The sixt Chapter.
Lawes provided for the punishment of such witches as worke miracles, whereof some are mentioned, and of certeine popish lawes published against them.
HERE are other lawesPunishmēt of impossibilities. of other nations made to this incredible effect: as Lex Salicarum provideth punishment for them that flie in the aire from place to place, and meete at their nightlie assemblies, and brave bankets, carrieng with them plate, and such stuffe, &c: even as we should make a lawe to hang him that should take a church in his hand at Dover, and throwe it to Callice. And bicause in this case also popish lawes shall be seene to be as foolish and lewd as any other whatsoever, and speciallie as tyrannous as that which is most cruell: you shall heare what trim new lawes the church of Rome hath latelie devised. These are therefore the words of pope Innocent the eight to the inquisitors/223. of Almanie, and of pope Julius the second, sent to the inquisitors of Bergomen. It is come to our eares,A wise lawe of pope Innocent and Julie, were it not that they wanted wit when they made it. that manie lewd persons, of both kinds, as well male as female, using the companie of the divels Incubus and Succubus, with incantations, charmes, conjurations, &c: doo destroie, &c: the births of women with child, the yoong of all cattell, the corne of the feeld, the grapes of the vines, the frute of the trees: Item, men, women, and all kind of cattell and beasts of the feeld: and with their said inchantments, &c: doo utterlie extinguish, suffocate, and spoile all vineyards, ortchards, medowes, pastures, grasse, greene corne, and ripe corne, and all other podware: yea men and women themselves are by their imprecations so afflicted with externall and inward paines and diseases, that men cannot beeget, nor women bring foorth anie children, nor yet accomplish the dutie of wedlocke, denieng the faith which they in baptisme professed, to the destruction of their owne soules, &c. Our pleasure therefore is, that all impediments that maie hinder the inquisitors office, be utterlie removed from among the people, least this blot of heresie proceed to poison and defile them that be yet innocent. And therefore we doo ordeine, by vertue of the apostolicall authoritie, that our inquisitors of high Almanie, maie execute the office of inquisition by all tortures and afflictions, in all places, and upon all persons, what and wheresoever, as well in everie place and diocesse, as upon anie person; and that as freelie, as though they were named, expressed, or cited in this our commission./
The seventh Chapter.161.
Poetical authorities commonlie alleaged by witchmongers, for the proofe of witches miraculous actions, and for confirmation of their supernaturall power.
ERE have I place and oportunitie, to discover the whole art of witchcraft; even all their charmes, periapts, characters, amulets, praiers, blessings, curssings, hurtings, helpings, knaveries, cousenages, &c. But first I will shew what authorities are produced to defend and mainteine the same, and that in serious sort,/224. by Bodin, Spinæus, Hemingius, Vairus, Danæus, Hyperius: M. Mal. and the rest.
Virg. eclog. 8.Carmina vel cœlo possunt deducere lunam,
Carminibus Circe socios mut avit*[* mutavit] Ulyssis,
Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis:
Inchantments plucke out of the skie,
The moone, though she be plaste on hie:
Dame Circes with hir charmes so fine,
Ulysses mates did turne to swine:
The snake with charmes is burst in twaine,
In medowes, where she dooth remaine.
Againe out of the same poet they cite further matter.
Virg. eclog. 8.Has herbas, atq́; hæc Ponto mihi lecta venena,
Ipsa dedit Mæris: nascuntur plurima Ponto.
His ego sæpè lupam fieri, & se condere sylvis,
Mærim sæpe animas imis exire sepulchris,
Atq́; satas aliò vidi traducere messes.
These herbs did Meris give to me,
And poisons pluckt at Pontus,
For there they growe and multiplie,
And doo not so amongst us.
With these she made hir selfe become,
A wolfe, and hid hir in the wood,
She fetcht up soules out of their toome,
Remooving corne from where it stood.
Furthermore out of Ovid they alledge these folowing.
NocteOvid. fast. 6. volant, puerósq; petunt nutricis egentes,
Et vitiant cunis corpora capta suis:
Carpere dicuntur lactentia viscera rostris,/162.
Et plenumpotu*[* plenum potu] sanguine gutur habent:
To children they doo flie by night,
And catch them while their nursses sleepe,/225.
And spoile their little bodies quite,
And home they beare them in their beake.
Againe out of Virgill in forme following.
Hinc mihi Massylæ gentis monstrata sacerdos,Virg. Aene. 4.
Hesperidum templi custos, epulásq; draconi
Quæ dabat, & sacros servabat in arbore ramos,
Spargens humida mella, soporiferúmq; papaver.
Hæc se carminibus promittit solvere mentes,
Quas velit, ast aliis dur as*[* duras] immittere curas,
Sistere aquam fluviis, & vertere sidera retrò,
Nocturnósq; ciet manes, mugire videbis
Sub pedibus terram, & descendere montibus ornos:
From thence a virgine preest is come,Tho. Phaiers translation of the former words of Virg.
from out Massyla land,
Sometimes the temple there she kept,
and from hir heavenlie hand
The dragon meate did take: she kept
also the frute divine,
With herbes and liquors sweete that still
to sleepe did men incline.
The minds of men (she saith) from love
with charmes she can unbind,
In whom she list: but others can
she cast to cares unkind.
The running streames doo stand, and from
their course the starres doo wreath,
And soules she conjure can: thou shalt
see sister underneath
The ground with roring gape, and trees
and mountaines turne upright, &c.
Moreover out of OvidOvid. metamor. 7. they alledge as followeth.
Cùm volui ripis ipsis mirantibus amnes
Infontes*[* In fontes] rediere suos, concússaq́; sisto,/
226.Stantia concutio, cantu freta nubila pello,
Nubiláq; ìnduco, ventos abigóq; vocóq;
Vipereas rumpo verbis & carmine fauces,/163.
Viváque saxa, sua convulsáque robora terra,
Et sylvas moveo, jubeóque tremescere montes,
Et mugire solum, manésque exire sepulchris,
Téque luna traho, &c:
The rivers I can make retire,
Into the fountaines whence they flo,
(Whereat the banks themselves admire)
I can make standing waters go,
With charmes I drive both sea and clowd,
I make it calme and blowe alowd.
The vipers jawes, the rockie stone,
With words and charmes I breake in twaine
The force of earth congeald in one,
I moove and shake both woods and plaine;
I make the soules of men arise,
I pull the moone out of the skies.
Also out of the same poet.
Ovid. de Medea.Virbáque ter dixit placidos facientia somnos,
Quæ mare turbatum, quæ flumina concita sistant:
And thrise she spake the words that causd
Sweete sleepe and quiet rest,
She staid the raging of the sea,
And mightie flouds supprest.
Ovid. de Medea, epistola. 4. Et miserum tenues in jecur urget acus,
She sticketh also needels fine
In livers, whereby men doo pine.
3. Amor. Eclog. 6.Also out of other poets.
Carmine læsa Ceres, sterilem vanescit in herbam,
Deficiunt læsi carmine fontis aquæ,
Illicibus glandes, cantatáque vitibus uva/227.
Decidit, & nullo poma movente fluunt:
With charmes the corne is spoiled so,
As that it vades to barren gras,
With charmes the springs are dried lowe,
That none can see where water was,
The grapes from vines, the mast from okes,
And beats downe frute with charming strokes./164.
Quæ sidera excantata voce Thessala
LunámqueHorac.* epod. 5[* Horat] cœlo diripit:
She plucks downe moone and starres from skie,
With chaunting voice of Thessalie.
Hanc ego de cœlo ducentem sidera vidi,
Fluminis ac rapidi carmine vertit iter,
Hæc cantu findítque solum, manésque sepulchrisTibul. de fascinatrice, lib. 1. Eleg. 2.
Elicit, & tepido devorat ossa rogo:
Cùm lubet hæc tristi depellit lumina cœlo,
Cùm lubet æstivo convocat orbe nives:
She plucks each star out of his throne,
And turneth backe the raging waves,
With charmes she makes the earth to cone,
And raiseth soules out of their graves:
She burnes mens bones as with a fire,
And pulleth downe the lights from heaven,
And makes it snowe at hir desire
Even in the midst of summer season.
Mens hausti nulla sanie polluta veneni,Lucan. lib. de bello civili. 6.
Incantata perit:
A man inchanted runneth mad,
That never anie poison had.
Cessavere vices rerum, dilatáque longaIdem. Ibid.
Hæsit nocte dies, legi non paruit æther,
Torpuit & præceps audito carmine mundus:
The course of nature ceased quite,/228.
The aire obeied not his lawe,
The daie delaid by length of night,
Which made both daie and night to yawe;
And all was through that charming geare,
Which causd the world to quake for feare.
Carmine Thessalidum dura in præcordia fluxit,Idem. Ibid.
Non fatis adductus amor, flammísque severi
Illicitis arsere ignes:
With Thessall charmes, and not by fate
Hot love is forced for to flowe,
Even where before hath beene debate,
They cause affection for to growe.
Idem. Ibid.Gens invisa diis maculandi callida cœli,/165.
Quos genuit terra, mali qui sidera mundi
Juráque fixarum possunt pervertere rerum:
Nam nunc stare polos, & flumina mittere norunt,
Aethera sub terras adigunt, montésque revellunt:
These witches hatefull unto God,
And cunning to defile the aire,
Which can disorder with a nod
The course of nature everie where,
Doo cause the wandring starres to staie
And drive the winds beelow the ground,
They send the streames another waie,
And throwe downe hilles where they abound.
C. Manilius astronom. suæ. lib. 1.——————linguis dixere volucrum,
Consultare fibras, & rumpere vocibus angues,
Solicitare umbras, ipsúmque Acheronta movere,
In noctémque dies, in lucem vertere noctes,
Omnia conando docilis solertia vincit:
They talked with the toongs of birds,
Consulting with the salt sea coasts,
They burst the snakes with witching words,/
229.Solliciting the spirituall ghosts,
They turne the night into the daie,
And also drive the light awaie:
And what ist that cannot be made
By them that doo applie this trade?