the family of the high-priest Eli, +the young prophet saw no visible form; he only heard a voice, which he +at first mistook for that of the high-priest Eli, not being yet +accustomed to distinguish the voice of God from that of a man. + +The angels who guided Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah were +at first perceived under a human form by the inhabitants of the city; +but afterwards these same angels struck the men with blindness, and +thus prevented them from finding the door of Lot's house, into which +they would have entered by force. + +Thus, then, angels do not always appear under a visible or sensible +form, nor in a figure uniformly the same; but they give proofs of +their presence by an infinity of different ways--by inspirations, by +voices, by prodigies, by miraculous effects, by predictions of the +future, and other things hidden and impenetrable to the human mind. + +St. Cyprian relates that an African bishop, falling ill during the +persecution, earnestly requested to have the viaticum administered to +him; at the same time he saw, as it were, a young man, with a majestic +air, and shining with such extraordinary lustre that the eyes of +mortals could not have beheld him without terror; nevertheless, the +bishop was not alarmed. This angel said to him, angrily, and in a +menacing tone, "You fear to suffer. You do not wish to leave this +world. What would you have me do for you?" (or "What can I do for +you?") The good bishop comprehended that these words alike regarded +him and the other Christians who feared persecution and death. The +bishop talked to them, encouraged them, and exhorted them to arm +themselves with patience to support the tortures with which they were +threatened. He received the communion, and died in peace. We shall +find in different histories an infinite number of other apparitions of +angels under a human form. + + +Footnotes: + +[40] Josh. v. 29. + +[41] Exod. iii. 3, 44. + +[42] Exod. xiii. xiv. + +[43] Psalm civ. 4. + +[44] Ezek. i. 4, 6. + +[45] Dan. x. 5. + +[46] Rev. iv. 7, 8. + +[47] Gen. iii. 24. + +[48] Numb. xxii. 22, 23. + +[49] 1 Chron. xxi. 16. + +[50] Tobit v. 5. + +[51] Matt. xxviii. 3. + +[52] Acts ii. + +[53] Matt. xxviii. 1, 2. + +[54] John xix. 20. + +[55] Luke xxiii. 15-17, &c. + +[56] Deut. iv. 15. + +[57] Numb. xii. 22, 23. + +[58] Dan. x. 7, 8. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, CHRISTIANS, MAHOMETANS, AND ORIENTAL NATIONS +CONCERNING THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD ANGELS. + + +After what we have just related from the books of the Old and New +Testament, it cannot be disavowed that the Jews in general, the +apostles, the Christians, and their disciples have commonly believed +in the apparitions of good angels. The Sadducees, who denied the +existence and the apparition of angels, were commonly considered by +the Jews as heretics, and as supporting an erroneous doctrine. Jesus +Christ refutes them in the Gospel. The Jews of our days believe +literally what is related in the Old Testament, concerning the angels +who appeared to Abraham, Lot, and other patriarchs. It was the belief +of the Pharisees and of the apostles in the time of our Saviour, as +may be seen by the writings of the apostles and by the whole of the +Gospel. + +The Mahometans believe, as do the Jews and Christians, that good +angels appear to men sometimes under a human form; that they appeared +to Abraham and Lot; that they punished the inhabitants of Sodom; that +the archangel Gabriel appeared to Mahomet, and revealed to him all +that is laid down in his Koran: that the genii are of a middle nature, +between man and angel;[59] that they eat, drink, beget children; that +they die, and can foresee things to come. In consequence of this +principle or idea, they believe that there are male and female genii; +that the males, whom the Persians call by the name of _Dives_, are +bad, very ugly, and mischievous, making war against the _Peris_, who +are the females. The Rabbis will have it that these genii were born of +Adam alone, without any concurrence of his wife Eve, or of any other +woman, and that they are what we call _ignis fatuii_ (or wandering +lights). + +The antiquity of these opinions touching the corporality of angels +appears in several _old_ writers, who, deceived by the apocryphal book +which passes under the name of the _Book of Enoch_, have explained of +the angels what is said in Genesis,[60] "_That the children of God, +having seen the daughters of men, fell in love with their beauty, +wedded them, and begot giants of them._" Several of the ancient +Fathers[61] have adopted this opinion, which is now given up by +everybody, with the exception of some new writers, who desire to +revive the idea of the corporality of angels, demons, and souls--an +opinion which is absolutely incompatible with that of the Catholic +church, which holds that angels are of a nature entirely distinct from +matter. + +I acknowledge that, according to their system, the affair of +apparitions could be more easily explained; it is easier to conceive +that a corporeal substance should appear, and render itself visible to +our eyes, than a substance purely spiritual; but this is not the place +to reason on a philosophical question, on which different hypotheses +could be freely grounded, and to choose that which should explain +these appearances in the most plausible manner, even though it answer +in the most satisfactory manner the question asked, and the objections +formed against the facts, and against the proposed manner of stating +them. + +The question is resolved, and the matter decided. The church and the +Catholic schools hold that angels, demons, and reasonable souls, are +disengaged from all matter; the same church and the same school hold +it as certain that good and bad angels, and souls separated from the +body, sometimes appear by the will and with the permission of God: +there we must stop; as to the manner of explaining these apparitions, +we must, without losing sight of the certain principle of the +immateriality of these substances, explain them according to the +analogy of the Christian and Catholic faith, acknowledged sincerely +that in this matter there are certain depths which we cannot sound, +and confine our mind and information within the limits of that +obedience which we owe to the authority of the church, that can +neither err nor deceive us. + +The apparitions of good angels and of guardian angels are frequently +mentioned in the Old as in the New Testament. When the Apostle St. +Peter had left the prison by the assistance of an angel, and went and +knocked at the door where the brethren were, they believed that it was +his angel and not himself who knocked.[62] And when Cornelius the +Centurion prayed to God in his own house, an angel (apparently his +good angel) appeared to him, and told him to send and fetch Peter, who +was then at Joppa.[63] + +St. Paul desires that at church no woman should appear among them +without her face being veiled, because of the angels;[64] doubtless +from respect to the good angels who presided in these assemblies. The +same St. Paul reassures those who were with him in danger of almost +inevitable shipwreck, by telling them that his angel had appeared to +him[65] and assured him that they should arrive safe at the end of +their voyage. + +In the Old Testament, we likewise read of several apparitions of +angels, which can hardly be explained but as of guardian angels; for +instance, the one who appeared to Hagar in the wilderness, and +commanded her to return and submit herself to Sarah her mistress;[66] +and the angel who appeared to Abraham, as he was about to immolate +Isaac his son, and told him that God was satisfied with his +obedience;[67] and when the same Abraham sent his servant Eleazer into +Mesopotamia, to ask for a wife for his son Isaac, he told him that the +God of heaven, who had promised to give him the land of Canaan, would +send his angel[68] to dispose all things according to his wishes. +Examples of similar apparitions of tutelary angels, derived from the +Old Testament, might here be multiplied, but the circumstance does not +require a greater number of proofs. + +Under the new dispensation, the apparitions of good angels, of +guardian spirits, are not less frequent in most authentic stories; +there are few saints to whom God has not granted similar favors: we +may cite, in particular, St. Frances, a Roman lady of the sixteenth +century, who saw her guardian angel, and he talked to her, instructed +her, and corrected her. + + +Footnotes: + +[59] D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. _Perith. Dives_, 785. Idem, 243, p. 85. + +[60] Gen. vi. 2. + +[61] Joseph. Antiq. lib. i. c. 4. Philo, De Gigantibus. Justin. Apol. +Turtul. de Anima. _Vide_ Commentatores in Gen. iv. + +[62] Acts xii. 15. + +[63] Acts x. 2, 3. + +[64] 1 Cor. xi. 10. + +[65] Acts xxvii. 21, 22. + +[66] Gen. xvi. 9. + +[67] Gen. xxii. 11, 17. + +[68] Gen. xxiv. 7. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +OPINION OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS ON THE APPARITIONS OF GOOD GENII. + + +Jamblichus, a disciple of Porphyry,[69] has treated the matter of +genii and their apparition more profoundly than any other author of +antiquity. It would seem, to hear him discourse, that he knew both the +genii and their qualities, and that he had with them the most intimate +and continual converse. He affirms that our eyes are delighted by the +appearance of the gods, that the apparitions of the archangels are +terrible; those of angels are milder; but when demons and heroes +appear, they inspire terror; the archontes, who preside over this +world, cause at the same time an impression of grief and fear. The +apparition of souls is not quite so disagreeable as that of heroes. In +the appearance of the gods there is order and mildness, confusion and +disorder in that of demons, and tumult in that of the archontes. + +When the gods show themselves, it seems as if the heavens, the sun and +moon, were all about to be annihilated; one would think that the earth +could not support their presence. On the appearance of an archangel, +there is an earthquake in every part of the world; it is preceded by a +stronger light than that which accompanies the apparition of the +angels; at the appearance of a demon it is less strong, and diminishes +still more when it is a hero who shows himself. + +The apparitions of the gods are very luminous; those of angels and +archangels less so; those of demons are dark, but less dark than those +of heroes. The archontes, who preside over the brightest things in +this world, are luminous; but those which are occupied only with what +is material, are dark. When souls appear, they resemble a shade. He +continues his description of these apparitions, and enters into +tiresome details on the subject; one would say, to hear him, that that +there was a most intimate and habitual connection between the gods, +the angels, the demons, and the souls separated from the body, and +himself. But all this is only the work of his imagination; he knew no +more than any other concerning a matter which is above the reach of +man's understanding. He had never seen any apparitions of gods or +heroes, or archontes; unless we say that there are veritable demons +which sometimes appear to men. But to discern them one from the other, +as Jamblichus pretends to do, is mere illusion. + +The Greeks and Romans, like the Hebrews and Christians, acknowledged +two sorts of genii, some good and beneficent, the others bad, and +causing evil. The ancients even believed that every one of us received +at our birth a good and an evil genius; the former procured us +happiness and prosperity, the latter engaged us in unfortunate +enterprises, inspired us with unruly desires, and cast us into the +worst misfortunes. They assigned genii, not only to every person, but +also to every house, every city, and every province.[70] These genii +are considered as good, beneficent,[71] and worthy of the worship of +those who invoke them. They were represented sometimes under the form +of a serpent, sometimes as a child or a youth. Flowers, incense, +cakes, and wine were offered to them.[72] Men swore by the names of +the genii.[73] It was a great crime to perjure one's self after having +sworn by the genius of the emperor, says Tertullian;[74] _Citius apud +vos per omnes Deos, quam per unicum Genium Caesaris perjuratur._ + +We often see on medals the inscription, GENIO POPULI ROMANI; and +when the Romans landed in a country, they failed not to salute and +adore its genius, and to offer him sacrifices.[75] In short, there was +neither kingdom, nor province, nor town, nor house, nor door, nor +edifice, whether public or private, which had not its genius.[76] + +We have seen above what Jamblichus informs us concerning apparitions +of the gods, genii, good and bad angels, heroes, and the archontes who +preside over the government of the world. + +Homer, the most ancient of Greek writers, and the most celebrated +theologian of Paganism, relates several apparitions both of gods and +heroes, and also of the dead. In the Odyssey,[77] he represents +Ulysses going to consult the sorcerer Tiresias; and this diviner +having prepared a grave or trench full of blood to evoke the manes, +Ulysses draws his sword to prevent them from coming to drink this +blood, for which they thirst; but which they were not allowed to taste +before they had answered the questions put to them. They believed also +that the souls of the dead could not rest, and that they wandered +around their dead bodies so long as the corpse remained uninhumed. + +Even after they were interred, food was offered them; above everything +honey was given, as if leaving their tomb they came to taste what was +offered them.[78] They were persuaded that the demons loved the smoke +of sacrifices, melody, the blood of victims, and intercourse with +women; that they were attached for a time to certain spots and certain +edifices which they infested. They believed that souls separated from +the gross and terrestrial body, preserved after death one more subtile +and elastic, having the form of that they had quitted; that these +bodies were luminous, and like the stars; that they retained an +inclination for those things which they had loved during their life on +earth, and that often they appeared gliding around their tombs. + +To bring back all this to the matter here treated of, that is to say, +to the appearance of good angels, we may note, that in the same manner +that we attach to the apparitions of good angels the idea of tutelary +spirits of kingdoms, provinces, and nations, and of each of us in +particular--as, for instance, the Prince of the kingdom of Persia, or +the angel of that nation, who resisted the archangel Gabriel during +twenty-one days, as we read in Daniel;[79] the angel of Macedonia, who +appeared to St. Paul,[80] and of whom we have spoken before; the +archangel St. Michael, who is considered as the chief of the people of +God and the armies of Israel;[81] and the guardian angels deputed by +God to guide us and guard us all the days of our life--so we may say +that the Greeks and Romans, being Gentiles, believed that certain +sorts of spirits, which they imagined were good and beneficent, +protected their kingdoms, provinces, towns, and private houses. + +They paid them a superstitious and idolatrous worship, as to domestic +divinities; they invoked them, offered them a kind of sacrifice and +offerings of incense, cakes, honey, and wine, &c.--but not bloody +sacrifices.[82] + +The Platonicians taught that carnal and voluptuous men could not see +their genii, because their mind was not sufficiently pure, nor enough +disengaged from sensual things; but that men who were wise, moderate, +and temperate, and who applied themselves to serious and sublime +subjects, could see them; as Socrates, for instance, who had his +familiar genius, whom he consulted, to whose advice he listened, and +whom he beheld, at least with the eyes of the mind. + +If the oracles of Greece and other countries are reckoned in the +number of apparitions of bad spirits, we may also recollect the good +spirits who have announced things to come, and have assisted the +prophets and inspired persons, whether in the Old Testament or the +New. The angel Gabriel was sent to Daniel[83] to instruct him +concerning the vision of the four great monarchies, and the +accomplishment of the seventy weeks, which were to put an end to the +captivity. The prophet Zechariah says expressly that _the angel who +appeared unto him_[84] revealed to him what he must say--he repeats it +in five or six places; St. John, in the Apocalypse,[85] says the same +thing, that God had sent his angel to inspire him with what he was to +say to the Churches. Elsewhere[86] he again makes mention of the angel +who talked with him, and who took in his presence the dimensions of +the heavenly Jerusalem. And again, St. Paul in his Epistle to the +Hebrews,[87] "If what has been predicted by the angels may pass for +certain." + +From all we have just said, it results that the apparitions of good +angels are not only possible, but also very real; that they have often +appeared, and under diverse forms; that the Hebrews, Christians, +Mahometans, Greeks, and Romans have believed in them; that when they +have not sensibly appeared, they have given proofs of their presence +in several different ways. We shall examine elsewhere how we can +explain the kind of apparition, whether of good or bad angels, or +souls separated from the body. + + +Footnotes: + +[69] Jamblic. lib. ii. cap. 3 & 5. + +[70] + "Quod te per Genium, dextramque Deosque Penates, + Obsecro et obtestor."--_Horat._ lib. i. Epist. 7. 94. + + ----"Dum cunctis supplex advolveris aris, + Ei mitem Genium Domini praesentis adoras." + _Stac._ lib. v. Syl. I. 73. + + +[71] Antiquitee expliquee, tom. i. + +[72] Perseus, Satire ii. + +[73] Senec. Epist. 12. + +[74] Tertull. Apol. c. 23. + +[75] + "Troja vale, rapimur, clamant; dant oscula terrae + Troades."--_Ovid. Metam._, lib. xiii. 421. + +[76] + "Quamquam cur Genium Romae, mihi fingitis unum? + Cum portis, domibus; thermis, stabulis soleatis, + Assignare suos Genios?"--_Prudent. contra Symmach._ + +[77] Odyss. XI. sub. fin. _Vid._ Horat. lib. i. Satire 7, &c. + +[78] Virgil. AEneid. I. 6. August. Serm. 15. de SS. et Quaest. 5. in +Deut. i. 5 c. 43. _Vide_ Spencer, de Leg. Hebraeor. Ritual. + +[79] Dan. x. 13. + +[80] Acts xvi. 9. + +[81] Josh. v. 13. Dan. x. 13, 21; xii. 1. Judg. v. 6. Rev. xii. 7 + +[82] _Forsitan quis quaerat, quid causae sit, ut merum fundendum sit +genio_, non hostiam faciendam putaverint.... _Scilicet ut die natali +munus_ annale genio solverent, manum a coede ac sanguine +abstinerent.--Censorin. de Die Natali, c. 2. Vide Taffin de Anno +Saecul. + +[83] Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21. + +[84] Zech. i. 10, 13, 14, 19; ii. 3, 4; iv. 1, 4, 5; v. 5, 10. + +[85] Rev. i. 1. + +[86] Rev. x. 8, 9, &c.; xi. 1, 2, 3, &c. + +[87] Heb. ii. 2. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE APPARITION OF BAD ANGELS PROVED BY THE HOLY SCRIPTURES--UNDER WHAT +FORM THEY HAVE APPEARED. + + +The books of the Old and New Testament, together with sacred and +profane history, are full of relations of the apparition of bad +spirits. The first, the most famous, and the most fatal apparition of +Satan, is that of the appearance of this evil spirit to Eve, the first +woman,[88] in the form of a serpent, which animal served as the +instrument of that seducing demon in order to deceive her and induce +her to sin. Since that time he has always chosen to appear under that +form rather than any other; so in Scripture he is often termed _the +Old Serpent_;[89] and it is said that the infernal dragon fought +against the woman who figured or represented the church; that the +archangel St. Michael vanquished him and cast him down from heaven. He +has often appeared to the servants of God in the form of a dragon, and +he has caused himself to be adored by unbelievers in this form, in a +great number of places: at Babylon, for instance, they worshiped a +living dragon,[90] which Daniel killed by making it swallow a ball or +bolus, composed of ingredients of a mortally poisonous nature. The +serpent was consecrated to Apollo, the god of physic and of oracles; +and the pagans had a sort of divination by means of serpents, which +they called _Ophiomantia_. + +The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans worshiped serpents, and regarded +them as divine.[91] They brought to Rome the serpent of Epidaurus, to +which they paid divine honors. The Egyptians considered vipers as +divinities.[92] The Israelites adored the brazen serpent elevated by +Moses in the desert,[93] and which was in after times broken in pieces +by the holy king Hezekiah.[94] + +St. Augustine[95] assures us that the Manichaeans regarded the serpent +as the Christ, and said that this animal had opened the eyes of Adam +and Eve by the bad counsel which he gave them. We almost always see +the form of the serpent in the magical figures[96] _Akraxas_ and +_Abrachadabra_, which were held in veneration among the Basilidian +heretics, who, like the Manichaeans, acknowledge two principles in all +things--the one good, the other bad; _Abraxas_ in Hebrew signifies +_that bad principle_, or the father of evil; _ab-ra-achad-ab-ra_, _the +father of evil_, _the sole father of evil_, or the only bad +principle. + +St. Augustine[97] remarks that no animal has been more subject to the +effects of enchantment and magic than the serpent, as if to punish him +for having seduced the first woman by his imposture. + +However, the demon has usually assumed the human form when he would +tempt mankind; it was thus that he appeared to Jesus Christ in the +desert;[98] that he tempted him and told him to change the stones into +bread that he might satisfy his hunger; that he transported him, the +Saviour, to the highest pinnacle of the temple, and showed him all the +kingdoms of the world, and offered him the enjoyment of them. + +The angel who wrestled with Jacob at Peniel,[99] on his return from +his journey into Mesopotamia, was a bad angel, according to some +ancient writers; others, as Severus Sulpicius[100] and some Rabbis, +have thought that it was the angel of Esau, who had come to combat +with Jacob; but the greater number believe that it was a good angel. +And would Jacob have asked him for his blessing had he deemed him a +bad angel? But however that fact may be taken, it is not doubtful that +the demon has appeared in a human form. + +Several stories, both ancient and modern, are related which inform us +that the demon has appeared to those whom he wished to seduce, or who +have been so unhappy as to invoke his aid, or make a compact with him, +as a man taller than the common stature, dressed in black, and with a +rough ungracious manner; making a thousand fine promises to those to +whom he appeared, but which promises were always deceitful, and never +followed by a real effect. I can even believe that they beheld what +existed only in their own confused and deranged ideas. + +At Molsheim,[101] in the chapel of St. Ignatius in the Jesuits' +church, may be seen a celebrated inscription, which contains the +history of a young German gentleman, named Michael Louis, of the house +of Boubenhoren, who, having been sent by his parents when very young +to the court of the Duke of Lorraine, to learn the French language, +lost all his money at cards: reduced to despair, he resolved to give +himself to the demon, if that bad spirit would or could give him some +good money; for he doubted that he would only furnish him with +counterfeit and bad coin. As he was meditating on this idea, suddenly +he beheld before him a youth of his own age, well made, well dressed, +who, having asked him the cause of his uneasiness, presented him with +a handful of money, and told him to try if it was good. He desired him +to meet him at that place the next day. + +Michael returned to his companions, who were still at play, and not +only regained all the money he had lost, but won all that of his +companions. Then he went in search of his demon, who asked as his +reward three drops of his blood, which he received in an acorn-cup; +after which, presenting a pen to Michael, he desired him to write what +he should dictate. He then dictated some unknown words, which he made +him write on two different bits of paper,[102] one of which remained +in the possession of the demon, the other was inserted in Michael's +arm, at the same place whence the demon had drawn the blood. And the +demon said to him, "I engage myself to serve you during seven years, +after which you will unreservedly belong to me." + +The young man consented to this, though with a feeling of horror; and +the demon never failed to appear to him day and night under various +forms, and taught him many unknown and curious things, but which +always tended to evil. The fatal termination of the seven years was +approaching, and the young man was then about twenty years old. He +returned to his father's house, when the demon to whom he had given +himself inspired him with the idea of poisoning his father and mother, +of setting fire to their chateau, and then killing himself. He tried +to commit all these crimes, but God did not allow him to succeed in +these attempts. The gun with which he wished to kill himself missed +fire twice, and the poison did not take effect on his father and +mother. + +More and more uneasy, he revealed to some of his father's domestics +the miserable state in which he found himself, and entreated them to +procure him some succor. At the same time the demon seized him, and +bent his body back, so that he was near breaking his bones. His +mother, who had adopted the heresy of Suenfeld, and had induced her +son to follow it also, not finding in her sect any help against the +demon that possessed or obseded him, was constrained to place him in +the hands of some monks. But he soon withdrew from them and retired to +Islade, from whence he was brought back to Molsheim by his brother, a +canon of Wurzburg, who put him again into the hands of fathers of the +society. Then it was that the demon made still more violent efforts +against him, appearing to him in the form of ferocious animals. One +day, amongst others, the demon, wearing the form of a hairy savage, +threw on the ground a schedule, or compact, different from the true +one which he had extorted from the young man, to try by means of this +false appearance to withdraw him from the hands of those who kept him, +and prevent his making his general confession. At last they fixed on +the 20th of October, 1603, as the day for being in the Chapel of St. +Ignatius, and to cause to be brought the true schedule containing the +compact made with the demon. The young man there made profession of +the Catholic and orthodox faith, renounced the demon, and received the +holy sacrament. Then, uttering horrible cries, he said he saw as it +were two he-goats of immeasurable size, which, holding up their +forefeet (standing on their hindlegs), held between their claws, each +one separately, one of the schedules or agreements. But as soon as the +exorcisms were begun, and the priests invoked the name of St. +Ignatius, the two he-goats fled away, and there came from the left arm +or hand of the young man, almost without pain, and without leaving any +scar, the compact, which fell at the feet of the exorcist. + +There now wanted only the second compact, which had remained in the +power of the demon. They recommenced their exorcisms, and invoked St. +Ignatius, and promised to say a mass in honor of the saint; at the +same moment there appeared a tall stork, deformed and badly made, who +let fall the second schedule from his beak, and they found it on the +altar. + +The pope, Paul V., caused information of the truth of these facts to +be taken by the commissionary-deputies, M. Adam, Suffragan of +Strasburg, and George, Abbot of Altorf, who were juridically +interrogated, and who affirmed that the deliverance of this young man +was principally due, after God, to the intercession of St. Ignatius. + +The same story is related rather more at length in Bartoli's Life of +St. Ignatius Loyola. + +Melancthon owns[103] that he has seen several spectres, and conversed +with them several times; and Jerome Cardan affirms that his father, +Fassius Cardanus, saw demons whenever he pleased, apparently in a +human form. Bad spirits sometimes appear also under the figure of a +lion, a dog, or a cat, or some other animal--as a bull, a horse, or a +raven; for the pretended sorcerers and sorceresses relate that at the +(witches') Sabbath he is seen under several different forms of men, +animals, and birds; whether he takes the shape of these animals, or +whether he makes use of the animals themselves as instruments to +deceive or harm, or whether he simply affects the senses and +imagination of those whom he has fascinated and who give themselves to +him; for in all the appearances of the demon we must always be on our +guard, and mistrust his stratagems and malice. St. Peter[104] tells us +that Satan is always roaming round about us, like a roaring lion, +seeking whom he may devour. And St. Paul, in more places than +one,[105] warns us to mistrust the snares of the devil, and to hold +ourselves on our guard against him. + +Sulpicius Severus,[106] in the life of St. Martin, relates a few +examples of persons who were deceived by apparitions of the demon, who +transformed himself into an angel of light. A young man of very high +rank, and who was afterwards elevated to the priesthood, having +devoted himself to God in a monastery, imagined that he held converse +with angels; and as they would not believe him, he said that the +following night God would give him a white robe, with which he would +appear amongst them. In fact, at midnight the monastery was shaken as +with an earthquake, the cell of the young man was all brilliant with +light, and they heard a noise like that of many persons going to and +fro, and speaking. + +After that, coming forth from his cell, he showed to the brothers (of +the convent) the tunic with which he was clothed: it was made of a +stuff of admirable whiteness, shining as purple, and so +extraordinarily fine in texture that they had never seen anything like +it, and could not tell from what substance it was woven. + +They passed the rest of the night in singing psalms of thanksgiving, +and in the morning they wished to conduct him to St. Martin. He +resisted as much as he could, saying that he had been expressly +forbidden to appear in his presence. As they were pressing him to +come, the tunic vanished, which led every one present to suppose that +the whole thing was an illusion of the demon. + +Another solitary suffered himself to be persuaded that he was Eli; +another that he was St. John the Evangelist. One day, the demon wished +to mislead St. Martin himself, appearing to him, having on a royal +robe, wearing on his head a rich diadem, ornamented with gold and +precious stones, golden sandals, and all the apparel of a great +prince. Addressing himself to Martin, he said to him, "Acknowledge me, +Martin; I am Jesus Christ, who, wishing to descend to earth, have +resolved to manifest myself to thee first of all." St. Martin remained +silent at first, fearing some snare; and the phantom having repeated +to him that he was the Christ, Martin replied: "My Lord Jesus Christ +did not say that he should come clothed in purple and decked with +diamonds. I shall not acknowledge him unless he appears in that same +form in which he suffered death, and unless I see the marks of his +cross and passion." + +At these words the demon disappeared; and Sulpicius Severus affirms +that he relates this as he heard it from the mouth of St. Martin +himself. A little before this, he says that Satan showed himself to +him sometimes under the form of Jupiter, or Mercury, or Venus, or +Minerva; and sometimes he was to reproach Martin greatly because, by +baptism, he had converted and regenerated so many great sinners. But +the saint despised him, drove him away by the sign of the cross, and +answered him that baptism and repentance effaced all sins in those who +were sincere converts. + +All this proves the malice, envy, and fraud of the devil against the +saints, on the one side; and on the other, the weakness and +uselessness of his efforts against the true servants of God, and that +it is but too true he often appears in a visible form. + +In the histories of the saints we sometimes see that he hides himself +under the form of a woman, to tempt pious hermits and lead them into +evil; sometimes in the form of a traveler, a priest, a monk, or an +_angel of light_,[107] to mislead simple minded people, and cause them +to err; for everything suits his purpose, provided he can exercise his +malice and hatred against men. + +When Satan appeared before the Lord in the midst of his holy angels, +and asked permission of God to tempt Job,[108] and try his patience +through everything that was dearest to that holy man, he doubtless +presented himself in his natural state, simply as a spirit, but full +of rage against the saints, and in all the deformity of his sin and +rebellion. + +But when he says, in the Books of Kings, _that he will be a lying +spirit in the mouth of false prophets_,[109] and that God allows him +to put in force his ill-will, we must not imagine that he shows +himself corporeally to the eyes of the false prophets of King Ahab; he +only inspired the falsehood in their minds--they believed it, and +persuaded the king of the same. Amongst the visible appearances of +Satan may be placed mortalities, wars, tempests, public and private +calamities, which God sends upon nations, provinces, cities, and +families, whom the Almighty causes to feel the terrible effects of his +wrath and just vengeance. Thus the exterminating angel kills the +first-born of the Egyptians.[110] The same angel strikes with death +the inhabitants of the guilty cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.[111] He +does the same with Onan, who committed an abominable action.[112] _The +wicked man seeks only division and quarrels_, says the sage; _and the +cruel angel shall be sent against him_.[113] And the Psalmist, +speaking of the plagues which the Lord inflicted upon Egypt, says that +he sent evil angels among them. + +When David, in a spirit of vanity, caused his people to be numbered, +God showed him an angel hovering over Jerusalem, ready to smite and +destroy it. I do not say decidedly whether it was a good or a bad +angel, since it is certain that sometimes the Lord employs good angels +to execute his vengeance against the wicked. But it is thought that it +was the devil who slew eighty-five thousand men of the army of +Sennacherib. And in the Apocalypse, those are also evil angels who +pour out on the earth the phials of wrath, and caused all the scourges +set down in that holy book. + +We shall also place amongst the appearances and works of Satan false +Christs, false prophets, Pagan oracles, magicians, sorcerers, and +sorceresses, those who are inspired by the spirit of Python, the +obsession and possession of demons, those who pretend to predict the +future, and whose predictions are sometimes fulfilled; those who make +compacts with the devil to discover treasures and enrich themselves; +those who make use of charms; evocations by means of magic; +enchantment; the being devoted to death by a vow; the deceptions of +idolatrous priests, who feigned that their gods ate and drank and had +commerce with women--all these can only be the work of Satan, and must +be ranked with what the Scripture calls _the depths of Satan_.[114] We +shall say something on this subject in the course of the treatise. + + +Footnotes: + +[88] Gen. iii. 1, 23. + +[89] Rev. xii. 9. + +[90] Bel and the Dragon. + +[91] Wisd. xi. 16. + +[92] Elian. Hist. Animal. + +[93] Numb. xxi. 2 Kings xviii. 4. + +[94] On this subject, see a work of profound learning, and as +interesting as profound, on "The Worship of the Serpent," by the Rev. +John Bathurst Deane, M. A. F. S. A. + +[95] Aug. tom. viii. pp. 28, 284. + +[96] _Ab-racha_, pater _mali_, or pater _malus_. + +[97] August. de Gen. ad Lit. 1. ii. c. 18. + +[98] Matt. iv. 9, 10, &c. + +[99] Gen. xxxii. 24, 25. + +[100] Sever. Sulpit. Hist. Sac. + +[101] A small city or town of the Electorate of Cologne, situated on a +river of the same name. + +[102] There were in all ten letters, the greater part of them Greek, +but which formed no (apparent) sense. They were to be seen at +Molsheim, in the tablet which bore a representation of this miracle. + +[103] Lib. de Anima. + +[104] 1 Pet. iii. 8. + +[105] Eph. vi. 11. 1 Tim. iii. 7. + +[106] Sulpit. Sever. Vit. St. Martin, b. xv. + +[107] 2 Cor. xi. 14. + +[108] Job i. 6-8. + +[109] 1 Kings xxii. 21. + +[110] Exod. ix. 6. + +[111] Gen. xviii. 13, 14. + +[112] Gen. xxxviii. + +[113] Prov. xvii. 11. + +[114] Rev. ii. 24. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +OF MAGIC. + + +Many persons regard magic, magicians, witchcraft, and charms as fables +and illusions, the effects of imagination in weak minds, who, +foolishly persuaded of the excessive power possessed by the devil, +attribute to him a thousand things which are purely natural, but the +physical reasons for which are unknown to them, or which are the +effects of the art of certain charlatans, who make a trade of imposing +on the simple and ignorant. These opinions are supported by the +authority of the principal parliaments of the kingdom, who acknowledge +neither magicians nor sorcerers, and who never punish those accused of +magic, or sorcery, unless they are convicted also of some other +crimes. As, in short, the more they punish and seek out magicians and +sorcerers, the more they abound in a country; and, on the contrary, +experience proves that in places where nobody believes in them, none +are to be found, the most efficacious means of uprooting this fancy is +to despise and neglect it. + +It is said that magicians and sorcerers themselves, when they fall +into the hands of judges and inquisitors, are often the first to +maintain that magic and sorcery are merely imaginary, and the effect +of popular prejudices and errors. Upon that footing, Satan would +destroy himself, and overthrow his own empire, if he were thus to +decry magic, of which he is himself the author and support. If the +magicians really, and of their own good will, independently of the +demon, make this declaration, they betray themselves most lightly, and +do not make their cause better; since the judges, notwithstanding +their disavowal, prosecute them, and always punish them without mercy, +being well persuaded that it is only the fear of execution and the +hope of remaining unpunished which makes them say so. + +But would it not rather be a stratagem of the evil spirit,[115] who +endeavors to render the reality of magic doubtful, to save from +punishment those who are accused of it, and to impose on the judges, +and make them believe that magicians are only madmen and +hypochondriacs, worthy rather of compassion than chastisement? We must +then return to the deep examination of the question, and prove that +magic is not a chimera, neither has it aught to do with reason. We can +neither rest on a sure foundation, nor derive any certain argument for +or against the reality of magic, either from the opinion of pretended +_esprits forts_, who deny because they think proper to do so, and +because the proofs of the contrary do not appear to them sufficiently +clear or demonstrative; nor from the declaration of the demon, of +magicians and sorcerers, who maintain that magic and sorcery are only +the effects of a disturbed imagination; nor from minds foolishly and +vainly prejudiced on the subject, that these declarations are produced +simply by the fear of punishment; nor by the subtilty of the malignant +spirit, who wishes to mask his play, and cast dust in the eyes of the +judges and witnesses, by making them believe that what they regard +with so much horror, and what they so vigorously prosecute, is +anything but a punishable crime, or at least a crime deserving of +punishment. + +We must then prove the reality of magic by the Holy Scriptures, by the +authority of the Church, and by the testimony of the most grave and +sensible writers; and, lastly, show that it is not true that the most +famous parliaments acknowledge neither sorcerers nor magicians. + +The teraphim which Rachael, the wife of Jacob, brought away secretly +from the house of Laban, her father,[116] were doubtless superstitious +figures, to which Laban's family paid a worship, very like that which +the Romans rendered to their household gods, _Penates_ and _Lares_, +and whom they consulted on future events. Joshua[117] says very +distinctly that Terah, the father of Abraham, adored strange gods in +Mesopotamia. And in the prophets Hosea and Zechariah,[118] the Seventy +translate _teraphim_ by the word _oracles_. Zechariah and Ezekiel[119] +show that the Chaldeans and the Hebrews consulted these _teraphim_ to +learn future events. + +Others believe that they were talismans or preservatives; everybody +agrees as to their being superstitious figures (or idols) which were +consulted in order to find out things unknown, or that were to come to +pass. + +The patriarch Joseph, speaking to his own brethren according to the +idea which they had of him in Egypt, says to them:[120] "Know ye not +that in all the land there is not a man who equals me in the art of +divining and predicting things to come?" And the officer of the same +Joseph, having found in Benjamin's sack Joseph's cup which he had +purposely hidden in it, says to them:[121] "It is the cup of which my +master makes use to discover hidden things." + +By the secret of their art, the magicians of Pharaoh imitated the true +miracles of Moses; but not being able like him to produce gnats +(English version _lice_), they were constrained to own that the finger +of God was in what Moses had hitherto achieved.[122] + +After the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, God expressly forbids +his people to practice any sort of magic or divination.[123] He +condemns to death magicians, and those who make use of charms. + +Balaam, the diviner, being invited by Balak, the king, to come and +devote the Israelites to destruction, God put blessings into his mouth +instead of curses;[124] and this bad prophet, amongst the blessings +which he bestows on Israel, says there is among them neither augury, +nor divination, nor magic. + +In the time of the Judges, the Idol of Micah was consulted as a kind +of oracle.[125] Gideon made, in his house and his city, an Ephod, +accompanied by a superstitious image, which was for his family, and to +all the people, the occasion of scandal and ruin.[126] + +The Israelites went sometimes to consult Beelzebub, god of Ekron,[127] +to know if they should recover from their sickness. The history of the +evocation of Samuel by the witch of Endor[128] is well known. I am +aware that some difficulties are raised concerning this history. I +shall deduce nothing from it here, except that this woman passed for a +witch, that Saul esteemed her such, and that this prince had +exterminated the magicians in his own states, or, at least, that he +did not permit them to exercise their art. + +Manasses, king of Judah,[129] is blamed for having introduced idolatry +into his kingdom, and particularly for having allowed there diviners, +aruspices, and those who predicted things to come. King Josiah, on the +contrary, destroyed all these superstitions.[130] + +The prophet Isaiah, who lived at the same time, says that they wished +to persuade the Jews then in captivity at Babylon to address +themselves, as did other nations, to diviners and magicians; but they +ought to reject these pernicious counsels, and leave those +abominations to the Gentiles, who knew not the Lord. Daniel[131] +speaks of the magicians, or workers of magic among the Chaldeans, and +of those amongst them who interpreted dreams, and predicted things to +come. + +In the New Testament, the Jews accused Jesus Christ of casting out +devils in the name of Beelzebub, the prince of the devils;[132] but he +refutes them by saying, that being come to destroy the empire of +Beelzebub, it was not to be believed that Beelzebub would work +miracles to destroy his own power or kingdom.[133] St. Luke speaks of +Simon the sorcerer, who had for a long time bewitched the inhabitants +of Samaria with his sorceries; and also of a certain Bar-Jesus of +Paphos, who professed sorcery, and boasted he could predict future +events.[134] St. Paul, when at Ephesus, caused a number of books of +magic to be burned.[135] Lastly, the Psalmist,[136] and the author of +the Book of Ecclesiasticus,[137] speak of charms with which they +enchanted serpents. + +In the Acts of the Apostles,[138] the young girl of the town of +Philippi, who was a Pythoness, for several successive days rendered +testimony to Paul and Silas, saying that they were "_the servants of +the Most High, and that they announced to men the way of salvation_." +Was it the devil who inspired her with these words, to destroy the +fruit of the preaching of the Apostles, by making the people believe +that they acted in concert with the spirit of evil? Or was it the +Spirit of God which put these words into the mouth of this young girl, +as he put into the mouth of Balaam prophecies concerning the Messiah? +There is reason to believe that she spoke through the inspiration of +the evil spirit, since St. Paul imposed silence on her, and expelled +the spirit of Python, by which she had been possessed, and which had +inspired the predictions she uttered, and the knowledge of hidden +things. In what way soever we may explain it, it will always follow +that magic is not a chimera, that this maiden was possessed by an evil +spirit, and that she predicted and revealed things hidden and to come, +and brought her _masters considerable gain by soothsaying_; for those +who consulted her would, doubtless, not have been so foolish as to pay +for these predictions, had they not experienced the truth of them by +their success and by the event. + +From all this united testimony, it results that magic, enchantments, +sorcery, divination, the interpretation of dreams, auguries, oracles, +and the magical figures which announced things to come, are very real, +since they are so severely condemned by God, and that He wills that +those who practice them should be punished with death. + + +Footnotes: + +[115] _Vide_ Bodin Preface. + +[116] Gen. xxxi. 19. + +[117] Josh. xxiv. 2-4. + +[118] Hosea ii. 4, &c. Zech. v. 2. + +[119] Zech. x. 2. Ezek. xxi. 21. + +[120] Gen. xliv. 15. + +[121] Gen. xliv. 5. + +[122] Exod. vii. 10-12. Exod. viii. 19. + +[123] Exod. xxii. 18. + +[124] Numb. xxii., xxiii. + +[125] Judg. xvii. 1, 2. + +[126] Judg. viii. 27. + +[127] 2 Kings i. 2, 2. + +[128] 1 Sam. xxviii. 7, _et seq._ + +[129] 2 Kings xxi. 16. + +[130] 2 Kings xxii. 24. + +[131] Dan. iv. 6, 7. + +[132] Matt. x. 25; xii. 24, 25. + +[133] Luke xi. 15, 18, 19. + +[134] Acts viii. 11; xiii. 6. + +[135] Acts xix. 19. + +[136] Psalm lvii. + +[137] Ecclus. xii. 13. + +[138] Acts xvi. 16, 17. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +OBJECTIONS TO THE REALITY OF MAGIC. + + +I shall not fail to be told that all these testimonies from Scripture +do not prove the reality of magic, sorcery, divination, and the rest; +but only that the Hebrews and Egyptians--I mean the common people +among them--believe that there were people who had intercourse with +the Divinity, or with good and bad angels, to predict the future, +explain dreams, devote their enemies to the direst misfortunes, cause +maladies, raise storms, and call forth the souls of the dead; if there +was any reality in all this, it was not in the things themselves, but +in their imaginations and prepossessions. + +Moses and Joseph were regarded by the Egyptians as great magicians. +Rachel, it appears, believed that the teraphim of her father Laban +were capable of giving her information concerning things hidden and to +come. The Israelites might consult the idol of Micha, and Beelzebub +the god of Ekron; but the sensible and enlightened people of those +days, like similar persons in our own, considered all this as the +sport and knavery of pretended magicians, who derived much emolument +from maintaining these prejudices among the people. + +Moses most wisely ordained the penalty of death against those persons +who abused the simplicity of the ignorant to enrich themselves at +their expense, and turned away the people from the worship of the true +God, in order to keep up among them such practices as were +superstitious and contrary to true religion. + +Besides, it was necessary to good order, the interests of the +commonwealth and of true piety, to repress those abuses which are in +opposition to them, and to punish with extreme severity those who draw +away the people from the true and legitimate worship due to God, lead +them to worship the devil, and place their confidence in the creature, +in prejudice to the right of the Creator; inspiring them with vain +terrors where there is nothing to fear, and maintaining their minds in +the most dangerous errors. If, amongst an infinite number of false +predictions, or vain interpretations of dreams, some of them are +fulfilled, either this is occasioned by chance or it is the work of +the devil, who is often permitted by God to deceive those whose +foolishness and impiety lead them to address themselves to him and +place their confidence in him, all which the wise lawgiver, animated +by the Divine Spirit, justly repressed by the most rigorous +punishment. + +All histories and experience on this subject demonstrate that those +who make use of the art of magic, charms, and spells, only employ +their art, their secret, and their power to corrupt and mislead; for +crime and vice; thus they cannot be too carefully sought out, or too +severely punished. + +We may add that what is often taken for black or diabolical magic is +nothing but natural magic, or art and cleverness on the part of those +who perform things which appear above the force of nature. How many +marvelous effects are related of the divining rod, sympathetic powder, +phosphoric lights, and mathematical secrets! How much knavery is now +well known in the priests of idols, and in those of Babylon, who made +the people believe that the god Bel drank and ate; that a large living +dragon was a divinity; that the god Anubis desired to have certain +women, who were thus deceived by the priests; that the ox Apis gave +out oracles, and that the serpent of Alexander of Abonotiche knew the +sickness, and gave remedies to the patient without opening the billet +which contained a description of the illness! We may possibly speak +more fully on this subject hereafter. + +In short, the most judicious and most celebrated Parliaments have +recognized neither magicians nor sorcerers; at least, they have not +condemned them to death unless they were convicted of other crimes, +such as theft, bad practices, poisoning, or criminal seduction--for +instance, in the affair of Gofredi, a priest of Marseilles, who was +condemned by the Parliament of Aix to be torn with hot pincers, and +burnt alive. The heads of that company, in the account which they +render to the chancellor of this their sentence, testify that this +cure was in truth accused of sorcery, but that he had been condemned +to the flames as guilty, and convicted of spiritual incest with his +penitent, Madelaine de la Palu. From all this it is concluded that +there is no reality in what is called magic. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +REPLY TO THE OBJECTIONS. + + +In answer to these, I allow that there is indeed very often a great +deal of illusion, prepossession, and imagination in all that is termed +magic and sorcery; and sometimes the devil by false appearances +combines with them to deceive the simple; but oftener, without the +evil spirit being any otherwise a party to it, wicked, corrupt, and +interested men, artful and deceptive, abuse the simplicity both of men +and women, so far as to persuade them that they possess supernatural +secrets for interpreting dreams and foretelling things to come, for +curing maladies, and discovering secrets unknown to any one. I can +easily agree to all that. All kinds of histories are full of facts +which demonstrate what I have just said. The devil has a thousand +things imputed to him in which he has no share; they give him the +honor of predictions, revelations, secrets, and discoveries, which are +by no means the effect of his power, or penetration; as in the same +manner he is accused of having caused all sorts of evils, tempests, +and maladies, which are purely the effect of natural but unknown +causes. + +It is very true that there are really many persons who are persuaded +of the power of the devil, of his influence over an infinite number of +things, and of the effects which they attribute to him; that they have +consulted him to learn future events, or to discover hidden things; +that they have addressed themselves to him for success in their +projects, for money, or favor, or to enjoy their criminal pleasures. +All this is very real. Magic, then, is not a simple chimera, since so +many persons are infatuated with the power of charms and convicted of +holding commerce with the devil, to procure a number of effects which +pass for supernatural. Now it is the folly, the vain credulity, the +prepossession of such people that the law of God interdicts, that +Moses condemns to death, and that the Christian Church punishes by its +censures, and which the secular judges repress with the greatest +rigor. If in all these things there was nothing but a diseased +imagination, weakness of the brain, or popular prejudices, would they +be treated with so much severity? Do we put to death hypochondriacs, +maniacs, or those who imagine themselves ill? No; they are treated +with compassion, and every effort is made to cure them. But in the +other case it is impiety, or superstition, or vice in those who +consult, or believe they consult, the devil, and place their +confidence in him, against which the laws are put in force and ordain +chastisement. + +Even if we could deny and contest the reality of augurs, diviners, and +magicians, and look on all these kind of persons as seducers, who +abuse the simplicity of those who betake themselves to them, could we +deny the reality of the magicians of Pharaoh, that of Simon, of +Bar-Jesus, of the Pythoness of the Acts of the Apostles? Did not the +first-mentioned perform many wonders before Pharaoh? Did not Simon the +magician rise into the air by means of the devil? Did not St. Paul +impose silence on the Pythoness of the city of Philippi in +Macedonia?[139] Will it be said that there was any collusion between +St. Paul and the Pythoness? Nothing of the kind can be maintained by +any reasonable argument. + +A small volume was published at Paris, in 1732, by a new author, who +conceals himself under the two initials M. D.; it is entitled, +_Treatise on Magic, Witchcraft, Possessions, Obsessions and Charms; in +which their truth and reality are demonstrated_. He shows that he +believes there are magicians; he shows by Scripture, both in the Old +and New Testament, and by the authority of the ancient fathers, some +passages from whose works are cited in that of Father Debrio, entitled +_Disquisitiones Magicae_. He proves it by the rituals of all the +dioceses, and by the examinations which are found in the printed +"Hours," wherein they suppose the existence of sorcerers and +magicians. + +The civil laws of the emperors, whether pagan or Christian, those of +the kings of France, both ancient and modern, jurisconsult, +physicians, historians both sacred and profane, concur in maintaining +this truth. In all kinds of writers we may remark an infinity of +stories of magic, spells and sorcery. The Parliaments of France, and +the tribunals of justice in other nations, have recognized magicians, +the pernicious effects of their art, and condemned them personally to +the most rigorous punishments. + +He relates at full length[140] the remonstrances made to King Louis +XIV., in 1670, by the Parliament at Rouen, to prove to that monarch +that it was not only the Parliament of Rouen, but also all the other +Parliaments of the kingdom, which followed the same rules of +jurisprudence in what concerns magic and sorcery; that they +acknowledged the existence of such things and condemn them. This +author cites several facts, and several sentences given on this matter +in the Parliaments of Paris, Aix, Toulouse, Rennes, Dijon, &c. &c.; +and it was upon these remonstrances that the same king, in 1682, made +his declaration concerning the punishment of various crimes, and in +particular of sorcery, diviners or soothsayers, magicians, and similar +crimes. + +He also cites the treaty of M. de la Marre, commissary at the +_chatelet_ of Paris, who speaks largely of magic, and proves its +reality, origin, progress, and effects. Would it be possible that the +sacred authors, laws divine and human, the greatest men of antiquity, +jurisconsults, the most enlightened historians, bishops in their +councils, the Church in her decisions, her practices and prayers, +should have conspired to deceive us, and to condemn those who practice +magic, sorcery, spells, and crimes of the same nature, to death, and +the most rigorous punishments, if they were merely illusive, and the +effect only of a diseased and prejudiced imagination? Father le Brun, +of the Oratoire, who has written so well upon the subject of +superstitions, substantiates the fact that the Parliament of Paris +recognizes that there are sorcerers, and that it punishes them +severely when they are convicted. He proves it by a decree issued in +1601 against some inhabitants of Campagne accused of witchcraft. The +decree wills that they shall be sent to the Conciergerie by the +subaltern judges on pain of being deprived of their charge. It +supposes that they must be rigorously punished, but it desires that +the proceedings against them for their discovery and punishment may be +exact and regular. + +M. Servin, advocate-general and councillor of state, fully proves from +the Old and New Testament, from tradition, laws and history, that +there are diviners, enchanters, and sorcerers, and refutes those who +would maintain the contrary. He shows that magicians and those who +make use of charms, ought to be punished and held in execration; but +he adds that no punishment must be inflicted till after certain and +evident proofs have been obtained; and this is what must be strictly +attended to by the Parliament of Paris, for fear of punishing madmen +for guilty persons, and taking illusions for realities. + +The Parliament leaves it to the Church to inflict excommunication, +both on men and women who have recourse to charms, and who believe +they go in the night to nocturnal assemblies, there to pay homage to +the devil. The Capitularies of the kings[141] recommend the pastors to +instruct the faithful on the subject of what is termed the Sabbath; at +any rate they do not command that these persons should receive +corporeal punishment, but only that they should be undeceived and +prevented from misleading others in the same manner. + +And there the Parliament stops, so long as the case goes no farther +than simply misleading; but when it goes so far as to injure others, +the kings have often commanded the judges to punish these persons with +fines and banishment. The Ordonnances of Charles VIII. in 1490, and of +Charles IX. in the States of Orleans in 1560, express themselves +formally on this point, and they were renewed by King Louis XIV. in +1682. The third article of these Ordonnances bears, that if it should +happen "_there were persons to be found wicked enough to add impiety +and sacrilege to superstition, those who shall be convicted of these +crimes shall be punished with death_." + +When, therefore, it is evident that some person has inflicted injury +on his neighbor by malpractices, the Parliament punishes them +rigorously, even to the pain of death, conformably to the ancient +Capitularies of the kingdom,[142] and the royal Ordonnances. Bodin, +who wrote in 1680, has collected a great number of decrees, to which +may be added those which the reverend Father le Brun reports, given +since that time. + +He afterwards relates a remarkable instance of a man named Hocque, who +was condemned to the galleys, the 2d of September, 1687, by sentence +of the High Court of Justice at Passy, for having made use of +malpractices towards animals, and having thus killed a great number in +Champagne. Hocque died suddenly, miserably, and in despair, after +having discovered, when drunken with wine, to a person named Beatrice, +the secret which he made use of to kill the cattle; he was not +ignorant that the demon would cause his death to revenge the discovery +which he had made of this spell. + +Some of the accomplices of this wretched man were condemned to the +galleys by divers decrees; others were condemned to be hanged and +burnt, by order of the Baille of Passy, the 26th of October, 1691, +which sentence was confirmed by decree of the Parliament of Paris, the +18th of December, 1691. From all which we deduce that the Parliament +of Paris acknowledges that the spells by which people do injury to +their neighbors ought to be rigorously punished; that the devil has +very extensive power, which he too often exercises over men and +animals, and that he would exercise it oftener, and with greater +extension and fury, if he were not limited and hindered by the power +of God, and that of good angels, who set bounds to his malice. St Paul +warns us[143] to put on the armor of God, to be able to resist the +snares of the devil: for, adds he, "we have not to war against flesh +and blood: but against princes and powers, against the bad spirits who +govern this dark world, against the spirits of malice who reign in the +air." + + +Footnotes: + +[139] Acts xvi. 10. + +[140] Page 31, _et seq._ + +[141] Capitular. R. xiii de Sortilegiis et Sorciariis, 2 col. 36. + +[142] Capitular. in 872, x. 2. col. 230. + +[143] Eph. vi. 12. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +EXAMINATION OF THE AFFAIR OF HOCQUE, MAGICIAN. + + +Monsieur de St. Andre, consulting physician in ordinary to the king, +in his sixth letter[144] against magic, maintains that in the affair +of Hocque which has been mentioned, there was neither magic, nor +sorcery, nor any operation of the demon; that the venomous drug which +Hocque placed in the stables, and by means of which he caused the +death of the cattle stalled therein, was nothing but a poisonous +compound, which, by its smell and the diffusion of its particles, +poisoned the animals and caused their death; it required only for +these drugs to be taken away for the cattle to be safe, or else to +keep the cattle from the stable in which the poison was placed. The +difficulty laid in discovering where these poisonous drugs were +hidden; the shepherds, who were the authors of the mischief, taking +all sorts of precautions to conceal them, knowing that their lives +were in danger if they should be discovered. + +He further remarks that these _gogues_ or poisoned drugs lose their +effects after a certain time, unless they are renewed or watered with +something to revive them and make them ferment again. If the devil had +any share in this mischief, the drug would always possess the same +virtue, and it would not be necessary to renew it and refresh it to +restore it to its pristine power. + +In all this, M. de St. Andre supposes that if the demon had any power +to deprive animals of their lives, or to cause them fatal maladies, he +could do so independently of secondary causes; which will not be +easily granted him by those who hold that God alone can give life and +death by an absolute power, independently of all secondary causes and +of any natural agent. The demon might have revealed to Hocque the +composition of this fatal and poisonous drug--he might have taught him +its dangerous effects, after which the venom acts in a natural way; it +recovers and resumes its pristine strength when it is watered; it acts +only at a certain distance, and according to the reach of the +corpuscles which exhale from it. All these effects have nothing +supernatural in them, nor which ought to be attributed to the demon; +but it is credible enough that he inspired Hocque with the pernicious +design to make use of a dangerous drug, which the wretched man knew +how to make up, or the composition of which was revealed to him by the +evil spirit. + +M. de St. Andre continues, and says that there is nothing in the death +of Hocque which ought to be attributed to the demon; it is, says he, a +purely natural effect, which can proceed from no other cause than the +venomous effluvia which came from the poisonous drug when it was taken +up, and which were carried towards the malefactor by those which +proceeded from his own body while he was preparing it, and placing it +in the ground, which remained there and were preserved in that spot, +so that none of them had been dissipated. + +These effluvia proceeding from the person of Hocque, then finding +themselves liberated, returned to whence they originated, and drew +with them the most malignant and corrosive particles of the charge or +drug, which acted on the body of this shepherd as they did on those of +the animals who smelled them. He confirms what he has just said, by +the example of sympathetic powder which acts upon the body of a +wounded person, by the immersion of small particles of the blood, or +the pus of the wounded man upon whom it is applied, which particles +draw with them the spirit of the drugs of which it (the powder) is +composed, and carry them to the wound. + +But the more I reflect on this pretended evaporation of the venomous +effluvia emanating from the poisoned drug, hidden at Passy en Brie, +six leagues from Paris, which are supposed to come straight to Hocque, +shut up at la Tournelle, borne by the animal effluvia proceeding from +this malefactor's body at the time he made up the poisonous drug and +put it in the ground, so long before the dangerous composition was +discovered; the more I reflect on the possibility of these +evaporations the less I am persuaded of them. I could wish to have +proofs of this system, and not instances of the very doubtful and very +uncertain effects of sympathetic powder, which can have no place in +the case in question. It is proving the obscure by the obscure, and +the uncertain by the uncertain; and even were we to admit generally +some effects of the sympathetic powder, they could not be applicable +here; the distance between the places is too great, and the time too +long; and what sympathy can be found between this shepherd's poisonous +drug and his person for it to be able to return to him who is +imprisoned at Paris, when the _gogue_ is discovered at Passy? + +The account composed and printed on this event bears, that the fumes +of the wine which Hocque had drank having evaporated, and he +reflecting on what Beatrice had made him do, began to agitate himself, +howled, and complained most strangely, saying that Beatrice had taken +him by surprise, that it would occasion his death, and that he must +die the instant that _Bras-de-fer_--another shepherd, to whom Beatrice +had persuaded Hocque to write word to take off the poisoned drug which +he had scattered on the ground at Passy--should take away the dose. He +attacked Beatrice, whom he wanted to strangle; and even excited the +other felons who were with him in prison and condemned to the galleys, +to maltreat her, through the pity they felt for the despair of Hocque, +who, at the time the dose was taken off the land, had died in a +moment, in strange convulsions, and agitating himself like one +possessed. + +M. de St. Andre would again explain all this by supposing Hocque's +imagination being struck with the idea of his dying, which he was +persuaded would happen at the time they carried away the poison, had a +great deal to do with his sufferings and death. How many people have +been known to die at the time they had fancied they should, when +struck with the idea of their approaching death. The despair and +agitation of Hocque had disturbed the mass of his blood, altered the +humors, deranged the motion of the effluvia, and rendered them much +susceptible of the actions of the vapors proceeding from the poisonous +composition. + +M. de St. Andre adds that, if the devil had any share in this kind of +mischievous spell, it could only be in consequence of some compact, +either expressed or tacit, that as soon as the poison should be taken +up, he who had put it there should die immediately. Now, what +likelihood is there that the person who should make this compact with +the devil should have made use of such a stipulation, which would +expose him to a cruel and inevitable death? + +1. We may reply that fright can cause death; but that it is not +possible for it to produce it at a given time, nor can he who falls +into a paroxysm of grief say that he shall die at such a moment; the +moment of death is not in the power of man in similar circumstances. + +2. That so corrupt a character as Hocque, a man who, without +provocation, and to gratify his ill-will, kills an infinite number of +animals, and causes great damage to innocent persons, is capable of +the greatest excess, may give himself up to the evil spirit, by +implicated or explicit compacts, and engage, on pain of losing his +life, never to take off the charge he had thrown upon a village. He +believed he should risk nothing by this stipulation, since he was free +to take it away or to leave it, and it was not probable that he should +ever lightly thus expose himself to certain death. That the demon had +some share in this virtue of the poisonous composition is very likely, +when we consider the circumstances of its operations, and those of the +death and despair of Hocque. This death is the just penalty of his +crimes, and of his confidence in the exterminating angel to whom he +had yielded himself. + +It is true that impostors, weak minds, heated imaginations, ignorant +and superstitious persons have been found who have taken for black +magic, and operations of the demon, what was quite natural, and the +effect of some subtilty of philosophy or mathematics, or even an +illusion of the senses, or a secret which deceives the eye and the +senses. But to conclude from thence that there is no magic at all, and +that all that is said about it is pure prejudice, ignorance, and +superstition, is to conclude what is general from what is particular, +and to deny what is true and certain, because it is not easy to +distinguish what is true from what is false, and because men will not +take the trouble to examine into causes. It is far easier to deny +everything than to enter upon a serious examination of facts and +circumstances. + + +Footnotes: + +[144] M. de St. Andre, Letter VI. on the subject of Magic, &c. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MAGIC OF THE EGYPTIANS AND CHALDEANS. + + +All pagan antiquity speaks of magic and magicians, of magical +operations, and of superstitious, curious, and diabolical books. +Historians, poets, and orators are full of things which relate to this +matter: some believe in it, others deny it; some laugh at it, others +remain in uncertainty and doubt. Are they bad spirits, or deceitful +men, impostors and charlatans, who, by the subtilties of their art, +make the ignorant believe that certain natural effects are produced by +supernatural causes? That is the point on which men differ. But in +general the name of magic and magician is now taken in these days in +an odious sense, for an art which produces marvelous effects, that +appear above the common course of nature, and that by the operation of +the bad spirit. + +The author of the celebrated book of Enoch, which had so great a +vogue, and has been cited by some ancient writers[145] as inspired +Scripture, says that the eleventh of the watchers, or of those angels +who were in love with women, was called Pharmacius, or Pharmachus; +that he taught men, before the flood, enchantments, spells, magic +arts, and remedies against enchantments. St. Clement, of Alexandria, +in his recognitions, says that Ham, the son of Noah, received that art +from heaven, and taught it to Misraim, his son, the father of the +Egyptians. + +In the Scripture, the name of _Mage_ or _Magus_ is never used in a +good sense as signifying philosophers who studied astronomy, and were +versed in divine and supernatural things, except in speaking of the +Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ at Bethlehem.[146] Everywhere else +the Scriptures condemn and abhor magic and magicians.[147] They +severely forbid the Hebrews to consult such persons and things. They +speak with abhorrence of _Simon and of Elymas_, well-known magicians, +in the Acts of the Apostles;[148] and of the magicians of Pharaoh, who +counterfeited by their illusions the true miracles of Moses. It seems +likely that the Israelites had taken the habit in Egypt, where they +then were, of consulting such persons, since Moses forbids them in so +many different places, and so severely, either to listen to them or to +place confidence in their predictions. + +The Chevalier Marsham shows very clearly that the school for magic +among the Egyptians is the most ancient ever known in the world; that +from thence it spread amongst the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, the +Greeks and Persians. St. Paul informs us that Jannes and Jambres, +famous magicians of the time of Pharaoh, resisted Moses. Pliny +remarks, that anciently, there was no science more renowned, or more +in honor, than that of magic: _Summam litterarum claritatem gloriamque +ex ea scientia antiquitus et pene semper petitam._ + +Porphyry[149] says that King Darius, son of Hystaspes, had so high an +idea of the art of magic that he caused to be engraved on the +mausoleum of his father Hystaspes, "_That he had been the chief and +the master of the Magi of Persia_." + +The embassy that Balak, King of the Moabites, sent to Balaam the son +of Beor, who dwelt in the mountains of the East, towards Persia and +Chaldea,[150] to entreat him to come and curse and devote to death the +Israelites who threatened to invade his country, shows the antiquity +of magic, and of the magical superstitions of that country. For will +it be said that these maledictions and inflictions were the effect of +the inspiration of the good Spirit, or the work of good angels? I +acknowledge that Balaam was inspired by God in the blessings which he +gave to the people of the Lord, and in the prediction which he made of +the coming of the Messiah; but we must acknowledge, also, the extreme +corruption of his heart, his avarice, and all that he would have been +capable of doing, if God had permitted him to follow his bad +inclination and the inspiration of the evil spirit. + +Diodorus of Sicily,[151] on the tradition of the Egyptians, says that +the Chaldeans who dwelt at Babylon and in Babylonia were a kind of +colony of the Egyptians, and that it was from these last that the +sages, or Magi of Babylon, learned the astronomy which gave such +celebrity. + +We see, in Ezekiel,[152] the King of Babylon, marching against his +enemies at the head of his army, stop short where two roads meet, and +mingle the darts, to know by magic art, and the flight of these +arrows, which road he must take. In the ancients, this manner of +consulting the demon by divining wands is known--the Greeks call it +_Rhabdomanteia_. + +The prophet Daniel speaks more than once of the magicians of Babylon. +King Nebuchadnezzar, having been frightened in a dream, sent for the +Magi, or magicians, diviners, aruspices, and Chaldeans, to interpret +the dream he had had. + +King Belshazzar in the same manner convoked the magicians, Chaldeans, +and aruspices of the country, to explain to him the meaning of these +words which he saw written on the wall: _Mene_, _Tekel_, _Perez_. All +this indicates the habit of the Babylonians to exercise magic art, and +consult magicians, and that this pernicious art was held in high +repute among them. We read in the same prophet of the trickery made +use of by the priests to deceive the people, and make them believe +that their gods lived, ate, drank, spoke, and revealed to them hidden +things. + +I have already mentioned the Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ; +there is no doubt that they came from Chaldea or the neighboring +country, but differing from those of whom we have just spoken, by +their piety, and having studied the true religion. + +We read in books of travels that superstition, magic, and fascinations +are still very common in the East, both among the fire-worshipers +descended from the ancient Chaldeans, and among the Persians, +sectaries of Mohammed. St. Chrysostom had sent into Persia a holy +bishop, named Maruthas, to have the care of the Christians who were in +that country; the King Isdegerde having discovered him, treated him +with much consideration. The Magi, who adore and keep up the perpetual +fire, which is regarded by the Persians as their principal divinity, +were jealous at this, and concealed underground an apostate, who, +knowing that the king was to come and pay his adoration to the +(sacred) fire, was to cry out from the depth of his cavern that the +king must be deprived of his throne because he esteemed the Christian +priest as a friend of the gods. The king was alarmed at this, and +wished to send Maruthas away; but the latter discovered to him the +imposture of the priests; he caused the ground to be turned up where +the man's voice had been heard, and there they found him from whom it +proceeded. + +This example, and those of the Babylonish priests spoken of by Daniel, +and that of some others, who, to satisfy their irregular passions, +pretended that their God required the company of certain women, proved +that what is usually taken for the effect of the black art is only +produced by the knavishness of priests, magicians, diviners, and all +kinds of persons who impose on the simplicity and credulity of the +people; I do not deny that the devil sometimes takes part in it, but +more rarely than is imagined. + + +Footnotes: + +[145] Apud Syncell. + +[146] Matt. iii. 1, 7, 36. + +[147] Lev. xix. 31; xx. + +[148] Acts viii. 9; xiii. 8. + +[149] Porph. de Abstinent. lib. iv. Sec. 16. Vid. et Ammian. Marcell. +lib. xxiii. + +[150] Numb. xxiii. 1-3. + +[151] Diodor. Sicul. lib. i. p. 5. + +[152] Ezek. xxi. 21. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +MAGIC AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS. + + +The Greeks have always boasted that they received the art of magic +from the Persians, or the Bactrians. They affirm that Zoroaster +communicated it to them; but when we wish to know the exact time at +which Zoroaster lived, and when he taught them these pernicious +secrets, they wander widely from the truth, and even from probability; +some placing Zoroaster 600 years before the expedition of Xerxes into +Greece, which happened in the year of the world 3523, and before Jesus +Christ 477; others 500 years before the Trojan war; others 5000 years +before that famous war; others 6000 years before that great event. +Some believe that Zoroaster is the same as Ham, the son of Noah. +Lastly, others maintain that there were several Zoroasters. What +appears indubitably true is, that the worship of a plurality of gods, +as also magic, superstition, and oracles, came from the Egyptians and +Chaldeans, or Persians, to the Greeks, and from the Greeks to the +Latins. + +From the time of Homer,[153] magic was quite common among the Greeks. +That poet speaks of the cure of wounds, and of blood staunched by the +secrets of magic, and by enchantment. St. Paul, when at Ephesus, +caused to be burned there books of magic and curious secrets, the +value of which amounted to the sum of 50,000 pieces of silver.[154] We +have before said a few words concerning Simon the magician, and the +magician Elymas, known in the Acts of the Apostles.[155] Pindar +says[156] that the centaur Chiron cured several enchantments. When +they say that Orpheus rescued from hell his wife Eurydice, who had +died from the bite of a serpent, they simply mean that he cured her by +the power of charms.[157] The poets have employed magic verses to make +themselves beloved, and they have taught them to others for the same +purpose; they may be seen in Theocritus, Catullus, and Virgil. +Theophrastus affirms that there are magical verses which cure +sciatica. Cato mentions (or repeats) some against luxations.[158] +Varro admits that there are some powerful against the gout. + +The sacred books testify that enchanters have the secret of putting +serpents to sleep, and of charming them, so that they can never either +bite again or cause any more harm.[159] The crocodile, that terrible +animal, fears even the smell and voice of the Tentyriens.[160] Job, +speaking of the leviathan, which we believe to be the crocodile, says, +"Shall the enchanter destroy it?"[161] And in Ecclesiasticus, "Who +will pity the enchanter that has been bitten by the serpent?"[162] + +Everybody knows what is related of the Marsi, people of Italy, and of +the Psyllae, who possessed the secret of charming serpents. One would +say, says St. Augustine,[163] that these animals understand the +languages of the Marsi, so obedient are they to their orders; we see +them come out of their caverns as soon as the Marsian has spoken. All +this can only be done, says the same father, by the power of the +malignant spirit, whom God permits to exercise this empire over +venomous reptiles, above all, the serpent, as if to punish him for +what he did to the first woman. In fact, it may be remarked that no +animal is more exposed to charms, and the effects of magic art, than +the serpent. + +The laws of the Twelve Tables forbid the charming of a neighbor's +crops, _qui fruges excantasset_. Valerius Flaccus quotes authors who +affirm that when the Romans were about to besiege a town, they +employed their priests to evoke the divinity who presided over it, +promising him a temple in Rome, either like the one dedicated to him +in the besieged place, or on a rather larger scale, and that the +proper worship should be paid to him. Pliny says that the memory of +these evocations is preserved among the priests. + +If that which we have just related, and what we read in ancient and +modern writers, is at all real, and produces the effects attributed to +it, it cannot be doubted that there is something supernatural in it, +and that the devil has a great share in the matter. + +The Abbot Trithemius speaks of a sorceress who, by means of certain +beverages, changed a young Burgundian into a beast. + +Everybody knows the fable of Circe, who changed the soldiers or +companions of Ulysses into swine. We know also the fable of the Golden +Ass, by Apuleius, which contains the account of a man metamorphosed +into an ass. I bring forward these things merely as what they are, +that is to say, simply poetic fictions. + +But it is very credible that these fictions are not destitute of some +foundation, like many other fables, which contain not only a hidden +and moral sense, but which have also some relation to an event really +historical: for instance, what is said of the Golden Fleece carried +away by Jason; of the Wooden Horse, made use of to surprise the city +of Troy; the Twelve Labors of Hercules; the metamorphoses related by +Ovid. All fabulous as those things appear in the poets, they have, +nevertheless, their historical truth. And thus the pagan poets and +historians have travestied and disguised the stories of the Old +Testament, and have attributed to Bacchus, Jupiter, Saturn, Apollo, +and Hercules, what is related of Noah, Moses, Aaron, Samson, and +Jonah, &c. + +Origen, writing against Celsus, supposes the reality of magic, and +says that the Magi who came to adore Jesus Christ at Bethlehem, +wishing to perform their accustomed operations, not being able to +succeed, a superior power preventing the effect and imposing silence +on the demon, they sought out the cause, and beheld at the same time a +divine sign in the heavens, whence they concluded that it was the +Being spoken of by Balaam, and that the new King whose birth he had +predicted, was born in Judea, and immediately they resolved to go and +seek him. Origen believes that magicians, according to the rules of +their art, often foretell the future, and that their predictions are +followed by the event, unless the power of God, or that of the angels, +prevents the effect of their conjurations, and puts them to +silence.[164] + + +Footnotes: + +[153] Homer, Iliad, IV. + +[154] Acts xix. 19. + +[155] Acts viii. 9; xiii. 8. + +[156] Pind. Od. iv. + +[157] Plin. I. 28. + +[158] Cato de Rerustic. c. 160. + +[159] Psalm lvii. Jer. vii. 17. Eccles. x. 11. + +[160] Plin. lib. viii. c. 50. + +[161] Job xl. 25. + +[162] Ecclus. xii. 13. + + "Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis."--_Virgil_, Ecl. viii. + + "Vipereas rumpo verbis et carmine fauces."--_Ovid._ + +[163] Plin. lib. xxviii. + +[164] The fables of Jason and many others of the same class are said +by Fortuitus Comes to have a reference to alchemy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +EXAMPLES WHICH PROVE THE REALITY OF MAGIC. + + +St. Augustine[165] remarks that not only the poets, but the historians +even, relate that Diomede, of whom the Greeks have made a divinity, +had not the happiness to return to his country with the other princes +who had been at the siege of Troy; that his companions were changed +into birds, and that these birds have their dwelling in the environs +of the Temple of Diomede, which is situated near Mount Garganos; that +these birds caress the Greeks who come to visit this temple, but fly +at and peck the strangers who arrive there. + +Varro, the most learned of Romans, to render this more credible, +relates what everybody knows about Circe, who changed the companions +of Ulysses into beasts; and what is said of the Arcadians, who, after +having drawn lots, swam over a certain lake, after which they were +metamorphosed into wolves, and ran about in the forests like other +wolves. If during the time of their transmutation they did not eat +human flesh, at the end of nine years they repassed the same lake, and +resumed their former shape. + +The same Varro relates of a certain Demenotas that, having tasted the +flesh of a child which the Arcadians had immolated to their god Lycaea, +he had also been changed into a wolf, and ten years after he had +resumed his natural form, had appeared at the Olympic games, and won +the prize for pugilism. + +St. Augustine testifies that in his time many believed that these +transformations still took place, and some persons even affirmed that +they had experienced them in their own persons. He adds that, when in +Italy, he was told that certain women gave cheese to strangers who +lodged at their houses, when these strangers were immediately changed +into beasts of burden, without losing their reason, and carried the +loads which were placed upon them; after which they returned to their +former state. He says, moreover, that a certain man, named +Praestantius, related that his father, having eaten of this magic +cheese, remained lying in bed, without any one being able to awaken +him for several days, when he awoke, and said that he had been changed +into a horse, and had carried victuals to the army; and the thing was +found to be true, although it appeared to him to be only a dream. + +St. Augustine, reasoning on all this, says that either these things +are false, or else so extraordinary that we cannot give faith to them. +It is not to be doubted that God, by his almighty power, can do +anything that he thinks proper, but that the devil, who is of a +spiritual nature, can do nothing without the permission of God, whose +decrees are always just; that the demon can neither change the nature +of the spirit, or the body of a man, to transform him into a beast; +but that he can only act upon the fancy or imagination of a man, and +persuade him that he is what he is not, or that he appears to others +different from what he is; or that he remains in a deep sleep, and +believes during that slumber that he is bearing loads which the devil +carries for him; or that he (the devil) fascinates the eyes of those +who believe they see them borne by animals, or by men metamorphosed +into animals. + +If we consider it only a change arising from fancy or imagination, as +it happens in the disorder called lycanthropy, in which a man believes +himself changed into a wolf, or into any other animal, as +Nebuchadnezzar, who believed himself changed into an ox, and acted for +seven years as if he had really been metamorphosed into that animal, +there would be nothing in that more marvelous than what we see in +hypochondriacs, who persuade themselves that they are kings, generals, +popes, and cardinals; that they are snow, glass, pottery, &c. Like him +who, being alone at the theatre, believed that he beheld there actors +and admirable representations; or the man who imagined that all the +vessels which arrived at the port of Pireus, near Athens, belonged to +him; or, in short, what we see every day in dreams, and which appear +to us very real during our sleep. In all this, it is needless to have +recourse to the devil, or to magic, fascination, or illusion; there +is nothing above the natural order of things. But that, by means of +certain beverages, certain herbs, and certain kinds of food, a person +may disturb the imagination, and persuade another that he is a wolf, a +horse, or an ass, appears more difficult of explanation, although we +are aware that plants, herbs, and medicaments possess great power over +the bodies of men, and are capable of deranging the brain, +constitution, and imagination. We have but too many examples of such +things. + +Another circumstance which, if true, deserves much reflection, is that +of Apollonius of Tyana, who, being at Ephesus during a great plague +which desolated the city, promised the Ephesians to cause the pest to +cease the very day on which he was speaking to them, and which was +that of his second arrival in their town. He assembled them at the +theatre, and ordered them to stone to death a poor old man, covered +with rags, who asked alms. "Strike," cried he, "that enemy of the +gods! heap stones upon him." They could not make up their minds to do +so, for he excited their pity, and asked mercy in the most touching +manner. But Apollonius pressed it so much, that at last they slew him, +and amassed over him an immense heap of stones. A little while after +he told them to take away these stones, and they would see what sort +of an animal they had killed. They found only a great dog, and were +convinced that this old man was only a phantom who had fascinated +their eyes, and caused the pestilence in their town. + +We here see five remarkable things:--1st. The demon who causes the +plague in Ephesus; 2d. This same demon, who, instead of a dog, causes +the appearance of a man; 3d. The fascination of the senses of the +Ephesians, who believe that they behold a man instead of a dog; 4th. +The proof of the magic of Apollonius, who discovers the cause of this +pestilence; 5th. And who makes it cease at the given time. + +AEneas Sylvius Picolomini, who was afterwards Pope by the name of Pius +II., writes, in his History of Bohemia, that a woman predicted to a +soldier of King Wratislaus, that the army of that prince would be cut +in pieces by the Duke of Bohemia, and that, if this soldier wished to +avoid death, he must kill the first person he should meet on the road, +cut off their ears, and put them in his pocket; that with the sword he +had used to pierce them he must trace on the ground a cross between +his horse's legs; that he must kiss it, and then take flight. All this +the young soldier performed. Wratislaus gave battle, lost it, and was +killed. The young soldier escaped; but on entering his house, he found +that it was his wife whom he had killed and run his sword through, and +whose ears he had cut off. + +This woman was, then, strangely disguised and metamorphosed, since +her husband could not recognize her, and she did not make herself +known to him in such perilous circumstances, when her life was in +danger. These two were, then, apparently magicians; both she who made +the prediction, and the other on whom it was exercised. God permits, +on this occasion, three great evils. The first magician counsels the +murder of an innocent person; the young man commits it on his own wife +without knowing her; and the latter dies in a state of condemnation, +since by the secrets of magic she had rendered it impossible to +recognize her. + +A butcher's wife of the town of Jena, in the duchy of Wiemar in +Thuringia,[166] having refused to let an old woman have a calf's head +for which she offered very little, the old woman went away grumbling +and muttering. A little time after this the butcher's wife felt +violent pains in her head. As the cause of this malady was unknown to +the cleverest physicians, they could find no remedy for it; from time +to time a substance like brains came from this woman's left ear, and +at first it was supposed to be her own brain. But as she suspected +that old woman of having cast a spell upon her on account of the +calf's head, they examined the thing more minutely, and they saw that +these were calf's brains; and what strengthened this opinion was that +splinters of calf's-head bones came out with the brains. This disorder +continued some time; at last the butcher's wife was perfectly cured. +This happened in 1685. M. Hoffman, who relates this story in his +dissertation _on the Power of the Demon over Bodies_, printed in 1736, +says that the woman was perhaps still alive. + +One day they brought to St. Macarius the Egyptian, a virtuous woman +who had been transformed into a mare by the pernicious arts of a +magician. Her husband, and all those who saw her, thought that she +really was changed into a mare. This woman remained three days and +three nights without tasting any food, proper either for man or horse. +They showed her to the priests of the place, who could apply no +remedy. + +Then they led her to the cell of St. Macarius, to whom God had +revealed that she was to come; his disciples wanted to send her back, +thinking that it was a mare. They informed the saint of her arrival, +and the subject of her journey. "He said to them, You are downright +animals yourselves, thinking you see what is not; that woman is not +changed, but your eyes are fascinated. At the same time he sprinkled +holy water on the woman's head, and all present beheld her in her +former state. He gave her something to eat, and sent her away safe and +sound with her husband. As he sent her away the saint said to her, Do +not keep from church, for this has happened to you for having been +five weeks without taking the sacrament of our Lord, or attending +divine service." + +St. Hilarion, much in the same manner, cured by virtue of holy water a +young girl, whom a magician had rendered most violently amorous of a +young man. The demon who possessed her cried aloud to St. Hilarion, +"You make me endure the most cruel torments, for I cannot come out +till the young man who caused me to enter shall unloose me, for I am +enchained under the threshold of the door by a band of copper covered +with magical characters, and by the tow which envelops it." Then St. +Hilarion said to him, "Truly your power is very great, to suffer +yourself to be bound by a bit of copper and a little thread;" at the +same time, without permitting these things to be taken from under the +threshold of the door, he chased away the demon and cured the girl. + +In the same place, St. Jerome relates that one Italicus, a citizen of +Gaza and a Christian, who brought up horses for the games in the +circus, had a pagan antagonist who hindered and held back the horses +of Italicus in their course, and gave most extraordinary celerity to +his own. Italicus came to St. Hilarion, and told him the subject he +had for uneasiness. The saint laughed and said to him, "Would it not +be better to give the value of your horses to the poor rather than +employ them in such exercises?" "I cannot do as I please," said +Italicus; "it is a public employment which I fill, because I cannot +help it, and as a Christian I cannot employ malpractices against those +used against me." The brothers, who were present, interceded for him; +and St. Hilarion gave him the earthen vessel out of which he drank, +filled it with water, and told him to sprinkle his horses with it. +Italicus not only sprinkled his horses with this water, but likewise +his stable and chariot all over; and the next day the horses and +chariot of this rival were left far behind his own; which caused the +people to shout in the theatre, "Marnas is vanished--Jesus Christ is +victorious!" And this victory of Italicus produced the conversion of +several persons at Gaza. + +Will it be said that this is only the effect of imagination, +prepossession, or the trickery of a clever charlatan? How can you +persuade fifty people that a woman who is present before their eyes +can be changed into a mare, supposing that she has retained her own +natural shape? How was it that the soldier mentioned by AEneas Sylvius +did not recognize his wife, whom he pierced with his sword, and whose +ears he cut off? How did Apollonius of Tyana persuade the Ephesians to +kill a man, who really was only a dog? How did he know that this dog, +or this man, was the cause of the pestilence which afflicted Ephesus? +It is then very credible that the evil spirit often acts on bodies, on +the air, the earth, and on animals, and produces effects which appear +above the power of man. + +It is said that in Lapland they have a school for magic, and that +fathers send their children to it, being persuaded that magic is +necessary to them, that they may avoid falling into the snares of +their enemies, who are themselves great magicians. They make the +familiar demons, whose services they command, pass as an inheritance +to their children, that they may make use of them to overcome the +demons of other families who are adverse to their own. They often make +use of a certain kind of drum for their magical operations; for +instance, if they wish to know what is passing in a foreign country, +one amongst them beats this drum, placing upon it at the part where +the image of the sun is represented, a quantity of pewter rings +attached together with a chain of the same metal; then they strike the +drum with a forked hammer made of bone, so that these rings move; at +the same time they sing distinctly a song, called by the Laplanders +_Jonk_; and all those of their nation who are present, men and women, +add their own songs, expressing from time to time the name of the +place whence they desire to have news. + +The Laplander having beaten the drum for some time, places it on his +head in a certain manner, and falls down directly motionless on the +ground, and without any sign of life. All the men and all the women +continue singing, till he revives; if they cease to sing, the man +dies, which happens also if any one tries to awaken him by touching +his hand or his foot. They even keep the flies from him, which by +their humming might awaken him and bring him back to life. + +When he is recovered he replies to the questions they ask him +concerning the place he has been at. Sometimes he does not awake for +four-and-twenty hours, sometimes more, sometimes less, according to +the distance he has gone; and in confirmation of what he says, and of +the distance he has been, he brings back from the place he has been +sent to the token demanded of him, a knife, a ring, shoes, or some +other object.[167] + +These same Laplanders make use also of this drum to learn the cause of +any malady, or to deprive their enemies of their life or their +strength. Moreover, amongst them are certain magicians, who keep in a +kind of leathern game-bag magic flies, which they let loose from time +to time against their enemies or against their cattle, or simply to +raise tempests and hurricanes. They have also a sort of dart which +they hurl into the air, and which causes the death of any one it falls +upon. They have also a sort of little ball called _tyre_, almost +round, which they send in the same way against their enemies to +destroy them; and if by ill luck this ball should hit on its way some +other person, or some animal, it will inevitably cause its death. + +Who can be persuaded that the Laplanders who sell fair winds, raise +storms, relate what passes in distant places, where they go, as they +say, in the spirit, and bring back things which they have found +there--who can persuade themselves that all this is done without the +aid of magic? It has been said that in the circumstance of Apollonius +of Tyana, they contrived to send away the man all squalid and +deformed, and put in his place a dog which was stoned, or else they +substituted a dead dog. All which would require a vast deal of +preparation, and would be very difficult to execute in sight of all +the people: it would, perhaps, be better to deny the fact altogether, +which certainly does appear very fabulous, than to have recourse to +such explanations. + + +Footnotes: + +[165] Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. xviii. c. 16-18. + +[166] Frederici Hoffman, de Diaboli Potentia in Corpora, p. 382. + +[167] See John Schesser, _Laponia_, printed at Frankfort in 4to. an. +1673, chap. xi. entitled, _De sacris Magicis et Magia Laponia_, p. +119, and following. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +EFFECTS OF MAGIC ACCORDING TO THE POETS. + + +Were we to believe what is said by the poets concerning the effects of +magic, and what the magicians boast of being able to perform by their +spells, nothing would be more marvelous than their art, and we should +be obliged to acknowledge that the power of the demon was greatly +shown thereby. Pliny[168] relates that Appian evoked the spirit of +Homer, to learn from him which was his country, and who were his +parents. Philostratus says[169] that Apollonius of Tyana went to the +tomb of Achilles, evoked his manes, and implored them to cause the +figure of that hero to appear to him; the tomb trembled, and +afterwards he beheld a young man, who at first appeared about five +cubits, or seven feet and a half high--after which, the phantom +dilated to twelve cubits, and appeared of a singular beauty. +Apollonius asked him some frivolous questions, and as the young man +jested indecently with him, he comprehended that he was possessed by a +demon; this demon he expelled, and cured the young man. But all this +is fabulous. + +Lactantius,[170] refuting the philosophers Democritus, Epicurus, and +Dicearchus, who denied the immortality of the soul, says they would +not dare to maintain their opinion before a magician, who, by the +power of his art, and by his spells, possessed the secret of bringing +souls from Hades, of making them appear, speak, and foretell the +future, and give certain signs of their presence. + +St. Augustine,[171] always circumspect in his decisions, dare not +pronounce whether magicians possess the power of evoking the spirits +of saints by the might of their enchantments. But Tertullian[172] is +bolder, and maintains that no magical art has power to bring the souls +of the saints from their rest; but that all the necromancers can do is +to call forth some phantoms with a borrowed shape, which fascinate the +eyes, and make those who are present believe that to be a reality +which is only appearance. In the same place he quotes Heraclius, who +says that the Nasamones, people of Africa, pass the night by the tombs +of their near relations to receive oracles from the latter; and that +the Celts, or Gauls, do the same thing in the mausoleums of great men, +as related by Nicander. + +Lucan says[173] that the magicians, by their spells, cause thunder in +the skies unknown to Jupiter; that they tear the moon from her sphere, +and precipitate her to earth; that they disturb the course of nature, +prolong the nights, and shorten the days; that the universe is +obedient to their voice, and that the world is chilled as it were when +they speak and command.[174] They were so well persuaded that the +magicians possessed power to make the moon come down from the sky, and +they so truly believed that she was evoked by magic art whenever she +was eclipsed, that they made a great noise by striking on copper +vessels, to prevent the voice which pronounced enchantments from +reaching her.[175] + +These popular opinions and poetical fictions deserve no credit, but +they show the force of prejudice.[176] It is affirmed that, even at +this day, the Persians think they are assisting the moon when eclipsed +by striking violently on brazen vessels, and making a great uproar. + +Ovid[177] attributes to the enchantments of magic the evocation of the +infernal powers, and their dismissal back to hell; storms, tempests, +and the return of fine weather. They attributed to it the power of +changing men into beasts by means of certain herbs, the virtues of +which are known to them.[178] + +Virgil[179] speaks of serpents put to sleep and enchanted by the +magicians. And Tibullus says that he has seen the enchantress bring +down the stars from heaven, and turn aside the thunderbolt ready to +fall upon the earth--and that she has opened the ground and made the +dead come forth from their tombs. + +As this matter allows of poetical ornaments, the poets have vied with +each other in endeavoring to adorn their pages with them, not that +they were convinced there was any truth in what they said; they were +the first to laugh at it when an opportunity presented itself, as well +as the gravest and wisest men of antiquity. But neither princes nor +priests took much pains to undeceive the people, or to destroy their +prejudices on those subjects. The Pagan religion allowed them, nay, +authorized them, and part of its practices were founded on similar +superstitions. + + +Footnotes: + +[168] Plin. lib. iii. c. 2. + +[169] Philost. Vit. Apollon. + +[170] Lactant. lib. vi. Divin. Instit. c. 13. + +[171] Aug. ad Simplic. + +[172] Tertull. de Anima, c. 57. + +[173] Lucan. Pharsal. lib. vi. 450, _et seq._ + +[174] + "Cessavere vices rerum, dilataque longa, + Haesit nocte dies; legi non paruit aether; + Torpuit et praeceps audito carmine mundus; + Et tonat ignaro coelum Jove." + +[175] + "Cantat et e curro tentat deducere Lunam + Et faceret, si non aera repulsa sonent." + _Tibull._ lib. i. Eleg. ix. 21. + +[176] Pietro della Valle, Voyage. + +[177] + ".... Obscurum verborum ambage nervorum + Ter novies carmen magico demurmurat ore. + Jam ciet infernas magico stridore catervas, + Jam jubet aspersum lacte referre pedem. + Cum libet, haec tristi depellit nubila coelo; + Cum libet, aestivo provocat orbe nives." + _Ovid. Metamorph._ 14. + +[178] + "Nais nam ut cantu, nimiumque potentibus herbis + Verterit in tacitos juvenilia corpora pisces." + +[179] + "Vipereo generi et graviter spirantibus hydris + Spargere qui somnos cantuque manque solebat," + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +OF THE PAGAN ORACLES. + + +If it were well proved that the oracles of pagan antiquity were the +work of the evil spirit, we could give more real and palpable proofs +of the apparition of the demon among men than these boasted oracles, +which were given in almost every country in the world, among the +nations which passed for the wisest and most enlightened, as the +Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians, Syrians, even the Hebrews, Greeks, and +Romans. Even the most barbarous people were not without their oracles. + +In the pagan religion there was nothing esteemed more honorable, or +more complacently boasted of. + +In all their great undertakings they had recourse to the oracle; by +that was decided the most important affairs between town and town, or +province and province. The manner in which the oracles were rendered +was not everywhere the same. It is said[180] the bull Apis, whose +worship was anciently established in Egypt, gave out his oracles on +his receiving food from the hand of him who consulted. If he received +it, say they, it was considered a good omen; if he refused it, this +was a bad augury. When this animal appeared in public, he was +accompanied by a troop of children, who sang hymns in his honor; after +which these boys were filled with sacred enthusiasm, and began to +predict future events. If the bull went quietly into his lodge, it was +a happy sign;[181] if he came out, it was the contrary. Such was the +blindness of the Egyptians. + +There were other oracles also in Egypt:[182] as those of Mercury, +Apollo, Hercules, Diana, Minerva, Jupiter Ammon, &c., which last was +consulted by Alexander the Great. But Herodotus remarks that in his +time there were neither priests nor priestesses who uttered oracles. +They were derived from certain presages, which they drew by chance, or +from the movements of the statues of the gods, or from the first voice +which they heard after having consulted. Pausanias says[183] that he +who consults whispers in the ear of Mercury what he requires to know, +then he stops his ears, goes out of the temple, and the first words +which he hears from the first person he meets are held as the answer +of the god. + +The Greeks acknowledge that they received from the Egyptians both the +names of their gods and their most ancient oracles; amongst others +that of Dodona, which was already much resorted to in the time of +Homer,[184] and which came from the oracle of Jupiter of Thebes: for +the Egyptian priests related that two priestesses of that god had been +carried off by Phoenician merchants, who had sold them, one into +Libya and the other into Greece.[185] Those of Dodona related that two +black doves had flown from Thebes of Egypt--that the one which had +stopped at Dodona had perched upon a beech-tree, and had declared in an +articulate voice that the gods willed that an oracle of Jupiter should +be established in this place; and that the other, having flown into +Lybia, had there formed or founded the oracle of Jupiter Ammon. These +origins are certainly very frivolous and very fabulous. The Oracle of +Delphi is more recent and more celebrated. Phemonoe was the first +priestess of Delphi, and began in the time of Acrisius, twenty-seven +years before Orpheus, Musaeus, and Linus. She is said to have been the +inventress of hexameters. + +But I think I can remark vestiges of oracles in Egypt, from the time +of the patriarch Joseph, and from the time of Moses. The Hebrews had +dwelt for 215 years in Egypt, and having multiplied there exceedingly, +had begun to form a separate people and a sort of republic. They had +imbibed a taste for the ceremonies, the superstitions, the customs, +and the idolatry of the Egyptians. + +Joseph was considered the cleverest diviner and the greatest expounder +of dreams in Egypt. They believed that he derived his oracles from the +inspection of the liquor which he poured into his cup. Moses, to cure +the Hebrews of their leaning to the idolatry and superstitions of +Egypt, prescribed to them laws and ceremonies which favored his +design; the first, diametrically opposite to those of the Egyptians; +the second, bearing some resemblance to theirs in appearance, but +differing both in their aim and circumstances. + +For instance, the Egyptians were accustomed to consult diviners, +magicians, interpreters of dreams, and augurs; all which things are +forbidden to the Hebrews by Moses, on pain of rigorous punishment; but +in order that they might have no room to complain that their religion +did not furnish them with the means of discovering future events and +hidden things, God, with condescension worthy of reverential +admiration, granted them the _Urim and Thummim_, or the Doctrine and +the Truth, with which the high-priest was invested according to the +ritual in the principal ceremonies of religion, and by means of which +he rendered oracles, and discovered the will of the Most High. When +the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle were constructed, the Lord, +consulted by Moses,[186] gave out his replies from between the two +cherubim which were placed upon the mercy-seat above the ark. All +which seems to insinuate that, from the time of the patriarch Joseph, +there had been oracles and diviners in Egypt, and that the Hebrews +consulted them. + +God promised his people to raise up a prophet[187] among them, who +should declare to them his will: in fact, we see in almost all ages +among them, prophets inspired by God; and the true prophets reproached +them vehemently for their impiety, when instead of coming to the +prophets of the Lord, they went to consult strange oracles,[188] and +divinities equally powerless and unreal. + +We have spoken before of the teraphim of Laban, of the idols or +pretended oracles of Micah and Gideon. King Saul, who, apparently by +the advice of Samuel, had exterminated diviners and magicians from the +land of Israel, desired in the last war to consult the Lord, who would +not reply to him. He then afterwards addressed himself to a witch, who +promised him she would evoke Samuel for him. She did, or feigned to do +so, for the thing offers many difficulties, into which we shall not +enter here. + +The same Saul having consulted the Lord on another occasion, to know +whether he must pursue the Philistines whom he had just defeated, God +refused also to reply to him,[189] because his son Jonathan had tasted +some honey, not knowing that the king had forbidden his army to taste +anything whatever before his enemies were entirely overthrown. + +The silence of the Lord on certain occasions, and his refusal to +answer sometimes when He was consulted, are an evident proof that He +usually replied, and that they were certain of receiving instructions +from Him, unless they raised an obstacle to it by some action which +was displeasing to Him. + + +Footnotes: + +[180] Plin. lib. viii. c. 48. + +[181] Herodot. lib. ix. + +[182] _Vide_ Joan. Marsham, Saec. iv. pp. 62, 63. + +[183] Pausan. lib. vii. p. 141. + +[184] Homer, Iliad, xii. 2, 235. + +[185] Herodot. lib. ii. c. 52, 55. + +[186] Exod. xxv. 22. + +[187] Deut. xviii. 13. + +[188] 2 Kings i. 2, 3, 16, &c. + +[189] 1 Sam. xiv. 24. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE CERTAINTY OF THE EVENT PREDICTED IS NOT ALWAYS A PROOF THAT THE +PREDICTION COMES FROM GOD. + + +Moses had foreseen that so untractable and superstitious a people as +the Israelites would not rest satisfied with the reasonable, pious, +and supernatural means which he had procured them for discovering +future events, by giving them prophets and the oracle of the +high-priest. He knew that there would arise among them false prophets +and seducers, who would endeavor by their illusions and magical +secrets to mislead them into error; whence it was that he said to +them:[190] "If there should arise among you a prophet, or any one who +boasts of having had a dream, and he foretells a wonder, or anything +which surpasses the ordinary power of man, and what he predicts shall +happen; and after that he shall say unto you, Come, let us go and +serve the strange gods, which you have not known; you shall not +hearken unto him, because the Lord your God will prove you, to see +whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your +soul." + +Certainly, nothing is more likely to mislead us than to see what has +been foretold by any one come to pass. + +"Show the things that are to come," says Isaiah,[191] "that we may +know that ye are gods. Let them come, let them foretell what is to +happen, and what has been done of old, and we will believe in them," +&c. _Idoneum testimonium divinationis_, says Turtullian,[192] _veritas +divinationis_. And St. Jerome,[193] _Confitentur magi, confitentur +arioli, et omnis scientia saecularis litteraturae, praeescientiam +futurorum non esse hominum, sed Dei_. + +Nevertheless, we have just seen that Moses acknowledges that false +prophets can predict things which will happen. And the Saviour warns +us in the Gospel that at the end of the world several false prophets +will arise, who will seduce many[194]--"They shall shew great signs +and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive +even the elect." It is not, then, precisely either the successful +issue of the event which decides in favor of the false prophet--nor +the default of the predictions made by true prophets which proves that +they are not sent by God. + +Jonah was sent to foretell the destruction of Nineveh,[195] which did +not come to pass; and many other threats of the prophets were not put +into execution, because God, moved by the repentance of the sinful, +revoked or commuted his former sentence. The repentance of the +Ninevites guarantied them against the last misfortune. + +Isaiah had distinctly foretold to King Hezekiah[196] that he would not +recover from his illness: "Set thine house in order, for thou shalt +die, and not live." Nevertheless, God, moved with the prayer of this +prince, revoked the sentence of death; and before the prophet had left +the court of the king's house, God commanded him to return and tell +the king that God would add yet fifteen years to his life. + +Moses assigns the mark of a true prophet to be, when he leads us to +God and his worship--and the mark of a false prophet is, when he +withdraws us from the Lord, and inclines us to superstition and +idolatry. Balaam was a true prophet, inspired by God, who foretold +things which were followed up by the event; but his morals were very +corrupt, and he was extremely self-interested. He did everything he +could to deserve the recompense promised him by the king of Moab, and +to curse and immolate Israel.[197] God did not permit him to do so; he +put into his mouth blessings instead of curses; he did not induce the +Israelites to forsake the Lord; but he advised the Moabites to seduce +the people of God, and cause them to commit fornication, and to worship +the idols of the country, and by that means to irritate God against +them, and draw upon them the effects of his vengeance. Moses caused the +chiefs among the people, who had consented to this crime, to be hung; +and caused to perish the Midianites who had led the Hebrews into it. +And lastly, Balaam, who was the first cause of this evil, was also +punished with death.[198] + +In all the predictions of diviners or oracles, when they are followed +by fulfilment, we can hardly disavow that the evil spirit intervenes, +and discovers the future to those who consult him. St. Augustine, in +his book _de Divinatione Daemonum_,[199] or of predictions made by the +evil spirit, when they are fulfilled, supposes that the demons are of +an aerial nature, and much more subtile than bodies in general; +insomuch that they surpass beyond comparison the lightness both of men +and the swiftest animals, and even the flight of birds, which enables +them to announce things that are passing in very distant places, and +beyond the common reach of men. Moreover, as they are not subject to +death as we are, they have acquired infinitely more experience than +even those who possess the most among mankind, and are the most +attentive to what happens in the world. By that means they can +sometimes predict things to come, announce several things at a +distance, and do some wonderful things; which has often led mortals to +pay them divine honors, believing them to be of a nature much more +excellent than their own. + +But when we reflect seriously on what the demons predict, we may +remark that often they announce nothing but what they are to do +themselves.[200] For God permits them, sometimes, to cause maladies, +corrupt the air, and produce in it qualities of an infectious nature, +and to incline the wicked to persecute the worthy. They perform these +operations in a hidden manner, by resources unknown to mortals, and +proportionate to the subtilty of their own nature. They can announce +what they have foreseen must happen by certain natural tokens unknown +to men, like as a physician foresees by the secret of his art the +symptoms and the consequences of a malady which no one else can. Thus, +the demon, who knows our constitution and the secret tendency of our +humors, can foretell the maladies which are the consequences of them. +He can also discover our thoughts and our secret wishes by certain +external motions, and by certain expressions we let fall by chance, +whence he infers that men would do or undertake certain things +consequent upon these thoughts or inclinations. + +But his predictions are far from being comparable with those revealed +to us by God, through his angels, or the prophets; these are always +certain and infallible, because they have for their principle God, who +is truth; while the predictions of the demons are often deceitful, +because the arrangements on which they are founded can be changed and +deranged, when they least expect it, by unforeseen and unexpected +circumstances, or by the authority of superior powers overthrowing the +first plans, or by a peculiar disposition of Providence, who sets +bounds to the power of the prince of darkness. Sometimes, also, demons +purposely deceive those who have the weakness to place confidence in +them. But, usually, they throw the fault upon those who have taken on +themselves to interpret their discourses and predictions. + +So says St. Augustine;[201] and although we do not quite agree with +him, but hold the opinion that souls, angels and demons are disengaged +from all matter or substance, still we can apply his reasoning to evil +spirits, even upon the supposition that they are immaterial--and own +that sometimes they can predict the future, and that their predictions +may be fulfilled; but that is not a proof of their being sent by God, +or inspired by his Spirit. Even were they to work miracles, we must +anathematize them as soon as they turn us from the worship of the true +God, or incline us to irregular lives. + + +Footnotes: + +[190] Deut. xiii. 1, 2. + +[191] Isaiah xli. 22, 23. + +[192] Tertull. Apolog. c. 20. + +[193] Hieronym. in Dan. + +[194] Matt. xxiv. 11, 24. + +[195] Jonah i. 2. + +[196] Kings xx. 1. Isai. xxxviii. 1. + +[197] Numb. xxii. xxiii. xxiv. + +[198] Numb. xxxi. 8. + +[199] Aug. de Divinat. Daemon. c. 3, pp. 507, 508, _et seq._ + +[200] Idem. c. 5. + +[201] S. August. in his Retract. lib. ii. c. 30, owns that he advanced +this too lightly. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +REASONS WHICH LEAD US TO BELIEVE THAT THE GREATER PART OF THE ANCIENT +ORACLES WERE ONLY IMPOSITIONS OF THE PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES, WHO +FEIGNED THAT THEY WERE INSPIRED BY GOD. + + +If it is true, as has been thought by many, both among the ancients +and the moderns, that the oracles of pagan antiquity were only +illusions and deceptions on the part of the priests and priestesses, +who said that they were possessed by the spirit of Python, and filled +with the inspiration of Apollo, who discovered to them internally +things hidden and past, or present and future, I must not place them +here in the rank of evil spirits. The devil has no other share in the +matter than he has always in the crimes of men, and in that multitude +of sins which cupidity, ambition, interest, and self-love produce in +the world; the demon being always ready to seize an occasion to +mislead us, and draw us into irregularity and error, employing all +our passions to lead us into these snares. If what he has foretold is +followed by fulfilment, either by chance, or because he has foreseen +certain circumstances unknown to men, he takes to himself all the +credit of it, and makes use of it to gain our confidence and +conciliate credit for his predictions; if the thing is doubtful, and +he knows not what the issue of it will be, the demon, the priest, or +priestess will pronounce an equivocal oracle, in order that at all +events they may appear to have spoken true. + +The ancient legislators of Greece, the most skillful politicians, and +generals of armies, dexterously made use of the prepossession of the +people in favor of oracles, to persuade them what they had concerted +was approved of by the gods, and announced by the oracle. These things +and these oracles were often followed by success, not because the +oracle had predicted or ordained it, but because the enterprise being +well concerted and well conducted, and the soldiers also perfectly +persuaded that God was on their side, fought with more than ordinary +valor. Sometimes they gained over the priestess by the aid of +presents, and thus disposed her to give favorable replies. Demosthenes +haranguing at Athens against Philip, King of Macedon, said that the +priestess of Delphi _Philipized_, and only pronounced oracles +conformable to the inclinations, advantage, and interest of that +prince. + +Porphyry, the greatest enemy of the Christian name,[202] makes no +difficulty of owning that these oracles were dictated by the spirit of +falsehood, and that the demons are the true authors of enchantments, +philtres, and spells; that they fascinate or deceive the eyes by the +spectres and phantoms which they cause to appear; that they +ambitiously desire to pass for gods; that their aerial and spiritual +bodies are nourished by the smell and smoke of the blood and fat of +the animals which are immolated to them; and that the office of +uttering oracles replete with falsehood, equivocation, and deceit has +devolved upon them. At the head of these demons he places _Hecate and +Serapis_. Jamblichus, another pagan author, speaks of them in the same +manner, and with as much contempt. + +The ancient fathers who lived so near the times when these oracles +existed, several of whom had forsaken paganism and embraced +Christianity, and who consequently knew more about the oracles than we +can, speak of them as things invented, governed, and maintained by the +demons. The most sensible among the heathens do not speak of them +otherwise, but also they confess that often the malice, imposition, +servility and interest of the priests had great share in the matter, +and that they abused the simplicity, credulity and prepossessions of +the people. + +Plutarch says,[203] that a governor of Cilicia having sent to consult +the oracle of Mopsus, as he was going to Malle in the same country, +the man who carried the billet fell asleep in the temple, where he saw +in a dream a handsome looking man, who said to him the single word +_black_. He carried this reply to the governor, whose mysterious +question he knew nothing about. Those who heard this answer laughed at +it, not knowing what was in the billet: but the governor having opened +it showed them these words written in it; _shall I immolate to thee a +black ox or a white one?_ and that the oracle had thus answered his +question without opening the note. But who can answer for their not +having deceived the bearer of the billet in this case, as did +Alexander of Abonotiche, a town of Paphlagonia, in Asia Minor. This +man had the art to persuade the people of his country that he had with +him the god Esculapius, in the shape of a tame serpent, who pronounced +oracles, and replied to the consultations addressed to him on divers +diseases without opening the billets they placed on the altar of the +temple of this pretended divinity; after which, without opening them, +they found the next morning the reply written below. All the trick +consisted in the seal being raised artfully by a heated needle, and +then replaced after having written the reply at the bottom of the +note, in an obscure and enigmatical style, after the manner of other +oracles. At other times he used mastic, which being yet soft, took the +impression of the seal, then when that was hardened he put on another +seal with the same impression. He received about ten sols (five pence) +per billet, and this game lasted all his life, which was a long one; +for he died at the age of seventy, being struck by lightning, near the +end of the second century of the Christian era: all which may be found +more at length in the book of Lucian, entitled _Pseudo Manes_, or _the +false Diviner_. The priest of the oracle of Mopsus could by the same +secret open the billet of the governor who consulted him, and showing +himself during the night to the messenger, declared to him the +above-mentioned reply. + +Macrobius[204] relates that the Emperor Trajan, to prove the oracle of +Heliopolis in Phoenicia, sent him a well-sealed letter in which +nothing was written; the oracle commanded that a blank letter should +also be sent to the emperor. The priests of the oracle were much +surprised at this, not knowing the reason of it. Another time the same +emperor sent to consult this same oracle to know whether he should +return safe from his expedition against the Parthians. The oracle +commanded that they should send him some branches of a knotted vine, +which was sacred in his temple. Neither the emperor nor any one else +could guess what that meant; but his body, or rather his bones, having +been brought to Rome after his death, which happened during his journey, +it was supposed that the oracle had intended to predict his death, and +designate his fleshless bones, which somewhat resemble the branches of a +vine. + +It is easy to explain this quite otherwise. If he had returned +victorious, the vine being the source of wine which rejoices the heart +of man, and is agreeable to both gods and men, would have typified his +victory--and if the expedition had proved fruitless, the wood of the +vine, which is useless for any kind of work, and only good for burning +as firewood, might in that case signify the inutility of this +expedition. It is allowed that the artifice, malice, and inventions of +the heathen priests had much to do with the oracles; but are we to +infer from this that the demon had no part in the matter? + +We must allow that as by degrees the light of the Gospel was spread in +the world, the reign of the demon, ignorance, corruption of morals, +and crime, diminished. The priests who pretended to predict, by the +inspiration of the evil spirit, things concealed from mortal +knowledge, or who misled the people by their illusions and impostures, +were obliged to confess that the Christians imposed silence on them, +either by the empire they exercised over the devil, or else by +discovering the malice and knavishness of the priests, which the +people had not dared to sound, from a blind respect which they had for +this mystery of iniquity. + +If in our days any one would deny that in former times there were +oracles which were rendered by the inspiration of the demon, we might +convince him of it by what is still practiced in Lapland, and by what +missionaries[205] relate, that in India the demon reveals things +hidden and to come, not by the mouth of idols, but by that of the +priests, who are present when they interrogate either the statues or +the demon. And they remark that there the demon becomes mute and +powerless, in proportion as the light of the Gospel is spread among +these nations. Thus then the silence of the oracles may be +attributed--1. To a superhuman cause, which is the power of Jesus +Christ, and the publication of the Gospel. 2. Mankind are become less +superstitious, and bolder in searching out the cause of these +pretended revelations. 3. To their having become less credulous, as +Cicero says.[206] 4. Because princes have imposed silence on the +oracles, fearing that they might inspire the nation with rebellious +principles. For which reason, Lucan says, that princes feared to +discover the future.[207] + +Strabo[208] conjectures that the Romans neglected them because they +had the Sibylline books, and their auspices (aruspices, or +haruspices), which stood them instead of oracles. M. Vandale +demonstrates that some remains of the oracles might yet be seen under +the Christian emperors. It was then only in process of time that +oracles were entirely abolished; and it may be boldly asserted that +sometimes the evil spirit revealed the future, and inspired the +ministers of false gods, by permission of the Almighty, who wished to +punish the confidence of the infidels in their idols. It would be +going too far, if we affirmed that all that was said of the oracles +was only the effect of the artifices or the malice of the priests, who +always imposed on the credulity of mankind. Read on this subject the +learned reply of Father Balthus to the treatises of MM. Vandale and +Fontenelle. + + +Footnotes: + +[202] Porphr. apud Euseb. de Praepar. Evang. lib, iv. c. 5, 6. + +[203] Plutarch, de Defectu Oracul. p. 434. + +[204] Macrob. Saturnal. lib. i. c. 23. + +[205] Lettres edifiantes, tom. x. + +[206] Cicero, de Divinat. lib. ii. c. 57. + +[207] + "Reges timent futura + Et superos vetant loqui." + _Lucan_, Pharsal. lib. v. p. 112. + +[208] Strabo, lib. xvii. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +ON SORCERERS AND SORCERESSES, OR WITCHES. + + +The empire of the devil nowhere shines forth with more lustre than in +what is related of the Sabbath (witches' sabbath or assembly), where +he receives the homage of those of both sexes who have abandoned +themselves to him. It is there, the wizards and witches say, that he +exercises the greatest authority, and appears in a visible form, but +always hideous, misshapen, and terrible; always during the night in +out-of-the-way places, and arrayed in a manner more gloomy than gay, +rather sad and dull, than majestic and brilliant. If they pay their +adoration in that place to the prince of darkness, he shows himself +there in a despicable posture, and in a base, contemptible and hideous +form; if people eat there, the viands of the feast are dirty, insipid, +and destitute of solidity and substance--they neither satisfy the +appetite, nor please the palate; if they dance there, it is without +order, without skill, without propriety. + +To endeavor to give a description of the infernal sabbath, is to aim +at describing what has no existence and never has existed, except in +the craving and deluded imagination of sorcerers and sorceresses: the +paintings we have of it are conceived after the reveries of those who +fancy they have been transported through the air to the sabbath, both +in body and soul. + +People are carried thither, say they, sitting on a broom-stick, +sometimes on the clouds or on a he-goat. Neither the place, the time, +nor the day when they assemble is fixed. It is sometimes in a lonely +forest, sometimes in a desert, usually on the Wednesday or the +Thursday night; the most solemn of all is that of the eve of St. John +the Baptist: they there distribute to every sorcerer the ointment with +which he must anoint himself when he desires to go to the sabbath, and +the spell-powder he must make use of in his magic operations. They +must all appear together in this general assembly, and he who is +absent is severely ill-used both in word and deed. As to the private +meetings, the demon is more indulgent to those who are absent for some +particular reason. + +As to the ointment with which they anoint themselves, some authors, +amongst others, John Baptista Porta, and John Wierius,[209] boast that +they know the composition. Amongst other ingredients there are many +narcotic drugs, which cause those who make use of it to fall into a +profound slumber, during which they imagine that they are carried to +the sabbath up the chimney, at the top of which they find a tall black +man,[210] with horns, who transports them where they wish to go, and +afterwards brings them back again by the same chimney. The accounts +given by these people, and the description which they give of their +assemblies, are wanting in unity and uniformity. + +The demon, their chief, appears there, either in the shape of a +he-goat, or as a great black dog, or as an immense raven; he is seated +on an elevated throne, and receives there the homage of those present +in a way which decency does not allow us to describe. In this +nocturnal assembly they sing, they dance, they abandon themselves to +the most shameful disorder; they sit down to table, and indulge in +good cheer; while at the same time they see on the table neither knife +nor fork, salt nor oil; they find the viands devoid of savor, and quit +the table without their hunger being satisfied. + +One would imagine that the attraction of a better fortune, and a wish +to enrich themselves, drew thither men and women. The devil never +fails to make them magnificent promises, at least the sorcerers say +so, and believe it, deceived, without doubt, by their imagination; but +experience shows us that these people are always ragged, despised, and +wretched, and usually end their lives in a violent and dishonorable +manner. + +When they are admitted for the first time to the sabbath, the demon +inscribes their name and surname on his register, which he makes them +sign; then he makes them forswear cream and baptism, makes them +renounce Jesus Christ and his church; and, to give them a distinctive +character and make them known for his own, he imprints on their bodies +a certain mark with the nail of the little finger of one of his hands; +this mark, or character, thus impressed, renders the part insensible to +pain. They even pretend that he impresses this character in three +different parts of the body, and at three different times. The demon +does not impress these characters, say they, before the person has +attained the age of twenty-five. + +But none of these things deserve the least attention. There may happen +to be in the body of a man, or a woman, some benumbed part, either +from illness, or the effect of remedies, or drugs, or even naturally; +but that is no proof that the devil has anything to do with it. There +are even persons accused of magic and sorcery, on whom no part thus +characterized has been found, nor yet insensible to the touch, however +exact the search. Others have declared that the devil has never made +any such marks upon them. Consult on this matter the second letter of +M. de St. Andre, Physician to the King, in which he well develops what +has been said about these characters of sorcerers. + +The word sabbath, taken in the above sense, is not to be found in +ancient writers; neither the Hebrews nor the Egyptians, the Greeks nor +the Latins have known it. + +The thing itself, I mean the _sabbath_ taken in the sense of a +nocturnal assembly of persons devoted to the devil, is not remarked in +antiquity, although magicians, sorcerers, and witches are spoken of +often enough--that is to say, people who boasted that they exercised a +kind of power over the devil, and by his means, over animals, the air, +the stars, and the lives and fortunes of men. + +Horace[211] makes use of the word _coticia_ to indicate the nocturnal +meetings of the magicians--_Tu riseris coticia_; which he derives from +_Cotys_, or _Cotto_, Goddess of Vice, who presided in the assemblies +which were held at night, and where the Bacchantes gave themselves up +to all sorts of dissolute pleasures; but this is very different from +the witches' sabbath. + +Others derive this term from _Sabbatius_, which is an epithet given to +the god Bacchus, whose nocturnal festivals were celebrated in +debauchery. Arnobius and Julius Firmicus Maternus inform us that in +these festivals they slipped a golden serpent into the bosoms of the +initiated, and drew it downwards; but this etymology is too +far-fetched: the people who gave the name of _sabbath_ to the +assemblies of the sorcerers wished apparently to compare them in +derision to those of the Jews, and to what they practiced in their +synagogues on sabbath days. + +The most ancient monument in which I have been able to remark any +express mention of the nocturnal assemblies of the sorcerers is in the +Capitularies,[212] wherein it is said that women led away by the +illusions of the demons, say that they go in the night with the +goddess Diana and an infinite number of other women, borne through the +air on different animals, that they go in a few hours a great +distance, and obey Diana as their queen. It was, therefore, to the +goddess Diana, or the Moon, and not to Lucifer, that they paid homage. +The Germans call witches' dances what we call the sabbath. They say +that these people assemble on Mount Bructere. + +The famous Agobard,[213] Archbishop of Lyons, who lived under the +Emperor Louis the Debonair, wrote a treatise against certain +superstitious persons in his time, who believed that storms, hail, and +thunder were caused by certain sorcerers whom they called tempesters +(_tempestarios_, or storm-brewers), who raised the rain in the air, +caused storms and thunder, and brought sterility upon the earth. They +called these extraordinary rains _aura lavatitia_, as if to indicate +that they were raised by magic power. In this place the people still +call these violent rains _alvace_. There were even persons +sufficiently prejudiced to boast that they knew of _tempetiers_, who +had to conduct the tempests where they choose, and to turn them aside +when they pleased. Agobard interrogated some of them, but they were +obliged to own that they had not been present at the things they +related. + +Agobard maintains that this is the work of God alone; that in truth, +the saints, with the help of God, have often performed similar +prodigies; but that neither the devil nor sorcerers can do anything +like it. He remarks that there were among his people superstitious +persons who would pay very punctually what they called _canonicum_, +which was a sort of tribute which they offered to these +tempest-brewers (_tempetiers_), that they might not hurt them, while +they refused the tithe to the priest and alms to the widow, orphan, +and other indigent persons. + +He adds that he had of late found people sufficiently foolish enough +to spread a report that Grimaldus, Duke of Benevento, had sent persons +into France, carrying certain powders which they had scattered over +the fields, mountains, meadows, and springs, and had thus caused the +death of an immense number of animals. Several of these persons were +taken up, and they owned that they carried such powders about with +them and though they made them suffer various tortures, they could not +force them to retract what they had said. + +Others affirmed that there was a certain country named Mangonia, +where there were vessels which were borne through the air and took +away the productions; that certain wizards had cut down trees to carry +them to their country. He says, moreover, that one day three men and a +woman were presented to him, who, they said, had fallen from these +ships which floated in the air. They were kept some days in +confinement, and at last having been confronted with their accusers, +the latter were obliged, after contesting the matter, and making +several depositions, to avow that they knew nothing certain concerning +their being carried away, or of their pretended fall from the ship in +the sky. + +Charlemagne[214] in his Capitularies, and the authors of his time, +speak also of these wizard tempest-brewers, enchanters, &c., and +commanded that they should be reprimanded and severely chastised. + +Pope Gregory IX.[215] in a letter addressed to the Archbishop of +Mayence, the Bishop of Hildesheim, and Doctor Conrad, in 1234, thus +relates the abominations of which they accused the heretic +_Stadingians_. "When they receive," says he, "a novice, and when he +enters their assemblies for the first time, he sees an enormous toad, +as big as a goose, or bigger. Some kiss it on the mouth, some kiss it +behind. Then the novice meets a pale man with very black eyes, and so +thin that he is only skin and bones. He kisses him, and feels that he +is cold as ice. After this kiss, the novice easily forgets the +Catholic faith; afterwards they hold a feast together, after which a +black cat comes down behind a statue, which usually stands in the room +where they assemble. + +"The novice first of all kisses the cat on the back, then he who +presides over the assembly, and the others who are worthy of it. The +imperfect receive only a kiss from the master; they promise obedience; +after which they extinguish the lights, and commit all sorts of +disorders. They receive every year, at Easter, the Lord's Body, and +carry it in their mouth to their own houses, when they cast it away. +They believe in Lucifer, and say that the Master of Heaven has +unjustly and fraudulently thrown him into hell. They believe also that +Lucifer is the creator of celestial things, that will re-enter into +glory after having thrown down his adversary, and that through him +they will gain eternal bliss." This letter bears date the 13th of +June, 1233. + + +Footnotes: + +[209] Joan. Vier. lib. ii. c. 7. + +[210] A remarkably fine print on this subject was published at Paris +some years ago; if we remember right, it was suppressed. + +[211] Horat. Epodon. xviii. 4. + +[212] "Quaedam sceleratae mulieres daemonum illusionibus et +phantasmatibus seductae, credunt se et profitentur nocturnis horis cum +Diana Paganorum dea et innumera multitudine mulierum equitare super +quasdam bestias et multa terrarum spalia intempestae noctis silentio +pertransire ejusque jussionibus veluti dominae obedire."--Baluz. +Capitular. fragment. c. 13. Vide et Capitul. Herardi, Episc. Turon. + +[213] Agobard de Grandine. + +[214] Vide Baluzii in Agobard. pp. 68, 69. + +[215] Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. xvii. p. 53, ann. 1234. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +INSTANCES OF SORCERERS AND WITCHES BEING, AS THEY SAID, TRANSPORTED TO +THE SABBATH. + + +All that is said about witches going to the sabbath is treated as a +fable, and we have several examples which prove that they do not stir +from their bed or their chamber. It is true that some of them anoint +themselves with a certain grease or unguent, which makes them sleepy, +and renders them insensible; and during this swoon they fancy that +they go to the sabbath, and there see and hear what every one says is +there seen and heard. + +We read, in the book entitled _Malleus Maleficorum_, or the _Hammer of +the Sorcerers_, that a woman who was in the hands of the Inquisitors +assured them that she repaired really and bodily whither she would, +and that even were she shut up in prison and strictly guarded, and let +the place be ever so far off. + +The Inquisitors ordered her to go to a certain place, to speak to +certain persons, and bring back news of them; she promised to obey, +and was directly locked up in a chamber, where she lay down, extended +as if dead; they went into the room, and moved her; but she remained +motionless, and without the least sensation, so that when they put a +lighted candle to her foot and burnt it she did not feel it. A little +after, she came to herself, and gave an account of the commission they +had given her, saying she had had a great deal of trouble to go that +road. They asked her what was the matter with her foot; she said it +hurt her very much since her return, and knew not whence it came. + +Then the Inquisitors declared to her what had happened; that she had +not stirred from her place, and that the pain in her foot was caused +by the application of a lighted candle during her pretended absence. +The thing having been verified, she acknowledged her folly, asked +pardon, and promised never to fall into it again. + +Other historians relate[216] that, by means of certain drugs with +which both wizards and witches anoint themselves, they are really and +corporally transported to the sabbath. Torquemada relates, on the +authority of Paul Grilland, that a husband suspecting his wife of being +a witch, desired to know if she went to the sabbath, and how she managed +to transport herself thither. He watched her so narrowly, that he saw +her one day anoint herself with a certain unguent, and then take the +form of a bird and fly away, and he saw her no more till the next +morning, when he found her by his side. He questioned her very much, +without making her own anything; at last he told her what he had himself +seen, and by dint of beating her with a stick, he constrained her to +tell him her secret, and to take him with her to the sabbath. + +Arrived at this place, he sat down to table with the others; but as +all the viands which were on the table were very insipid, he asked for +some salt; they were some time before they brought any; at last, +seeing a salt-cellar, he said--"God be praised, there is some salt at +last!" At the same instant, he heard a very great noise, all the +company disappeared, and he found himself alone and naked in a field +among the mountains. He went forward and found some shepherds; he +learned that he was more than three leagues from his dwelling. He +returned thither as he could, and, having related the circumstance to +the Inquisitors, they caused the woman and several others, her +accomplices, to be taken up and chastised as they deserved. + +The same author relates that a woman, returning from the sabbath and +being carried through the air by the evil spirit, heard in the morning +the bell for the _Angelus_. The devil let her go immediately, and she +fell into a quickset hedge on the bank of a river; her hair fell +disheveled over her neck and shoulders. She perceived a young lad who +after much entreaty came and took her out and conducted her to the +next village, where her house was situated; it required most pressing +and repeated questions on the part of the lad, before she would tell +him truly what had happened to her; she made him presents, and begged +him to say nothing about it, nevertheless the circumstance got spread +abroad. + +If we could depend on the truth of these stories, and an infinite +number of similar ones, which books are full of, we might believe that +sometimes sorcerers are carried bodily to the sabbath; but on +comparing these stories with others which prove that they go thither +only in mind and imagination, we may say boldly, that what is related +of wizards and witches who go or think they go to the sabbath, is +usually only illusion on the part of the devil, and seduction on the +part of those of both sexes who fancy they fly and travel, while they +in reality do not stir from their places. The spirit of malice and +falsehood being mixed up in this foolish prepossession, they confirm +themselves in their follies and engage others in the same impiety; for +Satan has a thousand ways of deceiving mankind and of retaining them +in error. Magic, impiety, enchantments, are often the effects of a +diseased imagination. It rarely happens that these kind of people do +not fall into every excess of licentiousness, irreligion, and theft, +and into the most outrageous consequences of hatred to their +neighbors. + +Some have believed that demons took the form of the sorcerers and +sorceresses who were supposed to be at the sabbath, and that they +maintained the simple creatures in their foolish belief, by appearing +to them sometimes in the shape of those persons who were reputed +witches, while they themselves were quietly asleep in their beds. But +this belief contains difficulties as great, or perhaps greater, than +the opinion we would combat. It is far from easy to understand that +the demon takes the form of pretended sorcerers and witches, that he +appears under this shape, that he eats, drinks, and travels, and does +other actions to make simpletons believe that sorcerers go to the +sabbath. What advantage does the devil derive from making idiots +believe these things, or maintaining them in such an error? +Nevertheless it is related[217] that St. Germain, Bishop of Auxerre, +traveling one day, and passing through a village in his diocese, after +having taken some refreshment there, remarked that they were preparing +a great supper, and laying out the table anew; he asked if they +expected company, and they told him it was for those good women who go +by night. St. Germain well understood what was meant, and resolved to +watch to see the end of this adventure. + +Some time after he beheld a multitude of demons who came in the form +of men and women, and sat down to table in his presence. St. Germain +forbade them to withdraw, and calling the people of the house, he +asked them if they knew those persons: they replied, that they were +such and such among their neighbors: "Go," said he, "and see if they +are in their houses:" they went, and found them asleep in their beds. +The saint conjured the demons, and obliged them to declare that it is +thus they mislead mortals, and make them believe that there are +sorcerers and witches who go by night to the sabbath; they obeyed, and +disappeared, greatly confused. + +This history may be read in old manuscripts, and is to be found in +Jacques de Varasse, Pierre de Noels, in St. Antonine, and in old +Breviaries of Auxerre, as well printed, as manuscript. I by no means +guarantee the truth of this story; I think it is absolutely +apocryphal; but it proves that those who wrote and copied it believed +that these nocturnal journeys of sorcerers and witches to the sabbath, +were mere illusions of the demon. In fact, it is hardly possible to +explain all that is said of sorcerers and witches going to the +sabbath, without having recourse to the ministry of the demon; to which +we must add a disturbed imagination, with a mind misled, and foolishly +prepossessed, and, if you will, a few drugs which affect the brain, +excite the humors, and produce dreams relative to impressions already +in their minds. + +In John Baptist Porta Cardan, and elsewhere, may be found the +composition of those ointments with which witches are said to anoint +themselves, to be able to transport themselves to the sabbath; but the +only real effect they produce is to send them to sleep, disturb their +imagination, and make them believe they are going long journeys, while +they remain profoundly sleeping in their beds. + +The fathers of the council of Paris, of the year 829, confess that +magicians, wizards, and people of that kind, are the ministers and +instruments of the demon in the exercise of their diabolical art; that +they trouble the minds of certain persons by beverages calculated to +inspire impure love; that they are persuaded they can disturb the sky, +excite tempests, send hail, predict the future, ruin and destroy the +fruit, and take away the milk of cattle belonging to one person, in +order to give it to cattle the property of another. + +The bishops conclude that all the rigor of the laws enacted by princes +against such persons ought to be put in force against them, and so +much the more justly, that it is evident they yield themselves up to +the service of the devil. + +Spranger, in the _Malleus Maleficorum_, relates, that in Suabia, a +peasant who was walking in his fields with his little girl, a child +about eight years of age, complained of the drought, saying, "Alas! +when will God give us some rain?" Immediately the little girl told him +that she could bring him some down whenever he wished it. He +answered,--"And who has taught you that secret?" "My mother," said +she, "who has strictly forbidden me to tell any body of it." + +"And what did she do to give you this power?" + +"She took me to a master, who comes to me as many times as I call +him." + +"And have you seen this master?" + +"Yes," said she, "I have often seen men come to my mother's house; she +has devoted me to one of them." + +After this dialogue, the father asked her how she could do to make it +rain upon his field only. She asked but for a little water; he led her +to a neighboring brook, and the girl having called the water in the +name of him to whom she had been devoted by her mother, they beheld +directly abundance of rain falling on the peasant's field. + +The father, convinced that his wife was a sorceress, accused her +before the judges, who condemned her to be burnt. The daughter was +baptized and vowed to God, but she then lost the power of making it +rain at her will. + + +Footnotes: + +[216] Alphons. a Castro ex Petro Grilland. Tract. de Haeresib. + +[217] Bolland, 5 Jul. p. 287. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +STORY OF LOUIS GAUFREDI AND MAGDALEN DE LA PALUD, OWNED BY THEMSELVES +TO BE A SORCERER AND SORCERESS. + + +This is an unheard-of example; a man and woman who declared themselves +to be a sorcerer and sorceress. Louis Gaufredi, Cure of the parish of +Accouls, at Marseilles,[218] was accused of magic, and arrested at the +beginning of the year 1611. Christopher Gaufredi, his uncle, of +Pourrieres, in the neighborhood of Beauversas, sent him, six months +before he (Christopher) died, a little paper book, in 16mo., with six +leaves written upon; at the bottom of every leaf were two verses in +French, and in the other parts were characters or ciphers, which +contained magical mysteries. Louis Gaufredi at first thought very +little of this book, and kept it for five years. + +At the end of that time, having read the French verses, the devil +presented himself under a human shape, and by no means deformed, and +told him that he was come to fulfil all his wishes, if he would give +_him_ credit for all his good works. Gaufredi agreed to the condition. +He asked of the demon that he might enjoy a great reputation for +wisdom and virtue among persons of probity, and that he might inspire +with love all the women and young girls he pleased, by simply +breathing upon them. + +Lucifer promised him all this in writing, and Gaufredi very soon saw +the perfect accomplishment of his designs. He inspired with love a +young lady named Magdalen, the daughter of a gentleman whose name was +Mandole de la Palud. This girl was only nine years old, when Gaufredi, +on pretence of devotion and spirituality, gave her to understand that, +as her spiritual father, he had a right to dispose of her, and +persuaded her to give herself to the devil; and some years afterwards, +he obliged her to give a schedule, signed with her own blood, to the +devil, to deliver herself up to him still more. It is even said that +he made her give from that time seven or eight other schedules. + +After that, he breathed upon her, inspired her with a violent passion +for himself, and took advantage of her; he gave her a familiar demon, +who served her and followed her everywhere. One day he transported her +to the witches' sabbath, held on a high mountain near Marseilles; she +saw there people of all nations, and in particular Gaufredi, who held +there a distinguished rank, and who caused characters to be impressed +or stamped on her head and in several other parts of her body. This girl +afterwards became a nun of the order of St. Ursula, and passed for being +possessed by the devil. + +Gaufredi also inspired several other women with an irregular passion, +by breathing on them; and this diabolical power lasted for six years. +For at last they found out that he was a sorcerer and magician; and +Mademoiselle de Mandole having been arrested by the Inquisition, and +interrogated by father Michael Jacobin, owned a great part of what we +have just told, and during the exorcisms discovered several other +things. She was then nineteen years of age. + +All this made Gaufredi known to the Parliament of Provence. They +arrested him; and proceedings against him commenced February, 1611. +They heard in particular the deposition of Magdalen de la Palud, who +gave a complete history of the magic of Gaufredi, and the abominations +he had committed with her. That for the last fourteen years he had +been a magician, and head of the magicians; and if he had been taken +by the justiciary power, the devil would have carried him body and +soul to hell. + +Gaufredi had voluntarily gone to prison; and from the first +examination which he underwent, he denied everything and represented +himself as an upright man. But from the depositions made against him, +it was shown that his heart was very corrupted, and that he had +seduced Mademoiselle de Mandole, and other women whom he confessed. +This young lady was heard juridically the 21st of February, and gave +the history of her seduction, of Gaufredi's magic, and of the sabbath +whither he had caused her to be transported several times. + +Some time after this, being confronted with Gaufredi, she owned that +he was a worthy man, and that all which had been reported against him +was imaginary, and retracted all she herself had avowed. Gaufredi on +his part acknowledged his illicit connection with her, denied all the +rest, and maintained that it was the devil, by whom she was possessed, +that had suggested to her all she had said. He owned that, having +resolved to reform his life, Lucifer had appeared to him, and +threatened him with many misfortunes; that in fact he had experienced +several; that he had burnt the magic book in which he had placed the +schedules of Mademoiselle de la Palud and his own, which he had made +with the devil; but that when he afterwards looked for them, he was +much astonished not to find them. He spoke at length concerning the +sabbath, and said there was, near the town of Nice, a magician, who +had all sorts of garments ready for the use of the sorcerers; that on +the day of the sabbath, there is a bell weighing a hundred pounds, +four ells in width, and with a clapper of wood, which made the sound +dull and lugubrious. He related several horrors, impieties, and +abominations which were committed at the sabbath. He repeated the +schedule which Lucifer had given him, by which he bound himself to +cast a spell on those women who should be to his taste. + +After this exposition of the things related above, the +attorney-general drew his conclusions: As the said Gaufredi had been +convicted of having divers marks in several parts of his body, where +if pricked he has felt no pain, neither has any blood come; that he +has been illicitly connected with Magdalen de la Palud, both at church +and in her own house, both by day and by night, by letters in which +were amorous or love characters, invisible to any other but herself; +that he had induced her to renounce her God and her Church--and that +she had received on her body several diabolical characters; that he +has owned himself to be a sorcerer and a magician; that he had kept by +him a book of magic, and had made use of it to conjure and invoke the +evil spirit; that he has been with the said Magdalen to the sabbath, +where he had committed an infinite number of scandalous, impious and +abominable actions, such as having worshiped Lucifer:--for these +causes, the said attorney-general requires that the said Gaufredi be +declared attainted and convicted of the circumstances imputed to him, +and as reparation of them, that he be previously degraded from sacred +orders by the Lord Bishop of Marseilles, his diocesan, and afterwards +condemned to make honorable amends one audience day, having his head +and feet bare, a cord about his neck, and holding a lighted taper in +his hands--to ask pardon of God, the king, and the court of +justice--then, to be delivered into the hands of the executioner of +the high court of law, to be taken to all the chief places and +cross-roads of this city of Aix, and torn with red-hot pincers in all +parts of his body; and after that, in the _Place des Jacobins_, burned +alive, and his ashes scattered to the wind; and before being executed, +let the question be applied to him, and let him be tormented as +grievously as can be devised, in order to extract from him the names +of his other accomplices. Deliberated the 18th of April, 1611, and the +decree in conformity given the 29th of April, 1611. + +The same Gaufredi having undergone the question ordinary and +extraordinary, declared that he had seen at the sabbath no person of +his acquaintance except Mademoiselle de Mandole; that he had seen +there also certain monks of certain orders, which he did not name, +neither did he know the names of the monks. That the devil anointed +the heads of the sorcerers with certain unguents, which quite effaced +every thing from their memory. + +Notwithstanding this decree of the Parliament of Provence, many people +believed that Gaufredi was a sorcerer only in imagination; and the +author from whom we derive this history says, that there are some +parliaments, amongst others the Parliament of Paris, which do not +punish sorcerers when no other crimes are combined with magic; and +that experience has proved that, in not punishing sorcerers, but +simply treating them as madmen, it has been seen in time that they +were no longer sorcerers, because they no longer fed their imagination +with these ideas; while in those places where sorcerers were burnt, +they saw nothing else, because everybody was strengthened in this +prejudice. That is what this writer says. + +But we cannot conclude from thence that God does not sometimes permit +the demon to exercise his power over men, and lead them to the excess +of malice and impiety, and shed darkness over their minds and +corruption in their hearts, which hurry them into an abyss of disorder +and misfortune. The demon tempted Job[219] by the permission of God. +The messenger of Satan and the thorn in the flesh wearied St. +Paul;[220] he asked to be delivered from them; but he was told that +the grace of God would enable him to resist his enemies, and that +virtue was strengthened by infirmities and trials. Satan took +possession of the heart of Judas, and led him to betray Jesus Christ +his Master to the Jews his enemies.[221] The Lord wishing to warn his +disciples against the impostors who would appear after his ascension, +says that, by God's permission, these impostors would work such +miracles as might mislead the very elect themselves,[222] were it +possible. He tells them elsewhere,[223] that Satan has asked +permission of God to sift them as wheat, but that He has prayed for +them that their faith may be steadfast. + +Thus then with permission from God, the devil can lead men to commit +such excesses as we have just seen in Mademoiselle de la Palud and in +the priest Louis Gaufredi, perhaps even so far as really to take them +through the air to unknown spots, and to what is called the witches' +sabbath; or, without really conducting them thither, so strike their +imagination and mislead their senses, that they think they move, see, +and hear, when they do not stir from their places, see no object and +hear no sound. + +Observe, also, that the Parliament of Aix did not pass any sentence +against even that young girl, it being their custom to inflict no +other punishment on those who suffered themselves to be seduced and +dishonored than the shame with which they were loaded ever after. In +regard to the cure Gaufredi, in the account which they render to the +chancellor of the sentence given by them, they say that this cure was +in truth accused of sorcery; but that he had been condemned to the +flames, as being arraigned and convicted of spiritual incest with +Magdalen de la Palud, his penitent.[224] + + +Footnotes: + +[218] Causes Celebres, tom. vi. p. 192. + +[219] Job i. 12, 13, 22. + +[220] 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8. + +[221] John xiii. 2. + +[222] Matt. xxiv. 5. + +[223] Luke xxi. + +[224] The attentive reader of this horrible narrative will hardly fail +to conclude that Gaufredi's fault was chiefly his seduction of +Mademoiselle de la Palud, and that the rest was the effect of a heated +imagination. The absurd proportions of the "_Sabbath_" bell will be +sufficient to show this. If the bell were metallic, it would have +weighed many tons, and a _wooden_ bell of such dimensions, even were +it capable of sounding, would weigh many hundred weight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +REASONS WHICH PROVE THE POSSIBILITY OF SORCERERS AND WITCHES BEING +TRANSPORTED TO THE SABBATH. + + +All that has just been said is more fitted to prove that the going of +sorcerers and witches to the sabbath is only an illusion and a +deranged imagination on the part of these persons, and malice and +deceit on that of the devil, who misleads them, and persuades them to +yield themselves to him, and renounce true religion, by the lure of +vain promises that he will enrich them, load them with honors, +pleasures, and prosperity, rather than to convince us of the reality +of the corporeal transportation of these persons to what they call the +sabbath. + +Here are some arguments and examples which seem to prove, at least, +that the transportation of sorcerers to the sabbath is not impossible; +for the impossibility of this transportation is one of the strongest +objections which is made to the opinion that supposes it. + +There is no difficulty in believing that God may allow the demon to +mislead men, and carry them on to every excess of irregularity, error, +and impiety; and that he may also permit him to perform some things +which to us appear astonishing, and even miraculous; whether the devil +achieves them by natural power, or by the supernatural concurrence of +God, who employs the evil spirit to punish his creature, who has +willingly forsaken Him to yield himself up to his enemy. The prophet +Ezekiel was transported through the air from Chaldea, where he was a +captive, to Judea, and into the temple of the Lord, where he saw the +abominations which the Israelites committed in that holy place; and +thence he was brought back again to Chaldea by the ministration of +angels, as we shall relate in another chapter. + +We know by the Gospel that the devil carried our Saviour to the +highest point of the temple at Jerusalem.[225] We know also that the +prophet Habakkuk[226] was transported from Judea to Babylon, to carry +food to Daniel in the lion's den. St. Paul informs us that he was +carried up to the third heaven, and that he heard ineffable things; +but he owns that he does not know whether it was in the body or only +in the spirit. He therefore doubted not the possibility of a man's +being transported in body and soul through the air. The deacon St. +Philip was transported from the road from Gaza to Azotus in a very +little time by the Spirit of God.[227] We learn by ecclesiastical +history, that Simon the magician was carried by the demon up into the +air, whence he was precipitated, through the prayers of St. Peter. +John the Deacon,[228] author of the life of St. Gregory the Great, +relates that one Farold having introduced into the monastery of St. +Andrew, at Rome, some women who led disorderly lives, in order to +divert himself there with them, and offer insult to the monks, that +same night Farold having occasion to go out, was suddenly seized and +carried up into the air by demons, who held him there suspended by his +hair, without his being able to open his mouth to utter a cry, till +the hour of matins, when Pope St. Gregory, the founder and protector +of that monastery, appeared to him, reproached him for his profanation +of that holy place, and foretold that he would die within the +year--which did happen. + +I have been told by a magistrate, as incapable of being deceived by +illusions as of imposing any such on other people,[229] that on the +16th of October, 1716, a carpenter, who inhabited a village near Bar, +in Alsace, called Heiligenstein, was found at five o'clock in the +morning in the garret of a cooper at Bar. This cooper having gone up +to fetch the wood for his trade that he might want to use during the +day, and having opened the door, which was fastened with a bolt _on +the outside_, perceived a man lying at full length upon his stomach, +and fast asleep. He recognized him, and having asked him what he did +there, the carpenter in the greatest surprise told him he knew neither +by what means, nor by whom, he had been taken to that place. + +The cooper not believing this, told him that assuredly he was come +thither to rob him, and had him taken before the magistrate of Bar, +who having interrogated him concerning the circumstance just spoken +of, he related to him with great simplicity, that, having set off +about four o'clock in the morning to come from Heiligenstein to +Bar--there being but a quarter of an hour's distance between those two +places--he saw on a sudden, in a place covered with verdure and grass, +a magnificent feast, brightly illuminated, where a number of persons +were highly enjoying themselves with a sumptuous repast and by dancing; +that two women of his acquaintance, inhabitants of Bar, having asked him +to join the company, he sat down to table and partook of the good cheer, +for a quarter of an hour at the most; after that, one of the guests +having cried out "_Cito, Cito_," he found himself carried away gently +to the cooper's garret, without knowing how he had been transported there. + +This is what he declared in presence of the magistrate. The most +singular circumstance of this history is, that hardly had the +carpenter deposed what we read, than those two women of Bar who had +invited him to join their feast hung themselves, each in her own +house. + +The superior magistrates, fearing to carry things so far as to +compromise perhaps half the inhabitants of Bar, judged prudently that +they had better not inquire further; they treated the carpenter as a +visionary, and the two women who hung themselves were considered as +lunatics; thus the thing was hushed up, and the matter ended. + +If this is what they call the witches' sabbath, neither the carpenter, +nor the two women, nor apparently the other guests at the festival, +had need to come mounted on a demon; they were too near their own +dwellings to have recourse to superhuman means in order to have +themselves transported to the place of meeting. We are not informed +how these guests repaired to this feast, nor how they returned each +one to their home; the spot was so near the town, that they could +easily go and return without any extraneous assistance. + +But if secrecy was necessary, and they feared discovery, it is very +probable that the demon transported them to their homes through the +air before it was day, as he had transported the carpenter to the +cooper's garret. Whatever turn may be given to this event, it is +certainly difficult not to recognize a manifest work of the evil +spirit in the transportation of the carpenter through the air, who +finds himself, without being aware of it, in a well-fastened garret. +The women who hung themselves, showed clearly that they feared +something still worse from the law, had they been convicted of magic +and witchcraft. And had not their accomplices also, whose names must +have been declared, as much to fear? + +William de Neubridge relates another story, which bears some +resemblance to the preceding. A peasant having heard, one night as he +was passing near a tomb, a melodious concert of different voices, drew +near, and finding the door open, put in his head, and saw in the +middle a grand feast, well lighted, and a well-covered table, round +which were men and women making merry. One of the attendants having +perceived him, presented him with a cup filled with liquor; he took +it, and having spilled the liquor, he fled with the cup to the first +village, where he stopped. If our carpenter had done the same, instead +of amusing himself at the feast of the witches of Bar, he would have +spared himself much uneasiness. + +We have in history several instances of persons full of religion and +piety, who, in the fervor of their orisons, have been taken up into +the air, and remained there for some time. We have known a good monk, +who rises sometimes from the ground, and remains suspended without +wishing it, without seeking to do so, especially on seeing some +devotional image, or on hearing some devout prayer, such as "_Gloria +in excelsis Deo_." I know a nun to whom it has often happened in spite +of herself to see herself thus raised up in the air to a certain +distance from the earth; it was neither from choice, nor from any wish +to distinguish herself, since she was truly confused at it. Was it by +the ministration of angels, or by the artifice of the seducing spirit, +who wished to inspire her with sentiments of vanity and pride? Or was +it the natural effect of Divine love, or fervor of devotion in these +persons? + +I do not observe that the ancient fathers of the desert, who were so +spiritual, so fervent, and so great in prayer, experienced similar +ecstasies. These risings up in the air are more common among our new +saints, as we may see in the Life[230] of St. Philip of Neri, where +they relate his ecstasies and his elevations from earth into the air, +sometimes to the height of several yards, and almost to the ceiling of +his room, and this quite involuntarily. He tried in vain to hide it +from the knowledge of those present, for fear of attracting their +admiration, and feeling in it some vain complacency. The writers who +give us these particulars do not say what was the cause, whether these +ecstatic elevations from the ground were produced by the fervor of the +Holy Spirit, or by the ministry of good angels, or by a miraculous +favor of God, who desired thus to do honor to his servants in the eyes +of men. God had moreover favored the same St. Philip de Neri, by +permitting him to see the celestial spirits and even the demons, and +to discover the state of holy spirits, by supernatural knowledge. + +St. John Columbino, teacher of the Jesuits, made use of St. Catherine +Columbine,[231] a maiden of extraordinary virtue, for the +establishment of nuns of his order. It is related of her, that +sometimes she remained in a trance, and raised up two yards from the +ground, motionless, speechless, and insensible. + +The same thing is said of St. Ignatius de Loyola,[232] who remained +entranced by God, and raised up from the ground to the height of two +feet, while his body shone like light. He has been seen to remain in +a trance insensible, and almost without respiration, for eight days +together. + +St. Robert de Palentin[233] rose also from the ground, sometimes to +the height of a foot and a half, to the great astonishment of his +disciples and assistants. We see similar trances and elevations in the +Life of St. Bernard Ptolomei, teacher of the congregation of Notre +Dame of Mount Olivet;[234] of St. Philip Benitas, of the order of +Servites; of St. Cajetanus, founder of the Theatins;[235] of St. +Albert of Sicily, confessor, who, during his prayers, rose three +cubits from the ground; and lastly of St. Dominic, the founder of the +order of Preaching Brothers.[236] + +It is related of St. Christina,[237] Virgin at S. Tron, that being +considered dead, and carried into the church in her coffin, as they +were performing for her the usual service, she arose suddenly, and +went as high as the beams of the church, as lightly as a bird. Being +returned into the house with her sisters, she related to them that she +had been led first to purgatory, and thence to hell, and lastly to +paradise, where God had given her the choice of remaining there, or of +returning to this world and doing penance for the souls she had seen +in purgatory. She chose the latter, and was brought back to her body +by the holy angels. From that time she could not bear the effluvia of +the human body, and rose up into trees and on the highest towers with +incredible lightness, there to watch and pray. She was so light in +running that she outran the swiftest dogs. Her parents tried in vain +all they could do to stop her, even to loading her with chains, but +she always escaped from them. So many other almost incredible things +are related of this saint, that I dare not repeat them here. + +M. Nicole, in his letters, speaks of a nun named Seraphina, who, in +her ecstasies, rose from the ground with so much impetuosity that five +or six of the sisters could hardly hold her down. + +This doctor, reasoning on the fact,[238] says, that it proves nothing +at all for Sister Seraphina; but the thing well verified proves God +and the devil--that is to say, the whole of religion; that the +circumstance being proved, is of very great consequence to religion; +that the world is full of certain persons who believe only what cannot +be doubted; that the great heresy of the world is no longer Calvinism +and Lutheranism, but atheism. There are all sorts of atheists--some +real, others pretended; some determined, others vacillating, and +others tempted to be so. We ought not to neglect this kind of people; +the grace of God is all-powerful; we must not despair of bringing them +back by good arguments, and by solid and convincing proofs. Now, if +these facts are certain, we must conclude that there is a God, or bad +angels who imitate the works of God, and perform by themselves or +their subordinates works capable of deceiving even the elect. + +One of the oldest instances I remark of persons thus raised from the +ground without any one touching them, is that of St. Dunstan, +Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 988, and who, a little time +before his death, as he was going up stairs to his apartment, +accompanied by several persons, was observed to rise from the ground; +and as all present were astonished at the circumstance, he took +occasion to speak of his approaching death.[239] + +Trithemius, speaking of St. Elizabeth, Abbess of Schonau, in the +diocese of Treves, says that sometimes she was in an ecstatic trance, +so that she would remain motionless and breathless during a long time. +In these intervals, she learned, by revelation and by the intercourse +she had with blessed spirits, admirable things; and when she revived, +she would discourse divinely, sometimes in German, her native +language, sometimes in Latin, though she had no knowledge of that +language. Trithemius did not doubt her sincerity and the truth of her +discourse. She died in 1165. + +St. Richard, Abbot of S. Vanne de Verdun, appeared in 1036 elevated +from the ground while he was saying mass in presence of the Duke +Galizon, his sons, and a great number of lords and soldiers. + +In the last century, the reverend Father Dominic Carme Dechaux, was +raised from the ground before the King of Spain, the queen, and all +the court, so that they had only to blow upon his body to move it +about like a soap-bubble.[240] + + +Footnotes: + +[225] Matt. iv. 5. + +[226] Dan. xiv. 33, 34. Douay Version. + +[227] Acts viii. 40. + +[228] Joan. Diacon. Vit. Gregor. Mag. + +[229] Lettre de M. G. P. R., 5th October, 1746. + +[230] On the 26th of May, of the Bollandists, c. xx. n. 356, 357. + +[231] Acta S. J. Bolland. 3 Jul. p. 95. + +[232] Ibid. 31 Jul. pp. 432, 663. + +[233] Acta S. J. Bolland, 21 Aug. pp. 469, 481. + +[234] Ibid. 18 Aug. p. 503. + +[235] Ibid. 17 Aug. p. 255. + +[236] Ibid. 4 Aug. p. 405. + +[237] Vita S. Christina. 24 Jul. Bolland. pp. 652, 653. + +[238] Nicole, tom. i. Letters, pp. 203, 205. Letter xlv. + +[239] Vita Sancti Dunstani, xi. 42. + +[240] It is worthy of remark, that in the cases which Calmet refers to +of persons in his own time, and of his own acquaintance, being thus +raised from the ground, he in no instance states himself to have been +a witness of the wonder. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT. + + +We cannot reasonably dispute the truth of these ecstatic trances, the +elevations of the body of some saints to a certain distance from the +ground, since these circumstances are supported by so many witnesses. +To apply this to the matter we here treat of, might it not be said +that sorcerers and witches, by the operation of the demon, and with +God's permission, by the help of a lively and subtile temperament, are +rendered light and rise into the air, where their heated imagination +and prepossessed mind lead them to believe that they have done, seen, +and heard, what has no reality except in their own brain? + +I shall be told that the parallel I make between the actions of +saints, which can only be attributed to angels and the operation of +the Holy Spirit, or to the fervor of their charity and devotion, with +what happens to wizards and witches, is injurious and odious. I know +how to make a proper distinction between them: do not the books of the +Old and New Testament place in parallel lines the true miracles of +Moses with those of the magicians of Pharaoh; those of antichrist and +his subordinates with those of the saints and apostles; and does not +St. Paul inform us that the angel of darkness often transforms himself +into an angel of light? + +In the first edition of this work, we spoke very fully of certain +persons, who boast of having what they call "the garter," and by that +means are able to perform with extraordinary quickness, in a very few +hours, what would naturally take them several days journeying. Almost +incredible things are related on that subject; nevertheless, the +details are so circumstantial, that it is hardly possible there should +not be some foundation for them; and the demon may transport these +people in a forced and violent manner which causes them a fatigue +similar to what they would have suffered, had they really performed +the journey with more than ordinary rapidity. + +For instance, the two circumstances related by Torquemada: the first +of a poor scholar of his acquaintance, a clever man, who at last rose +to be physician to Charles V.; when studying at Guadaloupe, was +invited by a traveler who wore the garb of a monk, and to whom he had +rendered some little service, to mount up behind him on his horse, +which seemed a sorry animal and much tired; he got up and rode all +night, without perceiving that he went at an extraordinary pace, but +in the morning he found himself near the city of Granada; the young +man went into the town, but the conductor passed onwards. + +Another time, the father of a young man, known to the same Torquemada, +and the young man himself, were going together to Granada, and passing +through the village of Almeda, met a man on horseback like themselves +and going the same way; after having traveled two or three leagues +together, they halted, and the cavalier spread his cloak on the grass, +so that there was no crease in the mantle; they all placed what +provisions they had with them on this extended cloak, and let their +horses graze. They drank and ate very leisurely, and having told +their servants to bring their horses, the cavalier said to them, +"Gentlemen, do not hurry, you will reach the town early"--at the same +time he showed them Granada, at not a quarter of an hour's distance +from thence. + +Something equally marvelous is said of a canon of the cathedral of +Beauvais. The chapter of that church had been charged for a long time +to acquit itself of a certain personal duty to the Church of Rome; the +canons having chosen one of their brethren to repair to Rome for this +purpose, the canon deferred his departure from day to day, and set off +after matins on Christmas day--arrived that same day at Rome, +acquitted himself there of his commission, and came back from thence +with the same dispatch, bringing with him the original of the bond, +which obliged the canons to send one of their body to make this +offering in person. However fabulous and incredible this story may +appear, it is asserted that there are authentic proofs of it in the +archives of the cathedral; and that upon the tomb of the canon in +question may still be seen the figures of demons engraved at the four +corners in memory of this event. They even affirm that the celebrated +Father Mabillon saw the authentic voucher. + +Now, if this circumstance and the others like it are not absolutely +fabulous, we cannot deny that they are the effects of magic, and the +work of the evil spirit. + +Peter, the venerable Abbot of Cluny,[241] relates so extraordinary a +thing which happened in his time, that I should not repeat it here, +had it not been seen by the whole town of Macon. The count of that +town, a very violent man, exercised a kind of tyranny over the +ecclesiastics, and against whatever belonged to them, without +troubling himself either to conceal his violence, or to find a +pretext for it; he carried it on with a high hand and gloried in it. +One day, when he was sitting in his palace in company with several +nobles and others, they beheld an unknown person enter on horseback, +who advanced to the count and desired him to follow him. The count +rose and followed him, and having reached the door, he found there a +horse ready caparisoned; he mounts it, and is immediately carried up +into the air, crying out, in a terrible tone to those who were +present, "Here, help me!" All the town ran out at the noise, but they +soon lost sight of him; and no doubt was entertained that the devil +had flown away with him to be the companion of his tortures, and to +bear the pain of his excesses and his violence. + +It is, then, not absolutely impossible that a person may be raised +into the air and transported to some very high and distant place, by +order or by permission of God, by good or evil spirits; but we must +own that the thing is of rare occurrence, and that in all that is +related of sorcerers and witches, and their assemblings at the +witches' sabbath, there is an infinity of stories, which are false, +absurd, ridiculous, and even destitute of probability. M. Remi, +attorney-general of Lorraine, author of a celebrated work entitled +_Demonology_, who tried a great number of sorcerers and sorceresses, +with which Lorraine was then infested, produces hardly any proof +whence we can infer the truth and reality of witchcraft, and of +wizards and witches being transported to the sabbath. + + +Footnotes: + +[241] Petrus Venerab. lib. ii. de Miraculis, c. 1, p. 1299. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +OBSESSION AND POSSESSION OF THE DEVIL. + + +It is with reason that obsessions and possessions of the devil are +placed in the rank of apparitions of the evil spirit among men. We +call it _obsession_ when the demon acts externally against the person +whom he besets, and _possession_ when he acts internally, agitates +them, excites their ill humor, makes them utter blasphemy, speak +tongues they have never learnt, discovers to them unknown secrets, and +inspires them with the knowledge of the obscurest things in philosophy +or theology. Saul was agitated and possessed by the evil spirit,[242] +who at intervals excited his melancholy humor, and awakened his +animosity and jealousy against David, or who, on occasion of the +natural movement or impulsion of these dark moods, seized him, +agitated him, and disturbed from his usual tenor of mind. Those whom +the Gospel speaks of as being possessed,[243] and who cried aloud that +Jesus was the Christ, and that he was come to torment them before the +time, that he was the Son of God, are instances of possession. But the +demon Asmodeus, who beset Sara, the daughter of Raguel,[244] and who +killed her first seven husbands; those spoken of in the Gospel, who +were simply struck with maladies or incommodities which were thought +to be incurable; those whom the Scripture sometimes calls _lunatics_, +who foamed at the mouth, who were convulsed, who fled the presence of +mankind, who were violent and dangerous, so that they were obliged to +be chained to prevent them from striking and maltreating other people; +these kinds of persons were simply beset, or obseded by the devil. + +Opinions are much divided on the matter of obsessions and possessions +of the devil. The hardened Jews, and the ancient enemies of the +Christian religion, convinced by the evidence of the miracles which +they saw worked by Jesus Christ, by his apostles, and by Christians, +dared neither dispute their truth nor their reality; but they +attributed them to magic, to the prince of the devils, or to the +virtue of certain herbs, or of certain natural secrets. + +St. Justin,[245] Tertullian, Lactantius, St. Cyprian, Minutius, and +the other fathers of the first ages of the church, speak of the power +which the Christian exorcists exercised over the possessed, so +confidently and so freely, that we can doubt neither the certainty nor +the evidence of the thing. They call upon their adversaries to bear +witness, and pique themselves on making the experiment in their +presence, and of forcing to come out of the bodies of the possessed, +to declare their names, and acknowledge that those they adore in the +pagan temples are but devils. + +Some opposed to the true miracles of the Saviour those of their false +gods, their magicians, and their heroes of paganism, such as those of +Esculapius, and the famous Apollonius of Tyana. The pretended +freethinkers dispute them in our days upon philosophical principles; +they attribute them to a diseased imagination, the prejudices of +education, and hidden springs of the constitution; they reduce the +expressions of Scripture to hyperbole; they maintain that Jesus Christ +condescended to the understanding of the people, and their +prepossessions or prejudices; that demons being purely spiritual +substances could not by themselves act immediately upon bodies; and +that it is not at all probable God should work miracles to allow of +their doing so. + +If we examine closely those who have passed for being possessed, we +shall not perhaps find one amongst them, whose mind had not been +deranged by some accident, or whose body was not attacked by some +infirmity either known or hidden, which had caused some ferment in the +blood or the brain, and which, joined to prejudice, or fear, had given +rise to what was termed in their case obsession or possession. + +The possession of King Saul is easily explained by supposing that he +was naturally an atrabilarian, and that in his fits of melancholy he +appeared mad, or furious; therefore they sought no other remedy for +his illness than music, and the sound of instruments proper to enliven +or calm him. Several of the obsessions and possessions noted in the +New Testament were simple maladies, or fantastic fancies, which made +it believed that such persons were possessed by the devil. The +ignorance of the people maintained this prejudice, and their being +totally unacquainted with physics and medicine served to strengthen +such ideas. + +In one it was a sombre and melancholy temper, in another the blood was +too fevered and heated; here the bowels were burnt up with heat, there +a concentration of diseased humor, which suffocated the patient, as it +happens with those subject to epilepsy and hypochondria, who fancy +themselves gods, kings, cats, dogs, and oxen. There were others, who, +disturbed at the remembrance of their crimes, fell into a kind of +despair, and into fits of remorse, which irritated their mind and +constitution, and made them believe that the devil pursued and beset +them. Such, apparently, were those women who followed Jesus Christ, +and who had been delivered by him from the unclean spirits that +possessed them, and partly so Mary Magdalen, from whom he expelled +seven devils. The Scripture often speaks of the spirit of impurity, of +the spirit of falsehood, of the spirit of jealousy; it is not +necessary to have recourse to a particular demon to excite these +passions in us; St. James[246] tells us that we are enough tempted by +our own concupiscence, which leads us to evil, without seeking after +external causes. + +The Jews attributed the greater part of their maladies to the demon: +they were persuaded that they were a punishment for some crime either +known or unrevealed. Jesus Christ and his apostles wisely supposed +these prejudices, without wishing to attack them openly and reform the +old opinions of the Jews; they cured the diseases, and chased away the +evil spirits who caused them, or who were said to cause them. The real +and essential effect was the cure of the patient; no other thing was +required to confirm the mission of Jesus Christ, his divinity, and the +truth of the doctrine which he preached. Whether he expelled the +demon, or not, is not essentially necessary to his first design; it is +certain that he cured the patient either by expelling the devil, if it +be true that this evil spirit caused the malady, or by replacing the +inward springs and humors in their regular and natural state, which is +always miraculous, and proves the Divinity of the Saviour. + +Although the Jews were sufficiently credulous concerning the +operations of the evil spirit, they at the same time believed that in +general the demons who tormented certain persons were nothing else +than the souls of some wretches, who, fearing to repair to the place +destined for them, took possession of the body of some mortal whom +they tormented and endeavored to deprive of life.[247] + +Josephus the historian[248] relates that Solomon composed some charms +against maladies, and some formulae of exorcism to expel evil spirits. +He says, besides, that a Jew named Eleazar cured in the presence of +Vespasian some possessed persons by applying under their nose a ring, +in which was enchased a root, pointed out by that prince. They +pronounced the name of Solomon with a certain prayer, and an exorcism; +directly, the person possessed fell on the ground, and the devil left +him. The generality of common people among the Jews had not the least +doubt that Beelzebub, prince of the devils, had the power to expel +other demons, for they said that Jesus Christ only expelled them in +the name of Beelzebub.[249] We read in history that sometimes the +pagans expelled demons; and the physicians boast of being able to cure +some possessed persons, as they cure hypochondriacs, and imaginary +disorders. + +These are the most plausible things that are said against the reality +of the possessions and obsessions of the devil. + + +Footnotes: + +[242] 1 Sam. xvi. 23. + +[243] Matt. viii. 16; x. 11; xviii. 28. + +[244] Tob. iii. 8. + +[245] Justin. Dialog. cum supplem. Tertull. de Corona Militis, c. 11; +and Apolog. c. 23; Cyp. ad Demetriam, &c.; Minutius, in Octavio, &c. + +[246] James i. 14. + +[247] Joseph. Antiq. lib. vii. c. 25. + +[248] Ibid. lib. viii. c. 2. + +[249] Matt. xii. 24. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE TRUTH AND REALITY OF POSSESSION AND OBSESSION BY THE DEVIL PROVED +FROM SCRIPTURE. + + +But the possibility, the verity and reality of the obsessions and +possessions of the devil are indubitable, and proved by the Scripture +and by the authority of the Church, the Fathers, the Jews, and the +pagans. Jesus Christ and the apostles believed this truth, and taught +it publicly. The Saviour gives us a proof of his mission that he cures +the possessed; he refutes the Pharisees, who asserted that he expelled +the demons only in the name of Beelzebub; and maintains that he expels +them by the virtue of God.[250] He speaks to the demons; he threatens +them, and puts them to silence. Are these equivocal marks of the +reality of obsessions? The apostles do the same, as did the early +Christians their disciples. All this was done before the eyes of the +heathen, who could not deny it, but who eluded the force and evidence +of these things, by attributing this power to other demons, or to +certain divinities, more powerful than ordinary demons; as if the +kingdom of Satan were divided, and the evil spirit could act against +himself, or as if there were any collusion between Jesus Christ and +the demons whose empire he had just destroyed. + +The seventy disciples on their return from their mission came to Jesus +Christ[251] to give him an account of it, and tell him that the demons +themselves are obedient to them. After his resurrection,[252] the +Saviour promises to his apostles that they shall work miracles in his +name, _that they shall cast out devils_, and receive the gift of +tongues. All which was literally fulfilled. + +The exorcisms used at all times in the Church against the demons are +another proof of the reality of possessions; they show that at all +times the Church and her ministers have believed them to be true and +real, since they have always practiced these exorcisms. The ancient +fathers defied the heathen to produce a demoniac before the +Christians; they pride themselves on curing them, and expelling the +demon. The Jewish exorcists employed even the name of Jesus Christ to +cure demoniacs;[253] they found it efficacious in producing this +effect; it is true that sometimes they employed the name of Solomon, +and some charms said to have been invented by that prince, or roots +and herbs to which they attributed the same virtues, like as a clever +physician by the secret of his art can cure a hypochondriac or a +maniac, or a man strongly persuaded that he is possessed by the devil, +or as a wise confessor will restore the mind of a person disturbed by +remorse, and agitated by the reflection of his sins, or the fear of +hell. But we are speaking now of real possessions and obsessions which +are cured only by the power of God, by the name of Jesus Christ, and +by exorcisms. The son of Sceva, the Jewish priest,[254] having +undertaken to expel a devil in the name of Jesus Christ, whom Paul +preached, the demoniac threw himself upon him, and would have +strangled him, saying that he knew Jesus Christ, and Paul, but that +for him, he feared him not. We must then distinguish well between +possessions and possessions, exorcists and exorcists. There may be +found demoniacs who counterfeit the possessed, to excite compassion +and obtain alms. There may even be exorcists who abuse the name and +power of Jesus Christ to deceive the ignorant; and how do I know that +there are not even impostors to be found, who would place pretended +possessed persons in the way, in order to pretend to cure them, and +thus gain a reputation? + +I do not enter into longer details on this matter; I have treated it +formerly in a particular dissertation on the subject, printed apart +with other dissertations on Scripture, and I have therein replied to +the objections which were raised on this subject. + + +Footnotes: + +[250] Luke viii. 21. + +[251] Luke x. 17. + +[252] Mark xvi. 27. + +[253] Mark ix. 36-38. Acts xi. 14. + +[254] Acts xix. 14. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +EXAMPLES OF REAL POSSESSIONS CAUSED BY THE DEVIL. + + +We must now report some of the most famous instances of the possession +and obsession of the demon. Every body is talking at this time of the +possession (by the devil) of the nuns of Loudun, on which such +different opinions were given, both at the time and since. Martha +Broissier, daughter of a weaver of Romorantin,[255] made as much noise +in her time; but Charles Miron, Bishop of Orleans, discovered the +fraud, by making her drink holy water as common water; by making them +present to her a key wrapped up in red silk, which was said to be a +piece of the true cross; and in reciting some lines from Virgil, which +Martha Broissier's demon took for exorcisms, agitating her very much +at the approach of the hidden key, and at the recital of the verses +from Virgil. Henri de Gondi, Cardinal Bishop of Paris, had her +examined by five of the faculty; three were of opinion that there was +a great deal of imposture and a little disease. The parliament took +notice of the affair, and nominated eleven physicians, who reported +unanimously that there was nothing demoniacal in this matter. + +In the reign of Charles IX.[256] or a little before, a young woman of +the town of Vervins, fifteen or sixteen years of age, named Nicola +Aubry, had different apparitions of a spectre, who called itself her +grandfather, and asked her for masses and prayers for the repose of +his soul.[257] Very soon after, she was transported to different +places by this spectre, and sometimes even was carried out of sight, +and from the midst of those who watched over her. + +Then, they had no longer any doubt that it was the devil, which they +had a great deal of trouble to make her believe. The Bishop of Laon +gave his power (of attorney) for conjuring the spirit, and commanded +them to see that the proces-verbaux were exactly drawn up by the +notaries nominated for that purpose. The exorcisms lasted more than +three months, and only serve to prove more and more the fact of the +possession. The poor sufferer was torn from the hands of nine or ten +men, who could hardly retain their hold of her; and on the last day of +the exorcisms sixteen could not succeed in so doing. She had been +lying on the ground, when she stood upright and stiff as a statue, +without those who held her being able to prevent it. She spoke divers +languages, revealed the most secret things, announced others at the +moment they were being done, although at a great distance; she +discovered to many the secret of their conscience, uttered at once +three different voices, or tones, and spoke with her tongue hanging +half a foot out of her mouth. After some exorcisms had been made at +Vervins, they took her to Laon, where the bishop undertook her. He had +a scaffolding erected for this purpose in the cathedral. Such immense +numbers of people went there, that they saw in the church ten or +twelve thousand persons at a time; some even came from foreign +countries. Consequently, France could not be less curious; so the +princes and great people, and those who could not come there +themselves, sent persons who might inform them of what passed. The +Pope's nuncios, the parliamentary deputies, and those of the +university were present. + +The devil, forced by the exorcisms, rendered such testimony to the +truth of the Catholic religion, and, above all, to the reality of the +holy eucharist, and at the same time to the falsity of Calvinism, that +the irritated Calvinists no longer kept within bounds. From the time +the exorcisms were made at Vervins, they wanted to kill the possessed, +with the priest who exorcised her, in a journey they made her take to +Notre Dame de Liesse. At Laon, it was still worse; as they were the +strongest in numbers there, a revolt was more than once apprehended. +They so intimidated the bishop and the magistrates, that they took +down the scaffold, and did not have the general procession usually +made before exorcisms. The devil became prouder thereupon, insulted +the bishop, and laughed at him. On the other hand, the Calvinists +having obtained the suppression of the procession, and that she should +be put in prison to be more nearly examined, Carlier, a Calvinist +doctor, suddenly drew from his pocket something which was averred to +be a most violent poison, which he threw into her mouth, and she kept +it on her stomach whilst the convulsion lasted, but she threw it up of +herself when she came to her senses. + +All these experiments decided them on recommencing the processions, +and the scaffold was replaced. Then the outraged Calvinists conceived +the idea of a writing from M. de Montmorency, forbidding the +continuation of the exorcisms, and enjoining the king's officers to be +vigilant. Thus they abstained a second time from the procession, and +again the devil triumphed at it. Nevertheless, he discovered to the +bishop the trick of this suppositious writing, named those who had +taken part in it, and declared that he had again gained time by this +obedience of the bishop to the will of man rather than that of God. +Besides that, the devil had already protested publicly that it was +against his own will that he remained in the body of this woman; that +he had entered there by the order of God; that it was to convert the +Calvinists or to harden them, and that he was very unfortunate in +being obliged to act and speak against himself. + +The chapter then represented to the bishop that it would be proper to +make the processions and the conjurations twice a-day, to excite still +more the devotion of the people. The prelate acquiesced in it, and +everything was done with the greatest _eclat_, and in the most +orthodox manner. The devil declared again more than once that he had +gained time; once because the bishop had not confessed himself; +another time because he was not fasting; and lastly, because it was +requisite that the chapter and all the dignitaries should be present, +as well as the court of justice and the king's officers, in order that +there might be sufficient testimony; that he was forced to warn the +bishop thus of his duty, and that accursed was the hour when he +entered into the body of this person; at the same time, he uttered a +thousand imprecations against the church, the bishop, and the clergy. + +Thus, at the last day of possession, everybody being assembled in the +afternoon, the bishop began the last conjurations, when many +extraordinary things took place; amongst others, the bishop desiring +to put the holy eucharist near the lips of this poor woman, the devil +in some way seized hold of his arm, and at the same moment raised this +woman up, as it were, out of the hands of sixteen men who were holding +her. But at last, after much resistance, he came out, and left her +perfectly cured, and thoroughly sensible of the goodness of God. The +_Te Deum_ was sung to the sound of all the bells in the town; nothing +was heard among the Catholics but acclamations of joy, and many of the +Calvinists were converted, whose descendants still dwell in the town. +Florimond de Raimond, counselor of the parliament of Bordeaux, had the +happiness to be of the number, and has written the history of it. For +nine days they made the procession, to return thanks to God; and they +founded a perpetual mass, which is celebrated every year on the 8th of +February, and they represented this story in _bas-relief_ round the +choir, where it may be seen at this day. + +In short, God, as if to put the finishing stroke to so important a +work, permitted that the Prince of Conde, who had just left the +Catholic religion, should be misled on this subject by those of his +new communion. He sent for the poor woman, and also the Canon +d'Espinois, who had never forsaken her during all the time of the +exorcisms. He interrogated them separately, and at several different +times, and made every effort, not to discover if they had practiced +any artifice, but to find out if there was any in the whole affair. He +went so far as to offer the canon very high situations if he would +change his religion. But what can you obtain in favor of heresy from +sensible and upright people, to whom God has thus manifested the power +of his church? All the efforts of the prince were useless; the +firmness of the canon, and the simplicity of the poor woman, only +served to prove to him still more the certainty of the event which +displeased him, and he sent them both home. + +Yet a return of ill-will caused him to have this woman again arrested, +and he kept her in one of his prisons until her father and mother +having entreated an inquiry into this injustice to King Charles IX., +she was set at liberty by order of his majesty.[258] + +An event of such importance, and so carefully attested, both on the +part of the bishop and the chapter, and on that of the magistrates, +and even by the violence of the Calvinistic party, ought not to be +buried in silence. King Charles IX., on making his entry into Laon +some time after, desired to be informed about it by the dean of the +cathedral, who had been an ocular witness of the affair. His majesty +commanded him to give publicity to the story, and it was then printed, +first in French, then in Latin, Spanish, Italian, and German, with the +approbation of the Sorbonne, supported by the rescripts of Pope Pius +V. and Gregory XIII. his successor. And they made after that a pretty +exact abridgment of it, by order of the Bishop of Laon, printed under +the title of _Le Triomphe du S. Sacrament sur le Diable_. + +These are facts which have all the authenticity that can be desired, +and such as a man of honor cannot with any good-breeding affect to +doubt, since he could not after that consider any facts as certain +without being in shameful contradiction with himself.[259] + + +Footnotes: + +[255] Jean de Lorres, sur l'an 1599. Thuan. Hist. l. xii. + +[256] Charles IX. died in 1574. + +[257] This story is taken from a book entitled "Examen et Discussion +Critique de l'Histoire des Diables de Loudun, &c., par M. de la +Menardaye." A Paris, chez de Bure l'Aine, 1749. + +[258] Tresor et entiere Histoire de la Victime du Corps de Dieu, +presentee au Pape, au Roi, au Chancelier de France, au Premier +President. A Paris, 4to. chez Chesnau. 1578. + +[259] This account is one of the many in which the theory of +possession was made use of to impugn the Protestant faith. The +simplicity and credulity of Calmet are very remarkable.--EDITOR. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT. + + +There was in Lorraine, about the year 1620, a woman, possessed (by the +devil), who made a great noise in the country, but whose case is much +less known among foreigners. I mean Mademoiselle Elizabeth de +Ranfaing, the story of whose possession was written and printed at +Nancy, in 1622, by M. Pichard, a doctor of medicine, and physician in +ordinary to their highnesses of Lorraine. Mademoiselle de Ranfaing was +a very virtuous person, through whose agency God established a kind of +order of nuns _of the Refuge_, the principal object of which is to +withdraw from profligacy the girls or women who have fallen into +libertinism. M. Pichard's work was approved by doctors of theology, +and authorized by M. de Porcelets, Bishop of Toul, and in an assembly +of learned men whom he sent for to examine the case, and the reality +of the possession. It was ardently attacked and loudly denied by a +monk of the Minimite order, named Claude Pithoy, who had the temerity +to say that he would pray to God to send the devil into himself, in +case the woman whom they were exorcising at Nancy was possessed; and +again, that God was not God if he did not command the devil to seize +his body, if the woman they exorcised at Nancy was really possessed. + +M. Pichard refutes him fully; but he remarks that persons who are weak +minded, or of a dull and melancholy character, heavy, taciturn, +stupid, and who are naturally disposed to frighten and disturb +themselves, are apt to fancy that they see the devil, that they speak +to him, and even that they are possessed by him; above all, if they +are in places where others are possessed, whom they see, and with whom +they converse. He adds that, thirteen or fourteen years ago, he +remarked at Nancy a great number of this kind, and with the help of +God he cured them. He says the same thing of atrabilarians, and women +who suffer from _furor uterine_, who sometimes do such things and +utter such cries, that any one would believe they were possessed. + +Mademoiselle Ranfaing having become a widow in 1617, was sought in +marriage by a physician named Poviot. As she would not listen to his +addresses, he first of all gave her philtres to make her love him, +which occasioned strange derangements in her health. At last he gave +her some magical medicaments (for he was afterwards known to be a +magician, and burnt as such by a judicial sentence). The physicians +could not relieve her, and were quite at fault with her extraordinary +maladies. After having tried all sorts of remedies, they were obliged +to have recourse to exorcisms. + +Now these are the principal symptoms which made it believed that +Mademoiselle Ranfaing was really possessed. They began to exorcise her +the 2d September, 1619, in the town of Remiremont, whence she was +transferred to Nancy; there she was visited and interrogated by +several clever physicians, who, after having minutely examined the +symptoms of what happened to her, declared that the casualties they +had remarked in her had no relation at all with the ordinary course of +known maladies, and could only be the result of diabolical possession. + +After which, by order of M. de Porcelets, Bishop of Toul, they +nominated for the exorcists M. Viardin, a doctor of divinity, +counselor of state of the Duke of Lorraine, a Jesuit and Capuchin. +Almost all the monks in Nancy, the said lord bishop, the Bishop of +Tripoli, suffragan of Strasburg, M. de Sancy, formerly ambassador from +the most Christian king at Constantinople, and then priest of the +_Oratoire_, Charles de Lorraine, Bishop of Verdun; two doctors of the +Sorbonne sent on purpose to be present at the exorcisms, often +exorcised her in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and she always replied +pertinently to them, she who could hardly read Latin. + +They report the certificate given by M. Nicolas de Harley, very well +skilled in the Hebrew tongue, who avowed that Mademoiselle Ranfaing +was really possessed, and had answered him from the movement of his +lips alone, without his having pronounced any words, and had given +several proofs of her possession. The Sieur Garnier, a doctor of the +Sorbonne, having also given her several commands in Hebrew, she +replied pertinently, but in French, saying that the compact was made +that he should speak only in the usual tongue. The demon added, "Is it +not enough that I show thee that I understand what thou sayest?" The +same M. Garnier, speaking to him in Greek, inadvertently put one case +for another; the possessed, or rather the devil, said to him, "_Thou +hast committed an error._" The doctor said to him in Greek, "Point out +my fault;" the devil replied, "_Let it suffice thee that I point out +an error; I shall tell thee no more concerning it._" The doctor +telling him in Greek to hold his tongue, he answered, "Thou commandest +me to hold my tongue, and I will not do so." + +M. Midot Ecolatre de Toul said to him in the same language, "Sit +down;" he replied, "I will not sit down." M. Midot said to him +moreover in Greek, "Sit down on the ground and obey;" but as the demon +was going to throw the possessed by force on the ground, he said to +him in the same tongue, "Do it gently;" he did so. He said in Greek, +"Put out the right foot;" he extended it; he said also in the same +language, "Cause her knees to be cold," the woman replied that she +felt them very cold. + +The Sieur Mince, a doctor of the Sorbonne, holding a cross in his +hand, the devil whispered to him in Greek, "Give me the cross," which +was heard by some persons who were near him. M. Mince desired to make +the devil repeat the same sentence; he answered, "I will not repeat it +all in Greek;" but he simply said in French, "Give me," and in Greek, +"the cross." + +The Reverend Father Albert, Capuchin, having ordered him in Greek to +make the sign of the cross seven times with his tongue, in honor of +the seven joys of the Virgin, he made the sign of the cross three +times with his tongue, and then twice with his nose; but the holy man +told him anew to make the sign of the cross seven times with his +tongue; he did so; and having been commanded in the same language to +kiss the feet of the Lord Bishop of Toul, he prostrated himself and +kissed his feet. + +The same father having observed that the demon wished to overturn the +_Benitier_, or basin of holy water which was there, he ordered him to +take the holy water and not spill it, and he obeyed. The Father +commanded him to give marks of the possession; he answered, "The +possession is sufficiently known;" he added in Greek, "I command thee +to carry some holy water to the governor of the town." The demon +replied, "It is not customary to exorcise in that tongue." The father +answered in Latin, "It is not for thee to impose laws on us; but the +church has power to command thee in whatever language she may think +proper." + +Then the demon took the basin of holy water and carried it to the +keeper of the Capuchins, to the Duke Eric of Lorraine, to the Counts +of Brionne, Remonville, la Vaux, and other lords. + +The physician, M. Pichard, having told him in a sentence, partly +Hebrew, and partly Greek, to cure the head and eyes of the possessed +woman; hardly had he finished speaking the last words, when the demon +replied: "Faith, we are not the cause of it; her brain is naturally +moist: that proceeds from her natural constitution;" then M. Pichard +said to the assembly, "Take notice, gentlemen, that he replies to +Greek and Hebrew at the same time." "Yes," replied the demon, "you +discover the pot of roses, and the secret; I will answer you no more." +There were several questions and replies in foreign languages, which +showed that he understood them very well. + +M. Viardin having asked him in Latin, "Ubi censebaris quando mane +oriebaris?" He replied, "Between the seraphim." They said to him, "Pro +signo exhibe nobis patibulum fratris Cephae;" the devil extended his +arms in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. They said to him, "Applica +carpum carpo;" he did so, placing the wrist of one hand over the +other; then, "Admove tarsum tarso et metatarsum metatarso;" he crossed +his feet and raised them one upon the other. Then afterwards he said, +"Excita in calcaneo qualitatem congregantem heterogenea;" the +possessed said she felt her heel cold; after which, "Repraesenta nobis +labarum Venetorum;" he made the figure of the cross. Afterwards they +said, "Exhibe nobis videntum Deum bene precantem nepotibus ex +salvatore Egypti;" he crossed his arms as did Jacob on giving his +blessing to the sons of Joseph; and then, "Exhibe crucem +conterebrantem stipiti," he represented the cross of St. Peter. The +exorcist having by mistake said, "Per eum qui adversus te praeliavit," +the demon did not give him time to correct himself; he said to him, "O +the ass! instead of _praeliatus est_." He was spoken to in Italian and +German, and he always answered accordingly. + +They said to him one day, "Sume encolpium ejus qui hodie functus est +officio illius de quo cecinit Psaltes: pro patribus tuis nati sunt +tibi filii;" he went directly and took the cross hanging round the +neck and resting on the breast of the Prince Eric de Lorraine, who +that same day had filled the office of bishop in giving orders, +because the Bishop of Toul was indisposed. He discovered secret +thoughts, and heard words that were said in the ear of some persons +which he was not possibly near enough to overhear, and declared that +he had known the mental prayer that a good priest had made before the +holy sacrament. + +Here is a trait still more extraordinary. They said to the demon, +speaking Latin and Italian in the same sentence: "Adi scholastrum +seniorem et osculare ejus pedes, la cui scarpa ha piu di sugaro;" that +very moment he went and kissed the foot of the Sieur Juillet, ecolatre +of St. George, the Elder of M. Viardin, ecolatre of the Primitiale. M. +Juillet's right foot was shorter than the left, which obliged him to +wear a shoe with a cork heel (or raised by a piece of cork, called in +Italian _sugaro_). + +They proposed to him very difficult questions concerning the Trinity, +the Incarnation, the holy sacrament of the altar, the grace of God, +free will, the manner in which angels and demons know the thoughts of +men, &c., and he replied with much clearness and precision. She +discovered things unknown to everybody, and revealed to certain +persons, but secretly and in private, some sins of which they had been +guilty. + +The demon did not obey the voice only of the exorcists; he obeyed even +when they simply moved their lips, or held their hand, or a +handkerchief, or a book upon the mouth. A Calvinist having one day +mingled secretly in the crowd, the exorcist, who was warned of it, +commanded the demon to go and kiss his feet; he went immediately, +rushing through the crowd. + +An Englishman having come from curiosity to the exorcist, the devil +told him several particulars relating to his country and religion. He +was a Puritan; and the Englishman owned that everything he had said +was true. The same Englishman said to him in his language, "As a proof +of thy possession, tell me the name of my master who formerly taught +me embroidery;" he replied, "William." They commanded him to recite +the _Ave Maria_; he said to a Huguenot gentleman who was present, "Do +you say it, if you know it; for they don't say it amongst your +people." M. Pichard relates several unknown and hidden things which +the demon revealed, and that he performed several feats which it is +not possible for any person, however agile and supple he may be, to +achieve by natural strength or power; such as crawling on the ground +without making use of hands or feet, appearing to have the hair +standing erect like serpents. + +After all the details concerning the exorcisms, marks of possession, +questions and answers of the possessed, M. Pichard reports the +authentic testimony of the theologians, physicians, of the bishops +Eric of Lorraine, and Charles of Lorraine, Bishop of Verdun, of +several monks of every order, who attest the said possession to be +real and veritable; and lastly, a letter from the Rev. Father Cotton, +a Jesuit, who certifies the same thing. The said letter bears date the +5th of June, 1621, and is in reply to the one which the Prince Eric of +Lorraine had written to him. + +I have omitted a great many particulars related in the recital of the +exorcisms, and the proofs of the possession of Mademoiselle de +Ranfaing. I think I have said enough to convince any persons who are +sincere and unprejudiced that her possession is as certain as these +things can be. The affair occurred at Nancy, the capital of Lorraine, +in the presence of a great number of enlightened persons, two of whom +were of the house of Lorraine, both bishops, and well informed; in +presence and by the orders of my Lord de Porcelets, Bishop of Toul, a +most enlightened man, and of distinguished merit; of two doctors of +the Sorbonne, called thither expressly to judge of the reality of the +possession; in presence of people of the so-called Reformed religion, +and much on their guard against things of this kind. It has been seen +how far Father Pithoy carried his temerity against the possession in +question; he has been reprimanded by his diocesan and his superiors, +who have imposed silence on him. + +Mademoiselle de Ranfaing is known to be personally a woman of +extraordinary virtue, prudence, and merit. No reason can be imagined +for her feigning a possession which has pained her in a thousand ways. +The consequence of this terrible trial has been the establishment of a +kind of religious order, from which the church has received much +edification, and from which God has providentially derived glory. + +M. Nicolas de Harlay Sancy and M. Viardin are persons highly to be +respected both for their personal merit, their talent, and the high +offices they have filled; the first having been French ambassador at +Constantinople, and the other resident of the good Duke Henry at the +Court of Rome; so that I do not think I could have given an instance +more fit to convince you of there being real and veritable possessions +than this of Mademoiselle de Ranfaing. + +I do not relate that of the nuns of Loudun, on which such various +opinions have been given, the reality of which was doubted at the very +time, and is very problematical to this day. Those who are curious to +know the history of that affair will find it very well detailed in a +book I have already cited, entitled, "Examen et Discussion Critique de +l'Histoire des Diables de Loudun, &c., par M. de la Menardaye," a +Paris, chez de Bure Aine, 1749. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE OBSESSIONS AND POSSESSIONS OF THE DEMON--REPLY +TO THE OBJECTIONS. + + +Several objections may be raised against the obsessions and +possessions of demons; nothing is subject to greater difficulties than +this matter, but Providence constantly and uniformly permits the +clearest and most certain truths of religion to remain enveloped in +some degree of obscurity; that facts the best averred and the most +indubitable should be subject to doubts and contradictions; that the +most evident miracles should be disputed by some incredulous persons +on account of circumstances which appear to them doubtful and +disputable. + +All religion has its lights and shadows; God has permitted it to be so +in order that the just may have somewhat to exercise their faith in +believing, and the impious and incredulous persist in their wilful +impiety and incredulity. The greatest mysteries of Christianity are to +the one subjects of scandal, and to the others means of salvation; +the one regarding the mystery of the cross as folly, and the others as +the work of sublimest wisdom, and of the most admirable power of God. +Pharaoh hardened his heart when he saw the wonders wrought by Moses; +but the magicians of Egypt were at last obliged to recognize in them +the hand of God. The Hebrews on sight of these wonders take confidence +in Moses and Aaron, and yield themselves to their guidance, without +fearing the dangers to which they may be exposed. + +We have already remarked that the demon often seems to act against his +own interest, and destroy his own empire, by saying that everything +which is related of the return of spirits, the obsessions and +possessions of the demon, of spells, magic, and sorcery, are only +tales wherewith to frighten children; that they all have no existence +except in weak and prejudiced minds. How can it serve the demon to +maintain this, and destroy the general opinion of nations on all these +things? If in all there is only falsehood and illusion, what does he +gain by undeceiving people? and if there is any truth in them, why +decry his own work, and take away the credit of his subordinates and +his own operations? + +Jesus Christ in the Gospel refutes those who said that he expelled +devils in the name of Beelzebub;[260] he maintains that the accusation +is unfounded, because it was incredible that Satan should destroy his +own work and his own empire. The reasoning is doubtless solid and +conclusive, above all to the Jews, who thought that Jesus Christ did +not differ from other exorcists who expelled demons, unless it was +that he commanded the prince of devils, while the others commanded +only the subaltern demons. Now, on this supposition, the prince of the +demons could not expel his subalterns without destroying his own +empire, without decrying himself, and without ruining the reputation +of those who only acted by his orders. + +It may be objected to this argument, that Jesus Christ supposed, as +did the Jews, that the demons whom he expelled really possessed those +whom he cured, in whatever manner he might cure them; and consequently +that the empire of the demons subsisted, both in Beelzebub, the prince +of the demons, and in the other demons who were subordinate to him, +and who obeyed his orders; thus, his empire was not entirely +destroyed, supposing that Jesus Christ expelled them in the name of +Beelzebub; that subordination, on the contrary, supposed that power or +empire of the prince of the demons, and strengthened it. + +But Jesus Christ not only expelled demons by his own authority, +without ever making mention of Beelzebub; he expelled them in spite of +themselves, and sometimes they loudly complained that he was come to +torment them before the time.[261] There was neither collusion between +him and them, nor subordination similar to that which might be +supposed to exist between Beelzebub and the other demons. + +The Lord pursued them, not only in expelling them from bodies, but +also in overthrowing their bad maxims, by establishing doctrines and +maxims quite contrary to their own; he made war upon every vice, +error, and falsehood; he attacked the demon face to face, everywhere, +unflinchingly; thus, it cannot be said that he spared him, or was in +collusion with him. If the devil will sometimes pass off as chimeras +and illusions all that is said of apparitions, obsessions and +possessions, magic and sorcery; and if he appears so absolutely to +overthrow his reign, even so far as to deny the most marked and +palpable effects of his own power and presence, and impute them to the +weakness of mind of men and their foolish prejudices; in all this he +can only gain advantage for himself: for, if he can persuade people of +the truth of what he advances, his power will only be more solidly +confirmed by it, since it will no longer be attacked, and he will be +left to enjoy his conquests in peace, and the ecclesiastical and +secular powers interested in repressing the effects of his malice and +cruelty will no longer take the trouble to make war upon him, and +caution or put the nations on their guard against his stratagems and +ambuscades. It will close the mouth of parliaments, and stay the hand +of judges and powers; and the simple people will become the sport of +the demon, who will not cease continuing to tempt, persecute, corrupt, +deceive, and cause the perdition of those who shall no longer mistrust +his snares and his malice. The world will relapse into the same state +as when under paganism, given up to error, to the most shameful +passions, and will even deny or doubt those truths which shall be the +best attested, and the most necessary to our salvation. + +Moses in the Old Testament well foresaw that the evil spirit would set +every spring to work, to lead the Israelites into error and unruly +conduct; he foresaw that in the midst of the chosen people he would +instigate seducers, who would predict to them the hidden future, which +predictions would come true and be followed up. He always forbids +their listening to any prophet or diviners who wished to mislead them +to impiety or idolatry. + +Tertullian, speaking of the delusions performed by demons, and the +foresight they have of certain events, says,[262] that being spiritual +in their nature, they find themselves in a moment in any place they +may wish, and announce at a distance what they have seen and heard. +All this is attributed to the Divinity, because neither the cause nor +the manner is known; often, also, they boast of causing events, which +they do but announce; and it is true that often they are themselves +the authors of the evils they predict, but never of any good. +Sometimes they make use of the knowledge they have derived from the +predictions of the prophets respecting the designs of God, and they +utter them as coming from themselves. As they are spread abroad in the +air, they see in the clouds what must happen, and thus foretell the +rain which they were aware of before it had been felt upon earth. As +to maladies, if they cure them, it is because they have occasioned +them; they prescribe remedies which produce effect, and it is believed +that they have cured maladies simply because they have not continued +them. _Quia desinunt laedere, curasse credentur._ + +The demon can then foresee the future and what is hidden, and discover +them by means of his votaries; he can also doubtlessly do wonderful +things which surpass the usual and known powers of nature; but it is +never done except to deceive us, and lead us into disorder and +impiety. And even should he wear the semblance of leading to virtue +and practising those things which are praiseworthy and useful to +salvation, it would only be to win the confidence of such as would +listen to his suggestions, to make them afterward fall into +misfortune, and engage them in some sin of presumption or vanity: for +as he is a spirit of malice and lies, it little imports to him by what +means he surprises us, and establishes his reign among us. + +But he is very far from always foreseeing the future, or succeeding +always in misleading us; God has set bounds to his malice. He often +deceives himself, and often makes use of disguise and perversion, that +he may not appear to be ignorant of what he is ignorant of, or he will +appear unwilling to do what God will not allow him to do; his power is +always bounded, and his knowledge limited. Often, also, he will +mislead and deceive through malice, because he is the father of +falsehood. He deceives men, and rejoices when he sees them doing +wrong; but not to lose his credit amongst those who consult him +directly or indirectly, he lays the fault on those who undertake to +interpret his words, or the equivocal signs which he has given. For +instance, if he is consulted whether to begin an enterprise, or give +battle, or set off on a journey, if the thing succeeds, he takes all +the glory and merit to himself; if it does not succeed, he imputes it +to the men who have not well understood the sense of his oracle, or to +the aruspices, who have made mistakes in consulting the entrails of +the immolated animals, or the flight of birds, &c. + +We must not, then, be surprised to find so many contradictions, +doubts, and difficulties, in the matter of apparitions, angels, +demons, and spirits. Man naturally loves to distinguish himself from +the common herd, and rise above the opinions of the people; it is a +sort of fashion not to suffer one's self to be drawn along by the +torrent, and to desire to sound and examine everything. We know that +there is an infinity of prejudices, errors, vulgar opinions, false +miracles, illusions, and seductions in the world; we know that many +things are attributed to the devil which are purely natural, or that a +thousand apocryphal stories are related. It is then right to hold +one's self on one's guard, in order not to be deceived. It is very +important for religion to distinguish between true and false miracles, +certain or uncertain events, and works wrought by the hand of God, +from those which are the work of the seducing spirit. + +In all that he does, the demon mixes up a great many illusions amid +some truths, in order that the difficulty of discerning the true from +the false may make mankind take the side which pleases them most, and +that the incredulous may always have some points to maintain them in +their incredulity. Although the apparitions of spirits, angels, and +demons, and their operations, may not, perhaps, always be miraculous, +nevertheless, as the greater part appear above the common course of +nature, many of the persons of whom we have just spoken, without +giving themselves the trouble to examine the things, and seek for the +causes of them, the authors, and the circumstances, boldly take upon +themselves to deny them all. It is the shortest way, but neither the +most sensible nor the most rational; for in what is said on this +subject, there are effects which can be reasonably attributed to the +Almighty power of God alone, who acts immediately, or makes secondary +causes act to his glory, for the advancement of religion, and the +manifestation of the truth; and other effects there are, which bear +visibly the character of illusion, impiety, and seduction, and in +which it would seem that, instead of the finger of God, we can observe +only the marks of the spirit of deceit and falsehood. + + +Footnotes: + +[260] Matt. xii. 24-27. Luke xi. 15-18. + +[261] Matt. viii. 29. + +[262] Tertullian does not say so much in the passage cited; on the +contrary, he affirms that we are ignorant of their nature: _substantia +ignoratur_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +CONTINUATION OF OBJECTIONS AGAINST POSSESSIONS, AND SOME REPLIES TO +THOSE OBJECTIONS. + + +We read in works, published and printed, composed by Catholic authors +of our days,[263] that it is proved by reason, that possessions of the +demon are naturally impossible, and that it is not true, in regard to +ourselves and our ideas, that the demon can have any natural power +over the corporeal world; that as soon as we admit in the created +wills a power to act upon bodies, and to move them, it is impossible +to set bounds to it, and that this power is truly infinite. + +They maintain that the demon can act upon our souls simply by means of +suggestion; that it is impossible the demon should be the physical +cause of the least external effect; that all the Scripture tells us of +the snares and stratagems of Satan signifies nothing more than the +temptations of the flesh and concupiscence; and that to seduce us, the +demon requires only mental suggestions. His is a moral, not a physical +power; in a word, _that the demon can do neither good nor harm; that +his might is nought_; that we do not know if God has given to any +other spirit than the soul of man the power to move the body; that, on +the contrary, we ought to presume that the wisdom of God has willed +that pure spirits should have no commerce with the body; they maintain +moreover that the pagans never knew what we call bad angels and +demons. + +All these propositions are certainly contrary to Scripture, to the +opinions of the Fathers, and to the tradition of the Catholic Church. +But these gentlemen do not trouble themselves about that; they affirm +that the sacred writers have often expressed themselves according to +the opinions of their time, whether because the necessity of making +themselves understood forced them to conform to it, or that they +themselves had adopted those opinions. There is, say they, more +likelihood that several infirmities which the Scripture has ascribed +to the demon had simply a natural cause; that in these places the +sacred authors have spoken according to vulgar opinions; the error of +this language is of no importance. + +The prophets of Saul, and Saul himself, were never what are properly +termed Prophets; they might be attacked with those (fits) which the +pagans call _sacred_. You must be asleep when you read, not to see +that the temptation of Eve is only an allegory. It is the same with +the permission given by God to Satan to tempt Job. Why wish to explain +the whole book of Job literally, and as a true history, since its +beginning is only a fiction? It is anything but certain that Jesus +Christ was transported by the demon to the highest pinnacle of the +temple. + +The Fathers were prepossessed on one side by the reigning ideas of the +philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato on the influences of mean +intelligences, and on the other hand by the language of the holy +books, which to conform to popular opinions often ascribed to the +demon effects which were purely natural. We must then return to the +doctrine of reason to decide on the submission which we ought to pay +to the authority of the Scriptures and the Fathers concerning the +power of the demons. + +The uniform method of the Holy Fathers in the interpretations of the +Old Testament is human opinion, whence one can appeal to the tribunal +of reason. They go so far as to say that the sacred authors were +informed of the Metempsychosis, as the author of the Book of Wisdom, +chap. viii. 19, 20: "I was an innocent child, and I received a good +spirit; and as I was already good, I entered into an uncorrupted +body." + +Persons of this temper will certainly not read this work of ours, or, +if they do read it, it will be with contempt or pity. I do not think +it necessary to refute those paradoxes here; the Bishop of Senez has +done it with his usual erudition and zeal, in a long letter printed at +Utrecht in 1736. I do not deny that the sacred writers may sometimes +have spoken in a popular manner, and in accordance with the prejudice +of the people. But it is carrying things too far to reduce the power +of the demon to being able to act upon us only by means of suggestion; +and it is a presumption unworthy of a philosopher to decide on the +power of spirits over bodies, having no knowledge, either by +revelation or by reason, of the extent of the power of angels and +demons over matter and human bodies. We may exceed due measure by +granting them excessive power, as well as in not according them +enough. But it is of infinite importance to Religion to discern justly +between what is natural, or supernatural, in the operations of angels +and demons, that the simple may not be left in error, nor the wicked +triumph over the truth, and make a bad use of their own wit and +knowledge, to render doubtful what is certain, and deceiving both +themselves and others by ascribing to chance or illusion of the +senses, or a vain prepossession of the mind, what is said of the +apparitions of angels, demons, and deceased persons; since it is +certain that several of these apparitions are quite true, although +there may be a great number of others that are very uncertain, and +even manifestly false. + +I shall therefore make no difficulty in owning that even miracles, at +least things that appear such, the prediction of future events, +movements of the body which appear beyond the usual powers of nature, +to speak and understand foreign languages unknown before, to penetrate +the thoughts, discover concealed things, to be raised up, and +transported in a moment from one place to another, to announce truths, +lead a good life externally, preach Jesus Christ, decry magic and +sorcery, make an outward profession of virtue; I readily own that all +these things may not prove invincibly that all who perform them are +sent by God, or that these operations are real miracles; yet we cannot +reasonably suppose the demon to be mixed up in them by God's +permission, or that the demons or the angels do not act upon those +persons who perform prodigies, and foretell things to come, or who can +penetrate the thoughts of the heart, or that God himself does not +produce these effects by the immediate action of his justice or his +might. + +The examples which have been cited, or which may be cited hereafter, +will never prove that man can of himself penetrate the sentiments of +another, or discover his secret thoughts. The wonders worked by the +magicians of Pharaoh were only illusion; they appeared, however, to be +true miracles, and passed for such in the eyes of the King of Egypt +and all his court. Balaam, the son of Beor, was a true Prophet, +although a man whose morals were very corrupt. + +Pomponatius writes that the wife of Francis Maigret, savetier of +Mantua, spoke divers languages, and was cured by Calderon, a +physician, famous in his time, who gave her a potion of Hellebore. +Erasmus says also[264] that he had seen an Italian, a native of +Spoletta, who spoke German very well, although he had never been in +Germany; they gave him a medicine which caused him to eject a quantity +of worms, and he was cured so as not to speak German any more. + +Le Loyer, in his _Book of Spectres_,[265] avows that all those things +appear to him much to be doubted. He rather believes Fernel, one of +the gravest physicians of his age, who maintains[266] that there is +not such power in medicine, and brings forward as an instance the +history of a young gentleman, the son of a Knight of the Order, who +being seized upon by the demon, could be cured neither by potions, by +medicines, nor by diet (_i. e._ fasting), but who was cured by the +conjurations and exorcisms of the church. + +As to the reality of the return of souls, or spirits, and their +apparitions, the Sorbonne, the most celebrated school of theology in +France, has always believed that the spirits of the defunct returned +sometimes, either by the order and power of God, or by his permission. +The Sorbonne confessed this in its decisions of the year 1518, and +still more positively the 23d of January, 1724. _Nos respondemus +vestrae petitioni animas defunctorum divinitus, seu divina virtute, +ordinatione aut permissione interdum ad vivas redire exploratum esse._ +Several jurisconsults and several sovereign companies have decreed +that the apparition of a deceased person in a house could suffice to +break up the lease. We may count it for much, to have proved to +certain persons that there is a God whose providence extends over all +things past, present, and to come; that there is another life, that +there are good and bad spirits, rewards for good works, and +punishments after this life for sins; that Jesus Christ has ruined the +power of Satan; that he exercised in himself, in his apostles, and +continues to exercise in the ministers of his church, an absolute +empire over the infernal powers; that the devil is now chained; he may +bark and threaten, but he can bite only those who approach him, and +voluntarily give themselves up to him. + +We have seen in these parts a woman who followed a band of mountebanks +and jugglers, who stretched out her legs in such an extraordinary +manner, and raised up her feet to her head, before and behind, with as +much suppleness as if she had neither nerves nor joints. There was +nothing supernatural in all that; she had exercised herself from +extreme youth in these movements, and had contracted the habit of +performing them. + +St. Augustine[267] speaks of a soothsayer whom he had known at +Carthage, an illiterate man, who could discover the secrets of the +heart, and replied to those who consulted him on secret and unknown +affairs. He had himself made an experiment on him, and took to witness +St. Alypius, Licentius, and Trygnius, his interlocutors, in his +dialogue against the Academicians. They, like him, had consulted +Albicerius, and had admired the certainty of his replies. He gives us +an instance--a spoon which had been lost. They told him that some one +had lost something; and he instantly, without hesitation, replied that +such a thing was lost, that such a one had taken it, and had hid it in +such a place, which was found to be quite true. + +They sent him a certain quantity of pieces of silver; he who was +charged to carry them had taken away some of them. He made the person +return them, and perceived the theft before the money had been shown +to him. St. Augustine was present. A learned and distinguished man, +named Flaccianus, wishing to buy a field, consulted the soothsayer, +who declared to him the name of the land, which was very +extraordinary, and gave him all the details of the affair in question. +A young student, wishing to prove Albicerius, begged of him to declare +to him what he was thinking of; he told him he was thinking of a verse +of Virgil; and, as he then asked him which verse it was, the diviner +repeated it instantly, though he had never studied the Latin language. + +This Albicerius was a scoundrel, as St. Augustine says, who calls him +_flagitiosum hominem_. The knowledge which he had of hidden things was +not, doubtless, a gift of heaven, any more than the Pythonic spirit +which animated that maid in the Acts of the Apostles whom St. Paul +obliged to keep silence.[268] It was then the work of the evil spirit. + +The gift of tongues, the knowledge of the future, and power to divine +the thoughts of others, are always adduced, and with reason, as solid +proofs of the presence and inspiration of the Holy Spirit; but if the +demon can sometimes perform the same things, he does it to mislead and +induce sin, or simply to render true prophecies doubtful; but never to +lead to truth, the fear and love of God, and the edification of those +around. God may allow such corrupt men as Balaam, and such rascals as +Albicerius, to have some knowledge of the future, and secret things, +and even of the hidden thoughts of men; but he never permits their +criminality to remain unrevealed to the end, and so become a +stumbling-block for simple or worthy people. The malice of these +hypocritical and corrupt men will be made manifest sooner or later by +some means; their malice and depravity will be found out, by which it +will be judged, either that they are inspired only by the evil spirit, +or that the Holy Spirit makes use of their agency to foretell some +truth, as he prophesied by Balaam, and by Caiphas. Their morals and +their conduct will throw discredit on them, and oblige us to be +careful in discerning between their true predictions and their bad +example. We have seen hypocrites who died with the reputation of being +worthy people, and who at bottom were scoundrels--as for instance, +that cure, the director of the nuns of Louviers, whose possession was +so much talked of. + +Jesus Christ, in the Gospel, tells us to be on our guard against +wolves in sheep's clothing; and, elsewhere, he tells us that there +will be false Christs and false prophets, who will prophesy in his +name, and perform wonders capable of deceiving the very elect +themselves, were it possible. But he refers us to their works to +distinguish them. + +To apply all these things to the possessed nuns of Loudun, and to +Mademoiselle de Ranfaing, even to that girl whose hypocrisy was +unmasked by Mademoiselle Acarie, I appeal to their works, and their +conduct both before and after. + + * * * * * + +God will not allow those who sincerely seek the truth to be deceived. + +A juggler will guess which card you have touched, or even simply +thought of; but it is known that there is nothing supernatural in +that, and that it is done by the combination of the cards according to +mathematical rules. We have seen a deaf man who understood what they +wished to say to him by simply observing the motion of the lips of +those who spoke. There is nothing more miraculous in this than in two +persons conversing together by signs upon which they have agreed. + + +Footnotes: + +[263] See the letter of the Bishop of Senez, printed at Utrecht, in +1736, and the works that he therein cites and refutes. + +[264] Erasm. Orat. de laudibus Medicinae. + +[265] Le Loyer, lib. de Spec. cap. ii. p. 288. + +[266] Fernel, de abditis Rerum Causis, lib. ii. c. 26. + +[267] August. contra Academic. lib. ii. art. 17, 18. + +[268] Acts xvi. 16. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +OF FAMILIAR SPIRITS. + + +If all that is related of spirits which are perceived in houses, in +the cavities of mountains, and in mines, is certain, we cannot disavow +that they also must be placed in the rank of apparitions of the evil +spirit; for, although they usually do neither wrong nor violence to +any one, unless they are irritated or receive abusive words; +nevertheless we do not read that they lead to the love or fear of God, +to prayer, piety, or acts of devotion; it is known, on the contrary, +that they show a distaste to those things, so that we shall place them +in earnest among the spirits of darkness. + +I do not find that the ancient Hebrews knew anything of what we call +_esprits follets_, or familiar spirits, which infest houses, or attach +themselves to certain persons, to serve them, watch over and warn +them, and guard them from danger; such as the demon of Socrates, who +warned him to avoid certain misfortunes. Some other examples are also +related of persons who said they had similar genii attached to their +persons. + +The Jews and Christians confess that every one of us has his good +angel, who guides him from his early youth.[269] Several of the +ancients have thought that we have also our evil angel, who leads us +into error. The Psalmist[270] says distinctly that God has commanded +his angels to guide us in all our ways. But this is not what we +understand here under the name of _esprits follets_. + +The prophets in some places speak of _fauns_, or _hairy men_, or +_satyrs_, who have some resemblance to our elves. + +Isaiah,[271] speaking of the state to which Babylon shall be reduced +after her destruction, says that the ostriches shall make it their +dwelling, and that the hairy men, _pilosi_, the satyrs, and goats, +shall dance there. And elsewhere the same prophet says,[272] +_Occurrent daemonia onocentauris et pilosus clamabit alter ad alterum_, +by which clever interpreters understand spectres which appear in the +shape of goats. Jeremiah calls them _fauns_--the dragons with the +fauns, which feed upon figs. But this is not the place for us to go +more fully into the signification of the terms of the original; it +suffices for us to show that in the Scripture, at least in the +Vulgate, are found the names of _lamiae_, _fauns_, and _satyrs_, which +have some resemblance to _esprits follets_. + +Cassian,[273] who had studied deeply the lives of the fathers of the +desert, and who had been much with the hermits or anchorites of Egypt, +speaking of divers sorts of demons, mentions some which they commonly +called _fauns_ or _satyrs_, which the pagans regard as kinds of +divinities of the fields or groves, who delighted, not so much in +tormenting or doing harm to mankind, as in deceiving and fatiguing +them, diverting themselves at their expense, and sporting with their +simplicity.[274] + +Pliny[275] the younger had a freed-man named Marcus, a man of letters, +who slept in the same bed with his brother, who was younger than +himself. It seemed to him that he saw a person sitting on the same +bed, who was cutting off his hair from the crown of his head. When he +awoke, he found his head shorn of hair, and his hair thrown on the +ground in the middle of the chamber. A little time after, the same +thing happened to a youth who slept with several others at a school. +This one saw two men dressed in white come in at the window, who cut +off his hair as he slept, and then went out by the same window: on +awaking, he found his hair scattered about on the floor. To what can +these things be attributed, if not to an elf? + +Plotinus,[276] a Platonic philosopher, had, it is said, a familiar +demon, who obeyed him from the moment he called him, and was superior +in his nature to the common genii; he was of the order of gods, and +Plotinus paid continual attention to this divine guardian. This it was +which led him to undertake a work on the demon which belongs to each +of us in particular. He endeavors to explain the difference between +the genii which watch over men. + +Trithemius, in his Chronicon Hirsauginse,[277] under the year 1130, +relates that in the diocese of Hildesheim, in Saxony, they saw for +some time a spirit which they called in German _heidekind_, as if they +would say _rural genius_, _heide_ signifying vast country, _kind_, +child (or boy). He appeared sometimes in one form, sometimes in +another; and sometimes, without appearing at all, he did several +things by which he proved both his presence and his power. He chose +sometimes to give very important advice to those in power; and often +he has been seen in the bishop's kitchen, helping the cooks and doing +sundry jobs. + +A young scullion, who had grown familiar with him, having offered him +some insults, he warned the head cook of it, who made light of it, or +thought nothing about it; but the spirit avenged himself cruelly. This +youth having fallen asleep in the kitchen, the spirit stifled him, +tore him to pieces, and roasted him. He carried his fury still further +against the officers of the kitchen, and the other officers of the +prince. The thing went on to such a point that they were obliged to +proceed against him by (ecclesiastical) censures, and to constrain him +by exorcisms to go out of the country. + +I think I may put amongst the number of elves the spirits which are +seen, they say, in mines and mountain caves. They appear clad like the +miners, run here and there, appear in haste as if to work and seek the +veins of mineral ore, lay it in heaps, draw it out, turning the wheel +of the crane; they seem to be very busy helping the workmen, and at +the same time they do nothing at all. + +These spirits are not mischievous, unless they are insulted and +laughed at; for then they fall into an ill humor, and throw things at +those who offend them. One of these genii, who had been addressed in +injurious terms by a miner, twisted his neck and placed his head the +hind part before. The miner did not die, but remained all his life +with his neck twisted and awry. + +George Agricola,[278] who has treated very learnedly on mines, metals, +and the manner of extracting them from the bowels of the earth, +mentions two or three sorts of spirits which appear in mines. Some are +very small, and resemble dwarfs or pygmies; the others are like old +men dressed like miners, having their shirts tucked up, and a leathern +apron round their loins; others perform, or seem to perform, what they +see others do, are very gay, do no harm to any one, but from all their +labors nothing real results. + +In other mines are seen dangerous spirits, who ill-use the workmen, +hunt them away, and sometimes kill them, and thus constrain them to +forsake mines which are very rich and abundant. For instance, at +Anneberg, in a mine called Crown of Rose, a spirit in the shape of a +spirited, snorting horse, killed twelve miners, and obliged those who +worked the mine to abandon the undertaking, though it brought them in +a great deal. In another mine, called St. Gregory, in Siveberg, there +appeared a spirit whose head was covered with a black hood, and he +seized a miner, raised him up to a considerable height, then let him +fall, and hurt him extremely. + +Olaus Magnus[279] says that, in Sweden and other northern countries, +they saw formerly familiar spirits, which, under the form of men or +women, waited on certain persons. He speaks of certain nymphs dwelling +in caverns and in the depths of the forest, who announce things to +come; some are good, others bad; they appear and speak to those who +consult them. Travelers and shepherds also often see during the night +divers phantoms which burn the spot where they appear, so that +henceforward neither grass nor verdure are seen there. + +He says that the people of Finland, before their conversion to +Christianity, sold the winds to sailors, giving them a string with +three knots, and warning them that by untying the first knot they +would have a gentle and favorable wind, at the second knot a stronger +wind, and at the third knot a violent and dangerous gale. He says, +moreover, that the Bothnians, striking on an anvil hard blows with a +hammer, upon a frog or a serpent of brass, fall down in a swoon, and +during this swoon they learn what passes in very distant places. + +But all those things have more relation to magic than to familiar +spirits; and if what is said about them be true, it must be ascribed +to the evil spirit. + +The same Olaus Magnus[280] says that in mines, above all in silver +mines, from which great profit may be expected, six sorts of demons +may be seen, who under divers forms labor at breaking the rocks, +drawing the buckets, and turning the wheels; who sometimes burst into +laughter, and play different tricks; all of which are merely to +deceive the miners, whom they crush under the rocks, or expose to the +most imminent dangers, to make them utter blasphemy, and swear and +curse. Several very rich mines have been obliged to be disused through +fear of these dangerous spirits. + +Notwithstanding all that we have just related, I doubt very much if +there are any spirits in mountain caves or in mines. I have +interrogated on the subject people of the trade and miners by +profession, of whom there is a great number in our mountains, the +Vosges, who have assured me that all which is related on that point is +fabulous; that if sometimes they see these elves or grotesque figures, +it must be attributed to a heated and prepossessed imagination; or +else that the circumstance is so rare that it ought not to be repeated +as something usual or common. + +A new "Traveler in the Northern Countries," printed at Amsterdam, in +1708, says that the people of Iceland are almost all conjurers or +sorcerers; that they have familiar demons, whom they call _troles_, +who wait upon them as servants, and warn them of the accidents or +illnesses which are to happen to them; they awake them to go a-fishing +when the season is favorable, and if they go for that purpose without +the advice of these genii, they do not succeed. There are some persons +among these people who evoke the dead, and make them appear to those +who wish to consult them: they also conjure up the appearance of the +absent far from the spot where they dwell. + +Father Vadingue relates, after an old manuscript legend, that a lady +named Lupa had had during thirteen years a familiar demon, who served +her as a waiting-woman, and led her into many secret irregularities, +and induced her to treat her servants with inhumanity. God gave her +grace to see her fault, and to do penance for it, by the intercession +of St. Francois d'Assise and St. Anthony of Padua, to whom she had +always felt particular devotion. + +Cardan speaks of a bearded demon of Niphus, who gave him lessons of +philosophy. + +Agrippa had a demon who waited upon him in the shape of a dog. This +dog, says Paulus Jovius, seeing his master about to expire, threw +himself into the Rhone. + +Much is said of certain spirits[281] which are kept confined in rings, +that are bought, sold, or exchanged. They speak also of a crystal +ring, in which the demon represented the objects desired to be seen. + +Some also speak highly of those enchanted mirrors,[282] in which +children see the face of a robber who is sought for; others will see +it in their nails; all which can only be diabolical illusions. + +Le Loyer relates[283] that when he was studying the law at Thoulouse, +he was lodged near a house where an elf never ceased all the night to +draw water from the well, making the pulley creak all the while; at +other times, he seemed to drag something heavy up the stairs; but he +very rarely entered the rooms, and then he made but little noise. + + +Footnotes: + +[269] Matt. xviii. 10. + +[270] Psalm xc. 11. + +[271] Isai. xiii. 22. Pilosi saltabunt ibi. + +[272] Isai. xxxiv. 15. + +[273] Cassian, Collat. vii. c. 23. + +[274] "Quos seductores et joculatores esse manifestum est, cum +nequaquam tormentis eorum, quos praetereuntes potuerint decipere, +oblectentur, sed de risu tantum modo et illusione contenti, fatigare +potius, studeant, quam nocere." + +[275] Plin. i. 7. Epist. 27, suiv. + +[276] Life of Plotin. art. x. + +[277] Chron. Hirsaug. ad ann. 1130. + +[278] Geo. Agricola, de Mineral. Subterran. p. 504. + +[279] Olaus Mag. lib. iii. Hist. 5, 9-14. + +[280] Olaus Mag. lib. vi. c. 9. + +[281] Le Loyer, p. 474. + +[282] Ibid. liv. ii. p. 258. + +[283] Ibid, p. 550. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +SOME OTHER EXAMPLES OF ELVES. + + +On the 25th of August, 1746, I received a letter from a very worthy +man, the cure of the parish of Walsche, a village situated in the +mountains of Vosges, in the county of Dabo, or Dasburg, in Lower +Alsatia, Diocese of Metz. In this letter, he tells me that the 10th of +June, 1740, at eight o'clock in the morning, he being in his kitchen, +with his niece and the servant, he saw on a sudden an iron pot that +was placed on the ground turn round three or four times, without its +being set in motion by any one. A moment after, a stone, weighing +about a pound, was thrown from the next room into the same kitchen, in +presence of the same persons, without their seeing the hand which +threw it. The next day, at nine o'clock in the morning, some panes of +glass were broken, and through these panes were thrown some stones, +with what appeared to them supernatural dexterity. The spirit never +hurt anybody, and never did anything in the night time, but always +during the day. The cure employed the prayers marked out in the ritual +to bless his house, and thenceforth the genius broke no more panes of +glass; but he continued to throw stones at the cure's people, without +hurting them, however. If they fetched water from the fountain, he +threw stones into the bucket; and afterwards he began to serve in the +kitchen. One day, as the servant was planting some cabbages in the +garden, he pulled them up as fast as she planted them, and laid them +in a heap. It was in vain that she stormed, threatened, and swore in +the German style; the genius continued to play his tricks. + +One day, when a bed in the garden had been dug and prepared, the spade +was found thrust two feet deep into the ground, without any trace +being seen of him who had thus stuck it in; but they observed that on +the spade was a riband, and by the spade were two pieces of two soles, +which the girl had locked up the evening before in a little box. +Sometimes he took pleasure in displacing the earthenware and pewter, +and putting it either all round the kitchen, or in the porch, or even +in the cemetery, and always in broad daylight. One day he filled an +iron pot with wild herbs, bran, and leaves of trees, and, having put +some water in it, carried it to the ally or walk in the garden; +another time he suspended it to the pot-hook over the fire. The +servant having broken two eggs into a little dish for the cure's +supper, the genius broke two more into it in his presence, the maid +having merely turned to get some salt. The cure having gone to say +mass, on his return found all his earthenware, furniture, linen, +bread, milk, and other things scattered about over the house. + +Sometimes the spirit would form circles on the paved floor, at one +time with stones, at another with corn or leaves, and in a moment, +before the eyes of all present, all was overturned and deranged. Tired +with these games, the cure sent for the mayor of the place, and told +him he was resolved to quit the parsonage house. Whilst this was +passing, the cure's niece came in, and told them that the genius had +torn up the cabbages in the garden, and had put some money in a hole +in the ground. They went there, and found things exactly as she had +said. They picked up the money, which what the cure had put away in a +place not locked up; and in a moment after they found it anew, with +some liards, two by two, scattered about the kitchen. + +The agents of the Count de Linange being arrived at Walsche, went to +the cure's house, and persuaded him that it was all the effect of a +spell; they told him to take two pistols, and fire them off at the +place where he might observe there were any movements. The genius at +the same moment threw out of the pocket of one of these officers two +pieces of silver; and from that time he was no longer perceived in the +house. + +The circumstances of two pistols terminating the scenes with which the +elf had disturbed the good cure, made him believe that this tormenting +imp was no other than a certain bad parishioner, whom the cure had +been obliged to send away from his parish, and who to revenge himself +had done all that we have related. If that be the case, he had +rendered himself invisible, or he had had credit enough to send in his +stead a familiar genius who puzzled the cure for some weeks; for, if +he were not bodily in this house, what had he to fear from any pistol +shot which might have been fired at him? And if he was there bodily, +how could he render himself invisible? + +I have been told several times that a monk of the Cistercian order had +a familiar genius who attended upon him, arranged his chamber, and +prepared everything ready for him when he was coming back from the +country. They were so accustomed to this, that they expected him home +by these signs, and he always arrived. It is affirmed of another monk +of the same order that he had a familiar spirit, who warned him, not +only of what passed in the house, but also of what happened out of it; +and one day he was awakened three times, and warned that some monks +were quarreling, and were ready to come to blows; he ran to the spot, +and put an end to the dispute. + +St. Sulpicius Severus[284] relates that St. Martin often had +conversations with the Holy Virgin, and other saints, and even with +the demons and false gods of paganism; he talked with them, and +learned from them many secret things. One day, when a council was +being held at Nimes, where he had not thought proper to be present, +but the decisions of which he desired to know, being in a boat with +St. Sulpicius, but apart from others, as usual with him, an angel +appeared, and informed him what had passed in this assembly of +bishops. Inquiry was made as to the day and hour when the council was +held, and it was found to be at the same hour at which the angel had +appeared to Martin. + +We have been told several times that a young ecclesiastic, in a +seminary at Paris, had a genius who waited upon him, and arranged his +room and his clothes. One day, when the superior was passing by the +chamber of the seminarist, he heard him talking with some one; he +entered, and asked who he was conversing with. The youth affirmed that +there was no one in his room, and, in fact, the superior could neither +see nor discover any one there. Nevertheless, as he had heard their +conversation, the young man owned that for some years he had been +attended by a familiar genius, who rendered him every service that a +domestic could have done, and had promised him great advantages in +the ecclesiastical profession. The superior pressed him to give some +proofs of what he said. He ordered the genius to set a chair for the +superior; the genius obeyed. Information of this was sent to the +archbishop, who did not think proper to give it publicity. The young +clerk was sent away, and this singular adventure was buried in +silence. + +Bodin[285] speaks of a person of his acquaintance who was still living +at the time he wrote, which was in 1588. This person had a familiar +who from the age of thirty-seven had given him good advice respecting +his conduct, sometimes to correct his faults, sometimes to make him +practice virtue, or to assist him; resolving the difficulties which he +might find in reading holy books, or giving him good counsel upon his +own affairs. He usually rapped at his door at three or four o'clock in +the morning to awaken him; and as that person mistrusted all these +things, fearing that it might be an evil angel, the spirit showed +himself in broad day, striking gently on a glass bowl, and then upon a +bench. When he desired to do anything good and useful, the spirit +touched his right ear; but if it was anything wrong and dangerous, he +touched his left ear; so that from that time nothing occurred to him +of which he was not warned beforehand. Sometimes he heard his voice; +and one day, when he found his life in imminent danger, he saw his +genius, under the form of a child of extraordinary beauty, who saved +him from it. + +William, Bishop of Paris,[286] says that he knew a rope-dancer who had +a familiar spirit which played and joked with him, and prevented him +from sleeping, throwing something against the wall, dragging off the +bed-clothes, or pulling him about when he was in bed. We know by the +account of a very sensible person that it has happened to him in the +open country, and in the day time, to feel his cloak and boots pulled +at, and his hat thrown down; then he heard the bursts of laughter and +the voice of a person deceased and well known to him, who seemed to +rejoice at it. + +The discovery of things hidden or unknown, which is made in dreams, or +otherwise, can hardly be ascribed to anything but to familiar spirits. +A man who did not know a word of Greek came to M. de Saumaise, senior, +a counselor of the Parliament of Dijon, and showed him these words, +which he had heard in the night, as he slept, and which he wrote down +in French characters on awaking: "_Apithi ouc osphraine ten sen +apsychian_." He asked him what that meant. M. de Saumaise told him it +meant, "Save yourself; do you not perceive the death with which you +are threatened?" Upon this hint, the man removed, and left his house, +which fell down the following night.[287] + +The same story is related, with a little difference, by another +author, who says that the circumstance happened at Paris;[288] that +the genius spoke in Syriac, and that M. de Saumaise being consulted, +replied, "Go out of your house, for it will fall in ruins to-day, at +nine o'clock in the evening." It is but too much the custom in +reciting stories of this kind to add a few circumstances by way of +embellishment. + +Gassendi, in the Life of M. Peiresch, relates that M. Peiresch, going +one day to Nismes, with one of his friends, named M. Rainier, the +latter, having heard Peiresch talking in his sleep in the night, waked +him, and asked him what he said. Peiresch answered him, "I dreamed +that, being at Nismes, a jeweler had offered me a medal of Julius +Caesar, for which he asked four crowns, and as I was going to count him +down his money, you waked me, to my great regret." They arrived at +Nismes, and going about the town, Peiresch recognized the goldsmith +whom he had seen in his dream; and on his asking him if he had nothing +curious, the goldsmith told him he had a gold medal, or coin, of +Julius Caesar. Peiresch asked him how much he esteemed it worth; he +replied, four crowns. Peiresch paid them, and was delighted to see his +dream so happily accomplished. + +Here is a dream much more singular than the preceding, although a +little in the same style.[289] A learned man of Dijon, after having +wearied himself all day with an important passage in a Greek poet, +without being able to comprehend it at all, went to bed thinking of +this difficulty. During his sleep, his genius transported him in +spirit to Stockholm, introduced him into the palace of Queen +Christina, conducted him into the library, and showed him a small +volume, which was precisely what he sought. He opened it, read in it +ten or twelve Greek verses, which absolutely cleared up the difficulty +which had so long beset him; he awoke, and wrote down the verses he +had seen at Stockholm. On the morrow, he wrote to M. Descartes, who +was then in Sweden, and begged of him to look in such a place, and in +such a _division_ of the library, if the book, of which he sent him +the description, were there, and if the Greek verses which he sent him +were to be read in it. + +M. Descartes replied that he had found the book in question; and also +the verses he had sent were in the place he pointed out; that one of +his friends had promised him a copy of that work, and he would send it +him by the first opportunity. + +We have already said something of the spirit, or familiar genius of +Socrates, which prevented him from doing certain things, but did not +lead him to do others. It is asserted[290] that, after the defeat of +the Athenian army, commanded by Laches, Socrates, flying like the +others, with this Athenian general, and being arrived at a spot where +several roads met, Socrates would not follow the road taken by the +other fugitives; and when they asked him the reason, he replied, +because his genius drew him away from it. The event justified his +foresight. All those who had taken the other road were either killed +or made prisoners by the enemy's cavalry. + +It is doubtful whether the elves, of which so many things are related, +are good or bad spirits; for the faith of the church admits nothing +between these two kinds of genii. Every genius is either good or bad; +but as there are in heaven many mansions, as the Gospel says,[291] and +as there are among the blessed, various degrees of glory, differing +from each other, so we may believe that there are in hell various +degrees of pain and punishment for the damned and the demons. + +But are they not rather magicians, who render themselves invisible, +and divert themselves in disquieting the living? Why do they attach +themselves to certain spots, and certain persons, rather than to +others? Why do they make themselves perceptible only during a certain +time, and that sometimes a short space? + +I could willingly conclude that what is said of them is mere fancy and +prejudice; but their reality has been so often experienced by the +discourse they have held, and the actions they have performed in the +presence of many wise and enlightened persons, that I cannot persuade +myself that among the great number of stories related of them there +are not at least some of them true. + +It may be remarked that these elves never lead one to anything good, +to prayer, or piety, to the love of God, or to godly and serious +actions. If they do no other harm, they leave hurtful doubts about the +punishments of the damned, on the efficacy of prayer and exorcisms; if +they hurt not those men or animals which are found on the spot where +they may be perceived, it is because God sets bounds to their malice +and power. The demon has a thousand ways of deceiving us. All those to +whom these genii attach themselves have a horror of them, mistrust and +fear them; and it rarely happens that these familiar demons do not +lead them to a dangerous end, unless they deliver themselves from them +by grave acts of religion and penance. + +There is the story of a spirit, "which," says he who wrote it to me, +"I no more doubt the truth of than if I had been a witness of it." +Count Despilliers, the father, being a young man, and captain of +cuirassiers, was in winter quarters in Flanders. One of his men came +to him one day to beg that he would change his landlord, saying that +every night there came into his bed-room a spirit, which would not +allow him to sleep. The Count Despilliers sent him away, and laughed +at his simplicity. Some days after, the same horseman came back and +made the same request to him; the only reply of the captain would +have been a volley of blows with a stick, had not the soldier avoided +them by a prompt flight. At last, he returned a third time to the +charge, and protested to his captain that he could bear it no longer, +and should be obliged to desert if his lodgings were not changed. +Despilliers, who knew the soldier to be brave and reasonable, said to +him, with an oath, "I will go this night and sleep with you, and see +what is the matter." + +At ten o'clock in the evening, the captain repaired to his soldier's +lodging, and having laid his pistols ready primed upon the table, he +lay down in his clothes, his sword by his side, with his soldier, in a +bed without curtains. About midnight he heard something which came +into the room, and in a moment turned the bed upside down, covering +the captain and the soldier with the mattress and paillasse. +Despilliers had great trouble to disengage himself and find again his +sword and pistols, and he returned home much confounded. The +horse-soldier had a new lodging the very next day, and slept quietly +in the house of his new host. + +M. Despilliers related this adventure to any one who would listen to +it. He was an intrepid man, who had never known what it was to fall +back before danger. He died field-marshal of the armies of the Emperor +Charles VI. and governor of the fortress of Segedin. His son has +confirmed this adventure to me within a short time, as having heard it +from his father. + +The person who writes to me adds: "I doubt not that spirits sometimes +return; but I have found myself in a great many places which it was +said they haunted. I have even tried several times to see them, but I +have never seen any. I found myself once with more than four thousand +persons, who all said they saw the spirit; I was the only one in the +assembly who saw nothing." So writes me a very worthy officer, this +year, 1745, in the same letter wherein he relates the affair of M. +Despilliers. + + +Footnotes: + +[284] St. Sulpit. Sever. Dialog. ii. c. 14, 15. + +[285] Bodin Demonomania, lib. ii. c. 2. + +[286] Guillelm. Paris, 2 Part. quaest. 2, c. 8. + +[287] Grot. Epist. Part. ii. Ep. 405. + +[288] They affirm that it happened at Dijon, in the family of the MM. +Surmin, in which a constant tradition has perpetuated the memory of +the circumstance. + +[289] Continuation of the Count de Gabalis, at the Hague, 1708, p. 55. + +[290] Cicero, de Divinat. lib. i. + +[291] John xiv. 2. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +SPIRITS THAT KEEP WATCH OVER TREASURE. + + +Everybody acknowledges that there is an infinity of riches buried in +the earth, or lost under the waters by shipwrecks; they fancy that the +demon, whom they look upon as the god of riches, the god _Mammon_, the +Pluto of the pagans, is the depositary, or at least the guardian, of +these treasures. He said to Jesus Christ,[292] when he tempted him in +the wilderness, showing to him all the kingdoms of the earth, and +their glory: "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall +down and worship me." We know also that the ancients very often +interred vast treasures in the tombs of the dead; either that the dead +might make use of them in the other world, or that their souls might +keep guard over them in those gloomy places. Job seems to make +allusion to this ancient custom, when he says,[293] "Would to God I +had never been born: I should now sleep with the kings and great ones +of the earth, who built themselves solitary places; like unto those +who seek for treasure, and are rejoiced when they find a tomb;" +doubtless because they hope to find great riches therein. + +There were very precious things in the tomb of Cyrus. Semiramis caused +to be engraved on her own mausoleum that it contained great riches. +Josephus[294] relates that Solomon placed great treasures in the tomb +of David his father; and that the High-Priest Hyrcanus, being besieged +in Jerusalem by King Antiochus, took thence three thousand talents. He +says, moreover, that years after, Herod the Great having caused this +tomb to be searched, took from it large sums. We see several laws +against those who violate sepulchres to take out of them the precious +things they contain. The Emperor Marcianus[295] forbade that riches +should be hidden in tombs. If such things have been placed in the +mausoleums of worthy and holy persons, and if they have been +discovered through the revelation of the good spirits of persons who +died in the faith and grace of God, we cannot conclude from those +things that all hidden treasures are in the power of the demon, and +that he alone knows anything of them; the good angels know of them; +and the saints may be much more faithful guardians of them than the +demons, who usually have no power to enrich, or to deliver from the +horrors of poverty, from punishment and death itself, those who yield +themselves to them in order to receive some reward from them. + +Melancthon relates[296] that the demon informed a priest where a +treasure was hid; the priest, accompanied by one of his friends, went +to the spot indicated; they saw there a black dog lying on a chest. +The priest, having entered to take out the treasure, was crushed and +smothered under the ruins of the cavern. + +M. Remy[297], in his Demonology, speaks of several persons whose +causes he had heard in his quality of Lieutenant-General of Lorraine, +at the time when that country swarmed with wizards and witches; those +amongst them who believed they had received money from the demon, +found nothing in their purses but bits of broken pots, coals, or +leaves of trees, or other things equally vile and contemptible. + +The Reverend Father Abram, a Jesuit, in his manuscript History of the +University of Pont a Mousson, reports that a youth of good family, but +small fortune, placed himself at first to serve in the army among the +valets and serving men: from thence his parents sent him to school, +but not liking the subjection which study requires, he quitted the +school and returned to his former kind of life. On his way he met a +man dressed in a silk coat, but ill-looking, dark, and hideous, who +asked him where he was going to, and why he looked so sad: "I am able +to set you at your ease," said this man to him, "if you will give +yourself to me." + +The young man, believing that he wished to engage him as a servant, +asked for time to reflect upon it; but beginning to mistrust the +magnificent promises which he made him, he looked at him more +narrowly, and having remarked that his left foot was divided like that +of an ox, he was seized with affright, made the sign of the cross, and +called on the name of Jesus, when the spectre directly disappeared. + +Three days after, the same figure appeared to him again, and asked him +if he had made up his mind; the young man replied that he did not want +a master. The spectre said to him, "Where are you going?" "I am going +to such a town," replied he. At that moment the demon threw at his +feet a purse which chinked, and which he found filled with thirty or +forty Flemish crowns, amongst which were about twelve which appeared +to be gold, newly coined, and as if from the stamps of the coiner. In +the same purse was a powder, which the spectre said was of a very +subtile quality. + +At the same time, he gave him abominable counsels to satisfy the most +shameful passions; and exhorted him to renounce the use of holy water, +and the adoration of the host--which he called in derision that little +cake. The boy was horrified at these proposals, and made the sign of +the cross on his heart; and at the same time he felt himself thrown +roughly down on the ground, where he remained for half an hour, half +dead. Having got up again, he returned home to his mother, did +penance, and changed his conduct. The pieces of money which looked +like gold and newly coined, having been put in the fire, were found to +be only of copper. + +I relate this instance to show that the demon seeks only to deceive +and corrupt even those to whom he makes the most specious promises, +and to whom he seems to give great riches. + +Some years ago, two monks, both of them well informed and prudent men, +consulted me upon a circumstance which occurred at Orbe, a village of +Alsatia, near the Abbey of Pairis. Two men of that place told them +that they had seen come out of the ground a small box or casket, which +they supposed was full of money, and having a wish to lay hold of it, +it had retreated from them and hidden itself again under ground. This +happened to them more than once. + +Theophanes, a celebrated and grave Greek historiographer, under the +year of our era 408, relates that Cabades, King of Persia, being +informed that between the Indian country and Persia there was a castle +called Zubdadeyer, which contained a great quantity of gold, silver, +and precious stones, resolved to make himself master of it; but these +treasures were guarded by demons, who would not permit any one to +approach it. He employed some of the magi and some Jews who were with +him to conjure and exorcise them; but their efforts were useless. The +king bethought himself of the God of the Christians--prayed to him, +and sent for the bishop who was at the head of the Christian church in +Persia, and begged of him to use his efforts to obtain for him these +treasures, and to expel the demons by whom they were guarded. The +prelate offered the holy sacrifice, participated in it, and going to +the spot, drove away the demons who were guardians of these riches, +and put the king in peaceable possession of the castle. + +Relating this story to a man of some rank,[298] he told me, that in +the Isle of Malta, two knights having hired a slave, who boasted that +he possessed the secret of evoking demons, and forcing them to +discover the most hidden secrets, they led him into an old castle, +where it was thought that treasures were concealed. The slave +performed his evocations, and at last the demon opened a rock whence +issued a coffer. The slave would have taken hold of it, but the coffer +went back into the rock. This occurred more than once; and the slave, +after vain efforts, came and told the knights what had happened to +him; but he was so much exhausted that he had need of some +restorative; they gave him refreshment, and when he had returned they +after a while heard a noise. They went into the cave with a light, to +see what had happened, and they found the slave lying dead, and all +his flesh full of cuts as of a penknife, in form of a cross; he was so +covered with them that there was not room to place a finger where he +was not thus marked. The knights carried him to the shore, and threw +him into the sea with a great stone hung round his neck. We could name +these persons and note the dates, were it necessary. + +The same person related to us, at that same time, that about ninety +years before, an old woman of Malta was warned by a genius that there +was a great deal of treasure in her cellar, belonging to a knight of +high consideration, and desired her to give him information of it; she +went to his abode, but could not obtain an audience. The following +night the same genius returned, and gave her the same command; and as +she refused to obey, he abused her, and again sent her on the same +errand. The next day she returned to seek this lord, and told the +domestics that she would not go away until she had spoken to the +master. She related what had happened to her; and the knight resolved +to go to her dwelling, accompanied by people with the proper +instruments for digging; they dug, and very shortly there sprung up +such a quantity of water from the spot where they inserted their +pickaxes that they were obliged to give up the undertaking. + +The knight confessed to the Inquisitor what he had done, and received +absolution for it; but he was obliged to inscribe the fact we have +recounted in the Registers of the Inquisition. + +About sixty years after, the canons of the Cathedral of Malta, wishing +for a wider space before their church, bought some houses which it was +necessary to pull down, and amongst others that which had belonged to +that old woman. As they were digging there, they found the treasure, +consisting of a good many gold pieces of the value of a ducat, bearing +the effigy of the Emperor Justinian the First. The Grand Master of the +Order of Malta affirmed that the treasure belonged to him as sovereign +of the isle; the canons contested the point. The affair was carried to +Rome; the grand master gained his suit, and the gold was brought to +him, amounting in value to about sixty thousand ducats; but he gave +them up to the cathedral. + +Some time afterwards, the knight of whom we have spoken, who was then +very aged, remembered what had happened to himself, and asserted that +the treasure ought to belong to him; he made them lead him to the +spot, recognized the cellar where he had formerly been, and pointed +out in the Register of the Inquisition what had been written therein +sixty years before. They did not permit him to recover the treasure; +but it was a proof that the demon knew of and kept watch over this +money. The person who told me this story has in his possession three +or four of these gold pieces, having bought them of the canons. + + +Footnotes: + +[292] Matt. iv. 8. + +[293] Job iii. 13, 14, 22. + +[294] Joseph. Ant. lib. xiii. + +[295] Martian. lib. iv. + +[296] Le Loyer, liv. ii. p. 495. + +[297] Remy, Demonol. c. iv. Ann. 1605. + +[298] M. le Chevalier Guiot de Marre. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +OTHER INSTANCES OF HIDDEN TREASURES WHICH WERE GUARDED BY GOOD OR BAD +SPIRITS. + + +We read in a new work that a man, Honore Mirable, having found in a +garden near Marseilles a treasure consisting of several Portuguese +pieces of gold, from the indication given him by a spectre, which +appeared to him at eleven o'clock at night, near the _Bastide_, or +country house called _du Paret_, he made the discovery of it in +presence of the woman who farmed the land of this _Bastide_, and the +farm-servant named Bernard. When he first perceived the treasure +buried in the earth, and wrapt up in a bundle of old linen, he was +afraid to touch it, for fear it should be poisoned and cause his +death. He raised it by means of a hook made of a branch of the almond +tree, and carried it into his room, where he undid it without any +witness, and found in it a great deal of gold; to satisfy the wishes +of the spirit who had appeared to him, he caused some masses to be +said for him. He revealed his good fortune to a countryman of his, +named Anquier, who lent him forty livres, and gave him a note by which +he acknowledged he owed him twenty thousand livres and receipted the +payment of the forty livres lent; this note bore date the 27th +September, 1726. + +Some time after, Mirable asked Anquier to pay the note. Anquier denied +everything. A great lawsuit ensued; informations were taken and +perquisitions held in Anquier's house; sentence was given on the 10th +of September, 1727, importing that Anquier should be arrested, and +have the question applied to him. An appeal was made to the Parliament +of Aix. Anquier's note was declared a forgery. Bernard, who was said +to have been present at the discovery of the treasure, was not cited +at all; the other witnesses only deposed from hearsay; Magdalen +Caillot alone, who was present, acknowledged having seen the packet +wrapped round with linen, and had heard a ringing as of pieces of gold +or silver, and had seen one of them, a piece about as large as a piece +of two liards. + +The Parliament of Aix issued its decree the 17th of February, 1728, by +which it ordained that Bernard, farming servant at the _Bastide du +Paret_, should be heard; he was heard on different days, and deposed +that he had seen neither treasure, nor rags, nor gold pieces. Then +came another decree of the 2d of June, 1728, which ordered that the +attorney-general should proceed by way of ecclesiastical censures on +the facts resulting from these proceedings. + +The indictment was published, fifty-three witnesses were heard; +another sentence of the 18th of February, 1729, discharged Anquier +from the courts and the lawsuit; condemned Mirable to the galleys to +perpetuity after having previously undergone the question; and Caillot +was to pay a fine of ten francs. Such was the end of this grand +lawsuit. If we examine narrowly these stories of spectres who watch +over treasures, we shall doubtless find, as here, a great deal of +superstition, deception, and fancy. + +Delrio relates some instances of people who have been put to death, or +who have perished miserably as they searched for hidden treasures. In +all this we may perceive the spirit of lying and seduction on the part +of the demon, bounds set to his power, and his malice arrested by the +will of God; the impiety of man, his avarice, his idle curiosity, the +confidence which he places in the angel of darkness, by the loss of +his wealth, his life, and his soul. + +John Wierus, in his work entitled "_De Praestigiis Daemonum_," printed +at Basle in 1577, relates that in his time, 1430, the demon revealed +to a certain priest at Nuremberg some treasures hidden in a cavern +near the town, and enclosed in a crystal vase. The priest took one of +his friends with him as a companion; they began to dig up the ground +in the spot designated, and they discovered in a subterranean cavern a +kind of chest, near which a black dog was lying; the priest eagerly +advanced to seize the treasure, but hardly had he entered the cavern, +than it fell in, crushed the priest, and was filled up with earth as +before. + +The following is extracted from a letter, written from Kirchheim, +January 1st, 1747, to M. Schopfflein, Professor of History and +Eloquence at Strasburg. "It is now more than a year ago that M. +Cavallari, first musician of my serene master, and by birth a +Venetian, desired to have the ground dug up at Rothenkirchen, a league +from hence, and which was formerly a renowned abbey, and was destroyed +in the time of the Reformation. The opportunity was afforded him by an +apparition, which showed itself more than once at noonday to the wife +of the Censier of Rothenkirchen, and above all, on the 7th of May for +two succeeding years. She swears, and can make oath, that she has seen +a venerable priest in pontifical garments embroidered with gold, who +threw before her a great heap of stones; and although she is a +Lutheran, and consequently not very credulous in things of that kind, +she thinks nevertheless that if she had had the presence of mind to +put down a handkerchief or an apron, all the stones would have become +money. + +"M. Cavallari then asked leave to dig there, which was the more +readily granted, because the tithe or tenth part of the treasure is +due to the sovereign. He was treated as a visionary, and the matter of +treasure was regarded as an unheard-of thing. In the mean time, he +laughed at the anticipated ridicule, and asked me if I would go halves +with him. I did not hesitate a moment to accept this offer; but I was +much surprised to find there were some little earthen pots full of +gold pieces, all these pieces finer than the ducats of the fourteenth +and fifteenth century generally are. I have had for my share 666, +found at three different times. There are some of the Archbishops of +Mayence, Treves, and Cologne, of the towns of Oppenheim, Baccarat, +Bingen, and Coblentz; there are some also of the Palatine Rupert, of +Frederic, Burgrave of Nuremberg, some few of Wenceslaus, and one of +the Emperor Charles IV., &c." + +This shows that not only the demons, but also the saints, are +sometimes guardians of treasure; unless you will say that the devil +had taken the shape of the prelate. But what could it avail the demon +to give the treasure to these gentlemen, who did not ask him for it, +and scarcely troubled themselves about him? I have seen two of these +pieces in the hands of M. Schopfflein. + +The story we have just related is repeated, with a little difference, +in a printed paper, announcing a lottery of pieces found at +Rothenkirchen, in the province of Nassau, not far from Donnersberg. +They say in this, that the value of these pieces is twelve livres ten +sols, French money. The lottery was to be publicly drawn the first of +February, 1750. Every ticket cost six livres of French money. I repeat +these details only to prove the truth of the circumstance. + +We may add to the preceding what is related by Bartholinus in his book +on the cause of the contempt of death shown by the ancient Danes, +(lib. ii. c. 2.) He relates that the riches concealed in the tombs of +the great men of that country were guarded by the shades of those to +whom they belonged, and that these shades or these demons spread +terror in the souls of those who wished to take away those treasures, +either by pouring forth a deluge of water, or by flames which they +caused to appear around the monuments which enclosed those bodies and +those treasures. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +SPECTRES WHICH APPEAR, AND PREDICT THINGS UNKNOWN AND TO COME. + + +Both in ancient and modern writers, we find an infinite number of +stories of spectres. We have not the least doubt that their +apparitions are the work of the demon, if they are real. Now, it +cannot be denied that there is a great deal of illusion and falsehood +in all that is related by them. We shall distinguish two sorts of +spectres: those which appear to mankind to hurt or deceive them, or to +announce things to come, fortunate or unfortunate as circumstances may +occur; the other spectres infest certain houses, of which they have +made themselves masters, and where they are seen and heard. We shall +treat of the latter in another chapter; and show that the greater +number of these spectres and apparitions may be suspected of +falsehood. + +Pliny the younger, writing to his friend Sura on the subject of +apparitions, testifies that he is much inclined to believe them true; +and the reason he gives, is what happened to Quintus Curtius Rufus, +who, having gone into Africa in the train of the quaestor or treasurer +for the Romans, walking one day towards evening under a portico, saw a +woman of uncommon height and beauty, who told him that she was Africa, +and assured him that he would one day return into that same country as +proconsul. This promise inspired him with high hopes; and by his +intrigues, and help of friends, whom he had bribed, he obtained the +quaestorship, and afterwards was praetor, through the favor of the +Emperor Tiberius. + +This dignity having veiled the obscurity and baseness of his birth, he +was sent proconsul to Africa, where he died, after having obtained the +honors of the triumph. It is said that, on his return to Africa, the +same person who had predicted his future grandeur appeared to him +again at the moment of his landing at Carthage. + +These predictions, so precise, and so exactly followed up, made Pliny +the younger believe that predictions of this kind are never made in +vain. The story of Curtius Rufus was written by Tacitus, long enough +before Pliny's time, and he might have taken it from Tacitus. + +After the fatal death of Caligula, who was massacred in his palace, he +was buried half burnt in his own gardens. The princesses, his sisters, +on their return from exile, had his remains burnt with ceremony, and +honorably inhumed; but it was averred that before this was done, those +who had to watch over the gardens and the palace had every night been +disturbed by phantoms and frightful noises. + +The following instance is so extraordinary that I should not repeat it +if the account were not attested by more than one writer, and also +preserved in the public monuments of a considerable town of Upper +Saxony: this town is Hamelin, in the principality of Kalenberg, at the +confluence of the rivers Hamel and Weser. + +In the year 1384, this town was infested by such a prodigious +multitude of rats that they ravaged all the corn which was laid up in +the granaries; everything was employed that art and experience could +invent to chase them away, and whatever is usually employed against +this kind of animals. At that time there came to the town an unknown +person, of taller stature than ordinary, dressed in a robe of divers +colors, who engaged to deliver them from that scourge for a certain +recompense, which was agreed upon. + +Then he drew from his sleeve a flute, at the sound of which all the +rats came out of their holes and followed him; he led them straight to +the river, into which they ran and were drowned. On his return he +asked for the promised reward, which was refused him, apparently on +account of the facility with which he had exterminated the rats. The +next day, which was a fete day, he chose the moment when the elder +inhabitants of the burgh were at church, and by means of another flute +which he began to play, all the boys in the town above the age of +fourteen, to the number of a hundred and thirty, assembled around him: +he led them to the neighboring mountain, named Kopfelberg, under which +is a sewer for the town, and where criminals are executed; these boys +disappeared and were never seen afterwards. + +A young girl, who had followed at a distance, was witness of the +matter, and brought the news of it to the town. + +They still show a hollow in this mountain, where they say that he made +the boys go in. At the corner of this opening is an inscription, which +is so old that it cannot now be deciphered; but the story is +represented on the panes of the church windows; and it is said, that +in the public deeds of this town it is still the custom to put the +dates in this manner--_Done in the year ----, after the disappearance +of our children._[299] + +If this recital is not wholly fabulous, as it seems to be, we can only +regard this man as a spectre and an evil genius, who, by God's +permission, punished the bad faith of the burghers in the persons of +their children, although innocent of their parents' fault. It might +be, that a man could have some natural secret to draw the rats +together and precipitate them into the river; but only diabolical +malice would cause so many innocent children to perish, out of revenge +on their fathers. + +Julius Caesar[300] having entered Italy, and wishing to pass the +Rubicon, perceived a man of more than ordinary stature, who began to +whistle. Several soldiers having run to listen to him, this spectre +seized the trumpet of one of them, and began to sound the alarm, and +to pass the river. Caesar at that moment, without further deliberation, +said, "Let us go where the presages of the gods and the injustice of +our enemies call upon us to advance." + +The Emperor Trajan[301] was extricated from the town of Antioch by a +phantom, which made him go out at a widow, in the midst of that +terrible earthquake which overthrew almost all the town. The +philosopher Simonides[302] was warned by a spectre that his house was +about to fall; he went out of it directly, and soon after it fell +down. + +The Emperor Julian, the apostate, told his friends that at the time +when his troops were pressing him to accept the empire, being at +Paris, he saw during the night a spectre in the form of a woman, as +the genius of an empire is depicted, who presented herself to remain +with him; but she gave him notice that it would be only for a short +time. The same emperor related, moreover, that writing in his tent a +little before his death, his familiar genius appeared to him, leaving +the tent with a sad and afflicted air. Shortly before the death of the +Emperor Constans, the same Julian had a vision in the night, of a +luminous phantom, who pronounced and repeated to him, more than once, +four Greek verses, importing that when Jupiter should be in the sign +of the water-pot, or Aquarius, and Saturn in the 25th degree of the +Virgin, Constans would end his life in Asia in a shocking manner. + +The same Emperor Julian takes Jupiter[303] to witness that he has +often seen Esculapius, who cured him of his sicknesses. + + +Footnotes: + +[299] See Vagenseil _Opera liborum Juvenil._ tom. ii. p. 295, the +Geography of Hubner, and the Geographical Dictionary of la Martiniere, +under the name Hamelen. + +[300] Sueton. in Jul. Caesar. + +[301] Dio. Cassius. lib. lxviii. + +[302] Diogen. Laert. in Simon. Valer. Maxim. lib. xxiii. + +[303] Julian, apud Cyrill. Alex. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +OTHER APPARITIONS OF SPECTRES. + + +Plutarch, whose gravity and wisdom are well known, often speaks of +spectres and apparitions. He says, for instance, that at the famous +battle of Marathon against the Persians, several soldiers saw the +phantom of Thesus, who fought for the Greeks against the enemy. + +The same Plutarch, in the life of Sylla, says that that general saw in +his sleep the goddess whom the Romans worshiped according to the rites +of the Cappadocians (who were fire-worshipers), whether it might be +Bellona or Minerva, or the moon. This divinity presented herself +before Sylla, and put into his hand a kind of thunderbolt, telling him +to launch it against his enemies, whom she named to him one after the +other; at the same time that he struck them, he saw them fall and +expire at his feet. There is reason to believe that this same goddess +was Minerva, to whom, as to Jupiter Paganism attributes the right to +hurl the thunderbolt; or rather that it was a demon. + +Pausanias, general of the Lacedemonians,[304] having inadvertently +killed Cleonice, a daughter of one of the first families of Byzantium, +was tormented night and day by the ghost of that maiden, who left him +no repose, repeating to him angrily a heroic verse, the sense of which +was, _Go before the tribunal of justice, which punishes crime and +awaits thee. Insolence is in the end fatal to mortals_. + +Pausanias, always disturbed by this image, which followed him +everywhere, retired to Heraclea in Elis, where there was a temple +served by priests who were magicians, called _Psychagogues_, that is +to say, who profess to evoke the souls of the dead. There Pausanias, +after having offered the customary libations and funeral effusions, +called upon the spirit of Cleonice, and conjured her to renounce her +anger against him. Cleonice at last appeared, and told him that very +soon, when he should be arrived at Sparta, he would be freed from his +woes, wishing apparently by these mysterious words to indicate that +death which awaited him there. + +We see there the custom of evocations of the dead distinctly pointed +out, and solemnly practiced in a temple consecrated to these +ceremonies; that demonstrates at least the belief and custom of the +Greeks. And if Cleonice really appeared to Pausanias and announced his +approaching death, can we deny that the evil spirit, or the spirit of +Cleonice, is the author of this prediction, unless indeed it were a +trick of the priests, which is likely enough, and as the ambiguous +reply given to Pausanias seems to insinuate. + +Pausanias the historian[305] writes that, 400 years after the battle +of Marathon, every night a noise was heard there of the neighing of +horses, and cries like those of soldiers exciting themselves to +combat. Plutarch speaks also of spectres which were seen, and +frightful howlings that were heard in some public baths, where they +had put to death several citizens of Chaeronea, his native place; they +had even been obliged to shut up these baths, which did not prevent +those who lived near from continuing to hear great noises, and seeing +from time to time spectres. + +Dion the philosopher, the disciple of Plato, and general of the +Syracusans, being one day seated, towards the evening, very full of +thought, in the portico of his house, heard a great noise, then +perceived a terrible spectre of a woman of monstrous height, who +resembled one of the furies, as they are depicted in tragedies; there +was still daylight, and she began to sweep the house. Dion, quite +alarmed, sent to beg his friends to come and see him, and stay with +him all night; but this woman appeared no more. A short time +afterwards, his son threw himself down from the top of the house, and +he himself was assassinated by conspirators. + +Marcus Brutus, one of the murderers of Julius Caesar, being in his tent +during a night which was not very dark, towards the third hour of the +night, beheld a monstrous and terrific figure enter. "Who art thou? a +man or a God? and why comest thou here?" The spectre answered, "I am +thine evil genius. Thou shalt see me at Philippi!" Brutus replied +undauntedly, "I will meet thee there." And on going out, he went and +related the circumstance to Cassius, who being of the sect of +Epicurus, and a disbeliever in that kind of apparition, told him that +it was mere imagination; that there were no genii or other kind of +spirits which could appear unto men, and that even did they appear, +they would have neither the human form nor the human voice, and could +do nothing to harm us. Although Brutus was a little reassured by this +reasoning, still it did not remove all his uneasiness. + +But the same Cassius, in the campaign of Philippi, and in the midst of +the combat, saw Julius Caesar, whom he had assassinated, who came up to +him at full gallop: which frightened him so much that at last he threw +himself upon his own sword. Cassius of Parma, a different person from +him of whom we have spoken above, saw an evil genius, who came into +his tent, and declared to him his approaching death. + +Drusus, when making war on the Germans (Allemani) during the time of +Augustus, desiring to cross the Elbe, in order to penetrate farther +into the country, was prevented from so doing by a woman of taller +stature than common, who appeared to him and said, "Drusus, whither +wilt thou go? wilt thou never be satisfied? Thy end is near--go back +from hence." He retraced his steps, and died before he reached the +Rhine, which he desired to recross. + +St. Gregory of Nicea, in the Life of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, says +that, during a great plague which ravaged the city of Neocesarea, +spectres were seen in open day, who entered houses, into which they +carried certain death. + +After the famous sedition which happened at Antioch, in the time of +the Emperor Theodosius, they beheld a kind of fury running about the +town, with a whip, which she lashed about like a coachman who hastens +on his horses. + +St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, being at Treves, entered a house, where +he found a spectre which frightened him at first. Martin commanded him +to leave the body which he possessed: instead of going out (of the +place), he entered the body of another man who was in the same +dwelling; and throwing himself upon those who were there, began to +attack and bite them. Martin threw himself across his way, put his +fingers in his mouth, and defied him to bite him. The demoniac +retreated, as if a bar of red-hot iron had been placed in his mouth, +and at last the demon went out of the body of the possessed, not by +the mouth but behind. + +John, Bishop of Atria, who lived in the sixth century, in speaking of +the great plague which happened under the Emperor Justinian, and which +is mentioned by almost all the historians of that time, says that they +saw boats of brass, containing black men without heads, which sailed +upon the sea, and went towards the places where the plague was +beginning its ravages; that this infection having depopulated a town +of Egypt, so that there remained only seven men and a boy ten years of +age, these persons, wishing to get away from the town with a great +deal of money, fell down dead suddenly. + +The boy fled without carrying anything with him, but at the gate of +the town he was stopped by a spectre, who dragged him, in spite of his +resistance, into the house where the seven dead men were. Some time +after, the steward of a rich man having entered therein, to take away +some furniture belonging to his master, who had gone to reside in the +country, was warned by the same boy to go away--but he died suddenly. +The servants who had accompanied the steward ran away, and carried the +news of all this to their master. + +The same Bishop John relates that he was at Constantinople during a +very great plague, which carried off ten, twelve, fifteen, and sixteen +thousand persons a-day, so that they reckon that two hundred thousand +persons died of this malady--he says, that during this time demons +were seen running from house to house, wearing the habits of +ecclesiastics or monks, and who caused the death of those whom they +met therein. + +The death of Carlostadt was accompanied by frightful circumstances, +according to the ministers of Basle, his colleagues, who bore witness +to it at the time. They[306] relate, that at the last sermon which +Carlostadt preached in the temple of Basle, a tall black man came and +seated himself near the consul. The preacher perceived him, and +appeared disconcerted at it. When he left the pulpit, he asked who +that stranger was who had taken his seat next to the chief magistrate; +no one had seen him but himself. When he went home, he heard more news +of the spectre. The black man had been there, and had caught up by the +hair the youngest and most tenderly loved of his children. After he +had thus raised the child from the ground, he appeared disposed to +throw him down so as to break his head; but he contented himself with +ordering the boy to warn his father that in three days he should +return, and he must hold himself in readiness. The child having +repeated to his father what had been said to him, Carlostadt was +terrified. He went to bed in alarm, and in three days he expired. +These apparitions of the demon's, by Luther's own avowal, were pretty +frequent, in the case of the first reformers. + +These instances of the apparitions of spectres might be multiplied to +infinity; but if we undertook to criticise them, there is hardly one +of them very certain, or proof against a serious and profound +examination. Here follows one, which I relate on purpose because it +has some singular features, and its falsehood has at last been +acknowledged.[307] + + +Footnotes: + +[304] Plutarch in Cimone. + +[305] Pausanias, lib. i. c. 324. + +[306] Moshovius, p. 22. + +[307] See the following chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +EXAMINATION OF THE APPARITION OF A PRETENDED SPECTRE. + + +Business[308] having led the Count d'Alais[309] to Marseilles, a most +extraordinary adventure happened to him there: he desired Neure to +write to our philosopher (Gassendi) to know what he thought of it; +which he did in these words: the count and countess being come to +Marseilles, saw, as they were lying in bed, a luminous spectre; they +were both wide awake. In order to be sure that it was not some +illusion, they called their valets de chambre; but no sooner had +these appeared with their flambeaux, than the spectre disappeared. +They had all the openings and cracks which they found in the chamber +stopped up, and then went to bed again; but hardly had the valets de +chambre retired than it appeared again. + +Its light was less shining than that of the sun; but it was brighter +than that of the moon. Sometimes this spectre was of an angular form, +sometimes a circle, and sometimes an oval. It was easy to read a +letter by the light it gave; it often changed its place, and sometimes +appeared on the count's bed. It had, as it were, a kind of little +bucklers, above which were characters imprinted. Nevertheless, nothing +could be more agreeable to the sight; so that instead of alarming, it +gave pleasure. It appeared every night whilst the count stayed at +Marseilles. This prince, having once cast his hands upon it, to see if +it was not something attached to the bed curtain, the spectre +disappeared that night, and reappeared the next. + +Gassendi being consulted upon this circumstance, replied on the 13th +of the same month. He says, in the first place, that he knows not what +to think of this vision. He does not deny that this spectre might be +sent from God to tell them something. What renders this idea probable +is the great piety of them both, and that this spectre had nothing +frightful in it, but quite the contrary. What deserves our attention +still more is this, that if God had sent it, he would have made known +why he sent it. God does not jest; and since it cannot be understood +what is to be hoped or feared, followed up or avoided, it is clear +that this spectre cannot come from him; otherwise his conduct would be +less praiseworthy than that of a father, or a prince, or a worthy, or +even a prudent man, who, being informed of somewhat which greatly +concerned those in subjection to them, would not content themselves +with warning them enigmatically. + +If this spectre is anything natural, nothing is more difficult than to +discover it, or even to find any conjecture which may explain it. +Although I am well persuaded of my ignorance, I will venture to give +my idea. Might it not be advanced that this light has appeared because +the eye of the count was internally affected, or because it was so +externally? The eye may be so internally in two ways. First, if the +eye was affected in the same manner as that of the Emperor Tiberius +always was when he awoke in the night and opened his eyes; a light +proceeded from them, by means of which he could discern objects in the +dark by looking fixedly at them. I have known the same thing happen to +a lady of rank. Secondly, if his eyes were disposed in a certain +manner, as it happens to myself when I awake: if I open my eyes, they +perceive rays of light though there has been none. No one can deny +that some flash may dart from our eyes which represents objects to +us--which objects are reflected in our eyes, and leave their traces +there. It is known that animals which prowl by night have a piercing +sight, to enable them to discern their prey and carry it off; that the +animal spirit which is in the eye, and which may be shed from it, is +of the nature of fire, and consequently lucid. It may happen that the +eyes being closed during sleep, this spirit heated by the eyelids +becomes inflamed, and sets some faculty in motion, as the imagination. +For, does it not happen that wood of different kinds, and fish bones, +produce some light when their heat is excited by putrefaction? Why +then may not the heat excited in this confined spirit produce some +light? He proves afterwards that imagination alone may do it. + +The Count d'Alais having returned to Marseilles, and being lodged in +the same apartment, the same spectre appeared to him again. Neure +wrote to Gassendi that they had observed that this spectre penetrated +into the chamber by the wainscot; which obliged Gassendi to write to +the count to examine the thing more attentively; and notwithstanding +this discovery, he dare not yet decide upon it. He contents himself +with encouraging the count, and telling him that if this apparition is +from God, he will not allow him to remain long in expectation, and +will soon make known his will to him; and also, if this vision does +not come from him, he will not permit it to continue, and will soon +discover that it proceeds from a natural cause. Nothing more is said +of this spectre any where. + +Three years afterwards, the Countess d'Alais avowed ingenuously to the +count that she herself had caused this farce to be played by one of +her women, because she did not like to reside at Marseilles; that her +woman was under the bed, and that she from time to time caused a +phosphoric light to appear. The Count d'Alais related this himself to +M. Puger of Lyons, who told it, about thirty-five years ago, to M. +Falconet, a medical doctor of the Royal Academy of Belle-Lettres, from +whom I learnt it. Gassendi, when consulted seriously by the count, +answered like a man who had no doubt of the truth of this apparition; +so true it is that the greater number of these extraordinary facts +require to be very carefully examined before any opinion can be passed +upon them. + + +Footnotes: + +[308] Vie de Gassendi, tom. i. p. 258. + +[309] Alais is a town in Lower Languedoc, the lords of which bear the +title of prince, since this town has passed into the House of +Angouleme and De Conty. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +OF SPECTRES WHICH HAUNT HOUSES. + + +There are several kinds of spectres or ghosts which haunt certain +houses, make noises, appear there, and disturb those who live in them: +some are sprites, or elves, which divert themselves by troubling the +quiet of those who dwell there; others are spectres or ghosts of the +dead, who molest the living until they have received sepulture: some +of them, as it is said, make the place their purgatory; others show +themselves or make themselves heard, because they have been put to +death in that place, and ask that their death may be avenged, or that +their bodies may be buried. So many stories are related concerning +those things that now they are not cared for, and nobody will believe +any of them. In fact, when these pretended apparitions are thoroughly +examined into, it is easy to discover their falsehood and illusion. + +Now, it is a tenant who wishes to decry the house in which he resides, +to hinder others from coming who would like to take his place; then a +band of coiners have taken possession of a dwelling, whose interest it +is to keep their secret from being found out; or a farmer who desires +to retain his farm, and wishes to prevent others from coming to offer +more for it; in this place it will be cats or owls, or even rats, +which by making a noise frighten the master and domestics, as it +happened some years ago at Mosheim, where large rats amused themselves +in the night by moving and setting in motion the machines with which +the women bruise hemp and flax. An honest man who related it to me, +desiring to behold the thing nearer, mounted up to the garret armed +with two pistols, with his servant armed in the same manner. After a +moment of silence, they saw the rats begin their game; they let fire +upon them, killed two, and dispersed the rest. The circumstance was +reported in the country and served as an excellent joke. + +I am about to relate some of these spectral apparitions upon which the +reader will pronounce judgment for himself. Pliny[310] the younger +says that there was a very handsome mansion at Athens which was +forsaken on account of a spectre which haunted it. The philosopher +Athenodorus, having arrived in the city, and seeing a board which +informed the public that this house was to be sold at a very low +price, bought it and went to sleep there with his people. As he was +busy reading and writing during the night, he heard on a sudden a +great noise, as if of chains being dragged along, and perceived at the +same time something like a frightful old man loaded with iron chains, +who drew near to him. Athenodorus continuing to write, the spectre +made him a sign to follow him; the philosopher in his turn made signs +to him to wait, and continued to write; at last he took his light and +followed the spectre, who conducted him into the court of the house, +then sank into the ground and disappeared. + +Athenodorus, without being frightened, tore up some of the grass to +mark the spot, and on leaving it, went to rest in his room. The next +day he informed the magistrates of what had happened; they came to the +house and searched the spot he designated, and there found the bones +of a human body loaded with chains. They caused him to be properly +buried, and the dwelling house remained quiet. + +Lucian[311] relates a very similar story. There was, says he, a house +at Corinth which had belonged to one Eubatides, in the quarter named +Cranaues: a man named Arignotes undertook to pass the night there, +without troubling himself about a spectre which was said to haunt it. +He furnished himself with certain magic books of the Egyptians to +conjure the spectre. Having gone into the house at night with a light, +he began to read quietly in the court. The spectre appeared in a +little while, taking sometimes the shape of a dog, then that of a +bull, and then that of a lion. Arignotes very composedly began to +pronounce certain magical invocations, which he read in his books, and +by their power forced the spectre into a corner of the court, where he +sank into the earth and disappeared. + +The next day Arignotes sent for Eubatides, the master of the house, +and having had the ground dug up where the phantom had disappeared, +they found a skeleton, which they had properly interred, and from that +time nothing more was seen or heard. + +It is Lucian, that is to say, the man in the world the least credulous +concerning things of this kind, who makes Arignotes relate this event. +In the same passage he says that Democritus, who believed in neither +angels, nor demons, nor spirits, having shut himself up in a tomb +without the city of Athens, where he was writing and studying, a party +of young men, who wanted to frighten him, covered themselves with +black garments, as the dead are represented, and having taken hideous +disguises, came in the night, shrieking and jumping around the place +where he was; he let them do what they liked, and without at all +disturbing himself, coolly told them to have done with their jesting. + +I know not if the historian who wrote the life of St. Germain +l'Auxerrois[312] had in his eye the stories we have just related, and +if he did not wish to ornament the life of the saint by a recital very +much like them. The saint traveling one day through his diocese, was +obliged to pass the night with his clerks in a house forsaken long +before on account of the spirits which haunted it. The clerk who read +to him during the night saw on a sudden a spectre, which alarmed him +at first; but having awakened the holy bishop, the latter commanded +the spectre in the name of Jesus Christ to declare to him who he was, +and what he wanted. The phantom told him that he and his companion had +been guilty of several crimes; that having died and been interred in +that house, they disturbed those who lodged there until the burial +rites should have been accorded them. St. Germain commanded him to +point out where their bodies were buried, and the spectre led him +thither. The next day he assembled the people in the neighborhood; +they sought amongst the ruins of the building where the brambles had +been disturbed, and they found the bones of two men thrown in a heap +together, and also loaded with chains; they were buried, prayers were +said for them, and they returned no more. + +If these men were wretches dead in crime and impenitence, all this can +be attributed only to the artifice of the devil, to show the living +that the reprobate take pains to procure rest for their bodies by +getting them interred, and to their souls by getting them prayed for. +But if these two men were Christians who had expiated their crimes by +repentance, and who died in communion with the church, God might +permit them to appear, to ask for clerical sepulture and those prayers +which the church is accustomed to say for the repose of defunct +persons who die while yet some slight fault remains to be expiated. + +Here is a fact of the same kind as those which precede, but which is +attended by circumstances which may render it more credible. It is +related by Antonio Torquemada, in his work entitled _Flores Curiosas_, +printed at Salamanca in 1570. He says that a little before his own +time, a young man named Vasquez de Ayola, being gone to Bologna with +two of his companions to study the law there, and not having found +such a lodging in the town as they wished to have, lodged themselves +in a large and handsome house, which was abandoned by everybody, +because it was haunted by a spectre which frightened away all those +who wished to live in it; they laughed at such discourse, and took up +their abode there. + +At the end of a month, as Ayola was sitting up alone in his chamber, +and his companions sleeping quietly in their beds, he heard at a +distance a noise as of several chains dragged along upon the ground, +and the noise advanced towards him by the great staircase; he +recommended himself to God, made the sign of the cross, took a shield +and sword, and having his taper in his hand, he saw the door opened by +a terrific spectre that was nothing but bones, but loaded with chains. +Ayola conjured him, and asked him what he wished for; the phantom +signed to him to follow, and he did so; but as he went down the +stairs, his light blew out; he went back to light it, and then +followed the spirit, which led him along a court where there was a +well. Ayola feared that he might throw him into it, and stopped short. +The spectre beckoned to him to continue to follow him; they entered +the garden, where the phantom disappeared. Ayola tore up some handfuls +of grass upon the spot, and returning to the house, related to his +companions what had happened. In the morning he gave notice of this +circumstance to the Principals of Bologna. + +They came to reconnoitre the spot, and had it dug up; they found there +a fleshless body, but loaded with chains. They inquired who it could +be, but nothing certain could be discovered, and the bones were +interred with suitable obsequies, and from that time the house was +never disquieted by such visits. Torquemada asserts that in his time +there were still living at Bologna and in Spain some who had been +witnesses of the fact; and that on his return to his own country, +Ayola was invested with a high office, and that his son, before this +narration was written, was President in a good city of the kingdom (of +Spain). + +Plautus, still more ancient than either Lucian or Pliny, composed a +comedy entitled "Mostellaria," or "Monstellaria," a name derived from +"Monstrum," or "Monstellum," from a monster, a spectre, which was said +to appear in a certain house, and which on that account had been +deserted. We agree that the foundation of this comedy is only a fable, +but we may deduce from it the antiquity of this idea among the Greeks +and Romans. + +The poet[313] makes this pretended spirit say that, having been +assassinated about sixty years before by a perfidious comrade who had +taken his money, he had been secretly interred in that house; that the +god of Hades would not receive him on the other side of Acheron, as he +had died prematurely; for which reason he was obliged to remain in +that house of which he had taken possession. + + "Haec mihi dedita habitatio; + Nam me Acherontem recipere noluit, + Quia praemature vita careo." + + +The pagans, who had the simplicity to believe that the Lamiae and evil +spirits disquieted those who dwelt in certain houses and certain +rooms, and who slept in certain beds, conjured them by magic verses, +and pretended to drive them away by fumigations composed of sulphur +and other stinking drugs, and certain herbs mixed with sea water. +Ovid, speaking of Medea, that celebrated magician, says[314]-- + + "Terque senem flamma, ter aqua, ter sulphure lustrat." + +And elsewhere he adds eggs:-- + + "Adveniat quae lustret anus lectumque locumque, + Deferat et tremula sulphur et ova manu." + + +In addition to this they adduce the instance of the archangel +Raphael,[315] who drove away the devil Asmodeus from the chamber of +Sarah by the smell of the liver of a fish which he burnt upon the +fire. But the instance of Raphael ought not to be placed along with +the superstitious ceremonies of magicians, which were laughed at by +the pagans themselves; if they had any power, it could only be by the +operation of the demon with the permission of God; whilst what is told +of the archangel Raphael is certainly the work of a good spirit, sent +by God to cure Sarah the daughter of Raguel, who was as much +distinguished by her piety as the magicians are degraded by their +malice and superstition. + + +Footnotes: + +[310] Plin. junior, Epist. ad Suram. lib. vii. cap. 27. + +[311] In Philo pseud. p. 840. + +[312] Bolland, 31 Jul. p. 211. + +[313] Plaut. Mostell. act. ii. v. 67. + +[314] Vide Joan. Vier. de Curat. Malific. c. 215. + +[315] Tob. viii. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +OTHER INSTANCES OF SPECTRES WHICH HAUNT CERTAIN HOUSES. + + +Father Pierre Thyree,[316] a Jesuit, relates an infinite number of +anecdotes of houses haunted by ghosts, spirits, and demons; for +instance, that of a tribune, named Hesperius, whose house was infested +by a demon who tormented the domestics and animals, and who was driven +away, says St. Augustin,[317] by a good priest of Hippo, who offered +therein the divine sacrifice of the body of our Lord. + +St. Germain,[318] Bishop of Capua, taking a bath in one particular +quarter of the town, found there Paschaus, a deacon of the Roman +Church, who had been dead some time, and who began to wait upon him, +telling him that he underwent his purgatory in that place for having +favored the party of Laurentius the anti-pope, against Pope Symachus. + +St. Gregory of Nicea, in the life of St. Gregory of Neocaesarea, says +that a deacon of this holy bishop, having gone into a bath where no +one dared go after a certain hour in the evening, because all those +who had entered there had been put to death, beheld spectres of all +kinds, which threatened him in a thousand ways, but he got rid of them +by crossing himself and invoking the name of Jesus. + +Alexander ab Alexandro,[319] a learned Neapolitan lawyer of the +fifteenth century, says that all the world knows that there are a +number of houses at Rome so much out of repute on account of the +ghosts which appear in them every night that nobody dares to inhabit +them. Nicholas Tuba, his friend, a man well known for his probity and +veracity, who came once with some of his comrades to try if all that +was said of those houses was true, would pass the night in one of them +with Alexander. As they were together, wide awake, and with plenty of +light, they beheld a horrible spectre, which frightened them so much +by its terrific voice and the great noise which it made, that they +hardly knew what they did, nor what they said; "and by degrees, as we +approached," says he, "with the light, the phantom retreated; at last, +after having thrown all the house into confusion, it disappeared +entirely." + +I might also relate here the spectre noticed by Father Sinson the +Jesuit, which he saw, and to which he spoke at Pont-a-Mousson, in the +cloister belonging to those fathers; but I shall content myself with +the instance which is reported in the _Causes Celebres_,[320] and +which may serve to undeceive those who too lightly give credit to +stories of this kind. + +At the Chateau d' Arsillier, in Picardy, on certain days of the year, +towards November, they saw flames and a horrible smoke proceeding +thence. Cries and frightful howlings were heard. The bailiff, or +farmer of the chateau, had got accustomed to this uproar, because he +himself caused it. All the village talked of it, and everybody told +his own story thereupon. The gentleman to whom the chateau belonged, +mistrusting some contrivance, came there near All-saints' day with two +gentlemen his friends, resolved to pursue the spirit, and fire upon it +with a brace of good pistols. A few days after they arrived, they +heard a great noise above the room where the owner of the chateau +slept; his two friends went up thither, holding a pistol in one hand +and a candle in the other; and a sort of black phantom with horns and +a tail presented itself, and began to gambol about before them. + +One of them fired off his pistol; the spectre, instead of falling, +turns and skips before him: the gentleman tries to seize it, but the +spirit escapes by the back staircase; the gentleman follows it, but +loses sight of it, and after several turnings, the spectre throws +itself into a granary, and disappears at the moment its pursuer +reckoned on seizing and stopping it. A light was brought, and it was +remarked that where the spectre had disappeared there was a trapdoor, +which had been bolted after it entered; they forced open the trap, +and found the pretended spirit. He owned all his artifices, and that +what had rendered him proof against the pistol shot was buffalo's hide +tightly fitted to his body. + +Cardinal de Retz,[321] in his Memoirs, relates very agreeably the +alarm which seized himself and those with him on meeting a company of +black Augustine friars, who came to bathe in the river by night, and +whom they took for a troop of quite another description. + +A physician, in a dissertation which he has given on spirits or +ghosts, says that a maid servant in the Rue St. Victor, who had gone +down into the cellar, came back very much frightened, saying she had +seen a spectre standing upright between two barrels. Some persons who +were bolder went down, and saw the same thing. It was a dead body, +which had fallen from a cart coming from the Hotel-Dieu. It had slid +down by the cellar window (or grating), and had remained standing +between two casks. All these collective facts, instead of confirming +one another, and establishing the reality of those ghosts which appear +in certain houses, and keep away those who would willingly dwell in +them, are only calculated, on the contrary, to render such stories in +general very doubtful; for on what account should those people who +have been buried and turned to dust for a long time find themselves +able to walk about with their chains? How do they drag them? How do +they speak? What do they want? Is it sepulture? Are they not interred? +If they are heathens and reprobates, they have nothing to do with +prayers. If they are good people, who died in a state of grace, they +may require prayers to take them out of purgatory; but can that be +said of the spectres spoken of by Pliny and Lucian? It is the devil, +who sports with the simplicity of men? Is it not ascribing to him most +excessive power, by making him the author of all these apparitions, +which we conceive he cannot cause without the permission of God? And +we can still less imagine that God will concur in the deceptions and +illusions of the demon. There is then reason to believe that all the +apparitions of this kind, and all these stories, are false, and must +be absolutely rejected, as more fit to keep up the superstition and +idle credulity of the people than to edify and instruct them. + + +Footnotes: + +[316] Thyraei Demoniaci cum locis infestis. + +[317] S. Aug. de Civ. lib. xxii. 8. + +[318] S. Greg. Mag. Dial. cap. 39. + +[319] Alexander ab Alexandro, lib. v. 23. + +[320] Causes Celebres, tom. xi. p. 374. + +[321] Mem. de Cardinal de Retz, tom. i. pp. 43, 44 + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +PRODIGIOUS EFFECTS OF IMAGINATION IN THOSE MEN OR WOMEN WHO BELIEVE +THEY HOLD INTERCOURSE WITH THE DEMON. + + +As soon as we admit it as a principle that angels and demons are +purely spiritual substances, we must consider, not only as chimerical +but also as impossible, all personal intercourse between a demon and a +man, or a woman, and consequently regard as the effect of a depraved +or deranged imagination all that is related of demons, whether incubi +or succubi, and of the _ephialtes_ of which such strange tales are +told. + +The author of the Book of Enoch, which is cited by the fathers, and +regarded as canonical Scripture by some ancient writers, has taken +occasion, from these words of Moses,[322] "The children of God, seeing +the daughters of men, who were of extraordinary beauty, took them for +wives, and begat the giants of them," of setting forth that the +angels, smitten with love for the daughters of men, wedded them, and +had by them children, which are those giants so famous in +antiquity.[323] Some of the ancient fathers have thought that this +irregular love of the angels was the cause of their fall, and that +till then they had remained in the just and due subordination which +they owed to their Creator. + +It appears from Josephus that the Jews of his day seriously +believed[324] that the angels were subject to these weaknesses like +men. St. Justin Martyr[325] thought that the demons were the fruit of +this commerce of the angels with the daughters of men. + +But these ideas are now almost entirely given up, especially since the +belief in the spirituality of angels and demons has been adopted. +Commentators and the fathers have generally explained the passage in +Genesis which we have quoted as relating to the children of Seth, to +whom the Scripture gives the name of _children of God_, to distinguish +them from the sons of Cain, who were the fathers of those here called +_the daughters of men_. The race of Seth having then formed alliances +with the race of Cain, by means of those marriages before alluded to, +there proceeded from these unions powerful, violent, and impious men, +who drew down upon the earth the terrible effects of God's wrath, +which burst forth at the universal deluge. + +Thus, then, these marriages between the _children of God_ and the +_daughters of men_ have no relation to the question we are here +treating; what we have to examine is--if the demon can have personal +commerce with man or woman, and if what is said on that subject can be +connected with the apparitions of evil spirits amongst mankind, which +is the principal object of this dissertation. + +I will give some instances of those persons who have believed that +they held such intercourse with the demon. Torquemada relates, in a +detailed manner, what happened in his time, and to his knowledge, in +the town of Cagliari, in Sardinia, to a young lady, who suffered +herself to be corrupted by the demon; and having been arrested by the +Inquisition, she suffered the penalty of the flames, in the mad hope +that her pretended lover would come and deliver her. + +In the same place he speaks of a young girl who was sought in marriage +by a gentleman of good family; when the devil assumed the form of this +young man, associated with the young lady for several months, made her +promises of marriage, and took advantage of her. She was only +undeceived when the young lord who sought her in marriage informed her +that he was absent from town, and more than fifty leagues off, the day +that the promise in question had been given, and that he never had the +slightest knowledge of it. The young girl, thus disabused, retired +into a convent, and did penance for her double crime. + +We read in the life of St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux,[326] that a +woman of Nantes, in Brittany, saw, or thought she saw the demon every +night, even when lying by her husband. She remained six years in this +state; at the end of that period, having her disorderly life in +horror, she confessed herself to a priest, and by his advice began to +perform several acts of piety, as much to obtain pardon for her crime +as to deliver herself from her abominable lover. But when the husband +of this woman was informed of the circumstance, he left her, and would +never see her again. + +This unhappy woman was informed by the devil himself that St. Bernard +would soon come to Nantes, but she must mind not to speak to him, for +this abbot could by no means assist her; and if she did speak to him, +it would be a great misfortune to her; and that from being her lover, +he who warned her of it would become her most ardent persecutor. + +The saint reassured this woman, and desired her to make the sign of +the cross on herself on going to bed, and to place next her in the bed +the staff which he gave her. "If the demon comes," said he, "let him +do what he can." The demon came; but, without daring to approach the +bed, he threatened the woman greatly, and told her that after the +departure of St. Bernard he would come again to torment her. + +On the following Sunday, St. Bernard repaired to the Cathedral church, +with the Bishop of Nantes and the Bishop of Chartres, and having +caused lighted tapers to be given to all the people, who had assembled +in a great crowd, the saint, after having publicly related the +abominable action of the demon, exorcised and anathematized the evil +spirit, and forbade him, by the authority of Jesus Christ, ever again +to approach that woman, or any other. Everybody extinguished their +tapers, and the power of the demon was annihilated. + +This example and the two preceding ones, related in so circumstantial +a manner, might make us believe that there is some reality in what is +said of demons incubi and succubi; but if we deeply examine the facts, +we shall find that an imagination strongly possessed, and violent +prejudice, may produce all that we have just repeated. + +St. Bernard begins by curing the woman's mind, by giving her a stick, +which she was to place by her side in the bed. This staff sufficed for +the first impression; but to dispose her for a complete cure, he +exorcises the demon, and then anathematizes him, with all the _eclat_ +he possibly could: the bishops are assembled in the cathedral, the +people repair thither in crowds; the circumstance is recounted in +pompous terms; the evil spirit is threatened; the tapers are +extinguished--all of them striking ceremonies: the woman is moved by +them, and her imagination is restored to a healthy tone. + +Jerome Cardan[327] relates two singular examples of the power of +imagination in this way; he had them from Francis Pico de Mirandola. +"I know," says the latter, "a priest, seventy-five years of age, who +lived with a pretended woman, whom he called Hermeline, with whom he +slept, conversed, and conducted in the streets as if she had been his +wife. He alone saw her, or thought he saw her, so that he was looked +upon as a man who had lost his senses. This priest was named Benedict +Beina. He had been arrested by the Inquisition, and punished for his +crimes; for he owned that in the sacrifice of the mass he did not +pronounce the sacramental words, that he had given the consecrated +wafer to women to make use of in sorcery, and that he had sucked the +blood of children. He avowed all this while undergoing the question. + +Another, named Pineto, held converse with a demon, whom he kept as his +wife, and with whom he had intercourse for more than forty years. This +man was still living in the time of Pico de Mirandola. + +Devotion and spirituality, when too contracted and carried to excess, +have also their derangements of imagination. Persons so affected often +believe they see, hear, and feel, what passes only in their brain, and +which takes all its reality from their prejudices and self-love. This +is less mistrusted, because the object of it is holy and pious; but +error and excess, even in matters of devotion, are subject to very +great inconveniences, and it is very important to undeceive all those +who give way to this kind of mental derangement. + +For instance, we have seen persons eminent for their devotion, who +believed they saw the Holy Virgin, St. Joseph, the Saviour, and their +guardian angel, who spoke to them, conversed with them, touched the +wounds of the Lord, and tasted the blood which flowed from his side +and his wounds. Others thought they were in company with the Holy +Virgin and the Infant Jesus, who spoke to them and conversed with +them; in idea, however, and without reality. + +In order to cure the two ecclesiastics of whom we have spoken, gentler +and perhaps more efficacious means might have been made use of than +those employed by the tribunal of the Inquisition. Every day +hypochondriacs, or maniacs, with fevered imaginations, diseased +brains, or with the viscera too much heated, are cured by simple and +natural remedies, either by cooling the blood, and creating a +diversion in the humors thereof, or by striking the imagination +through some new device, or by giving so much exercise of body and +mind to those who are afflicted with such maladies of the brain that +they may have something else to do or to think of, than to nourish +such fancies, and strengthen them by reflections daily recurring, and +having always the same end and object. + + +Footnotes: + +[322] Gen. vi. 1, 2. + +[323] Athenagorus and Clem. Alex. lib. iii. & v. Strom. & lib. ii. +Pedagog. + +[324] Joseph. Antiq. lib. i. c. 4. + +[325] Justin. Apolog. utroque. + +[326] Vita St. Bernard, tom. i. lib. 20. + +[327] Cardan, de Variet. lib. xv. c. lxxx. p. 290. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +RETURN AND APPARITIONS OF SOULS AFTER THE DEATH OF THE BODY, PROVED +FROM SCRIPTURE. + + +The dogma of the immortality of the soul, and of its existence after +its separation from the body which it once animated, being taken for +indubitable, and Jesus Christ having invincibly established it against +the Sadducees, the return of souls and their apparition to the +living, by the command or permission of God, can no longer appear so +incredible, nor even so difficult. + +It was a known and received truth among the Jews in the time of our +Saviour; he assumed it as certain, and never pronounced a word which +could give any one reason to think that he disapproved of, or +condemned it; he only warned us that in common apparitions spirits +have neither flesh nor bones, as he had himself after his +resurrection. If St. Thomas doubted of the reality of the resurrection +of his Master, and the truth of his appearance, it was because he was +aware that those who suppose they see apparitions of spirits are +subject to illusion; and that one strongly prepossessed will often +believe he beholds what he does not see, and hear that which he hears +not; and even had Jesus Christ appeared to his apostles, that would +not prove that he was resuscitated, since a spirit can appear, while +its body is in the tomb and even corrupted or reduced to dust and +ashes. + +The apostles doubted not of the possibility of the apparition of +spirits: when they saw the Saviour coming towards them, walking upon +the waves of the Lake of Gennesareth,[328] they at first believed that +it was a phantom. + +After St. Peter had left the prison by the aid of an angel, and came +and knocked at the door of the house where the brethren were +assembled, the servant whom they sent to open it, hearing Peter's +voice, thought it was his spirit, or an angel[329] who had assumed his +form and voice. The wicked rich man, being in the flames of hell, +begged of Abraham to send Lazarus to earth, to warn his brothers[330] +not to expose themselves to the danger of falling like him in the +extreme of misery: he believed, without doubt, that souls could return +to earth, make themselves visible, and speak to the living. + +In the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, Moses, who had been dead for +ages, appeared on Mount Tabor with Elias, conversing with Jesus Christ +then transfigured.[331] After the resurrection of the Saviour, several +persons, who had long been dead, arose from their graves, went into +Jerusalem and appeared unto many.[332] + +In the Old Testament, King Saul addresses himself to the witch of +Endor, to beg of her to evoke for him the soul of Samuel;[333] that +prophet appeared and spoke to Saul. I know that considerable +difficulties and objections have been formed as to this evocation and +this apparition of Samuel. But whether he appeared or not--whether the +Pythoness did really evoke him, or only deluded Saul with a false +appearance--I deduce from it that Saul and those with him were +persuaded that the spirits of the dead could appear to the living, and +reveal to them things unknown to men. + +St. Augustine, in reply to Simplicius, who had proposed to him his +difficulties respecting the truth of this apparition, says at +first,[334] that it is no more difficult to understand that the demon +could evoke Samuel by the help of a witch than it is to comprehend how +that Satan could speak to God, and tempt the holy man Job, and ask +permission to tempt the apostles; or that he could transport Jesus +Christ himself to the highest pinnacle of the Temple of Jerusalem. + +We may believe also that God, by a particular dispensation of his +will, may have permitted the demon to evoke Samuel, and make him +appear before Saul, to announce to him what was to happen to him, not +by virtue of magic, not by the power of the demon alone, but solely +because God willed it, and ordained it thus to be. + +He adds that it may be advanced that it is not Samuel who appears to +Saul, but a phantom, formed by the illusive power of the demon, and by +the force of magic; and that the Scripture, in giving the name of +Samuel to this phantom, has made use of ordinary language, which gives +the name of things themselves to that which is but their image or +representation in painting or in sculpture. + +If it should be asked how this phantom could discover the future, and +predict to Saul his approaching death, we may likewise ask how the +demon could know Jesus Christ for God alone, while the Jews knew him +not, and the girl possessed with a spirit of divination, spoken of in +the Acts of the Apostles,[335] could bear witness to the apostles, and +undertake to become their advocate in rendering good testimony to +their mission. + +Lastly, St. Augustine concludes by saying that he does not think +himself sufficiently enlightened to decide whether the demon can, or +cannot, by means of magical enchantments, evoke a soul after the death +of the body, so that it may appear and become visible in a corporeal +form, which may be recognized, and capable of speaking and revealing +the hidden future. And if this potency be not accorded to magic and +the demon, we must conclude that all which is related of this +apparition of Samuel to Saul is an illusion and a false apparition +made by the demon to deceive men. + +In the books of the Maccabees,[336] the High-Priest Onias, who had +been dead several years before that time, appeared to Judas Maccabaeus, +in the attitude of a man whose hands were outspread, and who was +praying for the people of the Lord: at the same time the Prophet +Jeremiah, long since dead, appeared to the same Maccabaeus; and Onias +said to him, "Behold that holy man, who is the protector and friend of +his brethren; it is he who prays continually for the Lord's people, +and for the holy city of Jerusalem." So saying, he put into the hands +of Judas a golden sword, saying to him, "Receive this sword as a gift +from heaven, by means of which you shall destroy the enemies of my +people Israel." + +In the same second book of the Maccabees,[337] it is related that in +the thickest of the battle fought by Timotheus, general of the armies +of Syria, against Judas Maccabaeus, they saw five men as if descended +from heaven, mounted on horses with golden bridles, who were at the +head of the army of the Jews, two of them on each side of Judas +Maccabaeus, the chief captain of the army of the Lord; they shielded +him with their arms, and launched against the enemy such fiery darts +and thunderbolts that they were blinded and mortally afraid and +terrified. + +These five armed horsemen, these combatants for Israel, are apparently +no other than Mattathias, the father of Judas Maccabaeus,[338] and +four of his sons, who were already dead; there yet remained of his +seven sons but Judas Maccabaeus, Jonathan, and Simon. We may also +understand it as five angels, who were sent by God to the assistance +of the Maccabees. In whatever way we regard it, these are not doubtful +apparitions, both on account of the certainty of the book in which +they are related, and the testimony of a whole army by which they +were seen. + +Whence I conclude, that the Hebrews had no doubt that the spirits of +the dead could return to earth, that they did return in fact, and that +they discovered to the living things beyond our natural knowledge. +Moses expressly forbids the Israelites to consult the dead.[339] But +these apparitions did not show themselves in solid and material +bodies; the Saviour assures us of it when he says, "Spirits have +neither flesh nor bones." It was often only an aerial figure which +struck the senses and the imagination, like the images which we see in +sleep, or that we firmly believe we hear and see. The inhabitants of +Sodom were struck with a species of blindness,[340] which prevented +them from seeing the door of Lot's house, into which the angels had +entered. The soldiers who sought for Elisha were in the same way +blinded in some sort,[341] although they spoke to him they were +seeking for, who led them into Samaria without their perceiving him. +The two disciples who went on Easter-day to Emmaus, in company with +Jesus Christ their Master, did not recognize him till the breaking of +the bread.[342] + +Thus, the apparitions of spirits to mankind are not always in a +corporeal form, palpable and real; but God, who ordains or permits +them, often causes the persons to whom these apparitions appear, to +behold, in a dream or otherwise, those spirits which speak to, warn, +or threaten them; who makes them see things as if present, which in +reality are not before their eyes, but only in their imagination; +which does not prove these visions and warnings not to be sent from +God, who, by himself, or by the ministration of his angels, or by +souls disengaged from the body, inspired the minds of men with what he +judges proper for them to know, whether in a dream, or by external +signs, or by words, or else by certain impressions made on their +senses, or in their imagination, in the absence of every external +object. + +If the apparitions of the souls of the dead were things in nature and +of their own choice, there would be few persons who would not come +back to visit the things or the persons which have been dear to them +during this life. St. Augustine says it of his mother, St. +Monica,[343] who had so tender and constant an affection for him, and +who, while she lived, followed him and sought him by sea and land. +The bad rich man would not have failed, either, to come in person to +his brethren and relations to inform them of the wretched condition in +which he found himself in hell. It is a pure favor of the mercy or the +power of God, and which he grants to very few persons, to make their +appearance after death; for which reason we should be very much on our +guard against all that is said, and all that we find written on the +subject in books. + + +Footnotes: + +[328] Matt. vi. 16. Mark vi. 43. + +[329] Acts xii. 13, 14. + +[330] Luke xxi. 14, 15. + +[331] Luke ix. 32. + +[332] Matt. xxvii. 34. + +[333] 1 Sam. xxviii. 7, ad finem. + +[334] Augustin de Diversis Quaest. ad Simplicium, Quaest. cxi. + +[335] Acts xxvi. 17. + +[336] Macc. x. 29. + +[337] 2 Macc. x. 29. + +[338] 1 Macc. xi. 1. + +[339] Deut. xviii. 11. + +[340] Gen. xix. 11. + +[341] 2 Kings vi. 19. + +[342] Luke xxvi. 16. + +[343] Aug. de Cura gerenda pro Mortuis, c. xiii. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +APPARITIONS OF SPIRITS PROVED FROM HISTORY. + + +St. Augustine[344] acknowledges that the dead have often appeared to +the living, have revealed to them the spot where their body remained +unburied, and have shown them that where they wished to be interred. +He says, moreover, that a noise was often heard in churches where the +dead were inhumed, and that dead persons have been seen often to enter +the houses wherein they dwelt before their decease. + +We read that in the Council of Elvira,[345] which was held about the +year 300, it was forbidden to light tapers in the cemeteries, that the +souls of the saints might not be disturbed. The night after the death +of Julian the Apostate, St. Basil[346] had a vision in which he +fancied he saw the martyr, St. Mercurius, who received an order from +God to go and kill Julian. A little time afterwards the same saint +Mercurius returned and cried out, "Lord, Julian is pierced and wounded +to death, as thou commandedst me." In the morning St. Basil announced +this news to the people. + +St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, who suffered martyrdom in 107,[347] +appeared to his disciples, embracing them, and standing near them; and +as they persevered in praying with still greater fervor, they saw him +crowned with glory, as if in perspiration, coming from a great combat, +environed with light. + +After the death of St. Ambrose, which happened on Easter Eve, the same +night in which they baptized neophytes, several newly baptized +children saw the holy bishop,[348] and pointed him out to their +parents, who could not see him because their eyes were not +purified--at least says St. Paulinus, a disciple of the saint, and who +wrote his life. + +He adds that on the day of his death the saint appeared to several +holy persons dwelling in the East, praying with them and giving them +the imposition of hands; they wrote to Milan, and it was found, on +comparing the dates, that this occurred on the very day he died. These +letters were still preserved in the time of Paulinus, who wrote all +these things. This holy bishop was also seen several times after his +death praying in the Ambrosian church at Milan, which he promised +during his life that he would often visit. During the siege of Milan, +St. Ambrose appeared to a man of that same city, and promised that the +next day succor would arrive, which happened accordingly. A blind man +having learnt in a vision that the bodies of the holy martyrs Sicineus +and Alexander would come by sea to Milan, and that Bishop Ambrose was +going to meet them, he prayed the same bishop to restore him to sight, +in a dream. Ambrose replied; "Go to Milan; come and meet my brethren; +they will arrive on such a day, and they will restore you to sight." +The blind man went to Milan, where he had never been before, touched +the shrine of the holy martyrs, and recovered his eyesight. He himself +related the circumstance to Paulinus. + +The lives of the saints are full of apparitions of deceased persons; +and if they were collected, large volumes might be filled. St. +Ambrose, of whom we have just spoken, discovered after a miraculous +fashion the bodies of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius,[349] and those +of St. Nazairius and St. Celsus. + +Evodius, Bishop of Upsal in Africa,[350] a great friend of St. +Augustine, was well persuaded of the reality of apparitions of the +dead, from his own experience, and he relates several instances of +such things which happened in his own time; as that of a good widow to +whom a deacon appeared who had been dead for four years. He was +accompanied by several of the servants of God, of both sexes, who were +preparing a palace of extraordinary beauty. This widow asked him for +whom they were making these preparations; he replied that it was for +the youth who died the preceding day. At the same time, a venerable +old man, who was in the same palace, commanded two young men, arrayed +in white, to take the deceased young man out of his grave and conduct +him to this place. As soon as he had left the grave, fresh roses and +rose-beds sprang up; and the young man appeared to a monk, and told +him that God had received him into the number of his elect, and had +sent him to fetch his father, who in fact died four days after of slow +fever. + +Evodius asks himself diverse questions on this recital: If the soul on +quitting its (mortal) body does not retain a certain subtile body, +with which it appears, and by means of which it is transported from +one spot to another? If the angels even have not a certain kind of +body?--for if they are incorporeal, how can they be counted? And if +Samuel appeared to Saul, how could it take place if Samuel had no +members? He adds, "I remember well that Profuturus, Privatus and +Servitus, whom I had known in the monastery here, appeared to me, and +talked with me after their decease; and what they told me, happened. +Was it their soul which appeared to me, or was it some other spirit +which assumed their form?" He concludes from this that the soul is not +absolutely bodiless, since God alone is incorporeal.[351] + +St. Augustine, who was consulted on this matter by Evodius, does not +think that the soul, after the death of the body, is clothed with any +material substantial form; but he confesses that it is very difficult +to explain how an infinite number of things are done, which pass in +our minds, as well in our sleep as when we are awake, in which we seem +to see, feel, and discourse, and do things which it would appear could +be done only by the body, although it is certain that nothing bodily +occurs. And how can we explain things so unknown, and so far beyond +anything that we experience every day, since we cannot explain even +what daily experience shows us.[352] Evodius adds that several persons +after their decease have been going and coming in their houses as +before, both day and night; and that in churches where the dead were +buried, they often heard a noise in the night as of persons praying +aloud. + +St. Augustine, to whom Evodius writes all this, acknowledges that +there is a great distinction to be made between true and false +visions, and that he could wish he had some sure means of discerning +them correctly. The same saint relates on this occasion a remarkable +story, which has much connection with the matter we are treating upon. +A physician named Gennadius, a great friend of St. Augustine's, and +well known at Carthage for his great talent and his kindness to the +poor, doubted whether there was another life. One day he saw, in a +dream, a young man who said to him, "Follow me;" he followed him in +spirit, and found himself in a city, where, on his right hand, he +heard most admirable melody; he did not remember what he heard on his +left. + +Another time he saw the same young man, who said to him, "Do you know +me?" "Very well," answered he. "And whence comes it that you know me?" +He related to him what he had showed him in the city whither he had +led him. The young man added, "Was it in a dream, or awake, that you +saw all that?" "In a dream?" he replied. The young man then asked, +"Where is your body now?" "In my bed," said he. "Do you know that now +you see nothing with the eyes of your body?" "I know it," answered he. +"Well, then, with what eyes do you behold me?" As he hesitated, and +knew not what to reply, the young man said to him, "In the same way +that you see and hear me now that your eyes are shut, and your senses +asleep; thus after death you will live, you will see, you will hear, +but with eyes of the spirit; so doubt not that there is another life +after the present one." + +The great St. Anthony, one day when he was wide awake, saw the soul of +the hermit St. Ammon being carried into heaven in the midst of choirs +of angels. Now, St. Ammon died that same day, at five days' journey +from thence, in the desert of Nitria. The same St. Anthony saw also +the soul of St. Paul Hermitus ascending to heaven surrounded by choirs +of angels and prophets. St. Benedict beheld the spirit of St. Germain, +Bishop of Capua, at the moment of his decease, who was carried into +heaven by angels. The same saint saw the soul of his sister, St. +Scholastica, rising to heaven in the form of a dove. We might multiply +such instances without end. They are true apparitions of souls +separated from their bodies. + +St. Sulpicius Severus, being at some distance from the city of Tours, +and ignorant of what was passing there, fell one morning into a light +slumber; as he slept he beheld St. Martin, who appeared to him in a +white garment, his countenance shining, his eyes sparkling, his hair +of a purple color; it was, nevertheless, very easy to recognise him by +his air and his face. St. Martin showed himself to him with a smiling +countenance, and holding in his hand the book which St. Sulpicius +Severus had composed upon his life. Sulpicius threw himself at his +feet, embraced his knees, and implored his benediction, which the +saint bestowed upon him. All this passed in a vision; and as St. +Martin rose into the air, Sulpicius Severus saw still in the spirit +the priest Clarus, a disciple of the saint, who went the same way and +rose towards heaven. At that moment Sulpicius awoke, and a lad who +served him, on entering, told him that two monks who were just arrived +from Tours, had brought word that St. Martin was dead. + +The Baron de Coussey, an old and respectable magistrate, has related +to me more than once that, being at more than sixty leagues from the +town where his mother died the night she breathed her last, he was +awakened by the barking of a dog which laid at the foot of his bed; +and at the same moment he perceived the head of his mother environed +by a great light, who, entering by the window into his chamber, spoke +to him distinctly, and announced to him various things concerning the +state of his affairs. + +St. Chrysostom, in his exile,[353] and the night preceding his death, +saw the martyr St. Basilicus, who said to him--"Courage, brother John; +to-morrow we shall be together." The same thing was foretold to a +priest who lived in the same place. St. Basilicus said to him, +"Prepare a place for my brother John; for, behold, he is coming." + +The discovery of the body of St. Stephen, the first martyr, is very +celebrated in the Church; this occurred in the year 415. St. Gamaliel, +who had been the master of St. Paul before his conversion, appeared to +a priest named Lucius, who slept in the baptistery of the Church at +Jerusalem to guard the sacred vases, and told him that his own body +and that of St. Stephen the proto-martyr were interred at +Caphargamala, in the suburb named Dilagabis; that the body of his son +named Abibas, and that of Nicodemus, reposed in the same spot. Lucius +had the same vision three times following, with an interval of a few +days between. John, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who was then at the +Council of Dioscopolis, repaired to the spot, made the discovery and +translation of the relics, which were transported to Jerusalem, and a +great number of miracles were performed there. + +Licinius, being in his tent,[354] thinking of the battle he was to +fight on the morrow, saw an angel, who dictated to him a form of +prayer which he made his soldiers learn by heart, and by means of +which he gained the victory over the Emperor Maximian. + +Mascezel, general of the Roman troops which Stilicho sent into Africa +against Gildas, prepared himself for this war, in imitation of +Theodosius the Great, by prayer and the intervention of the servants +of God. He took with him in his vessel some monks, whose only +occupation during the voyage was to pray, fast, and sing psalms. +Gildas had an army of seventy thousand men; Mascezel had but five +thousand, and did not think he could without rashness attempt to +compete with an enemy so powerful and so far superior in the number of +his forces. As he was pondering uneasily on these things, St. Ambrose, +who died the year before, appeared to him by night, holding a staff in +his hand, and struck the ground three times, crying, "Here, here, +here!" Mascezel understood that the saint promised him the victory in +that same spot three days after. In fact, the third day he marched +upon the enemy, offering peace to the first whom he met; but an ensign +having replied to him very arrogantly, he gave him a severe blow with +his sword upon his arm, which made his standard swerve; those who were +afar off thought that he was yielding, and that he lowered his +standard in sign of submission, and they hastened to do the same. +Paulinus, who wrote the life of St. Ambrose, assures us that he had +these particulars from the lips of Mascezel himself; and Orosius heard +them from those who had been eye-witnesses of the fact. + +The persecutors having inflicted martyrdom on seven Christian +virgins,[355] one of them appeared the following night to St. +Theodosius of Ancyra, and revealed to him the spot where herself and +her companions had been thrown into the lake, each one with a stone +tied around her neck. As Theodosius and his people were occupied in +searching for their bodies, a voice from heaven warned Theodosius to +be on his guard against the traitor, meaning to indicate Polycronius, +who betrayed Theodosius, and was the occasion of his being arrested +and martyred. + +St. Potamienna,[356] a Christian virgin who suffered martyrdom at +Alexandria, appeared after her death to several persons, and was the +cause of their conversion to Christianity. She appeared in particular +to a soldier named Basilidus, who, as he was conducting her to the +place of execution, had protected her from the insults of the +populace. This soldier, encouraged by Potamienna, who in a vision +placed a garland upon his head, was baptized, and received the crown +of martyrdom. + +St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neocaesarea in Pontus, being +greatly occupied with certain theological difficulties, raised by +heretics concerning the mysteries of religion, and having passed great +part of the night in studying those matters, saw a venerable old man +enter his room, having by his side a lady of august and divine form; +he comprehended that these were the Holy Virgin and St. John the +Evangelist. The Virgin exhorted St. John to instruct the bishop, and +dissipate his embarrassment, by explaining clearly to him the mystery +of the Trinity and the Divinity of the Verb or Word. He did so, and +St. Gregory wrote it down instantly. It is the doctrine which he left +to his church, and which they have to this very day. + + +Footnotes: + +[344] Aug. de Cura gerend. pro Mortuis, c. x. + +[345] Concil. Eliber, auno circiter 300. + +[346] Amplilo. vita S. Basil. and Chronic. Alex. p. 692. + +[347] Acta sincera Mart. pp. 11, 22. Edit. 1713. + +[348] Paulin. vit. S. Ambros. n. 47, 48. + +[349] Ambros. Epist. 22, p. 874; vid. notes, ibid. + +[350] Evod. Upsal. apud Aug. Epist. clviii. Idem, Aug. Epist. clix. + +[351] "Animan igitur omni corpore carere omnino non posse, illud, ut +puto, ostendit quia Deus solus omni corpore semper caret." + +[352] "Quid se praecipitat de rarissimis aut inexpertis quasi definitam +ferre sententiam, cum quotidiana et continua non solvat?" + +[353] Palladius, Dialog, de Vita Chrysost. c. xi. + +[354] Lactant. de Mort. Persec. c. 46. + +[355] Acta sincera Martyr. passion. S. Theodos. M. pp. 343, 344. + +[356] Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. c. 8. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +MORE INSTANCES OF APPARITIONS. + + +Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, relates that a good priest named +Stephen, having received the confession of a lord named Guy, who was +mortally wounded in a combat, this lord appeared to him completely +armed some time after his death, and begged of him to tell his brother +Anselm to restore an ox which he Guy had taken from a peasant, whom he +named, and repair the damage which he had done to a village which did +not belong to him, and which he had taxed with undue charges; that he +had forgotten to declare these two sins in his last confession, and +that he was cruelly tormented for it. "And as assurance of the truth +of what I tell you," added he, "when you return home, you will find +that you have been robbed of the money you intended for your expenses +in going to St. Jacques." The cure, on his return to his house, found +his money gone, but could not acquit himself of his commission, +because Anselm was absent. A few days after, Guy appeared to him +again, and reproached him for having neglected to perform what he had +asked of him. The cure excused himself on account of the absence of +Anselm; and at length went to him and told him what he was charged to +do. Anselm answered him harshly that he was not obliged to do penance +for his brother's sins. + +The dead man appeared a third time, and implored the cure to assist +him in this extremity; he did so, and restored the value of the ox; +but as the rest exceeded his power, he gave alms, and recommended Guy +to the worthy people of his acquaintance; and he appeared no more. + +Richer, a monk of Senones,[357] speaks of a spirit which returned in +his time, in the town of Epinal, about the year 1212, in the house of +a burgess named Hugh de la Cour, and who, from Christmas to Midsummer, +did a variety of things in that same house, in sight of everybody. +They could hear him speak, they could see all he did, but nobody could +see him. He said he belonged to Clexenteine, a village seven leagues +from Epinal; and what is also remarkable is that, during the six +months he was heard about the house, he did no harm to any one. One +day, Hugh having ordered his domestic to saddle his horse, and the +valet being busy about something else, deferred doing it, when the +spirit did his work, to the great astonishment of all the household. +Another time, when Hugh was absent, the spirit asked Stephen, the +son-in-law of Hugh, for a penny, to make an offering of it to St. +Goeric, the patron saint of Epinal. Stephen presented him with an old +denier of Provence; but the spirit refused it, saying he would have a +good denier of Thoulouse. Stephen placed on the threshold of the door +a Thoulousian denier, which disappeared immediately; and the following +night, a noise, as of a man who was walking therein, was heard in the +church of St. Goeric. + +Another time, Hugh having bought some fish to make his family a +repast, the spirit transported the fish to the garden which was behind +the house, put half of it on a tile (_scandula_), and the rest in a +mortar, where it was found again. Another time, Hugh desiring to be +bled, told his daughter to get ready some bandages. Immediately the +spirit went into another room, and fetched a new shirt, which he tore +up into several bandages, presented them to the master of the house, +and told him to choose the best. Another day, the servant having +spread out some linen in the garden to dry, the spirit carried it all +up stairs, and folded them more neatly than the cleverest laundress +could have done. + +A man named Guy de la Torre,[358] who died at Verona in 1306, at the +end of eight days spoke to his wife and the neighbors of both sexes, +to the prior of the Dominicians, and to the professor of theology, who +asked him several questions in theology, to which he replied very +pertinently. He declared that he was in purgatory for certain +unexpatiated sins. They asked him how he possibly could speak, not +having the organs of the voice; he replied that souls separated from +the body have the faculty of forming for themselves instruments of the +air capable of pronouncing words; he added that the fire of hell acted +upon spirits, not by its natural virtue, but by the power of God, of +which that fire is the instrument. + +Here follows another remarkable instance of an apparition, related by +M. d'Aubigne. "I affirm upon the word of the king[359] the second +prodigy, as being one of the three stories which he reiterated to us, +his hair standing on end at the time, as we could perceive. This one +is, that the queen having gone to bed at an earlier hour than usual, +and there being present at her _coucher_, amongst other persons of +note, the king of Navarre,[360] the Archbishop of Lyons, the Ladies de +Retz, de Lignerolles, and de Sauve, two of whom have since confirmed +this conversation. As she was hastening to bid them good night, she +threw herself with a start upon her bolster, put her hands before her +face, and crying out violently, she called to her assistance those who +were present, wishing to show them, at the foot of the bed, the +Cardinal (de Lorraine), who extended his hand towards her; she cried +out several times, 'M. the Cardinal, I have nothing to do with you.' +The King of Navarre at the same time sent out one of his gentlemen, +who brought back word that he had expired at that same moment." + +I take from Sully's Memoirs,[361] which have just been reprinted in +better order than they were before, another singular fact, which may +be related with these. We still endeavor to find out what can be the +nature of that illusion, seen so often and by the eyes of so many +persons in the Forest of Fontainebleau; it was a phantom surrounded by +a pack of hounds, whose cries were heard, while they might be seen at +a distance, but all disappeared if any one approached. + +The note of M. d'Ecluse, editor of these Memoirs, enters into longer +details. He observes that M. de Perefixe makes mention of this +phantom; and he makes him say, with a hoarse voice, one of these three +sentences: Do you expect me? or, Do you hear me? or, Amend yourself. +"And they believe," says he, "that these were sports of sorcerers, or +of the malignant spirit." The Journal of Henry IV., and the Septenary +Chronicle, speak of them also, and even assert that this phenomenon +alarmed Henry IV. and his courtiers very much. And Peter Matthew says +something of it in his History of France, tom. ii. p. 68. Bongars +speaks of it as others do,[362] and asserts that it was a hunter who +had been killed in this forest in the time of Francis I. But now we +hear no more of this spectre, though there is still a road in this +forest which retains the name of the _Grand Veneur_, in memory, it is +said, of this visionary scene. + +A Chronicle of Metz,[363] under the date of the year 1330, relates the +apparition of a spirit at Lagni sur Marne, six leagues from Paris. It +was a good lady, who after her death spoke to more than twenty +people--her father, sister, daughter, and son-in-law, and to her other +friends--asking them to have said for her particular masses, as being +more efficacious than the common mass. As they feared it might be an +evil spirit, they read to it the beginning of the Gospel of St. John; +and they made it say the _Pater_, _credo_, and _confiteor_. She said +she had beside her two angels, one bad and one good; and that the good +angel revealed to her what she ought to say. They asked her if they +should go and fetch the Holy Sacrament from the altar. She replied it +was with them, for her father, who was present, and several others +among them, had received it on Christmas day, which was the Tuesday +before. + +Father Taillepied, a Cordelier, and professor of theology at +Rouen,[364] who composed a book expressly on the subject of +apparitions, which was printed at Rouen in 1600, says that one of his +fraternity with whom he was acquainted, named Brother Gabriel, +appeared to several monks of the convent at Nice, and begged of them +to satisfy the demand of a shopkeeper at Marseilles, of whom he had +taken a coat he had not paid for. On being asked why he made so much +noise, he replied that it was not himself, but a bad spirit who wished +to appear instead of him, and prevent him from declaring the cause of +his torment. + +I have been told by two canons of St. Diez, in our neighborhood, that +three months after the death of M. Henri, canon of St. Diez, of their +brotherhood, the canon to whom the house devolved, going with one of +his brethren, at two o'clock in the afternoon, to look at the said +house, and see what alterations it might suit him to make in it, they +went into the kitchen, and both of them saw in the next room, which +was large and very light, a tall ecclesiastic of the same height and +figure as the defunct canon, who, turning towards them, looked them in +the face for two minutes, then crossed the said room, and went up a +little dark staircase which led to the garret. + +These two gentlemen, being much frightened, left the house instantly, +and related the adventure to some of the brotherhood, who were of +opinion that they ought to return and see if there was not some one +hidden in the house; they went, they sought, they looked everywhere, +without finding any one. + +We read in the History of the Bishops of Mans,[365] that in the time +of Bishop Hugh, who lived in 1135, they heard, in the house of Provost +Nicholas, a spirit who alarmed the neighbors and those who lived in +the house, by uproar and frightful noises, as if he had thrown +enormous stones against the walls, with a force which shook the roof, +walls, and ceilings; he transported the dishes and the plates from one +place to another, without their seeing the hand which moved them. This +genius lighted a candle, though very far from the fire. Sometimes, +when the meat was placed on the table, he would scatter bran, ashes, +or soot, to prevent them from touching any of it. Amica, the wife of +the Provost Nicholas, having prepared some thread to be made into +cloth, the spirit twisted and raveled it in such a way that all who +saw it could not sufficiently admire the manner in which it was done. + +Priests were called in, who sprinkled holy water everywhere, and +desired all those who were there to make the sign of the cross. +Towards the first and second night, they heard as it were the voice of +a young girl, who, with sighs that seemed drawn from the bottom of her +heart, said, in a lamentable and sobbing voice, that her name was +Garnier; and addressing itself to the provost, said, "Alas! whence do +I come? from what distant country, through how many storms, dangers, +through snow, cold, fire, and bad weather, have I arrived at this +place! I have not received power to harm any one--but prepare +yourselves with the sign of the cross against a band of evil spirits, +who are here only to do you harm; have a mass of the Holy Ghost said +for me, and a mass for those defunct; and you, my dear sister-in-law, +give some clothes to the poor, for me." + +They asked this spirit several questions on things past and to come, +to which it replied very pertinently; it explained even the salvation +and damnation of several persons; but it would not enter into any +argument, nor yet into conference with learned men, who were sent by +the Bishop of Mans; this last circumstance is very remarkable, and +casts some suspicion on this apparition. + + +Footnotes: + +[357] Richer Senon. in Chronic. m. (Hoc non exstat in impresso). + +[358] Herman Contraet. Chronic. p. 1006. + +[359] D'Aubigne, Hist. Univ. lib. ii. c. 12. Ap. 1574. + +[360] Henry IV. + +[361] Mem. de Sully, in 4to. tom. i. liv. x. p. 562, note 26. Or Edit. +in 12mo. tom. iii. p. 321, note 26. + +[362] Bongars, Epist. ad Camerarium. + +[363] Chronic. Metens. Anno, 1330. + +[364] Taillepied, Traite de l'Apparition des Esprits, c. xv. p. 173. + +[365] Anecdote Mabill, p. 320. Edition in fol. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +ON THE APPARITIONS OF SPIRITS WHO IMPRINT THEIR HANDS ON CLOTHES OR ON +WOOD. + + +Within a short time, a work composed by a Father Premontre, of the +Abbey of Toussaints, in the Black Forest, has been communicated to me. +His work is in manuscript, and entitled, "Umbra Humberti, hoc est +historia memorabilis D. Humberti Birkii, mira post mortem apparitione, +per A. G. N." + +This Humbert Birck was a burgess of note, in the town of Oppenheim, +and master of a country house called Berenbach; he died in the month +of November, 1620, a few days before the feast of St. Martin. On the +Saturday which followed his funeral, they began to hear certain noises +in the house where he had lived with his first wife; for at the time +of his death he had married again. + +The master of this house, suspecting that it was his brother-in-law +who haunted it, said to him, "If you are Humbert, my brother-in-law, +strike three times against the wall." At the same time, they heard +three strokes only, for ordinarily he struck several times. Sometimes, +also, he was heard at the fountain where they went for water, and he +frightened all the neighborhood; he did not always utter articulate +sounds, but he would knock repeatedly, make a noise, or a groan, or a +shrill whistle, or sounds as a person in lamentation; all this lasted +for six months, and then it suddenly ceased. At the end of a year he +made himself heard more loudly than ever. The master of the house, and +his domestics, the boldest amongst them, at last asked him what he +wished for, and in what they could help him? He replied, but in a +hoarse, low tone, "Let the cure come here next Saturday with my +children." The cure being indisposed, could not go thither on the +appointed day; but he went on the Monday following, accompanied by a +good many people. + +Humbert received notice of this, and he answered in a very +intelligible manner. They asked him if he required any masses to be +said? He asked for three. Then they wished to know if alms should be +given in his name? He said, "I wish them to give eight measures of +corn to the poor, and that my widow may give something to all my +children." He afterwards ordered that what had been badly distributed +in his succession, which amounted to about twenty florins, should be +set aside. They asked why he infested that house rather than another? +He answered that he was forced to it by conjuration and maledictions. +Had he received the sacraments of the Church? "I received them from +the cure, your predecessor." He was made to say the _Pater_ and the +_Ave_; he recited them with difficulty, saying that he was prevented +by an evil spirit, who would not let him tell the cure many other +things. + +The cure, who was named Premontre, of the abbey of Toussaints, came to +the monastery on Tuesday the 12th of January, 1621, in order to take +the opinion of the Superior on this singular affair; they let him have +three monks to help him with their counsels. They all repaired to the +house wherein Humbert continued his importunity; for nothing that he +had requested had as yet been executed. A great number of those who +lived near were assembled in the house. The master of it told Humbert +to rap against the wall; he knocked very gently: then the master +desired him to go and fetch a stone and knock louder; he deferred a +little, as if he had been to pick up a stone, and gave a stronger blow +upon the wall: the master whispered in his neighbor's ear as softly as +he could that he should rap seven times, and directly he rapped seven +times. He always showed great respect to the priests, and did not +reply to them so boldly as to the laity; and when he was asked +why--"It is," said he, "because they have with them the Holy +Sacrament." However, they had it no otherwise than because they had +said mass that day. The next day the three masses which he had +required were said, and all was disposed for a pilgrimage, which he +had specified in the last conversation they had with him; and they +promised to give alms for him the first day possible. From that time +Humbert haunted them no more. + +The same monk, Premontre, relates that on the 9th of September, 1625, +a man named John Steinlin died at a place called Altheim, in the +diocese of Constance. Steinlin was a man in easy circumstances, and a +common-councilman of his town. Some days after his death he appeared +during the night to a tailor, named Simon Bauh, in the form of a man +surrounded by a sombre flame, like that of lighted sulphur, going and +coming in his own house, but without speaking. Bauh, who was +disquieted by this sight, resolved to ask him what he could do to +serve him. He found an opportunity to do so the 17th of November in +the same year, 1625; for, as he was reposing at night near his stove, +a little after eleven o'clock, he beheld this spectre environed by +fire like sulphur, who came into his room, going and coming, shutting +and opening the windows. The tailor asked him what he desired. He +replied, in a hoarse, interrupted voice, that he could help very much, +if he would; "but," added he, "do not promise me to do so, if you are +not resolved to execute your promises." "I will execute them, if they +are not beyond my power," replied he. + +"I wish, then," replied the spirit, "that you would cause a mass to be +said in the chapel of the Virgin at Rotembourg; I made a vow to that +intent during my life, and I have not acquitted myself of it. +Moreover, you must have two masses said at Altheim, the one of the +Defunct and the other of the Virgin; and as I did not always pay my +servants exactly, I wish that a quarter of corn should be distributed +to the poor." Simon promised to satisfy him on all these points. The +spectre held out his hand, as if to ensure his promise; but Simon, +fearing that some harm might happen to himself, tendered him the board +which come to hand, and the spectre having touched it, left the print +of his hand with the four fingers and thumb, as if fire had been +there, and had left a pretty deep impression. After that, he vanished +with so much noise that it was heard three houses off. + +I related in the first edition of this dissertation on the return of +spirits, an adventure which happened at Fontenoy on the Moselle, where +it was affirmed that a spirit had in the same manner made the +impression of its hand on a handkerchief, and had left the impress of +the hand and of the palm well marked. The handkerchief is in the hands +of one Casmar, a constable living at Toul, who received it from his +uncle, the cure of Fontenoy; but, on a careful investigation of the +thing, it was found that a young blacksmith, who courted a young girl +to whom the handkerchief belonged, had forged an iron hand to print it +on the handkerchief, and persuade people of the reality of the +apparition. + +At St. Avold, a town of German Lorraine, in the house of the cure, +named M. Royer de Monelos, there was something very similar which +appears to have been performed by a servant girl, sixteen years of +age, who heard and saw, as she said, a woman who made a great noise in +the house; but she was the only person who saw and heard her, although +others heard also the noise which was made in the house. They saw also +the young servant, as it were, pushed, dragged, and struck by the +spirit, but never saw it, nor yet heard his voice. This contrivance +began on the night of the 31st of January, 1694, and finished about +the end of February the same year. The cure conjured the spirit in +German and French. He made no reply to the exorcisms in French but +sighs; and as they terminated the German exorcism, saying, "Let every +spirit praise the Lord," the girl said that the spirit had said, "And +me also;" but she alone heard it. + +Some monks of the abbey were requested to come also and exorcise the +spirit. They came, and with them some burgesses of note of St. Avold; +and neither before nor after the exorcisms did they see or hear +anything, except that the servant girl seemed to be pushed violently, +and the doors were roughly knocked at. By dint of exorcisms they +forced the spirit, or rather the servant who alone heard and saw it, +to declare that she was neither maid nor wife; that she was called +Claire Margaret Henri; that a hundred and fifty years ago she had died +at the age of twenty, after having lived servant at the cure of St. +Avold's first of all for eight years, and that she had died at +Guenviller of grief and regret for having killed her own child. At +last, the servant maintaining that she was not a good spirit, she said +to her, "Give me hold of your petticoat (or skirt)." She would do no +such thing; at the same time the spirit said to her, "Look at your +petticoat; my mark is upon it." She looked and saw upon her skirt the +five fingers of the hand so distinctly that it did not appear possible +for any living creature to have marked them better. This affair lasted +about two months; and at this day, at St. Avold, as in all the +country, they talk of the spirit of St. Avold as of a game played by +that girl, in concert, doubtless, with some persons who wished to +divert themselves by puzzling the good cure with his sisters, and all +those who fell into the trap. They printed at Cusson's, at Nancy, in +1718, a relation of this event, which at first gained credence with a +number of people, but who were quite undeceived in the end. + +I shall add to this story that which is related by Philip +Melancthon,[366] whose testimony in this matter ought not to be +doubted. He says that his aunt having lost her husband when she was +enceinte and near her time, she saw one day, towards evening, two +persons come into her house; one of them wore the form of her deceased +husband, the other that of a tall Franciscan. At first she was +frightened, but her husband reassured her, and told her that he had +important things to communicate to her; at the same time he begged the +Franciscan to pass into the next room, whilst he imparted his wishes +to his wife. Then he begged of her to have some masses said for the +relief of his soul, and tried to persuade her to give her hand without +fear; as she was unwilling to give it, he assured her she would feel +no pain. She gave him her hand, and her hand felt no pain when she +withdrew it, but was so blackened that it remained discolored all her +life. After that, the husband called in the Franciscan; they went out, +and disappeared. Melancthon believes that these were two spectres; he +adds that he knows several similar instances related by persons worthy +of credit. + +If these two men were only spectres, having neither flesh nor bones, +how could one of them imprint a black color on the hand of this widow? +How could he who appeared to the tailor Bauh imprint his hand on the +board which he presented to him? If they were evil genii, why did they +ask for masses and order restitution? Does Satan destroy his own +empire, and does he inspire the living with the idea of doing good +actions and of fearing the pains which the sins of the wicked are +punished by God? + +But on looking at the affair in another light, may not the demon in +this kind of apparitions, by which he asks for masses and prayers, +intend to foment superstition, by making the living believe that +masses and prayers made for them after their death would free them +from the pains of hell, even if they died in habitual crime and +impenitence? Several instances are cited of rascals who have appeared +after their death, asking for prayers like the bad rich man, and to +whom prayers and masses can be of no avail from the unhappy state in +which they died. Thus, in all this, Satan seeks to establish his +kingdom, and not to destroy it or diminish it. + +We shall speak hereafter, in the Dissertation on Vampires, of +apparitions of dead persons who have been seen, and acted like living +ones in their own bodies. + +The same Melancthon relates that a monk came one day and rapped loudly +at the door of Luther's dwelling, asking to speak to him; he entered +and said, "I entertained some popish errors upon which I shall be very +glad to confer with you." "Speak," said Luther. He at first proposed +to him several syllogisms, to which he easily replied; he then +proposed others, that were more difficult. Luther, being annoyed, +answered him hastily, "Go, you embarrass me; I have something else to +do just now besides answering you." However, he rose and replied to +his arguments. At the same time, having remarked that the pretended +monk had hands like the claws of a bird, he said to him, "Art not thou +he of whom it is said, in Genesis, 'He who shall be born of woman +shall break the head of the serpent?'" The demon added, "But _thou_ +shalt engulf them all." At these words the confused demon retired +angrily and with much fracas; he left the room infested with a very +bad smell, which was perceptible for some days. + +Luther, who assumes so much the _esprit fort_, and inveighs with so +much warmth against private masses wherein they pray for the souls of +the defunct,[367] maintains boldly that all the apparitions of spirits +which we read in the lives of the saints, and who ask for masses for +the repose of their souls, are only illusions of Satan, who appears to +deceive the simple, and inspire them with useless confidence in the +sacrifice of the mass. Whence he concludes that it is better at once +to deny absolutely that there is any purgatory. + +He, then, did not deny either apparitions or the operations of the +devil; and he maintained that Ecolampadius died under the blows of the +devil,[368] whose efforts he could not rebut; and, speaking of +himself, he affirms that awaking once with a start in the middle of +the night, the devil appeared, to argue against him, when he was +seized with moral terror. The arguments of the demon were so pressing +that they left him no repose of mind; the sound of his powerful voice, +his overwhelming manner of disputing when the question and the reply +were perceived at once, left him no breathing time. He says again that +the devil can kill and strangle, and without doing all that, press a +man so home by his arguments that it is enough to kill one; "as I," +says he, "have experienced several times." After such avowals, what +can we think of the doctrine of this chief of the innovators? + + +Footnotes: + +[366] Philipp. Melancth. Theolog. c. i. Oper. fol. 326, 327. + +[367] Martin Luther, de Abroganda Missa Privata, part. ii. + +[368] Ibid. tom. vii. 226. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +OPINIONS OF THE JEWS, GREEKS, AND LATINS CONCERNING THE DEAD WHO ARE +LEFT UNBURIED. + + +The ancient Hebrews, as well as the greater number of other nations, +were very careful in burying their dead. That appears from all +history; we see in the Scripture how much attention the patriarchs +paid in that respect to themselves and those belonging to them; we +know what praises are bestowed on the holy man Tobit, whose principal +devotion consisted in giving sepulture to the dead. + +Josephus the historian[369] says that the Jews refused burial only to +those who committed suicide. Moses commanded them[370] to give +sepulture the same day and before sunset to any who were executed and +hanged on a tree; "because," says he, "he who is hung upon the tree is +accursed of God; you will take care not to pollute the land which the +Lord your God has given you." That was practiced in regard to our +Saviour, who was taken down from the cross the same day that he had +been crucified, and a few hours after his death. + +Homer,[371] speaking of the inhumanity of Achilles, who dragged the +body of Hector after his car, says that he dishonored and outraged the +earth by this barbarous conduct. The Rabbis write that the soul is not +received into heaven until the gross body is interred, and entirely +consumed. They believe, moreover, that after death the souls of the +wicked are clothed with a kind of covering with which they accustom +themselves to suffer the torments which are their due; and that the +souls of the just are invested with a resplendent body and a luminous +garment, with which they accustom themselves to the glory which awaits +them. + +Origen[372] acknowledges that Plato, in his Dialogue of the Soul, +advances that the images and shades of the dead appeared sometimes +near their tombs. Origen concludes from that, that those shades and +those images must be produced by some cause; and that cause, according +to him, can only be that the soul of the dead is invested with a +subtile body like that of light, on which they are borne as in a car, +where they appear to the living. Celsus maintained that the +apparitions of Jesus Christ after his resurrection were only the +effects of an imagination smitten and prepossessed, which formed to +itself the object of its illusions according to its wishes. Origen +refutes this solidly by the recital of the evangelists, of the +appearance of our Saviour to Thomas, who would not believe it was +truly our Saviour until he had seen and touched his wounds; it was +not, then, purely the effect of his imagination. + +The same Origen,[373] and Theophylact after him, assert that the Jews +and pagans believe that the soul remained for some time near the body +it had formerly animated; and that it is to destroy that futile +opinion that Jesus Christ, when he would resuscitate Lazarus, cries +with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth;" as if he would call from a +distance the soul of this man who had been dead three days. + +Tertullian places the angels in the category of extension,[374] in +which he places God himself, and maintains that the soul is corporeal. +Origen believes also that the soul is material, and has a form;[375] +an opinion which he may have taken from Plato. Arnobius, Lactantius, +St. Hilary, several of the ancient fathers, and some theologians, have +been of the same opinion; and Grotius is displeased with those who +have absolutely spiritualized the angels, demons and souls separated +from the body. + +The Jews of our days[376] believe that after the body of a man is +interred, his spirit goes and comes, and departs from the spot where +it is destined to visit his body, and to know what passes around him; +that it is wandering during a whole year after the death of the body, +and that it was during that year of delay that the Pythoness of Endor +evoked the soul of Samuel, after which time the evocation would have +had no power over his spirit. + +The pagans thought much in the same manner upon it. Lucan introduces +Pompey, who consults a witch, and commands her to evoke the soul of a +dead man to reveal to him what success he would meet with in his war +against Caesar; the poet makes this woman say, "Shade, obey my spells, +for I evoke not a soul from gloomy Tartarus, but one which hath gone +down thither a little while since, and which is still at the gate of +hell."[377] + +The Egyptians[378] believed that when the spirit of an animal is +separated from its body by violence, it does not go to a distance, but +remains near it. It is the same with the soul of a man who has died a +violent death; it remains near the body--nothing can make it go away; +it is retained there by sympathy; several have been seen sighing near +their bodies which were interred. The magicians abuse their power over +such in their incantations; they force them to obey, when they are +masters of the dead body, or even part of it. Frequent experience +taught them that there is a secret virtue in the body, which draws +towards it the spirit which has once inhabited it; wherefore those who +wish to receive or become the receptacles of the spirits of such +animals as know the future, eat the principle parts of them, as the +hearts of crows, moles, or hawks. The spirit of these creatures enters +into them at the moment they eat this food, and makes them give out +oracles like divinities. + +The Egyptians believed[379] that when the spirit of a beast is +delivered from its body, it is rational and predicts the future, gives +oracles, and is capable of all that the soul of man can do when +disengaged from the body--for which reason they abstained from eating +the flesh of animals, and worshiped the gods in the form of beasts. + +At Rome and at Metz there were colleges of priests consecrated to the +service of the manes,[380] lares, images, shades, spectres, Erebus, +Avernus or hell, under the protection of the god Sylvanus; which +demonstrates that the Latins and the Gauls recognized the return of +souls and their apparition, and considered them as divinities to whom +sacrifices should be offered to appease them and prevent them from +doing harm. Nicander confirms the same thing, when he says that the +Celts or the Gauls watched near the tombs of their great men to derive +from them knowledge concerning the future. + +The ancient northern nations were fully persuaded that the spectres +which sometimes appear are no other than the souls of persons lately +deceased, and in their country they knew no remedy so proper to put a +stop to this kind of apparition as to cut off the head of the dead +person, or to impale him, or pierce him through the body with a stake, +or to burn it, as is now practiced at this day in Hungary and Moravia +with regard to vampires. + +The Greeks, who had derived their religion and theology from the +Egyptians and Orientals, and the Latins, who took it from the Greeks, +believed that the souls of the dead sometimes appeared to the living; +that the necromancers evoked them, and thus obtained answers +concerning the future, and instructions relating to the time present. +Homer, the greatest theologian, and perhaps the most curious of the +Grecian writers, relates several apparitions, both of gods and heroes, +and of men after their death. + +In the Odyssey,[381] Ulysses goes to consult the diviner Tyresias; and +this sorcerer having prepared a grave full of blood to evoke the +manes, Ulysses draws his sword, and prevents them from coming to drink +this blood, for which they appear to thirst, and of which they would +not permit them to taste before they had replied to what was asked of +them; they (the Greeks and Latins) believed also that souls were not +at rest, and that they wandered around the corpses, so long as they +remained uninhumed.[382] When they gave burial to a body, they called +that _animam condere_,[383] to cover the soul, put it under the earth +and shelter it. They called it with a loud voice, and offered it +libations of milk and blood. They also called that ceremony, hiding +the shades,[384] sending them with their body under ground. + +The sybil, speaking to AEneas, shows him the manes or shades wandering +on the banks of the Acheron; and tells him that they are souls of +persons who have not received sepulture, and who wander about for a +hundred years.[385] + +The philosopher Sallust[386] speaks of the apparitions of the dead +around their tombs in dark bodies; he tries to prove thereby the dogma +of the metempsychosis. + +Here is a singular instance of a dead man, who refuses the rite of +burial, acknowledging himself unworthy of it. Agathias relates[387] +that some pagan philosophers, not being able to relish the dogma of +the unity of a God, resolved to go from Constantinople to the court of +Chosroes, King of Persia, who was spoken of as a humane prince, and +one who loved learning. Simplicius of Silicia, Eulamius the Phrygian, +Protanus the Lydian, Hermenes and Philogenes of Phoenicia, and +Isidorus of Gaza, repaired then to the court of Chosroes, and were +well received there; but they soon perceived that that country was +much more corrupt than Greece, and they resolved to return to +Constantinople, where Justinian then reigned. + +As they were on their way, they found an unburied corpse, took pity on +it, and had it put in the ground by their own servants. The following +night this man appeared to one of them, and told him not to inter him, +who was not worthy of receiving sepulture; for the earth abhorred one +who had defiled his own mother. The next day they found the same +corpse cast out of the ground, and they comprehended that it was +defiled by incest, which rendered it unworthy of the honor of +receiving burial, although such crimes were known in Persia, and did +not excite the same horror there as in other countries. + +The Greeks and Latins believed that the souls of the dead came and +tasted what was presented on their tombs, especially honey and wine; +that the demons loved the smoke and odor of sacrifices, melody, the +blood of victims, commerce with women; that they were attached for a +time to certain spots or to certain edifices, which they haunted, and +where they appeared; that souls separated from their terrestrial body, +retained after death a subtile one, flexible, aerial, which preserved +the form of that they once had animated during their life; that they +haunted those who had done them wrong and whom they hated. Thus Virgil +describes Dido, in a rage, threatening to haunt the perfidious +AEneas.[388] + +When the spirit of Patroclus appeared to Achilles,[389] it had his +voice, his shape, his eyes, his garments, but not his palpable body. +When Ulysses went down to the infernal regions, he saw there the +divine Hercules,[390] that is to say, says Homer, his likeness; for he +himself is with the immortal gods, seated at their feast. AEneas +recognized his wife Creuesa, who appeared to him in her usual form, +only taller and more majestic.[391] + +We might cite a quantity of passages from the ancient poets, even from +the fathers of the church, who believed that spirits often appeared to +the living. Tertullian[392] believes that the soul is corporeal, and +that it has a certain figure. He appeals to the experience of those to +whom the ghosts of dead persons have appeared, and who have seen them +sensibly, corporeally, and palpably, although of an aerial color and +consistency. He defines the soul[393] a breath sent from God, +immortal, and having body and form. Speaking of the fictions of the +poets, who have asserted that souls were not at rest while their +bodies remain uninterred, he says all this is invented only to inspire +the living with that care which they ought to take for the burial of +the dead, and to take away from the relations of the dead the sight of +an object which would only uselessly augment their grief, if they kept +it too long in their houses; _ut instantia funeris et honor corporum +servetur et moeror affectuum temperetur_. + +St. Irenaeus[394] teaches, as a doctrine received from the Lord, that +souls not only subsist after the death of the body--without however +passing from one body into another, as those will have it who admit +the metempsychosis--but that they retain the form and remain near this +body, as faithful guardians of it, and remember naught of what they +have done or not done in this life. These fathers believed, then, in +the return of souls, their apparition, and their attachment to their +body; but we do not adopt their opinion on the corporeality of souls; +we are persuaded that they can appear with God's permission, +independently of all matter and of any corporeal substance which may +belong to them. + +As to the opinion of the soul being in a state of unrest while its +body is not interred, that it remains for some time near the tomb of +the body, and appears there in a bodily form; those are opinions which +have no solid foundation, either in Scripture or in the traditions of +the Church, which teach us that directly after death the soul is +presented before the judgment-seat of God, and is there destined to +the place that its good or bad actions have deserved. + + +Footnotes: + +[369] Joseph Bell. Jud. lib. iii c. 25. + +[370] Deut. xxi. 23. + +[371] Homer, Iliad, XXIV. + +[372] Origenes contra Celsum, p. 97. + +[373] Origenes in Joan. ix. &c. Theophylac. ibid. + +[374] Tertull. lib. de Anima. + +[375] Origenes contra Cels. lib. ii. + +[376] Bereseith Rabbae. c. 22. Vide Menasse de Resurrect. Mort. + +[377] + "Parete precanti + Non in Tartareo latitantem poscimus antro, + Assuetamque diu tenebris; modo luce fugata + Descendentem animam primo pallentis hiatu + Haeret adhuc orci." + _Lucan, Pharsal._ 16. + +[378] Porphyr. de Abstin. lib. ii. art. 47. + +[379] Demet. lib. iv. art. 10. + +[380] Gruter, p. lxiii. Mauric. Hist. de Metz, preface, p. 15. + +[381] Homer, Odyss. sub finem. Horat. lib. i. satyr. 8. Aug. de Civit. +Dei, lib. vii. c. 35. Clem. Alex. Paedag. lib. ii. c. 1. Prudent. +lib. iv. contra Symmach. Tertull. de Anim. Lactantius, lib. iii. + +[382] Virgil, AEn. iii. 150, _et seq._ + + "Propterea jacet exanimum tibi corpus amici, + Heu nescis! totamque incestat funere classem. + Sedibus hunc refer ante suis et conde sepulcre." + +[383] + "Animamque sepulchro + Condimus, et magna supremum voce ciemus." + +[384] + "Romulus ut tumulo fraternas condidit umbras, + Et male veloci justa soluta Remo." + +[385] + "Haec omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataque turba est. + Centum errant annos, volitantque haec littora circum." + +[386] Sallust. Philos. c. 19, 20. + +[387] Stolust. lib. ii. de Bella Persico, sub fin. + +[388] + "Sequar atris ignibus absens; + Et cum frigida mors animae subduxerit artus, + Omnibus umbra lecis adero: dubis, improbe, poenas." + +[389] Homer, Iliad, XXIII. + +[390] Ibid. Odyss. V. + +[391] + "Infelix simulacrum etque ipsius umbra Creuesae + Visa mihi ante oculos, et nota major imago." _Virgil, AEneid_ I. + +[392] Tertull. de Anim. + +[393] Ibid. + +[394] Iren. lib. ii. c. 34. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +EXAMINATION OF WHAT IS REQUIRED OR REVEALED TO THE LIVING BY THE DEAD +WHO RETURN TO EARTH. + + +The apparitions which are seen are those of good angels, or of demons, +or the spirits of the dead, or of living persons to others still +living. + +Good angels usually bring only good news, and announce nothing but +what is fortunate; or if they do announce any future misfortunes, it +is to persuade men to prevent them, or turn them aside by repentance, +or to profit by the evils which God sends them by exercising their +patience, and showing submission to his orders. + +Bad angels generally foretell only misfortune; wars, the effect of the +wrath of God on nations; and often even they execute the evils, and +direct the wars and public calamities which desolate kingdoms, +provinces, cities, and families. The spectres whose appearance to +Brutus, Cassius, and Julian the Apostate we have related, are only +bearers of the fatal orders of the wrath of God. If they sometimes +promise any prosperity to those to whom they appear, it is only for +the present time, never for eternity, nor for the glory of God, nor +for the eternal salvation of those to whom they speak. It only extends +to a temporal fortune, always of short duration, and very often +deceitful. + +The souls of the defunct, if these be Christians, ask very often that +the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ should be offered, +according to the observation of St. Gregory the Great;[395] and, as +experience shows, there is hardly any apparition of a Christian that +does not ask for masses, pilgrimages, restitutions, or that alms +should be distributed, or that they would satisfy those to whom the +deceased died indebted. They also often give salutary advice for the +salvation or correction of the morals, or good regulation of families. +They reveal the state in which certain persons find themselves in the +other world, in order to relieve their pain, or to put the living on +their guard, that the like misfortune may not befall them. They talk +of hell, paradise, purgatory, angels, demons, of the Supreme Judge, of +the rigor of his judgments, of the goodness he exercises towards the +just, and the rewards with which he crowns their good works. + +But we must greatly mistrust those apparitions which ask for masses, +pilgrimages and restitution. St. Paul warns us that the demon often +transforms himself into an angel of light;[396] and St. John[397] +warns us to distrust the "depths of Satan," his illusions, and +deceitful appearances; that spirit of malice and falsehood is found +among the true prophets to put into the mouth of the false prophets +falsehood and error. He makes a wrong use of the text of the +Scriptures, of the most sacred ceremonies, even of the sacraments and +prayers of the church, to seduce the simple, and win their confidence, +to share as much as in him lies the glory which is due to the Almighty +alone, and to appropriate it to himself. How many false miracles has +he not wrought? How many times has he foretold future events? What +cures has he not operated? How many holy actions has he not counseled? +How many enterprises, praiseworthy in appearance, has he not inspired, +in order to draw the faithful into his snare? + +Boden, in his Demonology,[398] cites more than one instance of demons +who have requested prayers, and have even placed themselves in the +posture of persons praying over a grave, to point out that the dead +persons wanted prayers. Sometimes it will be the demon in the shape of +a wretch dead in crime, who will come and ask for masses, to show that +his soul is in purgatory, and has need of prayers, although it may be +certain that he finally died impenitent, and that prayers are useless +for his salvation. All this is only a stratagem of a demon, who seeks +to inspire the wicked with foolish and dangerous confidence in their +being saved, notwithstanding their criminal life and their +impenitence; and that they can obtain salvation by means of a few +prayers, and a few alms, which shall be made after their death; not +regarding that these good works can be useful only to those who died +in a state of grace, although stained by some venial fault, since the +Scripture informs us[399] that nothing impure will enter the kingdom +of heaven. + +It is believed that the reprobate can sometimes return to earth by +permission, as persons dead in idolatry, and consequently in sin, and +excluded from the kingdom of God, have been seen to come to life +again, be converted, and receive baptism. St. Martin was as yet only +the simple abbot of his monastery of Liguge,[400] when, in his +absence, a catechumen who had placed himself under his discipline to +be instructed in the truths of the Christian religion died without +having been baptized. He had been three days deceased when the saint +arrived. He sent everybody away, prayed over the dead man, +resuscitated him, and administered to him the baptismal rite. + +This catechumen related that he had been led before the tribunal of +the Supreme Judge, who had condemned him to descend into the darkness +with an infinity of other persons condemned like himself; but that two +angels having represented to the Judge that it was this man for whom +St. Martin interceded, God commanded the two angels to bring him back +to earth, and restore him to Martin. This is an instance which proves +what I have just said, that the reprobate can return to life, do +penance, and receive baptism. + +But as to what some have affirmed of the salvation of Falconila, +procured by St. Thecla, of that of Trajan, saved by the prayers of St. +Gregory, pope, and of some others who died heathens, this is all +entirely contrary to the faith of the church and to the holy +Scripture, which teach us that without faith it is impossible to +please God, and that he who believes not and has not received baptism +is already judged and condemned. Thus the opinions of those who accord +salvation to Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, &c., because it may appear to +them that they lived in a praiseworthy manner, according to the rules +of a merely human and philosophical morality, must be considered as +rash, erroneous, false, and dangerous. + +Philip, Chancellor of the Church of Paris, maintained that it was +permitted to one man to hold a plurality of benefices. Being on his +death-bed, he was visited by William, Bishop of Paris, who died in +1248. This prelate urged the chancellor to give up all his benefices +save one only; he refused, saying that he wished to try if the holding +a plurality of livings was so wrong as it was said to be; and in this +disposition of mind he died in 1237. + +Some days after his decease, Bishop William, or Guillaume, praying by +night, after matins, in his cathedral, beheld before him the hideous +and frightful figure of a man. He made the sign of the cross, and said +to him, "If you are sent by God, speak." He spoke, and said: "I am +that wretched chancellor, and have been condemned to eternal +punishment." The bishop having asked him the cause, he replied, "I am +condemned, first, for not having distributed the superfluity of my +benefices; secondly, for having maintained that it was allowable to +hold several at once; thirdly, for having remained for several days in +the guilt of incontinence." + +The story was often preached by Bishop William to his clerks. It is +related by the Bishop Albertus Magnus, who was a cotemporary, in his +book on the sacraments; by William Durand, Bishop of Mande, in his +book _De Modo celebrandi Concilia_; and in Thomas de Cantimpre, in his +work _Des Abeilles_. He believed, then, that God sometimes permitted +the reprobate to appear to the living. + +Here is an instance of the apparition of a man and woman who were in a +state of reprobation. The Prince of Ratzivil,[401] in his Journey to +Jerusalem, relates that when in Egypt he bought two mummies, had them +packed up, and secretly as possible conveyed on board his vessel, so +that only himself and his two servants were aware of it; the Turks +making a great difficulty of allowing mummies to be carried away, +because they fancy that the Christians make use of them for magical +operations. When they were at sea, there arose at sundry times such a +violent tempest that the pilot despaired of saving the vessel. A good +Polish priest, of the suite of the Prince de Ratzivil, recited the +prayers suitable to the circumstance; but he was tormented, he said, +by two hideous black spectres, a man and a woman, who were on each +side of him, and threatened to take away his life. It was thought at +first that terror disturbed his mind. + +A calm coming on, he appeared tranquil; but very soon, the storm +beginning again, he was more tormented than before, and was only +delivered from these haunting spectres when the two mummies, which he +had not seen, were thrown into the sea, and neither himself nor the +pilot knew of their being in the ship. I will not deny the fact, which +is related by a prince incapable of desiring to impose on any one. But +how many reflections may we make on this event! Were they the souls of +these two pagans, or two demons who assumed their form? What interest +could the demon have in not permitting these bodies to come under the +power of the Christians? + + +Footnotes: + +[395] Greg. Mag. lib. iv. Dialog. c. 55. + +[396] Cor. xi. 14. + +[397] Rev. xxi. 14. + +[398] Bodin, Daemon. tom. iii. c. 6. + +[399] Rev. xxi. 27. + +[400] Sulpit. Sever. Vita St. Martin. c. 5. + +[401] Ratzivil, Peregrin, Jerosol. p. 218. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +APPARITIONS OF MEN STILL ALIVE, TO OTHER LIVING MEN, ABSENT, AND VERY +DISTANT FROM EACH OTHER. + + +We find in all history, both sacred and profane, ancient and modern, +an infinite number of examples of the apparition of persons alive to +other living persons. The prophet Ezekiel says of himself,[402] "I was +seated in my house, in the midst of the elders of my people, when on a +sudden a hand, which came from a figure shining like fire, seized me +by the hair; and the spirit transported me between heaven and earth, +and took me to Jerusalem, where he placed me near the inner gate, +which looks towards the north, where I saw the idol of jealousy" +(apparently Adonis), "and I there remarked the majesty of the Lord, as +I had seen it in the field; he showed me the idol of jealousy, to +which the Israelites burned incense; and the angel of the Lord said to +me: Thou seest the abominations which the children of Israel commit, +in turning away from my sanctuary; thou shalt see still greater. + +"And having pierced the wall of the temple, I saw figures of reptiles +and animals, the abominations and idols of the house of Israel, and +seventy men of the elders of Israel, who were standing before these +figures, each one bearing a censer in his hand; after that the angel +said to me, Thou shalt see yet something yet more abominable; and he +showed me women who were mourning for Adonis. Lastly, having +introduced me into the inner court of the temple, I saw twenty men +between the vestibule and the altar, who turned their back upon the +temple of the Lord, and stood with their faces to the _east_, and paid +adoration to the rising sun." + +Here we may remark two things; first, that Ezekiel is transported from +Chaldaea to Jerusalem, through the air between heaven and earth by the +hand of an angel; which proves the possibility of transporting a +living man through the air to a very great distance from the place +where he was. + +The second is, the vision or apparition of those prevaricators who +commit even within the temple the greatest abominations, the most +contrary to the majesty of God, the sanctity of the spot, and the law +of the Lord. After all these things, the same angel brings back +Ezekiel into Chaldaea; but it was not until after God had showed him +the vengeance he intended to exercise upon the Israelites. + +It will, perhaps, be said that all this passed only in a vision; that +Ezekiel thought that he was transported to Jerusalem and afterwards +brought back again to Babylon; and that what he saw in the temple he +saw only by revelation. I reply, that the text of this prophet +indicates a real removal, and that he was transported by the hair of +his head between heaven and earth. He was brought back from Jerusalem +in the same way. + +I do not deny that the thing might have passed in a vision, and that +Ezekiel might have seen in spirit what was passing in the temple of +Jerusalem. But I shall still deduce from it a consequence which is +favorable to my design, that is, the possibility of a living man being +carried through the air to a very great distance from the place he was +in, or at least that a living man can imagine strongly that he is +being carried from one place to another, although this transportation +may be only imaginary and in a dream or vision, as they pretend it +happens in the transportation of sorcerers to the witches' sabbath. + +In short, there are true appearances of the living to others who are +also alive. How is this done? The thing is not difficult to explain in +following the recital of the prophet, who is transferred from Chaldaea +into Judea in his own body by the ministration of angels; but the +apparitions related in St. Augustine and in other authors are not of +the same kind: the two persons who see and converse with each other go +not from their places; and the one who appears knows nothing of what +is passing in regard to him to whom he appears, and to whom he +explains several things of which he did not even think at that moment. + +In the third book of Kings, Obadiah, steward of king Ahab, having met +the prophet Elijah, who had for some time kept himself concealed, +tells him that king Ahab had him sought for everywhere, and that not +having been able to discover him anywhere, had gone himself to seek +him out. Elijah desired him to go and tell the king that Elijah had +appeared; but Obadiah replied, "See to what you expose me; for if I go +and announce to Ahab that I have spoken to you, the spirit of God will +transport you into some unknown place, and the king, not finding you, +will put me to death." + +There again is an instance which proves the possibility of the +transportation of a living man to a very distant spot. The same +prophet, being on Mount Carmel, was seized by the Spirit of God, which +transported him thence to Jezreel in very little time, not through the +air, but by making him walk and run with a promptitude that was quite +extraordinary. + +In the Gospel, Elias[403] appeared with Moses on Mount Tabor, at the +transfiguration of the Saviour. Moses had long been dead; but the +Church believes that Elijah (or Elias) is still living. In the Acts of +the Apostles,[404] Annanias appeared to St. Paul, and put his hands on +him in a vision before he arrived at his house in Damascus. + +Two men of the court of the Emperor Valens, wishing to discover by the +aid of magical secrets who would succeed that emperor,[405] caused a +table of laurel-wood to be made into a tripod, on which they placed a +basin made of divers metals. On the border of this basin were +engraved, at some distance from each other, the twenty-four letters of +the Greek alphabet. A magician with certain ceremonies approached the +basin, and holding in his hand a ring suspended by a thread, suffered +it at intervals to fall upon the letters of the alphabet whilst they +were rapidly turning the table; the ring falling on the different +letters formed obscure and enigmatical verses like those pronounced by +the oracle of Delphi. + +At last they asked what was the name of him who should succeed to the +Emperor Valens? The ring touched the four letters [Greek: THEOD], +which they interpreted of Theodosius, the second secretary of the +Emperor Valens. Theodosius was arrested, interrogated, convicted, and +put to death; and with him all the culprits or accomplices in this +operation; search was made for all the books of magic, and a great +number were burnt. The great Theodosius, of whom they thought not at +all, and who was at a great distance from the court, was the person +designated by these letters. In 379, he was declared Augustus by the +Emperor Gratian, and in coming to Constantinople in 380, he had a +dream, in which it seemed to him that Melitus, Bishop of Antioch, whom +he had never seen, and knew only by reputation, invested him with the +imperial mantle and placed the diadem on his head. + +They were then assembling the Eastern bishops to hold the Council of +Constantinople. Theodosius begged that Melitus might not be pointed +out to him, saying that he should recognize him by the signs he had +seen in his dream. In fact, he distinguished him amongst all the other +bishops, embraced him, kissed his hands, and looked upon him ever +after as his father. This was a distinct apparition of a living +man.[406] + +St. Augustine relates[407] that a certain man saw, in the night before +he slept, a philosopher, who was known to him, enter his house, and +who explained to him some of Plato's opinions which he would not +explain to him before. This apparition of the Platonician was merely +fantastic; for the person to whom he had appeared having asked him why +he would not explain to him at his house what he had come to explain +to him when at home, the philosopher replied, "I did not do so, but I +dreamt I did so." Here, then, are two persons both alive, one of whom, +in his sleep and dreaming, speaks to another who is wide awake, and +sees him only in imagination. + +The same St. Augustine[408] acknowledges in the presence of his people +that he had appeared to two persons who had never seen him, and knew +him only by reputation, and that he advised them to come to Hippo, to +be there cured by the merit of the martyr St. Stephen:--they came +there, and recovered their health. + +Evodius, teaching rhetoric at Carthage,[409] and finding himself +puzzled concerning the sense of a passage in the books of the Rhetoric +of Cicero, which he was to explain the next day to his scholars, was +much disquieted when he went to bed, and could hardly get to sleep. +During his sleep he fancied he saw St. Augustine, who was then at +Milan, a great way from Carthage, who was not thinking of him at all, +and was apparently sleeping very quietly in his bed at Milan, who came +to him and explained the passage in question. St. Augustine avows that +he does not know how it happens; but in whatever way it may occur, it +is very possible for us to see in a dream a dead person as we see a +living one, without either one or the other knowing how, when, or +where, these images are formed in our mind. It is also possible that a +dead man may appear to the living without being aware of it, and +discover to them secrets and hidden things, the result of which +reveals their truth and reality. When a living man appears in a dream +to another man, we do not say that his body or his spirit have +appeared, but simply that such a one has appeared to him. Why can we +not say that the dead appear without body and without soul, but simply +that their form presents itself to the mind and imagination of the +living person? + +St. Augustine, in the book which he has composed on the care which we +ought to take of the dead,[410] says that a holy monk, named John, +appeared to a pious woman, who ardently desired to see him. The +saintly doctor reasons a great deal on this apparition;--whether this +solitary foresaw what would happen to him; if he went in spirit to +this woman; if it is his angel or his spirit in his bodily form which +appeared to her in her sleep, as we behold in our dreams absent +persons who are known to us. We should be able to speak to the monk +himself, to know from himself how that occurred, if by the power of +God, or by his permission; for there is little appearance that he did +it by any natural power. + +It is said that St. Simeon Stylites[411] appeared to his disciple St. +Daniel, who had undertaken the journey to Jerusalem, where he would +have to suffer much for Jesus Christ's sake. St. Benedict[412] had +promised to comply with the request of some architects, who had begged +him to come and show them how he wished them to build a certain +monastery; the saint did not go to them bodily, but he went thither in +spirit, and gave them the plan and design of the house which they were +to construct. These men did not comprehend that it was what he had +promised them, and came to him again to ask what were his intentions +relative to this edifice: he said to them, "I have explained it to you +in a dream; you can follow the plan which you have seen." + +The Caesar Bardas, who had so mightily contributed to the deposition of +St. Ignatius, patriarch of Constantinople, had a vision, which he thus +related to Philothes his friend. "I thought I was that night going in +procession to the high church with the Emperor Michael. When we had +entered and were near the ambe, there appeared two eunuchs of the +chamber, with a cruel and ferocious mien, one of whom, having bound +the emperor, dragged him out of the choir on the right side; the other +dragged me in the same manner to the left. Then I saw on a sudden an +old man seated on the throne of the sanctuary. He resembled the image +of St. Peter, and two terrific men were standing near him, who looked +like provosts. I beheld, at the knees of St. Peter, St. Ignatius +weeping, and crying aloud, 'You have the keys of the kingdom of +heaven; if you know the injustice which has been done me, console my +afflicted old age.' + +"St. Peter replied, 'Point out the man who has used you ill.' +Ignatius, turning round, pointed to me, saying, 'That is he who has +done me most wrong.' St. Peter made a sign to the one at his right, +and placing in his hand a short sword, he said to him aloud, 'Take +Bardas, the enemy of God, and cut him in pieces before the vestibule.' +As they were leading me to death, I saw that he said to the emperor, +holding up his hand in a threatening manner, 'Wait, unnatural son!' +after which I saw them cut me absolutely in pieces." + +This took place in 866. The year following, in the month of April, the +emperor having set out to attack the Isle of Crete, was made so +suspicious of Bardas, that he resolved to get rid of him. He +accompanied the Emperor Michael in this expedition. Bardas, seeing the +murderers enter the emperor's tent, sword in hand, threw himself at +his feet to ask his pardon; but they dragged him out, cut him in +pieces, and in derision carried some of his members about at the end +of a pike. This happened the 29th of April, 867. + +Roger, Count of Calabria and Sicily, besieging the town of Capua, one +named Sergius, a Greek by birth, to whom he had given the command of +200 men, having suffered himself to be bribed, formed the design of +betraying him, and of delivering the army of the count to the Prince +of Capua, during the night. It was on the 1st of March that he was to +execute his intention. St. Bruno, who then dwelt in the Desert of +Squilantia, appeared to Count Roger, and told him to fly to arms +promptly, if he would not be oppressed by his enemies. The count +starts from his sleep, commands his people to mount their horses and +see what is going on in the camp. They met the men belonging to +Sergius, with the Prince of Capua, who having perceived them retired +promptly into the town; those of Count Roger took 162 of them, from +whom they learned all the secret of the treason. Roger went, on the +29th of July following, to Squilantia, and having related to Bruno +what had happened to him, the saint said to him, "It was not I who +warned you; it was the angel of God, who is near princes in time of +war." Thus Count Roger relates the affair himself, in a privilege +granted to St. Bruno. + +A monk[413] named Fidus, a disciple of St. Euthymius, a celebrated +abbot in Palestine, having been sent by Martyrius, the patriarch of +Jerusalem, on an important mission concerning the affairs of the +church, embarked at Joppa, and was shipwrecked the following night; he +supported himself above water for some time by clinging to a piece of +wood, which he found by chance. Then he invoked the help of St. +Euthymius, who appeared to him walking on the sea, and who said to +him, "Know that this voyage is not pleasing to God, and will be of no +utility to the mother of the Churches, that is to say, to Jerusalem. +Return to him who sent you, and tell him from me not to be uneasy at +the separation of the schismatics--union will take place ere long; for +you, you must go to my laurel grove, and you must build there a +monastery." + +Having said this, he enveloped Fidus in his mantle, and Fidus found +himself immediately at Jerusalem, and in his house, without knowing +how he came there; he related it all to the Patriarch Martyrius, who +remembered the prediction of St. Euthymius concerning the building in +the laurel grove a monastery. + +Queen Margaret, in her memoirs, asserts that God protects the great in +a particular manner, and that he lets them know, either in dreams or +otherwise, what is to happen to them. "As Queen Catherine de Medicis, +my mother," says she, "who the night before that unhappy day dreamt +she saw the king, Henry II., my father, wounded in the eye, as it +really happened; when she awoke she several times implored the king +not to tilt that day. + +"The same queen being dangerously ill at Metz, and having around her +bed the king (Charles IX.), my sister, and brother of Lorraine, and +many ladies and princesses, she cried out as if she had seen the +battle of Jarnac fought: 'See how they fly! my son has the victory! Do +you see the Prince of Conde dead in that hedge?' All those who were +present fancied she was dreaming; but the night after, M. de Losse +brought her the news. 'I knew it well,' said she; 'did I not behold it +the day before yesterday?'" + +The Duchess Philippa, of Gueldres, wife of the Duke of Lorraine, Rene +II., being a nun at St. Claire du Pont-a-Mousson, saw during her +orisons the unfortunate battle of Pavia. She cried out suddenly, "Ah! +my sisters, my dear sisters, for the love of God, say your prayers; my +son De Lambesc is dead, and the king (Francis I.) my cousin is made +prisoner." Some days after, news of this famous event, which happened +the day on which the duchess had seen it, was received at Nancy. +Certainly, neither the young Prince de Lambesc nor the king Francis I. +had any knowledge of this revelation, and they took no part in it. It +was, then, neither their spirit nor their phantoms which appeared to +the princess; it was apparently their angel, or God himself, who by +his power struck her imagination, and represented to her what was +passing at that moment. + +Mezeray affirms that he had often heard people of quality relate that +the duke (Charles the Third) of Lorraine, who was at Paris when King +Henry II. was wounded with the splinter of a lance, of which he died, +told the circumstance often of a lady who lodged in his hotel having +seen in a dream, very distinctly, that the king had been struck and +brought to the ground by a blow from a lance. + +To these instances of the apparition of living persons to other living +persons in their sleep, we may add an infinite number of other +instances of apparitions of angels and holy personages, or even of +dead persons, to the living when asleep, to give them instructions, +warn them of dangers which menace them, inspire them with salutary +counsel relative to their salvation, or to give them aid; thick +volumes might be composed on such matters. I shall content myself with +relating here some examples of those apparitions drawn from profane +authors. + +Xerxes, king of Persia, when deliberating in council whether he should +carry the war into Greece, was strongly dissuaded from it by +Artabanes, his paternal uncle. Xerxes took offence at this liberty, +and uttered some very disobliging words to him. The following night he +reflected seriously on the arguments of Artabanes, and changed his +resolution. When he was asleep, he saw in a dream a man of +extraordinary size and beauty, who said to him, "You have then +renounced your intention of making war on the Greeks, although you +have already given orders to the Persian chiefs to assemble your army. +You have not done well to change your resolve, even should no one be +of your opinion. Go forward; believe me. Follow your first design." +Having said this, the vision disappeared. The next day he again +assembled his council, and without speaking of his dream, he testified +his regret for what he said in his rage the preceding day to his uncle +Artabanes, and declared that he had renounced his design of making war +upon the Greeks. Those who composed the council, transported with joy, +prostrated themselves before him, and congratulated him upon it. + +The following night he had a second time the same vision, and the same +phantom said to him, "Son of Darius, thou hast then abandoned thy +design of declaring war against the Greeks, regardless of what I said +to thee. Know that if thou dost not instantly undertake this +expedition, thou wilt soon be reduced to a situation as low as that in +which thou now findest thyself elevated." The king directly rose from +his bed, and sent in all haste for Artabanes, to whom he related the +two dreams which he had had two nights consecutively. He added, "I +pray you to put on my royal ornaments, sit down on my throne, and then +lie down in my bed. If the phantom which appeared to me appears to you +also, I shall believe that the thing is ordained by the decrees of the +gods, and I shall yield to their commands." + +Artabanes would in vain have excused himself from putting on the royal +ornaments, sitting on the king's throne, and lying down in his bed, +alleging that all those things would be useless if the gods had +resolved to let him know their will; that it would even be more likely +to exasperate the gods, as if he desired to deceive them by external +appearances. As for the rest, dreams in themselves deserve no +attention, and usually they are only the consequences and +representations of what is most strongly in the mind when awake. + +Xerxes did not yield to his arguments, and Artabanes did what the king +desired, persuaded that if the same thing should occur more than once, +it would be a proof of the will of the gods, of the reality of the +vision, and the truth of the dream. He then laid down in the king's +bed, and the same phantom appeared to him, and said, "It is you, then, +who prevent Xerxes from executing his resolve and accomplishing what +is decreed by fate. I have already declared to the king what he has to +fear if he disobeys my orders." At the same time it appeared to +Artabanes that the spectre would burn his eyes with a red-hot iron. He +directly sprang from the couch, and related to Xerxes what had +appeared to him and what had been said to him, adding, "I now +absolutely change my opinion, since it pleases the gods that we should +make war, and that the Greeks be threatened with great misfortunes; +give your orders and dispose everything for this war:"--which was +executed immediately. + +The terrible consequences of this war, which was so fatal to Persia, +and at last caused the overthrow of that famous monarchy, leads us to +judge that this apparition, if a true one, was announced by an evil +spirit, hostile to that monarchy, sent by God to dispose things for +events predicted by the prophets, and the succession of great empires +predestined by the decrees of the Almighty. + +Cicero remarks that two Arcadians, who were traveling together, +arrived at Megara, a city of Greece, situated between Athens and +Corinth. One of them, who could claim hospitality in the town, was +lodged at a friend's, and the other at an inn. After supper, he who +was at a friend's house retired to rest. In his sleep, it seemed to +him that the man whom he had left at the inn appeared to him, and +implored his help, because the innkeeper wanted to kill him. He arose +directly, much alarmed at this dream, but having reassured himself, +and fallen asleep again, the other again appeared to him, and told him +that since he had not had the kindness to aid him, at least he must +not leave his death unpunished; that the innkeeper, after having +killed him, had hidden his body in a wagon, and covered it over with +dung, and that he must not fail to be the next morning at the opening +of the city gate, before the wagon went forth. Struck with this new +dream, he went early in the morning to the city gate, saw the wagon, +and asked the driver what he had got under the manure. The carter took +flight directly, the body was extricated from the wagon, and the +innkeeper arrested and punished. + +Cicero relates also some other instances of similar apparitions which +occurred in sleep; one is of Sophocles, the other of Simonides. The +former saw Hercules in a dream, who told him the name of a robber who +had taken a golden patera from his temple. Sophocles neglected this +notice, as an effect of disturbed sleep; but Hercules appeared to him +a second time, and repeated to him the same thing, which induced +Sophocles to denounce the robber, who was convicted by the Areopagus, +and from that time the temple was dedicated to Hercules the Revealer. + +The dream or apparition of Simonides was more useful to himself +personally. He was on the point of embarking, when he found on the +shore the corpse of an unknown person, as yet without sepulture. +Simonides had him interred, from humanity. The next night the dead man +appeared to Simonides, and, through gratitude, counseled him not to +embark in the vessel then riding in the harbor, because he would be +shipwrecked if he did. Simonides believed him, and a few days after, +he heard of the wreck of the vessel in which he was to have embarked. + +John Pico de la Mirandola assures us in his treatise, _De Auro_, that +a man, who was not rich, finding himself reduced to the last +extremity, and without any resources either to pay his debts or +procure nourishment for a numerous family in a time of scarcity, +overcome with grief and uneasiness, fell asleep. At the same time, one +of the blessed appeared to him in a dream, taught him by some +enigmatical words the means of making gold, and pointed out to him at +the same moment the water he must make use of to succeed in it. On his +awaking, he took some of that water, and made gold of it, in small +quantity, indeed, but enough to maintain his family. He made some +twice with iron, and three times with orpiment. "He has convinced me +by my own eyes," says Pico de la Mirandola, "that the means of making +gold artificially is not a falsehood, but a true art." + +Here is another sort of apparition of one living man to another, which +is so much the more singular, because it proves at once the might of +spells, and that a magician can render himself invisible to several +persons, while he discovers himself to one man alone. The fact is +taken from the Treatise on Superstitions, of the reverend father Le +Brun,[414] and is characterized by all which can render it +incontestible. On Friday, the first day of May, 1705, about five +o'clock in the evening, Denis Misanger de la Richardiere, eighteen +years of age, was attacked with an extraordinary malady, which began +by a sort of lethargy. They gave him every assistance that medicine +and surgery could afford. He fell afterwards into a kind of furor or +convulsion, and they were obliged to hold him, and have five or six +persons to keep watch over him, for fear that he should throw himself +out of the windows, or break his head against the wall. The emetic +which they gave him made him throw up a quantity of bile, and for four +or five days he remained pretty quiet. + +At the end of the month of May, they sent him into the country to take +the air; and some other circumstances occurred, so unusual, that they +judged he must be bewitched. And what confirmed this conjecture was +that he never had any fever, and retained all his strength, +notwithstanding all the pains and violent remedies which he had been +made to take. They asked him if he had not had some dispute with a +shepherd, or some other person suspected of sorcery or malpractices. + +He declared that on the 18th of April preceding, when he was going +through the village of Noysi on horseback for a ride, his horse +stopped short in the midst of the _Rue Feret_, opposite the chapel, +and he could not make him go forward, though he touched him several +times with the spur. There was a shepherd standing leaning against the +chapel, with his crook in his hand, and two black dogs at his side. +This man said to him, "Sir, I advise you to return home, for your +horse will not go forward." The young La Richardiere, continuing to +spur his horse, said to the shepherd, "I do not understand what you +say." The shepherd replied, in a low tone, "I will make you +understand." In effect, the young man was obliged to get down from his +horse, and lead it back by the bridle to his father's dwelling in the +same village. Then the shepherd cast a spell upon him, which was to +take effect on the 1st of May, as was afterwards known. + +During this malady, they caused several masses to be said in different +places, especially at St. Maur des Fosses, at St. Amable, and at St. +Esprit. Young La Richardiere was present at some of these masses +which were said at St. Maur; but he declared that he should not be +cured till Friday, the 26th of June, on his return from St. Maur. On +entering his chamber, the key of which he had in his pocket, he found +there that shepherd, seated in his arm-chair, with his crook, and his +two black dogs. He was the only person who saw him; none other in the +house could perceive him. He said even that this man was called Damis, +although he did not remember that any one had before this revealed his +name to him. He beheld him all that day, and all the succeeding night. +Towards six o'clock in the evening, as he felt his usual sufferings, +he fell on the ground, exclaiming that the shepherd was upon him, and +crushing him; at the same time he drew his knife, and aimed five blows +at the shepherd's face, of which he retained the marks. The invalid +told those who were watching over him that he was going to be very +faint at five different times, and begged of them to help him, and +move him violently. The thing happened as he had predicted. + +On Friday, the 26th of June, M. de la Richardiere, having gone to the +mass at St. Maur, asserted that he should be cured on that day. After +mass, the priest put the stole upon his head and recited the Gospel of +St. John, during which prayer the young man saw St. Maur standing, and +the unhappy shepherd at his left, with his face bleeding from the five +knife-wounds which he had given him. At that moment, the youth cried +out, unintentionally, "A miracle! a miracle!" and asserted that he was +cured, as in fact he was. + +On the 29th of June, the same M. de la Richardiere returned to Noysi, +and amused himself with shooting. As he was shooting in the vineyards, +the shepherd presented himself before him; he hit him on the head with +the butt-end of his gun. The shepherd cried out, "Sir, you are killing +me!" and fled. The next day, this man presented himself again before +him, and asked his pardon, saying, "I am called Damis; it was I who +cast a spell over you which was to have lasted a year. By the aid of +masses and prayers which have been said for you, you have been cured +at the end of eight weeks. But the charm has fallen back upon myself, +and I can be cured of it only by a miracle. I implore you then to pray +for me." + +During all these reports, the _mare chausee_ had set off in pursuit of +the shepherd; but he escaped them, having killed his two dogs and +thrown away his crook. On Sunday, the 13th of September, he came to M. +de la Richardiere, and related to him his adventure; that after having +passed twenty years without approaching the sacraments, God had given +him grace to confess himself at Troyes; and that after divers delays +he had been admitted to the holy communion. Eight days after, M. de la +Richardiere received a letter from a woman who said she was a relation +of the shepherd's, informing him of his death, and begging him to +cause a requiem mass to be said for him, which was done. + +How many difficulties may we make about this story! How could this +wretched shepherd cast the spell without touching the person? How +could he introduce himself into young M. de la Richardiere's chamber +without either opening or forcing the door? How could he render +himself visible to him alone, whilst none other beheld him? Can one +doubt of his corporeal presence, since he received five cuts from a +knife in his face, of which he afterwards bore the marks, when, by the +merit of the holy mass and the intercession of the saints, the spell +was taken off? How could St. Maur appear to him in his Benedictine +habit, having the wizard on his left hand? If the circumstance is +certain, as it appears, who shall explain the manner in which all +passed or took place? + + +Footnotes: + +[402] Ezek. viii. 1, 2, &c. + +[403] Matt. xvii. 3. + +[404] Acts ix. 10. + +[405] Acts ix. 2. + +[406] Ammian. Marcell. lib. xix. Sozomen. lib. vi. c. 35. + +[407] Aug. lib. viii. de Civit. c. 18. + +[408] Aug. Serm. cxxiii. pp. 1277, 1278. + +[409] Aug. de cura gerenda pro Mortuis, c. 11, 12. + +[410] Aug. de cura gerend. pro Mort. c. xxvii. p. 529. + +[411] Vita Daniel Stylit. xi. Decemb. + +[412] Gregor. lib. ii. Dialog. c. xxii. + +[413] Vita Sancti Euthym. pp. 86, 87. + +[414] Le Brun, Traite des Superstit. tom. i. pp. 281, 282, et seq. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +ARGUMENTS CONCERNING APPARITIONS. + + +After having spoken at some length upon apparitions, and after having +established the truth of them, as far as it has been possible for us +to do so, from the authority of the Scripture, from examples, and by +arguments, we must now exercise our judgment on the causes, means, and +reasons for these apparitions, and reply to the objections which may +be made to destroy the reality of them, or at least to raise doubts on +the subject. + +We have supposed that apparitions were the work of angels, demons, or +souls of the defunct; we do not talk of the appearance of God himself; +his will, his operations, his power, are above our reach; we +acknowledge that he can do all that he wills to do, that his will is +all-powerful, and that he places himself, when he chooses, above the +laws which he has made. As to the apparitions of the living to others +also living, they are of a different nature from what we propose to +examine in this place; we shall not fail to speak of them hereafter. + +Whatever system we may follow on the nature of angels, or demons, or +souls separated from the body; whether we consider them as purely +spiritual substances, as the Christian church at this day holds; +whether we give them an aerial body, subtile, and invisible, as many +have taught; it appears almost as difficult to render palpable, +perceptible, and thick a subtile and aerial body, as it is to condense +the air, and make it seem like a solid and perceptible body; as, when +the angels appeared to Abraham and Lot, the angel Raphael to Tobias, +whom he conducted into Mesopotamia; or when the demon appeared to +Jesus Christ, and led him to a high mountain, and on the pinnacle of +the Temple at Jerusalem; or when Moses appeared with Elias on Mount +Tabor: for those apparitions are certain from Scripture. + +If you will say that these apparitions were seen only in the +imagination and mind of those who saw, or believed they saw angels, +demons, or souls separated from the body, as it happens every day in +our sleep, and sometimes when awake, if we are strongly occupied with +certain objects, or struck with certain things which we desire +ardently or fear exceedingly--as when Ajax, thinking he saw Ulysses +and Agamemnon, or Menelaues, threw himself upon some animals, which he +killed, thinking he was killing those two men his enemies, and whom he +was dying with the desire to wreak his vengeance upon--on this +supposition, the apparition will not be less difficult to explain. +There was neither prepossession nor disturbed imagination, nor any +preceding emotion, which led Abraham to figure to himself that he saw +three persons, to whom he gave hospitality, to whom he spoke, who +promised him the birth of a son, of which he was scarcely thinking at +that time. The three apostles who saw Moses conversing with Jesus +Christ on Mount Tabor were not prepared for that appearance; there was +no emotion of fear, love, revenge, ambition, or any other passion +which struck their imagination, to dispose them to see Moses; as +neither was there in Abraham, when he perceived the three angels who +appeared to him. + +Often in our sleep we see, or we believe we see, what has struck our +attention very much when awake; sometimes we represent to ourselves in +sleep things of which we have never thought, which even are repugnant +to us, and which present themselves to our mind in spite of ourselves. +None bethink themselves of seeking the causes of these kinds of +representations; they are attributed to chance, or to some disposition +of the humors of the blood or of the brain, or even of the way in +which the body is placed in bed; but nothing like that is applicable +to the apparitions of angels, demons, or spirits, when these +apparitions are accompanied and followed by converse, predictions and +real effects preceded and predicted by those which appear. + +If we have recourse to a pretended fascination of the eyes or the +other senses, which sometimes make us believe that we see and hear +what we do not, or that we neither see nor hear what is passing before +our eyes, or which strikes our ears; as when the soldiers sent to +arrest Elisha spoke to him and saw him before they recognized him, or +when the inhabitants of Sodom could not discover Lot's door, although +it was before their eyes, or when the disciples of Emmaus knew not +that it was Jesus Christ who accompanied them and expounded the +Scriptures; they opened their eyes and knew him _only by the breaking +of bread_. + +That fascination of the senses which makes us believe that we see what +we do not see, or that suspension of the exercise and natural +functions of our senses which prevents us from seeing and recognizing +what is passing before our eyes, is all of it hardly less miraculous +than to condense the air, or rarefy it, or give solidity and +consistence to what is purely spiritual and disengaged from matter. + +From all this, it follows that no apparition can take place without a +sort of miracle, and without a concurrence, both extraordinary and +supernatural, of the power of God who commands, or causes, or permits +an angel, or a demon, or a disembodied soul to appear, act, speak, +walk, and perform other functions which belong only to an organized +body. + +I shall be told that it is useless to recur to the miraculous and the +supernatural, if we have acknowledged in spiritual substances a +natural power of showing themselves, whether by condensing the air, or +by producing a massive and palpable body, or in raising up some dead +body, to which these spirits give life and motion for a certain time. + +I own it all; but I dare maintain that that is not possible either to +angel or demon, nor to any spiritual substance whatsoever. The soul +can produce in herself thoughts, will, and wishes; she can give her +impulsion to the movements of her body, and repress its sallies and +agitations; but how does she do that? Philosophy can hardly explain +it, but by saying that by virtue of the union between herself and the +body, God, by an effect of his wisdom, has given her power to act upon +the humors, its organs, and impress them with certain movements; but +there is reason to believe that the soul performs all that only as an +occasional cause, and that it is God as the first, necessary, +immediate, and essential cause, which produces all the movements of +the body that are made in a natural way. + +Neither angel nor demon has more privilege in this respect over matter +than the soul of man has over its own body. They can neither modify +matter, change it, nor impress it with action and motion, save by the +power of God, and with his concurrence both necessary and immediate; +our knowledge does not permit us to judge otherwise; there is no +physical proportion between the spirit and the body; those two +substances cannot act mutually and immediately one upon the other; +they can act only occasionally, by determining the first cause, in +virtue of the laws which wisdom has judged it proper to prescribe to +herself for the reciprocal action of the creatures upon each other, to +give them being, to preserve it, and perpetuate movement in the mass +of matter which composes the universe, in himself giving life to +spiritual substances, and permitting them with his concurrence, as the +First Cause, to act, the body on the soul, and the soul on the body, +one on the other, as secondary causes. + +Porphyry, when consulted by Anebo, an Egyptian priest, if those who +foretell the future and perform prodigies have more powerful souls, or +whether they receive power from some strange spirit, replies that, +according to appearance, all these things are done by means of certain +evil spirits that are naturally knavish, and take all sorts of shapes, +and do everything that one sees happen, whether good or evil; but that +in the end they never lead men to what is truly good. + +St. Augustine,[415] who cites this passage of Porphyry, lays much +stress on his testimony, and says that every extraordinary thing which +is done by certain tones of the voice, by figures or phantoms, is +usually the work of the demon, who sports with the credulity and +blindness of men; that everything marvellous which is transacted in +nature, and has no relation to the worship of the true God, ought to +pass for an illusion of the devil. The most ancient Fathers of the +Church, Minutius Felix, Arnobius, St. Cyprian, attribute equally all +these kinds of extraordinary effects to the evil spirit. + +Tertullian[416] had no doubt that the apparitions which are produced +by magic, and by the evocation of souls, which, forced by +enchantments, come out, say they, from the depth of hell (or Hades), +are but pure illusions of the demon, who causes to appear to those +present a fantastical form, which fascinates the eyes of those who +think they see what they see not; "which is not more difficult for the +demon," says he, "than to seduce and blind the souls which he leads +into sin. Pharaoh thought he saw real serpents produced by his +magicians: it was mere illusion. The truth of Moses devoured the +falsehood of these impostors." + +Is it more easy to cause the fascination of the eyes of Pharaoh and +his servants than to produce serpents, and can it be done without +God's concurring thereto? And how can we reconcile this concurrence +with the wisdom, independence, and truth of God? Has the devil in this +respect a greater power than an angel and a disembodied soul? And if +once we open the door to this fascination, everything which appears +supernatural and miraculous will become uncertain and doubtful. It +will be said that the wonders related in the Old and New Testament are +in this respect, in regard both to those who are witnesses of them, +and those to whom they happened, only illusions and fascinations: and +whither may not these premises lead? It leads us to doubt everything, +to deny everything; to believe that God in concert with the devil +leads us into error, and fascinates our eyes and other senses, to make +us believe that we see, hear, and know what is neither present to our +eyes, nor known to our mind, nor supported by our reasoning power, +since by that the principles of reasoning are overthrown. + +We must, then, have recourse to the solid and unshaken principles of +religion, which teach us-- + +1. That angels, demons, and souls disembodied are pure spirit, free +from all matter. + +2. That it is only by the order or permission of God that spiritual +substances can appear to men, and seem to them to be true and tangible +bodies, in which and by which they perform what they are seen to do. + +3. That to make these bodies appear, and make them act, speak, walk, +eat, &c, they must produce tangible bodies, either by condensing the +air or substituting other terrestrial, solid bodies, capable of +performing the functions we speak of. + +4. That the way in which this production and apparition of a +perceptible body is achieved is absolutely unknown to us; that we have +no proof that spiritual substances have a natural power of producing +this kind of change when it pleases them, and that they cannot produce +them independently of God. + +5. That although there may be often a great deal of illusion, +prepossession, and imagination in what is related of the operations +and apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls, there is +still some reality in many of these things; and we cannot reasonably +doubt of them all, and still less deny them all. + +6. That there are apparitions which bear about them the character and +proof of truth, from the quality of him who relates them; from the +circumstances which accompany them; from the events following those +apparitions that announce things to come; which perform things +impossible to the natural strength of man, and too much in opposition +to the interest of the demon, and his malicious and deceitful +character, for us to be able to suspect him to be the author or +contriver of them. In short, these apparitions are certified by the +belief, the prayers, and the practice of the church, which recognizes +them, and supposes their reality. + +7. That although what appears miraculous is not so always, we must at +least usually perceive in it _some_ illusion and operation of the +demon; consequently, that the demon can, with the permission of God, +do many things which surpass our knowledge, and the natural power +which we suppose him to have. + +8. That those who wish to explain them by fascination of the eyes and +other senses, do not resolve the difficulty, and throw themselves into +still greater embarrassment than those who admit simply that +apparitions appear by the order or the permission of God. + + +Footnotes: + +[415] Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. x. c. 11, 12. + +[416] Tertull. de Anima, c. 57. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +OBJECTIONS AGAINST APPARITIONS, AND REPLIES TO THOSE OBJECTIONS. + + +The greatest objection that can be raised against the apparitions of +angels, demons, and disembodied souls, takes its rise in the nature of +these substances, which being purely spiritual, cannot appear with +evident, solid, and palpable bodies, nor perform those functions which +belong only to matter, and living or animated bodies. + +For, either spiritual substances are united to the bodies which appear +or not. If they are not united to them, how can they move them, and +cause them to act, walk, speak, reason, and eat? If they are united to +them, then they form but one individual; and how can they separate +themselves from them, after being united to them? Do they take them +and leave them at will, as we lay aside a habit or a mask? That would +be to suppose that they are at liberty to appear or disappear, which +is not the case, since all apparitions are solely by the order or +permission of God. Are those bodies which appear only instruments +which the angels, demons, or souls make use of to affright, warn, +chastise, or instruct the person or persons to whom they appear? This +is, in fact, the most rational thing that can be said concerning these +apparitions; the exorcisms of the church fall directly on the agent +and cause of these apparitions, and not on the phantom which appears, +nor on the first author, which is God, who orders and permits it. + +Another objection, both very common and very striking, is that which +is drawn from the multitude of false stories and ridiculous reports +which are spread amongst the people, of the apparitions of spirits, +demons, and elves, of possessions and obsessions. + +It must be owned that, out of a hundred of these pretended +appearances, hardly two will be found to be true. The ancients are not +more to be credited on that point than the moderns, since they were, +at least, equally as credulous as people are in our own age, or rather +they were more credulous than we are at this day. + +I grant that the foolish credulity of the people, and the love of +everything that seems marvelous and extraordinary, have produced an +infinite number of false histories on the subject we are now treating +of. There are here two dangers to avoid: a too great credulity, and an +excessive difficulty in believing what is above the ordinary course of +nature; as likewise, we must not conclude what is general from what is +particular, or make a general case of a particular one, nor say that +all is false because some stories are so; also, we must not assert +that such a particular history is a mere invention, because there are +many stories of this latter kind. It is allowable to examine, prove, +and select; we must never form our judgment but with knowledge of the +case; a story may be false in many of its circumstances (as related), +but true in its foundation. + +The history of the deluge, and that of the passage across the Red Sea, +are certain in themselves, and in the simple and natural recital given +of them by Moses. The profane historians, and some Hebrew writers, and +even Christians, have added some embellishment which must militate +against the story in itself. Josephus the historian has much +embellished the history of Moses; Christian authors have added much to +that of Josephus; the Mahometans have altered several points of the +sacred history of the Old and New Testament. Must we, on this account, +consider these histories as problematical? The life of St. Gregory +Thaumaturgus is full of miracles, as are also those of St. Martin and +St. Bernard. St. Augustine relates several miraculous cures worked by +the relics of St. Stephen. Many extraordinary things are related in +the life of St. Ambrose. Why not give faith to them after the +testimony of these great men, and that of their disciples, who had +lived with them, and had been witnesses of a good part of what they +relate? + +It is not permitted us to dispute the truth of the apparitions noted +in the Old and New Testament; but we may be permitted to explain them. +For instance, it is said that the Lord appeared to Abraham in the +valley of Mamre;[417] that he entered Abraham's tent, and that he +promised him the birth of a son; also, it is allowed that he received +three angels, who went from thence to Sodom. St. Paul[418] notices it +expressly in his Epistle to the Hebrews; _angelis hospitio receptis_. +It is also said that the Lord appeared unto Moses, and gave him the +law; and St. Stephen, in the Acts,[419] informs us that it was an +angel who spoke to him from the burning bush, and on Mount Horeb; and +St. Paul, writing to the Galatians, says, that the law was given by +angels.[420] + +Sometimes, the name of angel of the Lord is taken for a prophet, a man +filled with his Spirit, and deputed by him. It is certain that the +Hebrew _malae_ and the Greek _angelos_ bear the same signification as +our _envoy_. For instance, at the beginning of the Book of +Judges,[421] it is said that there came an angel of the Lord from +Gilgal to the place of tears (or Bochim), and that he there reproved +the Israelites for their infidelity and ingratitude. The ablest +commentators[422] think that this _angel of the Lord_ is no other than +Phineas, or the then high priest, or rather a prophet, sent expressly +to the people assembled at Gilgal. + +In the Scripture, the prophets are sometimes styled angels of the +Lord.[423] "Here is what saith the envoy of the Lord, amongst the +envoys of the Lord," says Haggai, speaking of himself. + +The prophet Malachi, the last of the lesser prophets, says that "the +Lord will send his angel, who will prepare the way before his +face."[424] This angel is St. John the Baptist, who prepares the way +for Jesus Christ, who is himself styled the Angel of the Lord--"And +soon the Lord whom ye demand, and the so much desired Angel of the +Lord, will come into his temple." This same Saviour is designated by +Moses under the name of a prophet:[425] "The Lord will raise up in the +midst of your nation, a prophet like myself." The name of angel is +given to the prophet Nathan, who reproved David for his sin. I do not +pretend, by these testimonies, to deny that the angels have often +appeared to men; but I infer from them that sometimes these angels +were only prophets or other persons, raised up and sent by God to his +people. + +As to apparitions of the demon, it is well to observe that in +Scripture the greater part of public calamities and maladies are +attributed to evil spirits; for example, it is said that Satan +inspired David[426] with the idea of numbering his people; but in +another place it is simply said that the anger of the Lord was +inflamed[427] against Israel, and led David to cause his subjects to +be numbered. There are several other passages in the Holy Books, where +they relate what the demon said and what he did, in a popular manner, +by the figure termed prosopopoeia; for instance, the conversation +between Satan and the first woman,[428] and the discourse which the +demon holds in company with the good angels before the Lord, when he +talks to him of Job,[429] and obtains permission to tempt and afflict +him. In the New Testament, it appears that the Jews attributed to the +malice of the demon and to his possession almost all the maladies with +which they were afflicted. In St. Luke,[430] the woman who was bent +and could not raise herself up, and had suffered this for eighteen +years, "had," says the evangelist, "a spirit of infirmity;" and Jesus +Christ, after having healed her, says "that Satan held her bound for +eighteen years;" and in another place, it is said that a lunatic or +epileptic person was possessed by the demon. It is clear, from what is +said by St. Matthew and St. Luke,[431] that he was attacked by +epilepsy. The Saviour cured him of this evil malady, and by that means +took from the demon the opportunity of tormenting him still more; as +David, by dissipating with the sound of his harp the sombre melancholy +of Saul, delivered him from the evil spirit, who abused the power of +those inclinations which he found in him, to awaken his jealousy +against David. All this means, that we often ascribed to the demon +things of which he is not guilty, and that we must not lightly adopt +all the prejudices of the people, nor take literally all that is +related of the works of Satan. + + +Footnotes: + +[417] Gen. xviii. 10. + +[418] Heb. xiii. 2. + +[419] Acts vii. 30, 33. + +[420] Gal. iii. + +[421] Judges ii. 1. + +[422] Vide commentar. in Judic. ii. + +[423] Hagg. i. 13. + +[424] Malac. iii. 1. + +[425] Deut. xviii. 18. + +[426] Chron. xxi. 1. + +[427] 2 Sam. xxiv. 1. + +[428] Gen. iii. 2, 3. + +[429] Job i. 7-9. + +[430] Luke xiii. 16. + +[431] Matt. xvii. 14. Luke ix. 37. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +SOME OTHER OBJECTIONS AND REPLIES. + + +In order to combat the apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied +souls, we still bring forward the effects of a prepossessed fancy, +struck with an idea, and of a weak and timid mind, which imagine they +see and hear what subsists only in idea; we advert to the inventions +of the malignant spirits, who like to make sport of and to delude us; +we call to our assistance the artifices of the charlatans, who do so +many things which pass for supernatural in the eyes of the ignorant. +Philosophers, by means of certain glasses, and what are called magic +lanterns, by optical secrets, sympathetic powders, by their +phosphorus, and lately by means of the electrical machine, show us an +infinite number of things which the simpletons take for magic, because +they know not how they are produced. + +Eyes that are diseased do not see things as others see them, or else +behold them differently. A drunken man will see objects double; to one +who has the jaundice, they will appear yellow; in the obscurity, +people fancy they see a spectre, when they see only the trunk of a +tree. + +A mountebank will appear to eat a sword; another will vomit coals or +pebbles; one will drink wine and send it out again at his forehead; +another will cut off his companion's head, and put it on again. You +will think you see a chicken dragging a beam. The mountebank will +swallow fire and vomit it forth, he will draw blood from fruit, he +will send from his mouth strings of iron nails, he will put a sword on +his stomach and press it strongly, and instead of running into him, it +will bend back to the hilt; another will run a sword through his body +without wounding himself; you will sometimes see a child without a +head, then a head without a child, and all of them alive. That appears +very wonderful; nevertheless, if it were known how all those things +are done, people would only laugh, and be surprised that they could +wonder at and admire such things. + +What has not been said for and against the divining-rod of Jacques +Aimar? Scripture proves to us the antiquity of divination by the +divining-rod, in the instance of Nebuchadnezzar,[432] and in what is +said of the prophet Hosea.[433] Fable speaks of the wonders wrought by +the golden rod of Mercury. The Gauls and Germans also used the rod for +divination; and there is reason to believe that often God permitted +that the rods should make known by their movements what was to happen; +for that reason they were consulted. Every body knows the secret of +Circe's wand, which changed men into beasts. I do not compare it with +the rod of Moses, by means of which God worked so many miracles in +Egypt; but we may compare it with those of the magicians of Pharaoh, +which produced so many marvelous effects. + +Albertus Magnus relates that there had been seen in Germany two +brothers, one of whom passing near a door securely locked, and +presenting his left side, would cause it to open of itself; the other +brother had the same virtue in the right side. St. Augustine says that +there are men[434] who move their two ears one after another, or both +together, without moving their heads; others, without moving it also, +make all the skin of their head with the hair thereon come down over +their forehead, and put it back as it was before; some imitate so +perfectly the voices of animals, that it is almost impossible not to +mistake them. We have seen men speak from the hollow of the stomach, +and make themselves heard as if speaking from a distance, although +they were close by. Others swallow an incredible quantity of different +things, and by tightening their stomachs ever so little, throw up +whole, as from a bag, whatever they please. Last year, in Alsatia, +there was seen and heard a German who played on two French horns at +once, and gave airs in two parts, the first and the second, at the +same time. Who can explain to us the secret of intermitting fevers, of +the flux and reflux of the sea, and the cause of many effects which +are certainly all natural? + +Galen relates[435] that a physician named Theophilus, having fallen +ill, fancied that he saw near his bed a great number of musicians, +whose noise split his head and augmented his illness. He cried out +incessantly for them to send those people away. Having recovered his +health and good sense, he perfectly well remembered all that had been +said to him; but he could not get those players on musical instruments +out of his head, and he affirmed that they tired him to death. + +In 1629, Desbordes, valet-de-chambre of Charles IV., Duke of Lorraine, +was accused of having hastened the death of the Princess Christina of +Salms, wife of Duke Francis II., and mother of the Duke Charles IV., +and of having inflicted maladies on different persons, which maladies +the doctors attribute to evil spells. Charles IV. had conceived +violent suspicions against Desbordes, since one day when in a +hunting-party this valet-de-chambre had served a grand dinner to the +duke and his company, without any other preparation than having to +open a box with three shelves; and to wind up the wonders, he had +ordered three robbers, who were dead and hung to a gibbet, to come +down from it, and come and make their bow to the duke, and then to go +back and resume their place at the gallows. It was said, moreover, +that on another occasion he had commanded the personages in a piece of +tapestry to detach themselves from it, and to come and present +themselves in the middle of the room. + +Charles IV. was not very credulous; nevertheless, he allowed Desbordes +to be tried. He was, it is said, convicted of magic, and condemned to +the flames; but I have since been assured[436] that he made his +escape; and some years after, on presenting himself before the duke, +and clearing himself, he demanded the restitution of his property, +which had been confiscated; but he recovered only a very small part of +it. Since the adventure of Desbordes, the partisans of Charles IV. +wished to cast a doubt on the validity of the baptism of the Duchess +Nichola, his wife, because she had been baptized by Lavallee, Chantre +de St. George, a friend of Desbordes, and like him convicted of +several crimes, which drew upon him similar condemnation. From a doubt +of the baptism of the duchess, they wished to infer the invalidity of +her marriage with Charles, which was then the grand business of +Charles IV. + +Father Delrio, a Jesuit, says that the magician called Trois-Echelles, +by his enchantments, detached in the presence of King Charles IX. the +rings or links of a collar of the Order of the King, worn by some +knights who were at a great distance from him; he made them come into +his hand, and after that replaced them, without the collar appearing +deranged. + +John Faust Cudlingen, a German, was requested, in a company of gay +people, to perform in their presence some tricks of his trade; he +promised to show them a vine loaded with grapes, ripe and ready to +gather. They thought, as it was then the month of December, he could +not execute his promise. He strongly recommended them not to stir +from their places, and not to lift up their hands to cut the grapes, +unless by his express order. The vine appeared directly, covered with +leaves and loaded with grapes, to the great astonishment of all +present; every one took up his knife, awaiting the order of Cudlingen +to cut some grapes; but after having kept them for some time in that +expectation, he suddenly caused the vine and the grapes to disappear: +then every one found himself armed with his knife and holding his +neighbor's nose with one hand, so that if they had cut off a bunch +without the order of Cudlingen, they would have cut off one another's +noses. + +We have seen in these parts a horse which appeared gifted with wit and +discernment, and to understand what his master said. All the secret +consisted in the horse's having been taught to observe certain motions +of his master; and from these motions he was led to do certain things +to which he was accustomed, and to go to certain persons, which he +would never have done but for the sign or motion which he saw his +master make. + +A hundred other similar facts might be cited, which might pass for +magical operations, if we did not know that they are simple +contrivances and tricks of art, performed by persons well exercised in +such things. It may be that sometimes people have ascribed to magic +and the evil spirit operations like those we have just related, and +that what have been taken for the spirits of deceased persons were +often arranged on purpose by young people to frighten passers-by. They +will cover themselves with white or black, and show themselves in a +cemetery in the posture of persons requesting prayers; after that they +will be the first to exclaim that they have seen a spirit: at other +times it will be pick-pockets, or young men, who will hide their +amorous intrigues, or their thefts and knavish tricks, under this +disguise. + +Sometimes a widow, or heirs, from interested motives, will publicly +declare that the deceased husband appears in his house, and is in +torment; that he has asked or commanded such and such things, or such +and such restitutions. I own that this may happen, and does happen +sometimes; but it does not follow that spirits never return. The +return of souls is infinitely more rare than the common people +believe; I say the same of pretended magical operations and +apparitions of the demon. + +It is remarked that the greater the ignorance which prevails in a +country, the more superstition reigns there; and that the spirit of +darkness there exercises greater power, in proportion as the nations +we plunged in irregularity, and into deeper moral darkness. Louis +Vivez[437] testifies that, in the newly-discovered countries in +America, nothing is more common than to see spirits which appear at +noonday, not only in the country, but in towns and villages, speaking, +commanding, sometimes even striking men. Olaues Magnus, Archbishop of +Upsal, who has written on the antiquities of the northern nations, +observes that in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Finmark, and Lapland, they +frequently see spectres or spirits, which do many wonderful things; +that there are even some amongst them who serve as domestics to men, +and take the horses and other cattle to pasture. + +The Laplanders, even at this day, as well those who have remained in +idolatry as those who have embraced Christianity, believe the +apparition of the manes or ghosts, and offer them a kind of sacrifice. +I believe that prepossession, and the prejudices of childhood, have +much more to do with this belief than reason and experience. In +effect, among the Tartars, where barbarism and ignorance reign as much +as in any country in the world, they talk neither of spirits nor of +apparitions, no more than among the Mahometans, although they admit +the apparitions of angels made to Abraham and the patriarchs, and that +of the Archangel Gabriel to Mahomet himself. + +The Abyssinians, a very rude and ignorant people, believe neither in +sorcerers, nor spells, nor magicians; they say that it is giving too +much power to the demon, and by that they fall into the error of the +Manichaeans, who admit two principles, the one of good, which is God, +and the other of evil, which is the devil. The Minister Becker, in his +work entitled "The Enchanted World," (Le Monde Enchante,) laughs at +apparitions of spirits and evil angels, and ridicules all that is said +of the effects of magic: he maintains that to believe in magic is +contrary to Scripture and religion. + +But whence comes it, then, that the Scriptures forbid us to consult +magicians, and that they make mention of Simon the magician, of +Elymas, another magician, and of the works of Satan? What will become +of the apparitions of angels, so well noted in the Old and New +Testaments? What will become of the apparitions of Onias to Judas +Maccabeus, and of the devil to Jesus Christ himself, after his fast of +forty days? What will be said of the apparition of Moses at the +transfiguration of the Saviour; and an infinity of other appearances +made to all kinds of persons, and related by wise, grave, and +enlightened authors? Are the apparitions of devils and spirits more +difficult to explain and conceive than those of angels, which we +cannot rationally dispute without overthrowing the entire Scriptures, +and practices and belief of the churches? + +Does not the apostle tell us that the angel of darkness transforms +himself into an angel of light? Is not the absolute renunciation of +all belief in apparitions assaulting Christianity in its most sacred +authority, in the belief of another life, of a church still subsisting +in another world, of rewards for good actions, and of punishments for +bad ones; the utility of prayers for the dead, and the efficacy of +exorcisms? We must then in these matters keep the medium between +excessive credulity and extreme incredulity; we must be prudent, +moderate, and enlightened; we must, according to the advice of St. +Paul, test everything, examine everything, yield only to evidence and +known truth. + + +Footnotes: + +[432] Ezek. xxi. 21. + +[433] Hosea iv. 12. + +[434] Aug. lib. xiv. de Civit. Dei, c. 24. + +[435] Galen. de Differ. Sympt. + +[436] By M. Fransquin Chanoine de Taul. + +[437] Ludov. Vives, lib. i. de Veritate Fidei, p. 540. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +THE SECRETS OF PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY TAKEN FOR SUPERNATURAL THINGS. + + +It is possible to allege against my reasoning the secrets of physics +and chemistry, which produce an infinity of wonderful effects, and +appear beyond the power of natural agency. We have the composition of +a phosphorus, with which they write; the characters do not appear by +daylight, but in the dark we see them shine; with this phosphorus, +figures can be traced which would surprise and even alarm during the +night, as has been done more than once, apparently to cause +maliciously useless fright. _La poudre ardente_ is another phosphorus, +which, provided it is exposed to the air, sheds a light both by night +and by day. How many people have been frightened by those little worms +which are found in certain kinds of rotten wood, and which give a +brilliant flame by night. + +We have the daily experience of an infinite number of things, all of +them natural, which appear above the ordinary course of nature,[438] +but which have nothing miraculous in them, and ought not to be +attributed to angels or demons; for instance, teeth and noses taken +from other persons, and applied to those who have lost similar parts; +of this we find many instances in authors. These teeth and noses fall +off directly when the person from whom they were taken dies, however +great the distance between these two persons may be. + +The presentiments experienced by certain persons of what happens to +their relations and friends, and even of their own death, are not at +all miraculous. There are many instances of persons who are in the +habit of feeling these presentiments, and who in the night, even when +asleep, will say that such a thing has happened, or is about to +happen; that such messengers are coming, and will announce to them +such and such things. + +There are dogs that have the sense of smelling so keen that they scent +from a good distance the approach of any person who has done them good +or harm. This has been proved many times, and can only proceed from +the diversity of organs in those animals, some of which have the scent +much keener than others, and upon which the spirits which exhale from +other bodies act more quickly and at a greater distance than in +others. Certain persons have such an acute sense of hearing that they +can hear what is whispered even in another chamber, of which the door +is well closed. They cite as an example of this, a certain Marie +Bucaille, to whom it was thought that her guardian angel discovered +what was said at a great distance from her. + +Others have the smell so keen that they distinguish by the odor all +the men and animals they have ever seen, and scent their approach a +long way off. Blind persons pretty often possess this faculty, as well +as that of discerning the color of different stuffs by the touch, from +horse-hair to playing-cards. + +Others discern by the taste everything that composes a ragout, better +than the most expert cook could do. Others possess so piercing a sight +that at the first glance they can distinguish the most confused and +distant objects, and remark the least change which takes place in +them. + +There are both men and women who, without intending to hurt, do a +great deal of harm to children, and all the tender and delicate +animals which they look at attentively, or which they touch. This +happens particularly in hot countries; and many examples might be +cited of it; from which arises what both ancients and moderns call +fascination (or the evil eye); hence the precautions which were taken +against these effects by amulets and preservatives, which were +suspended to children's necks. + +There have been known to be men from whose eyes there proceeded such +venomous spirits that they did harm to everybody or thing they looked +at, even to the breast of nurses, which they caused to dry up--to +plants, flowers, the leaves of trees, which were seen to wither and +fall off. They dare not enter any place till they had warned the +people beforehand to send away the children and nurses, new-born +animals, and, generally speaking, everything which they could infect +by their breath or their looks. + +We should laugh, and with reason, at those who, to explain all these +singular effects, should have recourse to charms, spells, to the +operations of demons, or of good angels. The evaporation of +corpuscles, or atoms, or the insensible perspiration of the bodies +which produce all these effects, suffice to account for it. We have +recourse neither to miracles, nor to superior causes, above all when +these effects are produced near, and at a short distance; but when the +distance is great, the exhalation of the spirits, or essence, and of +insensible corpuscles, does not equally satisfy us, no more than when +we meet with things and effects which go beyond the known force of +nature, such as foretelling future events, speaking unknown languages, +_i. e._, languages unknown to the speaker, to be in such ecstasy that +the person is beyond earthly feeling, to rise up from the ground, and +remain so a long time. + +The chemists demonstrate that the ____________________ or a sort of +restoration or resurrection of animals, insects, and plants, is +possible and natural. When the ashes of a plant are placed in a phial, +these ashes rise, and arrange themselves as much as they can in the +form which was first impressed on them by the Author of Nature. + +Father Schol, a Jesuit, affirms that he has often seen a rose which +was made to arise from its ashes every time they wished to see it +done, by means of a little heat. + +The secret of a mineral water has been found by means of which a dead +plant which has its root can be made green again, and brought to the +same state as if it were growing in the ground. Digby asserts that he +has drawn from dead animals, which were beaten and bruised in a +mortar, the representation of these animals, or other animals of the +same species. + +Duchesne, a famous chemist, relates that a physician of Cracow +preserved in phials the ashes of almost every kind of plant, so that +when any one from curiosity desired to see, for instance, a rose in +these phials, he took that in which the ashes of the rose-bush were +preserved, and placing it over a lighted candle, as soon as it felt a +little warmth, they saw the ashes stir and rise like a little dark +cloud, and, after some movements, they represented a rose as beautiful +and fresh as if newly gathered from the rose-tree. + +Gaffard assures us that M. de Cleves, a celebrated chemist, showed +every day plants drawn from their own ashes. David Vanderbroch affirms +that the blood of animals contains the idea of their species as well +as their seed; he relates on this subject the experiment of M. +Borelli, who asserts that the human blood, when warm, is still full of +its spirits or sulphurs, acid and volatile, and that, being excited in +cemeteries and in places where great battles are fought by some heat +in the ground, the phantoms or ideas of the persons who are there +interred are seen to rise; that we should see them as well by day as +by night, were it not for the excess of light which prevents us even +from seeing the stars. He adds that by this means we might behold the +idea, and represent by a lawful and natural necromancy the figure or +phantom of all the great men of antiquity, our friends and our +ancestors, provided we possess their ashes. + +These are the most plausible objections intended to destroy or obviate +all that is said of the apparitions of spirits. Whence some conclude +that these are either very natural phenomena and exhalations produced +by the heat of the earth imbued with blood and the volatile spirit of +the dead, above all, those dead by violence; or that they are the +consequences of a stricken and prepossessed fancy, or simply illusions +of the mind, or sports of persons who like to divert themselves by the +panics into which they terrify others; or, lastly, movements produced +naturally by men, rats, monkeys, and other animals; for it is true +that the oftener we examine into what have been taken for apparitions, +nothing is found that is real, extraordinary, or supernatural; but to +conclude from thence that all the apparitions and operations +attributed to angels, spirits or souls, and demons are chimerical, is +carrying things to excess; it is to conclude that we mistake always, +because we mistake often. + + +Footnotes: + +[438] M. de S. Andre, Lett. iii. sur les Malefices. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +CONCLUSION OF THE TREATISE ON APPARITIONS. + + +After having made this exposition of my opinion concerning the +apparitions of angels, demons, souls of the dead, and even of one +living person to another, and having spoken of magic, of oracles, of +obsessions and possessions of the demon; of sprites and familiar +spirits; of sorcerers and witches; of spectres which predict the +future; of those which haunt houses--after having stated the +objections which are made against apparitions, and having replied to +them in as weighty a manner as I possibly could, I think I may +conclude that although this matter labors still under very great +difficulties, as much respecting the foundation of the thing--I mean +as regards the truth and reality of apparitions in general--as for the +way in which they are made, still we cannot reasonably disallow that +there may be true apparitions of all the kinds of which we have +spoken, and that there may be also a great number very disputable, and +some others which are manifestly the work of knavery, of +maliciousness, of the art of charlatans, and flexibility of those who +play sleight of hand tricks. + +I acknowledge, moreover, that imagination, prepossession, simplicity, +superstition, excess of credulity, and weakness of mind have given +rise to several stories which are related; that ignorance of pure +philosophy has caused to be taken for miraculous effects, and black +magic, what is the simple effect of white magic, and the secrets of a +philosophy hidden from the ignorant and common herd of men. Moreover, +I confess that I see insurmountable difficulties in explaining the +manner or properties of apparitions, whether we admit with several +ancients that angels, demons, and disembodied souls have a sort of +subtile transparent body of the nature of air, whether we believe them +purely spiritual and disengaged from all matter, visible, gross, or +subtile. + +I lay down as a principle that to explain the affair of apparitions, +and to give on this subject any certain rules, we should-- + +1st. Know perfectly the nature of spirits, angels and souls, and +demons. We should know whether souls by nature are so spiritualized +that they have no longer any relation to matter; or if they have, +again, any alliance with an aerial, subtile, invisible body, which +they still govern after death; or whether they exert any power over +the body they once animated, to impel it to certain movements, as the +soul which animates us gives to our bodies such impulsions as she +thinks proper; or whether the soul determines simply by its will, as +occasional or secondary cause, the first cause, which is God, to put +in motion the machine which it once animated. + +2d. If after death the soul still retains that power over its own +body, or over others; for instance, over the air and other elements. + +3d. If angels and demons have respectively the same power over +sublunary bodies--for instance, to thicken air, inflame it, produce in +it clouds and storms; to make phantoms appear in it; to spoil or +preserve fruits and crops; to cause animals to perish, produce +maladies, excite tempests and shipwrecks at sea; or even to fascinate +the eyes and deceive the other senses. + +4th. If they can do all these things naturally, and by their own +virtue, as often as they think proper; or if there must be a +particular order, or at least permission from God, for them to do what +we have just said. + +5th. Lastly, we should know exactly what power is possessed by these +substances which we suppose to be purely spiritual, and how far the +power of the angels, demons, and souls separated from their gross +bodies, extends, in regard to the apparitions, operations and +movements attributed to them. For whilst we are ignorant of the power +which the Creator has given or left to disembodied souls, or to +demons, we can in no way define what is miraculous, or prescribe the +just bound to which may extend, or within which may be limited, the +natural operations of spirits, angels, and demons. + +If we accord the demon the faculty of fascinating our eyes when it +pleases him, or of disposing the air so as to form the appearance of a +phantom, or phenomenon; or of restoring movement to a body which is +dead but not entirely corrupted; or of disturbing the living by ill +dreams, or terrific representations, we should no longer admire many +things which we admire at present, nor regard as miracles certain +cures and certain apparitions, if they are only the natural effects of +the power of souls, angels and demons. + +If a man invested with his body produced such effects of himself, we +should say with reason that they are supernatural operations, because +they exceed the known ordinary and natural power of the living man; +but if a man held commerce with a spirit, an angel, or a demon, whom +by virtue of some compact, explicit or implicit, he commanded to +perform certain things which would be above his natural powers, but +not beyond the powers of the spirit whom he commanded, would the +effect resulting from it be miraculous or supernatural? No, without +doubt, supposing that the spirit which produced the result did nothing +that was above his natural powers and faculties. + +But would it be a miracle if a man had anything to do with an angel or +a demon, and that he should make an explicit and implicit compact with +them, to oblige them on certain conditions, and with certain +ceremonies, to produce effects which would appear externally, and in +our minds, to be beyond the power of man? For instance, in the +operations of certain magicians who boast of having an explicit +compact with the devil, and who by this means raise tempests, or go +with extraordinary haste when they walk, or cause the death of +animals, and to men incurable maladies; or who enchant arms; or in +other operations, as in the use of the divining rod, and in certain +remedies against the maladies of men and horses, which having no +natural proportion to these maladies do not fail to cure them, +although those who use these remedies protest that they have never +thought of contracting any alliance with the devil. + +To reply to this question, the difficulty always recurs to know if +there is between living and mortal man a proportion or natural +relation, which renders him capable of contracting an alliance with +the angel or the demon, by virtue of which these spirits obey him and +exert, under his empire over them, by virtue of the preceding compact, +a power which is natural to them; for if in all that there is nothing +beyond the ordinary force of nature, either on the side of man, or on +that of angels and demons, there is nothing miraculous in one or the +other; neither is there either in God's permitting secondary causes to +act according to their natural faculties, of which he is nevertheless +always the principle, and the absolute master, to limit, stop, +suspend, extend, or augment them, according to his good pleasure. + +But as we know not, and it seems even impossible that we should know +by the light of reason, the nature and natural extent of the power of +angels, demons, and disembodied souls, it seems that it would be rash +to decide in this matter, as deriving consequences of causes by their +effects, or effects by causes. For instance, to say that souls, +demons, and angels have sometimes appeared to men--_then_ they have +naturally the faculty of returning and appearing, is a bold and rash +proposition. For it is very possible that angels and demons appear +only by the particular will of God, and not in consequence of his +general will, and by virtue of his natural and physical concurrence +with his creatures. + +In the first case, these apparitions are miraculous, as being above +the natural power of the agents in question; in the second case, there +is nothing supernatural in them except the permission which God rarely +grants to souls to return, to angels and demons to appear, and to +produce the effects of which we have spoken. + +According to these principles we may advance without temerity-- + +1st. That angels and demons have often appeared unto men, that souls +separated from the body have often returned, and that both the one and +the other may do the same thing again. + +2d. That the manner of these apparitions, and of these returns to +earth, is perfectly unknown, and given up by God to the discussions +and researches of mankind. + +3d. That there is some likelihood that these kinds of apparitions are +not absolutely miraculous on the part of the good and evil angels, but +that God allows them sometimes to take place, for reasons the +knowledge of which is reserved to himself alone. + +4th. That no certain rule on this point can be given, nor any +demonstrative argument formed, for want of knowing perfectly the +nature and extent of the power of the spiritual beings in question. + +5th. That we should reason upon those apparitions which appear in +dreams otherwise than upon those which appear when we are awake; +differently also upon apparitions wearing solid bodies, speaking, +walking, eating and drinking, and those which seem like a shade, or a +nebulous and aerial body. + +6th. Thus it would be rash to lay down principles, and raise uniform +arguments, and all these things in common, every species of apparition +demanding its own particular explanation. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +WAY OF EXPLAINING APPARITIONS. + + +Apparitions in dreams, for instance, that of the angel[439] who told +St. Joseph to carry the infant Jesus into Egypt because King Herod +wished to put him to death; there are two things appertaining to this +apparition--the first is, the impression made on the mind of St. +Joseph that an angel appeared to him; the second is, the prediction or +revelation of the ill-will of Herod. Both these are above the ordinary +powers of our nature, but we know not if they be above the power of +angels; it is certain that it could not have been done except by the +will and command of God. + +The apparitions of a spirit, or of an angel and a demon, which show +themselves clothed in an apparent body, and only as a shadow or a +phantom, as that of the angel who showed himself to Manoah the father +of Samson, and vanished with the smoke of the sacrifice, and of him +who extricated St. Peter from prison, and disappeared in the same way +after having conducted him the length of a street; the bodies which +these angels assumed, and which we suppose to have been only apparent +and aerial, present great difficulties; for either those bodies were +their own, or they were assumed or borrowed. + +If those forms were their own, and we suppose with several ancient and +some new writers that angels, demons, and even human souls have a kind +of subtile, transparent, and aerial body, the difficulty lies in +knowing how they can condense the transparent body, and render it +visible when it was before invisible; for if it was always and +naturally evident to the senses and visible, there would be another +kind of continual miracle to render it invisible, and hide it from our +sight; and if of its nature it is invisible, what might can render it +visible? On whatever side we regard this object it seems equally +miraculous, whether to make evident to the senses that which is purely +spiritual, or to render invisible that which in its nature is palpable +and corporeal. + +The ancient fathers of the church, who gave to angels subtile bodies +of an airy nature, explained, according to their principles, more +easily the predictions made by the demons, and the wonderful +operations which they cause in the air, in the elements, in our +bodies, and which are far beyond what the cleverest and the most +learned men can know, predict, and perform. They likewise conceived +more easily that evil angels can cause maladies, render the air impure +and contagious, that they inspire the wicked with wrong thoughts and +unjust desires, that they can penetrate our thoughts and wishes, that +they foresee tempests and changes in the air, and derangements in the +seasons; all that can be explained with much more facility on the +hypothesis that demons have bodies composed of very fine and subtile +air. + +St. Augustine[440] had written that they could also discover what is +passing in our mind, and at the bottom of our heart, not only by our +words, but also by certain signs and movements, which escape from the +most circumspect; but reflecting on what he had advanced in this +passage, he retracted, and owned that he had spoken too affirmatively +upon a subject but little known, and that the manner in which the evil +angels penetrate our thoughts is a very hidden thing, and very +difficult for men to discover and explain; thus he preferred +suspending his judgment upon it, and remaining in doubt. + + +Footnotes: + +[439] Matt. ii. 13,14. + +[440] S. Aug. lib. ii. retract. c. 30. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +THE DIFFICULTY OF EXPLAINING THE MANNER IN WHICH APPARITIONS MAKE +THEIR APPEARANCE, WHATEVER SYSTEM MAY BE PROPOSED ON THE SUBJECT. + + +The difficulty is much greater, if we suppose that these spirits are +absolutely disengaged from any kind of matter; for how can they +assemble about them a certain quantity of matter, clothe themselves +with it, give it a human form, which can be discerned; is capable of +acting, speaking, conversing, eating and drinking, as did the angels +who appeared to Abraham,[441] and the one who appeared to the young +Tobias,[442] and conducted him to Rages! Is all that accomplished by +the natural power of these spirits? Has God bestowed on them this +power in creating them, and has he engaged himself by virtue of his +natural laws, and by a consequence of his acting intimately and +essentially on the creature, in his quality of Creator, to impress on +occasion at the will of these spirits certain motions in the air, and +in the bodies which they would move, condense, and cause to act, in +the same manner proportionally that he has willed by virtue of the +union of the soul with a living body, that that soul should impress on +that body motions proportioned to its own will, although, naturally, +there is no natural proportion between matter and spirit, and, +according to the laws of physics, the one cannot act upon the other, +unless the first cause, the Creator, has chosen to subject himself to +create this movement, and to produce these effects at the will of man, +movements which without that would pass for superhuman (supernatural). + +Or shall we say, with some new philosophers,[443] that although we may +have ideas of matter and thought, perhaps we shall never be capable of +knowing whether a being purely material thinks or not, because it is +impossible for us to discover by the contemplative powers of our own +minds without revelation, if God has not given to some collections of +matter, disposed as he thinks proper, the power to perceive and to +think, or whether he has joined and united to the matter thus +arranged, an immaterial substance which thinks? Now in relation to our +notions, it is not less easy for us to conceive that God can add to +our idea of matter the faculty of thinking, since we know not in what +thought consists, and to what species of substance that Almighty being +has judged proper to grant this faculty, which could exist in no +created being except by virtue of the goodness and the will of the +Creator. + +This system certainly embraces great absurdities, and greater to my +mind than those it would fain avoid. We conceive clearly that matter +is divisible, and capable of motion; but we do not conceive that it is +capable of thought, nor that thought can consist of a certain +configuration or a certain motion of matter. And even could thought +depend on an arrangement, or on a certain subtility, or on a certain +motion of matter, as soon as that arrangement should be disturbed, or +the motion interrupted, or this heap of subtile matter dispersed, +thought would cease to be produced, and consequently that which +constitutes man, or the reasoning animal, would no longer subsist; +thus all the economy of our religion, all our hopes of a future life, +all our fears of eternal punishment would vanish; even the principles +of our philosophy would be overthrown. + +God forbid that we should wish to set bounds to the almighty power of +God; but that all-powerful Being having given us as a rule of our +knowledge the clearness of the ideas which we form of everything, and +not being permitted to affirm that which we know but indistinctly, it +follows that we ought not to assert that thought can be attributed to +matter. If the thing were known to us through revelation, and taught +by the authority of the Scriptures, then we might impose silence on +human reason, and make captive our judgment in obedience to faith; but +it is owned that the thing is not at all revealed; neither is it +demonstrated, either by its cause, or by its effects. It must, then, +be considered as a simple system, invented to do away certain +difficulties which result from the opinion opposed to it. + +If the difficulty of explaining how the soul acts upon our bodies +appears so great, how can we comprehend that the soul itself should be +material and extended? In the latter case will it act upon itself, and +give itself the impulsion to think, or will this movement or impulsion +be thought itself, or will it produce thought? Will this thinking +matter think on always, or only at times; and when it has ceased to +think, who will make it think anew? Will it be God, will it be itself? +Can so simple an agent as the soul act upon itself, and reproduce it +in some sort by thinking, after it has ceased to think? + +My reader will say that I leave him here embarrassed, and that instead +of giving him any light on the subject of the apparition of spirits, I +cast doubt and uncertainty on the subject. I own it; but I better like +to doubt prudently, than to affirm that which I know not. And if I +hold by what my religion teaches me concerning the nature of souls, +angels, and demons, I shall say that being purely spiritual, it is +impossible that they should appear clothed with a body except through +a miracle; always in the supposition that God has not created them +naturally capable of these operations, with subordination to his +sovereignly powerful will, which but rarely allows them to use this +faculty of showing themselves corporeally to mortals. + +If sometimes angels have eaten, spoken, acted, walked, like men, it +was not from any need they had to drink or eat to sustain themselves +and to be able to live, but to execute the designs of God, whose will +it was that they should appear to men acting, drinking, and eating, as +the angel Raphael observes,[444]--"When I was staying with you, I was +there by the will of God; I seemed to you to eat and drink, but for my +part I make use of an invisible nourishment which is unknown to men." + +It is true that we know not what may be the food of angels who are +substances which are purely spiritual, nor what became of that food +which Raphael and the angels that Abraham entertained in his tent, +took, or seemed to take, in the company of men. But there are so many +other things in nature which are unknown and incomprehensible to us, +that we may very well console ourselves for not knowing how it is that +the apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls are made to +appear. + + +Footnotes: + +[441] Gen. xviii. + +[442] Tob. xii. 19. + +[443] M. Lock. de Intellectu Human. lib. iv. c. 3. + +[444] Tob. xii. 18, 19. + + + + +DISSERTATION + +ON THE GHOSTS WHO RETURN TO EARTH BODILY, +THE EXCOMMUNICATED, +THE OUPIRES OR VAMPIRES, VROUCOLACAS, ETC. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Every age, every nation, every country has its prejudices, its +maladies, its customs, its inclinations, which characterize them, and +which pass away, and succeed to one another; often that which has +appeared admirable at one time, becomes pitiful and ridiculous at +another. We have seen that in some ages all was turned towards a +certain kind of devotion, of studies and of exercises. It is known +that, for more than one century, the prevailing taste of Europe was +the journey to Jerusalem. Kings, princes, nobles, bishops, +ecclesiastics, monks, all pressed thither in crowds. The pilgrimages +to Rome were formerly very frequent and very famous. All that is +fallen away. We have seen provinces over-run with flagellants, and now +none of them remain except in the brotherhoods of penitents which are +still found in several parts. + +We have seen in these countries jumpers and dancers, who every moment +jumped and danced in the streets, squares or market-places, and even +in the churches. The convulsionaries of our own days seem to have +revived them; posterity will be surprised at them, as we laugh at them +now. Towards the end of the sixteenth and at the beginning of the +seventeenth century, nothing was talked of in Lorraine but wizards and +witches. For a long time we have heard nothing of them. When the +philosophy of M. Descartes appeared, what a vogue it had! The ancient +philosophy was despised; nothing was talked of but experiments in +physics, new systems, new discoveries. M. Newton appears; all minds +turn to him. The system of M. Law, bank notes, the rage of the Rue +Quinquampoix, what movements did they not cause in the kingdom? A sort +of convulsion had seized on the French. In this age, a new scene +presents itself to our eyes, and has done for about sixty years in +Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland: they see, it is said, men who +have been dead for several months, come back to earth, talk, walk, +infest villages, ill use both men and beasts, suck the blood of their +near relations, make them ill, and finally cause their death; so that +people can only save themselves from their dangerous visits and their +hauntings by exhuming them, impaling them, cutting off their heads, +tearing out the heart, or burning them. These _revenans_ are called by +the name of oupires or vampires, that is to say, leeches; and such +particulars are related of them, so singular, so detailed, and +invested with such probable circumstances and such judicial +information, that one can hardly refuse to credit the belief which is +held in those countries, that these _revenans_ come out of their tombs +and produce those effects which are proclaimed of them. + +Antiquity certainly neither saw nor knew anything like it. Let us read +through the histories of the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and +the Latins; nothing approaching to it will be met with. + +It is true that we remark in history, though rarely, that certain +persons after having been some time in their tombs and considered as +dead, have returned to life. We shall see even that the ancients +believed that magic could cause death and evoke the souls of the dead. +Several passages are cited, which prove that at certain times they +fancied that sorcerers sucked the blood of men and children, and +caused their death. They saw also in the twelfth century in England +and Denmark, some _revenans_ similar to those of Hungary. But in no +history do we read anything so usual or so pronounced, as what is +related to us of the vampires of Poland, Hungary, and Moravia. + +Christian antiquity furnishes some instances of excommunicated persons +who have visibly come out of their tombs and left the churches, when +the deacon commanded the excommunicated, and those who did not partake +of the communion, to retire. For several centuries nothing like this +has been seen, although it is known that the bodies of several +excommunicated persons who died while under sentence of +excommunication and censure of the Church are buried in churches. + +The belief of the modern Greeks, who will have it that the bodies of +the excommunicated do not decay in their tombs or graves, is an +opinion which has no foundation, either in antiquity, in good +theology, or even in history. This idea seems to have been invented by +the modern Greek schismatics, only to authorize and confirm them in +their separation from the church of Rome. Christian antiquity +believed, on the contrary, that the incorruptibility of a body was +rather a probable mark of the sanctity of the person and a proof of +the particular protection of God, extended to a body which during its +lifetime had been the temple of the Holy Spirit, and of one who had +retained in justice and innocence the mark of Christianity. + +The vroucolacas of Greece and the Archipelago are again _revenans_ of +a new kind. We can hardly persuade ourselves that a nation so witty as +the Greeks could fall into so extraordinary an opinion. Ignorance or +prejudice, must be extreme among them since neither an ecclesiastic +nor any other writer has undertaken to undeceive them. + +The imagination of those who believe that the dead chew in their +graves, with a noise similar to that made by hogs when they eat, is so +ridiculous that it does not deserve to be seriously refuted. I +undertake to treat here on the matter of the _revenans_ or vampires of +Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland, at the risk of being criticised +however I may discuss it; those who believe them to be true, will +accuse me of rashness and presumption, for having raised a doubt on +the subject, or even of having denied their existence and reality; +others will blame me for having employed my time in discussing this +matter which is considered as frivolous and useless by many sensible +people. Whatever may be thought of it, I shall be pleased with myself +for having sounded a question which appeared to me important in a +religious point of view. For if the return of vampires is real, it is +of import to defend it, and prove it; and if it is illusory, it is of +consequence to the interests of religion to undeceive those who +believe in its truth, and destroy an error which may produce dangerous +effects. + + + + + DISSERTATION + + ON THE GHOSTS WHO RETURN TO EARTH BODILY, + THE EXCOMMUNICATED, + THE OUPIRES OR VAMPIRES, VROUCOLACAS, ETC. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE RESURRECTION OF A DEAD PERSON IS THE WORK OF GOD ONLY. + + +After having treated in a separate dissertation on the matter of the +apparitions of angels, demons, and disembodied souls, the connection +of the subject invites me to speak also of the ghosts and +excommunicated persons, whom, it is said, the earth rejects from her +bosom; of the vampires of Hungary, Silesia, Bohemia, Moravia, and +Poland; and of the vroucolacas of Greece. I shall report first of all, +what has been said and written of them; then I shall deduce some +consequences, and bring forward the reasons or arguments that may be +adduced for, and against, their existence and reality. + +The _revenans_ of Hungary, or vampires, which form the principal +object of this dissertation, are men who have been dead a considerable +time, sometimes more, sometimes less; who leave their tombs, and come +and disturb the living, sucking their blood, appearing to them, making +a racket at their doors, and in their houses, and lastly, often +causing their death. They are named vampires, or oupires, which +signifies, they say, in Sclavonic, a leech. The only way to be +delivered from their haunting, is to disinter them, cut off their +head, impale them, burn them, or pierce their heart. + +Several systems have been propounded to explain the return, and these +apparitions of the vampires. Some persons have denied and rejected +them as chimerical, and as an effect of the prepossession and +ignorance of the people of those countries, where they are said to +come back or return. + +Others have thought that these people were not really dead, but that +they had been interred alive, and returned naturally to themselves, +and came out of their tombs. + +Others believe that these people are very truly dead, but that God, by +a particular permission, or command, permits or commands them to come +back to earth, and resume for a time their own body; for when they are +exhumed, their bodies are found entire, their blood vermilion and +fluid, and their limbs supple and pliable. + +Others maintain that it is the demon who causes these _revenans_ to +appear, and by their means does all the harm he occasions both men and +animals. + +In the supposition that vampires veritably resuscitate, we may raise +an infinity of difficulties on the subject. How is this resurrection +accomplished? It is by the strength of the _revenant_, by the return +of his soul into his body? Is it an angel, is it a demon who +reanimates it? Is it by the order, or by the permission of God that he +resuscitates? Is this resurrection voluntary on his part, and by his +own choice? Is it for a long time, like that of the persons who were +restored to life by Jesus Christ? or that of persons resuscitated by +the Prophets and Apostles? Or is it only momentary, and for a few days +and a few hours, like the resurrection operated by St. Stanislaus upon +the lord who had sold him a field; or that spoken of in the life of +St. Macarius of Egypt, and of St. Spiridion, who made the dead to +speak, simply to bear testimony to the truth, and then left them to +sleep in peace, awaiting the last, the judgment day. + +First of all, I lay it down as an undoubted principle, that the +resurrection of a person really dead is effected by the power of God +alone. No man can either resuscitate himself, or restore another man +to life, without a visible miracle. + +Jesus Christ resuscitated himself, as he had promised he would; he did +it by his own power; he did it with circumstances which were all +miraculous. If he had returned to life as soon as he was taken down +from the cross, it might have been thought that he was not quite dead, +that there remained yet in him some remains of life, that they might +have been revived by warming him, or by giving him cordials and +something capable of bringing him back to his senses. + +But he revives only on the third day. He had, as it were, been killed +after his death, by the opening made in his side with a lance, which +pierced him to the heart, and would have put him to death, if he had +not then been beyond receiving it. + +When he resuscitated Lazarus,[445] he waited until he had been four +days in the tomb, and began to show corruption; which is the most +certain mark that a man is really deceased, without a hope of +returning to life, except by supernatural means. + +The resurrection which Job so firmly expected,[446] and that of the +man who came to life, on touching the body of the prophet Elisha in +his tomb;[447] and the child of the widow of Shunem, whom the same +Elisha restored to life;[448] that army of skeletons, whose +resurrection was predicted by Ezekiel,[449] and which in spirit he saw +executed before his eyes, as a type and pledge as the return of the +Hebrews from their captivity at Babylon;--in short, all the +resurrections related in the sacred books of the Old and New +Testament, are manifestly miraculous effects, and attributed solely to +the Almighty power of God. Neither angels, nor demons, nor men, the +holiest and most favored of God, could by their own power restore to +life a person really dead. They can do it by the power of God alone, +who when he thinks proper so to do, is free to grant this favor to +their prayers and intercession. + + +Footnotes: + +[445] John xi. 39. + +[446] Job xxi. 25. + +[447] 1 Kings xiii. 21, 22. + +[448] 2 Kings iv. + +[449] Ezek. xxxvii. 1, 2, 3. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +ON THE REVIVAL OF PERSONS WHO WERE NOT REALLY DEAD. + + +The resuscitation of some persons who were believed to be dead, and +who were not so, but simply asleep, or in a lethargy; and of those who +were supposed to be dead, having been drowned, and who came to life +again through the care taken of them, or by medical skill. Such +persons must not pass for being really resuscitated; they were not +dead, or were so only in appearance. + +We intend to speak in this place of another order of resuscitated +persons, who had been buried sometimes for several months, or even +several years; who ought to have been suffocated in their graves, had +they been interred alive, and in whom are still found signs of life: +the blood in a liquid state, the flesh entire, the complexion fine and +florid, the limbs flexible and pliable. Those persons who return +either by night or by day, disturb the living, suck their blood, kill +them, appear in their clothes, in their families, sit down to table, +and do a thousand other things; then return to their graves without +any one seeing how they re-enter them. This is a kind of momentary +resurrection, or revival; for whereas the other dead persons spoken of +in Scripture have lived, drank, eaten and conversed with other men +after their return to life, as Lazarus, the brother of Mary and +Martha,[450] and the son of the widow of Shunem, resuscitated by +Elisha.[451] These appeared during a certain time, in certain places, +in certain circumstances; and appear no more as soon as they have been +impaled, or burned, or have had their heads cut off. + +If this last order of resuscitated persons were not really dead, there +is nothing wonderful in their revisiting the world, except the manner +in which it is done, and the circumstances by which that return is +accompanied. Do these _revenans_ simply awaken from their sleep, or do +they recover themselves like those who fall down in syncope, in +fainting fits, or in swoons, and who at the end of a certain time come +naturally to themselves when the blood and animal spirits have resumed +their natural course and motion. + +But how can they come out of their graves without opening the earth, +and how re-enter them again without its appearing? Have we ever seen +lethargies, or swoons, or syncopes last whole years together? If +people insist on these resurrections being real ones, did we ever see +dead persons resuscitate themselves, and by their own power? + +If they are not resuscitated by themselves, is it by the power of God +that they have left their graves? What proof is there that God has +anything to do with it? What is the object of these resurrections? Is +it to show forth the works of God in these vampires? What glory does +the Divinity derive from them? If it is not God who drags them from +their graves, is it an angel? is it a demon? is it their own spirit? +Can the soul when separated from the body re-enter it when it will, +and give it new life, were it but for a quarter of an hour? Can an +angel or a demon restore a dead man to life? Undoubtedly not, without +the order, or at least the permission of God. This question of the +natural power of angels and demons over human bodies has been examined +in another place, and we have shown that neither revelation nor reason +throws any certain light on the subject. + + +Footnotes: + +[450] 1 John xii. 2. + +[451] 2 Kings viii. 5. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +REVIVAL OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN INTERRED FOR THREE YEARS, AND WAS +RESUSCITATED BY ST. STANISLAUS. + + +All the lives of the saints are full of resurrections of the dead; +thick volumes might be composed on the subject. + +These resurrections have a manifest relation to the matter which we +are here treating of, since it relates to persons who are dead, or +held to be so, who appear bodily and animated to the living, and who +live after their return to life. I shall content myself with relating +the history of St. Stanislaus, Bishop of Cracow, who restored to life +a man that had been dead for three years, attended by such singular +circumstances, and in so public a manner, that the thing is beyond the +severest criticism. If it is really true, it must be regarded as one +of the most unheard of miracles which are read of in history. They +assert that the life of this saint was written either at the time of +martyrdom,[452] or a short time afterwards, by different well-informed +authors; for the martyrdom of the saint, and, above all, the +restoration to life of the dead man of whom we are about to speak, +were seen and known by an infinite number of persons, by all the court +of king Boleslaus. And this event having taken place in Poland, where +vampires are frequently met with even in our days, it concerns, for +that reason, more particularly the subject we are treating. + +The bishop, St. Stanislaus, having bought of a gentleman, named +Pierre, an estate situated on the banks of the Vistula, in the +territory of Lublin, for the profit of his church at Cracow, gave the +price of it to the seller, in the presence of witnesses, and with the +solemnities requisite in that country, but without written deeds, for +they then wrote but seldom in Poland on the occasion of sales of this +kind; they contented themselves with having witnesses. Stanislaus took +possession of this estate by the king's authority, and his church +enjoyed it peaceably for about three years. + +In the interim, Pierre, who had sold it, happened to die. The king of +Poland, Boleslaus, who had conceived an implacable hatred against the +holy bishop, because he had freely reproved him for his excesses, +seeking occasion to cause him trouble, excited against him the three +sons of Pierre, and his heirs, and told them to claim the estate which +their father had sold, on pretence of its not having been paid for. He +promised to support their demand, and to cause it to be restored to +them. Thus these three gentlemen had the bishop cited to appear before +the king, who was then at Solech, occupied in rendering justice under +some tents in the country, according to the ancient custom of the +land, in the general assembly of the nation. The bishop was cited +before the king, and maintained that he had bought and paid for the +estate in question. The day was beginning to close, and the bishop ran +great risk of being condemned by the king and his counselors. +Suddenly, as if inspired by the Divine Spirit, he promised the king to +bring him in three days Pierre, of whom he had bought it, and the +condition was accepted mockingly, as a thing impossible to be +executed. + +The holy bishop repairs to Pictravin, remains in prayer, and keeps +fast with his household for three days; on the third day he goes in +his pontifical robes, accompanied by his clergy and a multitude of +people, causes the grave-stone to be raised, and makes them dig until +they found the corpse of the defunct all fleshless and corrupted. The +saint commands him to come forth and bear witness to the truth before +the king's tribunal. He rises; they cover him with a cloak; the saint +takes him by the hand, and leads him alive to the feet of the king. No +one had the boldness to interrogate him; but he took the word, and +declared that he had in good faith sold the estate to the prelate, and +that he had received the value of it; after which he severely +reprimanded his sons, who had so maliciously accused the holy bishop. + +Stanislaus asked Pierre if he wished to remain alive to do penance. He +thanked him, and said he would not anew expose himself to the danger +of sinning. Stanislaus reconducted him to his tomb, and being arrived +there, he again fell asleep in the Lord. It may be supposed that such +a scene had an infinite number of witnesses, and that all Poland was +quickly informed of it. The king was only the more irritated against +the saint. He some time after killed him with his own hand, as he was +coming from the altar, and had his body cut into seventy-two parts, in +order that they might never more be collected together in order to pay +them the worship which was due to them as the body of a martyr for the +truth and for pastoral liberty. + +Now then let us come to that which is the principal subject of these +researches, the vampires, or _revenans_, of Hungary, Moravia, and +similar ones, which appear only for a little time in their natural +bodies. + + +Footnotes: + +[452] The reverend fathers the Bollandists, believed that the life of +St. Stanislaus, which they had printed, was very old, and nearly of +the time of the martyrdom of the saint; or at least that it was taken +from a life by an author almost his cotemporary, and original. But +since the first edition of this dissertation it has been observed to +me that the thing was by no means certain; that M. Baillet, on the 7th +of May, in the critical table of authors, asserts that the life of St. +Stanislaus was only written 400 years after his death, from uncertain +and mutilated memoirs. And in the life of the saint he owns that it is +only the tradition of the writers of the country which can render +credible the account of the resurrection of Pierre. The Abbe Fleuri, +tom. xiii. of the Ecclesiastical History, l. 62, year 1079, does not +agree either to what is written in that life or to what has followed +it. At any rate, the miracle of the resurrection of Pierre is related +as certain in a discourse of John de Polemac, delivered at the Council +of Constance, 1433; tom. xii. Councils, p. 1397. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +CAN A MAN WHO IS REALLY DEAD APPEAR IN HIS OWN BODY? + + +If what is related of vampires were certainly true, the question here +proposed would be frivolous and useless; they would reply to us +directly--In Hungary, Moravia, and Poland, persons who were dead and +interred a long time, have been seen to return, to appear, and torment +men and animals, suck their blood, and cause their death. + +These persons come back to earth in their own bodies; people see them, +know them, exhume them, try them, impale them, cut off their heads, +burn them. It is then not only possible, but very true and very real, +that they appear in their own bodies. + +It might be added in support of this belief, that the Scriptures +themselves give instances of these apparitions: for example, at the +Transfiguration of our Saviour, Elias and Moses appeared on Mount +Tabor,[453] there conversing with Jesus Christ. We know that Elias is +still alive. I do not cite him as an instance; but in regard to Moses, +his death is not doubtful; and yet he appeared bodily talking with +Jesus Christ. The dead who came out of their graves at the +resurrection of the Saviour,[454] and who appeared to many persons in +Jerusalem, had been in their sepulchres for several years; there was +no doubt of their being dead; and nevertheless they appeared and bore +testimony to the resurrection of the Saviour. + +When Jeremiah appeared to Judas Maccabaeus,[455] and placed in his hand +a golden sword, saying to him, "Receive this sword as a gift from God, +with which you will vanquish the enemies of my people of Israel;" it +was apparently this prophet in his own person who appeared to him and +made him that present, since by his mien he was recognized as the +prophet Jeremiah. + +I do not speak of those persons who were really restored to life by a +miracle, as the son of the widow of Shunem resuscitated by Elijah; nor +of the dead man who, on touching the coffin of the same prophet, rose +upon his feet and revived; nor of Lazarus, to whom Jesus Christ +restored life in a way so miraculous and striking. Those persons +lived, drank, ate, and conversed with mankind, after, as before their +death and resurrection. + +It is not of such persons that we now speak. I speak, for instance, of +Pierre resuscitated by Stanislaus for a few hours; of those persons of +whom I made mention in the treatise on the Apparitions of Spirits, who +appeared, spoke, and revealed hidden things, and whose resurrection +was but momentary, and only to manifest the power of God, in order to +bear witness to truth and innocence, or to maintain the credit of the +church against obstinate heretics, as we read in various instances. + +St. Martin, being newly made Archbishop of Tours, conceived some +suspicions against an altar which the bishops his predecessors had +erected to a pretended martyr, of whom they knew neither the name nor +the history, and of whom none of the priests or ministers of the +chapel could give any certain account. He abstained for some time from +going to this spot, which was not far from the city; but one day he +repaired thither accompanied by a few monks, and having prayed, he +besought God to let him know who it was that was interred there. He +then perceived on his left a hideous and dirty-looking apparition; and +having commanded it to tell him who he was, the spectre declared his +name, and confessed to him that he was a robber, who had been put to +death for his crimes and acts of violence, and that he had nothing in +common with the martyrs. Those who were present heard distinctly what +he said, but saw no one. St. Martin had the tomb overthrown, and cured +the ignorant people of their superstitions. + +The philosopher Celsus, writing against the Christians, maintained +that the apparitions of Jesus Christ to his apostles were not real, +but that they were simply shadowy forms which appeared. Origen, +retorting his reasoning, tells him[456] that the pagans give an +account of various apparitions of AEsculapius and Apollo, to which they +attribute the power of predicting future events. If these appearances +are admitted to be real, because they are attested by some, why not +receive as true those of Jesus Christ, which are related by ocular +witnesses, and believed by millions of persons? + +He afterwards relates this history. Aristeus, who belonged to one of +the first families of Proconnesus, having one day entered a foulon +shop, died there suddenly. The __________ having locked the door, ran +directly to inform the relations of the deceased; but as the report +was instantly spread in the town, a man of Cyzica, who came from +Astacia, affirmed that it could not be, because he had met Aristeus on +the road from Cyzica, and had spoken to him, which he loudly +maintained before all the people of Proconnesus. + +Thereupon the relations arrive at the foulon's, with all the necessary +apparatus for carrying away the body; but when they entered the house, +they could not find Aristeus there, either dead or alive. Seven years +after, he showed himself in the very town of Proconnesus; made there +those verses which are termed Arimaspean, and then disappeared for the +second time. Such is the story related of him in those places. + +Three hundred and forty years after that event, the same Aristeus +showed himself in Metapontus, in Italy, and commanded the Metapontines +to build an altar to Apollo, and afterwards to erect a statue in honor +of Aristeus of Proconnesus, adding that they were the only people of +Italy whom Apollo had honored with his presence; as for himself who +spoke to them, he had accompanied that god in the form of a crow; and +having thus spoken he disappeared. + +The Metapontines sent to consult the oracle of Delphi concerning this +apparition; the Delphic oracle told them to follow the counsel which +Aristeus had given them, and it would be well for them; in fact, they +did erect a statue to Apollo, which was still to be seen there in the +time of Herodotus;[457] and at the same time, another statue to +Aristeus, which stood in a small plantation of laurels, in the midst +of the public square of Metapontus. Celsus made no difficulty of +believing all that on the word of Herodotus, though Pindar and he +refused credence to what the Christians taught of the miracles wrought +by Jesus Christ, related in the Gospel and sealed with the blood of +martyrs. Origen adds, What could Providence have designed in +performing for this Proconnesian the miracles we have just mentioned? +What benefit could mankind derive from them? Whereas, what the +Christians relate of Jesus Christ serves to confirm a doctrine which +is beneficial to the human race. We must, then, either reject this +story of Aristeus as fabulous, or ascribe all that is told of it as +the work of the evil spirit. + + +Footnotes: + +[453] Matt. ix. 34. + +[454] Matt. xxvii. 53. + +[455] Macc. xiv. 14, 15. + +[456] Origen. contra Celsum, lib. i. pp. 123, 124. + +[457] Herodot. lib. iv. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +REVIVAL OR APPARITION OF A GIRL WHO HAD BEEN DEAD SOME MONTHS. + + +Phlegonus, freed-man of the Emperor Adrian,[458] in the fragment of +the book which he wrote on wonderful things, says that at Tralla, in +Asia, a certain man named Machates, an innkeeper, was connected with a +girl named Philinium, the daughter of Demostrates and Chariton. This +girl being dead, and placed in her grave, continued to come every +night for six months to see her gallant, to drink, eat, and sleep with +him. One day this girl was recognized by her nurse, when she was +sitting by Machates. The nurse ran to give notice of this to Chariton, +the girl's mother, who, after making many difficulties, came at last +to the inn; but as it was very late, and everybody gone to bed, she +could not satisfy her curiosity. However, she recognized her +daughter's clothes, and thought she recognized the girl herself in bed +with Machates. She returned the next morning, but having missed her +way, she no longer found her daughter, who had already withdrawn. +Machates related everything to her; how, since a certain time, she had +come to him every night; and in proof of what he said, he opened his +casket and showed her the gold ring which Philinium had given him, and +the band with which she covered her bosom, and which she had left with +him the preceding night. + +Chariton, who could no longer doubt the truth of the circumstance, now +gave way to cries and tears; but as they promised to inform her the +following night, when Philinium should return, she went away home. In +the evening the girl came back as usual, and Machates sent directly to +let her father and mother know, for he began to fear that some other +girl might have taken Philinium's clothes from the sepulchre, in order +to deceive him by the illusion. + +Demostrates and Chariton, on arriving, recognized their daughter and +ran to embrace her; but she cried out, "Oh, father and mother, why +have you grudged me my happiness, by preventing me from remaining +three days longer with this innkeeper without injury to any one? for I +did not come here without permission from the gods, that is to say, +from the demon, since we cannot attribute to God, or to a good spirit, +a thing like that. Your curiosity will cost you dear." At the same +time, she fell down stiff and dead, and extended on the bed. + +Phlegon, who had some command in the town, stayed the crowd and +prevented a tumult. The next day, the people being assembled at the +theatre, they agreed to go and inspect the vault in which Philinium, +who had died six months before, had been laid. They found there the +corpses of her family arranged in their places, but they found not the +body of Philinium. There was only an iron ring, which Machates had +given her, with a gilded cup, which she had also received from him. +Afterwards they went back to the dwelling of Machates, where the body +of the girl remained lying on the ground. + +They consulted a diviner, who said that she must be interred beyond +the limits of the town; they must appease the furies and terrestrial +Mercury, make solemn funeral ceremonies to the god Manes, and +sacrifice to Jupiter Hospitaller, to Mercury, and Mars. Phlegon adds, +speaking to him to whom he was writing: "If you think proper to inform +the emperor of it, write to me, that I may send you some of those +persons who were eye-witnesses of all these things." + +Here is the fact circumstantially related, and invested with all the +marks which can make it pass for true. Nevertheless, how numerous are +the difficulties it presents! Was this young girl really dead, or only +sleeping? Was her resurrection effected by her own strength and will, +or was it a demon who restored her to life? It appears that it cannot +be doubted that it was her own body; all the circumstances noted in +the recital of Phlegon persuade us of it. If she was not dead, and all +she did was merely a game and a play which she performed to satisfy +her passion for Machates, there is nothing in all this recital very +incredible. We know what illicit love is capable of, and how far it +may lead any one who is devoured by a violent passion. The same +Phlegon says that a Syrian soldier of the army of Antiochus, after +having been killed at Thermopylae, appeared in open day in the Roman +camp, where he spoke to several persons. + +Haralde, or Harappe, a Dane, who caused himself to be buried at the +entrance of his kitchen, appeared after his death, and was wounded by +one Olaues Pa, who left the iron of his lance in the wound. This Dane, +then, appeared bodily. Was it his soul which moved his body, or a +demon which made use of this corpse to disturb and frighten the +living? Did he do this by his own strength, or by the permission of +God? And what glory to God, what advantage to men, could accrue from +these apparitions? Shall we deny all these facts, related in so +circumstantial a manner by enlightened authors, who have no interest +in deceiving us, nor any wish to do so? + +St. Augustine relates that, during his abode at Milan,[459] a young +man had a suit instituted against him by a person who repeated his +demand for a debt already paid the young man's father, but the receipt +for which could not be found. The ghost of the father appeared to the +son, and informed him where the receipt was which occasioned him so +much trouble. + +St. Macarius, the Egyptian, made a dead man[460] speak who had been +interred some time, in order to discover a deposit which he had +received and hidden unknown to his wife. The dead man declared that +the money was slipt down at the foot of his bed. + +The same St. Macarius, not being able to refute in any other way a +heretic Eunomian, according to some, or Hieracitus, according to +others, said to him, "Let us go to the grave of a dead man, and ask +him to inform us of the truth which you will not agree to." The +heretic dared not present himself at the grave; but St. Macarius went +thither, accompanied by a multitude of persons. He interrogated the +dead, who replied from the depth of the tomb, that if the heretic had +appeared in the crowd he should have arisen to convince him, and to +bear testimony to the truth. St. Macarius commanded him to fall asleep +again in the Lord, till the time when Jesus Christ should awaken him +in his place at the end of the world. + +The ancients, who have related the same fact, vary in some of the +circumstances, as is usual enough when those things are related only +from memory. + +St. Spiridion, Bishop of Trinitontis, in Egypt,[461] had a daughter +named Irene, who lived in virginity till her death. After her decease, +a person came to Spiridion and asked him for a deposit which he had +confided to Irene unknown to her father. They sought in every part of +the house, but could find nothing. At last Spiridion went to his +daughter's tomb, and calling her by her name, asked her where the +deposit was. She declared the same, and Spiridion restored it. + +A holy abbot named Erricles resuscitated for a moment a man who had +been killed,[462] and of whose death they accused a monk who was +perfectly innocent. The dead man did justice to the accused, and the +Abbot Erricles said to him, "Sleep in peace, till the Lord shall come +at the last day to resuscitate you to all eternity." + +All these momentary resurrections may serve to explain how the +_revenans_ of Hungary come out of their graves, then return to them, +after having caused themselves to be seen and felt for some time. But +the difficulty will always be to know, 1st, If the thing be true; 2d, +If they can resuscitate themselves; and, 3d, If they are really dead, +or only asleep. In what way soever we regard this circumstance, it +always appears equally impossible and incredible. + + +Footnotes: + +[458] Phlegon. de Mirabilib. 18. Gronov. Antiq. Graec. p. 2694. + +[459] Aug. de Cura pro Mortuis. + +[460] Rosweid. vit. P. P. lib. ii. p. 480. + +[461] Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. 11. + +[462] Vit. P. P. lib. ii. p. 650. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A WOMAN TAKEN ALIVE FROM HER GRAVE. + + +We read in a new work, a story which has some connection with this +subject. A shopkeeper of the Rue St. Honore, at Paris, had promised +his daughter to one of his friends, a shopkeeper like himself, +residing also in the same street. A financier having presented himself +as a husband for this young girl, was accepted instead of the young +man to whom she had been promised. The marriage was accomplished, and +the young bride falling ill, was looked upon as dead, enshrouded and +interred. The first lover having an idea that she had fallen into a +lethargy or a trance, had her taken out of the ground during the +night; they brought her to herself and he espoused her. They crossed +the channel, and lived quietly in England for some years. At the end +of ten years, they returned to Paris, where the first husband having +recognized his wife in a public walk, claimed her in a court of +justice; and this was the subject of a great law suit. + +The wife and her (second) husband defended themselves on the ground +that death had broken the bonds of the first marriage. The first +husband was even accused of having caused his wife to be too +precipitately interred. The lovers foreseeing that they might be +non-suited, again withdrew to a foreign land, where they ended their +days. This circumstance is so singular that our readers will have some +difficulty in giving credence to it. I only give it as it is told. It +is for those who advance the fact to guarantee and prove it. + +Who can say that, in the story of Phlegon, the young Philinium was not +thus placed in the vault without being dead, and that every night she +came to see her lover Machates? That was much easier for her than +would have been the return of the Parisian woman, who had been +enshrouded, buried, and remained covered with earth, and enveloped in +linen, during a pretty long time. + +The other example related in the same work, is of a girl who fell into +a trance and was regarded as dead, and became enceinte during this +interval, without knowing the author of her pregnancy. It was a monk, +who, having made himself known, asserted that his vows should be +annulled, he having been forced into the sacred profession. A great +lawsuit ensued upon it, of which the documents are preserved to this +day. The monk obtained a dispensation from his vows, and married the +young girl. + +This instance may be adduced with that of Philinium, and the young +woman of the Rue St. Honore. It is possible that these persons might +not be dead, and consequently not restored to life. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +LET US NOW EXAMINE THE FACT OF THE REVENANS OR VAMPIRES OF MORAVIA. + + +I have been told by the late Monsieur de Vassimont, counsellor of the +Chamber of the Counts of Bar, that having been sent into Moravia by +his late Royal Highness Leopold, first Duke of Lorraine, for the +affairs of my Lord the Prince Charles his brother, Bishop of Olmutz +and Osnaburgh, he was informed by public report that it was common +enough in that country to see men who had died some time before, +present themselves in a party, and sit down to table with persons of +their acquaintance without saying anything; but that nodding to one of +the party, he would infallibly die some days afterwards. This fact was +confirmed by several persons, and amongst others by an old cure, who +said he had seen more than one instance of it. + +The bishops and priests of the country consulted Rome on so +extraordinary a fact; but they received no answer, because, +apparently, all those things were regarded there as simple visions, or +popular fancies. They afterwards bethought themselves of taking up the +corpses of those who came back in that way, of burning them, or of +destroying them in some other manner. Thus they delivered themselves +from the importunity of these spectres, which are now much less +frequently seen than before. So said that good priest. + +These apparitions have given rise to a little work, entitled _Magia +Posthuma_, printed at Olmutz, in 1706, composed by Charles Ferdinand +de Schertz, dedicated to Prince Charles, of Lorraine, Bishop of Olmutz +and Osnaburgh. The author relates that, in a certain village, a woman +being just dead, who had taken all her sacraments, she was buried in +the usual way in the cemetery. Four days after her decease, the +inhabitants of this village heard a great noise and extraordinary +uproar, and saw a spectre, which appeared sometimes in the shape of a +dog, sometimes in the form of a man, not to one person only, but to +several, and caused them great pain, grasping their throats, and +compressing their stomachs, so as to suffocate them. It bruised almost +the whole body, and reduced them to extreme weakness, so that they +became pale, lean and attenuated. + +The spectre attacked even the animals, and some cows were found +debilitated and half dead. Sometimes it tied them together by their +tails. These animals gave sufficient evidence by their bellowing of +the pain they suffered. The horses seemed overcome with fatigue, all +in a perspiration, principally on the back; heated, out of breath, +covered with foam, as they are after a long and rough journey. These +calamities lasted several months. + +The author whom I have mentioned examines the affair in a lawyer-like +way, and reasons much on the fact and the law. He asks if, supposing +that those disturbances, those noises and vexations proceeded from +that person who is suspected of causing them, they can burn her, as is +done to other ghosts who do harm to the living. He relates several +instances of similar apparitions, and of the evils which ensued; as of +a shepherd of the village of Blow, near the town of Kadam, in Bohemia, +who appeared during some time, and called certain persons, who never +failed to die within eight days after. The peasants of Blow took up +the body of this shepherd, and fixed it in the ground with a stake +which they drove through it. + +This man, when in that condition, derided them for what they made him +suffer, and told them they were very good to give him thus a stick to +defend himself from the dogs. The same night he got up again, and by +his presence alarmed several persons, and strangled more amongst them +than he had hitherto done. Afterwards, they delivered him into the +hands of the executioner, who put him in a cart to carry him beyond +the village and there burn him. This corpse howled like a madman, and +moved his feet and hands as if alive. And when they again pierced him +through with stakes he uttered very loud cries, and a great quantity +of bright vermilion blood flowed from him. At last he was consumed, +and this execution put an end to the appearance and hauntings of this +spectre. + +The same has been practiced in other places, where similar ghosts have +been seen; and when they have been taken out of the ground they have +appeared red, with their limbs supple and pliable, without worms or +decay; but not without a great stink. The author cites divers other +writers, who attest what he says of these spectres, which still +appear, he says, pretty often in the mountains of Silesia and Moravia. +They are seen by night and by day; the things which once belonged to +them are seen to move themselves and change their place without being +touched by any one. The only remedy for these apparitions is to cut +off the heads and burn the bodies of those who come back to haunt +people. + +At any rate, they do not proceed to this without a form of justicial +law. They call for and hear the witnesses; they examine the arguments; +they look at the exhumed bodies, to see if they can find any of the +usual marks which lead them to conjecture that they are the parties +who molest the living, as the mobility and suppleness of the limbs, +the fluidity of the blood, and the flesh remaining uncorrupted. If all +these marks are found, then these bodies are given up to the +executioner, who burns them. It sometimes happens that the spectres +appear again for three or four days after the execution. Sometimes the +interment of the bodies of suspicious persons is deferred for six or +seven weeks. When they do not decay, and their limbs remain as supple +and pliable as when they were alive, then they burn them. It is +affirmed as certain that the clothes of these persons move without any +one living touching them; and within a short time, continues our +author, a spectre was seen at Olmutz, which threw stones, and gave +great trouble to the inhabitants. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DEAD PERSONS IN HUNGARY WHO SUCK THE BLOOD OF THE LIVING. + + +About fifteen years ago, a soldier who was billeted at the house of a +Haidamagne peasant, on the frontiers of Hungary, as he was one day +sitting at table near his host, the master of the house saw a person +he did not know come in and sit down to table also with them. The +master of the house was strangely frightened at this, as were the rest +of the company. The soldier knew not what to think of it, being +ignorant of the matter in question. But the master of the house being +dead the very next day, the soldier inquired what it meant. They told +him that it was the body of the father of his host, who had been dead +and buried for ten years, which had thus come to sit down next to him, +and had announced and caused his death. + +The soldier informed the regiment of it in the first place, and the +regiment gave notice of it to the general officers, who commissioned +the Count de Cabreras, captain of the regiment of Alandetti infantry, +to make information concerning this circumstance. Having gone to the +place, with some other officers, a surgeon and an auditor, they heard +the depositions of all the people belonging to the house, who attested +unanimously that the ghost was the father of the master of the house, +and that all the soldier had said and reported was the exact truth, +which was confirmed by all the inhabitants of the village. + +In consequence of this, the corpse of this spectre was exhumed, and +found to be like that of a man who has just expired, and his blood +like that of a living man. The Count de Cabreras had his head cut off, +and caused him to be laid again in his tomb. He also took information +concerning other similar ghosts, amongst others, of a man dead more +than thirty years, who had come back three times to his house at meal +time. The first time he had sucked the blood from the neck of his own +brother, the second time from one of his sons, and the third from one +of the servants in the house; and all three died of it instantly and +on the spot. Upon this deposition the commissary had this man taken +out of his grave, and finding that, like the first, his blood was in a +fluid state, like that of a living person, he ordered them to run a +large nail into his temple, and then to lay him again in the grave. + +He caused a third to be burnt, who had been buried more than sixteen +years, and had sucked the blood and caused the death of two of his +sons. The commissary having made his report to the general officers, +was deputed to the court of the emperor, who commanded that some +officers, both of war and justice, some physicians and surgeons, and +some learned men, should be sent to examine the causes of these +extraordinary events. The person who related these particulars to us +had heard them from Monsieur the Count de Cabreras, at Fribourg en +Brigau, in 1730. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ACCOUNT OF A VAMPIRE, TAKEN FROM THE JEWISH LETTERS (LETTRES JUIVES); +LETTER 137. + + +This is what we read in the "Lettres Juives," new edition, 1738, +Letter 137. + +We have just had in this part of Hungary a scene of vampirism, which +is duly attested by two officers of the tribunal of Belgrade, who went +down to the places specified; and by an officer of the emperor's +troops at Graditz, who was an ocular witness of the proceedings. + +In the beginning of September there died in the village of Kivsiloa, +three leagues from Graditz, an old man who was sixty-two years of age. +Three days after he had been buried, he appeared in the night to his +son, and asked him for something to eat; the son having given him +something, he ate and disappeared. The next day the son recounted to +his neighbors what had happened. That night the father did not appear; +but the following night he showed himself, and asked for something to +eat. They know not whether the son gave him anything or not; but the +next day he was found dead in his bed. On the same day, five or six +persons fell suddenly ill in the village, and died one after the other +in a few days. + +The officer or bailiff of the place, when informed of what had +happened, sent an account of it to the tribunal of Belgrade, which +dispatched to the village two of these officers and an executioner to +examine into this affair. The imperial officer from whom we have this +account repaired thither from Graditz, to be witness of a circumstance +which he had so often heard spoken of. + +They opened the graves of those who had been dead six weeks. When they +came to that of the old man, they found him with his eyes open, having +a fine color, with natural respiration, nevertheless motionless as the +dead; whence they concluded that he was most evidently a vampire. The +executioner drove a stake into his heart; they then raised a pile and +reduced the corpse to ashes. No mark of vampirism was found either on +the corpse of the son or on the others. + +Thanks be to God, we are by no means credulous. We avow that all the +light which physics can throw on this fact discovers none of the +causes of it. Nevertheless, we cannot refuse to believe that to be +true which is juridically attested, and by persons of probity. We will +here give a copy of what happened in 1732, and which we inserted in +the Gleaner (_Glaneur_), No. XVIII. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +OTHER INSTANCES OF GHOSTS--CONTINUATION OF THE GLEANER. + + +In a certain canton of Hungary, named in Latin _Oppida Heidanum_, +beyond the Tibisk, _vulgo_ Teiss, that is to say, between that river +which waters the fortunate territory of Tokay and Transylvania, the +people known by the name of _Heyducqs_[463] believe that certain dead +persons, whom they call vampires, suck all the blood from the living, +so that these become visibly attenuated, whilst the corpses, like +leeches, fill themselves with blood in such abundance that it is seen +to come from them by the conduits, and even oozing through the pores. +This opinion has just been confirmed by several facts which cannot be +doubted, from the rank of the witnesses who have certified them. We +will here relate some of the most remarkable. + +About five years ago, a certain Heyducq, inhabitant of Madreiga, named +Arnald Paul, was crushed to death by the fall of a wagonload of hay. +Thirty days after his death four persons died suddenly, and in the +same manner in which according to the tradition of the country, those +die who are molested by vampires. They then remembered that this +Arnald Paul had often related that in the environs of Cassovia, and on +the frontiers of Turkish Servia, he had often been tormented by a +Turkish vampire; for they believe also that those who have been +passive vampires during life become active ones after their death, +that is to say, that those who have been sucked suck also in their +turn; but that he had found means to cure himself by eating earth from +the grave of the vampire, and smearing himself with his blood; a +precaution which, however, did not prevent him from becoming so after +his death, since, on being exhumed forty days after his interment, +they found on his corpse all the indications of an arch-vampire. His +body was red, his hair, nails, and beard had all grown again, and his +veins were replete with fluid blood, which flowed from all parts of +his body upon the winding-sheet which encompassed him. The hadnagi, or +bailli of the village, in whose presence the exhumation took place, +and who was skilled in vampirism, had, according to custom, a very +sharp stake driven into the heart of the defunct Arnald Paul, and +which pierced his body through and through, which made him, as they +say, utter a frightful shriek, as if he had been alive: that done, +they cut off his head, and burnt the whole body. After that they +performed the same on the corpses of the four other persons who died +of vampirism, fearing that they in their turn might cause the death of +others. + +All these performances, however, could not prevent the recommencement +of these fatal prodigies towards the end of last year, that is to say, +five years after, when several inhabitants of the same village +perished miserably. In the space of three months, seventeen persons of +different sexes and different ages died of vampirism; some without +being ill, and others after languishing two or three days. It is +reported, amongst other things, that a girl named Stanoska, daughter +of the Heyducq Jotiuetzo, who went to bed in perfect health, awoke in +the middle of the night all in a tremble, uttering terrible shrieks, +and saying that the son of the Heyducq Millo who had been dead nine +weeks, had nearly strangled her in her sleep. She fell into a languid +state from that moment, and at the end of three days she died. What +this girl had said of Millo's son made him known at once for a +vampire: he was exhumed, and found to be such. The principal people of +the place, with the doctors and surgeons, examined how vampirism could +have sprung up again after the precautions they had taken some years +before. + +They discovered at last, after much search, that the defunct Arnald +Paul had killed not only the four persons of whom we have spoken, but +also several oxen, of which the new vampires had eaten, and amongst +others the son of Millo. Upon these indications they resolved to +disinter all those who had died within a certain time, &c. Amongst +forty, seventeen were found with all the most evident signs of +vampirism; so they transfixed their hearts and cut off their heads +also, and then cast their ashes into the river. + +All the informations and executions we have just mentioned were made +juridically, in proper form, and attested by several officers who were +garrisoned in the country, by the chief surgeons of the regiments, and +by the principal inhabitants of the place. The verbal process of it +was sent towards the end of last January to the Imperial Counsel of +War at Vienna, which had established a military commission to examine +into the truth of all these circumstances. + +Such was the declaration of the Hadnagi Barriarar and the ancient +Heyducqs; and it was signed by Battuer, first lieutenant of the +regiment of Alexander of Wurtemburg, Clickstenger, surgeon-in-chief of +the regiment of Frustemburch, three other surgeons of the company, and +Guoichitz, captain at Stallach. + + +Footnotes: + +[463] This story is apparently the same which we related before under +the name of Haidamaque, and which happened in 1729 or 1730. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +ARGUMENTS OF THE AUTHOR OF THE "LETTRES JUIVES," ON THE SUBJECT OF +THESE PRETENDED GHOSTS. + + +There are two different ways of effacing the opinion concerning these +pretended ghosts, and showing the impossibility of the effects which +are made to be produced by corpses entirely deprived of sensation. The +first is, to explain by physical causes all the prodigies of +vampirism; the second is, to deny totally the truth of these stories; +and the latter means, without doubt, is the surest and the wisest. But +as there are persons to whom the authority of a certificate given by +people in a certain place appears a plain demonstration of the +reality of the most absurd story, before I show how little they ought +to rely on the formalities of the law in matters which relate solely +to philosophy, I will for a moment suppose that several persons do +really die of the disease which they term vampirism. + +I lay down at first this principle, that it may be that there are +corpses which, although interred some days, shed fluid blood through +the conduits of their body. I add, moreover, that it is very easy for +certain people to fancy themselves sucked by vampires, and that the +fear caused by that fancy should make a revolution in their frame +sufficiently violent to deprive them of life. Being occupied all day +with the terror inspired by these pretended ghosts or _revenans_, is +it very extraordinary, that during their sleep the idea of these +phantoms should present itself to their imagination and cause them +such violent terror? that some of them die of it instantaneously, and +others a short time afterwards? How many instances have we not seen of +people who expired with fright in a moment? and has not joy itself +sometimes produced an equally fatal effect? + +I have seen in the Leipsic journals[464] an account of a little work +entitled, _Philosophicae et Christianae Cogitationes de Vampiriis, a +Joanne Christophoro Herenbergio_; "Philosophical and Christian +Thoughts upon Vampires, by John Christopher Herenberg," at +Gerolferliste, in 1733, in 8vo. The author names a pretty large number +of writers who have already discussed this matter; he speaks, _en +passant_, of a spectre which appeared to him at noonday. He maintains +that the vampires do not cause the death of the living, and that all +that is said about them ought to be attributed only to the troubled +fancy of the invalids; he proves by divers experiments that the +imagination is capable of causing very great derangements in the body, +and the humors of the body; he shows that in Sclavonia they impaled +murderers, and drove a stake through the heart of the culprit; that +they used the same chastisement for vampires, supposing them to be the +authors of the death of those whose blood they were said to suck. He +gives some examples of this punishment exercised upon them, the one in +the year 1337, and the other in 1347. He speaks of the opinion of +those who believe that the dead eat in their tombs; a sentiment of +which he endeavors to prove the antiquity by the authority of +Tertullian, at the beginning of his book on the Resurrection, and by +that of St. Augustine, b. viii. c. 27, on the City of God, and in +Sermon xv. on the Saints. + +Such are nearly the contents of the work of M. Herenberg on vampires. +The passage of Tertullian[465] which he cites, proves very well that +the pagans offered food to their dead, even to those whose bodies had +been burned, believing that their spirits regaled themselves with it: +_Defunctis parentant, et quidem impensissimo studio, pro moribus eorum +pro temporibus esculentorum, ut quos sentire quicquam negant escam +desiderare proesumant._ This concerns only the pagans. + +But St. Augustine, in several places, speaks of the custom of the +Christians, above all those of Africa, of carrying to the tombs meats +and wine, which they placed upon them as a repast of devotion, and to +which the poor were invited, in whose favor these offerings were +principally instituted. This practice is founded on the passage of the +book of Tobit;--"Place your bread and wine on the sepulchre of the +just, and be careful not to eat or drink of it with sinners." St. +Monico, the mother of St. Augustine,[466] having desired to do at +Milan what she had been accustomed to do in Africa, St. Ambrose, +bishop of Milan, testified that he did not approve of this practice, +which was unknown in his church. The holy woman restrained herself to +carrying thither a basket full of fruits and wine, of which she +partook very soberly with the women who accompanied her, leaving the +rest for the poor. St. Augustine remarks, in the same passage, that +some intemperate Christians abused these offerings by drinking wine to +excess: _Ne ulla occasio se ingurgitandi daretur ebriosis._ + +St. Augustine,[467] however, by his preaching and remonstrances, did +so much good, that he entirely uprooted this custom, which was common +throughout the African Church, and the abuse of which was too general. +In his books on the City of God,[468] he avows that this usage is +neither general nor approved in the Church, and that those who +practice it content themselves with offering this food upon the tombs +of the martyrs, in order that through their merits these offerings +should be sanctified; after which they carry them away, and make use +of them for their own nourishment and that of the poor: _Quicumque +suas epulas eo deferant, quad quidem a melioribus Christianis non fit, +et in plerisque terrarum nulla talis est consuetudo; tamen quicumque +id faciunt, quas cum appossuerint, orant, et auferunt, ut vescantur +vel ex eis etiam indigentibus largiantur._ It appears, from two +sermons which have been attributed to St. Augustine,[469] that in +former times this custom had crept in at Rome, but did not subsist +there any time, and was blamed and condemned. + +Now, if it were true that the dead could eat in their tombs, and that +they had a wish or occasion to eat, as is believed by those of whom +Tertullian speaks, and as it appears may be inferred from the custom +of carrying fruit and wine to be placed on the graves of martyrs and +other Christians, I think even that I have good proof that in certain +places they placed near the bodies of the dead, whether buried in the +cemeteries or the churches, meat, wine, and other liquors. I have in +our study several vases of clay and glass, and even plates, where may +be seen small bones of pig and fowls, all found deep underground in +the church of the Abbey of St. Mansuy, near the town of Toul. + +It has been remarked to me that these vestiges found in the ground +were plunged in virgin earth which had never been disturbed, and near +certain vases or urns filled with ashes, and containing some small +bones which the flames could not consume; and as it is known that the +Christians did not burn their dead, and that these vases we are +speaking of are placed beneath the disturbed earth, in which the +graves of Christians are found, it has been inferred, with much +semblance of probability, that these vases with the food and beverage +buried near them, were intended not for Christians but for heathens. +The latter, then, at least, believed that the dead ate in the other +life. There is no doubt that the ancient Gauls[470] were persuaded of +this; they are often represented on their tombs with bottles in their +hands, and baskets and other comestibles, or drinking vessels and +goblets;[471] they carried with them even the contracts and bonds for +what was due to them, to have it paid to them in Hades. _Negotiorum +ratio, etiam exactio crediti deferebatur ad inferos._ + +Now, if they believed that the dead ate in their tombs, that they +could return to earth, visit, console, instruct, or disturb the +living, and predict to them their approaching death, the return of +vampires is neither impossible nor incredible in the opinion of these +ancients. + +But as all that is said of dead men who eat in their graves and out of +their graves is chimerical and beyond all likelihood, and the thing is +even impossible and incredible, whatever may be the number and quality +of those who have believed it, or appeared to believe it, I shall +always say that the return (to earth) of the vampires is +unmaintainable and impracticable. + + +Footnotes: + +[464] Supplem. ad visu Erudit. Lips. an. 1738, tom. ii. + +[465] Tertull. de Resurrect. initio. + +[466] Aug. Confess. lib. vi. c. 2. + +[467] Aug. Epist. 22, ad Aurel. Carthag. et Epist. 29, ad Alipi. Item +de Moribus Eccl. c. 34. + +[468] Aug. lib. viii. de Civit. Dei, c. 27. + +[469] Aug. Serm. 35, de Sanctis, nunc in Appendice, c. 5. Serm. cxc. +cxci. p. 328. + +[470] Antiquite expliquee, tom. iv. p. 80. + +[471] Mela. lib. ii. c. 4. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +CONTINUATION OF THE ARGUMENT OF THE "DUTCH GLEANERS," OR "GLANEUR +HOLLANDAIS." + + +On examining the narrative of the death of the pretended martyrs of +vampirism, I discover the symptoms of an epidemical fanaticism; and I +see clearly that the impression made upon them by fear is the true +cause of their being lost. A girl named Stanoska, say they, daughter +of the Heyducq Sovitzo, who went to bed in perfect health, awoke in +the middle of the night all in a tremble, and shrieking dreadfully, +saying that the son of the Heyducq Millo, who had been dead for nine +weeks, had nearly strangled her in her sleep. From that moment she +fell into a languishing state, and at the end of three days died. + +For any one who has eyes, however little philosophical they may be, +must not this recital alone clearly show him that this pretended +vampirism is merely the result of a stricken imagination? There is a +girl who awakes and says that some one wanted to strangle her, and who +nevertheless has not been sucked, since her cries have prevented the +vampire from making his repast. She apparently was not so served +afterwards either, since, doubtlessly, they did not leave her by +herself during the other nights; and if the vampire had wished to +molest her, her moans would have warned those of it who were present. +Nevertheless, she dies three days afterwards. Her fright and lowness, +her sadness and languor, evidently show how strongly her imagination +had been affected. + +Those persons who find themselves in cities afflicted with the plague, +know by experience how many people lose their lives through fear. As +soon as a man finds himself attacked with the least illness, he +fancies that he is seized with the epidemical disease, which idea +occasions him so great a sensation, that it is almost impossible for +the system to resist such a revolution. The Chevalier de Maifin +assured me, when I was at Paris, that being at Marseilles during the +contagion which prevailed in that city, he had seen a woman die of the +fear she felt at a slight illness of her servant, whom she believed +attacked with the pestilence. This woman's daughter was sick and near +dying. + +Other persons who were in the same house went to bed, sent for a +doctor, and assured him they had the plague. The doctor, on arriving, +visited the servant, and the other patients, and none of them had the +epidemical disorder. He tried to calm their minds, and ordered them to +rise, and live in their usual way; but his care was useless as +regarded the mistress of the family, who died in two days of the +fright alone. + +Reflect upon the second narrative of the death of a passive vampire, +and you will see most evident proofs of the terrible effects of fear +and prejudice. (See the preceding chapter.) This man, three days after +he was buried, appears in the night to his son, asks for something to +eat, eats, and disappears. On the morrow, the son relates to his +neighbors what had happened to him. That night the father does not +appear; but the following night they find the son dead in his bed. Who +cannot perceive in these words the surest marks of prepossession and +fear? The first time these act upon the imagination of the pretended +victim of vampirism they do not produce their entire effect, and not +only dispose his mind to be more vividly struck by them; that also +does not fail to happen, and to produce the effect which would +naturally follow. + +Notice well that the dead man did not return on the night of the day +that his son communicated his dream to his friends, because, according +to all appearances, these sat up with him, and prevented him from +yielding to his fear. + +I now come to those corpses full of fluid blood, and whose beard, hair +and nails had grown again. One may dispute three parts of these +prodigies, and be very complaisant if we admit the truth of a few of +them. All philosophers know well enough how much the people, and even +certain historians, enlarge upon things which appear but a little +extraordinary. Nevertheless, it is not impossible to explain their +cause physically. + +Experience teaches us that there are certain kinds of earth which will +preserve dead bodies perfectly fresh. The reasons of this have been +often explained, without my giving myself the trouble to make a +particular recital of them. There is at Thoulouse a vault in a church +belonging to some monks, where the bodies remain so entirely perfect +that there are some which have been there nearly two centuries, and +appear still living. + +They have been ranged in an upright posture against the wall, and are +clothed in the dress they usually wore. What is very remarkable is, +that the bodies which are placed on the other side of this same vault +become in two or three days the food of worms. + +As to the growth of the nails, the hair and the beard, it is often +perceived in many corpses. While there yet remains a great deal of +moisture in the body, it is not surprising that during some time we +see some augmentation in those parts which do not demand a vital +spirit. + +The fluid blood flowing through the canals of the body seems to form a +greater difficulty; but physical reasons may be given for this. It +might very well happen that the heat of the sun warming the nitrous +and sulphureous particles which are found in those earths that are +proper for preserving the body, those particles having incorporated +themselves in the newly interred corpses, ferment, decoagulate, and +melt the curdled blood, render it liquid, and give it the power of +flowing by degrees through all the channels. + +This opinion appears so much the more probable from its being +confirmed by an experiment. If you boil in a glass or earthen vessel +one part of chyle, or milk, mixed with two parts of cream of tartar, +the liquor will turn from white to red, because the tartaric salt will +have rarified and entirely dissolved the most oily part of the milk, +and converted it into a kind of blood. That which is formed in the +vessels of the body is a little redder, but it is not thicker; it is, +then, not impossible that the heat may cause a fermentation which +produces nearly the same effects as this experiment. And this will be +found easier, if we consider that the juices of the flesh and bones +resemble chyle very much, and that the fat and marrow are the most +oily parts of the chyle. Now all these particles in fermenting must, +by the rule of the experiment, be changed into a kind of blood. Thus, +besides that which has been discoagulated and melted, the pretended +vampires shed also that blood which must be formed from the melting of +the fat and marrow. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +NARRATION EXTRACTED FROM THE "MERCURE GALENT" OF 1693 AND 1694, +CONCERNING GHOSTS. + + +The public memorials of the years 1693 and 1694 speak of _oupires_, +vampires or ghosts, which are seen in Poland, and above all in Russia. +They make their appearance from noon to midnight, and come and suck the +blood of living men or animals in such abundance that sometimes it flows +from them at the nose, and principally at the ears, and sometimes the +corpse swims in its own blood oozed out in its coffin.[472] It is said +that the vampire has a sort of hunger, which makes him eat the linen +which envelops him. This reviving being, or _oupire_, comes out of his +grave, or a demon in his likeness, goes by night to embrace and hug +violently his near relations or his friends, and sucks their blood so +much as to weaken and attenuate them, and at last cause their death. +This persecution does not stop at one single person; it extends to the +last person of the family, if the course be not interrupted by cutting +off the head or opening the heart of the ghost, whose corpse is found in +his coffin, yielding, flexible, swollen, and rubicund, although he may +have been dead some time. There proceeds from his body a great quantity +of blood, which some mix up with flour to make bread of; and that bread +eaten in ordinary protects them from being tormented by the spirit, +which returns no more. + + +Footnotes: + +[472] V. Moreri on the word _stryges_. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +CONJECTURES OF THE "GLANEUR DE HOLLANDE," DUTCH GLEANER, IN 1733.--NO. +IX. + + +The Dutch Gleaner, who is by no means credulous, supposes the truth of +these facts as certain, having no good reason for disputing them, and +reasons upon them in a way which shows he thinks lightly of the +matter; he asserts that the people, amongst whom vampires are seen, +are very ignorant and very credulous, so that the apparitions we are +speaking of are only the effects of a prejudiced fancy. The whole is +occasioned and augmented by the bad nourishment of these people, who, +the greater part of their time, eat only bread made of oats, roots, +and the bark of trees--aliments which can only engender gross blood, +which is consequently much disposed to corruption, and produces dark +and bad ideas in the imagination. + +He compares this disease to the bite of a mad dog, which communicates +its venom to the person who is bitten; thus, those who are infected by +vampirism communicate this dangerous poison to those with whom they +associate. Thence the wakefulness, dreams, and pretended apparitions +of vampires. + +He conjectures that this poison is nothing else than a worm, which +feeds upon the purest substance of man, constantly gnaws his heart, +makes the body die away, and does not forsake it even in the depth of +the grave. It is certain that the bodies of those who have been +poisoned, or who die of contagion, do not become stiff after their +death, because the blood does not congeal in the veins; on the +contrary, it rarifies and bubbles much the same as in vampires, whose +beard, hair, and nails grow, whose skin is rosy, who appear to have +grown fat, on account of the blood which swells and abounds in them +everywhere. + +As to the cry uttered by the vampires when the stake is driven through +their heart, nothing is more natural; the air which is there confined, +and thus expelled with violence, necessarily produces that noise in +passing through the throat. Dead bodies often do as much without being +touched. He concludes that it is only an imagination that is deranged +by melancholy or superstition, which can fancy that the malady we have +just spoken of can be produced by vampire corpses, which come and suck +away, even to the last drop, all the blood in the body. + +A little before, he says that in 1732 they discovered again some +vampires in Hungary, Moravia, and Turkish Servia; that this phenomenon +is too well averred for it to be doubted; that several German +physicians have composed pretty thick volumes in Latin and German on +this matter; that the Germanic Academies and Universities still +resound with the names of Arnald Paul, of Stanoska, daughter of +Sovitzo, and of the Heyducq Millo, all famous vampires of the quarter +of Medreiga, in Hungary. + +Here is a letter which has been written to one of my friends, to be +communicated to me; it is on the subject of the ghosts of +Hungary;[473] the writer thinks very differently from the Gleaner on +the subject of vampires. + +"In reply to the questions of the Abbe dom Calmet concerning vampires, +the undersigned has the honor to assure him that nothing is more true +or more certain than what he will doubtless have read about it in the +deeds or attestations which have been made public, and printed in all +the Gazettes in Europe. But amongst all these public attestations +which have appeared, the Abbe must fix his attention as a true and +notorious fact on that of the deputation from Belgrade, ordered by his +late Majesty Charles VI., of glorious memory, and executed by his +Serene Highness the late Duke Charles Alexander of Wirtemberg, then +Viceroy or Governor of the kingdom of Servia; but I cannot at present +cite the year or the day, for want of papers which I have not now by +me. + +"That prince sent off a deputation from Belgrade, half consisting of +military officers and half of civil, with the auditor-general of the +kingdom, to go to a village where a famous vampire, several years +deceased, was making great havoc amongst his kin; for note well, that +it is only in their family and amongst their own relations that these +blood-suckers delight in destroying our species. This deputation was +composed of men and persons well known for their morality and even +their information, of irreproachable character; and there were even +some learned men amongst the two orders: they were put to the oath, +and accompanied by a lieutenant of the grenadiers of the regiment of +Prince Alexander of Wirtemberg, and by twenty-four grenadiers of the +said regiment. + +"All that were most respectable, and the duke himself, who was then at +Belgrade, joined this deputation in order to be ocular spectators of +the veracious proof about to be made. + +"When they arrived at the place, they found that in the space of a +fortnight the vampire, uncle of five persons, nephews and nieces, had +already dispatched three of them and one of his own brothers. He had +begun with his fifth victim, the beautiful young daughter of his +niece, and had already sucked her twice, when a stop was put to this +sad tragedy by the following operations. + +"They repaired with the deputed commissaries to a village not far from +Belgrade, and that publicly, at night-fall, and went to the vampire's +grave. The gentleman could not tell me the time when those who had +died had been sucked, nor the particulars of the subject. The persons +whose blood had been sucked found themselves in a pitiable state of +languor, weakness, and lassitude, so violent is the torment. He had +been interred three years, and they saw on this grave a light +resembling that of a lamp, but not so bright. + +"They opened the grave, and found there a man as whole and apparently +as sound as any of us who were present; his hair, and the hairs on his +body, the nails, teeth, and eyes as firmly fast as they now are in +ourselves who exist, and his heart palpitating. + +"Next they proceeded to draw him out of his grave, the body in truth +not being flexible, but wanting neither flesh nor bone; then they +pierced his heart with a sort of round, pointed, iron lance; there +came out a whitish and fluid matter mixed with blood, but the blood +prevailing more than the matter, and all without any bad smell. After +that they cut off his head with a hatchet, like what is used in +England at executions; there came out also a matter and blood like +what I have just described, but more abundantly in proportion to what +had flowed from the heart. + +"And after all this they threw him back again into his grave, with +quicklime to consume him promptly; and thenceforth his niece, who had +been twice sucked, grew better. At the place where these persons are +sucked a very blue spot is formed; the part whence the blood is drawn +is not determinate, sometimes it is in one place and sometimes in +another. It is a notorious fact, attested by the most authentic +documents, and passed or executed in sight of more than 1,300 persons, +all worthy of belief. + +"But I reserve, to satisfy more fully the curiosity of the learned +Abbe dom Calmet, the pleasure of detailing to him more at length what +I have seen with my own eyes on this subject, and will give it to the +Chevalier de St. Urbain to send to him; too glad in that, as in +everything else, to find an occasion of proving to him that no one is +with such perfect veneration and respect as his very humble, and very +obedient servant, L. de Beloz, ci-devant Captain in the regiment of +his Serene Highness the late Prince Alexander of Wirtemberg, and his +Aid-de-Camp, and at this time first Captain of grenadiers in the +regiment of Monsieur the Baron Trenck." + + +Footnotes: + +[473] There is reason to believe that this is only a repetition of +what has already been said in Chapter X. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +ANOTHER LETTER ON GHOSTS. + + +In order to omit nothing which can throw light on this matter, I shall +insert here the letter of a very honest man, who is well informed +respecting ghosts. This letter was written to a relation. + +"You wish, my dear cousin, to be exactly informed of what takes place +in Hungary concerning ghosts who cause the death of many people in +that country. I can write to you learnedly upon it, for I have been +several years in those quarters, and I am naturally curious. I have +heard in my lifetime an infinite number of stories, true, or pretended +to be such, concerning spirits and sorceries, but out of a thousand I +have hardly believed a single one. We cannot be too circumspect on +this point without running the risk of being duped. Nevertheless, +there are certain facts so well attested that one cannot help +believing them. As to the ghosts of Hungary, the thing takes place in +this manner: A person finds himself attacked with languor, loses his +appetite, grows visibly thinner, and, at the end of eight or ten days, +sometimes a fortnight, dies, without fever, or any other symptom than +thinness and drying up of the blood. + +"They say in that country that it is a ghost which attaches itself to +such a person and sucks his blood. Of those who are attacked by this +malady the greater part think they see a white spectre which follows +them everywhere as the shadow follows the body. When we were quartered +among the Wallachians, in the ban of Temeswar, two horsemen of the +company in which I was cornet, died of this malady, and several +others, who also were attacked by it, would have died in the same +manner, if a corporal of our company had not put a stop to the +disorder by employing the remedy used by the people of the country in +such case. It is very remarkable, and although infallible, I never +read it in any ritual. This is it:-- + +"They choose a boy young enough to be certain that he is innocent of +any impurity; they place him on an unmutilated horse, which has never +stumbled, and is absolutely black. They make him ride about the +cemetery and pass over all the graves; that over which the animal +refuses to pass, in spite of repeated blows from a switch that is +delivered to his rider, is reputed to be filled by a vampire. They +open this grave, and find therein a corpse as fat and handsome as if +he were a man happily and quietly sleeping. They cut the throat of +this corpse with the stroke of a spade, and there flows forth the +finest vermilion blood in a great quantity. One might swear that it +was a healthy living man whose throat they were cutting. That done, +they fill up the grave, and we may reckon that the malady will cease, +and that all those who had been attacked by it will recover their +strength by degrees, like people recovering from a long illness, and +who have been greatly extenuated. That happened precisely to our +horsemen who had been seized with it. I was then commandant of the +company, my captain and my lieutenant being absent. I was piqued at +that corporal's having made the experiment without me, and I had all +the trouble in the world to resist the inclination I felt to give him +a severe caning--a merchandize which is very cheap in the emperor's +troops. I would have given the world to be present at this operation; +but I was obliged to make myself contented as it was." + +A relation of this same officer has written me word, the 17th of +October, 1746, that his brother, who has served during twenty years in +Hungary, and has very curiously examined into everything which is said +there concerning ghosts, acknowledges that the people of that country +are more credulous and superstitious than other nations, and they +attribute the maladies which happen to them to spells. That as soon as +they suspect a dead person of having sent them this illness, they +inform the magistrate of it, who, on the deposition of some witnesses, +causes the dead body to be exhumed. They cut off the head with a +spade, and if a drop of blood comes from it, they conclude that it is +the blood which he has sucked from the sick person. But the person who +writes appears to me very far from believing what is thought of these +things in that country. + +At Warsaw, a priest having ordered a saddler to make him a bridle for +his horse, died before the bridle was made, and as he was one of those +whom they call vampires in Poland, he came out of his grave dressed as +the ecclesiastics usually are when inhumed, took his horse from the +stable, mounted it, and went in the sight of all Warsaw to the +saddler's shop, where at first he found only the saddler's wife, who +was frightened, and called her husband; he came, and the priest having +asked for his bridle, he replied, "But you are dead, Mr. Cure." To +which he answered, "I am going to show you I am not," and at the same +time struck him so hard that the poor saddler died a few days after, +and the priest returned to his grave. + +The steward of Count Simon Labienski, starost of Posnania, being dead, +the Countess Dowager de Labienski wished, from gratitude for his +services, to have him inhumed in the vault of the lords of that +family. This was done; and some time after, the sexton, who had the +care of the vault, perceived that there was some derangement in the +place, and gave notice of it to the ________, who desired, according to +the received custom in Poland, that the steward's head might be cut +off, which was done in the presence of several persons, and amongst +others of the Sieur Jouvinski, a Polish officer, and governor of the +young Count Simon Labienski, who saw that when the sexton took this +corpse out of his tomb to cut off his head, he ground his teeth, and +the blood came from him as fluidly as that of a person who died a +violent death, which caused the hair of all those who were present to +stand on end; and they dipped a white pocket-handkerchief in the blood +of this corpse, and made all the family drink some of the blood, that +they might not be tormented. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +PRETENDED VESTIGES OF VAMPIRISM IN ANTIQUITY. + + +Some learned men have thought they discovered some vestiges of +vampirism in the remotest antiquity; but all that they say of it does +not come near what is related of the vampires. The lamiae, the strigae, +the sorcerers whom they accused of sucking the blood of living +persons, and of thus causing their death, the magicians who were said +to cause the death of new-born children by charms and malignant +spells, are nothing less than what we understand by the name of +vampires; even were it to be owned that these lamiae and strigae have +really existed, which we do not believe can ever be well proved. + +I own that these terms are found in the versions of Holy Scripture. +For instance, Isaiah, describing the condition to which Babylon was to +be reduced after her ruin, says that she shall become the abode of +satyrs, lamiae, and strigae (in Hebrew, _lilith_). This last term, +according to the Hebrews, signifies the same thing, as the Greeks +express by _strix_ and _lamiae_, which are sorceresses or magicians, +who seek to put to death new-born children. Whence it comes that the +Jews are accustomed to write in the four corners of the chamber of a +woman just delivered, "Adam, Eve, begone from hence _lilith_." + +The ancient Greeks knew these dangerous sorceresses by the name of +_lamiae_, and they believed that they devoured children, or sucked away +all their blood till they died.[474] + +The Seventy, in Isaiah, translate the Hebrew _lilith_ by _lamia_. +Euripides and the Scholiast of Aristophanes also make mention of it as +a fatal monster, the enemy of mortals. Ovid, speaking of the strigae, +describes them as dangerous birds, which fly by night, and seek for +infants to devour them and nourish themselves with their blood.[475] + +These prejudices had taken such deep root in the minds of the +barbarous people that they put to death persons suspected of being +strigae, or sorceresses, and of eating people alive. Charlemagne, in +his Capitularies, which he composed for his new subjects,[476] the +Saxons, condemns to death those who shall believe that a man or a +woman are sorcerers (striges esse) and eat living men. He condemns in +the same manner those who shall have them burnt, or give their flesh +to be eaten, or shall eat of it themselves. + +Wherein it may be remarked, first of all, that they believed there +were people who ate men alive; that they killed and burnt them; that +sometimes their flesh was eaten, as we have seen that in Russia they +eat bread kneaded with the blood of vampires; and that formerly their +corpses were exposed to wild beasts, as is still done in countries +where these ghosts are found, after having impaled them, or cut off +their head. + +The laws of the Lombards, in the same way, forbid that the servant of +another person should be put to death as a witch, _strix_, or _masca_. +This last word, _masca_, whence _mask_, has the same signification as +the Latin _larva_, a spirit, a phantom, a spectre. + +We may class in the number of ghosts the one spoken of in the +Chronicle of Sigibert, in the year 858. + +Theodore de Gaza[477] had a little farm in Campania, which he had +cultivated by a laborer. As he was busy digging up the ground, he +discovered a round vase, in which were the ashes of a dead man; +directly, a spectre appeared to him, who commanded him to put this +vase back again in the ground, with what it contained, or if he did +not do so he would kill his eldest son. The laborer gave no heed to +these threats, and in a few days his eldest son was found dead in his +bed. A little time after, the same spectre appeared to him again, +reiterating the same order, and threatening to kill his second son. +The laborer gave notice of all this to his master, Theodore de Gaza, +who came himself to his farm, and had everything put back into its +place. This spectre was apparently a demon, or the spirit of a pagan +interred in that spot. + +Michael Glycas[478] relates that the emperor Basilius, having lost his +beloved son, obtained by means of a black monk of Santabaren, power to +behold his said son, who had died a little while before; he saw him, +and held him embraced a pretty long time, until he vanished away in +his arms. It was, then, only a phantom which appeared in his son's +form. + +In the diocese of Mayence, there was a spirit that year which made +itself manifest first of all by throwing stones, striking against the +walls of a house, as if with strong blows of a mallet; then talking, +and revealing unknown things; the authors of certain thefts, and other +things fit to spread the spirit of discord among the neighbors. At +last he directed his fury against one person in particular, whom he +liked to persecute and render odious to all the neighborhood, +proclaiming that he it was who excited the wrath of God against all +the village. He pursued him in every place, without giving him the +least moment of relaxation. He burnt all his harvest collected in his +house, and set fire to all the places he entered. + +The priests exorcised, said their prayers, dashed holy water about. +The spirit threw stones at them, and wounded several persons. After +the priests had withdrawn, they heard him bemoaning himself, and +saying that he had hidden himself under the hood of a priest, whom he +named, and accused of having seduced the daughter of a lawyer of the +place. He continued these troublesome hauntings for three years, and +did not leave off till he had burnt all the houses in the village. + +Here follows an instance which bears connection with what is related +of the ghosts of Hungary, who come to announce the death of their near +relations. Evodius, Bishop of Upsala, in Africa, writes to St. +Augustine, in 415,[479] that a young man whom he had with him, as a +writer, or secretary, and who led a life of rare innocence and purity, +having just died at the age of twenty-two, a virtuous widow saw in a +dream a certain deacon who, with other servants of God, of both sexes, +ornamented a palace which seemed to shine as if it were of silver. +She asked who they were preparing it for, and they told her it was for +a young man who died the day before. She afterwards beheld in the same +palace an old man, clad in white, who commanded two persons to take +this young man out of his tomb and lead him to heaven. + +In the same house where this young man died, an aged man, half asleep, +saw a man with a branch of laurel in his hand, upon which something +was written. + +Three days after the death of the young man, his father, who was a +priest named Armenius, having retired to a monastery to console +himself with the saintly old man, Theasus, Bishop of Manblosa, the +deceased son appeared to a monk of this monastery, and told him that +God had received him among the blessed, and that he had sent him to +fetch his father. In effect, four days after, his father had a slight +degree of fever, but it was so slight that the physician assured him +there was nothing to fear. He nevertheless took to his bed, and at the +same time, as he was yet speaking, he expired. + +It was not of fright that he died, for it does not appear that he knew +anything of what the monk had seen in his dream. + +The same bishop, Evodius, relates that several persons had been seen +after their death to go and come in their houses as during their +lifetime, either in the night, or even in open day. "They say also," +adds Evodius, "that in the places where bodies are interred, and +especially in the churches, they often hear a noise at a certain hour +of the night like persons praying aloud. I remember," continues +Evodius, "having heard it said by several, and, amongst others, by a +holy priest, who was witness to these apparitions, that they had seen +coming out of the baptistry a great number of these spirits, with +shining bodies of light, and had afterwards heard them pray in the +middle of the church." The same Evodius says, moreover, that +Profuturus, Privus, and Servilius, who had lived very piously in the +monastery, had talked with himself since their death, and what they +had told him had come to pass. + +St. Augustine, after having related what Evodius said, acknowledges +that a great distinction is to be made between true and false visions, +and testifies that he could wish to have some sure means of justly +discerning between them. + +But who shall give us the knowledge necessary for such discerning, so +difficult and yet so requisite, since we have not even any certain and +demonstrative marks by which to discern infallibly between true and +false miracles, or to distinguish the works of the Almighty from the +illusions of the angel of darkness. + + +Footnotes: + +[474] + "Neu pransae lamiae vivum puerum ex trahat alvo." + _Horat. Art. Poet._ 340. + +[475] + "Carpere dicuntur lactentia viscera rostris, + Et plenum poco sanguine guttur habent, + Est illis strigibus nomen." + +[476] Capitul. Caroli Magni pro partibus Saxoniae, i. 6:--"Si quis a +Diabolo deceptus crediderit secundum morem Paganorum, virum aliquem +aut foeminam strigem esse, et homines comedere; et propter hoc ipsum +incenderit, vel carnem ejus ad comedendum dederit, vel ipsam comederit +capitis sententia puniatur." + +[477] Le Loyer, des Spectres, lib. ii. p. 427. + +[478] Mich. Glycas, part iv. Annal. + +[479] Aug. Epist. 658, and Epist. 258, p. 361. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +OF GHOSTS IN THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES. + + +Thomas Bartholin, the son, in his treatise entitled "_Of the Causes of +the contempt of Death felt by the Ancient Danes while yet Gentiles_," +remarks[480] that a certain Hordus, an Icelander, saw spectres with +his bodily eyes, fought against them and resisted them. These +thoroughly believed that the spirits of the dead came back with their +bodies, which they afterwards forsook and returned to their graves. +Bartholinus relates in particular that a man named Asmond, son of +Alfus, having had himself buried alive in the same sepulchre with his +friend Asvitus, and having had victuals brought there, was taken out +from thence some time after covered with blood, in consequence of a +combat he had been obliged to maintain against Asvitus, who had +haunted him and cruelly assaulted him. + +He reports after that what the poets teach concerning the vocation of +spirits by the power of magic, and of their return into bodies which +are not decayed although a long time dead. He shows that the Jews have +believed the same--that the souls came back from time to time to +revisit their dead bodies during the first year after their decease. +He demonstrates that the ancient northern nations were persuaded that +persons recently deceased often made their bodily appearance; and he +relates some examples of it: he adds that they attacked these +dangerous spectres, which haunted and maltreated all who had any +fields in the neighborhood of their tombs; that they cut off the head +of a man named Gretter, who also returned to earth. At other times +they thrust a stake through the body and thus fixed them to the +ground. + + "Nam ferro secui mox caput ejus, + Perfodique nocens stipite corpus." + +Formerly, they took the corpse from the tomb and reduced it to ashes; +they did thus towards a spectre named Gardus, which they believed the +author of all the fatal apparitions that had appeared during the +winter. + + +Footnotes: + +[480] Thomas Bartolin, de Causis Contemptus Mortis a Danis, lib. ii. +c. 2. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +GHOSTS IN ENGLAND. + + +William of Malmsbury says[481] that in England they believed that the +wicked came back to earth after their death, and were brought back in +their own bodies by the devil, who governed them and caused them to +act; _Nequam hominis cadaver post mortem daemone agente discurrere._ + +William of Newbridge, who flourished after the middle of the twelfth +century, relates that in his time was seen in England, in the county +of Buckingham, a man who appeared bodily, as when alive, three +succeeding nights to his wife, and after that to his nearest +relatives. They only defended themselves from his frightful visits by +watching and making a noise when they perceived him coming. He even +showed himself to a few persons in the day time. Upon that, the Bishop +of Lincoln assembled his council, who told him that similar things had +often happened in England, and that the only known remedy against this +evil was to burn the body of the ghost. The bishop was averse to this +opinion, which appeared cruel to him: he first of all wrote a schedule +of absolution, which was placed on the body of the defunct, which was +found in the same state as if he had been buried that very day; and +from that time they heard no more of him. + +The author of this narrative adds, that this sort of apparitions would +appear incredible, if several instances had not occurred in his time, +and if they did not know several persons who believed in them. + +The same Newbridge says, in the following chapter, that a man who had +been interred at Berwick, came out of his grave every night and caused +great confusion in all the neighborhood. It was even said that he had +boasted that he should not cease to disturb the living till they had +reduced him to ashes. Then they selected ten bold and vigorous young +men, who took him up out of the ground, cut his body to pieces, and +placed it on a pile, whereon it was burned to ashes; but beforehand, +some one amongst them having said that he could not be consumed by +fire until they had torn out his heart, his side was pierced with a +stake, and when they had taken out his heart through the opening, they +set fire to the pile; he was consumed by the flames and appeared no +more. + +The pagans also believed that the bodies of the dead rested not, +neither were they safe from magical evocations, so long as they +remained unconsumed by fire, or undecayed underground. + + "Tali tua membra sepulchro, + Talibus exuram Stygio cum carmine Sylvis, + Ut nullos cantata Magos exaudiat umbra," + +said an enchantress, in Lucan, to a spirit she evoked. + + +Footnotes: + +[481] William of Malms. lib. ii. c. 4. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +GHOSTS IN PERU. + + +The instance we are about to relate occurred in Peru, in the country +of the Ititans. A girl named Catharine died at the age of sixteen an +unhappy death, and she had been guilty of several sacrilegious +actions. Her body immediately after her decease was so putrid that +they were obliged to put it out of the dwelling in the open air, to +escape from the bad smell which exhaled from it. At the same time they +heard as it were dogs howling; and a horse which before then was very +gentle began to rear, to prance, strike the ground with its feet, and +break its bonds; a young man who was in bed was pulled out of bed +violently by the arm; a servant maid received a kick on the shoulder, +of which she bore the marks for several days. All that happened before +the body of Catharine was inhumed. Some time afterwards, several +inhabitants of the place saw a great quantity of tiles and bricks +thrown down with a great noise in the house where she died. The +servant of the house was dragged about by the foot, without any one +appearing to touch her, and that in the presence of her mistress and +ten or twelve other women. + +The same servant, on entering a room to fetch some clothes, perceived +Catharine, who rose up to seize hold of an earthen pot; the girl ran +away directly, but the spectre took the vase, dashed it against the +wall, and broke it into a thousand pieces. The mistress, who ran +thither on hearing the noise, saw that a quantity of bricks were +thrown against the wall. The next day an image of the crucifix fixed +against the wall was all on a sudden torn from its place in the +presence of them all, and broken into three pieces. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +GHOSTS IN LAPLAND. + + +Vestiges of these ghosts are still found in Lapland, where it is said +they see a great number of spectres, who appear among those people, +speak to them, and eat with them, without their being able to get rid +of them; and as they are persuaded that these are the manes or shades +of their relations who thus disturb them, they have no means of +guarding against their intrusions more efficacious than to inter the +bodies of their nearest relatives under the hearthstone, in order, +apparently, that there they may be sooner consumed. In general, they +believe that the manes, or spirits, which come out of bodies, or +corpses, are usually malevolent till they have re-entered other +bodies. They pay some respect to the spectres, or demons, which they +believe roam about rocks, mountains, lakes, and rivers, much as in +former times the Romans paid honor to the fauns, the gods of the +woods, the nymphs, and the tritons. + +Andrew Alciat[482] says that he was consulted concerning certain women +whom the Inquisition had caused to be burnt as witches for having +occasioned the death of some children by their spells, and for having +threatened the mothers of other children to kill these also; and in +fact they did die the following night of disorders unknown to the +physicians. Here we again see those strigae, or witches, who delight in +destroying children. + +But all this relates to our subject very indirectly. The vampires of +which we are discoursing are very different from all those just +mentioned. + + +Footnotes: + +[482] Andr. Alciat. Parergon Juris, viii. c. 22. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +REAPPEARANCE OF A MAN WHO HAD BEEN DEAD FOR SOME MONTHS. + + +Peter, the venerable[483] abbot of Clugni, relates the conversation +which he had in the presence of the bishops of Oleron and of Osma, in +Spain, together with several monks, with an old monk named Pierre +d'Engelbert, who, after living a long time in his day in high +reputation for valor and honor, had withdrawn from the world after the +death of his wife, and entered the order of Clugni. Peter the +Venerable having come to see him, Pierre d'Engelbert related to him +that one day when in his bed and wide awake, he saw in his chamber, +whilst the moon shone very brightly, a man named Sancho, whom he had +several years before sent at his own expense to the assistance of +Alphonso, king of Arragon, who was making war on Castile. Sancho had +returned safe and sound from this expedition, but some time after he +fell sick and died in his house. + +Four months after his death, Sancho showed himself to Pierre +d'Engelbert, as we have said. Sancho was naked, with the exception of +a rag for mere decency round him. He began to uncover the burning +wood, as if to warm himself, or that he might be more distinguishable. +Peter asked him who he was. "I am," replied he, in a broken and hoarse +voice, "Sancho, your servant." "And what do you come here for?" "I am +going," said he, "into Castile, with a number of others, in order to +expiate the harm we did during the last war, on the same spot where it +was committed: for my own part, I pillaged the ornaments of a church, +and for that I am condemned to take this journey. You can assist me +very much by your good works; and madame, your spouse, who owes me yet +eight sols for the remainder of my salary, will oblige me infinitely +if she will bestow them on the poor in my name." Peter then asked him +news of one Pierre de Fais, his friend, who had been dead a short +time. Sancho told him that he was saved. + +"And Bernier, our fellow-citizen, what is become of him?" "He is +damned," said he, "for having badly performed his office of judge, and +for having troubled and plundered the widow and the innocent." + +Peter added, "Could you tell me any news of Alphonso, king of Arragon, +who died a few years ago?" + +Then another spectre, that Peter had not before seen, and which he now +observed distinctly by the light of the moon, seated in the recess of +the window, said to him--"Do not ask him for news of King Alphonso; he +has not been with us long enough to know anything about him. I, who +have been dead five years, can give you news of him. Alphonso was with +us for some time, but the monks of Clugni extricated him from thence. +I know not where he is now." Then, addressing himself to his +companion, Sancho, "Come," said he, "let us follow our companions; it +is time to set off." Sancho reiterated his entreaties to Peter, his +lord, and went out of the house. + +Peter waked his wife who was lying by him, and who had neither seen +nor heard anything of all this dialogue, and asked her the question, +"Do not you owe something to Sancho, that domestic who was in our +service, and died a little while ago?" She answered, "I owe him still +eight sols." From this, Peter had no more doubt of the truth of what +Sancho had said to him, gave these eight sols to the poor, adding a +large sum of his own, and caused masses and prayers to be said for the +soul of the defunct. Peter was then in the world and married; but when +he related this to Peter the Venerable, he was a monk of Clugni. + +St. Augustine relates that Sylla,[484] on arriving at Tarentum, +offered there sacrifices to the gods, that is to say, to the demons; +and having observed on the upper part of the liver of the victim a +sort of crown of gold, the aruspice assured him that this crown was +the presage of a certain victory, and told him to eat alone that liver +whereon he had seen the crown. + +Almost at the same moment, a servitor of Lucius Pontius came to him +and said, "Sylla, I am come from the goddess Bellona. The victory is +yours; and as a proof of my prediction, I announce to you that, ere +long, the capitol will be reduced to ashes." At the same time, this +man left the camp in great haste, and on the morrow he returned with +still more eagerness, and affirmed that the capitol had been burnt, +which was found to be true. + +St. Augustine had no doubt but that the demon who had caused the crown +of gold to appear on the liver of the victim had inspired this +diviner, and that the same bad spirit having foreseen the +conflagration of the capitol had announced it after the event by that +same man. + +The same holy doctor relates,[485] after Julius Obsequens, in his Book +of Prodigies, that in the open country of Campania, where some time +after the Roman armies fought with such animosity during the civil +war, they heard at first loud noises like soldiers fighting; and +afterwards several persons affirmed that they had seen for some days +two armies, who joined battle; after which they remarked in the same +part as it were vestiges of the combatants, and the marks of horses' +feet, as if the combat had really taken place there. St. Augustine +doubts not that all this was the work of the devil, who wished to +reassure mankind against the horrors of civil warfare, by making them +believe that their gods being at war amongst themselves, mankind need +not be more moderate, nor more touched by the evils which war brings +with it. + +The abbot of Ursperg, in his Chronicle, year 1123, says that in the +territory of Worms they saw during many days a multitude of armed men, +on foot and on horseback, going and coming with great noise, like +people who are going to a solemn assembly. Every day they marched, +towards the hour of noon, to a mountain, which appeared to be their +place of rendezvous. Some one in the neighborhood bolder than the +rest, having guarded himself with the sign of the cross, approached +one of these armed men, conjuring him in the name of God to declare +the meaning of this army, and their design. The soldier or phantom +replied, "We are not what you imagine; we are neither vain phantoms, +nor true soldiers; we are the spirits of those who were killed on this +spot a long time ago. The arms and horses which you behold are the +instruments of our punishment, as they were of our sins. We are all on +fire, though you can see nothing about us which appears inflamed." It +is said that they remarked in this company the Count Emico, who had +been killed a few years before, and who declared that he might be +extricated from that state by alms and prayers. + +Trithemius, in his _Annales Hirsauginses_, year 1013,[486] asserts +that there was seen in broad day, on a certain day in the year, an +army of cavalry and infantry, which came down from a mountain and +ranged themselves on a neighboring plain. They were spoken to and +conjured to speak, and they declared themselves to be the spirits of +those who a few years before had been killed, with arms in their +hands, in that same spot. + +The same Trithemius relates elsewhere[487] the apparition of the Count +of Spanheim, deceased a little while before, who appeared in the +fields with his pack of hounds. This count spoke to his cure, and +asked his prayers. + +Vipert, Archdeacon of the Church of Toul, cotemporary author of the +Life of the holy Pope Leo IX., who died 1059, relates[488] that, some +years before the death of this holy pope, an infinite multitude of +persons, habited in white, was seen to pass by the town of Narni, +advancing from the eastern side. This troop defiled from the morning +until three in the afternoon, but towards evening it notably +diminished. At this sight all the population of the town of Narni +mounted upon the walls, fearing they might be hostile troops, and saw +them defile with extreme surprise. + +One burgher, more resolute than the others, went out of the town, and +having observed in the crowd a man of his acquaintance, called to him +by name, and asked him the meaning of this multitude of travelers: he +replied, "We are spirits which not having yet expiated all our sins, +and not being as yet sufficiently pure to enter the kingdom of heaven, +we are going into holy places in a spirit of repentance; we are now +coming from visiting the tomb of St. Martin, and we are going straight +to Notre-Dame de Farse." The man was so frightened at this vision that +he was ill for a twelvemonth--it was he who recounted the circumstance +to Pope Leo IX. All the town of Narni was witness to this procession, +which took place in broad day. + +The night preceding the battle which was fought in Egypt between Mark +Antony and Caesar,[489] whilst all the city of Alexandria was in +extreme uneasiness in expectation of this action, they saw in the city +what appeared a multitude of people, who shouted and howled like +bacchanals, and they heard a confused sound of instruments in honor of +Bacchus, as Mark Antony was accustomed to celebrate this kind of +festivals. This troop, after having run through the greater part of +the town, went out of it by the door leading to the enemy, and +disappeared. + +That is all which has come to my knowledge concerning the vampires and +ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland, and of the other +ghosts of France and Germany. We will explain our opinion after this +on the reality, and other circumstances of these sorts of revived and +resuscitated beings. Here follows another species, which is not less +marvelous--I mean the excommunicated, who leave the church and their +graves with their bodies, and do not re-enter till after the sacrifice +is completed. + + +Footnotes: + +[483] Betrus Venerab. Abb. Cluniac. de miracul. lib. i. c. 28. p. +1293. + +[484] Lib. ii. de Civ. Dei, cap. 24. + +[485] Aug. lib. ii. de Civ. Dei, c. 25. + +[486] Trith. Chron. Hirs. p. 155, ad an. 1013. + +[487] Idem, tom. ii. Chron. Hirs. p. 227. + +[488] Vita S. Leonis Papae. + +[489] Plutarch, in Anton. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS WHO GO OUT OF THE CHURCHES. + + +St. Gregory the Great relates[490] that St. Benedict having threatened +to excommunicate two nuns, these nuns died in that state. Some time +after, their nurse saw them go out of the church, as soon as the +deacon had cried out, "Let all those who do not receive the communion +withdraw." The nurse having informed St. Benedict of the circumstance, +that saint sent an oblation, or a loaf, in order that it might be +offered for them in token of reconciliation; and from that time the +two nuns remained in quiet in their sepulchres. + +St. Augustine says[491] that the names of martyrs were recited in the +diptychs not to pray for them, and the names of the virgin nuns +deceased to pray for them. "Perhibet praeclarissimum testimonium +ecclesiastica auctoritas, in qua fidelibus notum est quo loco martyres +et que defunctae sanctimoniales ad altaris sacramenta recitantur." It +was then, perhaps, when they were named at the altar, that they left +the church. But St. Gregory says expressly, that it was when the +deacon cried aloud, "Let those who do not receive the communion +retire." + +The same St. Gregory relates that a young priest of the same St. +Benedict,[492] having gone out of his monastery without leave and +without receiving the benediction of the abbot, died in his +disobedience, and was interred in consecrated ground. The next day +they found his body out of the grave: the relations gave notice of it +to St. Benedict, who gave them a consecrated wafer, and told them to +place it with proper respect on the breast of the young priest; it was +placed there, and the earth no more rejected him from her bosom. + +This usage, or rather this abuse, of placing the holy wafer in the +grave with the dead, is very singular; but it was not unknown to +antiquity. The author of the Life of St. Basil[493] the Great, given +under the name of St. Amphilochus, says that that saint reserved the +third part of a consecrated wafer to be interred with him; he received +it and expired while it was yet in his mouth; but some councils had +already condemned this practice, and others have since then proscribed +it, as contrary to the institutions of Jesus Christ.[494] + +Still, they did not omit in a few places putting holy wafers in the +tombs or graves of some persons who were remarkable for their +sanctity, as in the tomb of St. Othmar, abbot of St. Gal,[495] wherein +were found under his head several round leaves, which were indubitably +believed to be the Host. + +In the Life of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarn,[496] we read that a +quantity of consecrated wafers were found on his breast. Amalarius +cites of the Venerable Bede, that a holy wafer was placed on the +breast of this saint before he was inhumed; "oblata super sanctum +pectus posita."[497] This particularity is not noted in Bede's +History, but in the second Life of St. Cuthbert. Amalarius remarks +that this custom proceeds doubtless from the Church of Rome, which had +communicated it to the English; and the Reverend Father Menard[498] +maintains that it is not this practice which is condemned by the +above-mentioned Councils, but that of giving the communion to the dead +by insinuating the holy wafer into their mouths. However it may be +regarding this practice, we know that Cardinal Humbert,[499] in his +reply to the ____________ of the patriarch Michael Cerularius, +reproves the Greeks for burying the Host, when there remained any of +it after the communion of the faithful. + + +Footnotes: + +[490] Greg. Magn. lib. ii. Dialog. c. 23. + +[491] Aug. de St. Virgin. c. xlv. 364. + +[492] Greg. lib. ii. Dialog. c. 34. + +[493] Amphil. in Vit. S. Basilii. + +[494] Vide Balsamon. ad Canon. 83. Concil. in Trullo, et Concil. +Carthagin. III. c. 6. Hippon. c. 5. Antissiod. c. 12. + +[495] Vit. S. Othmari, c. 3. + +[496] Vit. S. Cuthberti, lib. iv. c. 2. apud Bolland. 26 Martii. + +[497] Amalar. de Offic. Eccles. lib. iv. c. 41. + +[498] Menard. not. in Sacrament. S. Greg. Magn. pp. 484, 485. + +[499] Humbert. Card. Bibliot. P. P. lib. xviii. et tom. iv. Concil. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +SOME OTHER INSTANCES OF EXCOMMUNICATED PERSONS BEING CAST OUT OF +CONSECRATED GROUND. + + +We see again in history, several other examples of the dead bodies of +excommunicated persons being cast out of consecrated earth; for +instance, in the life of St. Gothard, Bishop of Hildesheim,[500] it is +related that this saint having excommunicated certain persons for +their rebellion and their sins, they did not cease, in spite of his +excommunications, to enter the church, and remain there though +forbidden by the saint, whilst even the dead, who had been interred +there years since, and had been placed there without their sentence of +excommunication being removed, obeyed him, arose from their tombs, and +left the church. After mass, the saint, addressing himself to these +rebels, reproached them for their hardness of heart, and told them +those dead people would rise against them in the day of judgment. At +the same time, going out of the church, he gave absolution to the +excommunicated dead, and allowed them to re-enter it, and repose in +their graves as before. The Life of St. Gothard was written by one of +his disciples, a canon of his cathedral; and this saint died on the +4th of May, 938. + +In the second Council, held at Limoges,[501] in 1031, at which a great +many bishops, abbots, priests and deacons were present, they reported +the instances which we had just cited from St. Benedict, to show the +respect in which sentences of excommunication, pronounced by +ecclesiastical superiors, were held. Then the Bishop of Cahors, who +was present, related a circumstance which had happened to him a short +time before. "A cavalier of my diocese, having been killed in +excommunication, I would not accede to the prayers of his friends, who +implored to grant him absolution; I desired to make an example of him, +in order to inspire others with fear. But he was interred by soldiers +or gentlemen (_milites_) without my permission, without the presence +of the priests, in a church dedicated to St. Peter. The next morning +his body was found out of the ground, and thrown naked far from the +spot; his grave remaining entire, and without any sign of having been +touched. The soldiers or gentlemen (_milites_) who had interred him, +having opened the grave, found in it only the linen in which he had +been wrapped; they buried him again, and covered him with an enormous +quantity of earth and stones. The next day they found the corpse +outside the tomb, without its appearing that any one had worked at it. +The same thing happened five times; at last they buried him as they +could, at a distance from the cemetery, in unconsecrated ground; which +filled the neighboring seigneurs with so much terror that they all +came to me to make their peace. That is a fact, invested with +everything which can render it incontestable." + + +Footnotes: + +[500] Vit. S. Gothardi, Saecul. vi. Bened. parte c. p. 434. + +[501] Tom. ix. Concil. an 1031, p. 702. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +AN INSTANCE OF AN EXCOMMUNICATED MARTYR BEING CAST OUT OF THE EARTH. + + +We read in the _menees_ of the Greeks, on the 15th of October, that a +monk of the Desert of Sheti, having been excommunicated by him who had +the care of his conduct, for some act of disobedience, he left the +desert, and came to Alexandria, where he was arrested by the governor +of the city, despoiled of his conventual habit, and ardently solicited +to sacrifice to false gods. The solitary resisted nobly, and was +tormented in various ways, until at last they cut off his head, and +threw his body outside of the city, to be devoured by dogs. The +Christians took it away in the night, and having embalmed it and +enveloped it in fine linen, they interred it in the church as a +martyr, in an honorable place; but during the holy sacrifice, the +deacon having cried aloud, as usual, that the catechumens and those +who did not take the communion were to withdraw, they suddenly beheld +the martyr's tomb open of itself, and his body retire into the +vestibule of the church; after the mass, it returned to its sepulchre. + +A pious person having prayed for three days, learnt by the voice of an +angel that this monk had incurred excommunication for having disobeyed +his superior, and that he would remain bound until that same superior +had given him absolution. Then they went to the desert directly, and +brought the saintly old man, who caused the coffin of the martyr to +be opened, and absolved him, after which he remained in peace in his +tomb. + +This instance appears to me rather suspicious. 1. In the time that the +Desert of Sheti was peopled with solitary monks, there were no longer +any persecutors at Alexandria. They troubled no one there, either +concerning the profession of Christianity, or on the religious +profession--they would sooner have persecuted these idolators and +pagans. The Christian religion was then dominant and respected +throughout all Egypt, above all, in Alexandria. 2. The monks of Sheti +were rather hermits than cenobites, and a monk had no authority there +to excommunicate his brother. 3. It does not appear that the monk in +question had deserved excommunication, at least major excommunication, +which deprives the faithful of the entry of the church, and the +participation of the holy mysteries. The bearing of the Greek text is +simply, that he remained obedient for some time to his spiritual +father, but that having afterwards fallen into disobedience, he +withdrew from the hands of the old man without any legitimate cause, +and went away to Alexandria. All that deserves doubtlessly even major +excommunication, if this monk had quitted his profession and retired +from the monastery to lead a secular life; but at that time the monks +were not, as now, bound by vows of stability and obedience to their +regular superiors, who had not a right to excommunicate them with +grand excommunication. We will speak of this again by-and-by. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +A MAN REJECTED FROM THE CHURCH FOR HAVING REFUSED TO PAY TITHES. + + +John Brompton, Abbot of Sornat in England,[502] says that we may read +in very old histories that St. Augustin, the Apostle of England, +wishing to persuade a gentleman to pay the tithes, God permitted that +this saint having said before all the people, before the commencement +of the mass, that no excommunicated person should assist at the holy +sacrifice, they saw a man who had been interred for 150 years leave +the church. + +After mass, St. Augustin, preceded by the cross, went to ask this dead +man why he went out? The dead man replied that it was because he had +died in a state of excommunication. The saint asked him, where was the +sepulchre of the priest who had pronounced against him the sentence +of excommunication? They went thither; St. Augustin commanded him to +rise; he came to life, and avowed that he had excommunicated the man +for his crimes, and particularly for his obstinacy in refusing to pay +tithes; then, by order of St. Augustin, he gave him absolution, and +the dead man returned to his tomb. The priest entreated the saint to +permit him also to return to his sepulchre, which was granted him. +This story appears to me still more suspicious than the preceding one. +In the time of St. Augustin, the Apostle of England, there was no +obligation as yet to pay tithes on pain of excommunication, and much +less a hundred and fifty years before that time--above all in England. + + +Footnotes: + +[502] John Brompton, Chronic. vide ex Bolland. 26 Maii, p. 396. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE SHOWN SIGNS OF LIFE AFTER THEIR DEATH, +AND WHO HAVE DRAWN BACK FROM RESPECT, TO MAKE ROOM OR GIVE PLACE TO +SOME WHO WERE MORE WORTHY THAN THEMSELVES. + + +Tertullian relates[503] an instance to which he had been witness--_de +meo didici_. A woman who belonged to the church, to which she had been +given as a slave, died in the prime of life, after being once married +only, and that for a short time, was brought to the church. Before +putting her in the ground, the priest offering the sacrifice and +raising his hands in prayer, this woman, who had her hands extended at +her side, raised them at the same time, and put them together as a +supplicant; then, when the peace was given, she replaced herself in +her former position. + +Tertullian adds that another body, dead, and buried in a cemetery, +withdrew on one side to give place to another corpse which they were +about to inter near it. He relates these instances as a suite to what +was said by Plato and Democritus, that souls remained some time near +the dead bodies they had inhabited, which they preserved sometimes +from corruption, and often caused their hair, beard, and nails to grow +in their graves. Tertullian does not approve of the opinion of these; +he even refutes them pretty well; but he owns that the instances I +have just spoken of are favorable enough to that opinion, which is +also that of the Hebrews, as we have before seen. + +It is said that after the death of the celebrated Abelard,[504] who +was interred at the Monastery of the Paraclete, the Abbess Heloisa, +his spouse, being also deceased, and having requested to be buried in +the same grave, at her approach Abelard extended his arms and received +her into his bosom: _elevatis brachiis illam recepit, et ita eam +amplexatus brachia sua strinxit_. This circumstance is certainly +neither proved nor probable; the Chronicle whence it is extracted had +probably taken it from some popular rumor. + +The author of the Life of St. John the Almoner,[505] which was written +immediately after his death by Leontius, Bishop of Naples, a town in +the Isle of Cyprus, relates that St. John the Almoner being dead at +Amatunta, in the same island, his body was placed between that of two +bishops, who drew back on each side respectfully to make room for him +in sight of all present; _non unus, neque decem, neque centum +viderunt, sed omnis turba, quae convenit ad ejus sepulturam_, says the +author cited. Metaphrastes, who had read the life of the saint in +Greek, repeats the same fact. + +Evagrius de Pont[506] says, that a holy hermit named Thomas, and +surnamed Salus, because he counterfeited madness, dying in the +hospital of Daphne, near the city of Antioch, was buried in the +strangers' cemetery, but every day he was found out of the ground at a +distance from the other dead bodies, which he avoided. The inhabitants +of the place informed Ephraim, Bishop of Antioch, of this, and he had +him solemnly carried into the city and honorably buried in the +cemetery, and from that time the people of Antioch keep the feast of +his translation. + +John Mosch[507] reports the same story, only he says that it was some +women who were buried near Thomas Salus, who left their graves through +respect for the saint. + +The Hebrews ridiculously believe that the Jews who are buried without +Judea will roll underground at the last day, to repair to the Promised +Land, as they cannot come to life again elsewhere than in Judea. + +The Persians recognize also a transporting angel, whose care it is to +assign to dead bodies the place and rank due to their merits: if a +worthy man is buried in an infidel country, the transporting angel +leads him underground to a spot near one of the faithful, while he +casts into the sewer the body of any infidel interred in holy ground. +Other Mahometans have the same notion; they believe that the +transporting angel placed the body of Noah, and afterwards that of +Ali, in the grave of Adam. I relate these fantastical ideas only to +show their absurdity. As to the other stories related in this same +chapter, they must not be accepted without examination, for they +require confirmation. + + +Footnotes: + +[503] Tertull. de Animo, c. 5. p. 597. Edit. Pamelii. + +[504] Chronic. Turon. inter opera Abaelardi, p. 1195. + +[505] Bolland. tom. ii. p. 315, 13 Januar. + +[506] Evagrius Pont. lib. iv. c. 53. + +[507] Jean Mosch. pras. spirit. c. 88. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +OF PERSONS WHO PERFORM A PILGRIMAGE AFTER THEIR DEATH. + + +A scholar of the town of Saint Pons, near Narbonne,[508] having died +in a state of excommunication, appeared to one of his friends, and +begged of him to go to the city of Rhodes, and ask the bishop to grant +him absolution. He set off in snowy weather; the spirit, who +accompanied him without being seen by him showed him the road and +cleared away the snow. On arriving at Rhodes, he asked and obtained +for his friend the required absolution, when the spirit reconducted +him to Saint Pons, gave him thanks for this service, and took leave, +promising to testify to him his gratitude. + +Here follows a letter written to me on the 5th of April, 1745, and +which somewhat relates to what we have just seen. "Something has +occurred here within the last few days, relatively to your +Dissertation upon Ghosts, which I think I ought to inform you of. A +man of Letrage, a village a few miles from Remiremont, lost his wife +at the beginning of February last, and married again the week before +Lent. At eleven o'clock in the evening of his wedding-day, his wife +appeared and spoke to his new spouse; the result of the conversation +was to oblige the bride to perform seven pilgrimages for the defunct. +From that day, and always at the same hour, the defunct appeared, and +spoke in presence of the cure of the place and several other persons; +on the 15th of March, at the moment that the bride was preparing to +repair to St. Nicholas, she had a visit from the defunct, who told her +to make haste, and not to be alarmed at any pain or trouble which she +might undergo on her journey. + +This woman with her husband and her brother and sister-in-law, set off +on their way, not expecting that the dead wife would be of the party; +but she never left them until they were at the door of the Church of +St. Nicholas. These good people, when they were arrived at two +leagues' distance from St. Nicholas, were obliged to put up at a +little inn called the Barracks. There the wife found herself so ill, +that the two men were obliged to carry her to the burgh of St. +Nicholas. Directly she was under the church porch, she walked easily, +and felt no more pain. This fact has been reported to me by the +sacristan and the four persons. The last thing that the defunct said +to the bride was, that she should neither speak to nor appear to her +again until half the pilgrimages should be accomplished. The simple +and natural manner in which these good people related this fact to us +makes me believe that it is certain. + +It is not said that this young woman had incurred excommunication, but +apparently she was bound by a vow or promise which she had made, to +accomplish these pilgrimages, which she imposed upon the other young +wife who succeeded her. Also, we see that she did not enter the Church +of St. Nicholas; she only accompanied the pilgrims to the church door. + +We may here add the instance of that crowd of pilgrims who, in the +time of Pope Leo IX., passed at the foot of the wall of Narne, as I +have before related, and who performed their purgatory by going from +pilgrimage to pilgrimage. + + +Footnotes: + +[508] Melchior. lib. de Statu Mortuorum. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +ARGUMENT CONCERNING THE EXCOMMUNICATED WHO QUIT CHURCHES. + + +All that we have just reported concerning the bodies of persons who +had been excommunicated leaving their tombs during mass, and returning +into them after the service, deserves particular attention. + +It seems that a thing which passed before the eyes of a whole +population in broad day, and in the midst of the most redoubtable +mysteries, can be neither denied nor disputed. Nevertheless, it may be +asked, How these bodies came out? Were they whole, or in a state of +decay? naked, or clad in their own dress, or in the linen and bandages +which had enveloped them in the tomb? Where, also, did they go? + +The cause of their forthcoming is well noted; it was the major +excommunication. This penalty is decreed only to mortal sin.[509] +Those persons had, then, died in the career of deadly sin, and were +consequently condemned and in hell; for if there is naught in question +but a minor excommunication, why should they go out of the church +after death with such terrible and extraordinary circumstances, since +that ecclesiastical excommunication does not deprive one absolutely +of communion with the faithful, or of entrance to church? + +If it be said that the crime was remitted, but not the penalty of +excommunication, and that these persons remained excluded from church +communion until after their absolution, given by the ecclesiastical +judge, we ask if a dead man can be absolved and be restored to +communion with the church, unless there are unequivocal proofs of his +repentance and conversion preceding his death. + +Moreover, the persons just cited as instances do not appear to have +been released from crime or guilt, as might be supposed. The texts +which we have cited sufficiently note that they died in their guilt +and sins; and what St. Gregory the Great says in the part of his +Dialogues there quoted, replying to his interlocutor, Peter, supposes +that these nuns had died without doing penance. + +Besides, it is a constant rule of the church that we cannot +communicate or have communion with a dead man, whom we have not had +any communication with during his lifetime. "Quibus viventibus non +communicavimus, mortuis, communicare non possumus," says Pope St. +Leo.[510] At any rate, it is allowed that an excommunicated person who +has given signs of sincere repentance, although there may not have +been time for him to confess himself, can be reconciled to the +church[511] and receive ecclesiastical sepulture after his death. But, +in general, before receiving absolution from sin, they must have been +absolved from the censures and excommunication, if such have been +incurred: "Absolutio ab excommunicatione debet praecedere absolutionem +a peccatis; quia quandiu aliquis est excommunicatus, non potest +recipere aliquod Ecclesiae Sacramentum," says St. Thomas.[512] + +Following this decision, it would have been necessary to absolve these +persons from their excommunication, before they could receive +absolution from the guilt of their sins. Here, on the contrary, they +are supposed to be absolved from their sins as to their criminality, +in order to be able to receive absolution from the censures of the +church. + +I do not see how these difficulties can be resolved. + +1. How can you absolve the dead? 2. How can you absolve him from +excommunication before he has received absolution from sin? 3. How can +he be absolved without asking for absolution, or its appearing that he +hath requested it? 4. How can people be absolved who died in mortal +sin, and without doing penance? 5. Why do these excommunicated persons +return to their tombs after mass? 6. If they dared not stay in the +church during the mass, when were they? + +It appears certain that the nuns and the young monk spoken of by St. +Gregory died in their sins, and without having received absolution +from them. St. Benedict, probably, was not a priest, and had not +absolved them as regards their guilt. + +It may be said that the excommunication spoken of by St. Gregory was +not major, and in that case the holy abbot could absolve them; but +would this minor and regular excommunication deserve that they should +quit the church in so miraculous and public a manner? The persons +excommunicated by St. Gothard, and the gentleman mentioned at the +Council of Limoges, in 1031, had died unrepentant, and under sentence +of excommunication; consequently in mortal sin; and yet they are +granted peace and absolution after their death, at the simple entreaty +of their friends. + +The young solitary spoken of in the _acta sanctorum_ of the Greeks, +who after having quitted his cell through incontinency and +disobedience, had incurred excommunication, could he receive the crown +of martyrdom in that state? And if he had received it, was he not at +the same time reconciled to the church? Did he not wash away his fault +with his blood? And if his excommunication was only regular and minor, +would he deserve after his martyrdom to be excluded from the presence +of the holy mysteries? + +I see no other way of explaining these facts, if they are as they are +related, than by saying that the story has not preserved the +circumstances which might have deserved the absolution of these +persons, and we must presume that the saints--above all, the bishops +who absolved them--knew the rules of the church, and did nothing in +the matter but what was right and conformable to the canons. + +But it results from all that we have just said, that as the bodies of +the wicked withdraw from the company of the holy through a principle +of veneration and a feeling of their own unworthiness, so also the +bodies of the holy separate themselves from the wicked, from opposite +motives, that they may not appear to have any connection with them, +even after death, or to approve of their bad life. In short, if what +is just related be true, the righteous and the saints feel deference +for one another, and honor each other ever in the other world; which +is probable enough. + +We are about to see some instances which seem to render equivocal and +uncertain, as a proof of sanctity, the uncorrupted state of the body +of a just man, since it is maintained that the bodies of the +excommunicated do not rot in the earth until the sentence of +excommunication pronounced against them be taken off. + + +Footnotes: + +[509] Concil. Meli. in Can. Nemo. 41, n. 43. D. Thom. iv. distinct. +18, 9. 2, art. 1. quaestiuncula in corpore, &c. + +[510] S. Leo canone Commun. 1. a. 4. 9. 2. See also Clemens III. in +Capit. Sacris, 12. de Sepult. Eccl. + +[511] Eveillon, traite des Excommunicat. et Manitoires. + +[512] D. Thom. in iv. Sentent. dist. 1. qu. 1. art. 3. quaestiunc. 2. +ad. 2. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +DO THE EXCOMMUNICATED ROT IN THE GROUND? + + +It is a very ancient opinion that the bodies of the excommunicated do +not decompose; it appears in the Life of St Libentius, Archbishop of +Bremen, who died on the 4th of January, 1013. That holy prelate having +excommunicated some pirates, one of them died, and was buried in +Norway; at the end of seventy years they found his body entire and +without decay, nor did it fall to dust until after absolution received +from Archbishop Alvaridius. + +The modern Greeks, to authorize their schism, and to prove that the +gift of miracles, and the power of binding and unbinding, subsist in +their church even more visibly and more certainly than in the Latin +and Roman church, maintain that amongst themselves the bodies of those +who are excommunicated do not decay, but become swollen +extraordinarily, like drums, and can neither be corrupted nor reduced +to ashes till after they have received absolution from their bishops +or their priests. They relate divers instances of this kind of dead +bodies, found uncorrupted in their graves, and which are afterwards +reduced to ashes as soon as the excommunication is taken off. They do +not deny, however, that the uncorrupted state of a body is sometimes a +mark of sanctity,[513] but they require that a body thus preserved +should exhale a good smell, be white or reddish, and not black, +offensive and swollen. + +It is affirmed that persons who have been struck dead by lightning do +not decay, and for that reason the ancients neither burnt them nor +buried them. That is the opinion of the physician Zachias; but Pare, +after Comines, thinks that the reason they are not subject to +corruption is because they are, as it were, embalmed by the sulphur of +the thunderbolt, which serves them instead of salt. + +In 1727, they discovered in the vault of an hospital near Quebec the +unimpaired corpses of five nuns, who had been dead for more than +twenty years; and these corpses, though covered with quicklime, still +contained blood. + + +Footnotes: + +[513] Goar, not. in Eucholog. p. 688. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +INSTANCES TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE EXCOMMUNICATED DO NOT DECAY, AND +THAT THEY APPEAR TO THE LIVING. + + +The Greeks relate[514] that under the Patriarch of Constantinople +Manuel, or Maximus, who lived in the fifteenth century, the Turkish +Emperor of Constantinople wished to know the truth of what the Greeks +asserted concerning the uncorrupted state of those who died under +sentence of excommunication. The patriarch caused the tomb of a woman +to be opened; she had had a criminal connection with an archbishop of +Constantinople; her body was whole, black, and much swollen. The Turks +shut it up in a coffin, sealed with the emperor's seal; the patriarch +said his prayer, gave absolution to the dead woman, and at the end of +three days the coffin or box being opened they found the body fallen +to dust. + +I see no miracle in this: everybody knows that bodies which are +sometimes found quite whole in their tombs fall to dust as soon as +they are exposed to the air. I except those which have been well +embalmed, as the mummies of Egypt, and bodies which are buried in +extremely dry spots, or in an earth replete with nitre and salt, which +dissipate in a short time all the moisture there may be in the dead +bodies, either of men or animals; but I do not understand that the +Archbishop of Constantinople could validly absolve after death a +person who died in deadly sin and bound by excommunication. They +believe also that the bodies of these excommunicated persons often +appear to the living, whether by day or by night, speaking to them, +calling them, and molesting them. Leon Allatius enters into long +details on this subject; he says that in the Isle of Chio the +inhabitants do not answer to the first voice that calls them, for fear +that it should be a spirit or ghost; but if they are called twice, it +is not a vroucolaca,[515] which is the name they give those spectres. +If any one answers to them at the first sound, the spectre disappears; +but he who has spoken to it infallibly dies. + +There is no other way of guarding against these bad genii than by +taking up the corpse of the person who has appeared, and burning it +after certain prayers have been recited over it; then the body is +reduced to ashes, and appears no more. They have then no doubt that +these are the bodies of criminal and malevolent men, which come out of +their graves and cause the death of those who see and reply to them; +or that it is the demon, who makes use of their bodies to frighten +mortals, and cause their death. + +They know of no means more certain to deliver themselves from being +infested by these dangerous apparitions than to burn and hack to +pieces these bodies, which served as instruments of malice, or to tear +out their hearts, or to let them putrefy before they are buried, or to +cut off their heads, or to pierce their temples with a large nail. + + +Footnotes: + +[514] Vide Malva. lib. i. Turco-graecia, pp. 26, 27. + +[515] Vide Bolland. mense Augusto, tom. ii. pp. 201-203, et Allat. +Epist. ad Zachiam, p. 12. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +INSTANCE OF THE REAPPEARANCES OF THE EXCOMMUNICATED. + + +Ricaut, in the history he has given us of the present state of the +Greek church, acknowledges that this opinion, that the bodies of +excommunicated persons do not decay, is general, not only among the +Greeks of the present day, but also among the Turks. He relates a fact +which he heard from a Candiote caloyer, who had affirmed the thing to +him on oath; his name was Sophronius, and he was well known and highly +respected at Smyrna. A man who died in the Isle of Milo, had been +excommunicated for some fault which he had committed in the Morea, and +he was interred without any funeral ceremony in a spot apart, and not +in consecrated ground. His relations and friends were deeply moved to +see him in this plight; and the inhabitants of the isle were every +night alarmed by baneful apparitions, which they attributed to this +unfortunate man. + +They opened his grave, and found his body quite entire, with the veins +swollen with blood. After having deliberated upon it, the caloyers +were of opinion that they should dismember the body, hack it to +pieces, and boil it in wine; for it is thus they treat the bodies of +_revenans_. + +But the relations of the dead man, by dint of entreaties, succeeded in +deferring this execution, and in the mean time sent in all haste to +Constantinople, to obtain the absolution of the young man from the +patriarch. Meanwhile, the body was placed in the church, and every day +prayers were offered up for the repose of his soul. One day when the +caloyer Sophronius, above mentioned, was performing divine service, +all on a sudden a great noise was heard in the coffin; they opened it, +and found his body decayed as if he had been dead seven years. They +observed the moment when the noise was heard, and it was found to be +precisely at that hour that his absolution had been signed by the +patriarch. + +M. le Chevalier Ricaut, from whom we have this narrative, was neither +a Greek, nor a Roman Catholic, but a staunch Anglican; he remarks on +this occasion that the Greeks believe that an evil spirit enters the +bodies of the excommunicated, and preserves them from putrefaction, by +animating them, and causing them to act, nearly as the soul animates +and inspires the body. + +They imagine, moreover, that these corpses eat during the night, walk +about, digest what they have eaten, and really nourish themselves--that +some have been found who were of a rosy hue, and had their veins still +fully replete with the quantity of blood; and although they had been +dead forty days, have ejected, when opened, a stream of blood as +bubbling and fresh as that of a young man of sanguine temperament would +be; and this belief so generally prevails that every one relates facts +circumstantially concerning it. + +Father Theophilus Reynard, who has written a particular treatise on +this subject, maintains that this return of the dead is an indubitable +fact, and that there are very certain proofs and experience of the +same; but that to pretend that those ghosts who come to disturb the +living are always those of excommunicated persons, and that it is a +privilege of the schismatic Greek church to preserve from decay those +who incurred excommunication, and have died under censure of their +church, is an untenable assumption; since it is certain that the +bodies of the excommunicated decay like others, and there are some +which have died in communion with the church, whether the Greek or the +Latin, who remain uncorrupted. Such are found even among the Pagans, +and amongst animals, of which the dead bodies are sometimes found in +an uncorrupted state, both in the ground, and in the ruins of old +buildings.[516] + + +Footnotes: + +[516] See, concerning the bodies of the excommunicated which are +affirmed to be exempt from decay, Father Goar, Ritual of the Greeks, +pp. 687, 688; Matthew Paris, History of England, tom. ii. p. 687; Adam +de Breme, c. lxxv.; Albert de Stade, on the year 1050, and Monsieur du +Cange, Glossar. Latinit. at the word _imblocatus_. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +VROUCOLACA EXHUMED IN PRESENCE OF MONSIEUR DE TOURNEFORT. + + +Monsieur Pitton de Tournefort relates the manner in which they exhumed +a pretended vroucolaca, in the Isle of Micon, where he was on the 1st +of January, 1701. These are his own words: "We saw a very different +scene, (in the same Isle of Micon,) on the occasion of one of those +dead people, whom they believe to return to earth after their +interment. This one, whose history we shall relate, was a peasant of +Micon, naturally sullen and quarrelsome; which is a circumstance to be +remarked relatively to such subjects; he was killed in the country, no +one knows when, or by whom. Two days after he had been inhumed in a +chapel in the town, it was rumored that he was seen by night walking +very fast; that he came into the house, overturning the furniture, +extinguishing the lamps, throwing his arms around persons from behind, +and playing a thousand sly tricks. + +"At first people only laughed at it; but the affair began to be +serious, when the most respectable people in the place began to +complain: the priests even owned the fact, and doubtless they had +their reasons. People did not fail to have masses said; nevertheless +the peasant continued to lead the same life without correcting +himself. After several assemblies of the principal men of the city, +with priests and monks, it was concluded that they must, according to +some ancient ceremonial, await the expiration of nine days after +burial. + +"On the tenth day a mass was said in the chapel where the corpse lay, +in order to expel the demon which they believed to have inclosed +himself therein. This body was taken up after mass, and they began to +set about tearing out his heart; the butcher of the town, who was old, +and very awkward, began by opening the belly instead of the breast; he +felt for a long time in the entrails without finding what he sought. +At last some one told him that he must pierce the diaphragm; then the +heart was torn out, to the admiration of all present. The corpse, +however, gave out such a bad smell, that they were obliged to burn +incense; but the vapor, mixed with the exhalations of the carrion, +only augmented the stink, and began to heat the brain of these poor +people. + +"Their imagination, struck with the spectacle, was full of visions; +some one thought proper to say that a thick smoke came from this body. +We dared not say that it was the vapor of the incense. They only +exclaimed "Vroucolacas," in the chapel, and in the square before it. +(This is the name which they give to these pretended _Revenans_.) The +rumor spread and was bellowed in the street, and the noise seemed +likely to shake the vaulted roof of the chapel. Several present +affirmed that the blood of this wretched man was quite vermilion; the +butcher swore that the body was still quite warm; whence it was +concluded that the dead man was very wrong not to be quite dead, or, +to express myself better, to suffer himself to be reanimated by the +devil. This is precisely the idea of a vroucolaca; and they made this +name resound in an astonishing manner. At this time there entered a +crowd of people, who protested aloud that they clearly perceived this +body was not stiff when they brought it from the country to the church +to bury it, and that consequently it was a true vroucolaca; this was +the chorus. + +"I have no doubt that they would have maintained it did not stink, if +we had not been present; so stupefied were these poor people with the +circumstance, and infatuated with the idea of the return of the dead. +For ourselves, who got next to the corpse in order to make our +observations exactly, we were ready to die from the offensive odor +which proceeded from it. When they asked us what we thought of this +dead man, we replied that we believed him thoroughly dead; but as we +wished to cure, or at least not to irritate their stricken fancy, we +represented to them that it was not surprising if the butcher had +perceived some heat in searching amidst entrails which were decaying; +neither was it extraordinary that some vapor had proceeded from them; +since such will issue from a dunghill that is stirred up; as for this +pretended red blood, it still might be seen on the butcher's hands +that it was only a very foetid mud. + +"After all these arguments, they bethought themselves of going to the +marine, and burning the heart of the dead man, who in spite of this +execution was less docile, and made more noise than before. They +accused him of beating people by night, of breaking open the doors and +even terraces, of breaking windows, tearing clothes, and emptying jugs +and bottles. He was a very thirsty dead man; I believe he only spared +the consul's house, where I was lodged. In the mean time I never saw +anything so pitiable as the state of this island. + +"Everybody seemed to have lost their senses. The most sensible people +appeared as phrenzied as the others; it was a veritable brain fever, +as dangerous as any mania or madness. Whole families were seen to +forsake their houses, and coming from the ends of the town, bring +their flock beds to the market-place to pass the night there. Every +one complained of some new insult; you heard nothing but lamentations +at night-fall; and the most sensible people went into the country. + +"Amidst such a general prepossession we made up our minds to say +nothing; we should not only have been considered as absurd, but as +infidels. How can you convince a whole people of error? Those who +believed in their own minds that we had our doubts of the truth of the +fact, came and reproached us for our incredulity, and pretended to +prove that there were such things as vroucolacas, by some authority +which they derived from Father Richard, a Jesuit missionary. It is +Latin, said they, and consequently you ought to believe it. We should +have done no good by denying this consequence. They every morning +entertained us with the comedy of a faithful recital of all the new +follies which had been committed by this bird of night; he was even +accused of having committed the most abominable sins. + +"The citizens who were most zealous for the public good believed that +they had missed the most essential point of the ceremony. They said +that the mass ought not to be celebrated until after the heart of this +wretched man had been torn out; they affirmed that with that +precaution they could not have failed to surprise the devil, and +doubtless he would have taken care not to come back again; instead of +which had they begun by saying mass, he would have had, said they, +plenty of time to take flight, and to return afterwards at his +leisure. + +"After all these arguments they found themselves in the same +embarrassment as the first day it began; they assembled night and +morning; they reasoned upon it, made processions which lasted three +days and three nights; they obliged the priests to fast; they were +seen running about in the houses with the asperser or sprinkling brush +in their hands, sprinkling holy water and washing the doors with it; +they even filled the mouth of that poor vroucolaca with holy water. We +so often told the administration of the town that in all Christendom +people would not fail in such a case to watch by night, to observe all +that was going forward in the town, that at last they arrested some +vagabonds, who assuredly had a share in all these disturbances. +Apparently they were not the principal authors of them, or they were +too soon set at liberty; for two days after, to make themselves amends +for the fast they had kept in prison, they began again to empty the +stone bottles of wine belonging to those persons who were silly enough +to forsake their houses at night. Thus, then, they were again obliged +to have recourse to prayers. + +"One day as certain orisons were being recited, after having stuck I +know not how many naked swords upon the grave of this corpse, which +was disinterred three or four times a day, according to the caprice of +the first comer, an Albanian, who chanced to be at Mico accidentally, +bethought himself of saying in a sententious tone, that it was very +ridiculous to make use of the swords of Christians in such a case. Do +you not see, blind as ye are, said he, that the hilt of these swords, +forming a cross with the handle, prevents the devil from coming out of +that body? why do you not rather make use of the sabres of the Turks? +The advice of this clever man was of no use; the vroucolaca did not +appear more tractable, and everybody was in a strange consternation; +they no longer knew to which saint to pay their vows; when, with one +voice, as if the signal word had been given, they began to shout in +all parts of the town that they had waited too long: that the +vroucolaca ought to be burnt altogether; that after that, they would +defy the devil to return and ensconce himself there; that it would be +better to have recourse to that extremity than to let the island be +deserted. In fact, there were whole families who were packing up in +the intention of retiring to Sira or Tina. + +"So they carried the vroucolaca, by order of the administration, to +the point of the Island of St. George, where they had prepared a great +pile made up with a mixture of tow, for fear that wood, however dry it +might be, would not burn quickly enough by itself. The remains of this +unfortunate corpse were thrown upon it and consumed in a very little +time; it was on the first day of January, 1701. We saw this fire as we +returned from Delos: it might be called a real _feu de joie_; since +then, there have been no more complaints against the vroucolaca. They +contented themselves with saying that the devil had been properly +caught that time, and they made up a song to turn him into ridicule. + +"Throughout the Archipelago, the people are persuaded that it is only +the Greeks of the Greek church whose corpses are reanimated by the +devil. The inhabitants of the Isle of Santorin have great +apprehensions of these bugbears; those of Maco, after their visions +were dissipated, felt an equal fear of being punished by the Turks and +by the Bishop of Tina. None of the papas would be present at St. +George when this body was burned, lest the bishop should exact a sum +of money for having disinterred and burned the dead body without his +permission. As for the Turks, it is certain that at their first visit +they did not fail to make the community of Maco pay the price of the +blood of this poor devil, who in every way became the abomination and +horror of his country. After this, must we not own that the Greeks of +to-day are not great Greeks, and that there is only ignorance and +superstition among them?"[517] + +So says Monsieur de Tournefort. + + +Footnotes: + +[517] This took place nearly a hundred and fifty years ago. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +HAS THE DEMON POWER TO CAUSE ANY ONE TO DIE AND THEN TO RESTORE THE +DEAD TO LIFE? + + +Supposing the principle which we established as indubitable at the +commencement of this dissertation--that God alone is the sovereign +arbitrator of life and death; that he alone can give life to men, and +restore it to them after he has taken it from them--the question that +we here propose appears unseasonable and absolutely frivolous, since +it concerns a supposition notoriously impossible. + +Nevertheless, as some learned men have believed that the demon has +power to restore life, and to preserve from corruption, for a time, +certain bodies which he makes use of to delude mankind and frighten +them, as it happens with the ghosts of Hungary, we shall treat of it +in this place, and relate a remarkable instance furnished by Monsieur +Nicholas Remy, procureur-general of Lorraine, and which occurred in +his own time;[518] that is to say, in 1581, at Dalhem, a village +situated between the Moselle and the Sare. A goatherd of this village, +named Pierron, a married man and father of a boy, conceived a violent +passion for a girl of the village. One day, when his thoughts were +occupied with this young girl, she appeared to him in the fields, or +the demon in her likeness. Pierron declared his love to her; she +promised to reply to it on condition that he would give himself up to +her, and obey her in all things. Pierron consented to this, and +consummated his abominable passion with this spectre. Some time +afterwards, Abrahel, which was the name assumed by the demon, asked of +him as a pledge of his love, that he would sacrifice to her his only +son, and gave him an apple for this boy to eat, who, on tasting it, +fell down dead. The father and mother, in despair at this fatal and to +both unexpected accident, uttered lamentations, and were inconsolable. + +Abrahel appeared again to the goatherd, and promised to restore the +child to life if the father would ask this favor of him by paying him +the kind of adoration due only to God. The peasant knelt down, +worshiped Abrahel, and immediately the boy began to revive. He opened +his eyes; they warmed him, chafed his limbs, and at last he began to +walk and to speak. He was the same as before, only thinner, paler, and +more languid; his eyes heavy and sunken, his movements slower and less +free, his mind duller and more stupid. At the end of a year, the demon +that had animated him quitted him with a great noise; the youth fell +backwards, and his body, which was foetid and stunk insupportably, was +dragged with a hook out of his father's house, and buried in a field +without any ceremony. + +This event was reported at Nancy, and examined into by the +magistrates, who informed themselves exactly of the circumstance, +heard the witnesses, and found that the thing was such as has been +related. For the rest, the story does not say how the peasant was +punished, nor whether he was so at all. Perhaps his crime with the +demon could not be proved; to that there was probably no witness. In +regard to the death of his son, it was difficult to prove that he was +the cause of it. + +Procopius, in his secret history of the Emperor Justinian, seriously +asserts that he is persuaded, as well as several other persons, that +that emperor was a demon incarnate. He says the same thing of the +Empress Theodora his wife. Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that +the souls of the wicked enter the bodies of the possessed, whom they +torment, and cause to act and speak. + +We see by St. Chrysostom that in his time many Christians believed +that the spirits of persons who died a violent death were changed into +demons, and that the magicians made use of the spirit of a child they +had killed for their magical operations, and to discover the future. +St. Philastrius places among heretics those persons who believed that +the souls of worthless men were changed into demons. + +According to the system of these authors, the demon might have entered +into the body of the child of the shepherd Pierron, moved it and +maintained it in a kind of life whilst his body was uncorrupted and +the organs underanged; it was not the soul of the boy which animated +it, but the demon which replaced his spirit. + +Philo believed that as there are good and bad angels, there are also +good and bad souls or spirits, and that the souls which descend into +the bodies bring to them their own good or bad qualities. + +We see by the Gospel that the Jews of the time of our Saviour believed +that one man could be animated by several souls. Herod imagined that +the spirit of John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded, had entered into +Jesus Christ,[519] and worked miracles in him. Others fancied that +Jesus Christ was animated by the spirit of Elias,[520] or of Jeremiah, +or some other of the ancient prophets. + + +Footnotes: + +[518] Art. ii. p. 14. + +[519] Mark vi. 16, 17. + +[520] Matt. xvi. 14. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION WHICH CONCLUDES THAT THE DEMON CAN RESTORE +MOTION TO A DEAD BODY. + + +We cannot approve these opinions of Jews which we have just shown. +They are contrary to our holy religion, and to the dogmas of our +schools. But we believe that the spirit which once inspired Elijah, +for instance, rested on Elisha, his disciple; and that the Holy Spirit +which inspired the first animated the second also, and even St. John +the Baptist, who, according to the words of Jesus Christ, came in the +power of Elijah to prepare a highway for the Messiah. Thus, in the +prayers of the Church, we pray to God to fill his faithful servants +with the spirit of the saints, and to inspire them with a love for +that which they loved, and a detestation of that which they hated. + +That the demon, and even a good angel by the permission or commission +of God, can take away the life of a man appears indubitable. The angel +which appeared to Zipporah,[521] as Moses was returning from Midian to +Egypt, and threatened to slay his two sons because they were not +circumcised; as well as the one who slew the first-born of the +Egyptians,[522] and the one who is termed in Scripture _the Destroying +Angel_, and who slew the Hebrew murmurers in the wilderness;[523] and +the angel who was near slaying Balaam and his ass;[524] the angel who +killed the soldiers of Sennacherib, he who smote the first seven +husbands of Sara, the daughter of Raguel;[525] and, finally, the one +with whom the Psalmist menaces his enemies, all are instances in proof +of this.[526] + +Does not St. Paul, speaking to the Corinthians of those who took the +Communion unworthily,[527] say that the demon occasioned them +dangerous maladies, of which many died? Will it be believed that those +whom the same Apostle delivered over to Satan[528] suffered nothing +bodily; and that Judas, having received from the Son of God a bit of +bread dipped in the dish,[529] and Satan having entered into him, that +bad spirit did not disturb his reason, his imagination, and his heart, +until at last he led him to destroy himself, and to hang himself in +despair? + +We may believe that all these angels were evil angels, although it +cannot be denied that God employs sometimes the good angels also to +exercise his vengeance against the wicked, as well as to chastise, +correct, and punish those to whom God desires to be merciful; as he +sends his Prophets to announce good and bad tidings, to threaten +punishment, and excite to repentance. + +But nowhere do we read that either the good or the evil angels have of +their own authority alone either given life to any person or restored +it. This power is reserved to God alone.[530] The demon, according to +the Gospel,[531] in the last days, and before the last Judgment, will +perform, either by his own power or that of Antichrist and his +subordinates, such wonders as would, were it possible, lead the elect +themselves into error. From the time of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, +Satan raised up false Christs and false Apostles, who performed many +seeming miracles, and even resuscitated the dead. At least, it was +maintained that they had resuscitated some: St. Clement of Alexandria +and Hegesippus make mention of a few resurrections operated by Simon +the magician;[532] it is also said that Apollonius of Thyana brought +to life a girl they were carrying to be buried. If we may believe +Apuleius,[533] Asclepiades, meeting a funeral convoy, resuscitated the +body they were carrying to the pile. It is asserted that AEsculapius +restored to life Hippolytus, the son of Theseus; also Glaucus, the son +of Minos, and Campanes, killed at the assault of Thebes, and Admetus, +King of Phera in Thessaly. Elian[534] attests that the same AEsculapius +joined on again the head of a woman to her corpse, and restored her to +life. + +But if we possessed the certainty of all these events which we have +just cited--I mean to say, were they attested by ocular witnesses, +well-informed and disinterested, which is not the case--we ought to +know the circumstances attending these events, and then we should be +better able to dispute or assent to them. For there is every +appearance that the dead people resuscitated by AEsculapius were only +persons who were dangerously ill, and restored to health by that +skillful physician. The girl revived by Apollonius of Thyana was not +really dead; even those who were carrying her to the funeral pile had +their doubts if she were deceased. What is said of Simon the magician +is anything but certain; and even if that impostor by his magical +secrets could have performed some wonders on dead persons, it should +be imputed to his delusions and to some artifice, which may have +substituted living bodies or phantoms for the dead bodies which he +boasted of having recalled to life. In a word, we hold it as +indubitable that it is God only who can impart life to a person really +dead, either by power proceeding immediately from himself, or by means +of angels or of demons, who perform his behests. + +I own that the instance of that boy of Dalhem is perplexing. Whether +it was the spirit of the child that returned into his body to animate +it anew, or the demon who replaced his soul, the puzzle appears to me +the same; in all this circumstance we behold only the work of the evil +spirit. God does not seem to have had any share in it. Now, if the +demon can take the place of a spirit in a body newly dead, or if he +can make the soul by which it was animated before death return into +it, we can no longer dispute his power to restore a kind of life to a +dead person; which would be a terrible temptation for us, who might be +led to believe that the demon has a power which religion does not +permit us to think that God shares with any created being. + +I would then say, supposing the truth of the fact, of which I see no +room to doubt, that God, to punish the abominable crime of the father, +and to give an example of his just vengeance to mankind, permitted the +demon to do on this occasion what he perhaps had never done, nor ever +will again--to possess a body, and serve it in some sort as a soul, +and give it action and motion whilst he could retain the body without +its being too much corrupted. + +And this example applies admirably to the ghosts of Hungary and +Moravia, whom the demon will move and animate--will cause to appear +and disturb the living, so far as to occasion their death. I say all +this under the supposition that what is said of the vampires is true; +for if it all be false and fabulous, it is losing time to seek the +means of explaining it. + +For the rest, several of the ancients, as Tertullian[535] and +Lactantius, believed that the demons were the only authors of all the +magicians do when they evoke the souls of the dead. They cause +borrowed bodies or phantoms to appear, say they, and fascinate the +eyes of those present, to make them believe that to be real which is +only seeming. + + +Footnotes: + +[521] Exod. iv. 24, 25. + +[522] Exod. xii. 12. + +[523] 1 Cor. x. 10; Judith viii. 25. + +[524] Numb. xxii. + +[525] Tob. iii. 7. + +[526] Psa. xxxiv. 7. + +[527] 1 Cor. xi. 30. + +[528] 1 Tim. i. 20. + +[529] John xiii. + +[530] 1 Sam. ii. 6. + +[531] Matt. xxiv. 24. + +[532] Clem. Alex. Itinerario; Hegesippus de Excidio Jerusalem, c. 2. + +[533] Apulei Flondo. lib. ii. + +[534] AElian, de Animalib. lib. ix. c. 77. + +[535] Tertull. de Anim. c. 22. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +INSTANCES OF PHANTOMS WHICH HAVE APPEARED TO BE ALIVE, AND HAVE GIVE +MANY SIGNS OF LIFE. + + +Le Loyer, in his book upon spectres, maintains[536] that the demon can +cause the possessed to make extraordinary and involuntary movements. +He can then, if allowed by God, give motion to a dead and insensible +man. + +He relates the instance of Polycrites, a magistrate of AEtolia, who +appeared to the people of Locria nine or ten months after his death, +and told them to show him his child, which being born monstrous, they +wished to burn with its mother. The Locrians, in spite of the +remonstrance of the spectre of Polycrites, persisting in their +determination, Polycrites took his child, tore it to pieces and +devoured it, leaving only the head, while the people could neither +send him away nor prevent him; after that, he disappeared. The +AEtolians were desirous of sending to consult the Delphian oracle, but +the head of the child began to speak, and foretold the misfortunes +which were to happen to their country and to his own mother. + +After the battle between King Antiochus and the Romans, an officer +named Buptages, left dead on the field of battle, with twelve mortal +wounds, rose up suddenly, and began to threaten the Romans with the +evils which were to happen to them through the foreign nations who +were to destroy the Roman empire. He pointed out in particular, that +armies would come from Asia, and desolate Europe, which may designate +the irruption of the Turks upon the domains of the Roman empire. + +After that, Buptages climbed up an oak tree, and foretold that he was +about to be devoured by a wolf, which happened. After the wolf had +devoured the body, the head again spoke to the Romans, and forbade +them to bury him. All that appears very incredible, and was not +accomplished in fact. It was not the people of Asia, but those of the +north, who overthrew the Roman empire. + +In the war of Augustus against Sextus Pompey, son of the great +Pompey,[537] a soldier of Augustus, named Gabinius, had his head cut +off by order of young Pompey, so that it only held on to the neck by a +narrow strip of flesh. Towards evening they heard Gabinius lamenting; +they ran to him, and he said that he had returned from hell to reveal +very important things to Pompey. Pompey did not think proper to go to +him, but he sent one of his men, to whom Gabinius declared that the +gods on high had decreed the happy destiny of Pompey, and that he +would succeed in all his designs. Directly Gabinius had thus spoken, +he fell down dead and stiff. This pretended prediction was falsified +by the facts. Pompey was vanquished, and Caesar gained all the +advantage in this war. + +A certain female juggler had died, but a magician of the band put a +charm under her armpits, which gave her power to move; but another +wizard having looked at her, cried out that it was only vile carrion, +and immediately she fell down dead, and appeared what she was in fact. + +Nicole Aubri, a native of Vervius, being possessed by several devils, +one of these devils, named Baltazo, took from the gibbet the body of a +man who had been hanged near the plain of Arlon, and in this body went +to the husband of Nicole Aubri, promising to deliver his wife from her +possession if he would let him pass the night with her. The husband +consulted the schoolmaster, who practiced exorcising, and who told him +on no account to grant what was asked of him. The husband and Baltazo +having entered the church, the woman who was possessed called him by +his name, and immediately this Baltazo disappeared. The schoolmaster +conjuring the possessed, Beelzebub, one of the demons, revealed what +Baltazo had done, and that if the husband had granted what he asked, +he would have flown away with Nicole Aubri, both body and soul. + +Le Loyer again relates[538] four other instances of persons whom the +demon had seemed to restore to life, to satisfy the brutal passion of +two lovers. + + +Footnotes: + +[536] Le Loyer, des Spectres, lib. ii. pp. 376, 392, 393. + +[537] Pliny, lib. vii. c. 52. + +[538] Le Loyer, pp. 412-414. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +DEVOTING TO DEATH, A PRACTICE AMONG THE PAGANS. + + +The ancient heathens, both Greeks and Romans, attributed to magic and +to the demon the power of occasioning the destruction of any person by +a manner of devoting them to death, which consisted in forming a waxen +image as much as possible like the person whose life they wished to +take. They devoted him or her to death by their magical secrets: then +they burned the waxen statue, and as that by degrees was consumed, so +the doomed person became languid and at last died. Theocritus[539] +makes a woman transported with love speak thus: she invokes the image +of the shepherd, and prays that the heart of Daphnis, her beloved, may +melt like the image of wax which represents him. + +Horace[540] brings forward two enchantresses, who evoke the shades to +make them announce the future. First of all, the witches tear a sheep +with their teeth, shedding the blood into a grave, in order to bring +those spirits from whom they expect an answer; then they place next to +themselves two statues, one of wax, the other of wool; the latter is +the largest, and mistress of the other. The waxen image is at its +feet, as a suppliant, and awaiting only death. After divers magical +ceremonies, the waxen image was inflamed and consumed. + +He speaks of this again elsewhere; and after having with a mocking +laugh made his complaints to the enchantress Canidia, saying that he +is ready to make her honorable reparation, he owns that he feels all +the effects of her too-powerful art, as he himself has experienced it +to give motion to waxen figures, and bring down the moon from the +sky.[541] + +Virgil also speaks[542] of these diabolical operations, and these +waxen images, devoted by magic art. + +There is reason to believe that these poets only repeat these things +to show the absurdity of the pretended secrets of magic, and the vain +and impotent ceremonies of sorcerers. + +But it cannot be denied that, idle as all these practices may be, they +have been used in ancient times; that many have put faith in them, and +foolishly dreaded those attempts. + +Lucian relates the effects[543] of the magic of a certain Hyperborean, +who, having formed a Cupid with clay, infused life into it, and sent +it to fetch a girl named Chryseis, with whom a young man had fallen +in love. The little Cupid brought her, and on the morrow, at dawn of +day, the moon, which the magician had brought down from the sky, +returned thither. Hecate, whom he had evoked from the bottom of hell, +fled away, and all the rest of the scene disappeared. Lucian, with +great reason, ridicules all this, and observes that these magicians, +who boast of having so much power, ordinarily exercise it only upon +contemptible people, and are such themselves. + +The oldest instances of this dooming are those which are set down in +Scripture, in the Old Testament. God commands Moses to devote to +anathema the Canaanites of the kingdom of Arad.[544] He devotes also +to anathema all the nations of the land of Canaan.[545] Balac, King of +Moab,[546] sends to the diviner Balaam to engage him to curse and +devote the people of Israel. "Come," says he to him, by his messenger, +"and curse me Israel; for I know that those whom you have cursed and +doomed to destruction shall be cursed, and he whom you have blessed +shall be crowned with blessings." + +We have in history instances of these devotings and maledictions, and +evocations of the tutelary gods of cities by magic art. The ancients +kept very secret the proper names of towns,[547] for fear that if they +came to the knowledge of the enemy, they might make use of them in +their invocations, which to their mind had no might unless the proper +name of the town was expressed. The usual names of Rome, Tyre, and +Carthage, were not their true and secret names. Rome, for instance, +was called Valentia, a name known to very few persons, and Valerius +Soranus was severely punished for having revealed it. + +Macrobius[548] has preserved for us the formula of a solemn devoting +or dooming of a city, and of imprecations against her, by devoting her +to some hurtful and dangerous demon. We find in the heathen poets a +great number of these invocations and magical doomings, to inspire a +dangerous passion, or to occasion maladies. It is surprising that +these superstitious and abominable practices should have gained +entrance among Christians, and have been dreaded by persons who ought +to have known their vanity and impotency. + +Tacitus relates[549] that at the death of Germanicus, who was said to +have been poisoned by Piso and Plautina, there were found in the +ground and in the walls bones of human bodies, doomings, and charms, +or magic verses, with the name of Germanicus engraved upon thin plates +of lead steeped in corrupted blood, half-burnt ashes, and other +charms, by virtue of which it was believed that spirits could be +evoked. + + +Footnotes: + +[539] Theocrit Idyl. ii. + +[540] + "Lanea et effigies erat, altera cerea major + Lanea, que poenis compesceret inferiorem. + Cerea suppliciter stabat, servilibus ut quae + Jam peritura modis.... + Et imagine cerea + Largior arserit ignis." + +[541] + "An quae movere cereas imagines, + Ut ipse curiosus, et polo + Deripere lunam." + +[542] + "Limus ut hic durescit, et haec ut cera liquescit. + Uno eodemque igni; sic nostro Daphnis amore."--_Virgil, Eclog._ + +[543] Lucian in Philops. + +[544] Numb. xxi. 3. + +[545] Deut. vii. 2, 3; xii. 1-3, &c. + +[546] Numb. xxii. 5, &c. + +[547] Peir. lib. iii. c. 5; xxviii. c. 2. + +[548] Macrobius, lib. iii. c. 9. + +[549] Tacit. Ann. lib. ii. art. 69. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +INSTANCES OF DEVOTING OR DOOMING AMONGST CHRISTIANS. + + +Hector Boethius,[550] in his History of Scotland, relates that Duffus, +king of that country, falling ill of a disorder unknown to the +physicians, was consumed by a slow fever, passed his nights without +sleep, and insensibly wasted away; his body melted in perspiration +every night; he became weak, languid, and in a dying state, without, +however, his pulse undergoing any alteration. Everything was done to +relieve him, but uselessly. His life was despaired of, and those about +him began to suspect some evil spell. In the mean time, the people of +Moray, a county of Scotland, mutinied, supposing that the king must +soon sink under his malady. + +It was whispered abroad that the king had been bewitched by some +witches who lived at Forres, a little town in the north of Scotland. +People were sent there to arrest them, and they were surprised in +their dwellings, where one of them was basting an image of King +Duffus, made of wax, turning on a wooden spit before a large fire, +before which she was reciting certain magical prayers; and she +affirmed that as the figure melted the king would lose his strength, +and at last he would die when the figure should be entirely melted. +These women declared that they had been hired to perform these evil +spells by the principal men of the county of Moray, who only awaited +the king's decease to burst into open revolt. + +These witches were immediately arrested and burnt at the stake. The +king was much better, and in a few days he perfectly recovered his +health. This account is found also in the History of Scotland by +Buchanan, who says he heard it from his elders. + +He makes the King Duffus live in 960, and he who has added notes to +the text of these historians, says that this custom of melting waxen +images by magic art, to occasion the death of certain persons, was not +unknown to the Romans, as appears from Virgil and Ovid; and of this we +have related a sufficient number of instances. But it must be owned +that all which is related concerning it is very doubtful; not that +wizards and witches have not been found who have attempted to cause +the death of persons of high rank by these means, and who attributed +the effect to the demon, but there is little appearance that they ever +succeeded in it. If magicians possessed the secret of thus occasioning +the death of any one they pleased, where is the prince, prelate, or +lord who would be safe? If they could thus roast them slowly to death, +why not kill them at once, by throwing the waxen image in the fire? +Who can have given such power to the devil? Is it the Almighty, to +satisfy the revenge of an insignificant woman, or the jealousy of +lovers of either sex? + +M. de St. Andre, physician to the king, in his Letters on Witchcraft, +would explain the effects of these devotings, supposing them to be +true, by the evaporation of animal spirits, which, proceeding from the +bodies of the wizards or witches, and uniting with the atoms which +fall from the wax, and the atoms of the fire, which render them still +more pungent, should fly towards the person they desire to bewitch, +and cause in him or her sensations of heat or pain, more or less +violent according to the action of the fire. But I do not think that +this clever man finds many to approve of his idea. The shortest way, +in my opinion, would be, to deny the effects of these charms; for if +these effects are real, they are inexplicable by physics, and can only +be attributed to the devil. + +We read in the History of the Archbishops of Treves that Eberard, +archbishop of that church, who died in 1067, having threatened to send +away the Jews from his city, if they did not embrace Christianity, +these unhappy people, being reduced to despair, suborned an +ecclesiastic, who for money baptized for them, by the name of the +bishop, a waxen image, to which they tied wicks or wax tapers, and +lighted them on Holy Saturday (Easter Eve), as the prelate was going +solemnly to administer the baptismal rite. + +Whilst he was occupied in this holy function, the statue being half +consumed, Eberard felt himself extremely ill; he was led into the +vestry, where he soon after expired. + +The Pope John XXII., in 1317, complained, in public letters, that some +scoundrels had attempted his life by similar operations; and he +appeared persuaded of their power, and that he had been preserved from +death only by the particular protection of God. "We inform you," says +he, "that some traitors have conspired against us, and against some of +our brothers the cardinals, and have prepared beverages and images to +take away our life, which they have sought to do on every occasion; +but God has always preserved us." The letter is dated the 27th of +July. + +From the 27th of February, the pope had issued a commission to inform +against these poisoners; his letter is addressed to Bartholomew, +Bishop of Frejus, who had succeeded the pope in that see, and to +Peter Tessier, doctor _en decret_, afterwards cardinal. The pope says +therein, in substance--We have heard that John de Limoges, Jacques de +Crabancon, Jean d'Arrant, physician, and some others, have applied +themselves, through a damnable curiosity, to necromancy and other +magical arts, on which they have books; that they have often made use +of mirrors, and images consecrated in their manner; that, placing +themselves within circles, they have often invoked the evil spirits to +occasion the death of men by the might of their enchantments, or by +sending maladies which abridge their days. Sometimes they have +enclosed demons in mirrors, or circles, or rings, to interrogate them, +not only on the past, but on the future, and made predictions. They +pretend to have made many experiments in these matters, and fearlessly +assert, that they can not only by means of certain beverages, or +certain meats, but by simple words, abridge or prolong life, and cure +all sorts of diseases. + +The pope gave a similar commission, April 22d, 1317, to the Bishop of +Ries, to the same Pierre Tessier, to Pierre Despres, and two others, +to inquire into the conspiracy formed against him and against the +cardinals; and in this commission he says:--"They have prepared +beverages to poison us, and not having been able conveniently to make +us take them, they have had waxen images, made with our names, to +attack our lives, by pricking these images with magical enchantments, +and innovations of demons; but God has preserved us, and caused three +of these images to fall into our hands." + +We see a description of similar charms in a letter, written three +years after, to the Inquisitor of Carcassone, by William de Godin, +Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina, in which he says:--"The pope commands you +to inquire and proceed against those who sacrifice to demons, worship +them, or pay them homage, by giving them for a token a written paper, +or something else, to bind the demon, or to work some charm by +invoking him; who, abusing the sacrament of baptism, baptize images of +wax, or of other matters with invocation of demons; who abuse the +eucharist, or consecrated wafer, or other sacraments, by exercising +their evil spells. You will proceed against them with the prelates, as +you do in matters of heresy; for the pope gives you the power to do +so." The letter is dated from Avignon, the 22d of August, 1320. + +At the trial of Enguerrand de Marigni, they brought forward a wizard +whom they had surprised making waxen images, representing King Louis +le Hutin and Charles de Valois, and meaning to kill them by pricking +or melting these images. + +It is related also that Cosmo Rugieri, a Florentine, a great atheist +and pretended magician, had a secret chamber, where he shut himself up +alone, and pricked with a needle a wax image representing the king, +after having loaded it with maledictions and devoted it to destruction +by horrible enchantments, hoping thus to cause the prince to languish +away and die. + +Whether these conjurations, these waxen images, these magical words, +may have produced their effects or not, it proves at any rate the +opinion that was entertained on the subject--the ill will of the +wizards, and the fear in which they were held. Although their +enchantments and imprecations might not be followed by any effect, it +is apparently thought that experience on that point made them dreaded, +whether with reason or not. + +The general ignorance of physics made people at that time take many +things to be supernatural which were simply the effects of natural +causes; and as it is certain, as our faith teaches us, that God has +often permitted demons to deceive mankind by prodigies, and do them +injury by extraordinary means, it was supposed without examining into +the matter that there was an art of magic and sure rules for +discovering certain secrets, or causing certain evils by means of +demons; as if God had not always been the Supreme Master, to permit or +to hinder them; or as if He would have ratified the compacts made with +evil spirits. + +But on examining closely this pretended magic, we have found nothing +but poisonings, attended by superstition and imposture. All that we +have just related of the effects of magic, enchantments, and +witchcraft, which were pretended to cause such terrible effects on the +bodies and the possessions of mankind, and all that is recounted of +doomings, evocations, and magic figures, which, being consumed by +fire, occasioned the death of those who were destined or enchanted, +relate but very imperfectly to the affair of vampires, which we are +treating of in this volume; unless it may be said that those ghosts +are raised and evoked by magic art, and that the persons who fancy +themselves strangled and finally stricken with death by vampires, only +suffer these miseries through the malice of the demon, who makes their +deceased parents or relations appear to them, and produces all these +effects upon them; or simply strikes the imagination of the persons to +whom it happens, and makes them believe that it is their deceased +relations, who come to torment and kill them; although in all this it +is only an imagination strongly affected which acts upon them. + +We may also connect with the history of ghosts what is related of +certain persons who have promised each other to return after their +death, and to reveal what passes in the other world, and the state in +which they find themselves. + + +Footnotes: + +[550] Hector Boethius, Hist. Scot. lib. xi. c. 216, 219. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO HAVE PROMISED TO GIVE EACH OTHER NEWS OF THE +OTHER WORLD AFTER THEIR DEATH. + + +The story of the Marquis de Rambouillet, who appeared after his death +to the Marquis de Precy, is very celebrated. These two lords, +conversing on the subject of the other world, like people who were not +very strongly persuaded of the truth of all that is said upon it, +promised each other that the first of the two who died should bring +the news of it to the other. The Marquis de Rambouillet set off for +Flanders, where the war was then carried on; and the Marquis de Precy +remained at Paris, detained by a low fever. Six weeks after, in broad +day, he heard some one undraw his bed-curtains, and turning to see who +it was, he perceived the Marquis de Rambouillet, in buff-leather +jacket and boots. He sprang from his bed to embrace his friend; but +Rambouillet, stepping back a few paces, told him that he was come to +keep his word as he had promised--that all that was said of the next +life was very certain--that he must change his conduct, and in the +first action wherein he was engaged he would lose his life. + +Precy again attempted to embrace his friend, but he embraced only +empty air. Then Rambouillet, seeing that his friend was incredulous as +to what he said, showed him where he had received the wound in his +side, whence the blood still seemed to flow. Precy soon after +received, by the post, confirmation of the death of the Marquis de +Rambouillet; and being himself some time after, during the civil wars, +at the battle of the Faubourg of St. Antoine, he was there killed. + +Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Clugni,[551] relates a very similar +story. A gentleman named Humbert, son of a lord named Guichard de +Belioc, in the diocese of Macon, having declared war against the other +principal men in his neighborhood, a gentleman named Geoffrey d'Iden +received in the melee a wound of which he died immediately. + +About two months afterwards, this same Geoffrey appeared to a +gentleman named Milo d'Ansa, and begged him to tell Humbert de Belioc, +in whose service he had lost his life, that he was tormented for +having assisted him in an unjust war, and for not having expiated his +sins by penance before he died; that he begged him to have compassion +on him, and on his own father, Guichard, who had left him great +wealth, of which he made a bad use, and of which a part had been badly +acquired. That in truth Guichard, the father of Humbert, had embraced +a religious life at Clugni; but that he had not time to satisfy the +justice of God for the sins of his past life; that he conjured him to +have mass performed for him and for his father, to give alms, and to +employ the prayers of good people, to procure them both a prompt +deliverance from the pains they endured. He added, "Tell him, that if +he will not mind what you say, I shall be obliged to go to him myself, +and announce to him what I have just told you." + +Milo d'Ansa acquitted himself faithfully of his commission; Humbert +was frightened at it, but it did not make him better. Still, fearing +that Guichard, his father, or Geoffrey d'Iden might come and disturb +him, above all during the night, he dare not remain alone, and would +always have one of his people by him. + +One morning, then, as he was lying awake in his bed, he beheld in his +presence Geoffrey, armed as in a day of battle, who showed him the +mortal wound he had received, and which appeared yet quite fresh. He +reproached him keenly for his want of pity towards his own father, who +was groaning in torment. "Take care," added he, "that God does not +treat you rigorously, and refuse to you that mercy which you refuse to +us; and, above all, take care not to execute your intention of going +to the wars with Count Amedeus. If you go, you will there lose both +life and property." + +He said, and Humbert was about to reply, when the Squire Vichard de +Maracy, Humbert's counselor, arrived from mass, and immediately the +dead man disappeared. From that moment, Humbert endeavored seriously +to relieve his father Geoffrey, and resolved to take a journey to +Jerusalem to expiate his sins. Peter the Venerable had been well +informed of all the details of this story, which occurred in the year +he went into Spain, and made a great noise in the country. The +Cardinal Baronius,[552] a very grave and respectable man, says that he +had heard from several very sensible people, and who have often heard +it preached to the people, and in particular from Michael Mercati, +Prothonotary of the Holy See, a man of acknowledged probity and well +informed, above all in the platonic philosophy, to which he applied +himself unweariedly with Marsilius Ficin, his friend, as zealous as +himself for the doctrine of Plato. + +One day, these two great philosophers were conversing on the +immortality of the soul, and if it remained and existed after the +death of the body. After having had much discourse on this matter, +they promised each other, and shook hands upon it, that the first of +them who quitted this world should come and tell the other somewhat of +the state of the other life. + +Having thus separated, it happened some time afterwards that the same +Michael Mercati, being wide awake and studying, one morning very +early, the same philosophical matters, heard on a sudden a noise like +a horseman who was coming hastily to his door, and at the same he +heard the voice of his friend Marsilius Ficin, who cried out to him, +"Michael, Michael, nothing is more true than what is said of the other +life." At the same, Michael opened his window, and saw Marsilius +mounted on a white horse, who was galloping away. Michael cried out to +him to stop, but he continued his course till Michael could no longer +see him. + +Marsilius Ficin was at that time dwelling at Florence, and died there +at the same hour that he had appeared and spoken to his friend. The +latter wrote directly to Florence, to inquire into the truth of the +circumstance; and they replied to him that Marsilius had died at the +same moment that Michael had heard his voice and the noise of his +horse at his door. Ever after that adventure, Michael Mercati, +although very regular in his conduct before then, became quite an +altered man, and lived in so exemplary a manner that he became a +perfect model of Christian life. We find a great many such instances +in Henri Morus, and in Joshua Grandville, in his work entitled +"Sadduceeism Combated." + +Here is one taken from the life of B. Joseph de Lionisse, a missionary +capuchin.[553] One day, when he was conversing with his companion on +the duties of religion, and the fidelity which God requires of those +who have consecrated themselves to them, of the reward reserved for +those who are perfectly religious, and the severe justice which he +exercises against unfaithful servants, Brother Joseph said to him, +"Let us promise each other mutually that the one who dies the first +will appear to the other, if God allows him so to do, to inform him of +what passes in the other world, and the condition in which he finds +himself." "I am willing," replied the holy companion; "I give you my +word upon it." "And I pledge you mine," replied Brother Joseph. + +Some days after this, the pious companion was attacked by a malady +which brought him to the tomb. Brother Joseph felt this the more +sensibly, because he knew better than the others all the virtues of +this holy monk. He had no doubt of the fulfilment of their agreement, +or that the deceased would appear to him, when he least thought of it, +to acquit himself of his promise. + +In effect, one day when Brother Joseph had retired to his room, in the +afternoon, he saw a young capuchin enter horribly haggard, with a pale +thin face, who saluted him with a feeble, trembling voice. As, at the +sight of this spectre, Joseph appeared a little disturbed, "Don't be +alarmed," it said to him; "I am come here as permitted by God, to +fulfill my promise, and to tell you that I have the happiness to be +amongst the elect through the mercy of the Lord. But learn that it is +even more difficult to be saved than is thought in this world; that +God, whose wisdom can penetrate the most secret folds of the heart, +weighs exactly the actions which we have done during life, the +thoughts, wishes, and motives, which we propose to ourselves in +acting; and as much as he is inexorable in regard to sinners, so much +is he good, indulgent, and rich in mercy, towards those just souls who +have served him in this life." At these words, the phantom +dissappeared. + +Here follows an instance of a spirit which comes after death to visit +his friend without having made an agreement with him to do so.[554] +Peter Garmate, Bishop of Cracow, was translated to the archbishopric +of Gnesnes, in 1548, and obtained a dispensation from Paul III. to +retain still his bishopric of Cracow. This prelate, after having led a +very irregular life during his youth, began towards the end of his +life, to perform many charitable actions, feeding every day a hundred +poor, to whom he sent food from his own table. And when he traveled, +he was followed by two wagons, loaded with coats and shirts, which he +distributed amongst the poor according as they needed them. + +One day, when he was preparing to go to church, towards evening, (it +being the eve of a festival,) and he was alone in his closet, he +suddenly beheld before him a gentleman named Curosius, who had been +dead some time, with whom he had formerly been too intimately +associated in evil doing. + +The Archbishop Gamrate was at first affrighted, but the defunct +reassured him and told him that he was of the number of the blessed. +"What!" said the prelate to him; "after such a life as you led! For +you know the excesses which both you and myself committed in our +youth." "I know it," replied the defunct; "but this is what saved me. +One day, when in Germany, I found myself with a man who uttered +blasphemous discourse, most injurious to the Holy Virgin. I was +irritated at it, and gave him a blow; we drew our swords; I killed +him; and for fear of being arrested and punished as a homicide, I +took flight without reflecting much on the action I had committed. But +at the hour of death, I found myself most terribly disturbed by +remorse on my past life, and I only expected certain destruction; when +the Holy Virgin came to my aid, and made such powerful intercession +for me with her Son, that she obtained for me the pardon of my sins; +and I have the happiness to enjoy beatitude. For yourself, who have +only six months to live, I am sent to warn you, that in consideration +of your alms, and your charity to the poor, God will show you mercy, +and expects you to do penance. Profit while it is time, and expiate +your past sins." After having said this, he disappeared; and the +archbishop, bursting into tears, began to live in so Christianly a +manner that he was the edification of all who knew him. He related the +circumstance to his most intimate friends, and died in 1545, after +having directed the Church of Gnesnes for about five years. + +The daughter of Dumoulin, a celebrated lawyer, having been inhumanly +massacred in her dwelling,[555] appeared by night to her husband, who +was wide awake, and declared to him the names of those who had killed +herself and her children, conjuring him to revenge her death. + + +Footnotes: + +[551] Biblioth. Cluniae. de Miraculis, lib. i. c. 7, p. 1290. + +[552] Baronius ad an. Christi 401. Annal. tom. v. + +[553] Tom. i. p. 64, _et seq._ + +[554] Stephani Damalevini Historia, p. 291. apud Ranald continuat +Baronii, ad. an. 1545. tom. xxi art. 62. + +[555] Le Loyer, lib. iii. pp. 46, 47. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +EXTRACT FROM THE POLITICAL WORKS OF M. L'ABBE DE ST. PIERRE.[556] + + +I was told lately at Valogne, that a good priest of the town who +teaches the children to read, had had an apparition in broad day ten +or twelve years ago. As that had made a great deal of noise at first +on account of his reputation for probity and sincerity, I had the +curiosity to hear him relate his adventure himself. A lady, one of my +relations, who was acquainted with him, sent to invite him to dine +with her yesterday, the 7th of January, 1708, and as on the one hand I +showed a desire to learn the thing from himself, and on the other it +was a kind of honorable distinction to have had by daylight an +apparition of one of his comrades, he related it before dinner without +requiring to be pressed, and in a very naive manner. + + +CIRCUMSTANCE. + +"In 1695," said M. Bezuel to us, "being a schoolboy of about fifteen +years of age, I became acquainted with the two children of M. +Abaquene, attorney, schoolboys like myself. The eldest was of my own +age, the second was eighteen months younger; he was named +Desfontaines; we took all our walks and all our parties of pleasure +together, and whether it was that Desfontaines had more affection for +me, or that he was more gay, obliging, and clever than his brother, I +loved him the best. + +"In 1696, we were walking both of us in the cloister of the Capuchins. +He told me that he had lately read a story of two friends who had +promised each other that the first of them who died should come and +bring news of his condition to the one still living; that the one who +died came back to earth, and told his friend surprising things. Upon +that, Desfontaines told me that he had a favor to ask of me; that he +begged me to grant it instantly: it was to make him a similar promise, +and on his part he would do the same. I told him that I would not. For +several months he talked to me of it, often and seriously; I always +resisted his wish. At last, towards the month of August, 1696, as he +was to leave to go and study at Caen, he pressed me so much with tears +in his eyes, that I consented to it. He drew out at that moment two +little papers which he had ready written: one was signed with his +blood, in which he promised me that in case of his death he would come +and bring me news of his condition; in the other I promised him the +same thing. I pricked my finger; a drop of blood came, with which I +signed my name. He was delighted to have my billet, and embracing me, +he thanked me a thousand times. + +"Some time after, he set off with his brother. Our separation caused +us much grief, but we wrote to each other now and then, and it was but +six weeks since I had had a letter from him, when what I am going to +relate to you happened to me. + +"The 31st of July, 1697, one Thursday--I shall remember it all my +life--the late M. Sortoville, with whom I lodged, and who had been +very kind to me, begged of me to go to a meadow near the Cordeliers, +and help his people, who were making hay, to make haste. I had not +been there a quarter of an hour, when about half-past-two, I all of a +sudden felt giddy and weak. In vain I leant upon my hay-fork; I was +obliged to place myself on a little hay, where I was nearly half an +hour recovering my senses. That passed off; but as nothing of the kind +had ever occurred to me before, I was surprised at it and feared it +might be the commencement of an illness. Nevertheless it did not make +much impression upon me during the remainder of the day. It is true I +did not sleep that night so well as usual. + +"The next day, at the same hour, as I was conducting to the meadow M. +de St. Simon, the grandson of M. de Sortoville, who was then ten years +old, I felt myself seized on the way with a similar faintness, and I +sat down on a stone in the shade. That passed off, and we continued +our way; nothing more happened to me that day, and at night I had +hardly any sleep. + +"At last, on the morrow, the second day of August, being in the loft +where they laid up the hay they brought from the meadow, I was taken +with a similar giddiness and a similar faintness, but still more +violent than the other. I fainted away completely; one of the men +perceived it. I have been told that I was asked what was the matter +with me, and that I replied, 'I have seen what I should never have +believed;' but I have no recollection of either the question or the +answer. That, however, accords with what I do remember to have seen +just then; as it were some one naked to the middle, but whom, however, +I did not recognize. They helped me down from the ladder. The +faintness seized me again, my head swam as I was between two rounds of +the ladder, and again I fainted. They took me down and placed me on a +large beam which served for a seat in the large square of the +capuchins. I sat down on it and then I no longer saw M. de Sortoville +nor his domestics, although present; but perceiving Desfontaines near +the foot of the ladder, who made me a sign to come to him, I moved on +my seat as if to make room for him; and those who saw me and whom I +did not see, although my eyes were open, remarked this movement. + +"As he did not come, I rose to go to him. He advanced towards me, took +my left arm with his right arm, and led me about thirty paces from +thence into a retired street, holding me still under the arm. The +domestics, supposing that my giddiness had passed off, and that I had +purposely retired, went every one to their work, except a little +servant, who went and told M. de Sortoville that I was talking all +alone. M. de Sortoville thought I was tipsy; he drew near, and heard +me ask some questions, and make some answers, which he has told me +since. + +"I was there nearly three-quarters of an hour, conversing with +Desfontaines. 'I promised you,' said he to me, 'that if I died before +you I would come and tell you of it. I was drowned the day before +yesterday in the river of Caen, at nearly this same hour. I was out +walking with such and such a one. It was very warm, and we had a wish +to bathe; a faintness seized me in the water, and I fell to the +bottom. The Abbe de Menil-Jean, my comrade, dived to bring me up. I +seized hold of his foot; but whether he was afraid it might be a +salmon, because I held him so fast, or that he wished to remount +promptly to the surface of the water, he shook his leg so roughly, +that he gave me a violent kick on the breast, which sent me to the +bottom of the river, which is there very deep. + +"Desmoulins related to me afterwards all that had occurred to them in +their walk, and the subjects they had conversed upon. It was in vain +for me to ask him questions--whether he was saved, whether he was +damned, if he was in purgatory, if I was in a state of grace, and if I +should soon follow him; he continued to discourse as if he had not +heard me, and as if he would not hear me. + +"I approached him several times to embrace him, but it seemed to me +that I embraced nothing, and yet I felt very sensibly that he held me +tightly by the arm, and that when I tried to turn away my head that I +might not see him, because I could not look at him without feeling +afflicted, he shook my arm as if to oblige me to look at and listen to +him. + +"He always appeared to me taller than I had seen him, and taller even +than he was at the time of his death, although he had grown during the +eighteen months in which we had not met. I beheld him always naked to +the middle of his body, his head uncovered, with his fine fair hair, +and a white scroll twisted in his hair over his forehead, on which +there was some writing, but I could only make out the word _in_, &c. + +"It was his same tone of voice. He appeared to me neither gay nor sad, +but in a calm and tranquil state. He begged of me when his brother +returned, to tell him certain things to say to his father and mother. +He begged me to say the Seven Psalms which had been given him as a +penance the preceding Sunday, which he had not yet recited; again he +recommended me to speak to his brother, and then he bade me adieu, +saying, as he left me, _Jusques_, _jusques_, (_till_, _till_,) which +was the usual term he made use of when at the end of our walk we bade +each other good-bye, to go home. + +"He told me that at the time he was drowned, his brother, who was +writing a translation, regretted having let him go without +accompanying him, fearing some accident. He described to me so well +where he was drowned, and the tree in the avenue of Louvigni on which +he had written a few words, that two years afterwards, being there +with the late Chevalier de Gotol, one of those who were with him at +the time he was drowned, I pointed out to him the very spot; and by +counting the trees in a particular direction which Desfontaines had +specified to me, I went straight up to the tree, and I found his +writing. He (the Chevalier) told me also that the article of the Seven +Psalms was true, and that on coming from confession they had told each +other their penance; and since then his brother has told me that it +was quite true that at that hour he was writing his exercise, and he +reproached himself for not having accompanied his brother. As nearly a +month passed by without my being able to do what Desfontaines had told +me in regard to his brother, he appeared to me again twice before +dinner at a country house whither I had gone to dine a league from +hence. I was very faint. I told them not to mind me, that it was +nothing, and that I should soon recover myself; and I went to a +corner of the garden. Desfontaines having appeared to me, reproached +me for not having yet spoken to his brother, and again conversed with +me for a quarter of an hour without answering any of my questions. + +"As I was going in the morning to Notre-Dame de la Victoire, he +appeared to me again, but for a shorter time, and pressed me always to +speak to his brother, and left me, saying still, _Jusques_, _Jusques_, +and without choosing to reply to my questions. + +"It is a remarkable thing that I always felt a pain in that part of my +arm which he had held me by the first time, until I had spoken to his +brother. I was three days without being able to sleep, from the +astonishment and agitation I felt. At the end of the first +conversation, I told M. de Varonville, my neighbor and schoolfellow, +that Desfontaines had been drowned; that he himself had just appeared +to me and told me so. He went away and ran to the parents' house to +know if it was true; they had just received the news, but by a mistake +he understood that it was the eldest. He assured me that he had read +the letter of Desfontaines, and he believed it; but I maintained +always that it could not be, and that Desfontaines himself had +appeared to me. He returned, came back, and told me in tears that it +was but too true. + +"Nothing has occurred to me since, and there is my adventure just as +it happened. It has been related in various ways; but I have recounted +it only as I have just told it to you. The Chevalier de Gotol told me +that Desfontaines had appeared also to M. de Menil-Jean; but I am not +acquainted with him; he lives twenty leagues from hence near Argentan, +and I can say no more about it." + +This is a very singular and circumstantial narrative, related by M. +l'Abbe de St. Pierre, who is by no means credulous, and sets his whole +mind and all his philosophy to explain the most extraordinary events +by physical reasonings, by the concurrence of atoms, corpuscles, +insensible evaporation of spirit, and perspiration. But all that is so +far-fetched, and does such palpable violence to the subjects and the +attending circumstances, that the most credulous would not yield to +such arguments. It is surprising that these gentlemen, who pique +themselves on strength of mind, and so haughtily reject everything +that appears supernatural, can so easily admit philosophical systems +much more incredible than even the facts they oppose. They raise +doubts which are often very ill-founded, and attack them upon +principles still more uncertain. That may be called refuting one +difficulty by another, and resolving a doubt by principles still more +doubtful. + +But, it will be said, whence comes it that so many other persons who +had engaged themselves to come and bring news of the immortality of +the soul, after their death, have not come back. Seneca speaks of a +Stoic philosopher named Julius Canus, who, having been condemned to +death by Julius Caesar, said aloud that he was about to learn the truth +of that question on which they were divided; to wit, whether the soul +was immortal or not. And we do not read that he revisited this world. +La Motte de Vayer had agreed with his friend Baranzan Barnabite that +the first of the two who died should warn the other of the state in +which he found himself. Baranzan died, and returned not. + +Because the dead sometimes return to earth, it would be imprudent to +conclude that they always do so. And it would be equally wrong +reasoning to say that they never do return, because having promised to +revisit this world they have not done so. For that, we should imagine +that it is in the power of spirits to return and make their appearance +when they will, and if they will; but it seems indubitable, that on +the contrary, it is not in their power, and that it is only by the +express permission of God that disembodied spirits sometimes appear to +the living. + +We see, in the history of the bad rich man, that God would not grant +him the favor which he asked, to send to earth some of those who were +with him in hell. Similar reasons, derived from the hardness of heart +or the incredulity of mortals, may have prevented, in the same manner, +the return of Julius Canus or of Baranzan. The return of spirits and +their apparition is neither a natural thing nor dependent on the +choice of those who are dead. It is a supernatural effect, and allied +to the miraculous. + +St. Augustine says on this subject[557] that if the dead interest +themselves in what concerns the living, St. Monica, his mother, who +loved him so tenderly, and went with him by sea and land everywhere +during her life, would not have failed to visit him every night, and +come to console him in his troubles; for we must not suppose that she +was become less compassionate since she became one of the blest: +_absit ut facta sit vita feliciore crudelis_. + +The return of spirits, their apparition, the execution of the promises +which certain persons have made each other, to come and tell their +friends what passes in the other world, is not in their own power. All +that is in the hands of God. + + +Footnotes: + +[556] Vol. iv. p. 57. + +[557] Aug. de Cura gerend. pro Mortuis, c. xiii. p. 526. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +DIVERS SYSTEMS FOR EXPLAINING THE RETURN OF SPIRITS. + + +The affair of ghosts having made so much noise in the world as it has +done, it is not surprising that a diversity of systems should have +been formed upon it, and that so many manners should have been +proposed to explain their return to earth and their operations. + +Some have thought that it was a momentary resurrection caused by the +soul of the defunct, which re-entered his body, or by the demon, who +reanimated him, and caused him to act for a while, whilst his blood +retained its consistency and fluidity, and his organic functions were +not entirely corrupted and deranged. + +Others, struck with the consequence of such principles, and the +arguments which might be deduced from them, have liked better to +suppose that these vampires were not really dead; that they still +retained certain seeds of life, and that their spirits could from time +to time reanimate and bring them out of their tombs, to make their +appearance amongst men, take refreshment, and renew the nourishing +juices and animal spirits by sucking the blood of their near kindred. + +There has lately been printed a dissertation on the uncertainty of the +signs of death, and the abuse of hasty interments, by M. Jacques +Benigne Vinslow, Doctor, Regent of the Faculty at Paris, translated, +with a commentary, by Jacques Jean Bruhier, physician, at Paris, 1742, +in 8vo. This work may serve to explain how persons who have been +believed to be dead, and have been buried as such, have nevertheless +been found alive a pretty long time after their funeral obsequies had +been performed. That will perhaps render vampirism less incredible. + +M. Vinslow, Doctor, and Regent of the Medical Faculty at Paris, +maintained, in the month of April, 1740, a thesis, in which he asks if +the experiments of surgery are fitter than all others to discover some +less uncertain signs of doubtful death. He therein maintained that +there are several occurrences in which the signs of death are very +doubtful; and he adduces several instances of persons believed to be +dead, and interred as such, who nevertheless were afterwards found to +be alive. + +M. Bruhier, M.D., has translated this thesis into French, and has +made some learned additions to it, which serve to strengthen the +opinion of M. Vinslow. The work is very interesting, from the matter +it treats upon, and very agreeable to read, from the manner in which +it is written. I am about to make some extracts from it, which may be +useful to my subject. I shall adhere principally to the most certain +and singular facts; for to relate them all, we must transcribe the +whole work. + +It is known that John Duns, surnamed Scot,[558] or the Subtile Doctor, +had the misfortune to be interred alive at Cologne, and that when his +tomb was opened some time afterwards, it was found that he had gnawn +his arm.[559] The same thing is related of the Emperor Zeno, who made +himself heard from the depth of his tomb by repeated cries to those +who were watching over him. Lancisi, a celebrated physician of the +Pope Clement XI., relates that at Rome he was witness to a person of +distinction being still alive when he wrote, who resumed sense and +motion whilst they were chanting his funeral service at church. + +Pierre Zacchias, another celebrated physician of Rome, says, that in +the hospital of the Saint Esprit, a young man, who was attacked with +the plague, fell into so complete a state of syncope, that he was +believed to be really dead. Whilst they were carrying his corpse, +along with a great many others, on the other side of the Tiber, the +young man gave signs of life. He was brought back to the hospital and +cured. Two days after, he fell into a similar syncope, and that time +he was reputed to be dead beyond recovery. He was placed amongst +others intended for burial, came to himself a second time, and was yet +living when Zacchias wrote. + +It is related, that a man named William Foxley, when forty years of +age,[560] falling asleep on the 27th of April, 1546, remained plunged +in sleep for fourteen days and fourteen nights, without any preceding +malady. He could not persuade himself that he had slept more than one +night, and was convinced of his long sleep only by being shown a +building begun some days before this drowsy attack, and which he +beheld completed on his awaking. It is said that in the time of Pope +Gregory II. a scholar of Lubec slept for seven years consecutively. +Lilius Giraldus[561] relates that a peasant slept through the whole +autumn and winter. + + +Footnotes: + +[558] Duns Scotus. + +[559] This fact is more than doubtful. Bzovius, for having advanced it +upon the authority of some others, was called _Bovius_, that is, +"Great Ox." It is, therefore, better to stand by what Moreri thought +of it. "The enemies of Scotus have proclaimed," says he, "that, having +died of apoplexy, he was at first interred, and, some time after this +accident having elapsed, he died in despair, gnawing his hands. But +this calumny, which was authorized by Paulus Jovius, Latomias, and +Bzovius, has been so well refuted that no one now will give credit to +it." + +[560] Larrey, in Henri VIII. Roi d'Angleterre. + +[561] Lilius Giraldus, Hist. Poet. Dialog. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +VARIOUS INSTANCES OF PERSONS BEING BURIED ALIVE. + + +Plutarch relates that a man who fell from a great height, having +pitched upon his neck, was believed to be dead, without there being +the appearance of any hurt. As they were carrying him to be buried, +the day after, he all at once recovered his strength and his senses. +Asclepiades[562] meeting a great funeral train of a person they were +taking to be interred, obtained permission to look at and to touch the +dead man; he found some signs of life in him, and by means of proper +remedies, he immediately recalled him to life, and restored him in +sound health to his parents and relations. + +There are several instances of persons who after being interred came +to themselves, and lived a long time in perfect health. They relate in +particular,[563] that a woman of Orleans was buried in a cemetery, +with a ring on her finger, which they had not been able to draw off +her finger when she was placed in her coffin. The following night, a +domestic, attracted by the hope of gain, broke open the coffin, and as +he could not tear the ring off her finger, was about to cut her finger +off, when she uttered a loud shriek. The servant fled. The woman +disengaged herself as she could from her winding sheet, returned home, +and survived her husband. + +M. Bernard, a principal surgeon at Paris, attests that, being with his +father at the parish of Real, they took from the tombs, living and +breathing, a monk of the order of St. Francis, who had been shut up in +it three or four days, and who had gnawed his hands around the bands +which confined them. But he died almost the moment that he was in the +air. + +Several persons have made mention of that wife of a counselor of +Cologne,[564] who having been interred with a valuable ring on her +finger, in 1571, the grave-digger opened the grave the succeeding +night to steal the ring. But the good lady caught hold of him, and +forced him to take her out of the coffin. He, however, disengaged +himself from her hands, and fled. The resuscitated lady went and +rapped at the door of her house. At first they thought it was a +phantom, and left her a long time at the door, waiting anxiously to be +let in; but at last they opened it for her. They warmed her, and she +recovered her health perfectly, and had after that three sons, who all +belonged to the church. This event is represented on her sepulchre in +a picture, or painting, in which the story is represented, and +moreover, written, in German verses. + +It is added that the lady, in order to convince those of the house +that it was herself, told the footman who came to the door that the +horses had gone up to the hay-loft, which was true; and there are +still to be seen at the windows of the _grenier_ of that house, +horses' heads, carved in wood, as a sign of the truth of the matter. + +Francois de Civile, a Norman gentleman,[565] was the captain of a +hundred men in the city of Rouen, when it was besieged by Charles IX., +and he was then six-and-twenty. He was wounded to death at the end of +an assault; and having fallen into the moat, some pioneers placed him +in a grave with some other bodies, and covered them over with a little +earth. He remained there from eleven in the morning till half-past six +in the evening, when his servant went to disinter him. This domestic, +having remarked some signs of life, put him in a bed, where he +remained for five days and nights, without speaking, or giving any +other sign of feeling, but as burning hot with fever as he had been +cold in the grave. The city having been taken by storm, the servants +of an officer of the victorious army, who was to lodge in the house +wherein was Civile, threw the latter upon a paillasse in a back room, +whence his brother's enemies tossed him out of the window upon a +dunghill, where he remained for more than seventy-two hours in his +shirt. At the end of that time, one of his relations, surprised to +find him still alive, sent him to a league's distance from Rouen,[566] +where he was attended to, and at last was perfectly cured. + +During a great plague, which attacked the city of Dijon in 1558, a +lady, named Nicole Lentillet, being reputed dead of the epidemic, was +thrown into a great pit, wherein they buried the dead. The day after +her interment, in the morning, she came to herself again, and made +vain efforts to get out, but her weakness, and the weight of the other +bodies with which she was covered, prevented her doing so. She +remained in this horrible situation for four days, when the burial men +drew her out, and carried her back to her house, where she perfectly +recovered her health. + +A young lady of Augsburg,[567] having fallen into a swoon, or trance, +her body was placed under a deep vault, without being covered with +earth; but the entrance to this subterranean vault was closely walled +up. Some years after that time, some one of the same family died. The +vault was opened, and the body of the young lady was found at the very +entrance, without any fingers to her right hand, which she had +devoured in despair. + +On the 25th of July, 1688, there died at Metz a hair-dresser's boy, of +an apoplectic fit, in the evening, after supper. + +On the 28th of the same month, he was heard to moan again several +times. They took him out of his grave, and he was attended by doctors +and surgeons. The physician maintained, after he had been opened, that +the young man had not been dead two hours. This is extracted from the +manuscript of a bourgeois of Metz, who was cotemporary with him. + + +Footnotes: + +[562] Cels. lib. ii. c. 6. + +[563] Le P. Le Clerc, _ci devant_ attorney of the boarders of the +college of Louis le Grand. + +[564] Misson, Voyage d'Italie, tom. i. Lettre 5. Goulart, des +Histoires admirables; et memorables printed at Geneva, in 1678. + +[565] Misson, Voyage, tom. iii. + +[566] Goulart, loca cetata. + +[567] M. Graffe, Epit. a Guil. Frabi, Centurie 2, observ chirurg. 516. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +INSTANCES OF DROWNED PERSONS RECOVERING THEIR HEALTH. + + +Here follow some instances of drowned persons[568] who came to +themselves several days after they were believed to be dead. Peclin +relates the story of a gardener of Troninghalm, in Sweden, who was +still alive, and sixty-five years of age, when the author wrote. This +man being on the ice to assist another man who had fallen into the +water, the ice broke under him, and he sunk under water to the depth +of eight ells, his feet sticking in the mud: he remained sixteen hours +before they drew him out of the water. In this condition, he lost all +sense, except that he thought he heard the bells ringing at Stockholm. +He felt the water, which entered his body, not by his mouth, but his +ears. After having sought for him during sixteen hours, they caught +hold of his head with a hook, and drew him out of the water; they +placed him between sheets, put him near the fire, rubbed him, shook +him, and at last brought him to himself. The king and court would see +him and hear his story, and gave him a pension. + +A woman of the same country, after having been three days in the +water, was also revived by the same means as the gardener. Another +person named Janas, having drowned himself at seventeen years of age, +was taken out of the water seven weeks after; they warmed him, and +brought him back to life. + +M. D'Egly, of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, at +Paris, relates, that a Swiss, an expert diver, having plunged down +into one of the hollows in the bed of the river, where he hoped to +find fine fish, remained there about nine hours; they drew him out of +the water after having hurt him in several places with their hooks. M. +D'Egly, seeing that the water bubbled strongly from his mouth, +maintained that he was not dead. They made him throw up as much water +as he could for three quarters of an hour, wrapped him up in hot +linen, put him to bed, bled him, and saved him. + +Some have been recovered after being seven weeks in the water, others +after a less time; for instance, Gocellin, a nephew of the Archbishop +of Cologne, having fallen into the Rhine, remained under water for +fifteen hours before they could find him again; at the end of that +time, they carried him to the tomb of St. Suitbert, and he recovered +his health.[569] + +The same St. Suitbert resuscitated also another young man who had been +drowned several hours. But the author who relates these miracles is of +no great authority. + +Several instances are related of drowned persons who have remained +under water for several days, and at last recovered and enjoyed good +health. In the second part of the dissertation on the uncertainty of +the signs of death, by M. Bruhier, physician, printed at Paris in +1744, pp. 102, 103, &c., it is shown that they have seen some who have +been under water forty-eight hours, others during three days, and +during eight days. He adds to this the example of the insect +chrysalis, which passes all the winter without giving any signs of +life, and the aquatic insects which remain all the winter motionless +in the mud; which also happens to the frogs and toads; ants even, +against the common opinion, are during the winter in a death-like +state, which ceases only on the return of spring. Swallows, in the +northern countries, bury themselves in heaps, in the lakes and ponds, +in rivers even, in the sea, in the sand, in the holes of walls, and +the hollows of trees, or at the bottom of caverns; whilst other kinds +of swallows cross the sea to find warmer and more temperate climes. + +What has just been said of swallows being found at the bottom of +lakes, ponds, and rivers, is commonly remarked in Silesia, Poland, +Bohemia, and Moravia. Sometimes even storks are fished up as if dead, +having their beaks fixed in the anus of one another; many of these +have been seen in the environs of Geneva, and even in the environs of +Metz, in the year 1467. + +To these may be added quails and herons. Sparrows and cuckoos have +been found during the winter in hollow trees, torpid and without the +least appearance of life, which being warmed recovered themselves and +took flight. We know that hedgehogs, marmots, sloths, and serpents, +live underground without breathing, and the circulation of the blood +is very feeble in them during all the winter. It is even said that +bears sleep during almost all that period. + + +Footnotes: + +[568] Guill. Derham, Extrait. Peclin, c. x. de aere et alim. def. + +[569] Vita S. Suitberti, apud Surium, I. Martii. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +INSTANCES OF WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN BELIEVED TO BE DEAD, AND WHO HAVE +COME TO LIFE AGAIN. + + +Very clever physicians assert[570] that in cases of the suffocation of +the womb, a woman may live thirty days without breathing. I know that +a very excellent woman was six-and-thirty hours without giving any +sign of life. Everybody thought she was dead, and they wanted to +enshroud her, but her husband always opposed it. At the end of +thirty-six hours she came to herself, and has lived a long time since +then. She told them that she heard very well all that was said about +her, and knew that they wanted to lay her out; but her torpor was such +that she could not surmount it, and she should have let them do +whatever they pleased without the least resistance. + +This applies to what St. Augustine says of the priest Pretextas, who +in his trances and swoons heard, as if from afar off, what was said, +and nevertheless would have let himself be burned, and his flesh cut, +without opposing it or feeling it. + +Corneille le Bruyn,[571] in his Voyages, relates that he saw at +Damietta, in Egypt, a Turk whom they called the Dead Child, because +when his mother was with child with him, she fell ill, and as they +believed she was dead, they buried her pretty quickly, according to +the custom of the country, where they let the dead remain but a very +short time unburied, above all during the plague. She was put into a +vault which this Turk had for the sepulture of his family. + +Towards evening, some hours after the interment of this woman, it +entered the mind of the Turk her husband, that the child she bore +might still be alive; he then had the vault opened, and found that his +wife had delivered herself, and that his child was alive, but the +mother was dead. Some people said that the child had been heard to +cry, and that it was on receiving intimation of this that the father +had the tomb opened. This man, surnamed the Dead Child, was still +living in 1677. Le Bruyn thinks that the woman was dead when her child +was born; but being dead, it would not have been possible for her to +bring him into the world. It must be remembered, that in Egypt, where +this happened, the women have an extraordinary facility of delivery, +as both ancients and moderns bear witness, and that this woman was +simply shut up in a vault, without being covered with earth. + +A woman at Strasburg, who was with child, being reputed to be dead, +was buried in a subterranean vault;[572] at the end of some time, this +vault having been opened for another body to be placed in it, the +woman was found out of the coffin lying on the ground, and having +between her hands a child, of which she had delivered herself, and +whose arm she held in her mouth, as if she would fain eat it. + +Another woman, a Spaniard,[573] the wife of Francisco Aravallos, of +Suasso, being dead, or believed to be so, in the last months of her +pregnancy, was put in the ground; her husband, whom they had sent for +from the country, whither he had gone on business, would see his wife +at the church, and had her exhumed: hardly had they opened the coffin, +when they heard the cry of a child, who was making efforts to leave +the bosom of its mother. + +He was taken away alive and lived a long time, being known by the name +of the Child of the Earth; and since then he was lieutenant-general of +the town of Herez, on the frontier of Spain. These instances might be +multiplied to infinity, of persons buried alive, and of others who +have recovered as they were being carried to the grave, and others who +have been taken out of it by fortuitous circumstances. Upon this +subject you may consult the new work of Messrs. Vinslow and Bruyer, +and those authors who have expressly treated on this subject.[574] +These gentlemen, the doctors, derive from thence a very wise and very +judicious conclusion, which is, that people should never be buried +without the absolute certainty of their being dead, above all in times +of pestilence, and in certain maladies in which those who are +suffering under them lose on a sudden both sense and motion. + + +Footnotes: + +[570] Le Clerc, Hist. de la Medecine. + +[571] Corneille le Bruyn, tom. i. p. 579. + +[572] Cronstand, Philos. veter. restit. + +[573] Gaspard Reies, Campus Elysias jucund. + +[574] Page 167, des additions de M. Bruhier. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +CAN THESE INSTANCES BE APPLIED TO THE HUNGARIAN GHOSTS? + + +Some advantage of these instances and these arguments may be derived +in favor of vampirism, by saying that the ghosts of Hungary, Moravia, +and Poland are not really dead, that they continue to live in their +graves, although without motion and without respiration; the blood +which is found in them being fine and red, the flexibility of their +limbs, the cries which they utter when their heart is pierced or their +head being cut off, all prove that they still exist. + +That is not the principal difficulty which arrests my judgment; it is +to know how they come out of their graves without any appearance of +the earth having been removed, and how they have replaced it as it +was; how they appear dressed in their clothes, go and come, and eat. +If it is so, why do they return to their graves? why do they not +remain amongst the living? why do they suck the blood of their +relations? Why do they haunt and fatigue persons who ought to be dear +to them, and who have done nothing to offend them? If all that is only +imagination on the part of those who are molested, whence comes it +that these vampires are found in their graves in an uncorrupted state, +full of blood, supple, and pliable; that their feet are found to be in +a muddy condition the day after they have run about and frightened the +neighbors, and that nothing similar is remarked in the other corpses +interred at the same time and in the same cemetery. Whence does it +happen that they neither come back nor infest the place any more when +they are burned or impaled? Would it be again the imagination of the +living and their prejudices which reassure them after these +executions? Whence comes it that these scenes recur so frequently in +those countries, that the people are not cured of their prejudices, +and daily experience, instead of destroying, only augments and +strengthens them? + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +DEAD PERSONS WHO CHEW IN THEIR GRAVES LIKE HOGS, AND DEVOUR THEIR OWN +FLESH. + + +It is an opinion widely spread in Germany, that certain dead persons +chew in their graves, and devour whatever may be close to them; that +they are even heard to eat like pigs, with a certain low cry, and as +if growling and grunting. + +A German author,[575] named Michael Rauff, has composed a work, +entitled _De Masticatione Mortuorum in Tumulis_--"Of the Dead who +Masticate in their Graves." He sets it down as a proved and sure +thing, that there are certain dead persons who have devoured the linen +and everything that was within reach of their mouth, and even their +own flesh, in their graves. He remarks,[576] that in some parts of +Germany, to prevent the dead from masticating, they place a motte of +earth under their chin in the coffin; elsewhere they place a little +piece of money and a stone in their mouth; elsewhere they tie a +handkerchief tightly round their throat. The author cites some German +writers who make mention of this ridiculous custom; he quotes several +others who speak of dead people that have devoured their own flesh in +their sepulchre. This work was printed at Leipsic in 1728. It speaks +of an author named Philip Rehrius, who printed in 1679 a treatise with +the same title--_De Masticatione Mortuorum_. + +He might have added to it the circumstance of Henry Count of +Salm,[577] who, being supposed to be dead, was interred alive; they +heard during the night, in the church of the Abbey of Haute-Seille, +where he was buried, loud cries; and the next day, on his tomb being +opened, they found him turned upon his face, whilst in fact he had +been buried lying upon his back. + +Some years ago, at Bar-le-Duc, a man was buried in the cemetery, and a +noise was heard in his grave; the next day they disinterred him, and +found that he had gnawed the flesh of his arms; and this we learned +from ocular witnesses. This man had drunk brandy, and had been buried +as dead. Rauff speaks of a woman of Bohemia,[578] who, in 1355, had +eaten in her grave half her shroud. In the time of Luther, a man who +was dead and buried, and a woman the same, gnawed their own entrails. +Another dead man in Moravia ate the linen clothes of a woman who was +buried next to him. + +All that is very possible, but that those who are really dead move +their jaws, and amuse themselves with masticating whatever may be near +them, is a childish fancy--like what the ancient Romans said of their +_Manducus_, which was a grotesque figure of a man with an enormous +mouth, and teeth proportioned thereto, which they caused to move by +springs, and grind his teeth together, as if this figure had wanted to +eat. They frightened children with them, and threatened them with the +Manducus.[579] + +Some remains of this old custom may be seen in certain processions, +where they carry a sort of serpent, which at intervals opens and shuts +a vast jaw, armed with teeth, into which they throw cakes, as if to +gorge it, or satisfy its appetite. + + +Footnotes: + +[575] Mich. Rauff, altera Dissert. Art. lvii. pp. 98, 99, et Art. lix. +p. 100. + +[576] De Nummis in Ore Defunctorum repertis, Art. ix. a Beyermuller, +&c. + +[577] Richer, Senon, tom. iii. Spicileg. Ducherii, p. 392. + +[578] Rauff, Art. xlii. p. 43. + +[579] + "Tandemque venit ad pulpita nostrum + Exodium, cum personae pallentis hiatum + In gremio matris fastidit rusticus infans." + _Juvenal_, Sat. iii. 174. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +SINGULAR INSTANCE OF A HUNGARIAN GHOST. + + +The most remarkable instance cited by Rauff[580] is that of one Peter +Plogojovitz, who had been buried ten weeks in a village of Hungary, +called Kisolova. This man appeared by night to some of the inhabitants +of the village while they were asleep, and grasped their throat so +tightly that in four-and-twenty hours it caused their death. Nine +persons, young and old, perished thus in the course of eight days. + +The widow of the same Plogojovitz declared that her husband since his +death had come and asked her for his shoes, which frightened her so +much that she left Kisolova to retire to some other spot. + +From these circumstances the inhabitants of the village determined +upon disinterring the body of Plogojovitz and burning it, to deliver +themselves from these visitations. They applied to the emperor's +officer, who commanded in the territory of Gradiska, in Hungary, and +even to the cure of the same place, for permission to exhume the body +of Peter Plogojovitz. The officer and the cure made much demur in +granting this permission, but the peasants declared that if they were +refused permission to disinter the body of this man, whom they had no +doubt was a true vampire (for so they called these revived corpses), +they should be obliged to forsake the village, and go where they +could. + +The emperor's officer, who wrote this account, seeing he could hinder +them neither by threats nor promises, went with the cure of Gradiska +to the village of Kisolova, and having caused Peter Plogojovitz to be +exhumed, they found that his body exhaled no bad smell; that he looked +as when alive, except the tip of the nose; that his hair and beard had +grown, and instead of his nails, which had fallen off, new ones had +come; that under his upper skin, which appeared whitish, there +appeared a new one, which looked healthy, and of a natural color; his +feet and hands were as whole as could be desired in a living man. They +remarked also in his mouth some fresh blood, which these people +believed that this vampire had sucked from the men whose death he had +occasioned. + +The emperor's officer and the cure having diligently examined all +these things, and the people who were present feeling their +indignation awakened anew, and being more fully persuaded that he was +the true cause of the death of their compatriots, ran directly for a +sharp-pointed stake, which they thrust into his breast, whence there +issued a quantity of fresh and crimson blood, and also from the nose +and mouth; something also proceeded from that part of his body which +decency does not allow us to mention. After this the peasants placed +the body on a pile of wood and saw it reduced to ashes. + +M. Rauff,[581] from whom we have these particulars, cites several +authors who have written on the same subject, and have related +instances of dead people who have eaten in their tombs. He cites +particularly Gabril Rzaczincki in his history of the Natural +Curiosities of the Kingdom of Poland, printed at Sandomic in 1721. + + +Footnotes: + +[580] Rauff, Art. xii. p. 15. + +[581] Rauff, Art. xxi. p. 14. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +REASONINGS ON THIS MATTER. + + +Those authors have reasoned a great deal on these events. 1. Some have +believed them to be miraculous. 2. Others have looked upon them simply +as the effect of a heated imagination, or a sort of prepossession. 3. +Others again have believed that there was nothing in all that but what +was very simple and very natural, these persons not being dead, and +acting naturally upon other bodies. 4. Others have asserted[582] that +it was the work of the devil himself; amongst these, some have +advanced the opinion that there were certain benign demons, differing +from those who are malevolent and hostile to mankind, to which (benign +demons) they have attributed playful and harmless operations, in +contradistinction to those bad demons who inspire the minds of men +with crime and sin, ill use them, kill them, and occasion them an +infinity of evils. But what greater evils can one have to fear from +veritable demons and the most malignant spirits, than those which the +ghouls of Hungary cause the persons whose blood they suck, and thus +cause to die? 5. Others will have it that it is not the dead who eat +their own flesh or clothes, but serpents, rats, moles, ferrets, or +other voracious animals, or even what the peasants call +_striges_,[583] which are birds that devour animals and men, and suck +their blood. Some have said that these instances are principally +remarked in women, and, above all, in a time of pestilence; but there +are instances of ghouls of both sexes, and principally of men; +although those who die of plague, poison, hydrophobia, drunkenness, +and any epidemical malady, are more apt to return, apparently because +their blood coagulates with more difficulty; and sometimes some are +buried who are not quite dead, on account of the danger there is in +leaving them long without sepulture, from fear of the infection they +would cause. + +It is added that these vampires are known only to certain countries, +as Hungary, Moravia, and Silesia, where those maladies are more +common, and where the people, being badly fed, are subject to certain +disorders caused or occasioned by the climate and the food, and +augmented by prejudice, fancy, and fright, capable of producing or of +increasing the most dangerous maladies, as daily experience proves too +well. As to what some have asserted that the dead have been heard to +eat and chew like pigs in their graves, it is manifestly fabulous, and +such an idea can have its foundation only in ridiculous prepossessions +of the mind. + + +Footnotes: + +[582] Rudiga, Physio. Dur. lib. i. c. 4. Theophrast. Paracels. Georg. +Agricola, de Anim. Subterran. p. 76. + +[583] Ovid, lib. vi. Vide Debrio, Disquisit. Magic. lib. i. p. 6, and +lib. iii. p. 355. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +ARE THE VAMPIRES OR REVENANS REALLY DEAD? + + +The opinion of those who hold that all that is related of vampires is +the effect of imagination, fascination, or of that disorder which the +Greeks term _phrenesis_ or _coribantism_, and who pretend by that +means to explain all the phenomena of vampirism, will never persuade +us that these maladies of the brain can produce such real effects as +those we have just recounted. It is impossible that on a sudden, +several persons should believe they see a thing which is not there, +and that they should die in so short a time of a disorder purely +imaginary. And who has revealed to them that such a vampire is +undecayed in his grave, that he is full of blood, that he in some +measure lives there after his death? Is there not to be found in the +nation one sensible man who is exempt from this fancy, or who has +soared above the effects of this fascination, these sympathies and +antipathies--this natural magic? And besides, who can explain to us +clearly and distinctly what these grand terms signify, and the manner +of these operations so occult and so mysterious? It is trying to +explain a thing which is obscure and doubtful, by another still more +uncertain and incomprehensible. + +If these persons believe nothing of all that is related of the +apparition, the return, and the actions of vampires, they lose their +time very uselessly in proposing systems and forming arguments to +explain what exists only in the imagination of certain prejudiced +persons struck with an idea; but, if all that is related, or at least +a part, is true, these systems and these arguments will not easily +satisfy those minds which desire proofs far more weighty than those. + +Let us see, then, if the system which asserts that these vampires are +not really dead is well founded. It is certain that death consists in +the separation of the soul from the body, and that neither the one +nor the other perishes, nor is annihilated by death; that the soul is +immortal, and that the body destitute of its soul, still remains +entire, and becomes only in part corrupt, sometimes in a few days, and +sometimes in a longer space of time; sometimes even it remains +uncorrupted during many years or even ages, either by reason of a good +constitution, as in Hector[584] and Alexander the Great, whose bodies +remained several days undecayed;[585] or by means of the art of +embalming; or lastly, owing to the nature of the earth in which they +are interred, which has the power of drying up the radical humidity +and the principles of corruption. I do not stop to prove all these +things, which besides are very well known. + +Sometimes the body, without being dead and forsaken by its reasonable +soul, remains as if dead and motionless, or at least with so slow a +motion and such feeble respiration, that it is almost imperceptible, +as it happens in faintings, swoons, in certain disorders very common +amongst women, in trances--as we remarked in the case of Pretextat, +priest of Calame; we have also reported more than one instance, +considered dead and buried as such; I may add that of the Abbe Salin, +prior of St. Christopher,[586] who being in his coffin, and about to +be interred, was resuscitated by some of his friends, who made him +swallow a glass of champagne. + +Several instances of the same kind are related.[587] In the "Causes +Celebres," they make mention of a girl who became _enceinte_ during a +long swoon; we have already noticed this. Pliny cites[588] a great +number of instances of persons who have been thought dead, and who +have come to life again, and lived for a long time. He mentions a +young man, who having fallen asleep in a cavern, remained there forty +years without waking. Our historians[589] speak of the seven sleepers, +who slept for 150 years, from the year of Christ 253 to 403. It is +said that the philosopher Epimenides slept in a cavern during +fifty-seven years, or according to others, forty-seven, or only forty +years; for the ancients do not agree concerning the number of years; +they even affirm, that this philosopher had the power to detach his +soul from his body, and recall it when he pleased. The same thing is +related of Aristaeus of Proconnesus. I am willing to allow that that is +fabulous; but we cannot gainsay the truth of several other stories of +persons who have come to life again, after having appeared dead for +three, four, five, six, and seven days. Pliny acknowledges that there +are several instances of dead people who have appeared after they were +interred; but he will not mention them more particularly, because, he +says, he relates only natural things and not prodigies--"Post +sepulturam quoque visorum exempla sunt, nisi quod naturae opera non +prodigia sectamur." We believe that Enoch and Elijah are still living. +Several have thought that St. John the Evangelist was not dead,[590] +but that he is still alive in his tomb. + +Plato and St. Clement of Alexandria[591] relate, that the son of +Zoroaster was resuscitated twelve days after his (supposed) death, and +when his body had been laid upon the funeral pyre. Phlegon says,[592] +that a Syrian soldier in the army of Antiochus, after having been +killed at Thermopylae, appeared in open day in the Roman camp, and +spoke to several. And Plutarch relates,[593] that a man named +Thespesius, who had fallen from the roof of a house, came to himself +the third day after he died (or seemed to die) of his fall. + +St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians,[594] seems to suppose that +sometimes the soul transported itself without the body, to repair to +the spot where it is in mind or thought; for instance, he says, that +he has been transported to the third heaven; but he adds that he knows +not whether in the body, or only in spirit--"Sive in corpora, sive +extra corpus, nescio, Deus scit." We have already cited St. +Augustine,[595] who mentions a priest of Calamus, named Pretextat, +who, at the sound of the voices of some persons who lamented their +sins, fell into such an ecstasy of delight, that he no longer breathed +or felt anything; and they might have cut and burnt his flesh without +his perceiving it; his soul was absent, or really so occupied with +these lamentations, that he was insensible to pain. In swoons and +syncope, the soul no longer performs her ordinary functions. She is +nevertheless in the body, and continues to animate it, but she +perceives not her own action. + +A cure of the Diocese of Constance, named Bayer, writes me word that +in 1728, having been appointed to the cure of Rutheim, he was +disturbed a month afterwards by a spectre, or an evil genius, in the +form of a peasant, badly made, and ill-dressed, very ill-looking, and +stinking insupportably, who came and knocked at the door in an +insolent manner, and having entered his study told him that he had +been sent by an official of the Prince of Constance, his bishop, upon +a certain commission which was found to be absolutely false. He then +asked for something to eat, and they placed before him meat, bread, +and wine. He took up the meat with both hands, and devoured it bones +and all, saying, "See how I eat both flesh and bone--do the same." +Then he took up the wine-cup, and swallowed it at a draught, asking +for another, which he drank off in the same fashion. After that he +withdrew, without bidding the cure good-bye; and the servant who +showed him to the door having asked his name, he replied, "I was born +at Rutsingen, and my name is George Raulin," which was false. As he +was going down stairs he said to the cure in German, in a menacing +tone, "I will show you who I am." + +He passed all the rest of the day in the village, showing himself to +everybody. Towards midnight he returned to the cure's door, crying out +three times in a terrible voice, "Monsieur Bayer!" and adding, "I will +let you know who I am." In fact, during three years he returned every +day towards four o'clock in the afternoon, and every night till dawn +of day. He appeared in different forms, sometimes like a water-dog, +sometimes as a lion, or some other terrible animal; sometimes in the +shape of a man, or a girl, when the cure was at table, or in bed, +enticing him to lasciviousness. Sometimes he made an uproar in the +house, like a cooper putting hoops on his casks; then again you might +have thought he wanted to throw the house down by the noise he made in +it. To have witnesses to all this, the cure often sent for the beadle +and other personages of the village to bear testimony to it. The +spectre emitted, wherever he showed himself, an insupportable stench. + +At last the cure had recourse to exorcisms, but they produced no +effect. And as they despaired almost of being delivered from these +vexations, he was advised, at the end of the third year, to provide +himself with a holy branch on Palm Sunday, and also with a sword +sprinkled with holy water, and to make use of it against the spectre. +He did so once or twice, and from that time he was no more molested. +This is attested by a Capuchin monk, witness of the greater part of +these things, the 29th of August, 1749. + +I will not guarantee the truth of all these circumstances; the +judicious reader will make what induction he pleases from them. If +they are true, here is a real ghost, who eats, drinks, and speaks, and +gives tokens of his presence for three whole years, without any +appearance of religion. Here follows another instance of a ghost who +manifested himself by actions alone. + +They write me word from Constance, the 8th of August, 1748, that +towards the end of the year 1746 sighs were heard, which seemed to +proceed from the corner of the printing-office of the Sieur Lahart, +one of the common council men of the city of Constance. The printers +only laughed at it at first, but in the following year, 1747, in the +beginning of January, they heard more noise than before. There was a +hard knocking near the same corner whence they had at first heard some +sighs; things went so far that the printers received slaps, and their +hats were thrown on the ground. They had recourse to the Capuchins, +who came with the books proper for exorcising the spirit. The exorcism +completed they returned home, and the noise ceased for three days. + +At the end of that time the noise recommenced more violently than +before; the spirit threw the characters for printing, whether letters +or figures, against the windows. They sent out of the city for a +famous exorcist, who exorcised the spirit for a week. One day the +spirit boxed the ears of a lad; and again the letters, &c., were +thrown against the window-panes. The foreign exorcist, not having been +able to effect anything by his exorcisms, returned to his own home. + +The spirit went on as usual, giving slaps in the face to one, and +throwing stones and other things at another, so that the compositors +were obliged to leave that corner of the printing-office and place +themselves in the middle of the room, but they were not the quieter +for that. + +They then sent for other exorcists, one of whom had a particle of the +true cross, which he placed upon the table. The spirit did not, +however, cease disturbing as usual the workmen belonging to the +printing-office; and the Capuchin brother who accompanied the exorcist +received such buffets that they were both obliged to withdraw to their +convent. Then came others, who, having mixed a quantity of sand and +ashes in a bucket of water, blessed the water, and sprinkled with it +every part of the printing-office. They also scattered the sand and +ashes all over the room upon the paved floor; and being provided with +swords, the whole party began to strike at random right and left in +every part of the room, to see if they could hit the ghost, and to +observe if he left any foot-marks upon the sand or ashes which covered +the floor. They perceived at last that he had perched himself on the +top of the stove or furnace, and they remarked on the angles of it +marks of his feet and hands impressed on the sand and ashes they had +blessed. + +They succeeded in ousting him from there, and they very soon perceived +that he had slid under the table, and left marks of his hands and feet +on the pavement. The dust raised by all this movement in the office +caused them to disperse, and they discontinued the pursuit. But the +principal exorcist having taken out a screw from the angle where they +had first heard the noise, found in a hole in the wall some feathers, +three bones wrapped up in a dirty piece of linen, some bits of glass, +and a hair-pin, or bodkin. He blessed a fire which they lighted, and +had all that thrown into it. But this monk had hardly reached his +convent when one of the printers came to tell him that the bodkin had +come out of the flames three times of itself, and that a boy who was +holding a pair of tongs, and who put this bodkin in the fire again, +had been violently struck in the face. The rest of the things which +had been found having been brought to the Capuchin convent, they were +burnt without further resistance; but the lad who had carried them +there saw a naked woman in the public market-place, and that and the +following days groans were heard in the market-place of Constance. + +Some days after this the printer's house was again infested in this +manner, the ghost giving slaps, throwing stones, and molesting the +domestics in divers ways. The Sieur Lahart, the master of the house, +received a great wound in his head, two boys who slept in the same bed +were thrown on the ground, so that the house was entirely forsaken +during the night. One Sunday a servant girl carrying away some linen +from the house had stones thrown at her, and another time two boys +were thrown down from a ladder. + +There was in the city of Constance an executioner who passed for a +sorcerer. The monk who writes to me suspected him of having some part +in this game; he began to exhort those who sat up with him in the +house, to put their confidence in God, and to be strong in faith. He +gave them to understand that the executioner was likely to be of the +party. They passed the night thus in the house, and about ten o'clock +in the evening, one of the companions of the exorcist threw himself at +his feet in tears, and revealed to him, that that same night he and +one of his companions had been sent to consult the executioner in +Turgau, and that by order of the Sieur Lahart, printer, in whose house +all this took place. This avowal strangely surprised the good father, +and he declared that he would not continue to exorcise, if they did +not assure him that they had not spoken to the executioners to put an +end to the haunting. They protested that they had not spoken to them +at all. The Capuchin father had everything picked up that was found +about the house, wrapped up in packets, and had them carried to his +convent. + +The following night, two domestics tried to pass the night in the +house, but they were thrown out of their beds, and constrained to go +and sleep elsewhere. After this, they sent for a peasant of the +village of Annanstorf, who was considered a good exorcist. He passed +the night in the haunted house, drinking, singing, and shouting. He +received slaps and blows from a stick, and was obliged to own that he +could not prevail against the spirit. + +The widow of an executioner presented herself then to perform the +exorcisms; she began by using fumigations in all parts of the +dwelling, to drive away the evil spirits. But before she had finished +these fumigations, seeing that the master was struck in the face and +on his body by the spirit, she ran away from the house, without asking +for her pay. + +They next called in the Cure of Valburg, who passed for a clever +exorcist. He came with four other secular cures, and continued the +exorcisms for three days, without any success. He withdrew to his +parish, imputing the inutility of his prayers to the want of faith of +those who were present. + +During this time, one of the four priests was struck with a knife, +then with a fork, but he was not hurt. The son of Sieur Lahart, master +of the dwelling, received upon his jaw a blow from a pascal taper, +which did him no harm. All that being of no service, they sent for the +executioners of the neighborhood. Two of the persons who went to fetch +them were well thrashed and pelted with stones. Another had his thigh +so tightly pressed that he felt the pain for a long time. The +executioners carefully collected all the packets they found wrapped up +about the house, and put others in their room; but the spirit took +them up and threw them into the market-place. After this, the +executioners persuaded the Sieur Lahart that he might boldly return +with his people to the house; he did so, but the first night, when +they were at supper, one of his workmen named Solomon was wounded on +the foot, and then followed a great effusion of blood. They then sent +again for the executioner, who appeared much surprised that the house +was not yet entirely freed, but at that moment he was himself attacked +by a shower of stones, boxes on the ears, and other blows, which +constrained him to run away quickly. + +Some heretics in the neighborhood, being informed of all these things, +came one day to the bookseller's shop, and upon attempting to read in +a Catholic Bible which was there, were well boxed and beaten; but +having taken up a Calvinist Bible, they received no harm. Two men of +Constance having entered the bookseller's shop from sheer curiosity, +one of them was immediately thrown down upon the ground, and the other +ran away as fast as he could. Another person, who had come in the same +way from curiosity, was punished for his presumption, by having a +quantity of water thrown upon him. A young girl of Ausburg, a relation +of the Sieur Lahart, printer, was chased away with violent blows, and +pursued even to the neighboring house, where she entered. + +At last the hauntings ceased, on the 8th of February. On that day the +spectre opened the shop door, went in, deranged a few articles, went +out, shut the door, and from that time nothing more was seen or heard +of it. + + +Footnotes: + +[584] Homer de Hectore, Iliad XXIV. 411. + +[585] Plutarch de Alexandro in ejus Vita. + +[586] About the year 1680; he died after the year 1694. + +[587] Causes Celebres, tom. viii. p. 585. + +[588] Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. vii. c. 52. + +[589] St. Gregor. Turon. de Gloria Martyr. c. 95. + +[590] I have touched upon this matter in a particular Dissertation at +the Head of the Gospel of St. John. + +[591] Plato, de Republ. lib. x.; Clemens Alexandr. lib. v. Stromat. + +[592] Phleg. de Mirabilis, c. 3. + +[593] Plutarch, de Sera Numinis Vindicta. + +[594] 1 Cor. xiii. 2. + +[595] Aug. lib. xiv. de Civit. Dei, c. 24. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +INSTANCE OF A MAN NAMED CURMA WHO WAS SENT BACK INTO THE WORLD. + + +St. Augustine relates on this subject,[596] that a countryman named +Curma, who held a small place in the village of Tullia, near Hippoma, +having fallen sick, remained for some days senseless and speechless, +having just respiration enough left to prevent their burying him. At +the end of several days he began to open his eyes, and sent to ask +what they were about in the house of another peasant of the same +place, and like himself named Curma. They brought him back word, that +he had just expired at the very moment that he himself had recovered +and was resuscitated from his deep slumber. + +Then he began to talk, and related what he had seen and heard; that it +was not Curma the _curial_,[597] but Curma the blacksmith, who ought +to have been brought; he added, that among those whom he had seen +treated in different ways, he had recognized some of his deceased +acquaintance, and other ecclesiastics, who were still alive, who had +advised him to come to Hippoma, and be baptized by the Bishop +Augustine; that according to their advice he had received baptism in +his vision; that afterwards he had been introduced into Paradise, but +that he had not remained there long, and that they had told him that +if he wished to dwell there, he must be baptized. He replied, "I am +so;" but they told him, that he had been so only in a vision, and that +he must go to Hippoma to receive that sacrament in reality. He came +there as soon as he was cured, and received the rite of baptism with +the other catechumens. + +St. Augustine was not informed of this adventure till about two years +afterwards. He sent for Curma, and learnt from his own lips what I +have just related. Now it is certain that Curma saw nothing with his +bodily eyes of all that had been represented to him in his vision; +neither the town of Hippoma, nor Bishop Augustine, nor the +ecclesiastics who counseled him to be baptized, nor the persons living +and deceased whom he saw and recognized. We may believe, then, that +these things are effects of the power of God, who makes use of the +ministry of angels to warn, console, or alarm mortals, according as +his judgment sees best. + +St. Augustine inquires afterwards if the dead have any knowledge of +what is passing in this world? He doubts the fact, and shows that at +least they have no knowledge of it by ordinary and natural means. He +remarks, that it is said God took Josiah, for instance, from this +world,[598] that he might now witness the evil which was to befall his +nation; and we say every day, Such-a-one is happy to have left the +world, and so escaped feeling the miseries which have happened to his +family or his country. But if the dead know not what is passing in +this world, how can they be troubled about their bodies being interred +or not? How do the saints hear our prayers? and why do we ask them for +their intercession? + +It is then true that the dead can learn what is passing on the earth, +either by the agency of angels, or by that of the dead who arrive in +the other world, or by the revelation of the Spirit of God, who +discovers to them what he judges proper, and what it is expedient that +they should learn. God may also sometimes send men who have long been +dead to living men, as he permitted Moses and Elias to appear at the +Transfiguration of the Lord, and as an infinite number of the saints +have appeared to the living. The invocation of saints has always been +taught and practised in the Church; whence we may infer that they hear +our prayers, are moved by our wants, and can help us by their +intercession. But the way in which all that is done is not distinctly +known; neither reason nor revelation furnishes us with anything +certain, as to the means it pleases God to make use of to reveal our +wants to them. + +Lucian, in his dialogue entitled _Philopseudes_, or the "Lover of +Falsehood," relates[599] something similar. A man named Eucrates, +having been taken down to hell, was presented to Pluto, who was angry +with him who presented him, saying--"That man has not yet completed +his course; his turn has not yet come. Bring hither Demilius, for the +thread of his life is finished." Then they sent Eucrates back to this +world, where he announced that Demilius would die soon. Demilius lived +near him, and was already a little ill. + +But a moment after they heard the noise of those who were bewailing +his death. Lucian makes a jest of all that was said on this subject, +but he owns that it was the common opinion in his time. He says in the +same part of his work, that a man has been seen to come to life again +after having been looked upon as dead during twenty days. + +The story of Curma which we have just told, reminds me of another +very like it, related by Plutarch in his Book on the Soul, of a +certain man named Enarchus,[600] who, being dead, came to life again +soon after, and related that the demons who had taken away his soul +were severely reprimanded by their chief, who told them that they had +made a mistake, and that it was Nicander, and not Enarchus whom they +ought to bring. He sent them for Nicander, who was directly seized +with a fever, and died during the day. Plutarch heard this from +Enarchus himself, who to confirm what he had asserted said to +him--"You will get well certainly, and that very soon, of the illness +which has attacked you." + +St. Gregory the Great relates[601] something very similar to what we +have just mentioned. An illustrious man of rank named Stephen well +known to St. Gregory and Peter his interlocutor, was accustomed to +relate to him, that going to Constantinople on business he died there; +and as the doctor who was to embalm him was not in town that day, they +were obliged to leave the body unburied that night. During this +interval Stephen was led before the judge who presided in hell, where +he saw many things which he had heard of, but did not believe. When +they brought him to the judge, the latter refused to receive him, +saying, "It is not that man whom I commanded you to bring here, but +Stephen the blacksmith." In consequence of this order the soul of the +dead man was directly brought back to his body, and at the same +instant Stephen the blacksmith expired; which confirmed all that the +former had said of the other life. + +The plague ravaging the city of Rome in the time that Narses was +governor of Italy, a young Livonian, a shepherd by profession, and of +a good and quiet disposition, was taken ill with the plague in the +house of the advocate Valerian, his master. Just when they thought him +all but dead, he suddenly came to himself, and related to them that he +had been transported to heaven, where he had learnt the names of those +who were to die of the plague in his master's house; having named them +to him, he predicted to Valerian that he should survive him; and to +convince him that he was saying the truth, he let him see that he had +acquired by infusion the knowledge of several different languages; in +effect he who had never known how to speak any but the Italian tongue, +spoke Greek to his master, and other languages to those who knew them. + +After having lived in this state for two days, he had fits of madness, +and having laid hold of his hands with his teeth, he died a second +time, and was followed by those whom he had named. His master, who +survived, fully justified his prediction. Men and women who fall into +trances remain sometimes for several days without food, respiration, +or pulsation of the heart, as if they were dead. Thauler, a famous +contemplative (philosopher) maintains that a man may remain entranced +during a week, a month, or even a year. We have seen an abbess, who +when in a trance, into which she often fell, lost the use of her +natural functions, and passed thirty days in that state without taking +any nourishment, and without sensation. Instances of these trances are +not rare in the lives of the saints, though they are not all of the +same kind, or duration. + +Women in hysterical fits remain likewise many days as if dead, +speechless, inert, pulseless. Galen mentions a woman who was six days +in this state.[602] Some of them pass ten whole days motionless, +senseless, without respiration and without food. + +Some persons who have seemed dead and motionless, had however the +sense of hearing very strong, heard all that was said about +themselves, made efforts to speak and show that they were not dead, +but who could neither speak, nor give any signs of life.[603] + +I might here add an infinity of trances of saintly personages of both +sexes, who in their delight in God, in prayer remained motionless, +without sensation, almost breathless, and who felt nothing of what was +done to them, or around them. + + +Footnotes: + +[596] August. lib. de Cura pro Mortuis, c. xii. p. 524. + +[597] _Curialis_--this word signifies a small employment in a village. + +[598] IV. Reg. 18, et. seq. + +[599] Lucian, in Phliopseud. p. 830. + +[600] Plutarch, de Anima, apud Eusebius de Praep. Evang. lib. ii. c. +18. + +[601] Gregor. Dial. lib. iv. c. 36. + +[602] See the treatise on the Uncertainty of the Signs of Death, tom. +ii. pp. 404, 407, _et seq._ + +[603] Ibid. lib. ii. pp. 504, 505, 506, 514. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +INSTANCES OF PERSONS WHO COULD FALL INTO A TRANCE WHEN THEY PLEASED, +AND REMAINED PERFECTLY SENSELESS. + + +Jerome Cardan says[604] that he fell into a trance when he liked; he +owns that he does not know if, like the priest Pretextat, he should +not feel great wounds or hurts, but he did not feel the pain of the +gout, or the pulling him about. He adds, the priest of Calama heard +the voices of those who spoke aloud near him, but as if from a +distance. "For my part," says Cardan, "I hear the voice, though +slightly, and without understanding what is said. And when I wish to +entrance myself, I feel about my heart as it were a separation of the +soul from the rest of my body, and that communicates as if by a little +door with all the machine, principally by the head and brain. Then I +have no sensation except that of being beside myself." + +We may report here what is related of the Laplanders,[605] who when +they wish to learn something that is passing at a distance from the +spot where they are, send their demon, or their souls, by means of +certain magic ceremonies, and by the sound of a drum which they beat, +or upon a shield painted in a certain manner; then on a sudden the +Laplander falls into a trance, and remains as if lifeless and +motionless sometimes during four-and-twenty hours. But all this time +some one must remain near him to prevent him from being touched, or +called; even the movement of a fly would wake him, and they say he +would die directly or be carried away by the demon. We have already +mentioned this subject in the Dissertation on Apparitions. + +We have also remarked that serpents, worms, flies, snails, marmots, +sloths, &c., remain asleep during the winter, and in blocks of stone +have been found toads, snakes, and oysters alive, which had been +enclosed there for many years, and perhaps for more than a century. +Cardinal de Retz relates in his Memoirs,[606] that being at Minorca, +the governor of the island caused to be drawn up from the bottom of +the sea by main force with cables, whole rocks, which on being broken +with maces, enclosed living oysters, that were served up to him at +table, and were found very good. + +On the coasts of Malta, Sardinia, Italy, &c., they find a fish called +the Dactylus, or Date, or Dale, because it resembles the palm-date in +form; this first insinuates itself into the stone by a hole not bigger +than the hole made by a needle. When he has got in he feeds upon the +stone, and grows so big that he cannot get out again, unless the stone +is broken and he is extricated. Then they wash it, clean it, and dress +it for the table. It has the shape of a date, or of a finger; whence +its name of _Dactylus_, which in Greek signifies a finger. + +Again, I imagine that in many persons death is caused by the +coagulation of the blood, which freezes and hardens in their veins, as +it happens with those who have eaten hemlock, or who have been bitten +by certain serpents; but there are others whose death is caused by too +great an ebullition of blood, as in painful maladies, and in certain +poisons, and even, they say, in certain kinds of plague, and when +people die a violent death, or have been drowned. + +The first mentioned cannot return to life without an evident miracle; +for that purpose the fluidity of the blood must be re-established, and +the peristaltic motion must be restored to the heart. But in the +second kind of death, people can sometimes be restored without a +miracle, by taking away the obstacle which retards or suspends the +palpitation of the heart, as we see in time-pieces, the action of +which is restored by taking away anything foreign to the mechanism, as +a hair, a bit of thread, an atom, some almost imperceptible body which +stops them. + + +Footnotes: + +[604] Hieron. Cardanus, lib. viii. de Varietate Verum, c. 34. + +[605] Olaus Magnus, lib. iii. Epitom. Hist. Septent. Perecer de Variis +Divinat. Generib. p. 282. + +[606] Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, tom. iii. lib. iv. p. 297. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING INSTANCES TO VAMPIRES. + + +Supposing these facts, which I believe to be incontestably true, may +we not imagine that the vampires of Hungary, Silesia, and Moldavia, +are some of those men who have died of maladies which heat the blood, +and who have retained some remains of life in their graves, much like +those animals which we have mentioned, and those birds which plunge +themselves during the winter in the lakes and marshes of Poland, and +in the northern countries? They are without respiration or motion, but +still not destitute of vitality. They resume their motion and activity +when, on the return of spring, the sun warms the waters, or when they +are brought near a moderate fire, or laid in a room of temperate heat; +then they are seen to revive, and perform their ordinary functions, +which had been suspended by the cold. + +Thus, vampires in their graves returned to life after a certain time, +and their soul does not forsake them absolutely until after the entire +dissolution of their body, and when the organs of life, being +absolutely broken, corrupted, and deranged, they can no longer by +their agency perform any vital functions. Whence it happens, that the +people of those countries impale them, cut off their heads, burn them, +to deprive their spirit of all hope of animating them again, and of +making use of them to molest the living. + +Pliny,[607] mentioning the soul of Hermotimes, of Lazomene, which +absented itself from his body, and recounted various things that had +been done afar off, which the spirit said it had seen, and which, in +fact, could only be known to a person who had been present at them, +says that the enemies of Hermotimes, named Cantandes, burned that +body, which gave hardly any sign of life, and thus deprived the soul +of the means of returning to lodge in its envelop; "donec cremato +corpore interim semianimi, remeanti animae vetut vaginam ademerint." + +Origen had doubtless derived from the ancients what he teaches,[608] +that the souls which are of a spiritual nature take, on leaving their +earthly body, another, more subtile, of a similar form to the grosser +one they have just quitted, which serves them as a kind of sheath, or +case, and that it is invested with this subtile body that they +sometimes appear about their graves. He founds this opinion on what is +said of Lazarus and the rich man in the Gospel,[609] who both of them +have bodies, since they speak and see, and the wicked rich man asks +for a drop of water to cool his tongue. + +I do not defend this reasoning of Origen; but what he says of a +subtile body, which has the form of the earthly one which clothed the +soul before death, quite resembles the opinion of which we spoke in +Chapter IV. + +That bodies which have died of violent maladies, or which have been +executed when full of health, or have simply swooned, should vegetate +underground in their graves; that their beards, hair, and nails should +grow; that they should emit blood, be supple and pliant; that they +should have no bad smell, &c.--all these things do not embarrass us: +the vegetation of the human body may produce all these effects. That +they should even eat and devour what is about them, the madness with +which a man interred alive must be transported when he awakes from his +torpor, or his swoon, must naturally lead him to these violent +excesses. But the grand difficulty is to explain how the vampires come +out of their graves to haunt the living, and how they return to them +again. For all the accounts that we see suppose the thing as certain, +without informing us either of the way or the circumstances, which +would, however, be the most interesting part of the narrative. + +How a body covered with four or five feet of earth, having no room to +move about and disengage itself, wrapped up in linen, covered with +pitch, can make its way out, and come back upon the earth, and there +occasion such effects as are related of it; and how after that it +returns to its former state, and re-enters underground, where it is +found sound, whole, and full of blood, and in the same condition as a +living body? Will it be said that these bodies evaporate through the +ground without opening it, like the water and vapors which enter into +the earth, or proceed from it, without sensibly deranging its +particles? It were to be wished that the accounts which have been +given us concerning the return of the vampires had been more minute in +their explanations of this subject. + +Supposing that their bodies do not stir from their graves, that it is +only their phantoms which appear to the living, what cause produces +and animates these phantoms? Can it be the spirit of the defunct, +which has not yet forsaken them, or some demon, which makes their +apparition in a fantastic and borrowed body? And if these bodies are +merely phantomic, how can they suck the blood of living people? We +always find ourselves in a difficulty to know if these appearances are +natural or miraculous. + +A sensible priest related to me, a little while ago, that, traveling +in Moravia, he was invited by M. Jeanin, a canon of the cathedral at +Olmutz, to accompany him to their village, called Liebava, where he +had been appointed commissioner by the consistory of the bishopric, to +take information concerning the fact of a certain famous vampire, +which had caused much confusion in this village of Liebava some years +before. + +The case proceeded. They heard the witnesses, they observed the usual +forms of the law. The witnesses deposed that a certain notable +inhabitant of Liebava had often disturbed the living in their beds at +night, that he had come out of the cemetery, and had appeared in +several houses three or four years ago; that his troublesome visits +had ceased because a Hungarian stranger, passing through the village +at the time of these reports, had boasted that he could put an end to +them, and make the vampire disappear. To perform his promise, he +mounted on the church steeple, and observed the moment when the +vampire came out of his grave, leaving near it the linen clothes in +which he had been enveloped, and then went to disturb the inhabitants +of the village. + +The Hungarian, having seen him come out of his grave, went down +quickly from the steeple, took up the linen envelops of the vampire, +and carried them with him up the tower. The vampire having returned +from his prowlings, cried loudly against the Hungarian, who made him a +sign from the top of the tower that if he wished to have his clothes +again he must fetch them; the vampire began to ascend the steeple, but +the Hungarian threw him down backwards from the ladder, and cut his +head off with a spade. Such was the end of this tragedy. + +The person who related this story to me saw nothing, neither did the +noble who had been sent as commissioner; they only heard the report of +the peasants of the place, people extremely ignorant, superstitious +and credulous, and most exceedingly prejudiced on the subject of +vampirism. + +But supposing that there be any reality in the fact of these +apparitions of vampires, shall they be attributed to God, to angels, +to the spirits of these ghosts, or to the devil? In this last case, +will it be said that the devil will subtilize these bodies, and give +them power to penetrate through the ground without disturbing, to +glide through the cracks and joints of a door, to pass through a +keyhole, to lengthen or shorten themselves, to reduce themselves to +the nature of air, or water, to evaporate through the ground--in +short, to put them in the same state in which we believe the bodies of +the blessed will be after the resurrection, and in which was that of +our Saviour after his resurrection, who showed himself only to those +whom he thought proper, and who without opening the doors,[610] +appeared suddenly in the midst of his disciples. + +But should it be allowed that the demon could reanimate these bodies, +and give them the power of motion for a time, could he also lengthen, +diminish, rarefy, subtilize the bodies of these ghosts, and give them +the faculty of penetrating through the ground, the doors and windows? +There is no appearance of his having received this power from God, and +we cannot even conceive that an earthly body, material and gross, can +be reduced to that state of subtility and spiritualization without +destroying the configuration of its parts and spoiling the economy of +its structure; which would be contrary to the intention of the demon, +and render this body incapable of appearing, showing itself, acting +and speaking, and, in short, of being cut to pieces and burned, as is +commonly seen and practiced in Moravia, Poland, and Silesia. These +difficulties exist in regard to those persons of whom we have made +mention, who, being excommunicated, rose from their tombs, and left +the church in sight of everybody. + +We must then keep silence on this article, since it has not pleased +God to reveal to us either the extent of the demon's power, or the way +in which these things can be done. There is even much appearance of +illusion; and even if some reality were mixed up with it, we may +easily console ourselves for our ignorance in that respect, since +there are so many natural things which take place within us and around +us, of which the cause and manner are unknown to us. + + +Footnotes: + +[607] Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. vii. c. 52. + +[608] Orig. de Resurrect. Fragment. lib. i. p. 35. Nov. edit. Et +contra Celsum, lib. vii. p. 679. + +[609] Luke xvi. 22, 23. + +[610] John xx. 26. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION THAT THE DEMON FASCINATES THE EYES OF THOSE +TO WHOM VAMPIRES APPEAR. + + +Those who have recourse to the fascination of the senses to explain +what is related concerning the apparition of vampires, throw +themselves into as great a perplexity as those who acknowledge +sincerely the reality of these events; for fascination consists either +in the suspension of the senses, which cannot see what is passing +before their sight, like that with which the men of Sodom were +struck[611] when they could not discover the door of Lot's house, +though it was before their eyes; or that of the disciples at Emmaus, +of whom it is said that "their eyes were holden, so that they might +not recognize Jesus Christ, who was talking with them on the way, and +whom they knew not again until the breaking of the bread revealed him +to them;"[612]--or else it consists in an object being represented to +the senses in a different form from that it wears in reality, as that +of the Moabites,[613] who believed they saw the waters tinged with the +blood of the Israelites, although nothing was there but the simple +waters, on which the rays of the sun being reflected, gave them a +reddish hue; or that of the Syrian soldiers sent to take Elisha,[614] +who were led by this prophet into Samaria, without their recognising +either the prophet or the city. + +This fascination, in what way soever it may be conceived, is certainly +above the usual power known unto man, consequently man cannot +naturally produce it; but is it above the natural powers of an angel +or a demon? That is what is unknown to us, and obliges us to suspend +our judgment on this question. + +There is another kind of fascination, which consists in this, that the +sight of a person or a thing, the praise bestowed upon them, the envy +felt towards them, produce in the object certain bad effects, against +which the ancients took great care to guard themselves and their +children, by making them wear round their necks preservatives, or +amulets, or charms. + +A great number of passages on this subject might be cited from the +Greek and Latin authors; and I find that at this day, in various parts +of Christendom, people are persuaded of the efficacy of these +fascinations. But we must own three things; first, that the effect of +these pretended fascinations (or spells) is very doubtful; the second, +that if it were certain, it is very difficult, not to say impossible, +to explain it; and lastly, that it cannot be rationally applied to the +matter of apparitions or of vampires. + +If the vampires or ghosts are not really resuscitated nor their bodies +spiritualized and subtilized, as we believe we have proved, and if our +senses are not deceived by fascination, as we have just seen it, I +doubt if there be any other way to act on this question than to +absolutely deny the return of these vampires, or to believe that they +are only asleep or torpid; for if they truly are resuscitated, and if +what is told of their return be true--if they speak, act, reason, if +they suck the blood of the living, they must know what passes in the +other world, and they ought to inform their relations and friends of +it, and that is what they do not. On the contrary, they treat them as +enemies; torment them, take away their life, suck their blood, cause +them to die with lassitude. + +If they are predestinated and blessed, whence happens it that they +disturb and torment the living, their nearest relations, their +children, and all that for nothing, and simply for the sake of doing +harm? If these are persons who have still something to expiate in +purgatory, and who require the prayers of the living, why do they not +explain their condition? If they are reprobate and condemned, what +have they to do on this earth? Can we conceive that God allows them +thus to come without reason or necessity and molest their families, +and even cause their death? + +If these _revenans_ are really dead, whatever state they may be in in +the other world, they play a very bad part here, and keep it up still +worse. + + +Footnotes: + +[611] Gen. xix. 2. + +[612] Luke xxiv. 16. + +[613] 2 Kings iii. 23. + +[614] 2 Kings iv. 19, 20. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +INSTANCES OF PERSONS RESUSCITATED, WHO RELATE WHAT THEY HAVE SEEN IN +THE OTHER WORLD. + + +We have just seen that the vampires never speak of the other world, +nor ask for either masses or prayers, nor give any warning to the +living to lead them to correct their morals, or bring them to a better +life. It is surely very prejudicial to the reality of their return +from the other world; but their silence on that head may favor the +opinion which supposes that they are not really dead. + +It is true that we do not read either that Lazarus, resuscitated by +Jesus Christ,[615] nor the son of the widow of Nain,[616] nor that of +the woman of Shunam, brought to life by Elisha,[617] nor that +Israelite who came to life by simply touching the body of the same +prophet Elisha,[618] after their resurrection revealed anything to +mankind of the state of souls in the other world. + +But we see in the Gospel[619] that the bad rich man, having begged of +Abraham to permit him to send some one to this world to warn his +brethren to lead a better life, and take care not to fall into the +unhappy condition in which he found himself, was answered, "They have +the law and the prophets, they can listen to them and follow their +instructions." And as the rich man persisted, saying--"If some one +went to them from the other world, they would be more impressed," +Abraham replied, "If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, +neither will they attend the more though one should go to them from +the dead." The dead man resuscitated by St. Stanislaus replied in the +same manner to those who asked him to give them news of the other +world--"You have the law, the prophets, and the Gospel--hear them!" + +The deceased Pagans who have returned to life, and some Christians who +have likewise returned to the world by a kind of resurrection, and who +have seen what passed beyond the bounds of this world, have not kept +silence on the subject. They have related at length what they saw and +heard on leaving their bodies. + +We have already touched upon the story of a man named Eros, of the +country of Pamphilia,[620] who, having been wounded in battle, was +found ten days after amongst the dead. They carried him senseless and +motionless into the house. Two days afterwards, when they were about +to place him on the funeral pile to burn his body, he revived, began +to speak, and to relate in what manner people were lodged after their +death, and how the good were rewarded and the wicked punished and +tormented. + +He said that his soul, being separated from his body, went with a +large company to a very agreeable place, where they saw as it were two +great openings, which gave entrance to those who came from earth, and +two others to go to heaven. He saw at this same place judges who +examined those arrived from this world, and sent up to the right those +who had lived well, and sent down to the left those who had been +guilty of crimes. Each of them bore upon his back a label on which was +written what he had done well or ill, the reason of his condemnation +or his absolution. + +When it came to the turn of Eros, the judges told him that he must +return to earth, to announce to men what passed in the other world, +and that he must well observe everything, in order to be able to +render a faithful account to the living. Thus he witnessed the +miserable state of the wicked, which was to last a thousand years, and +the delights enjoyed by the just; that both the good and the bad +received the reward or the punishment of their good or bad deeds, ten +times greater than the measure of their crimes or of all their +virtues. + +He remarked amongst other things, that the judges inquired where was a +certain man named Andaeus, celebrated in all Pamphylia for his crimes +and tyranny. They were answered that he was not yet come, and that he +would not be there; in fact, having presented himself with much +trouble, and by making great efforts, at the grand opening before +mentioned, he was repulsed and sent back to go below with other +scoundrels like himself, whom they tortured in a thousand different +ways, and who were always violently repulsed, whenever they tried to +reascend. + +He saw, moreover, the three Fates, daughters of Necessity or Destiny. +These are, Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos. Lachesis announced the past, +Clotho the present, and Atropos the future. The souls were obliged to +appear before these three goddesses. Lachesis cast the lots upwards, +and every soul laid hold of the one which it could reach; which, +however, did not prevent them still from sometimes missing the kind of +life which was most conformable to justice and reason. + +Eros added that he had remarked some of the souls who sought to enter +into animals; for instance, Orpheus, from hatred to the female sex, +who had killed him (by tearing him to pieces), entered into a swan, +and Thamaris into a nightingale. Ajax, the son of Telamon, chose the +body of a lion, from detestation of the injustice of the Greeks, who +had refused to let him have the arms of Hector, which he asserted were +his due. Agamemnon, grieved at the crosses he had endured in this +life, chose the form of the eagle. Atalanta chose the life of the +athletics, delighted with the honors heaped upon them. Thersites, the +ugliest of mortals, chose the form of an ape. Ulysses, weary of the +miseries he had suffered upon earth, asked to live quietly as a +private man. He had some trouble to find a lot for that kind of life; +but he found it at last thrown down on the ground and neglected, and +he joyfully snatched it up. + +Eros affirmed also that the souls of some animals entered into the +bodies of men; and by the contrary rule, the souls of the wicked took +possession of savage and cruel beasts, and the souls of just men of +those animals which are gentle, tame, and domestic. + +After these various metempsychoses, Lachesis gave to each his +guardian or defender, who guided and guarded him during the course of +his life. Eros was then led to the river of oblivion (Lethe), which +takes away all memory of the past, but he was prevented from drinking +of its water. Lastly, he said he could not tell how he came back to +life. + +Plato, after having related this fable, as he terms it, or this +apologue, concludes from it that the soul is immortal, and that to +gain a blessed life we must live uprightly, which will lead us to +heaven, where we shall enjoy that beatitude of a thousand years which +is promised us. + +We see by this, 1. That a man may live a good while without eating or +breathing, or giving any sign or life. 2. That the Greeks believed in +the metempsychosis, in a state of beatitude for the just, and pains of +a thousand years duration for the wicked. 3. That destiny does not +hinder a man from doing either good or evil. 4. That he had a genius, +or an angel, who guided and protected him. They believed in judgment +after death, and that the souls of the just were received into what +they called the Elysian Fields. + + +Footnotes: + +[615] John xi. 14. + +[616] Luke vii. 11, 12. + +[617] 2 Kings iv. 25. + +[618] 2 Kings xiii. 21. + +[619] Luke xvi. 24. + +[620] Plato, lib. x. de Rep. p. 614. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +THE TRADITIONS OF THE PAGANS CONCERNING THE FUTURE LIFE ARE DERIVED +FROM THE HEBREWS AND EGYPTIANS. + + +All these traditions are clearly to be found in Homer, Virgil, and +other Greek and Latin authors; they were doubtless originally derived +from the Hebrews, or rather the Egyptians, from whom the Greeks took +their religion, which they arranged to their own taste. The Hebrews +speak of the _Rephaims_,[621] of the impious giants "who groan under +the waters." Solomon says[622] that the wicked shall go down to the +abyss, or hell, with the Rephaims. Isaiah, describing the arrival of +the King of Babylon in hell, says[623] that "the giants have raised +themselves up to meet him with honor, and have said unto him, thou has +been pierced with wounds even as we are; thy pride has been +precipitated into hell. Thy bed shall be of rottenness, and thy +covering of worms." Ezekiel describes[624] in the same manner the +descent of the King of Assyria into hell--"In the day that Ahasuerus +went down into hell, I commanded a general mourning; for him I closed +up the abyss, and arrested the course of the waters. You are at last +brought down to the bottom of the earth with the trees of Eden; you +will rest there with all those who have been killed by the sword; +there is Pharaoh with all his host," &c. In the Gospel,[625] there is +a great gulf between the bosom of Abraham and the abode of the bad +rich man, and of those who resemble him. + +The Egyptians called _Amenthes_, that is to say, "he who receives and +gives," what the Greeks named Hades, or hell, or the kingdom of Hades, +or Pluto. They believed that Amenthes received the souls of men when +they died, and restored them to them when they returned to the world; +that when a man died, his soul passed into the body of some other +animal by metempsychosis; first of all into a terrestrial animal, then +into one that was aquatic, afterwards into the body of a bird, and +lastly, after having animated all sorts of animals, he returned at the +end of three thousand years to the body of a man. + +It is from the Egyptians that Orpheus, Homer, and the other Greeks +derived the idea of the immortality of the soul, as well as the cave +of the Nymphs described by Homer, who says there are two gates, the +one to the north, through which the soul enters the cavern, and the +other to the south, by which they leave the nymphic abode. + +A certain Thespisius, a native of Soloe in Cilicia, well known to +Plutarch,[626] having passed a great part of his life in debauchery, +and ruined himself entirely, in order to gain a livelihood lent +himself to everything that was bad, and contrived to amass money. +Having sent to consult the oracle of Amphilochus, he received for +answer, that his affairs would go on better after his death. A short +time after, he fell from the top of his house, broke his neck, and +died. Three days after, when they were about to perform the funeral +obsequies, he came to life again, and changed his way of life so +greatly that there was not in Cilicia a worthier or more pious man +than himself. + +As they asked him the reason of such a change, he said that at the +moment of his fall he felt the same as a pilot who is thrown back from +the top of the helm into the sea; after which, his soul was sensible +of being raised as high as the stars, of which he admired the immense +size and admirable lustre; that the souls once out of the body rise +into the air, and are enclosed in a kind of globe, or inflamed vortex, +whence having escaped, some rise on high with incredible rapidity, +while others whirl about the air, and are thrown in divers directions, +sometimes up and sometimes down. + +The greater part appeared to him very much perplexed, and uttered +groans and frightful wailings; others, but in a less number, rose and +rejoiced with their fellows. At last he learnt that Adrastia, the +daughter of Jupiter and Necessity, left nothing unpunished, and that +she treated every one according to their merit. He then details all he +saw at full length, and relates the various punishments with which the +bad are tormented in the next world. + +He adds that a man of his acquaintance said to him, "You are not dead, +but by God's permission your soul is come into this place, and has +left your body with all its faculties." At last he was sent back into +his body as through a channel, and urged on by an impetuous breeze. + +We may make two reflections on this recital; the first on this soul, +which quits its body for three days and then comes back to reanimate +it; the second, on the certainty of the oracle, which promised +Thespisius a happier life when he should be dead. + +In the Sicilian war[627] between Caesar and Pompey, Gabienus, commander +of Caesar's fleet, having been taken, was beheaded by order of Pompey. +He remained all day on the sea-shore, his head only held on to his +body by a fillet. Towards evening he begged that Pompey or some of his +people might come to him, because he came from the shades, and he had +things of consequence to impart to him. Pompey sent to him several of +his friends, to whom Gabienus declared that the gods of the infernal +regions favored the cause and the party of Pompey, and that he would +succeed according to his wishes; that he was ordered to announce this, +"and as a proof of the truth of what I say, I must die directly," +which happened. But we do not see that Pompey's party succeeded; we +know, on the contrary, that it fell, and Caesar was victorious. But the +God of the infernal regions, that is to say, the devil, found it very +good for him, since it sent him so many unhappy victims of revenge and +ambition.[628] + + +Footnotes: + +[621] Job xxvi. 5. + +[622] Prov. ix. 18. + +[623] Isa. xix. 9, _et seq._ + +[624] Ezek. xxxi. 15. + +[625] Luke xvi. 26. + +[626] Plutarch, de his qui misero a Numine puniuntur. + +[627] Plin. Hist. Natur. lib. vii. c. 52. + +[628] This story is related before, and is here related on account of +the bearing it has on the subject of this chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +INSTANCES OF CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE BEEN RESUSCITATED AND SENT BACK TO +THE WORLD--VISION OF VETINUS, A MONK OF AUGIA. + + +We read in an old work, written in the time of St. Augustine,[629] +that a man having been crushed by a wall which fell upon him, his wife +ran to the church to invoke St. Stephen whilst they were preparing to +bury the man who was supposed to be dead. Suddenly they saw him open +his eyes, and move his body; and after a time he sat up, and related +that his soul, having quitted his body, had met a crowd of other souls +of dead persons, some of whom he knew, and others he did not; that a +young man, in a deacon's habit, having entered the room where he was, +put aside all those souls, and said to them three times, "Return what +you have received." He understood at last that he meant the creed, +which he recited instantly; and also the Lord's Prayer; then the +deacon (St. Stephen) made the sign of the cross upon his heart, and +told him to rise in perfect health. A young man,[630] a catechumen, +who had been dead for three days, and was brought back to life by the +prayers of St. Martin, related that after his death he had been +presented before the tribunal of the Sovereign Judge, who had +condemned him, and sent him with a crowd of others into a dark place; +and then two angels, having represented to the Judge that he was a man +for whom St. Martin had interceded, the Judge commanded the angels to +send him back to earth, and restore him to St. Martin, which was done. +He was baptized, and lived a long time afterwards. + +St. Salvius, Bishop of Albi,[631] having been seized with a violent +fever, was thought to be dead. They washed him, clothed him, laid him +on a bier, and passed the night in prayer by him: the next morning he +was seen to move; he appeared to awake from a deep sleep, opened his +eyes, and raising his hand towards heaven said, "Ah! Lord, why hast +thou sent me back to this gloomy abode?" He rose completely cured, but +would then reveal nothing. + +Some days after, he related how two angels had carried him to heaven, +where he had seen the glory of Paradise, and had been sent back +against his will to live some time longer on earth. St. Gregory of +Tours takes God to witness that he heard this history from the mouth +of St. Salvius himself. + +A monk of Augia, named Vetinus, or Guetinus, who was living in 824, +was ill, and lying upon his couch with his eyes shut; but not being +quite asleep, he saw a demon in the shape of a priest, most horribly +deformed, who, showing him some instruments of torture which he held +in his hand, threatened to make him soon feel the rigorous effects of +them. At the same time he saw a multitude of evil spirits enter his +chamber, carrying tools, as if to build him a tomb or a coffin, and +enclose him in it. + +Immediately he saw appear some serious and grave-looking personages, +wearing religious habits, who chased these demons away; and then +Vetinus saw an angel, surrounded with a blaze of light, who came to +the foot of the bed, and conducted him by a path between mountains of +an extraordinary height, at the foot of which flowed a large river, in +which he beheld a multitude of the damned, who were suffering diverse +torments, according to the kind and enormity of their crimes. He saw +amongst them many of his acquaintance; amongst others, some prelates +and priests, guilty of incontinence, who were tied with their backs to +stakes, and burned by a fire lighted under them; the women, their +companions in crime, suffering the same torment opposite to them. + +He beheld there also, a monk who had given himself up to avarice, and +possessed money of his own, who was to expiate his crime in a leaden +coffin till the day of judgment. He remarked there abbots and bishops, +and even the Emperor Charlemagne, who were expiating their faults by +fire, but were to be released from it after a certain time. He +remarked there also the abode of the blessed in heaven, each one in +his place, and according to his merits. The Angel of the Lord after +this revealed to him the crimes which were the most common, and the +most odious in the eyes of God. He mentioned sodomy in particular, as +the most abominable crime. + +After the service for the night, the abbot came to visit the sick man, +who related this vision to him in full, and the abbot had it written +down directly. Vetinus lived two days longer, and having predicted +that he had only the third day to live, he recommended himself to the +prayers of the monks, received the holy viaticum, and died in peace, +the 31st of October, 824. + + +Footnotes: + +[629] Lib. i. de Miracul. Sancti Stephani, cap. 4. p. 28. Lib. vii. +Oper. St. Aug. in Appendice. + +[630] Sulpit. Sever. in Vita S. Martini, cap. 3. + +[631] Gregor. Turon. lib. vii. c. 1. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +THE VISION OF BERTHOLDUS, AS RELATED BY HINCMAR, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS. + + +The famous Hincmar,[632] Archbishop of Rheims, in a circular letter +which he wrote to the bishops, his suffragans, and the faithful of his +diocese, relates, that a man named Bertholdus, with whom he was +acquainted, having fallen ill, and received all the sacraments, +remained during four days without taking any food. On the fourth day +he was so weak that there was hardly a feeble palpitation and +respiration found in him. About midnight he called to his wife, and +told her to send quickly for his confessor. + +The priest was as yet only in the court before the house, when +Bertholdus said, "Place a seat here, for the priest is coming." He +entered the room and said some prayers, to which Bertholdus uttered +the responses, and then related to him the vision he had had. "On +leaving this world," said he, "I saw forty-one bishops, amongst whom +were Ebonius, Leopardellus, Eneas, who were clothed in coarse black +garments, dirty, and singed by the flames. As for themselves, they +were sometimes burned by the flames, and at others frozen with +insupportable cold." Ebonius said to him, "Go to my clergy and my +friends, and tell them to offer for us the holy sacrifice." Bertholdus +obeyed, and returning to the place where he had seen the bishops, he +found them well clothed, shaved, bathed, and rejoicing. + +A little farther on, he met King Charles,[633] who was as if eaten by +worms. This prince begged him to go and tell Hincmar to relieve his +misery. Hincmar said mass for him, and King Charles found relief. +After that he saw Bishop Jesse, of Orleans, who was over a well, and +four demons plunged him into boiling pitch, and then threw him into +icy water. They prayed for him, and he was relieved. He then saw the +Count Othaire, who was likewise in torment. Bertholdus begged the wife +of Othaire, with his vassals and friends, to pray for him, and give +alms, and he was delivered from his torments. Bertholdus after that +received the holy communion, and began to find himself better, with +the hope of living fourteen years longer, as he had been promised by +his guide, who had shown him all that we have just related. + + +Footnotes: + +[632] Hincmar, lib. ii. p. 805. + +[633] Apparently Charles the Bald, who died in 875. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +THE VISION OF SAINT FURSIUS. + + +The Life of St. Fursius,[634] written a short time after his death, +which happened about the year 653, reports several visions seen by +this holy man. Being grievously ill, and unable to stir, he saw +himself in the midst of the darkness raised up, as it were, by the +hands of three angels, who carried him out of the world, then brought +him back to it, and made his soul re-enter his body, to complete the +destination assigned him by God. Then he found himself in the midst of +several people, who wept for him as if he were dead, and told him how, +the day before, he had fallen down in a swoon, so that they believed +him to be dead. He could have wished to have some intelligent persons +about him to relate to them what he had seen; but having no one near +him but rustics, he asked for and received the communion of the body +and blood of the Saviour, and continued three days longer awake. + +The following Tuesday, he fell into a similar swoon, in the middle of +the night; his feet became cold, and raising his hands to pray, he +received death with joy. Then he saw the same three angels descend who +had already guided him. They raised him as the first time, but instead +of the agreeable and melodious songs which he had then heard, he could +now hear only the frightful howlings of the demons, who began to fight +against him, and shoot inflamed darts at him. The Angel of the Lord +received them on his buckler, and extinguished them. The devil +reproached Fursius with some bad thoughts, and some human weaknesses, +but the angels defended him, saying, "If he has not committed any +capital sins, he shall not perish." + +As the devil could not reproach him with anything that was worthy of +eternal death, he saw two saints from his own country--St. Bean and +St. Medan, who comforted him and announced to him the evils with which +God would punish mankind, principally because of the sins of the +doctors or learned men of the church, and the princes who governed the +people;--the doctors for neglecting to declare the word of God, and +the princes for the bad examples they gave their people. After which, +they sent him back into his body again. He returned into it with +repugnance, and began to relate all that he had seen; they poured +spring water upon his body, and he felt a great warmth between his +shoulders. After this, he began to preach throughout Hibernia; and the +Venerable Bede[635] says that there was in his monastery an aged monk +who said that he had learned from a grave personage well worthy of +belief, that he had heard these visions described by St. Fursius +himself. This saint had not the least doubt that his soul was really +separated from his body, when he was carried away in his trance. + + +Footnotes: + +[634] Vita Sti. Fursci, apud Bolland. 16 Januarii, pp. 37, 38. Item, +pp. 47, 48. Saecul. xi. Bened. p. 299. + +[635] Bede, lib. iii. Hist. c. 19. + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +VISION OF A PROTESTANT OF YORK, AND OTHERS. + + +Here is another instance, which happened in 1698 to one of the +so-called reformed religion.[636] A minister of the county of York, at +a place called Hipley, and whose name was Henry Vatz (Watts), being +struck with apoplexy the 15th of August, was on the 17th placed in a +coffin to be buried. But as they were about to put him in the grave, +he uttered a loud cry, which frightened all the persons who had +attended him to the grave; they took him quickly out of the coffin, +and as soon as he had come to himself, he related several surprising +things which he said had been revealed to him during his trance, which +had lasted eight-and-forty hours. The 24th of the same month, he +preached a very moving discourse to those who had accompanied him the +day they were carrying him to the tomb. + +People may, if they please, treat all that we have related as dreams +and tales, but it cannot be denied that we recognize in these +resurrections, and in these narrations of men who have come to life +again after their real or seeming death, the belief of the church +concerning hell, paradise, purgatory, the efficacy of prayers for the +dead, and the apparitions of angels and demons who torment the damned, +and of the souls who have yet something to expiate in the other world. + +We see also, that which has a visible connection with the matter we +are treating upon--persons really dead, and others regarded as such, +who return to life in health and live a long time afterwards. Lastly, +we may observe therein opinions on the state of souls after this life, +which are nearly the same as among the Hebrews, Egyptians, Greeks, +Romans, barbarous nations, and Christians. If the Hungarian ghosts do +not speak of what they have seen in the other world, it is either that +they are not really dead, or more likely that all which is related of +these _revenans_ is fabulous and chimerical. I will add some more +instances which will serve to confirm the belief of the primitive +church on the subject of apparitions. + +St. Perpetua, who suffered martyrdom in Africa in 202 or 203, being in +prison for the faith, saw a brother named Dinocrates, who had died at +the age of seven years of a cancer in the cheek; she saw him as if in +a very large dungeon, so that they could not approach each other. He +seemed to be placed in a reservoir of water, the sides of which were +higher than himself, so that he could not reach the water, for which +he appeared to thirst very much. Perpetua was much moved at this, and +prayed to God with tears and groans for his relief. Some days after, +she saw in spirit the same Dinocrates, well clothed, washed, and +refreshed, and the water of the reservoir in which he was, only came +up to his middle, and on the edge a cup, from which he drank, without +the water diminishing, and the skin of the cancer in his cheek well +healed, so that nothing now remained of the cancer but the scar. By +these things she understood that Dinocrates was no longer in pain. + +Dinocrates was there apparently[637] to expiate some faults which he +had committed since his baptism, for Perpetua says a little before +this that only her father had remained in infidelity. + +The same St. Perpetua, being in prison some days before she suffered +martyrdom[638] had a vision of the deacon Pomponius, who had suffered +martyrdom some days before, and who said to her, "Come, we are waiting +for you." He led her through a rugged and winding path into the arena +of the amphitheatre, where she had to combat with a very ugly +Egyptian, accompanied by some other men like him. Perpetua found +herself changed into a man, and began to fight naked, assisted by some +well-made youths who came to her service and assistance. + +Then she beheld a man of extraordinary size, who cried aloud, "If the +Egyptian gains the victory over her, he will kill her with his sword; +but if she conquers, she shall have this branch ornamented with golden +apples for her reward." Perpetua began the combat, and having +overthrown the Egyptian, trampled his head under her feet. The people +shouted victory, and Perpetua approaching him who held the branch +above mentioned, he put it in her hands, and said to her, "Peace be +with you." Then she awoke, and understood that she would have to +combat, not against wild beasts, but against the devil. + +Saturus, one of the companions of the martyrdom of St. Perpetua, had +also a vision, which he relates thus: "We had suffered martyrdom, and +were disengaged from this mortal body. Four angels carried us towards +the East without touching us. We arrived at a place shining with +intense lustre; Perpetua was at my side, and I said unto her, 'Behold +what the Lord promised us.' + +"We entered a large garden full of trees and flowers; the four angels +who had borne us thither placed us in the hands of other angels, who +conducted us by a wide road to a place where we found Jocondus, +Saturninus, and Artazes, who had suffered with us, and invited us to +come and salute the Lord. We followed them, and beheld in the midst of +this place the Almighty, crowned with dazzling light, and we heard +repeated incessantly by those around him, Holy! holy! holy! They +raised us towards him, and we stopped before his throne. We gave him +the kiss of peace, and he stroked our faces with his hand. + +"We came out, and we saw before the door the bishop Optatus and the +priest Aspasius, who threw themselves at our feet. We raised and +embraced them. We recognized in this place several of our brethren and +some martyrs." Such was the vision of Saturus. + +There are visions of all sorts; of holy martyrs, and of holy angels. +It is related of St. Exuperus, bishop of Thoulouse,[639] that having +conceived the design of transporting the relics of St. Saturnus, a +former bishop of that church, to place them in a new church built in +his honor, he could with difficulty resolve to take this holy body +from the tomb, fearing to displease the saint, or to diminish the +honor which was due to him. But while in this doubt, he had a vision +which gave him to understand that this translation would neither +lessen the respect which was due to the ashes of the martyr, nor be +prejudicial to his honor; but that on the contrary it would contribute +to the salvation of the faithful, and to the greater glorification of +God. + +Some days before[640] St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, suffered +martyrdom, in 258, he had a vision, not being as yet quite asleep, in +which a young man whose height was extraordinary, seemed to lead him +to the Praetorium before the Proconsul, who was seated on his tribunal. +This magistrate, having caught sight of Cyprian, began to write his +sentence before he had interrogated him as was usual. Cyprian knew not +what the sentence condemned him to; but the young man above mentioned, +and who was behind the judge, made a sign by opening his hand and +spreading in form of a sword, that he was condemned to have his head +cut off. + +Cyprian easily understood what was meant by this sign, and having +earnestly requested to be allowed a day's delay to put his affairs in +order, the judge, having granted his request, again wrote upon his +tablets, and the young man by a sign of his hand let him know that the +delay was granted. These predictions were exactly fulfilled, and we +see many similar ones in the works of St. Cyprian. + +St. Fructueux, Bishop of Tarragona,[641] who suffered martyrdom in +259, was seen after his death ascending to heaven with the deacons who +had suffered with him; they appeared as if they were still attached to +the stakes near which they had been burnt. They were seen by two +Christians, who showed them to the wife and daughter of Emilian, who +had condemned them. The saint appeared to Emilian himself and to the +Christians, who had taken away their ashes, and desired that they +might be all collected in one spot. We see similar apparitions[642] in +the acts of St. James, of St. Marienus, martyrs, and some others who +suffered in Numidia in 259. We may observe the like[643] in the acts +of St. Montanus, St. Lucius, and other African martyrs in 259 or 260, +and in those of St. Vincent, a martyr in Spain, in 304, and in the +life of St. Theodore, martyr, in 306, of whose sufferings St. Gregory +of Nicea has written an account. Everybody knows what happened at +Sebastus, in Armenia, in the martyrdom of the famous forty martyrs, of +whom St. Basil the Great has written the eulogium. One of the forty, +overcome by the excess of cold, which was extreme, threw himself into +a hot bath that was prepared just by. Then he who guarded them having +perceived some angels who brought crowns to the thirty-nine who had +persevered in their sufferings, despoiled himself of his garments, +joined himself to the martyrs, and declared himself a Christian. + +All these instances invincibly prove that, at least in the first ages +of the church, the greatest and most learned bishops, the holy +martyrs, and the generality of the faithful, were well persuaded of +the possibility and reality of apparitions. + + +Footnotes: + +[636] Larrey, Hist. de Louis XIV. year 1698, p. 68. + +[637] Aug. lib. i. de Origine Animae. + +[638] Ibid. p. 97. + +[639] Aug. lib. i. de Origine Animae, p. 132. + +[640] Acta Martyr. Sincera, p. 212. Vita et Passio S. Cypriani, p. +268. + +[641] Acta Martyr. Sincera, pp. 219, 221. + +[642] Acta Martyr. Sincera, p. 226. + +[643] Ibid. pp. 231-233, 237. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX. + +CONCLUSIONS OF THIS DISSERTATION. + + +To resume, in a few words, all that we have related in this +dissertation: we have therein shown that a resurrection, properly so +called, of a person who has been dead for a considerable time, and +whose body was either corrupted, or stinking, or ready to putrefy, +like that of Pierre, who had been three years buried, and was +resuscitated by St. Stanislaus, or that of Lazarus, who had been four +days in the tomb, and already possessing a corpse-like smell--such a +resurrection can be the work of the almighty power of God alone. + +That persons who have been drowned, fallen into syncope, into a +lethargy or trance, or looked upon as dead, in any manner whatever, +can be cured and brought back to life, even to their former state of +life, without any miracle, but by the power of medicine alone, or by +natural efforts, or by dint of patience; so that nature re-establishes +herself in her former state, that the heart resumes its pulsation, and +the blood circulates freely again in the arteries, and the vital and +animal spirits in the nerves. + +That the oupires, or vampires, or _revenans_ of Moravia, Hungary, +Poland, &c., of which such extraordinary things are related, so +detailed, so circumstantial, invested with all the necessary +formalities to make them believed, and to prove them even judicially +before judges, and at the most exact and severe tribunals; that all +which is said of their return to life; of their apparition, and the +confusion which they cause in the towns and country places; of their +killing people by sucking their blood, or in making a sign to them to +follow them; that all those things are mere illusions, and the +consequence of a heated and prejudiced imagination. They cannot cite +any witness who is sensible, grave and unprejudiced, who can testify +that he has seen, touched, interrogated these ghosts, who can affirm +the reality of their return, and of the effects which are attributed +to them. + +I shall not deny that some persons may have died of fright, imagining +that their near relatives called them to the tomb; that others have +thought they heard some one rap at their doors, worry them, disturb +them, in a word, occasion them mortal maladies; and that these persons +judicially interrogated, have replied that they had seen and heard +what their panic-struck imagination had represented to them. But I +require unprejudiced witnesses, free from terror and disinterested, +quite calm, who can affirm upon serious reflection, that they have +seen, heard, and interrogated these vampires, and who have been the +witnesses of their operations; and I am persuaded that no such witness +will be found. + +I have by me a letter, which has been sent me from Warsaw, the 3d of +February, 1745, by M. Slivisk, visitor of the province of priests of +the mission of Poland. He sends me word, that having studied with +great care this matter, and having proposed to compose on this subject +a theological and physical dissertation, he had collected some memoirs +with that view; but that the occupations of visitor and superior in +the house of his congregation of Warsaw, had not allowed of his +putting his project in execution; that he has since sought in vain for +these memoirs or notes, which have probably remained in the hands of +some of those to whom he had communicated them; that amongst these +notes were two resolutions of the Sorbonne, which both forbade cutting +off the head and maiming the body of any of these pretended oupires or +vampires. He adds, that these decisions may be found in the registers +of the Sorbonne, from the year 1700 to 1710. I shall report by and +by, a decision of the Sorbonne on this subject, dated in the year +1691. + +He says, moreover, that in Poland they are so persuaded of the +existence of these oupires, that any one who thought otherwise would +be regarded almost as a heretic. There are several facts concerning +this matter, which are looked upon as incontestable, and many persons +are named as witnesses of them. "I gave myself the trouble," says he, +"to go to the fountain-head, and examine those who are cited as ocular +witnesses." He found that no one dared to affirm that they had really +seen the circumstances in question, and that it was all merely +reveries and fancies, caused by fear and unfounded discourse. So +writes to me this wise and judicious priest. + +I have also received since, another letter from Vienna in Austria, +written the 3d of August, 1746, by a Lorraine baron,[644] who has +always followed his prince. He tells me, that in 1742, his imperial +majesty, then his royal highness of Lorraine, had several verbal acts +drawn up concerning these cases, which happened in Moravia. I have +them by me still; I have read them over and over again; and to be +frank, I have not found in them the shadow of truth, nor even of +probability, in what is advanced. They are, nevertheless, documents +which in that country are looked upon as true as the Gospel. + + +Footnotes: + +[644] M. le Baron Toussaint. + + + + +CHAPTER LX. + +THE MORAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF THE REVENANS COMING OUT OF THEIR GRAVES. + + +I have already proposed the objection formed upon the impossibility of +these vampires coming out of their graves, and returning to them +again, without its appearing that they have disturbed the earth, +either in coming out or going in again. No one has ever replied to +this difficulty, and never will. To say that the demon subtilizes and +spiritualizes the bodies of vampires, is a thing asserted without +proof or likelihood. + +The fluidity of the blood, the ruddiness, the suppleness of these +vampires, ought not to surprise any one, any more than the growth of +the nails and hair, and their bodies remaining undecayed. We see every +day, bodies which remain uncorrupted, and retain a ruddy color after +death. This ought not to appear strange in those who die without +malady and a sudden death; or of certain maladies, known to our +physicians, which do not deprive the blood of its fluidity, or the +limbs of their suppleness. + +With regard to the growth of the hair and nails in bodies which are +not yet decayed, the thing is quite natural. There remains in those +bodies a certain slow and imperceptible circulation of the humors, +which causes this growth of the nails and hair, in the same way that +we every day see common bulbs grow and shoot, although without any +nourishment derived from the earth. + +The same may be said of flowers, and in general of all that depends on +vegetation in animals and plants. + +The belief of the common people of Greece in the return to earth of +the vroucolacas, is not much better founded than that of vampires and +ghosts. It is only the ignorance, the prejudice, the terror of the +Greeks, which have given rise to this vain and ridiculous belief, and +which they keep up even to this very day. The narrative which we have +reported after M. Tournefort, an ocular witness and a good +philosopher, may suffice to undeceive those who would maintain the +contrary. + +The incorruption of the bodies of those who died in a state of +excommunication, has still less foundation than the return of the +vampires, and the vexations of the living caused by the vroucolacas; +antiquity has had no similar belief. The schismatic Greeks, and the +heretics separated from the Church of Rome, who certainly died +excommunicated, ought, upon this principle, to remain uncorrupted; +which is contrary to experience, and repugnant to good sense. And if +the Greeks pretend to be the true Church, all the Roman Catholics, who +have a separate communion from them, ought then also to remain +undecayed. The instances cited by the Greeks either prove nothing, or +prove too much. Those bodies which have not decayed, were really +excommunicated, or not. If they were canonically and really +excommunicated, then the question falls to the ground. If they were +not really and canonically excommunicated, then it must be proved that +there was no other cause of incorruption--which can never be proved. + +Moreover, anything so equivocal as incorruption, cannot be adduced as +a proof in so serious a matter as this. It is owned, that often the +bodies of saints are preserved from decay; that is looked upon as +certain, among the Greeks as among the Latins--therefore, we cannot +thence conclude that this same incorruption is a proof that a person +is excommunicated. + +In short, this proof is universal and general, or only particular. I +mean to say, either all excommunicated persons remain undecayed, or +only a few of them. We cannot maintain that all those who die in a +state of excommunication, are incorruptible. For then all the Greeks +towards the Latins, and the Latins towards the Greeks, would be +undecayed, which is not the case. That proof then is very frivolous, +and nothing can be concluded from it. I mistrust, a great deal, all +those stories which are related to prove this pretended +incorruptibility of excommunicated persons. If well examined, many of +them would doubtless be found to be false. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI. + +WHAT IS RELATED CONCERNING THE BODIES OF THE EXCOMMUNICATED LEAVING +THE CHURCH, IS SUBJECT TO VERY GREAT DIFFICULTIES. + + +Whatever respect I may feel for St. Gregory the Great, who relates +some instances of deceased persons who died in a state of +excommunication going out of the church before the eyes of every one +present; and whatever consideration may be due to other authors whom I +have cited, and who relate other circumstances of a similar nature, +and even still more incredible, I cannot believe that we have these +legends with all the circumstances belonging to them; and after the +reasons for doubt which I have recorded at the end of these stories, I +believe I may again say, that God, to inspire the people with still +greater fear of excommunication, and a greater regard for the +sentences and censures of the church, has willed on these occasions, +for reasons unknown to us, to show forth his power, and work a miracle +in the sight of the faithful; for how can we explain all these things +without having recourse to the miraculous? All that is said of persons +who being dead chew under ground in their graves, is so pitiful, so +puerile, that it is not worthy of being seriously refuted. Everybody +owns that too often people are buried who are not quite dead. There +are but too many instances of this in ancient and modern histories. +The thesis of M. Vinslow, and the notes added thereto by M. Bruhier, +serve to prove that there are few certain signs of real death except +the putridity of a body being at least begun. We have an infinite +number of instances of persons supposed to be dead, who have come to +life again, even after they have been put in the ground. There are I +know not how many maladies in which the patient remains for a long +time speechless, motionless, and without sensible respiration. Some +drowned persons who have been thought dead, have been revived by care +and attention. + +All this is well known and may serve to explain how some vampires have +been taken out of their graves, and have spoken, cried, howled, +vomited blood, and all that because they were not yet dead. They have +been killed by beheading them, piercing their heart, and burning them; +in all which people were very wrong, for the pretext on which they +acted, of their pretended reappearance to disturb the living, causing +their death, and maltreating them, is not a sufficient reason for +treating them thus. Besides, their pretended return has never been +proved or attested in such a way as to authorize any one to show such +inhumanity, nor to dishonor and put rigorously to death on vague, +frivolous, unproved accusations, persons who were certainly innocent +of the thing laid to their charge. + +For nothing is more ill-founded than what is said of the apparitions, +vexations, and confusion caused by the pretended vampires and the +vroucolacas. I am not surprised that the Sorbonne should have +condemned the bloody and violent executions which are exercised on +these kinds of dead bodies. But it is astonishing that the secular +powers and the magistrates do not employ their authority and the +severity of the laws to repress them. + +The magic devotions, the fascinations, the evocations of which we have +spoken, are works of darkness, operations of Satan, if they have any +reality, which I can with difficulty believe, especially in regard to +magical devotions, and the evocations of the manes or souls of dead +persons; for, as to fascinations of the sight, or illusions of the +senses, it is foolish not to admit some of these, as when we think we +see what is not, or do not behold what is present before our eyes; or +when we think we hear a sound which in reality does not strike our +ears, or the contrary. But to say that the demon can cause a person's +death, because they have made a wax image of him, or given his name +with some superstitious ceremonies, and have devoted him or her, so +that the persons feel themselves dying as their image melts away, is +ascribing to the demon too much power, and to magic too much might. +God can, when he wills it, loosen the reign of the enemy of mankind, +and permit him to do us the harm which he and his agents may seek to +do us; but it would be ridiculous to believe that the Sovereign Master +of nature can be determined by magical incantations to allow the demon +to hurt us; or to imagine that the magician has the power to excite +the demon against us, independently of God. + +The instance of that peasant who gave his child to the devil, and +whose life the devil first took away and then restored, is one of +those extraordinary and almost incredible circumstances which are +sometimes to be met with in history, and which neither theology nor +philosophy knows how to explain. Was it a demon who animated the body +of the boy, or did his soul re-enter his body by the permission of +God? By what authority did the demon take away this boy's life, and +then restore it to him? God may have permitted it to punish the +impiety of the wretched father, who had given himself to the devil to +satisfy a shameful and criminal passion. And again, how could he +satisfy it with a demon, who appeared to him in the form of a girl he +loved? In all that I see only darkness and difficulties, which I leave +to be resolved by those who are more learned or bolder than myself. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII. + +REMARKS ON THE DISSERTATION CONCERNING THE SPIRIT WHICH REAPPEARED AT +ST. MAUR DES FOSSES. + + +The following Dissertation on the apparition which happened at St. +Maur, near Paris, in 1706, was entirely unknown to me. A friend who +took some part in my work on apparitions, had asked me by letter if I +should have any objection to its being printed at the end of my work. +I readily consented, on his testifying that it was from a worthy hand, +and deserved to be saved from the oblivion into which it was fallen. I +have since found that it was printed in the fourth volume of the +Treatise on Superstitions, by the Reverend Father le Brun, of the +Oratoire. + +After the impression, a learned monk[645] wrote to me from Amiens, in +Picardy, that he had remarked in this dissertation five or six +propositions which appeared to him to be false. + +1st. That the author says, all the holy doctors agree that no means of +deceiving us is left to the demons except suggestion, which has been +left them by God to try our virtue. + +2d. In respect to all those prodigies and spells which the common +people attribute to sorcery and intercourse with the demon, it is +proved that they can only be done by means of natural magic; this is +the opinion of the greater number of the fathers of the church. + +3d. All that demons have to do with the criminal practices of those +who are commonly called sorcerers is suggestion, by which he invites +them to the abominable research of all those natural causes which can +hurt our neighbor. + +4th. Although those who have desired to maintain the popular error of +the return to earth of souls from purgatory, may have endeavored to +support their opinion by different passages, taken from St. Augustine, +St. Jerome, St. Thomas, &c., it is attested that all these fathers +speak only of the return of the blessed to manifest the glory of God. + +5th. Of what may we not believe the imagination capable after so +strong a proof of its power? Can it be doubted that among all the +pretended apparitions of which stories are related, the fancy alone +works for all those which do not proceed from angels and the spirits +of the blessed, and that the rest are the invention of men? + +6th. After having sufficiently established the fact, that all +apparitions which cannot be attributed to angels, or the spirits of +the blessed, are produced only by one of these causes: the writer +names them--first, the power of imagination; secondly, the extreme +subtility of the senses; and thirdly, the derangement of the organs, +as in madness and high fevers. + +The monk who writes to me maintains that the first proposition is +false; that the ancient fathers of the church ascribe to the demon the +greater number of those extraordinary effects produced by certain +sounds of the voice, by figures, and by phantoms; that the exorcists +in the primitive church expelled devils, even by the avowal of the +heathen; that angels and demons have often appeared to men; that no +one has spoken more strongly of apparitions, of hauntings, and the +power of the demon, than the ancient fathers; that the church has +always employed exorcism on children presented for baptism, and +against those who were haunted and possessed by the demon. Add to +which, the author of the dissertation cites not one of the fathers to +support his general proposition.[646] + +The second proposition, again, is false; for if we must attribute to +natural magic all that is ascribed to sorcerers, there are then no +sorcerers, properly so called, and the church is mistaken in offering +up prayers against their power. + +The third proposition is false for the same reason. + +The fourth is falser still, and absolutely contrary to St. Thomas, +who, speaking of the dead in general who appear, says that this occurs +either by a miracle, or by the particular permission of God, or by the +operation of good or evil angels.[647] + +The fifth proposition, again, is false, and contrary to the fathers, +to the opinion commonly received among the faithful, and to the +customs of the church. If all the apparitions which do not proceed +from the angels or the blessed, or the inventive malice of mankind, +proceed only from fancy, what becomes of all the apparitions of demons +related by the saints, and which occurred to the saints? What becomes, +in particular, of all the stories of the holy solitaries, of St. +Anthony, St. Hilarion, &c.?[648] What becomes of the prayers and +ceremonies of the church against demons, who infest, possess, and +haunt, and appear often in these disturbances, possessions, and +hauntings? + +The sixth proposition is false for the same reasons, and many others +which might be added. + +"These," adds the reverend father who writes to me, "are the causes of +my doubting if the third dissertation was added to the two others with +your knowledge. I suspected that the printer, of his own accord, or +persuaded by evil intentioned persons, might have added it himself, +and without your participation, although under your name. For I said +to myself, either the reverend father approves this dissertation, or +he does not approve of it. It appears that he approves of it, since he +says that it is from a clever writer, and he would wish to preserve it +from oblivion. + +"Now, how can he approve a dissertation false in itself and contrary +to himself? If he approves it not, is it not too much to unite to his +work a foolish composition full of falsehoods, disguises, false and +weak arguments, opposed to the common belief, the customs, and prayers +of the church; consequently dangerous, and quite favorable to the free +and incredulous thinkers which this age is so full of? Ought he not +rather to combat this writing, and show its weakness, falsehood, and +dangerous tendency? There, my reverend father, lies all my +difficulty." + +Others have sent me word that they could have wished that I had +treated the subject of apparitions in the same way as the author of +this dissertation, that is to say, simply as a philosopher, with the +aim of destroying the credence and reality, rather than with any +design of supporting the belief in apparitions which is so observable +in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, in the fathers, and in +the customs and prayers of the church. The author of whom we speak has +cited the fathers, but in a general manner, and without marking the +testimonies, and the express and formal passages. I do not know if he +thinks much of them, and if he is well versed in them, but it would +hardly appear so from his work. + +The grand principle on which this third dissertation turns is, that +since the advent and the death of Jesus Christ, all the power of the +devil is limited to enticing, inspiring, and persuading to evil; but +for the rest, he is tied up like a lion or a dog in his prison. He may +bark, he may menace, but he cannot bite unless he is too nearly +approached and yielded to, as St. Augustine truly says:[649] "Mordere +omnino non potest nisi volentem." + +But to pretend that Satan can do no harm, either to the health of +mankind, or to the fruits of the earth; can neither attack us by his +stratagems, his malice, and his fury against us, nor torment those +whom he pursues or possesses; that magicians and wizards can make use +of no spells and charms to cause both men and animals dreadful +maladies, and even death, is a direct attack on the faith of the +church, the Holy Scriptures, the most sacred practices, and the +opinions of not only the holy fathers and the best theologians, but +also on the laws and ordinances of princes, and the decrees of the +most respectable parliaments. + +I will not here cite the instances taken from the Old Testament, the +author having limited himself to what has passed since the death and +resurrection of our Saviour; because, he says, Jesus Christ has +destroyed the kingdom of Satan, and the prince of this world is +already judged.[650] + +St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John, and the Evangelists, who were well +informed of the words of the Son of God, and the sense given to them, +teach us that Satan asked to have power over the apostles of Jesus +Christ, to sift them like wheat;[651] that is to say, to try them by +persecutions and make them renounce the faith. Does not St. Paul +complain of the _angel of Satan_ who buffeted him?[652] Did those whom +he gave up to Satan for their crimes,[653] suffer nothing bodily? +Those who took the communion unworthily, and were struck with +sickness, or even with death, did they not undergo these chastisements +by the operation of the demon?[654] The apostle warns the Corinthians +not to suffer themselves to be surprised by Satan, who sometimes +transforms himself into an angel of light.[655] The same apostle, +speaking to the Thessalonians, says to them, that before the last day +antichrist will appear,[656] according to the working of Satan, with +extraordinary power, with wonders and deceitful signs. In the +Apocalypse the demon is the instrument made use of by God, to punish +mortals and make them drink of the cup of his wrath. Does not St. +Peter[657] tell us that "the devil prowls about us like a roaring +lion, always ready to devour us?" And St. Paul to the Ephesians,[658] +"that we have to fight not against men of flesh and blood, but against +principalities and powers, against the princes of this world," that is +to say, of this age of darkness, "against the spirits of malice spread +about in the air?" + +The fathers of the first ages speak often of the power that the +Christians exercised against the demons, against those who called +themselves diviners, against magicians and other subalterns of the +devil; principally against those who were possessed, who were then +frequently seen, and are so still from time to time, both in the +church and out of the church. Exorcisms and other prayers of the +church have always been employed against these, and with success. +Emperors and kings have employed their authority and the rigor of the +laws against those who have devoted themselves to the service of the +demon, and used spells, charms, and other methods which the demon +employs, to entice and destroy both men and animals, or the fruits of +the country. + +We might add to the remarks of the reverend Dominican father divers +other propositions drawn from the same work; for instance, when the +author says that "the angels know everything here below; for if it is +by means of specialties, which God communicates to them every day, as +St. Augustine thinks, there is no reason to believe that they do not +know all the wants of mankind, and that they cannot console and +strengthen them, render themselves visible to them by the permission +of God, without always receiving from him an express order so to do." + +This proposition is rather rash: it is not certain that the angels +know everything that passes here below. Jesus Christ, in St. Matthew +xxiv. 36, says that the angels do not know the day of his coming. It +is still more doubtful that the angels can appear without an express +command from God, and that St. Augustine has so taught. + +He says, a little while after--"That demons often appeared before +Jesus Christ in fantastic forms, which they assumed as the angels do," +that is to say, in aerial bodies which they organized; "whilst at +present, and since the coming of Jesus Christ, those wonders and +spells have been so common that the people attributed them to sorcery +and commerce with the devil, whereas it is attested that they can be +operated only by natural magic, which is the knowledge of secret +effects from natural causes, and many of them by the subtilty of the +air alone. This is the opinion of the greater number of the fathers +who have spoken of them." + +This proposition is false, and contrary to the doctrine and practice +of the church; and it is not true that it is the opinion of the +greater number of the fathers; he should have cited some of them.[659] + +He says that "the Book of Job and the song of Hezekiah are full of +testimonies that the Holy Spirit seems to have taught us, that our +souls cannot return to earth after our death, until God has made +angels of them." + +It is true that the Holy Scriptures speak of the resurrection and +return of souls into their bodies as of a thing that is impossible in +the natural course. Man cannot raise up himself from the dead, neither +can he raise up his fellow-man without an effort of the supreme might +of God. Neither can the spirits of the deceased appear to the living +without the command or permission of God. But it is false to say, +"that God makes angels of our souls, and that then they can appear to +the living." + +Our souls will never become angels; but Jesus Christ tells us that +after our death our souls will be _as_ the angels of God, (Matt. xxii. +30); that is to say, spiritual, incorporeal, immortal, and exempt from +all the wants and weaknesses of this present life; but he does not say +that our souls must _become_ angels. + +He affirms "that what Jesus Christ said, 'that spirits have neither +flesh nor bones,' far from leading us to believe that spirits can +return to earth, proves, on the contrary, evidently that they cannot +without a miracle render themselves visible to mankind; since it +requires absolutely a corporeal substance and organs of speech to make +ourselves heard, which does not agree with the spirits, who naturally +cannot be subject to our senses." + +This is no more impossible than what he said beforehand of the +apparitions of angels, since our souls, after the death of the body, +are "like unto the angels," according to the Gospel. He acknowledges +himself, with St. Jerome against Vigilantius, that the saints who are +in heaven appear sometimes visibly to men. "Whence comes it that +animals have, as well as ourselves, the faculty of memory, but not the +reflection which accompanies it, which proceeds only from the soul, +which they have not?" + +Is not memory itself the reflection of what we have seen, done, or +heard; and in animals is not memory followed by reflection,[660] since +they avenge themselves on those who hurt them, avoid that which has +incommoded them, foreseeing what might happen to themselves from it if +they fell again into the same mistake? + +After having spoken of natural palingenesis, he concludes--"And thus +we see how little cause there is to attribute these appearances to the +return of souls to earth, or to demons, as do some ignorant persons." + +If those who work the wonders of natural palingenesis, and admit the +natural return of phantoms in the cemeteries, and fields of battle, +which I do not think happens naturally, could show that these phantoms +speak, act, move, foretell the future, and do what is related of +returned souls or other apparitions, whether good angels or bad ones, +we might conclude that there is no reason to attribute them to souls, +angels, and demons; but, 1, they have never been able to cause the +appearance of the phantom of a dead man, by any secret of art. 2. If +it had been possible to raise his shade, they could never have +inspired it with thought or reasoning powers, as we see in the angels +and demons, who appear, reason, and act, as intelligent beings, and +gifted with the knowledge of the past, the present, and sometimes of +the future. + +He denies that the souls in purgatory return to earth; for if they +could come back, "everybody would receive similar visits from their +relations and friends, since all the souls would feel disposed to do +the same. Apparently," says he, "God would grant them this permission, +and if they had this permission, every person of good sense would be +at a loss to comprehend why they should accompany all their +appearances with all the follies so circumstantially related." + +We may reply, that the return of souls to earth may depend neither on +their inclination nor their will, but on the will of God, who grants +this permission to whom he pleases, when he will, and as he will. + +The wicked rich man asked that Lazarus[661] might be sent to this +world to warn his brothers not to fall into the same misfortune as +himself, but he could not obtain it. There are an infinity of souls in +the same case and disposition, who cannot obtain leave to return +themselves or to send others in their place. + +If certain narratives of the return of spirits to earth have been +accompanied by circumstances somewhat comic, it does not militate +against the truth of the thing; since for one recital imprudently +embellished by uncertain circumstances, there are a thousand written +sensibly and seriously, and in a manner very conformable to truth. + +He maintains that all the apparitions which cannot be attributed to +angels or to blessed spirits, are produced only by one of these three +causes:--the power of imagination; the extreme subtility of the +senses; and the derangement of the organs, as in cases of madness and +in high fevers. + +This proposition is rash, and has before been refuted by the Reverend +Father Richard. + +The author recounts all that he has said of the spirit of St. Maur, in +causing the motion of the bed in the presence of three persons who +were wide awake, the repeated shrieks of a person whom they did not +see, of a door well-bolted, of repeated blows upon the walls, of +panes of glass struck with violence in the presence of three persons, +without their being able to see the author of all this movement;--he +reduces all this to a derangement of the imagination, the subtilty of +the air, or the vapors casually arising in the brain of an invalid. +Why did he not deny all these facts? Why did he give himself the +trouble to compose so carefully a dissertation to explain a +phenomenon, which, according to him, can boast neither truth nor +reality? For my part, I am very glad to give the public notice that I +neither adopt nor approve this anonymous dissertation, which I never +saw before it was printed; that I know nothing of the author, take no +part in it, and have no interest in defending him. If the subject of +apparitions be purely philosophical, and it can without injury to +religion be reduced to a problem, I should have taken a different +method to destroy it, and I should have suffered my reasoning and my +imagination to act more freely. + + +Footnotes: + +[645] Letter of the Reverend Father Richard, a Dominican of Amiens, of +the 29th of July, 1746. + +[646] See on this subject the letter of the Marquis Maffei, which +follows. + +[647] St. Thomas, i. part 9, 89, art. 8, ad. 2. + +[648] The author had foreseen this objection from the beginning of his +dissertation. + +[649] Aug. Serm. de Semp. 197. + +[650] John xvi. 11. + +[651] Luke xxii. 31. + +[652] 2 Cor. xi. 7. + +[653] 1 Tim. i. 2. + +[654] 1 Cor. xi. 30. + +[655] 2 Cor. ii. 11, and xi. 14. + +[656] 2 Thess. ii. + +[657] 1 Pet. v. 8. + +[658] Ephes. vi. 12. + +[659] They are cited in the letter of the Marquis Maffei. + +[660] The author, as we may see, is not a Cartesian, since he assigns +reflection even to animals. But if they reflect, they choose; whence +it consequently follows that they are free. + +[661] Luke xiii. 14. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII. + +DISSERTATION BY AN ANONYMOUS WRITER. + +_Answer to a Letter on the subject of the Apparition of St. Maur._ + + +"You have been before me, sir, respecting the spirit of St. Maur, +which causes so much conversation at Paris; for I had resolved to send +you a short detail of that event, in order that you might impart to me +your reflections on a matter so delicate and so interesting to all +Paris. But since you have read an account of it, I cannot understand +why you have hesitated a moment to decide what you ought to think of +it. What you do me the honor to tell me, that you have suspended your +judgment of the case until I have informed you of mine, does me too +much honor for me to be persuaded of it; and I think there is more +probability in believing that it is a trick you are playing me, to see +how I shall extricate myself from such slippery ground. Nevertheless, +I cannot resist the entreaties, or rather the orders, with which your +letter is filled; and I prefer to expose myself to the pleasantry of +the free thinkers, or the reproaches of the credulous, than the anger +of those with which I am threatened by yourself. + +"You ask if I believe that spirits come back, and if the circumstance +which occurred at St. Maur can be attributed to one of those +incorporeal substances? + +"To answer your two questions in the same order that you propose them +to me, I must first tell you, that the ancient heathens acknowledge +various kinds of spirits, which they called _lares_, _larvae_, +_lemures_, _genii_, _manes_. + +"For ourselves, without pausing at the folly of our cabalistic +philosophers, who fancy spirits in every element, calling those sylphs +which they pretend to inhabit the air; _gnomes_, those which they +feign to be under the earth; _ondines_, those which dwell in the +water; and _salamanders_, those of fire; we acknowledge but three +sorts of created spirits, namely, angels, demons, and the souls which +God has united to our bodies, and which are separated from them by +death. + +"The Holy Scriptures speak in too many places of the apparitions of +the angels to Abraham, Jacob, Tobit, and several other holy patriarchs +and prophets, for us to doubt of it. Besides, as their name signifies +their ministry, being created by God to be his messengers, and to +execute his commands, it is easy to believe that they have often +appeared visibly to men, to announce to them the will of the Almighty. +Almost all the theologians agree that the angels appear in the aerial +bodies with which they clothe themselves. + +"To make you understand in what manner they take and invest themselves +with these bodies, in order to render themselves visible to men, and +to make themselves heard by them, we must first of all explain what is +vision, which is only the bringing of the _species_ within the compass +of the organ of sight. This "_species_" is the ray of light broken and +modified upon a body, on which, forming different angles, this light +is converted into colors. For an angle of a certain kind makes red, +another green, blue or yellow, and so on of all the colors, as we +perceive in the prism, on which the reflected rays of the sun forms +the different colors of the rainbow; the _species_ visible is then +nothing else than the ray of light which returns from the object on +which it breaks to the eyes. + +"Now, light falls only on three kinds of objects or bodies, of which +some are diaphanous, others opake, and the others participate in these +two qualities, being partly diaphanous and partly opake. When the +light falls on a diaphanous body which is full of an infinity of +little pores, as the air, it passes through without causing any +reflection. When the light falls on a body entirely opake, as a +flower, for instance, not being able to penetrate it, its ray is +reflected from it, and returns from the flower to the eye, to which it +carries the _species_, and renders the colors distinguishable, +according to the angles formed by reflection. If the body on which the +light falls is in part opake and in part diaphanous, like glass, it +passes through the diaphanous part, that is to say, through the pores +of the glass which it penetrates, and reflects itself on the opake +particles, that is to say, which are not porous. Thus the air is +invisible, because it is absolutely penetrated with light: the flower +sends back a color to the eye, because, being impenetrable to the +light, it obliges it to reflect itself; and the glass is visible only +because it contains some opake particles, which, according to the +diversity of angles formed upon it by the ray of light, reflect +different colors. + +"That is the manner in which vision is formed, so that air being +invisible, on account of its extreme transparency, an angel could not +clothe himself with it and render himself visible, but by thickening +the air so much, that from diaphanous it became opake, and capable of +reflecting the ray of light to the eye of him who perceived him. Now, +as the angels possess knowledge and power far beyond anything we can +imagine, we need not be astonished if they can form aerial bodies, +which are rendered visible by the opacity they impart to them. In +respect to the organs necessary to these aerial bodies, to form sounds +and make themselves heard, without having any recourse to the +disposition of matter, we must attribute them entirely to a miracle. + +"It is thus that angels have appeared to the holy patriarchs. It is +thus that the glorious souls that participate the angelic nature can +assume an aerial body to render themselves visible, and that even +demons, by thickening and condensing the air, can make to themselves a +body of it, so as to become visible to men, by the particular +permission of God, to accomplish the secrets of his providence, as +they are said to have appeared to St. Anthony the Hermit, and to other +saints, in order to tempt them. + +"Excuse, sir, this little physical digression, with which I could not +dispense, in order to make you understand the manner in which angels, +who are purely spiritual substances, can be perceived by our fleshly +senses. + +"The only point on which the holy doctors do not agree on this subject +is, to know if angels appear to men of their own accord, or whether +they can do it only by an express command from God. It seems to me +that nothing can better contribute to the decision of this difficulty, +than to determine the way in which the angels know all things here +below; for if it is by means of "_species_" which God communicates to +them every day, as St. Augustine believes, there is no reason to doubt +of their knowing all the wants of mankind, or that they can, in order +to console and strengthen them, render their presence sensible to +them, by God's permission, without receiving an express command from +him on the subject; which may be concluded from what St. Ambrose says +on the subject of the apparition of angels, who are by nature +invisible to us, and whom their will renders visible. _Hujus naturae +est non videri, voluntatis, videri._[662] + +"On the subject of demons, it is certain that their power was very +great before the coming of Jesus Christ, since he calls them himself, +the powers of darkness, and the princes of this world. It cannot be +doubted that they had for a long time deceived mankind, by the wonders +which they caused to be performed by those who devoted themselves more +particularly to their service; that several oracles have been the +effect of their power and knowledge, although part of them must be +ascribed to the subtlety of men; and that they may have appeared under +fantastic forms, which they assumed in the same way as the angels, +that is to say, in aerial bodies, which they organized. The Holy +Scriptures assure us even, that they took possession of the bodies of +living persons. But Jesus Christ says too precisely, that he has +destroyed the kingdom of the demons, and delivered us from their +tyranny, for us possibly to think rationally that they still possess +that power over us which they had formerly, so far as to work +wonderful things which appeared miraculous; such as they relate of the +vestal virgin, who, to prove her virginity, carried water in a sieve; +and of her who by means of her sash alone, towed up the Tiber a boat, +which had been so completely stranded that no human power could move +it. Almost all the holy doctors agree, that the only means they now +have of deceiving us is by suggestion, which God has left in their +power to try our virtue. + +"I shall not amuse myself by combating all the impositions which have +been published concerning demons, incubi, and succubi, with which some +authors have disfigured their works, any more than I shall reply to +the pretended possession of the nuns of Loudun, and of Martha +Brossier,[663] which made so much noise at Paris at the commencement +of the last century; because several learned men who have favored us +with their reflections on these adventures, have sufficiently shown +that the demons had nothing to do with them; and the last, above all, +is perfectly quashed by the report of Marescot, a celebrated +physician, who was deputed by the Faculty of Theology to examine this +girl who performed so many wonders. Here are his own words, which may +serve as a general reply to all these kind of adventures:--_A natura +multa plura ficta, a Daemone nulla._ That is to say, that the +constitution of Martha Brossier, who was apparently very melancholy +and hypochondriacal, contributed greatly to her fits of enthusiasm; +that she feigned still more, and that the devil had nothing to do with +it. + +"If some of the fathers, as St. Thomas, believe that the demons +sometimes produce sensible effects, they always add, that it can be +only by the particular permission of God, for his glory and the +salvation of mankind. + +"In regard to all those prodigies and those common spells, which the +people ascribe to sorcery or commerce with the demon, it is proved +that they can be performed only by natural magic, which is the +knowledge of secret effects of natural causes, and several by the +subtlety of art. It is the opinion of the greater number of the +fathers of the church who have spoken of it; and without seeking +testimony of it in Pagan authors, such as Xenophon, Athenaeus, and +Pliny, whose works are full of an infinity of wonders which are all +natural, we see in our own time the surprising effects of nature, as +those of the magnet, of steel, and mercury, which we should attribute +to sorcery as did the ancients, had we not seen sensible +demonstrations of their powers. We also see jugglers do such +extraordinary things, which seem so contrary to nature, that we should +look upon these charlatans as magicians, if we did not know by +experience, that their address alone, joined to constant practice, +makes them able to perform so many things which seem marvelous to us. + +"All the share that the demons have in the criminal practices of those +who are commonly called sorcerers, is suggestion; by which means they +invite them to the abominable research of every natural cause which +can do injury to others. + +"I am now, sir, at the most delicate point of your question, which is, +to know if our souls can return to earth after they are separated from +our bodies. + +"As the ancient philosophers erred so strongly on the nature of the +soul--some believing that it was but a fire which animated us, and +others a subtile air, and others affirming that it was nothing else +but the proper arrangement of all the machine of the body, a doctrine +which could not be admitted any more as the cause of in men than in +beasts; we cannot therefore be surprised that they had such gross +ideas concerning their state after death. + +"The error of the Greeks, which they communicated to the Romans, and +the latter to our ancestors was, that the souls whose bodies were not +solemnly interred by the ministry of the priests of religion, wandered +out of Hades without finding any repose, until their bodies had been +burned and their ashes collected. Homer makes Patroclus, who was +killed by Hector, appear to his friend Achilles in the night to ask +him for burial, without which, he is deprived, he says, of the +privilege of passing the river Acheron. There were only the souls of +those who had been drowned, whom they believed unable to return to +earth after death; for which we find a curious reason in Servius, the +interpreter of Virgil, who says, the greater number of the learned in +Virgil's time, and Virgil himself, believing that the soul was nothing +but a fire, which animated and moved the body, were persuaded that the +fire was entirely extinguished by the water--as if the material could +act upon the spiritual. Virgil explains his opinions on the subject +of souls very clearly in these verses:-- + + 'Igneus est ollis vigor, et celestis origo.' + +And a little after, + + 'totos infusa per artus + Mens agitat molem, et toto se corpore miscet;' + +to mark the universal soul of the world, which he believed with the +greater part of the philosophers of his time. + +"Again, it was a common error amongst the pagans, to believe that the +souls of those who died before they were of their proper age, which +they placed at the end of their growth, wandered about until the time +came when they ought naturally to be separated from their bodies. +Plato, more penetrating and better informed than the others, although +like them mistaken, said, that the souls of the just who had obeyed +virtue ascended to the sky; and that those who had been guilty of +impiety, retaining still the contagion of the earthly matter of the +body, wandered incessantly around the tombs, appearing like shadows +and phantoms. + +"For us, whom religion teaches that our souls are spiritual substances +created by God, and united for a time to bodies, we know that there +are three different states after death. + +"Those who enjoy eternal beatitude, absorbed, as the holy doctors say, +in the contemplation of the glory of God, cease not to interest +themselves in all that concerns mankind, whose miseries they have +undergone; and as they have attained the happiness of angels, all the +sacred writers ascribe to them the same privilege of possessing the +power, as aerial bodies, of rendering themselves visible to their +brethren who are still upon earth, to console them, and inform them of +the Divine will; and they relate several apparitions, which always +happened by the particular permission of God. + +"The souls whose abominable crimes have plunged them into that gulf of +torment, which the Scripture terms hell, being condemned to be +detained there forever, without being able to hope for any relief, +care not to have permission to come and speak to mankind in fantastic +forms. The Scripture clearly set forth the impossibility of this +return, by the discourse which is put into the mouth of the wicked +rich man in hell, introduced speaking to Abraham; he does not ask +leave to go himself, to warn his brethren on earth to avoid the +torments which he suffers, because he knows that it is not possible; +but he implores Abraham to send thither Lazarus, who was in glory. And +to observe _en passant_ how very rare are the apparitions of the +blessed and of angels, Abraham replies to him, that it would be +useless, since those who are upon earth have the Law and the Prophets, +which they have but to follow. + +"The story of the canon of Rheims, in the eleventh century, who, in +the midst of the solemn service which was being performed for the +repose of his soul, spoke aloud and said, That he was sentenced and +condemned,[664] has been refuted by so many of the learned, who have +shown that this circumstance is clearly supposititious, since it is +not found in any contemporaneous author; that I think no enlightened +person can object it against me. But even were this story as +incontestable as it is apocryphal, it would be easy for me to say in +reply, that the conversion of St. Bruno, who has won so many souls to +God, was motive enough for the Divine Providence to perform so +striking a miracle. + +"It now remains for me to examine if the souls which are in purgatory, +where they expiate the rest of their crimes before they pass to the +abode of the blessed, can come and converse with men, and ask them to +pray for their relief. + +"Although those who have desired to maintain this popular error, have +done their endeavors to support it by different passages from St. +Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Thomas, it is certain that all these +fathers speak only of the return of the blessed to manifest the glory +of God; and of St. Augustine says precisely, that if it were possible +for the souls of the dead to appear to men, not a day would pass +without his receiving a visit from Monica his mother. + +"Tertullian, in his Treatise on the Soul, laughs at those who in his +time believed in apparitions. St. John Chrysostom, speaking on the +subject of Lazarus, formally denies them; as well as the law +glossographer, Canon John Andreas, who calls them phantoms of a sickly +imagination, and all that is reported about spirits which people think +they hear or see, vain apparitions. The 7th chapter of Job, and the +song of King Hezekiah, reported in the 38th chapter of Isaiah, are all +full of the witnesses which the Holy Spirit seems to have desired to +give us of this truth, that our souls cannot return to earth after our +death until God has made them angels. + +"But in order to establish this still better, we must reply to the +strongest objections of those who combat it. They adduce the opinion +of the Jews, which they pretend to prove by the testimony of Josephus +and the rabbis; the words of Jesus Christ to his apostles, when he +appeared to them after his resurrection; the authority of the council +of Elvira;[665] some passages from St. Jerome, in his Treatise against +Vigilantius; of decrees issued by different Parliaments, by which the +leases of several houses had been broken on account of the spirits +which haunted them daily, and tormented the lodgers or tenants; in +short an infinite number of instances, which are scattered in every +story. + +"To destroy all these authorities in a few words, I say first of all, +that it cannot be concluded that the Jews believed in the return of +spirits after death, because Josephus assures us that the spirit which +the Pythoness caused to appear to Saul was the true spirit of Samuel; +for, besides that the holiness of this prophet had placed him in the +number of the blessed, there are circumstances attending this +apparition which have caused most of the holy fathers[666] to doubt +whether it really was the ghost of Samuel, believing that it might be +an illusion with which the Pythoness deceived Saul, and made him +believe that he saw that which he desired to see. + +"What several rabbis relate of patriarchs, prophets, and kings whom +they saw on the mountain of Gerizim, does not prove either that the +Jews believed that the spirits of the dead could come back, since it +was only a vision proceeding from the spirit in ecstasy, which +believed it saw what it saw not truly; all those who compose this +appearance were persons of whose holiness the Jews were persuaded. +What Jesus Christ says to his apostles, that the spirits have 'neither +flesh nor bones,' far from making us believe that spirits can come +back again, proves on the contrary evidently, that they cannot without +a miracle make us sensible of their presence, since it requires +absolutely a corporeal substance and bodily organs to utter sounds; +the description does agree with souls, they being pure substances, +exempt from matter, invisibles, and therefore cannot _naturally_ be +subject to our senses. + +"The Provincial Council held in Spain during the pontificate of +Sylvester I., which forbids us to light a taper by day in the +cemeteries of martyrs, adding, as a reason, that we must not disturb +the spirits of the saints, is of no consideration; because besides +that these words are liable to different interpretations, and may even +have been inserted by some copyist, as some learned men believe, they +only relate to the martyrs, of whom we cannot doubt that their spirits +are blessed. + +"I make the same reply to a passage of St. Jerome, because arguing +against the heresiarch Vigilantius, who treated as illusions all the +miracles which were worked at the tombs of the martyrs; he endeavors +to prove to him that the saints who are in heaven always take part in +the miseries of mankind, and sometimes even appear to them visibly to +strengthen and console them. + +"As for the decrees which have annulled the leases of several houses +on account of the inconvenience caused by ghosts to those who lodged +therein, it suffices to examine the means and the reasons upon which +they were obtained, to comprehend that either the judges were led into +error by the prejudices of their childhood, or that they were obliged +to yield to the proofs produced, often even against their own superior +knowledge, or they have been deceived by imposture, or by the +simplicity of the witnesses. + +"With respect to the apparitions, with which all such stories are +filled, one of the strongest which can be objected against my +argument, and to which I think myself the more obliged to reply, is +that which is affirmed to have occurred at Paris in the last century, +and of which five hundred witnesses are cited, who have examined into +the truth of the matter with particular attention. Here is the +adventure, as related by those who wrote at the time it took +place.[667] + +"The Marquis de Rambouillet, eldest brother of the Duchess of +Montauzier, and the Marquis de Precy, eldest son of the family of +Nantouillet, both of them between twenty and thirty, were intimate +friends, and went to the wars, as in France do all men of quality. As +they were conversing one day together on the subject of the other +world, after several speeches which sufficiently showed that they were +not too well persuaded of the truth of all that is said concerning it, +they promised each other that the first who died should come and bring +the news to his companion. At the end of three months the Marquis de +Rambouillet set off for Flanders, where the war was then being carried +on; and de Precy, detained by a high fever, remained at Paris. Six +weeks afterwards de Precy, at six in the morning, heard the curtains +of his bed drawn, and turning to see who it was, he perceived the +Marquis de Rambouillet in his buff vest and boots; he sprung out of +bed to embrace him to show his joy at his return, but Rambouillet, +retreating a few steps, told him that these caresses were no longer +seasonable, for he only came to keep his word with him; that he had +been killed the day before on such an occasion; that all that was said +of the other world was certainly true; that he must think of leading a +different life; and that he had no time to lose, as he would be killed +the first action he was engaged in. + +"It is impossible to express the surprise of the Marquis de Precy at +this discourse; as he could not believe what he heard, he made several +efforts to embrace his friend, whom he thought desirous of deceiving +him, but he embraced only air; and Rambouillet, seeing that he was +incredulous, showed the wound he had received, which was in the side, +whence the blood still appeared to flow. After that the phantom +disappeared, and left de Precy in a state of alarm more easy to +comprehend than describe; he called at the same time his +valet-de-chambre, and awakened all the family with his cries. Several +persons ran to his room, and he related to them what he had just seen. +Every one attributed this vision to the violence of the fever, which +might have deranged his imagination; they begged him to go to bed +again, assuring him that he must have dreamed what he told them. + +"The Marquis in despair, on seeing that they took him for a visionary, +related all the circumstances I have just recounted; but it was in +vain for him to protest that he had seen and heard his friend, being +wide awake; they persisted in the same idea until the arrival of the +post from Flanders, which brought the news of the death of the Marquis +de Rambouillet. + +"This first circumstance being found true, and in the same manner as de +Precy had said, those to whom he had related the adventure began to +think that there might be something in it, because Rambouillet having +been killed precisely the eve of the day he had said it, it was +impossible de Precy should have known of it in a natural way. This +event having spread in Paris, they thought it was the effect of a +disturbed imagination, or a made up story; and whatever might be said +by the persons who examined the thing seriously, there remained in +people's minds a suspicion, which time alone could disperse: this +depended on what might happen to the Marquis de Precy, who was +threatened that he should be slain in the first engagement; thus every +one regarded his fate as the denouement of the piece; but he soon +confirmed everything they had doubted the truth of, for as soon as he +recovered from his illness he would go to the combat of St. Antoine, +although his father and mother, who were afraid of the prophecy, said +all they could to prevent him; he was killed there, to the great +regret of all his family. + +"Supposing all these circumstances to be true, this is what I should +say to counteract the deductions that some wish to derive from them. + +"It is not difficult to understand that the imagination of the Marquis +de Precy, heated by fever, and troubled by the recollection of the +promise that the Marquis de Rambouillet and himself had exchanged, may +have represented to itself the phantom of his friend, whom he knew to +be fighting, and in danger every moment of being killed. The +circumstances of the wound of the Marquis de Rambouillet, and the +prediction of the death of de Precy, which was fulfilled, appears more +serious: nevertheless, those who have experienced the power of +presentiments, the effects of which are so common every day, will +easily conceive that the Marquis de Precy, whose mind, agitated by a +burning fever, followed his friend in all the chances of war, and +expected continually to see announced to himself by the phantom of his +friend what was to happen, may have imagined that the Marquis de +Rambouillet had been killed by a musket-shot in the side, and that the +ardor which he himself felt for war might prove fatal to him in the +first action. We shall see by the words of St. Augustine, which I +shall cite by-and-by, how fully that Doctor of the Church was +persuaded of the power of imagination, to which he attributes the +knowledge of things to come. I shall again establish the authority of +presentiments by a most singular instance. + +"A lady of talent, whom I knew particularly well, being at Chartres, +where she was residing, dreamt in the night that in her sleep she saw +Paradise, which she fancied to herself was a magnificent hall, around +which were in different ranks the angels and spirits of the blessed, +and God, who presided in the midst, on a shining throne. She heard +some one knock at the door of this delightful place; and St. Peter +having opened it, she saw two pretty children, one of them clothed in +a white robe, and the other quite naked. St. Peter took the first by +the hand and led him to the foot of the throne, and left the other +crying bitterly at the door. She awoke at that moment, and related her +dream to several persons, who thought it very remarkable. A letter +which she received from Paris in the afternoon informed her that one +of her daughters was brought to bed with two children, who were dead, +and only one of them had been baptized. + +"Of what may we not believe the imagination capable, after so strong a +proof of its power? Can we doubt that amongst all the pretended +apparitions that are related, imagination alone produces all those +which do not proceed from angels and blessed spirits, or which are not +the effect of fraudulent contrivance? + +"To explain more fully what has given rise to those phantoms, the +apparition of which has been published in all ages, without availing +myself of the ridiculous opinion of the skeptics, who doubt of +everything, and assert that our senses, however sound they may be, can +only imagine everything falsely, I shall remark that the wisest +amongst the philosophers maintain that deep melancholy, anger, frenzy, +fever, depraved or debilitated senses, whether naturally, or by +accident, can make us see and hear many things which have no +foundation. + +"Aristotle says[668] that in sleep the interior senses act by the +local movement of the humors and the blood, and that this action +descends sometimes to the sensitive organs, so that on awaking, the +wisest persons think they see the images they have dreamt of. + +"Plutarch, in the Life of Brutus, relates that Cassius persuaded +Brutus that a spectre which the latter declared he had seen on waking, +was an effect of his imagination; and this is the argument which he +puts in his mouth:-- + +"'The spirit of man being extremely active in its nature, and in +continual motion, which produces always some fantasy; above all, +melancholy persons, like you, Brutus, are more apt to form to +themselves in the imagination ideal images, which sometimes pass to +their external senses.' + +"Galen, so skilled in the knowledge of all the springs of the human +body, attributes spectres to the extreme subtility of sight and +hearing. + +"What I have read in Cardan seems to establish the opinion of Galen. +He says that, being in the city of Milan, it was reported that there +was an angel in the air, who appeared visibly, and having ran to the +market-place, he, with two thousand others, saw the same. As even the +most learned were in admiration at this wonder, a clever lawyer, who +came to the spot, having observed the thing attentively, sensibly made +them remark that what they saw was not an angel, but the figure of an +angel, in stone, placed on the top of the belfry of St. Gothard, which +being imprinted in a thick cloud by means of a sunbeam which fell upon +it, was reflected to the eyes of those who possessed the most piercing +vision. If this fact had not been cleared up on the spot by a man +exempt from all prejudice, it would have passed for certain that it +was a real angel, since it had been seen by the most enlightened +persons in the town to the number of two thousand. + +"The celebrated du Laurent, in his treatise on Melancholy, attributes +to it the most surprising effects; of which he gives an infinite +number of instances, which seem to surpass the power of nature. + +"St. Augustine, when consulted by Evodius, Bishop of Upsal, on the +subject I am treating of, answers him in these terms: 'In regard to +visions, even of those by which we learn something of the future, it +is not possible to explain how they are formed, unless we could first +of all know how everything arises which passes through our minds when +we think; for we see clearly that a number of images are excited in +our minds, which images represent to us what has struck either our +eyes or our other senses. We experience it every day and every hour.' +And a little after, he adds: 'At the moment I dictate this letter, I +see you with the eyes of my mind, without your being present, or your +knowing anything about it; and I represent to myself, through my +knowledge of your character, the impression that my words will make +on your mind, without nevertheless knowing or being able to understand +how all this passes within me.' + +"I think, sir, you will require nothing more precise than these words +of St. Augustine to persuade you that we must attribute to the power +of imagination the greater number of apparitions, even of those +through which we learn things which it would seem could not be known +naturally; and you will easily excuse my undertaking to explain to you +how the imagination works all these wonders, since this holy doctor +owns that he cannot himself comprehend it, though quite convinced of +the fact. + +"I can tell you only that the blood which circulates incessantly in +our arteries and veins, being purified and warmed in the heart, throws +out thin vapors, which are its most subtile parts, and are called +animal spirits; which, being carried into the cavities of the brain, +set in motion the small gland which is, they say, the seat of the +soul, and by this means awaken and resuscitate the species of the +things that they have heard or seen formerly, which are, as it were, +enveloped within it, and form the internal reasoning which we call +thought. Whence comes it that beasts have memory as well as ourselves, +but not the reflections which accompany it, which proceed from the +soul, and that they have not. + +"If what Mr. Digby, a learned Englishman, and chancellor of Henrietta, +Queen of England, Father Kircher, a celebrated Jesuit, Father Schort, +of the same society, Gaffarelli and Vallemont, publish of the +admirable secret of the palingenesis, or resurrection of plants, has +any foundation, we might account for the shades and phantoms which +many persons declare to have seen in cemeteries. + +"This is the way in which these curious researchers arrive at the +marvelous operation of the palingenesis:-- + +"They take a flower, burn it, and collect all the ashes of it, from +which they extract the salts by calcination. They put these salts into +a glass phial, wherein having mixed certain compositions capable of +setting them in motion when heated, all this matter forms a dust of a +bluish hue; of this dust, excited by a gentle warmth, arises a stem, +leaves, and a flower; in a word, they perceive the apparition of a +plant springing from its ashes. As soon as the warmth ceases, all the +spectacle vanishes, the matter deranges itself and falls to the bottom +of the vessel, to form there a new chaos. The return of heat +resuscitates this vegetable phoenix, hidden in its ashes. And as the +presence of warmth gives it life, its absence causes its death. + +"Father Kircher, who tries to give a reason for this admirable +phenomenon, says that the seminal virtue of every mixture is +concentrated in the salts, and that as soon as warmth sets them in +motion they rise directly and circulate like a whirlwind in this glass +vessel. These salts, in this suspension, which gives them liberty to +arrange themselves, take the same situation and form the same figure +as nature had primitively bestowed on them; retaining the inclination +to become what they had been, they return to their first destination, +and form themselves into the same lines as they occupied in the living +plant; each corpuscle of salt re-entering its original arrangement +which it received from nature; those which were at the foot of the +plant place themselves there; in the same manner, those which compose +the top of the stem, the branches, the leaves, and the flowers, resume +their former place, and thus form a perfect apparition of the whole +plant. + +"It is affirmed that this operation has been performed upon a +sparrow;[669] and the gentlemen of the Royal Society of England, who +are making their experiments on this matter, hope to succeed in making +them on human beings also.[670] + +"Now, according to the principle of Father Kircher and the most +learned chemists, who assert that the substantial form of bodies +resides in the salts, and that these salts, set in motion by warmth, +form the same figure as that which had been given to them by nature, +it is not difficult to comprehend that dead bodies being consumed away +in the earth, the salts which exhale from them with the vapors, by +means of the fermentations which so often occur in this element, may +very well, in arranging themselves above ground, form those shadows +and phantoms which have frightened so many people. Thus we may +perceive how little reason there is to ascribe them to the return of +spirits, or to demons, as some ignorant people have done. + +"To all the authorities by means of which I have combated the +apparitions of spirits which are in purgatory, I shall still add some +very natural reflections. If the souls which are in purgatory could +return hither to ask for prayers to pass into the abode of glory, +there would be no one who would not receive similar entreaties from +his relations and friends, since all the spirits being disposed to do +the same thing, apparently, God would grant them all the same +permission. Besides, if they possessed this liberty, no sensible +person could understand why they should accompany their appearance +with all the follies so circumstantially related in those stories, as +rolling up a bed, opening the curtains, pulling off a blanket, +overturning the furniture, and making a frightful noise. In short, if +there were any reality in these apparitions, it is morally impossible +that in so many ages _one_ would not have been found so well +authenticated that it could not be doubted. + +"After having sufficiently proved that all the apparitions which +cannot be ascribed to angels or to the souls of the blessed are +produced only by one of the three following causes--the extreme +subtility of the senses; the derangement of the organs, as in madness +and high fever; and the power of imagination--let us see what we must +think of the circumstance which occurred at St. Maur. + +"Although you have already seen the account that has been given of it, +I believe, sir, that you will not be displeased if I here give you the +detail of the more particular circumstances. I shall endeavor to omit +nothing that has been done to confirm the truth of the circumstance, +and I shall even make use of the exact words of the author, as much as +I can, that I may not be accused of detracting from the adventure. + +"Monsieur de S----, to whom it happened, is a young man, short in +stature, well made for his height, between four and five-and-twenty +years of age. Being in bed, he heard several loud knocks at his door +without the maid servant, who ran thither directly, finding any one; +and then the curtains of his bed were drawn, although there was only +himself in the room. The 22d of last March, being, about eleven +o'clock at night, busy looking over some lists of works in his study, +with three lads who are his domestics, they all heard distinctly a +rustling of the papers on the table; the cat was suspected of this +performance, but M. de S. having taken a light and looked diligently +about, found nothing. + +"A little after this he went to bed, and sent to bed also those who +had been with him in his kitchen, which is next to his sleeping-room; +he again heard the same noise in his study or closet; he rose to see +what it was, and not having found anything more than he did the first +time, he was going to shut the door, but he felt some resistance to +his doing so; he then went in to see what this obstacle might be, and +at the same time heard a noise above his head towards the corner of +the room, like a great blow on the wall; at this he cried out, and his +people ran to him; he tried to reassure them, though alarmed himself; +and having found naught he went to bed again and fell asleep. Hardly +had these lads extinguished the light, than M. de S. was suddenly +awakened by a shake, like that of a boat striking against the arch of +a bridge; he was so much alarmed at it that he called his domestics; +and when they had brought the light, he was strangely surprised to +find his bed at least four feet out of its place, and he was then +aware that the shock he had felt was when his bedstead ran against the +wall. His people having replaced the bed, saw, with as much +astonishment as alarm, all the bed-curtains open at the same moment, +and the bedstead set off running towards the fire-place. M. de S. +immediately got up, and sat up the rest of the night by the fire-side. +About six in the morning, having made another attempt to sleep, he +was no sooner in bed than the bedstead made the same movement again, +twice, in the presence of his servants, who held the bed-posts to +prevent it from displacing itself. At last, being obliged to give up +the game, he went out to walk till dinner time; after which, having +tried to take some rest, and his bed having twice changed its place, +he sent for a man who lodged in the same house, as much to reassure +himself in his company, as to render him a witness of so surprising a +circumstance. But the shock which took place before this man was so +violent, that the left foot at the upper part of the bedstead was +broken; which had such an effect upon him, that in reply to the offers +that were made to him to stay and see a second, he replied that what +he had seen, with the frightful noise he had heard all night, were +quite sufficient to convince him of the fact. + +"It was thus that the affair, which till then had remained between M. +de S. and his domestics, became public; and the report of it being +immediately spread, and reaching the ears of a great prince who had +just arrived at St. Maur, his highness was desirous of enlightening +himself upon the matter, and took the trouble to examine carefully +into the circumstances which were related to him. As this adventure +became the subject of every conversation, very soon nothing was heard +but stories of ghosts, related by the credulous, and laughed at and +joked upon by the freethinkers. However, M. de S. tried to reassure +himself, and go the following night into his bed, and become worthy of +conversing with the spirit, which he doubted not had something to +disclose to him. He slept till nine o'clock the next morning, without +having felt anything but slight shakes, as the mattresses were raised +up, which had only served to rock him and promote sleep. The next day +passed off pretty quietly; but on the 26th, the spirit, who seemed to +have become well-behaved, resumed its fantastic humor, and began the +morning by making a great noise in the kitchen; they would have +forgiven it for this sport if it had stopped there, but it was much +worse in the afternoon. M. de S., who owns that he felt himself +particularly attracted towards his study, though he felt a repugnance +to enter it, having gone into it about six o'clock, went to the end of +the room, and returning towards the door to go into his bed-room +again, was much surprised to see it shut of itself and barricade +itself with the two bolts. At the same time, the two doors of a large +press opened behind him, and rather darkened his study, because the +window, which was open, was behind these doors. + +"At this sight, the fright of M. de S. is more easy to imagine than to +describe; however, he had sufficient calmness left, to hear at his +left ear a distinct voice, which came from a corner of the closet, and +seemed to him to be about a foot above his head. This voice spoke to +him in very good terms during the space of half a _miserere_; and +ordered him, _theeing_ and _thouing_ him to do some one particular +thing, which he was recommended to keep secret. What he has made +public is that the voice allowed him a fortnight to accomplish it in; +and ordered him to go to a place, where he would find some persons who +would inform him what he had to do; and that it would come back and +torment him if he failed to obey. The conversation ended by an adieu. + +"After that, M. de S. remembers that he fainted and fell down on the +edge of a box, which caused him a pain in his side. The loud noise and +the cries which he afterwards uttered brought several people in haste +to the door, and after useless efforts to open it, they were going to +force it open with a hatchet, when they heard M. de S. dragging +himself towards the door, which he with much difficulty opened. +Disordered as he was, and unable to speak, they first of all carried +him to the fire, and then they laid him on his bed, where he received +all the compassion of the great prince, of whom I have already spoken, +who hastened to the house the moment this event was noised abroad. His +highness having caused all the recesses and corners of the house to be +inspected, and no one being found therein, wished that M. de S. should +be bled; but his surgeon finding he had a very feeble pulsation, +thought he could not do so without danger. + +"When he recovered from his swoon, his highness, who wished to +discover the truth, questioned him concerning his adventure; but he +only heard the circumstances I have mentioned--M. de S. having +protested to him that he could not, without risk to his life, tell him +more. + +"The spirit was heard of no more for a fortnight; but when that term +was expired--whether his orders had not been faithfully executed, or +that he was glad to come and thank M. de S. for being so exact--as he +was, during the night, lying in a little bed near the window of his +bed-room, his mother in the great bed, and one of his friends in an +arm-chair near the fire, they all three heard some one rap several +times against the wall, and such a blow against the window, that they +thought all the panes were broken. M. de S. got up that moment, and +went into his closet to see if this troublesome spirit had something +else to say to him; but when there, he could neither find nor hear +anything. And thus ended this adventure, which has made so much noise +and drawn so many inquisitive persons to St. Maur. + +"Now let us make some reflections on those circumstances which are the +most striking, and most likely to make any impression. + +"The noise which was heard several times during the night by the +master, the female servant, and the neighbors, is quite equivocal; +and the most prejudiced persons cannot deny that it may have been +produced by different causes which are all quite natural. + +"The same reply may be given as to the papers which were heard to +rustle, since a breath of air or a mouse might have moved them. + +"The moving of the bed is something more serious, because it is +reported to have been witnessed by several persons; but I hope that a +little reflection will dispense us from having recourse to fantastic +hands in order to explain it. + +"Let us imagine a bedstead upon castors; a person whose imagination is +impressed, or who wishes to enliven himself by frightening his +domestics, is lying upon it, and rolls about very much, complaining +that he is tormented. Is it surprising that the bedstead should be +seen to move, especially when the floor of the room is waxed and +rubbed? But, you will say, some of the witnesses even made useless +efforts to prevent this movement. Who are these witnesses? Two are +youths in the service of the patient, who trembled all over with +fright, and were not capable of examining the secret causes of this +movement; and the other has since told several people that he would +give ten pistoles not to have affirmed that he saw this bedstead +remove itself without help. + +"In regard to the voice, whose secret has been so carefully kept, as +there is no witness of it, we can only judge of it by the state in +which he who had been favored with this pretended revelation was +found. Repeated cries from the man who, hearing his closet door beaten +in, draws back the bolts which he had apparently drawn himself, his +eyes quite wild, and his whole person in extraordinary disorder, would +have caused the ancient heathens to take him for a sibyl full of +enthusiasm, and must appear to us rather the consequence of some +convulsion than of a conversation with a spiritual being. + +"Lastly, the violent blows given upon the walls and panes of glass, in +the night, in the presence of two witnesses, might make some +impression, if we were sure that the patient, who was lying directly +under the window in a small bed, had no part in the matter; for of the +two witnesses who heard this noise, one was his mother, and the other +an intimate friend, who, even reflecting on what he saw and heard, +declares that it can only be the effect of a spell. + +"How much good soever you may wish for this place, I do not believe, +sir, that what I have just remarked on the circumstances of the +adventure, will lead you to believe that it has been honored with an +angelic apparition; I should rather fear that, attributing it to a +disordered imagination, you may accuse the subtility of the air which +there predominates as having caused it. As I am somewhat interested +in not doing the climate of St. Maur such an injury, I am compelled to +add something else to what I have said of the person in question, in +order that you may know his character. + +"You need not be very clever in the art of physiognomy to remark in +his countenance the melancholy which prevails in his temperament. This +sad disposition, joined to the fever which has tormented him for some +time, carried some vapors to his brain, which might easily lead him to +believe that he heard all he has publicly declared; besides which, the +desire to divert himself by alarming his domestics may have induced +him to feign several things, when he saw that the adventure had come +to the ears of a prince who might not approve of such a joke, and be +severe upon it. Thus then, sir, you will think as I do, that the +report of the celebrated Marescot on the subject of the famous +Margaret Brossier agrees perfectly with our melancholy man, and well +explains his adventure: _a natura multa, plura ficta, a daemone nulla_. +His temperament has made him fancy he saw and heard many things; he +feigned still more in support of what his wanderings or his sport had +induced him to assert; and no kind of spirit has had any share in his +adventure. Without stopping to relate several effects of his +melancholy, I shall simply remark that an embarkation which he made on +one of the last _jours gras_, setting off at ten o'clock at night to +make the tour of the peninsula of St. Maur, in a boat where he covered +himself up with straw on account of the cold, appeared so singular to +the great prince before mentioned, that he took the trouble to +question him as to his motives for making such a voyage at so late an +hour. + +"I shall add that the discernment of his highness made him easily +judge whence this adventure proceeded, and his behavior on this +occasion has shown that he is not easily deceived. I do not think it +is allowable for me to omit the opinion of his father, a man of +distinguished merit, on this adventure of his son, when he learned all +the circumstances by a letter from his wife, who was at St. Maur. He +told several persons that he was certain that the spirit which acted +on this occasion was that of his wife and son. The author of the +relation was right in endeavoring to weaken such testimony; but I do +not know if he flatters himself that he has succeeded, in saying that +he who gave this opinion is an _esprit fort_, or freethinker who makes +it a point of honor to be of the fashionable opinion concerning +spirits. + +"Lastly, to fix your judgment and terminate agreeably this little +dissertation in which you have engaged me, I know of nothing better +than to repeat the words of a princess,[671] who is not less +distinguished at court by the delicacy of her wit than by her high +rank and personal charms. As they were conversing in her presence of +the singularity of the adventure which here happened at St. Maur, 'Why +are you so much astonished?' said she, with that gracious air which is +so natural to her; 'Is it surprising that the son should have to do +with spirits, since the mother sees the eternal Father three times +every week? This woman is very happy,' added the witty princess; 'for +my part, I should ask no other favor than to see him once in my life.' + +"Laugh with your friends at this agreeable reflection; but, above all, +take care, sir, not to make my letter public: it is the only reward +that I ask for the exactitude with which I have obeyed you on so +delicate an occasion. + + "I am, sir, + "Your very humble, &c. + +_St. Maur, May 8, 1706._" + + + + +APPROBATION. + + +"By order of the Lord Chancellor, this dissertation on what we must +think of spirits in general, and of that of St. Maur in particular, +has been read by me, and I have found nothing therein which ought to +hinder its being printed. + +"Done at Paris, the 17th of October, 1706. + (_Signed_) "LA MARQUE TILLADET. + +"The king's permission bears date the 21st November, 1706." + + +Footnotes: + +[662] St. Ambrose, Com. on St. Luke, i. c. 1. + +[663] Martha Brossier, daughter of a weaver at Romorantin, was shown +as a demoniac, in 1578. See De Thou on this subject, book cxxiii. and +tom. v. of the Journal of Henry III., edition of 1744, p. 206, &c. The +affair of Loudun took place in the reign of Louis XIII.; and Cardinal +Richelieu is accused of having caused this tragedy to be enacted, in +order to ruin Urban Grandier, the cure of Loudun, for having written a +cutting satire against him. + +[664] M. de Lannoy has made a particular dissertation De Causa +Secessionis S. Brunonis: he solidly refutes this fable. Nevertheless, +this event is to be found painted in the fine pictures of the little +monastery of the Chartreux at Paris. + +[665] Eliberitan Council, an. 305 or 313, in the kingdom of Grenada. +Others have thought, but mistakenly, that it was Collioure in +Roussillon. + +[666] Jesus, the son of Sirach, author of Ecclesiasticus, believes +this apparition to be true. Ecclus. xlvi. 23. + +[667] This story has been related in the former part of the work, but +more succinctly. + +[668] Arist. Treatise on Dreams and Vigils. + +[669] The Abbe de Vallemont, in his work on the Singularities of +Vegetation. Paris, 1 vol. 12mo. + +[670] This was a century and a half ago; but the Philosophical +Transactions record no account of any successful result to such +experiments. + +[671] Madame the Duchess-mother, daughter of the late king, Louis +XIV., and mother of the duke lately dead, of M. the Count de +Charolois, and of M. the Count de Clermont. + + + + + LETTER OF M. THE MARQUIS MAFFEI + ON MAGIC; + ADDRESSED TO + THE REVEREND + FATHER INNOCENT ANSALDI, + OF THE ORDER OF ST. DOMINIC; + TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN OF THE AUTHOR. + + +LETTER OF M. THE MARQUIS MAFFEI ON MAGIC. + + +MY REVEREND FATHER, + +It is to the goodness of your reverence, in regard to myself, that I +must attribute the curiosity you appear to feel to know what I think +concerning the book which the Sieur Jerome Tartarotti has just +published on the _Nocturnal Assemblies of the Sorcerers_. I reply to +you with the greatest pleasure; and I am going to tell my opinion +fully and unreservedly, on condition that you will examine what I +write to you with your usual acuteness, and that you will tell me +frankly whatever you remark in it, whether good or bad, and that may +appear to deserve either your approbation or your censure. I had +already read this book, and passed an eulogium on it, both for the +great erudition displayed therein by the author, as because he +refutes, in a very sensible manner, some ridiculous opinions with +which people are infatuated concerning sorcerers, and some other +equally dangerous abuses. But, to tell the truth, with that exception, +I am little disposed to approve it; if M. Muratori has done so in his +letter, which has been seen by several persons, either he has not read +the work through, or he and I on that point entertain very different +sentiments. In regard to my opinion, your reverence will see, by what +I shall say, that it is the same as your own on this subject, as you +have done me the favor to show by your letter. + +I. In this work there is laid down, in the first place, as a certain +and indubitable principle, the existence and reality of magic, and the +truth of the effects produced by it--superior, they say, to all +natural powers; he gives it the name of "diabolical magic," and +defines it, "The knowledge of certain superstitious practices, such as +words, verses, characters, images, signs (_qy._ moles), &c., by means +of which magicians succeed in their designs." For my part, I am much +inclined to believe that all the science of the pretended magicians +had no other design than to deceive others, and ended sometimes in +deceiving themselves; and that this magic, now so much vaunted, is +only a chimera. Perhaps even it would be giving one's self superfluous +trouble to undertake to show that everything related of those +nocturnal hypogryphes,[672] of those pretended journeys through the +air, of those assemblies and feasts of sorcerers, is only idle and +imaginary; because those fables being done away with would not prevent +that an infinite number of others would still remain, which have been +repeated and spread on the same subject, and which, although more +foolish and ridiculous than all the extravagances we read in romances, +are so much the more dangerous, because they are more easily believed. +It would, in the opinion of many, be doing these tales too much honor +to attempt to refute them seriously, as there is no one at this day, +in Italy, at least, even amongst the people, who has common sense, +that does not laugh at all that is said of the witches' sabbath, and +of those troops or bands of sorcerers who go through the air during +the night to assemble in retired spots and dance. It is true, that +notwithstanding, that if a man of any credit, whether amongst the +learned or persons of high dignity, maintains an opinion, he will +immediately find partisans; it will be useless to write or speak to +the contrary, it will not be the less followed; and it is hardly +possible that it can be otherwise, so many minds as there are, and so +many different ways of thinking. But here the only question is, what +is the common opinion, and what is most universally believed. It is +not my intention to compose a work expressly on magic, nor to enter +very lengthily on this matter; I shall only exhibit, in a few words, +the reasons which oblige me to laugh at it, and which induce me to +incline to the opinion of those who look upon it as a _pure_ illusion, +and a _real_ chimera. I must, first of all, give notice that you must +not be dazzled by the truth of the magical operations in the Old +Testament, as if from thence we could derive a conclusive argument to +prove the reality of the pretended magic of our own times. I shall +demonstrate this clearly at the end of this discourse, in which I hope +to show that my opinion on this subject is conformable to the +Scripture, and founded on the tradition of the fathers. Now, then, let +us speak of modern magicians. + +II. If there is any reality in this art, to which so many wonders are +ascribed, it must be the effect of a knowledge acquired by study, or +of the impiety of some one who renounces what he owes to God to give +himself up to the demon, and invokes him. It seems, in fact, that they +would sometimes attribute it to acquired knowledge, since in the book +I am combating the author often speaks "of the true mysteries of the +magic art;" and he asserts that few "are perfectly instructed in the +secret and difficult principles of this science;" which is not +surprising, he says, since "the life of man would hardly suffice" to +read all the works which have treated of it. He calls it sometimes the +"magical science," or "magical philosophy;" he carries back the origin +of it to the philosopher Pythagoras; he regards "ignorance of the +magic art as one of the reasons why we see so few magicians in our +days." He speaks only of the mysterious scale enclosed by Orpheus in +unity, in the numbers of two and twelve; of the harmony of nature, +composed of proportionable parts, which are the octave, or the +double, and the fifth, or one and a half; of strange and barbarous +names which mean nothing, and to which he attributes supernatural +virtues; of the concert or the agreement of the inferior and superior +parts of this universe, when understood; makes us, by means of certain +words or certain stones, hold intercourse with invisible substances; +of numbers and signs, which answer to the spirits which preside over +different days, or different parts of the body; of circles, triangles, +and pentagons, which have power to bind spirits; and of several other +secrets of the same kind, very ridiculous, to tell the truth, but very +fit to impose on those who admire everything which they do not +understand. + +III. But however thick may be the darkness with which nature is hidden +from us, and although we may know but very imperfectly the essential +principles and properties of things, who does not see, nevertheless, +that there can be no proportion, no connection, between circles and +triangles which we trace, or the long words which signify nothing, and +immaterial spirits? Can people not conceive that it is a folly to +believe that by means of a few herbs, certain stones, and certain +signs or characters, we can make ourselves obeyed by invisible +substances which are unknown to us? Let a man study as much as he will +the pretended soul of the world, the harmony of nature, the agreement +of the influence of all the parts it is composed of--is it not evident +that all he will gain by his labor will be terms and words, and never +any effects which are above the natural power of man? To be convinced +of this truth, it suffices to observe that the pretended magicians +are, and ever have been, anything but learned; on the contrary, they +are very ignorant and illiterate men. Is it credible that so many +celebrated persons, so many famous men, versed in all kinds of +literature, should never have been able or willing to sound and +penetrate the mysterious secrets of this art; and that of so many +philosophers spoken of by Diogenes Laertius, neither Plato, nor +Aristotle, nor any other, should have left us some treatise? It would +be useless to attack the opinions of the world at that time on this +subject. Do we not know with how many errors it has been infatuated in +all ages, and which, though shared in common, were not the less +mistakes? Was it not generally believed in former times, that there +were no antipodes? that according to whether the sacred fowls had +eaten or not, it was permitted or forbidden to fight? that the statues +of the gods had spoken or changed their place? Add to those things all +the knavery and artifice which the charlatans put in practice to +deceive and delude the people, and then can we be surprised that they +succeeded in imposing on them and gaining their belief? But let it not +be imagined, nevertheless, that everyone was their dupe, and that +amongst so many blind and credulous people there were not always to be +found some men sensible and clear-sighted enough to perceive the +truth. + +IV. To be convinced of this, let us only consider what was thought of +it by one of the most learned amongst the ancients, and we may say, +one of the most curious and attentive observers of the wonders of +nature--I speak of Pliny, who thus expresses himself at the beginning +of his Thirtieth Book;[673] "Hitherto I have shown in this work, every +time that it was necessary and the occasion presented itself, how very +little reality there is in all that is said of magic; and I shall +continue to do so as it goes on. But because during several centuries +this art, the most deceptive of all, has enjoyed great credit among +several nations, I think it is proper to speak of it more fully." "No +men are more clever in hiding their knaveries than magicians;" and in +seven or eight other places he endeavors to expose "their falsehoods, +their deceptions, the uselessness of their art," and laughs at it. But +one thing to which we should pay attention above all, is an invincible +argument which he brings forward against this pretended art. For after +having enumerated the diverse sorts of magic, which were employed with +different kinds of instruments, and in several different ways, and +from which they promised themselves effects that were "quite divine;" +that is to say, superior to all the force of nature, even of "the +power to converse with the shades and souls of the dead;" he adds, +"But in our days the Emperor Nero has discovered that in all these +things there is nothing but deceit and vanity." "Never prince," says +he, a little lower down, "sought with more eagerness to render himself +clever in any other art; and as he was the master of the world, it is +certain that he wanted neither riches, nor power, nor wit, nor any +other aid necessary to succeed therein. What stronger proof of the +falsity of this art can we have than to see that Nero renounced it?" +Suetonius informs us also, "That this prince uselessly employed magic +sacrifices to evoke the shade of his mother, and speak to her." Again, +Pliny says "that Tirdates the Mage (for it is thus it should be read, +and not Tiridates the Great, as it is in the edition of P. Hardouin), +having repaired to the court of Nero, and having brought several magi +with him, initiated this prince in all the mysteries of magic. +Nevertheless," he adds, "it was in vain for Nero to make him a present +of a kingdom--he could not obtain from him the knowledge of this art; +which ought to convince us that this detestable science is only +vanity, or, if some shadow of truth is to be met within it, its real +effects have less to do with the art of magic than the art of +poisoning." Seneca, who also was very clever, after having repeated a +law of the Twelve Tables, "which forbade the use of enchantments to +destroy the fruits of the earth," makes this commentary upon it: "When +our fathers were yet rude and ignorant, they imagined that by means of +enchantments rain could be brought down upon the ground, or could be +prevented from falling; but at this day it is so clear that both one +and the other is impossible, that to be convinced of it it does not +require to be a philosopher." It would be useless to collect in this +place an infinity of passages from the ancients, which all prove the +same thing; we can only __________ the book written by Hippocrates on +Caducity, which usually passed for the effect of the vengeance of the +gods, and which for that reason was called the "sacred malady." We +shall there see how he laughs "at magicians and charlatans," who +boasted of being able to cure it by their enchantments and expiations. +He shows there that by the profession which they made of being able to +darken the sun, bring down the moon to the earth, give fine or bad +weather, procure abundance or sterility, they seemed to wish to +attribute to man more power than to the Divinity itself, showing +therein much less religion than "impiety, and proving that they did +not believe in the gods." I do not speak of the fables and tales +invented by Philostrates on the subject of Apollonius of Thyana, they +have been sufficiently refuted by the best pens: but I must not omit +to warn you that the name of magic has been used in a good sense for +any uncommon science, and a sublimer sort of philosophy. It is in this +sense that it must be understood where Pliny says,[674] although +rather obscurely, "that Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, and Plato, +traveled a great deal to acquire instruction in it." For the rest, +people are naturally led to attribute to sorcery everything that +appears new and marvelous. Have not we ourselves, with M. Leguier, +passed for magicians in the minds of some persons, because in our +experiments on electricity they have seen us easily extinguish lights +by putting them near cold water, which then appeared an unheard-of +thing, and which many still firmly maintain even now cannot be done +without a tacit compact? It is true that in the effects of electricity +there is something so extraordinary and so wonderful, that we should +be more disposed to excuse those persons who could not easily believe +them to be natural than those who have fancied tacit compacts for +things which it would be much more easy to explain naturally. + +V. From what has just been said, it evidently results that it is folly +to believe that by means of study and knowledge one can ever attain +any of those marvelous effects attributed to magic; and it is +profaning the name of science to give it an imposture so grossly +imagined; it remains then that these effects might be produced by a +diabolical power. In fact, we read in the work in question that all +the effects of magic "must be attributed to the operation of the +demon; that it is in virtue of the compact, express or tacit, that he +has made with him that the magician works all these pretended +prodigies; and that it is in regard to the different effects of this +art, and the different ways in which they are produced, that authors +have since divided it into several classes." But I beg, at first, that +the reader will reflect seriously, if it is credible, that as soon as +some miserable woman or unlucky knave have a fancy for it, God, whose +wisdom and goodness are infinite, will ever permit the demon to appear +to them, instruct them, obey them, and that they should make a compact +with him. Is it credible that to please a scoundrel he would grant the +demon power to raise storms, ravage all the country by hail, inflict +the greatest pain on little innocent children, and even sometimes "to +cause the death of a man by magic?" Does any one imagine that such +things can be believed without offending God, and without showing a +very injurious mistrust of his almighty power? It has several times +happened to me, especially when I was in the army, to hear that some +wretched creatures had given themselves to the devil, and had called +upon him to appear to them with the most horrible blasphemies, without +his appearing to them for all that, or their attempts being followed +by any success. And, certainly, if to obtain what is promised by the +art of magic it sufficed to renounce God and invoke the devil, how +many people would soon perform the dreadful act? How many impious men +do we see every day who for money, or to revenge themselves on some +one, or to satisfy a criminal desire, rush without remorse into the +greatest excesses! How many wretches who are suffering in prison, at +the galleys, or otherwise, would have recourse to the demon to +extricate them from their troubles! It would be very easy for me to +relate here a great number of curious stories of persons generally +believed to be bewitched, of haunted houses, or horses rubbed down by +will-o'-the-wisp, which I have myself seen at different times and +places, at last reduced to nothing. This I can affirm, that two monks, +very sensible men, who had exercised the office of inquisitors, one +for twenty-four years, and the other during twenty-eight, have +assured me that of different accusations of sorcery which had been +laid before them, and which appeared to be well proved, after having +examined them carefully and maturely, they had not found one which was +not mere knavery. How can any one imagine that the devil, who is the +father of lies, should teach the magician the true secret of this art; +and that this spirit, full of pride, of which he is the source, should +teach an enchanter the means of forcing him to obey him? As soon as we +rise above some old prejudices, which make us excuse those who in past +ages gave credence to such follies, can we put faith in certain +extravagant opinions, as what is related of demons, incubes, and +seccubes, from a commerce with whom it is pretended children are born. +Who will believe in our days that Ezzelin was the son of a +will-o'-the-wisp? But can anything more strange be thought of than +what is said of tacit compacts? They will have it, that when any one, +of whatever country he may be, and however far he may be from wishing +to make any compact with the devil, every time he shall say certain +words, or make certain signs, a certain effect will follow; if I, who +am perfectly ignorant of this convention, should happen to pronounce +these same words, or make the same signs, the same effect ought to +follow. They say that whoever makes a compact with the devil has a +right to oblige him to produce a certain effect, not only when he +shall make himself, for instance, certain figures, but also every time +that they shall be made by any other person you please, at any time, +or in any place whatever, and although the intention may be quite +different. Certainly nothing is more proper to humble us than such +ideas, and to show how very little man can count on the feeble light +of his mind. Of all the extraordinary things said to have been +performed by tacit compacts, many are absolutely false, and others +have occurred quite differently than as they are related; some are +true, and such as require no need of the demon's intervention to +explain them. + +VI. The evidence of these reasons seems to suffice to prove that all +which is said of magic in our days is merely chimerical; but because, +in reply to the substantial difficulties which were proposed to him by +the Count Rinaldi Carli, the author of the book pretends that to deny +is a heretical opinion condemned by the laws, it is proper to examine +this article again. For the first proof of its reality, is advanced +the general consent of all mankind; the tradition of all nations; +stories and witnesses _ad infinitum_ of theologians, philosophers, and +jurisconsults; whence he concludes "that its existence cannot be +denied, or even a doubt cast upon it, without sapping the foundations +of what is called human belief." But the little I have said in No. IV. +alone suffices to prove how false is this assertion concerning this +pretended general consent. Horace, who passes for one of the wisest +and most enlightened men amongst the ancients, reckons, on the +contrary, among the virtues necessary to an honest man, the not +putting faith in what is said concerning magic, and to laugh at it. +His friend, believing himself very virtuous because he was not +avaricious--"That is not sufficient," said he: "are you exempt from +every other vice and every other fault; not ambitious, not passionate, +fearless of death? Do you laugh at all that is told of dreams, magical +operations, miracles, sorcerers, ghosts, and Thessalian +wonders?"[675]--that is to say, in one word, of all kinds of magic. +What is the aim of Lucian, in his Dialogue entitled "Philopseudis," +but to turn into ridicule the magic art? and also is it not what he +proposed to himself in the other, entitled "The Ass," whence Apuleius +derived his "Golden Ass?" It is easy to perceive that in all this +work, wherein he speaks so often, the power ascribed to magic of +making rivers return to their source, staying the course of the sun, +darkening the stars, and constraining the gods themselves to obey it, +he had no other intention than to laugh at it, which he certainly +would not have done if he had believed it able to produce, as they +pretend, effects beyond those of nature. It is, then, jokingly and +ironically that he says they see wonders worked "by the invincible +power of magic,"[676] and by the blind necessity which imposes upon +the gods themselves to be obedient to it. The poor man thinking he was +to be changed into a bird, had had the grief to see himself +metamorphosed into an ass, through the mistake of a woman who in a +hurry had mistaken the box, and giving him one ointment for another. +The most usual terms made use of by the ancients, in speaking of +magic, were "play" and "badinage," which plainly shows that they saw +nothing real in it. St. Cyprian, speaking of the mysteries of the +magicians, calls them "hurtful and juggling operations." "If by their +delusions and their jugglery," says Tertullian, "the charlatans seem +to perform many wonders." And in his treatise on the soul, he +exclaims, "What shall we say of magic? what almost all the world says +of it--that it is mere knavery." Arnobius calls it, "the sports of the +magic art;" and on these words of Minutius Felix, "all the marvels +which they seem to work by their _jugglery_," his commentator remarks +that the word _badinage_ is in this place the proper term. This manner +of expressing himself shows what was then the common opinion of all +wise persons. "Let the farmer," says Columella, "frequent with neither +soothsayers nor witches, because by their foolish superstitions they +all cause the ignorant to spend much money, and thence they lead them +to be criminal." We learn from Suidas, "that those were called +magicians who filled their heads with vain imaginations." Thus, when +speaking of one of these imposters, Dante was right when he said[677] +"he knew all the trickery and knavery of the magic art." Thus, then, +it is not true that a general belief in the art of magic has ever +prevailed; and if, in our days, any one would gather the voice and +opinion of men of letters, and the most celebrated academies, I am +persuaded that hardly would one or two in ten be found who were +convinced of its existence. It would not be, at least, one of the +learned friends of the author of the book in question, who having been +consulted by the latter on this matter, answers him in these +terms--"Magic is a ridiculous art, which has no reality but in the +head of a madman, who fancies that he is able to lead the devil to +satisfy all his wishes." I have read in some catalogues which come +from Germany, that they are preparing to give the public a "Magic +Library:" _oder grundliche nagrichen_, &c. It is a vast collection of +different writings, all tending to prove the uselessness and +insufficiency of magic. I must remark that the poets have greatly +contributed to set all these imaginations in vogue. Without this +fruitful source, what becomes of the most ingenious fictions of Homer? +We may say as much of Ariosto and of our modern poets. For the rest, +what I have before remarked concerning Pliny must not be +forgotten--that in the ancient authors, the word magic is often +equivocal. For in certain countries, they gave the name of magi, or +magicians, to those who applied as a particular profession to the +study of astronomy, philosophy, or medicine; in others, philosophers +of a certain sect were thus called: for this, the preface of Diogenes +Laertius can be consulted. Plato writes that in Persia, by the name of +magic was understood "the worship of the gods." "According to a great +number of authors," says Apuleius, in his Apology, "the Persians +called those magi to whom we give the name of priests." St. Jerome, +writing against Jovinian, thus expresses himself--"Eubulus, who wrote +the history of Mithras, in several volumes, relates that among the +Persians they distinguish three kinds of magi, of whom the first are +most learned and the most eloquent," &c. Notwithstanding that, there +are still people to be found, who confound the chimera of pretended +diabolical magic with philosophical magic, as Corneillus Agrippa has +done in his books on "Secret Philosophy." + +VII. Another reason which is brought forward to prove the reality and +the power of the magic art, is that the laws decree the penalty of +death against enchanters. "What idea," says he, "could we have of the +ancient legislators, if we believe them capable of having recourse to +such rigorous penalties to repress a chimera, an art which produced no +effect?" Upon which it is proper to observe that, supposing this error +to be universally spread, it would not be impossible that even those +who made the laws might suffer themselves to be prejudiced by them; in +which case, we might make the same commentary on Seneca, applied, as +we have seen, to the Twelve Tables. But I go further still. This is +not the place to speak of the punishments decreed in the Scripture +against the impiety of the Canaanites, who joined to idolatry the most +extravagant magic. In regard to the Greek laws, of which authors have +preserved for us so great a number, I do not remember that they +anywhere make mention of this crime, or that they subject it to any +penalty. I can say the same of the Roman laws, contained in the +Digest. It is true that in the Code of Theodosius, and in that of +Justinian, there is an entire title concerning _malefactors_, in which +we find many laws which condemn to the most cruel death magicians of +all kinds; but are we not forced to confess that this condemnation was +very just? Those wretches boasted that they were able to occasion when +they pleased public calamities and mortalities; with this aim, they +kept their charms and dark plots as secret as it was possible, which +led the Emperor Constans to say, "Let all the magicians, in whatever +part of the empire they may be found, be looked upon as the public +enemies of mankind." What does it matter, in fact, that they made +false boastings, and that their attempts were useless? "In evil +doings," says the law, "it is the will, and not the event, which makes +the crime." Also, Constantine wills that those amongst them should be +pardoned who professed to cure people by such means, and to preserve +the products of the earth. But in general these kind of persons aimed +only at doing harm; for which reason the laws ordain that they should +be regarded as "public enemies." The least harm they could be accused +of was deluding the people, misleading the simple, and causing by that +means an infinity of trouble and disorder. Besides that, of how many +crimes were they not guilty in the use of their spells? It was that +which led the Emperor Valentinian to decree the pain of death "against +whomsoever should work at night, by impious prayers and detestable +sacrifices, at magic operations." Sometimes even they adroitly made +use of some other way to procure the evil which they desired to cause; +after which, they gave out that it must be attributed to the power of +their art. But what is the use of so many arguments? Is it not certain +that the first step taken by those who had recourse to magic was to +renounce God and Jesus Christ, and to invoke the demon? Was not magic +looked upon as a species of idolatry; and was not that sufficient to +render this crime capital, should the punishment have depended on the +result? Honorius commanded that these kind of people should be treated +with all the rigor of the laws, "unless they would promise to conform +for the future to what was required by the Catholic religion, after +having themselves, in presence of the bishops, burned the pernicious +writings which served to maintain their error." + +VIII. What is remarkable is, that if ever any one laughed at magic, it +must certainly be the author in question--since all his book only +tends to prove that there are no witches, and that all that is said of +them is merely foolish and chimerical. But what appears surprising is, +that at the same time he maintains that while in truth there are no +witches, but that there are enchantresses or female magicians; that +witchcraft is only a chimera, but that diabolical magic is very real. +Is not that, as it appears to some, denying and affirming at the same +time the same thing under different names? Tibullus took care not to +make nothing of these distinctions, when he said: "As I was promised +by a witch, whose magical operations never fail." While treating in +this book of witchcraft and magic, it is affirmed that the demon +intervenes on both, and that both work wonders." But if that is true, +it is impossible to find any difference between them. If both perform +wonders, and that by the intervention of the demon, they are then +essentially the same. After that, is it not a contradiction to say +that the magician acts and the witch has no power--that the former +commands the devil and the latter obeys him--that magic is founded on +compacts, expressed or tacit, while in witchcraft there is nothing but +what is imaginary and chimerical? What reason is given for this? If +the demon is always ready to appear to any one who invokes him, and is +ready to enter into compact with him, why does he not show himself as +directly to her whom the author terms a witch as to her to whom he is +pleased to give the more respectable title of enchantress? If he is +disposed to appear and take to himself the worship and adoration which +are due to God alone, what matters it to him whether they proceed from +a vile or a distinguished person, from an ignoramus or a learned man? +The principal difference which the author admits between witchcraft +and magic, is, that the latter "belongs properly to priests, doctors, +and other persons who cultivate learning;" whilst witchcraft is purely +fanaticism, "which only suits the vulgar and poor wretched women;" +"also, it does not," says he, "derive its origin from philosophy or +any other science, and has no foundation but in popular stories." For +my part, I think it is very wrong that so much honor should here be +paid to magic. I have proved above in a few words, by the authority of +several ancient authors, that the most sensible men have always made a +jest of it; that they have regarded it only as a play and a game; and +that after having spared neither application nor expense, a Roman +emperor could never succeed in beholding any effect. I have even +remarked the equivocation of the name, which has often caused these +popular opinions with philosophy and the sublimest sciences. But I +think I can find in the book itself of the author, enough to prove +that one cannot in fact make this distinction, since he says therein +"that superstitious practices, such as figures, characters, +conjurations, and enchantments, passing from one to the other, and +coming to the knowledge of these unhappy women, operate in virtue of +the tacit consent which they give to the operation of the demon." +There then all distinction is taken away. He says again that, +according to some, "nails, pins, bones, coals, packets of hair, or +rags, found by the head, of children's beds, are indications of a +compact express or tacit, because of the resemblance to the symbols +made use of by true magicians." Thus, then, witches and those who are +here styled _true magicians_ employ equally the same follies; they +equally place confidence in imaginary compacts--and consequently they +should both be classed in the same category. + +IX. It is proper to notice here that it is not so great a novelty as +is generally believed, to make a distinction between witches and +magicians. Nearly two hundred years ago James Wier, a doctor by +profession, had already said the same thing. Never did an author write +more at length upon this matter; you may consult the sixth edition of +his book, _De Praestigiis Daemonum et Incantationibus_, published at +Basle. He there proves that witches ought not to be condemned to +death, because they are women whose brain is disturbed; because all +the crimes that are imputed to them are imaginary, having no reality +but in their ill will, and none at all in the execution; lastly, +because, according to the rules of the soundest jurisprudence, the +confession of having done impossible things is of no weight, and +cannot serve as the foundation of condemnation. He shows how these +foolish old women come to believe that they have held intercourse with +some evil spirit, or been carried through the air; so far nothing can +be better; but otherwise, being persuaded that there are really magic +wonders,[678] and thinking that he has himself experienced something +of the kind, he will have magicians severely punished. He says,[679] +"that very often they are learned men, who, to acquire this diabolical +art, have traveled a great deal; and who, learned[680] in Goesy and +Theurgy,[681] whether through the demon or through study,[682] make +use of strange terms, characters, exorcisms, and imprecations;" employ +"sacred words and divine names, and neglect nothing which can render +them skillful in the black art;"[683] which makes them deserving of +the punishment of death.[684] "But," according to him, "there is a +great difference between magicians and witches, inasmuch as these +latter[685] make use neither of books, nor exorcisms, nor characters, +but have only their mind and imagination corrupted by the demon." He +calls witches "those women who pass for doing a great deal of harm, +either by virtue[686] of some imaginary compact, or by their own will, +or some diabolical instinct;" and who, having their brain deranged, +confess they have done many things, which they never have nor could +have performed. "Magicians,"[687] he says, "are led of themselves, and +by their own inclination, to learn this forbidden art, and seek +masters who can instruct them in it; wizards, on the contrary, seek +neither masters nor instructions; but the devil takes possession of +those women," whom he thinks the most likely to be deceived, "on +account of their old age, of their melancholy temperament, or their +poverty and misery." Everybody must see, and I have sufficiently shown +it already, to how many difficulties and contradictions all this +doctrine is subject; what we must conclude from it is, that wizards as +well as magicians have equally recourse to the demon, and place their +hope in him, without either of them ever obtaining what they wish. The +author sometimes believes he renders what he says of the power of +magic, and in short reduces it to nothing, by saying, that all the +wonderful effects attributed to it have no reality, and are but +illusions and vain phantoms; but he does not remark that it is even +miraculous to cause to appear that which is not. Whether the wands of +Pharaoh's magicians were really metamorphosed into serpents, or that +they appeared to be thus changed to the eyes of the beholders, would +either of them equally surpass all the power and industry of men. I +shall not amuse myself with discussing largely many inutilities which +may be found in this work; for instance, he does not fail to relate +the impertinent story of the pretended magic of Sylvester II., which, +as Panvinius has shown, had no other foundation than this pope's being +much given to the study of mathematics and philosophy. + +X. It is owned in the new book, that it is very likely some woman may +be found "who, with the help of the demon, may be capable of +performing a great many things even hurtful to mankind," and that by +virtue "of a compact, express or tacit;" and it is added, that it +cannot be denied that it may be, without absolutely denying the +reality of magic. But when, so far from denying it, every effort on +the contrary is made to establish it; when it is loudly maintained +that persons may be found who, with the assistance of the demon, are +able to produce real effects, even of doing harm to people; how, after +that, can it be denied that there are witches, since, according to the +common opinion, witchcraft is nothing else? Let them, if they will, +regard as a fable what is said of their journeys through the air to +repair to their nocturnal meetings; what will he gain by that, if, +notwithstanding that, he believes that they possess the power to kill +children by their spells, to send the devil into the body of the first +person who presents himself, and a hundred other things of the same +kind? He says, that "to render the presents which he makes more +precious and estimable, and the more to be desired, the demon sells +them very dear, as if he could not be excited to act otherwise than by +employing powerful means, and making use of a most mysterious and very +hidden art," which, doubtless, he would have witches ignorant of, and +known only to magicians. But then they pretend that this art can be +learned only from the devil, and to obtain it from him they say that +he must be invoked and worshiped. Now, as there is hardly an impious +character, who, having taken it into his head to operate something +important by his charms or spells, would not be disposed to go to that +shocking extreme, we cannot see why one should succeed in what he +wishes, whilst the other does not succeed; nor what distinction can be +made between rascals and madmen, who are precisely of a kind. I hold +even, that if the reality and power of magic are granted, we could not +without great difficulty refuse to those who profess it the power of +entering places shut up, and of going through the air to their +nocturnal assemblies. It will, doubtless, be said that that is +impossible, and surpasses the power of man; but who can affirm it, +since we know not how far the power of the rebel angels extends? + +I remember to have formerly heard some persons at Rome reason very +sensibly on the difficulty there is sometimes of deciding upon the +truth of a miracle, which difficulty is founded on our ignorance of +the extent of the powers of nature. + +[[688] It is true that it would be dangerous to carry this principle +too far; doubtless, we are not to deduce from it that nothing ever +happens but what is natural, as if the Sovereign Author of all had in +some measure bound his hands, and had not reserved unto himself the +liberty to comply with the wishes and prayers of his servants--of +sometimes according favors which manifestly surpass the powers he has +granted to nature. It may often happen that we doubt whether an effect +is natural or supernatural; but also how many effects do we see on +which no sensible and rational person can form a doubt, good sense +concurring with the soundest philosophy to teach us that certain +wonders can only happen by a secret and divine virtue? One of the most +certain proofs which can be had of this is the sudden and durable cure +of certain long and cruel maladies. I know that simple and pious +persons have sometimes attributed to a miracle cures which might very +well be looked upon as purely natural; but what can be opposed to +certain extraordinary facts which have sometimes happened to very wise +and wide-awake persons, in the presence of sensible and judicious +witnesses who have attested them, and confirmed by the report of the +cleverest physicians, who have shown their astonishment at them? In +this city of Verona, where I live, an event of this kind happened very +recently, and it has excited the wonder of every one; but as the truth +of it is not yet juridically attested I abstain from relating it. But +such is not the case with a similar fact, verified, ten years ago, +after the strictest examination. I speak of the miraculous cure of +Dame Victoire Buri, of the monastery of St. Daniel, who after a +chronic ague of nearly five years' duration, after having been +tortured for several days with a stitch in her side, or acute pain, +and with violent colics--having, in short, lost her voice, and fallen +into a languid state, received the holy viaticum on the day of the +fete of St. Louis de Gonzaga. In this condition, having fervently +recommended herself to the intercession of the saint, she in one +moment felt her strength return, her pains ceased, and she began to +cry out that she was cured. At these cries the abbess and the nuns ran +to her; she dressed herself, went up the stairs alone and without +assistance, and repaired to the choir with the others to render thanks +to God for her recovery. I had the curiosity to wish to inform myself +personally of the fact and of these circumstances, and after having +interrogated the lady herself, those who had witnessed her cure, and +the physicians who had attended her, I remained fully convinced of the +truth of the fact. I, I repeat, whose defect is not that of being too +credulous, as it sufficiently appears by what I write here. + +Again, I may say, that finding myself fourteen years ago at Florence, +I was in that city acquainted with a young girl, named Sister +Catherine Biondi, of the third order of St. Francis; through her +prayers a lady was cured in a moment and for ever of a very painful +dislocation. This circumstance was known by everybody, and I have no +doubt that it will one day be juridically attested. For myself, I +believe I obtained several singular favors of God through the +intercession of this holy maiden, to whose intercession I have +recommended myself several times since her death. The wise and learned +father Pellicioni, abbot of the order of St. Benedict, her confessor, +said that if we knew the life and family arrangements of this inferior +sister, we should soon be delivered from all sorts of temptations +against faith. + +In effect, what things we are taught by these facts, which remain as +if buried in oblivion! What subtile questions are cleared up by them +in a very short time! Why do not the learned, who shine in other +communions, give themselves the trouble to assure themselves of only +one of these facts, as it would be very easy for them to do? One alone +suffices to render evident the truth of the catholic dogmas. There is +not one article of controversy for the defence of which it would not +be necessary to compose a folio; whereas, only one of these facts +decides them all instantly. We advance but little by disputation, +because each one seeks only to show forth his own wit and erudition, +and no one will give up a point; while by this method all becomes so +evident that no reply remains in answer to it. And who could imagine +that among so many miracles verified on the spot, in different places, +and reported in the strictest examinations made for the canonization +of saints, there would not be one which was true? To do so, we must +refuse to believe anything at all, and to make use of one's reason. +But when one of these facts becomes so notorious that there is no +longer room to doubt it, if after that some difficulty presents itself +to our feeble mind, which, so far from grasping the infinite, has only +most confused knowledge of material bodies, will not any one who +wishes to reason upon them be obliged to decide them suddenly by +saying, "I do not understand it at all, but I believe the whole?" +Those also, who, through the high opinion they have of their own +knowledge, laugh at all which is above them; what can these men oppose +to facts, in which Divine Providence shines forth in a manner so +evident not only to the mind but to the eyes? In regard to those who, +from the bad education which they have received, or from the idle and +voluptuous life which they lead, stagnate in gross ignorance; with +what facility would not one of these well-proved facts instruct them +in what they most require to know, and enlighten them in a moment on +every subject?] + +To return to my subject. If it is sometimes difficult to decide on the +truth of a miracle, how much more difficulty would there be in +observing all the qualities which suit the superior and spiritual +nature, and prescribing limits to it. In regard to the penalties which +the author would have them inflict on magicians and witches, +pretending that the former are to be treated with rigor, while, on +the contrary, we must be indulgent to the latter, I do not see any +foundation for it. Charity would certainly have us begin by +instructing an old fool, who, having her fancy distorted, or her heart +perverted, from having read, or heard related, certain things, will +condemn herself, by avowing crimes which she has not committed. But if +we are told, for instance, that, after having made a little image, an +ignoramus has pierced it several times, muttering some ridiculous +words, how can we distinguish whether this charm is to be attributed +to sorcery or magic? and consequently, how can we know whether it +ought to be punished leniently or rigorously? However it may be done, +no effect will follow it, as has often been proved; and whether the +spell is the work of a magician or a wizard, the person aimed at by it +will not be in worse health. We must only remark, that although +ineffectual, the attempt of such wizards is not less a crime, since to +arrive at that point, "they must have renounced all their duty to God, +and have made themselves the slaves of the demon:" also do they avow +that to cast their spells they must "give up Jesus Christ, and +renounce the baptismal rite." It is commonly held that "the demons +appear to them, and cause themselves to be worshiped by them." This is +certainly not the case; but if it were so, why should witches have +less power than magicians? and on what foundation can it be asserted +that they are less criminal? + +XI. Now, then, let us come to the point, which has deceived many, and +which still deludes some. Because in the Scripture, in the Old +Testament, magic is often spoken of as it then was, they conclude that +it still exists, and is on the same footing at this day. To that a +reply is easy. Before the advent of the Saviour, the demon had that +power; but he no longer possesses it, since Jesus Christ by his death +consummated the great work of our redemption. It is what St. John +clearly teaches in the Apocalypse, when he says[689]--"I saw an angel +descend from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the well of the +abyss, and a long chain with which he enchained the dragon, the old +serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and he bound him for a thousand +years." The Evangelist here makes use of the term "a thousand years" +to designate a period both very long and indeterminate, since we read, +a little lower down, that the demon shall be unbound at the coming of +Antichrist.[2] And "after a thousand years," says St. John, "Satan +shall be unbound, and shall come out of his prison." Whence it +happens, that in the time of Antichrist all the wonders of magic shall +be renewed, as the apostle tells us, when he says[691] that his +arrival shall be marked with the greatest wonders that Satan is +capable of working, and by all sorts of signs and lying prodigies. +But till then, "the prince of this world," that is to say, the demon, +"will be cast out." Which made St. Peter say, that in ascending to +heaven, Jesus Christ has subjugated "the angels, the powers, and the +virtues;" and St. Paul says, that "he has enriched himself with the +spoils of principalities and powers;" and that "when he shall give up +the kingdom to God even the Father, and destroyed all principalities, +and powers, and rule." These various names indicate the different +orders of reprobate spirits, as we learn from different parts of the +New Testament. Now, to understand that the might and power which the +demon has been deprived of by the Saviour, is precisely that which he +had enjoyed until then of deceiving the world by magical practices, it +is proper to observe, that until the coming of Jesus Christ there were +three ways or means by which the reprobate spirits exercised their +power and malice upon men:--1. By tempting them and leading them to do +evil. 2. By entering into their bodies and possessing them. 3. By +seconding magical operations, and sometimes working wonders, to wrest +the worship which was due to Him. At this day, of these three kinds of +power, the demon has certainly not lost the first by the coming of the +Saviour, since we know with what determination he has continued since +then, and daily does continue, to tempt us. Neither has he been +deprived of the second, since we still find persons who are possessed; +and it cannot be denied, that even since Jesus Christ, God has often +permitted this kind of possession to chastise mankind, and serve as a +warning. Thence it remains, that the demon has only been absolutely +despoiled of the third; and that it is in this sense we must +understand what St. Paul says, "that Satan has been enchained." Thence +it comes, that since the death of our Saviour all these diabolical +______ having no longer the same success as before, those who until +then had made a profession of them, brought their books to the +apostles' feet, and burned them in their presence." For that these +books treated principally of magic, we learn from St. Athanasius, who +alludes to this part of the Scripture, when he says, that "those who +had been celebrated for this art burned their books." It is not that, +even in the most distant time, braggarts and impostors have been +wanting who falsely boasted of what they could not perform. Thus we +read in Ecclesiasticus--"Who will pity the enchanter that is bitten by +the serpent?" In the time of St. Paul, some exorcists, who were Jews, +ran about the country, vainly endeavoring to expel demons; this was +the case with seven sons of one of the chief priests at Ephesus. It is +this prejudice which made Josephus believe[692] that in the presence +of Vespasian and all his court attendants, a Jew had expelled demons +from the bodies of the possessed by piercing their nose with a ring, +in which had been encased a root pointed out by Solomon. In his +narrative of this event, we may see, in truth, that the demons were +obliged to give some sign of their exit; but who does not perceive +that what he relates can proceed only from one who has suffered +himself to be deceived, or who seeks to deceive others? + +XII. From what I have said, it is obvious, that if in the Old +Testament the magic power, and the prodigies worked by magic, are +often spoken of, there is in return no mention made of it in the New. +It is true, that as the world was never wanting in impostors, who +sought to appropriate to themselves the name and reputation of +magician, we find two of these seducers named in the Acts of the +Apostles. The one is Elymas,[693] who, in the isle of Cyprus, wished +to turn the attention of the Roman proconsul from listening to the +preaching of the apostles, and for that was punished with blindness. +The other is Simon, who for a long time preaching in Samaria that he +was something great, had misled all the people of that city, so that +he was generally regarded there as a sort of divine man, because +"through the effect of his magic he had for a long time turned the +heads of all the inhabitants;" that is to say, he had seduced and +dazzled them by his knaveries, as has often happened in many other +places. For it is evidently shown that he could never succeed in +working any wonder, not only by the silence of the Scripture on that +point, but also on seeing the miracles of St. Philip he was so +surprised at them, and so filled with admiration, that he directly +asked to be baptized, and never after quitted this apostle. But having +offered some money to St. Peter, in order to obtain from him the +apostolical gift, he was severely reprimanded by him, and threatened +with the most terrible punishments, to which he made no other reply +than to entreat the apostles to intercede for him themselves with +Jesus Christ, that nothing of the kind might happen to him. This is +all we have that is certain and authentic on the subject of Simon the +magician. But in times nearer to the apostles, the authors of +apocryphal books and stories invented at pleasure, profited well by +the profession of magic, which Simon had for a long time skillfully +practiced; and because the magic art is fruitful in wonders, which +certainly render a narrative agreeable and amusing, they attributed +endless prodigies to him; amongst others they imagined that, in a sort +of public discussion between him and St. Peter, he raised himself into +the air, and was precipitated from thence to the ground at the prayers +of that apostle. Sigebert mentions this, and, if I mistake not, it has +appeared in print at Florence. The most ancient apocryphal works +which remain to us, are the Recognitions of St. Clement, and the +Apostolical Constitutions. In the first, they make Simon say that he +can render himself invisible, traverse the most frightful precipices, +fall from a great height without hurting himself, bind with his own +bonds those who enchained him, open fastened doors, animate statues, +pass through fire without burning himself, change his form, +metamorphose himself into a goat or a sheep, fly in the air, &c. In +the second they make St. Peter say, that Simon being at Rome, and gone +to the theatre about noon, he ordered the people to go back and make +room for him, promising them that he would rise up into the air. It is +added, that he did in effect rise up into the air, carried by the +demons, saying he was ascending to heaven, at which all the people +applauded; but at that moment St. Peter's prayers were successful, and +Simon was hurled down, after he had spoken beforehand to him, as if +they had been close to each other. You can read the whole story, which +is evidently false and ill-imagined. It is true that these old +writings, and a few others of the same kind, have served to deceive +some of the fathers and ecclesiastical authors, who, without examining +into the truth, have permitted themselves to go with the stream, and +have followed the public opinion, upon which many things might be said +did time allow. How, for instance, can any one unhesitatingly believe +that St. Jerome could ever have written that St. Peter went to Rome, +not to plant the faith in that capital, and establish therein the +first seat of Christianity, but to expel from thence Simon the +magician? Is there not, on the contrary, reason to suspect that these +few words have passed in ancient times, from a note inadvertently +placed in the margin, into the text itself? But to confine myself +within the limits of my subject, I say that it suffices to pay +attention to the impure source of so many doubtful books, published +under feigned names, by the diversity and contradiction which +predominate amongst them relatively to the circumstance in question, +by the silence, in short, of the sovereign pontiffs and other writers +upon the same, even of the profane authors who ought principally to +speak of it, to remain convinced that all that is said of it, as well +as all the other prodigies ascribed to the magic power of Simon, is +but a fable founded solely on public report. Is there not even an +ancient inscription, which is thought to be still in existence, and +which, according to the copy that I formerly took of it at Rome, +bears: "Sanco Sancto Semoni Deo Filio," which upon the equivoque of +the name, has been applied to Simon the magician by St. Justin, and +upon his authority by some other writers, which occasioned P. Pagi to +say on the year 42, "That St. Justin was deceived either by a +resemblance of name, or by some unfaithful relation;" but that which +must above all decide this matter is the testimony of Origen, who says +that indeed Simon could deceive some persons in his time by magic, but +that soon after he lost his credit so much, that there were not in all +the world thirty persons of his sect to be found, and that only in +Palestine, his name never having been known elsewhere; so far was it +from true that he had been to Rome, worked miracles there, and had +statues raised to him in that capital of the world! Origen concludes +by saying, that where the name of Simon was known, it was so only by +the Acts of the Apostles, and that the truth of the circumstances +evidently shows that there was nothing divine in this man, that is to +say, nothing miraculous or extraordinary. In a word, the Acts of the +Apostles relate no wonder of him, because the Saviour had destroyed +all the power of magic. + +XIII. To render this principle more solid still, after having based it +upon the Scripture, I am going to establish again with my usual +frankness, upon tradition, and show that it is truly in this sense the +passages in the fathers, and ancient ecclesiastical writers, must be +understood. I begin with St. Ignatius the Martyr, bishop, and +successor of the apostles in the pulpit of Antioch. This father, in +the first of the Epistles which are really his, speaking of the birth +of the Saviour, and of the star which then appeared, adds, "Because +all the power of magic vanished, all the bonds of malice were broken, +ignorance was abolished, and the old kingdom of Satan destroyed;" on +which the learned Cotelerius makes this remark: "It was also at that +time that all the illusions of magic ceased, as is attested by so many +celebrated authors." Tertullian, in the book which he has written on +Idolatry, says, "We know the strict union there is between magic and +astrology. God permitted that science to reign on the earth till the +time of the Gospel, in order that after the birth of Jesus Christ no +one might be found who should undertake to read in the heavens the +happiness or misfortunes of any person whomsoever." A little after, he +adds: "It is thus that, till the time of the Gospel, God tolerated on +the earth that other kind of magic which performs wonders, and dared +even to enter into rivalry with Moses." + +Origen, in his books against Celsus, speaking of the three magi, and +the star which appeared to them, says that then the power of magic +extended so far, that there was no art more powerful and more divine; +but at the birth of the Saviour hell was disconcerted, the demons lost +their power, all their spells were destroyed, and their might passed +away. The magi wishing them to perform their enchantments and their +usual works, and not being able to succeed, sought the reason; and +having seen that new star appear in the heavens, they conjectured that +"He who was to command all spirits was born," which decided them to go +and adore him. + +St. Athanasius, in his treatise on the Incarnation, teaches that the +Saviour has delivered all creatures from the deceits and illusions of +Satan, and that he has enriched himself, as St. Paul says, with the +spoils of principalities and powers. "When is it," he says afterwards, +"that the oracles have ceased to reply throughout all Greece, but +since the advent of the Saviour on earth? When did they begin to +despise the magic art? Is it not since mankind began to enjoy the +divine presence of the Word? Formerly," he continues, "the demons +deluded men by divers phantoms, and attaching themselves to rivers and +fountains, stones and wood, they drew by their allusions the +admiration of weak mortals; but since the advent of the Divine Word, +all their stratagems have passed away." A little while after, he adds, +"But what shall we say of that magic they held in such admiration? +Before the incarnation of the Word, it was in honor among the +Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the Indians, and won the admiration of those +nations by prodigies; but since the Truth has come down to earth, and +the Word has shown himself amongst men, this power has been destroyed, +and is itself fallen into oblivion." In another place, refuting the +Gentiles, who ascribed the miracles of the Saviour to magic, "They +call him a magician," says he, "but can they say that a magician would +destroy all sorts of magic, instead of working to establish it?" + +In his Commentary on Isaiah, St. Jerome joins this interpretation to +several passages in the prophet--"Since the advent of the Saviour, all +that must be understood in an allegorical sense; for all the error of +the waters of Egypt, and all the pernicious arts which deluded the +nations who suffered themselves to be infatuated by them, have been +destroyed by the coming of Jesus Christ." A little after, he +adds--"That Memphis was also strongly addicted to magic, the vestiges +which subsist at this day of her ancient superstitions allow us not to +doubt." Now this informs us in a few words, or in the approach of the +desolation of Babylon, that all the projects of the magicians, and of +those who promise to unveil the future, are a pure folly, and dissolve +like smoke at the presence of Jesus Christ. Again, he says elsewhere, +that "Jesus Christ being come into the world, all kinds of divination, +and all the deceits of idolatry, lost their efficacy; so that the +Eastern magi understanding that a Son of God was born who had +destroyed all the power of their art, came to Bethlehem." + +Theophilus of Alexandria, in his Paschal Letter addressed to the +bishops of Egypt, and after him St. Jerome, who has given us a Latin +translation of this letter, says that Jesus Christ by his coming has +destroyed all the illusions of magic. They add, "Jesus Christ by his +presence having destroyed idolatry, it follows that magic, which is +its mother, has been destroyed likewise." They call magic the mother +of idolatry, because it transfers to another the confidence and +submission which are due to God alone. St. Ambrose says, "The magician +perceives the inutility of his art, and you do not yet understand that +the promised Redeemer is come." I could bring forward here many other +passages from the fathers if I had the books at hand, or if time +allowed me to select them. + +XIV. But why amuse ourselves with fruitless researches? What I have +said will suffice to show that this opinion has been that of not only +one or two of the fathers, which would prove nothing, but of the +greater number of those among them who have discoursed of this matter, +which constitutes the greater number. After that it is of little +import if in after and darker ages a thousand stories were spread on +the subject of witchcraft and enchantments, and that those tales may +have gained credit with the people in proportion to their rudeness and +ignorance. You may read, if you have any curiosity on the subject, a +hundred stories of that kind, related by Saxo Grammaticus and Olaus +Magnus. You will find also in Lucian and in Apuleius, how, even in +their time, those who wished to be carried through the air, or to be +metamorphosed into beasts, began by stripping themselves, and then +anointing themselves with certain oils from head to foot; there were +then found impostors, who promised as of old to perform by means of +magic all kinds of prodigies, and still continued the same +extravagances as ever. + +A great many persons feel a certain repugnance to refusing belief in +all that is said of the prodigies of magic, as if it was denying the +truth of miracles, and the existence of the devil; and on this subject +they fail not to allege, that amongst the orders in the church is +found that of exorcists, and that the rituals are full of prayers and +blessings against the malice and the snares of Satan. But we must not +here confound two very different things. So far from the miracles and +wonders performed by Divine power leading us to believe the truth of +those which are ascribed to the demon, they teach us on the contrary +that God has reserved this power to himself alone. We experience but +too often that there are truly evil spirits, who do not cease to tempt +us. In respect to the order of Exorcists, we know that it was +established in the church in the first ages of Christianity; the most +ancient fathers make mention of them; but from none of them do we +learn that their order was instituted against witchcraft and other +knaveries of the same kind, but only as at this day, to deliver those +possessed; "to expel demons from the bodies of the possessed;" says +the Manual of the Ordination. It is not, then, denied, that for +reasons which it belongs not to us to examine, God sometimes allows +the demon to take hold of some one and to torment him; we only deny +that the spirit of darkness can ever arrive at that to please a +wretched woman of the dregs of the people. We do not deny that to +punish the sins of mankind, the Almighty may not sometimes make use in +different ways of the ministry of evil spirits; for, as St. Jerome +says,[694] "God makes men feel his anger and fury by the ministry of +rebel angels;" but we do deny that it ever happens by virtue of certain +figures, certain words, and certain signs, made by ignoramuses or +scoundrels, or some wretched females, or old mad women, or by any +authority they have over the demon. The sovereign pontiff who at this +day governs the church with so much glory, discourses very fully[695] +in his excellent works on the wonders worked by the demon and related +in the Old Testament, but he nowhere speaks of any effect produced by +magic or by sorcery since the coming of Jesus Christ. In the Roman +ritual we have prayers and orisons for all occasions; we find there +conjurations and exorcisms against demons; but nowhere, if the text is +not corrupted, is there mention made either of persons or things +bewitched, and if they are mentioned therein, it is only in after +additions made by private individuals. We know, on the contrary, that +many books treating of this subject, and containing prayers newly +composed by some individuals, have been prohibited. Thus they have +forbidden the book entitled _Circulus Aureus_, in which are set down +the conjurations necessary for "invoking demons of all kinds, of the +sky, of hell, the earth, fire, air, and water," to destroy all sorts +of "enchantments, charms, spells, and snares," in whatever place they +may be hidden, and of whatever matter they may be composed, whether +male or female, magician or witch, who may have made or given them, +and notwithstanding "all compacts and all conventions made between +them." Ought not the fact that the church forbids any one to read or +to keep these kind of books, to be sufficient to convince us of the +falsehood of what they imagine, and to teach us how contrary they are +to true religion and sound devotion. Three years ago they printed in +this town a little book, of which the author, however, was not of +Verona, in which they promised to teach the way "to deliver the +possessed, and to break all kinds of spells." We read in it that +"those over whom a malignant spell has been cast, lead such a wretched +life that it ought rather to be called a long death, like the corpse +of a man who had just died," &c. That is not all, for "almost all die +of it," and if they are children, "they hardly ever live." See now the +power which simple people ascribe, not only to the devil, but to the +vilest of men, whom they really believe to be connected with, and to +hold commerce with him. They say afterwards in this same book[696] +that the signs which denote a malignant spell are parings, herbs, +feathers, bones, nails, and hairs; but they give notice that the +feathers prove that there is witchcraft "only when they are +intermingled in the form of a circle or nearly so." And, again, you +must take care that some woman has not given you something to eat, +some flowers to smell, or if she has touched the shoulder of the +person on whom the spell is cast. We have an excellent preservative +against these simplicities in the vast selection of Dom Martenus, +entitled _De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus_, in which we see that amidst +an infinity of prayers, orisons and exorcisms used at all times +throughout Christendom, there is not a passage in which mention is +made of spells, sorcery, or magic, or magical operations. They therein +command the demon in the name of Jesus Christ to come out and go +away--they therein implore the divine protection, to be delivered from +his power, to which we are all born subject by the stain of original +sin; they therein teach that holy water, salt, and incense sanctified +by the prayers of the church may drive away the enemy; that we may not +fall into his toils, and that we may have nothing to dread from the +attacks of evil spirits; but in no part does it say that spells have +power over them, neither do they anywhere pray God to deliver us from +them, or to heal us. It is so far from being true that we ought to +believe the fables spread abroad on this subject, that I perfectly +well remember having read a long time ago in the old casuists, that we +ought to class in the number of grievous sins the believing that magic +can really work the wonders related of it. I shall remark, on this +occasion, that I know not how the author of the book in question can +have committed the oversight of twice citing a certain manuscript as +to be found in any other cabinet than mine, when it is a well known +fact that I formerly purchased it very dear, not knowing that the most +important and curious part was wanting. What I have said of it may be +seen in the Opuscules which I have joined to the "History of +Theology."[697] For the present, it suffices to remember that in the +famous canon _Episcopi_, related first by Reginon,[698] we read these +remarkable words--"An infinite number of people, deceived by this +false prejudice, believe all that to be true, and in believing it +stray from the true faith into the superstition of the heathen, +imagining that they can find elsewhere than in God any divinity, or +any supernatural power." + +XV. From all I have hitherto said, it appears how far from truth is +all that is commonly said of this pretended magic; how contrary to all +the maxims of the church, and in opposition to the most venerated +authority, and what harm might be done to sound doctrine and true +piety by entertaining and favoring such extravagant opinions. We read, +in the author I am combating, "What shall we say of the fairies, a +prodigy so notorious and so common?" It is marvelous that it should +be a _prodigy_ and at the same time _common_. He adds, "There is not a +town, not to say a village, which cannot furnish several instances +concerning them." For my part, I have seen a great many places; I am +seventy-four years of age, and I have perhaps been only too curious on +this head; and I own that I have never happened to meet with any +prodigy of that kind. I may even add that several inquisitors, very +sensible men, after having exercised that duty a long time, have +assured me that they also never knew such a thing. It is not often +that fairies of all kinds of shapes and different faces have passed +through my hands, but I have always discovered and shown that this was +nothing but fancy and reverie. On one side, it is affirmed that there +is a malicious species among them, who were amorous of beautiful +girls; and on the other, they will have it, on the contrary, that all +witches are old and ugly. How desirable it would be, if the people +could be once undeceived in respect to all these follies, which accord +so little with sound doctrine and true piety! Are they not still, in +our days, infatuated with what is said of charms which render +invulnerable rings in which fairies are enclosed, billets which cure +the quartan ague, words which lead you to guess the number to which +the lot will fall; of the pas key, which is made to turn to find out a +thief; of the cabala, which by means of certain verses and certain +answers, which are falsely supposed to contain a certain number of +words, unveils the most secret things? Are there not still to be found +people who are so simple, or who have so little religion, as to buy +these trifles very dear? For the world at this day is not wanting in +those prophets spoken of by Micah,[699] whom money inspired and +rendered learned. Have we not again calendars in which are marked the +lucky and unlucky days, as has been done during a time, under the name +of Egyptians? Do they not prevent people from inhabiting certain +houses, under pretence of their being haunted? that is to say, that in +the night spectres are seen in them, and a great noise of chains is +heard, some saying that it is devils who cause all this, and others +the spirits of the dead who make all this clang; which is surprising +enough that it should be spirits or devils, and that they should only +have the power to make themselves perceived in the night. And how many +times have we seen the most fatal quarrels occur, principally amongst +the peasants, because one amongst them has accused others of sorcery? +But what shall we say of spirits incube and succube, of which, +notwithstanding the impossibility of the thing, the existence and +reality is maintained? M. Muratori, in that part where he treats of +imagination, places the tales on this subject in the same line with +what is said of the witches' sabbath; and he says[700] "that these +extravagant opinions are at this day so discredited, that it is only +the rudest and most ignorant who suffer themselves to be amused by +them." One of my friends made me laugh the other day, when, speaking +of the pretended incubuses, he said that those who believed in them +were not wise to marry. Again, what shall we say of those tacit +compacts so often mentioned by the author, and which he supposes to be +real? Can we not see that such an opinion is making a god of the +devil? For that any one, for example, living three or four hundred +leagues off, may have made a compact with the devil, that every time a +pendulum shall be suspended above a glass it shall mark the hour as +regularly as the most exact clock. According to this idea, that same +marvel will happen equally, and at the same moment, not only in this +town where we are, but all over the earth, and will be repeated as +often as they may wish to make the experiment. Now this is quite +another thing from carrying a witch to the sabbath through the air, +which the author asserts is beyond the power of the demon; it is +attributing to this malicious spirit a kind of almightiness and +immensity. But what would happen if some one, having made a compact +with a demon for fine weather, another on his part shall have made a +compact with the demon for bad weather? Good Father Le Brun wishes us +to ascribe to tacit compacts all those effects which we cannot explain +by natural causes. If it be so, what a number of tacit compacts there +must be in the world! He believes in the stories about the divining +rod, and the virtue ascribed to it of finding out robbers and +murderers; although all France has since acknowledged that the first +author of this fable was a knave, who having been summoned to Paris, +could never show there any of those effects he had boasted of. Let any +one have the least idea of the invisible atoms scattered abroad +throughout the world, of their continually issuing from natural +bodies, and the hidden and wonderful effects which they produce, one +can never be astonished that at a moderate distance water and metals +should operate on certain kinds of wood. The same author sincerely +believes what was said, that the contagion and mortality spread +amongst the cattle proceeded from a spell; like the man who affirmed +that his father and mother remained impotent for seven years, and this +ceased only when an old woman had broken the spell. On this subject, +he cites a ritual of which Father Martenus does not speak at all, +whence it follows that he did not recognize it for authentic. To give +an idea of the credulity of this writer, it will suffice to read the +story he relates of one Damis. But we find, above all, an +incomparable abridgment of those extravagant wonders in a little book +dedicated to the Cardinal Horace Maffei, entitled, "Compendium +Melificarum," or the "Abridgment of Witches," printed at Milan in +1608. + +XVI. In a word, it is of no little importance to destroy the popular +errors which attack the unalterable attributes of the Supreme Being, +as if he had laid it down as a law to himself that he would condescend +to all the impious and fantastic wishes of malignant spirits, and of +the madman who had recourse to them, by seconding them, and permitting +the wonderful effects that they desire to produce. Do reason and good +sense allow us to imagine that the Sovereign Master of all things, who +for reasons which we are not permitted to examine, refuses so often to +grant our most ardent prayers for what we need, whether it be public +or private, can be so prompt to lend an ear to the requests of the +vilest and most wicked, by allowing that which they desire to happen? +So long as they believe in the reality of magic, that it is able to +work wonders, and that by means of it man can force the demon to obey, +it will be in vain to preach against the superstition, impiety, and +folly of wizards. There will always be found too many people who will +try to succeed in it, and will even fancy they have succeeded in it in +fact. To uproot this pest we must begin by making men clearly +understand that it is useless in them to be guilty of this horrible +crime; that in this way they never obtain anything they wish for, and +that all that is said on this subject is fabulous and chimerical. It +will not be difficult to persuade any sensible person of this truth, +by only leading him to pay attention, and mark if it be possible that +all these pretended miracles can be true, whilst it is proved that +magic has never possessed the power to enrich those who professed it, +which would be much more easy. How could this wonderful art send +maladies to those who were in good health, render a married couple +impotent, or make any one invisible or invulnerable, whilst it has +never been able to bring a hundred crowns, which another would keep +locked up in his strong box? And why do we not make any use of so +wonderful an art in armies? Why is it so little sought after by +princes and their ministers? The most efficacious means for +dissipating all these vain fancies would be never to speak of them, +and to bury them in silence and oblivion. In any place where for time +immemorial no one has ever been suspected of witchcraft, let them only +hear that a monk is arrived to take cognizance of this crime and +punish it, and directly you will see troops of green-sick girls, and +hypochondriacal men; crowds of children will be brought to him ill +with unknown maladies; and it will not fail to be affirmed that these +things are caused by spells cast over them, and even when and how the +thing happened. It is certainly a wrong way of proceeding, whether in +sermons, or in the works published against witches, to amuse +themselves with giving the history of all these mad-headed people +boast of, of the circumstances in which they have taken a part, and +the way in which they happened. It is in vain then to declaim against +them, for you may be assured that people are not wanting who suffer +themselves to be dazzled by these pretended miracles, who become +smitten with these effects, so extraordinary and so wonderful, and try +by every means to succeed in them by the very method which has just +been taught them, and forget nothing which can place them in the +number of this imaginary society. It is then with reason that the +author says in his book, that punishment even sometimes serves to +render crime more common, and "that there are never more witches than +in those places where they are most persecuted." I am delighted to be +able to finish with this eulogium, in order that it may be the more +clearly seen that if I have herein attacked magic, it is only with +upright intentions. + +XVII. The eagerness with which I have written this letter has made me +forget several things which might very well have a place in it. The +greatest difficulty which can be opposed to my argument is that we +sometimes find, even amongst people who possess a certain degree of +knowledge and good sense, some persons who will say to you, "But I +have seen this, or that; such and such things have happened to +myself." Upon which it is proper, first of all, to pay attention to +the wonderful tricks of certain jugglers, who, by practice and +address, succeed in deceiving even the most clear-sighted and sensible +persons. It must next be considered that the most natural effects may +sometimes appear beyond the power of nature, when cleverly presented +in the most favorable point of view. I formerly saw a charlatan who, +having driven a nail or a large pin into the head of a chicken, with +that nailed it to a table, so that it appeared dead, and was believed +to be so by all present; after that, the charlatan having taken out +the nail and played some apish tricks, the chicken came to life again +and walked about the room. The secret of all this is that these birds +have in the forepart of the head two bones, joined in such a way that +if anything is driven through with address, though it causes them +pain, yet they do not die of it. You may run large pins into a man's +leg without wounding or hurting him, or but very slightly, just like a +prick which is felt when the pin first enters; which has sometimes +served as a pastime for jokers. In my garden, which, thanks to the +care of M. Seguier, is become quite a botanic garden, I have a plant +called the _onagra_,[701] which rises to the height of a man, and +bears very beautiful flowers; but they remain closed all day, and only +open towards sunset, and that not by degrees, as with all other night +plants, but in budding all at once, and showing themselves in a moment +in all their beauty. A little before their chalice bursts open, it +swells and becomes a little inflated. Now, if any one, profiting by +the last-named peculiarity, which is but little known, wished to +persuade any simple persons that by the help of some magical words he +could, when he would, cause a beautiful flower to bloom, is it not +certain that he would find plenty of people disposed to believe him? +The common people in our days leave nothing undone to find out the +secret of making themselves invulnerable; by which they show that they +ascribe to magic more power than was granted to it by the ancients, +who believed it very capable of doing harm, but not of doing good. So, +when the greater number of the Jews attributed the miracles wrought by +the Saviour to the devil, some of the more sensible and reasonable +among them asked, "Can the devil restore sight to the blind?"[702] At +this day, there are more ways than ever of making simple and ignorant +persons believe in magic. For instance, would it be very difficult for +a man to pass himself off as a magician, if he said to those who were +present, "I can, at my will, either send the bullet in this pistol +through this board, or make it simply touch it and fall down at our +feet without piercing it?" Nevertheless, nothing is easier; it only +requires when the pistol is loaded, that instead of pressing the +wadding immediately upon the bullet as is customary, to put it, on the +contrary, at the mouth of the barrel. That being done, when they fire, +if the end of the pistol is raised, the ball, which is not displaced, +will produce the usual effect; but if, on the contrary, the pistol is +lowered, so that the ball runs into the barrel and joins the wadding, +it will fall on the ground from the board without having penetrated +it. It seems to me that something like this may be found in the +"Natural Experiments" of Redi, which I have not at hand just now. But +on this subject, you can consult Jean Baptista, Porta, and others. We +must not, however, place amongst the effects of this kind of magic, +what a friend jokingly observed to me in a very polite letter which he +wrote to me two months ago:--A noisy exhalation having ignited in a +house, and not having been perceived by him who was in the spot +adjoining, nor in any other place, he writes me word that those who, +according to the vulgar prejudice, persisted in believing that these +kinds of fire came from the sky and the clouds, were necessarily +forced to attribute this effect to real magic. I shall again add, on +the subject of electrical phenomena, that those who think to explain +them by means of two electrical fluids, the one hidden in bodies, and +the other circulating around them, would perhaps say something less +strange and surprising, if they ascribed them to magic. I have +endeavored, in the last letter which is joined to that I wrote upon +the subject of exhalations, to give some explanation of these wonders; +and I have done so, at least, without being obliged to invent from my +own head, and without any foundation, to universal electrical matters +which circulate within bodies and without them. Certainly, the ancient +philosophers, who reasoned so much on the magnet, would have spared +themselves a great deal of trouble, if they had believed it possible +to attribute its admirable properties to a magnetic spirit which +proceeded from it. But the pleasure I should find in arguing with +them, might perhaps engage me in other matters; for which reason I now +end my letter. + + +Footnotes: + +[672] The author here alludes to the hypogryphe, a winged horse, +invented by Ariosto, that carried the Paladins through the air. + +[673] Magicus Vanitates. + +[674] Plin. lib. xxx. c. 1. + +[675] + "Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, sagas, + Nocturnos lemures, portentaque Thessala rides?" + HORAT. lib. ii. Ep. 2. + +[676] Inexpugnabili magicae disciplinae potestate, &c.--Lib. iii. + +[677] Delle magiche frodi seppe il Givoco.--Dante, _Inf._ c. 20. + +[678] Pp. 139 and 145. + +[679] P. 9. + +[680] P. 144. + +[681] _Goesy_, or _Goesia_, is said to be a kind of magic. It is +asserted that those who profess it repair at night to the tombs, where +they invoke the demon and evil genii by lamentations and complaints. + +In regard to _Theurgy_, the ancients gave this name to that part of +magic which is called _white magic_. The word _Theurgy_ signifies the +art of doing divine things, or such as God only can perform--the power +of producing wonderful and supernatural effects by licit means, in +invoking the aid of God and angels. _Theurgy_ differs from _natural +magic_, which is performed by the powers of nature; and from +_necromancy_, which is operated only by the invocation of the demons. + +[682] P. 170. + +[683] P. 654. + +[684] P. 749. + +[685] P. 9. + +[686] P. 30, de Lam. + +[687] P. 94. + +[688] What is enclosed between the brackets is a long addition sent by +the author to the printer whilst they were working at a second edition +of his letter. + +[689] Et vidi angelum descendentem de coelo habentem clavem abyssi et +catenam magnam in manu sua; et appehendit draconem, serpentem, +antiquum, qui est Diabolus et Satanas, et ligavit eum per annos +mille.--_Apoc._ xx. 1. + +[690] Et cum consummati fuerint mille anni, solvetur Satanas de +carcere suo.--_Apoc._ v. 7. + +[691] Cujus est adventus secundum operationem Satanae in omni virtute +et signis et prodigiis mendacibus.--2 Thess. ii. 9. + +[692] Joseph. Antiq. lib. viii. c. 2. + +[693] Acts viii. 6. + +[694] Mittet siquidem Dominus in iram et furorem suum per angelos +pessimos. Hier. ad Eph. i. 7. p. 574. + +[695] Vid. de Beatif. lib. iv. p. i. c. 3. + +[696] Pp. 67, 75. + +[697] P. 243. + +[698] Lib. ii. p. 364. + +[699] In pecunia divinabunt.--Mich. iii. 11. + +[700] P. 127. + +[701] Now well known as the evening primrose. + +[702] Numquid daemonium potest coecorum oculos asperire? Joan. ix, +21. + + + + +LETTER + +_From the_ REVEREND FATHER DOM. AUGUSTINE CALMET, _Abbot of Senones, +to_ M. DE BURE SENIOR, _Librarian at Paris._ + + +SIR--I have received The Historical and Dogmatical Treatise on +Apparitions, Visions, and particular Revelations, with Observations on +the Dissertations of the Reverend Father Dom. Calmet, Abbot of +Senones, on Apparitions and Ghosts. At Avignon, 1751. By the Abbe +Lenglet du Frenoy. + +I have looked over this work with pleasure. M. du Frenoy wished to +turn to account therein what he wrote fifty-five years ago, as he says +himself, on the subject of visions, and the life of Maria d'Agreda, of +whom they spoke then, and of whom they still speak even now in so +undecided a manner. M. du Frenoy had undertaken at that time to +examine the affair thoroughly and to show the illusions of it; there +is yet time for him to give his opinion upon it, since the Church has +not declared herself upon the work, on the life and visions of that +famous Spanish abbess. + +It is only accidentally that he composed his remarks on my +Dissertations on Apparitions and Vampires. I have no reason to +complain of him; he has observed towards me the rules of politeness +and good breeding, and I shall try to imitate him in what I say in my +own defence. But if he had read the second edition of my work, printed +at Einsidlen in Switzerland, in 1749; the third, printed in Germany at +Augsburg, in 1750; and the fourth, on which you are now actually +engaged; he might have spared himself the trouble of censuring several +passages which I have corrected, reformed, suppressed, or explained +myself. + +If I had wished to swell my work, I could have added to it some rules, +remarks, and reflections, with a vast number of circumstances. But by +that means I should have fallen into the same error which he seems to +have acknowledged himself, when he says that he has perhaps placed in +his works too many such rules and remarks: and I am persuaded that it +is, in fact, the part that will be least read and least used.[703] + +People will be much more struck with stories squeamishly extracted +from Thomas de Cantimpre and Cesarius, whose works are everywhere +decried, and that one dare no longer cite openly without exposing them +to mockery. They will read, with only too much pleasure, what he +relates of the apparitions of Jesus Christ to St. Francis d'Assis, on +the Indulgence of the Partionculus, and the particularities of the +establishment of the Carmelite Fathers, and of the Brotherhood of the +Scapulary, by Simon Stock, to whom the Holy Virgin herself gave the +Scapulary of the order. It will be seen in his work that there are few +religious establishments or societies which are not founded on some +vision or revelation. It seemed even as if it was necessary for the +propagation of certain orders and certain congregations; _so that +these kind of revelations were, as it were, taken by storm_; and there +seems to have been a competition as to who should produce the greatest +number of them, and the most extraordinary, to have them believed. I +could not persuade myself that he related seriously the pretended +apparition of St. Francis to Erasmus. It is easy to comprehend that it +was a joke of Erasmus, who wished to divert himself at the expense of +the Cordeliers. But one cannot help being pained at the way in which +he treats several fathers of the church, as St. Gregory the Great, St. +Gregory of Tours, St. Sulpicius Severus, Peter the Venerable, Abbot of +Clugny, St. Anselm, Cardinal Pierre Damien, St. Athanasius even, and +St. Ambrose,[704] in regard to their credulity, and the account they +have given us of several apparitions and visions, which are little +thought of at this day. I say the same of what he relates of the +visions of St. Elizabeth of Schonau, of St. Hildegrade, of St. +Gertrude, of St. Mecthelda, of St. Bridget, of St. Catherine of +Sienna, and hardly does he show any favor to those of St. Theresa. + +Would it not have been better to leave the world in this respect as it +is,[705] rather than disturb the ashes of so many holy personages and +saintly nuns, whose lives are held blessed by the church, and whose +writings and revelations have so little influence over the salvation +and the morals of the faithful in general. What service does it render +the church to speak disparagingly of the works of the contemplatives, +of the Thaulers, the Rushbrooks, the Bartholomews of Pisa, of St. +Vincent Ferrier, of St. Bernardine of Sienna, of Henry Harphius, of +Pierre de Natalibus, of Bernardine de Bustis, of Ludolf the Chartreux, +and other authors of that kind, whose writings are so little read and +so little known, whose sectaries are so few in number, and have so +little weight in the world, and even in the church? + +The Abbe du Frenoy acknowledges the visions and revelations which are +clearly marked in Scripture; but is there not reason to fear that +certain persons may apply the rules of criticism which he employs +against the visions of the male and female saints of whom he speaks in +his work, and that they may say, for instance, that Jeremiah yielded +to his melancholy humor, and Ezekiel to his caustic disposition, to +predict sad and disagreeable things to the Jewish people?[706] + +We know how many vexations the prophets endured from the Jews, and +that in particular[707] those of Anathoth had resolved to put their +countryman Jeremiah to death, to prevent him from prophesying in the +name of the Lord. To what persecutions were not himself and Baruch his +disciple exposed for having spoken in the name of the Lord? Did not +King Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, throw the book of Baruch into the +fire,[708] after having hacked it with a penknife, in hatred of the +truths which it announced to him? + +The Jews sometimes went so far as to insult them in their dwellings, +and even to say to them,[709] _Ubi est verbum Domini? veniat_; and +elsewhere, "Let us plot against Jeremiah; for the priests will not +fail to cite the law, and the prophets will not fail to allege the +words of the Lord: come, let us attack him with derision, and pay no +regard to his discourse." + +Isaiah did not endure less vexation and insult, the libertine Jews +having gone even into his house, and said to him insolently[710]--_Manda, +remanda; expecta, re-expecta; modicum ibi, et modicum ibi_, as if to +mock at his threats. + +But all that has not prevailed, nor ever will prevail, against the +truth and word of God; the faithful and exact execution of the threats +of the Lord has justified, and ever will justify, the predictions and +visions of the prophets. The gates of hell will not prevail against +the Christian church, and the word of God will triumph over the malice +of hell, the artifice of corrupt men, of libertines, and over all the +subtlety of pretended freethinkers. True and real visions, +revelations, and apparitions will always bear in themselves a +character of truth, and will serve to destroy those which are false, +and proceed from the spirit of error and delusion. And coming now to +what regards myself in particular, M. du Frenoy says, that the public +have been surprised that instead of placing my proofs before the +circumstances of my apparitions, I have given them afterwards, and +that I have not entered fully enough into the subject of these proofs. + +I am going to give the public an account of my method and design. +Having proposed to myself to prove the truth, the reality, and +consequently the possibility of apparitions, I have related a great +many authentic instances, derived from the Old and New Testament, +which forms a complete proof of my opinion, for the certainty of the +facts carries with it here the certainty of the dogma. + +After that I have related instances and opinions taken from the +Hebrews, Mahometans, Greeks, and Latins, to assure the same truth. I +have been careful not to draw any parallel between these testimonies +and the scriptural ones which preceded. My object in this was to +demonstrate that in every age, and in all civilized nations, the idea +of the immortality of the soul, of its existence after death, of its +return and appearance, is one of those truths which the length of ages +has never been able to efface from the mind of nations. + +I draw the same inference from the instances which I have related, and +of which I do not pretend to guarantee either the truth or the +certainty. I willingly yield all the circumstances that are not +revealed to censure and criticism; I only esteem as true that which is +so in fact. + +M. du Frenoy finds that the proof of the immortality of the soul which +I infer from the apparition of the spirit after death, is not +sufficiently solid; but it is certainly one of the most palpable and +most easy of comprehension to the generality of mankind; it would make +more impression upon them than arguments drawn from philosophy and +metaphysics. I do not intend for that reason to attack any other +proofs of the same truth, or to weaken a dogma so essential to +religion. + +He endeavors to prove, at great length,[711] that the salvation of the +Emperor Trajan is not a thing which the Christian religion can +confirm. I agree with him; and it was useless to take any trouble to +demonstrate it.[712] + +He speaks of the young man of Delme,[713] who having fallen into a +swoon remained in it some days; they brought him back to life, and a +languor remained upon him which at last led to his death at the end of +the year. It is thus he arranges that story. + +M. du Frenoy disguises the affair a little; and although I do not +believe that the devil could restore the youth to life, nevertheless +the original and cotemporaneous authors whom I have quoted maintain +that the demon had much to do with this event.[714] + +What has principally prevented me from giving rules and prescribing a +method for discerning true and false apparitions is, that I am quite +persuaded that the way in which they occur is absolutely unknown to +us; that it contains insurmountable difficulties; and that consulting +only the rules of philosophy, I should be more disposed to believe +them impossible than to affirm their truth and possibility. But I am +restrained by respect for the Holy Scriptures, by the testimony of all +antiquity and by the tradition of the Church. + + "I am, sir, + Your very humble + and very obedient servant, + D. A. CALMET, Abbot of Senones." + + +Footnotes: + +[703] Dom. Calmet has a very bad opinion of the public, to believe +that it values so little what is, perhaps, the best and most sensible +part of the book. Wise people think quite differently from himself. + +[704] Neither Gregory of Tours, nor Sulpicius Severus, nor Peter the +Venerable, nor Pierre Damien, have ever been placed in a parallel line +with the fathers of the Church. In regard to the latter, it has always +been allowable, without failing in the respect which is due to them, +to remark certain weaknesses in their works, sometimes even errors, as +the Church has done in condemning the Millenaries, &c. + +[705] An excellent maxim for fomenting credulity and nourishing +superstition. + +[706] What a parallel! how could any one make it without renouncing +common sense? + +[707] Jeremiah xxi. 21. + +[708] Jerem. xxxvi. + +[709] Jerem. xvii. 15. + +[710] Isai. xxviii. 10. + +[711] Tom. ii. p. 92 _et seq._ + +[712] It is true that what Dom. Calmet had said of this in his first +edition, the only one M. Lenglet has seen, has been corrected in the +following ones. + +[713] P. 155. + +[714] A bad foundation; credulous or interested authors. + + + + +THE END. + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + Passages in italics indicated by underscore _italics_. + + The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these + letters have been replaced with transliterations set off by [Greek: ] + tags. + + The original text includes several blank spaces. These are represented by + _______________ in this text version. + + Footnote punctuation has been standardized for consistency. + + Misprints corrected: + "Corpernican" corrected to "Copernican" (page vii) + "destitue" corrected to "destitute" (page xvii) + "superstit on" corrected to "superstition" (page xx) + "Apocalapse" corrected to "Apocalypse" (page 40) + "for" corrected to "fro" (page 55) + "thousands" corrected to "thousand" (page 57) + "predjudices" corrected to "prejudices" (page 61) + "repentence" corrected to "repentance" (page 87) + "sorcerors" corrected to "sorcerers" (page 100) + "subtil" corrected to "subtile" (page 112) + "Loudon" corrected to "Loudun" (page 128) + "Gassendy" corrected to "Gassendi" (page 146) + "statue" corrected to "stature" (page 161) + "testiomony" corrected to "testimony" (page 179) + "Ratzival" corrected to "Ratzivil" (page 204) + "embarrasment" corrected to "embarrassment" (page 220) + "Mohometans" corrected to "Mahometans" (page 222) + "ancesters" corrected to "ancestors" (page 231) + "cf" corrected to "of" (page 238) + "Other" corrected to "Others" (page 248) + "treaties" corrected to "treatise" (page 254) + "Spiridon" corrected to "Spiridion" (page 258) + "not not" corrected to "not" (page 262) + "drangement" corrected to "derangement" (page 278) + "neigborhood" corrected to "neighborhood" (page 282) + "d'Englebert" corrected to "d'Engelbert" (page 286) + "obervations" corrected to "observations" (page 305) + "of" corrected to "off" (page 326) + "corpuscules" corrected to "corpuscles" (page 329) + "or" corrected to "for" (page 342) + "our" corrected to "out" (page 349) + "childen" corrected to "children" (page 360) + "her her" corrected to "her" (page 372) + "abe" corrected to "able" (page 386) + "or" corrected to "on" (page 390) + Missing text "III." added (page 411) + "permittted" corrected to "permitted" (page 412) + "One" corrected to "On" (page 434) + + Some quotes are opened with marks but are not closed. Obvious errors + have been silently closed, while those requiring interpretation have + been left open. + + Additional spacing after some of the quotes is intentional to indicate + both the end of a quotation and the beginning of a new paragraph as + presented in the original text. + + All other spelling and punctuation is presented as in the original. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Phantom World, by Augustin Calmet + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHANTOM WORLD *** + +***** This file should be named 29412.txt or 29412.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/4/1/29412/ + +Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Stephanie Eason and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This book was produced from scanned images of public +domain material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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