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<DATE>2007-08-01</DATE>
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<NAME>Robyn Anspach</NAME>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>THE HISTORY OF MAGICK By way of APOLOGY, For all the Wi&s;e Men who have unju&s;tly been reputed Magicians, from the Creation, to the pre&s;ent Age.</P>
<P>Written in <HI>French,</HI> by <HI>G. NAUDAEUS</HI> Late Library-Keeper to Cardinal <HI>Mazarin.</HI></P>
<Q><P>Multos ab&s;olvemus, &s;i caeperimus ant&egrave; judicare qu&agrave;m ira&s;ci.</P> <BIBL>Senec. de ira. lib. 3. c. 29.</BIBL></Q>
<P>Engli&s;hed by <HI>J. DAVIES.</HI></P>
<P>Printed for <HI>John Streater,</HI> and are to be &s;old by the Book-&s;ellers of <HI>London,</HI> 1657.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD><HI>TO THE</HI> Mo&s;t worthily Honour'd S^R^. RICHARD COMBESK^T^.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>IT is certainly but rea&s;on, that <HI>Innocence,</HI> &s;ince it &s;o ea&s;ily meets with <HI>Per&s;ecutors,</HI> &s;hould at length light on &s;ome <HI>Patrons</HI> and A&s;&s;ertors, that as tho&s;e are the Agents &amp; Emi&s;|&s;aries of <HI>Ignorance</HI> and <HI>Barba|ri&s;m,</HI> making it their bu&s;ine&s;s to <HI>ruine</HI> it, &s;o the&s;e might, as the <HI>Guardian-Angells</HI> of re|&s;tored <HI>Civility</HI> and Letters, en|deavour to <HI>vindicate</HI> it. You have here the greate&s;t miracles
<PB REF="3">
of Mankind in their &s;everall times <HI>impeach'd</HI> of a crime, the greate&s;t can be committed a|gain&s;t either divine or humane Lawes, <HI>viz.</HI> a <HI>Geotick,</HI> or &s;u|per&s;titious &amp; <HI>Diabolical Ma|gick,</HI> violently pro&s;ecuted by a &s;ort of people who&s;e de&s;ign it is, by noi&s;e and number to &s;tifle <HI>Truth,</HI> and con&s;equently, to make the mo&s;t innocent the mo&s;t guilty. In &s;o much that all the liberty they now &s;eeme to have, is that of &s;aying &s;ome|thing for them&s;elves, which is hop'd may prove &s;o con&s;idera|ble as not only to divert the <HI>Sentence,</HI> but knock off the <HI>fetters</HI> they have &s;o long
<PB REF="3">
groan'd under, and gain them an ab&s;olute <HI>Liberate.</HI></P>
<P>To which end, Sir, you are in this Countrey the Per&s;on they make their appeale to, with a certain confidence, that as the <HI>prejudice</HI> of former Jud|ges hath not a litle contribu|ted to their misfortune, &s;o your integrity may re&s;tore them to a reputation among men, great as when they were the light and ornaments of the Ages they livd in. This is a a trouble you might ea&s;ily be induc'd to take upon you, did you imagine to your &s;elf no o|ther con&s;equences of i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">, than that, being look'd on as an
<PB REF="4">
effect of your Goodne&s;s, you will oblige all tho&s;e who can|not but compa&s;&s;ionate the un|de&s;erved &s;ufferings of &s;uch excellent men, &amp; may expect that acclamation and applau&s;e, which ever attends the impar|tial execution of Ju&s;tice. But when you reflect on the parti|cular advantages accrewing to your &s;elf by this <HI>Apology,</HI> you will haply be &s;atisfyed, there is &s;omething extraordi|nary in the addre&s;s of it to you. For, what higher motives can Po&s;terity have to believe, that the great perfections you are ma&s;ter of, the general affection you command, the publick fa|vour
<PB REF="4">
&s;hines upon you, (which when uncourted ever &s;peaks a certain exce&s;s of merit) are not the effects of any thing more than natural, than to find you re&s;cuing the oppre&s;&s;ed inno|cency of men, whom onely a tran&s;cendency of abilities made the objects of envy and detraction? What can more &s;atisfy the world, that, when you have done things, excee|ding common apprehen&s;ions, it proceeds from your va&s;t knowledge and acquaintance with tho&s;e Sciences who&s;e lu&s;tre dazles ordinary capaci|ties, than to find you relieving &s;uch as only popular ignorance
<PB REF="5">
and mi&s;take have made unfor|tunate? And of this, what o|ther effect can there be than that you live in the fame which they, by your Patro|nage, are re&s;tored unto; and con&s;equently, in the e&s;teem and veneration of all the Sons and Lovers of Learning, but particularly, as the meane&s;t of that number, that of,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your mo&s;t humble and mo&s;t obliged Servant
J. DAVIES.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="author's note">
<PB REF="5">
<HEAD>The AUTHOR'S motive and de&s;igne in the pre&s;ent Work.</HEAD>
<P>ABout four or five years &s;ince, there came abroad a little Book in <HI>French,</HI> intituled, <HI>Nouueau Jugement, &amp;c. New Refle|ctions on what hath been &s;aid and writ|ten as well for, as again&s;t the Book of the curious Doctrine of the Great Witts of the&s;e times.</HI> At the end of this Book the Authour in&s;erted two In|vectives, very &s;hort indeed, again&s;t <HI>Homer</HI> and <HI>Virgil;</HI> to what end or upon what ground it is not much material here to di&s;pute; but in that of <HI>Virgil,</HI> he repre&s;ents him as a mo&s;t eminent Conjurer, and one that had done abundance of &s;trange and incredi|ble things by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of <HI>Magick.</HI> This he pre|&s;ently remembred was taken <HI>verbatim</HI> out of the la&s;t Book publi&s;h'd by <HI>de Lancre</HI> again&s;t <HI>Witchcraft;</HI> whereupon reflecting on what he had read, and calling to mind that not only <HI>Virgil</HI> but in a manner all great per&s;ons were in like manner charg'd with Magick, he imagin'd the charge might be unju&s;t and ground|le&s;&s;e. This put him upon &s;earch of the truth, think|ing it an act of piety to right the memory of tho&s;e great men&punc;and an obligation put upon the world, to endeavour their &s;atisfaction, who want either time or couveniences to informe them&s;elves, and &s;o he re|&s;olv'd to communicate, what he had found, in this APOLOGIE: whereof take this &s;hort ac|count.</P>
<P><PB REF="6">
In the fir&s;t place he a&s;&s;ignes certain conditions or qualifications nece&s;&s;arily requi&s;ite in him, that would judge of <HI>Authors,</HI> e&s;pecially <HI>Hi&s;torians</HI> and <HI>Dae|monographers,</HI> who are the chief Architects of this Labyrinth of erroneous opinions, which who is once gotten into cannot well get out without this Clue. Then he divides Magick into &s;everall &s;pecies, &s;o to confront the charge and the An&s;wer, which con&s;i&s;ts in the di&s;tinction of Magick into <HI>Diabolicall</HI> and <HI>Naturall.</HI> That done, he comes to certain generall cau&s;es whence the &s;u&s;picion hath been deriv'd, <HI>viz. Politicks, extraordinary Learning, Mathematicks, Suppo&s;ititious Books, &s;uper&s;titious Ob&s;ervations, Here&s;y, Malice, Emulation, Ignorance, Credu|lity in Readers, and want of circum&s;pection and Judgment in Writers.</HI> This is fully di&s;patch'd in five Chapters, which are as it were a preludinm to XIV more, &s;pent in the particular vindication of <HI>Zoroa&s;tes, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Democritus,</HI> and others, not proceeding &s;o much according to the times wherein they flouri&s;h'd as their &s;everall quali|ties and employments. So that having run through the &s;everall vindications of <HI>Philo&s;ophers, Phy|&s;icians, Religious men, Bi&s;hops, Popes,</HI> all to be done was to clo&s;e up the treati&s;e with a Chapter di&s;|covering the means whereby the&s;e Errours are main|tained, and what will be the con&s;equences of them if not &s;uppre&s;&s;ed.</P>
<P>So much, as to the Authors de&s;igne in this work. That di&s;patch'd, he thought fit to &s;ay &s;omething to tho&s;e who might haply quarrell with him for his chec|quering it &s;o much with &s;entences and Authorities out of <HI>Latine</HI> Authors. There are indeed a many and tho&s;e the mo&s;t refin'd Writers, who cannot, without a certain &s;corn and indignation, look on the writings
<PB REF="6">
of &s;uch, as, like them, will not employ them&s;elves &s;o trivially as to compo&s;e <HI>Love Stories</HI> and <HI>Romances</HI> for the entertainment of women and Children. For tho&s;e his an&s;wer is, that as he quarrels not with them for u&s;ing a Style proportionable to their capacities to whom they direct their Labours; &s;o does he expect they &s;hould be as favourable to him, for not tran&s;lat|ing tho&s;e Latine pa&s;&s;ages as &s;uch as are not particu|larly calculated for the meridian of the Populace, but &s;ome of a higher elevation, who mea&s;ure not truth, by the credit of Historians and Demonogra|phers, that have almo&s;t be&s;otted the multitude with their extravagances. The&s;e indeed are a &s;ort of peo|ple &s;o much oblig'd one to another, that &s;hould we imitate them in the Labours we intend for posterity, we must do as the <HI>Rhodians</HI> did, who only chang'd the heads of ancients Statues to make them &s;erve for new repre&s;entations, &s;uch a &s;trange art have they of di&s;gui&s;ing and di&s;me<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">bring one ano|thers workes that, &s;trictly examined, there's nothing new but the Titles. For <HI>Citaions,</HI> he thought they only avoided them who never expected to be cited them&s;elves&punc; and that it were too great a pre&s;umption in any one to think him&s;elf &s;o well furni&s;ht with concepti|ons as to&s;atisfie &s;o great a diver&s;ity of Readers without borrowing any. But if ever there were any &s;uch, they were certainly <HI>Plutarch, Seneca,</HI> and <HI>Montagne,</HI> who yet have not blu&s;h'd to derive from others what|ever they thought contributed to the embelli&s;hment of their di&s;cour&s;es. To prove this we need only mention the Greek and Latine ver&s;es cited almost in every line of their workes, and particularly that of <HI>Con|&s;olation&punc;</HI> con&s;isting but of &s;even or eight Leaves &s;ent by the former to <HI>Apollonius,</HI> wherein there are above <HI>150.</HI> ver&s;es out of <HI>Homer,</HI> and near as many out
<PB REF="7">
of <HI>He&s;iod, Pindar, Sophocles,</HI> and <HI>Euripides.</HI></P>
<P>Nor is he ignorant what the&s;e regulators of wri|ting might oppo&s;e again&s;t this, <HI>viz.</HI> the authority of <HI>Epicurus,</HI> who in <HI>300</HI> Volumes left behind him, had not &s;o much as one Citation; but this would make again&s;t them, by rea&s;on of the contrary con&s;equences of the&s;e two different procedures, for the workes of <HI>Plutarch, Seneca</HI> and <HI>Montagne,</HI> are daily read, &s;old, and reprinted, whereas of tho&s;e of <HI>Epicurus, Laertius</HI> can hardly furni&s;h us with a Catalogue. Yet would he not have this &s;o under&s;tood as to approve their cour&s;e who conceale the trea&s;ures of their own abilities to beg and borrow of others, never appearing but as people at fal&s;e Musters, and, without any ha|zard to them&s;elves, carrying other mens Arms. Tedious and fruitle&s;&s;e di&s;cour&s;es are like Forrests of Cypre&s;&s;e trees, fair and flouri&s;hing to the eye, but bearing no fruit &s;uitable thereto.</P>
<P>The &s;ure&s;t way therefore were to keep the mean be|tween the&s;e extremities, which is for a man to make a certaine allyance between his own conceptions and tho&s;e of the ancient, when the &s;ubject will bear it. For as it belongs only to &s;uch elevated and tran&s;cen|dent Souls as have &s;omething above the ordinary rate of men, to tran&s;mit their conceptions to us pure and naked, without any other convoy than that of Truth, and that it is the <HI>indicium</HI> of a low &amp; reptile mind to undertake nothing of it &s;elf; &s;o is it the proper chara|cter of a per&s;on unacquainted with vain glory and ar|riv'd to a con&s;iderable knowledge and experience of things to follow the track which the mo&s;t learned &amp; best esteemed Authors have gone before him, and not &s;o much endeavour to tickle the ears of his Readers, as to neglect what might &s;atisfie their understanding.</P>
<P>And this method hath our Author ob&s;erv'd in this
<PB REF="7">
APOLOGIE: which whoever &s;hall examine without prejudice or pa&s;&s;ion, must certainly conclude it no &s;mall performance, e&s;pecially if he con&s;ider the difficulty of the undertaking, the many Authors con|&s;ulted, the particularities he hath been forc'd to quote, and the novelty of the Subject, which, were there no|thing el&s;e, were enough to oblige the more ingenious, to countenance and encourage</P>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><L>In nova &s;urgentem, majoraq&abque; viribus au&s;um,</L>
<L>Nec per inacce&s;&s;os metuentem vadere &s;altus.</L></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="8">
<HEAD>NAUD AEVS. Viris doctis et fautoribus &s;uis.</HEAD>
<L>INtactae virtutis opus, juveni&s;&abque; laborem</L>
<L>Excipite illu&s;tres animae, docti&abque; parentes</L>
<L>Nominis et Genii, ne po|&s;tera &s;aecula credant, </L>
<L>Et vos in Magicis pariter pecc&acirc;&s;&s;e &s;u&s;urris.</L>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="8">
<HEAD>The Contents of this Book.</HEAD>
<LIST>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. I.</LABEL>
OF the conditions requi&s;ite to judge of Authors, e&s;pecially Hi&s;torian. <HI>Fol. 1.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. II.</LABEL>
Of Magick and it Species. <HI>Fol. 11.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. III.</LABEL>
That many eminent per&s;ons have been accounted Magicians who were only Politicians. <HI>Fol. 23.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. IV.</LABEL>
That the great Learning of many excellent men hath many times been taken for Magick. <HI>Fol. 28.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. V.</LABEL>
That great Mathematicians have been &s;u&s;pected for Magicians. <HI>Fol. 36</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. VI.</LABEL>
That the Books attributed to divers great men are not a &s;ufficient testimony to make them guilty of Magick. <HI>Fol. 42.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. VII.</LABEL>
Of all the other cau&s;es which may give any occa|&s;ion of &s;u&s;picion thereof. <HI>Fol. 51.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. VIII.</LABEL>
That <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> was neither Author nor Abettor of Georick, Theurgick, or Artificial Magick. <HI>63.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. IX.</LABEL>
That <HI>Orpheus</HI> was no Magician. <HI>Fol. 80</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap&punc; X.</LABEL>
<HI>A Vindication of</HI> Pythagoras. Fol. 96&punc;</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. XI.</LABEL>
<HI>Of</HI> Numa Pompilius. Fol. 115.</ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="9">
<LABEL>Chap. XII.</LABEL>
<HI>Of</HI> Democritus, Empedocles, <HI>and</HI> Apollo|nius. Fol. 126.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. XIII.</LABEL>
<HI>Of the</HI> Genii, <HI>or</HI> Daemons, <HI>attributed to</HI> Socra|tes, Ari&s;totle, Plotinus, Porphyrius, Jamblicus, Chicus, Scaliger, <HI>and</HI> Cardan. Fol. 143.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. XIV.</LABEL>
<HI>Of</HI> Alchindus, Geber, Artephius, Thebit, An|&s;elme <HI>of</HI> Parma, Raimundus Lullius, Arnoldus <HI>de</HI> Villa nova, Peter d' Apono, <HI>and</HI> Paracel|&s;us. Fol. 165.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. XV.</LABEL>
<HI>Of</HI> Henry Cornelius Agrippa. Fol. 188.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. XVI.</LABEL>
<HI>Of</HI> Merlin, Savanorola, &amp; No&s;tradamus. F. 202</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. XVII.</LABEL>
<HI>Of St.</HI> Thomas, Roger Bacon, <HI>Fryer</HI> Bungey Michael <HI>the Scot,</HI> Picus Mirandula, <HI>and</HI> Tri|themius. Fol. 224.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. XVIII.</LABEL>
<HI>Of</HI> Robert <HI>of</HI> Lincoln, &amp; Albertus Magnus. Fol. 241.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. XIX.</LABEL>
<HI>Of the Popes,</HI> Sylve&s;ter II. <HI>and</HI> Gregory VII. Fol. 255.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. XX.</LABEL>
<HI>Of</HI> Jo&s;eph, Salomon, <HI>and the</HI> Wi&s;e men. F. 273.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. XXI.</LABEL>
<HI>Of the Poet</HI> Virgil. Fol. 285.</ITEM>
<ITEM><LABEL>Chap. XXII.</LABEL>
Of the means whereby all the&s;e erroneous opinions are maintained, and what may be expected from them, if not &s;uppre&s;s'd. <HI>Fol. 298.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="9" MS="y">
<HEAD>THE HISTORY OF<HI> MAGICK; </HI>By way of APOLOGIE,<HI> For all tho&s;e eminent-Per&s;ons, who have un|ju&s;tly been reputed </HI>Magicians.</HEAD>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. I.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of the Conditions requi&s;ite to judge of Authours, e&s;pecially Hi&s;torians.</HEAD>
<P>THe learned and judicious <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>5.</HI> de tradendis <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> di&s;ciplinis.</NOTE> <HI>Ludovicus Vives,</HI> who for his excellent worth, was thought the fitte&s;t of all the great Wits of the la&s;t age, as another <HI>Plutarch,</HI> to cultivate that of the famous Emperour <HI>Charles</HI> the Fifth, gives us a good Dichotomy of <HI>Prudence.</HI> One part regulates our enjoyments, pre&s;erves our health, directs our conver&s;ation, acquires char|ges and employments, and is &s;o much taken up with the procurement of the gods of <HI>Fortune</HI> and the <HI>Body,</HI> that it hath gotten, among the <HI>Fathers,</HI> the title of <HI>Prudentia carnis,</HI> and is called by La|tine Anthours, <HI>Vafricies &amp; astuti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> The other, labouring onely the cultivation and ornament of
<PB N="2" REF="10">
the nobler part of man, the <HI>Mind,</HI> and the enrich|ing of it with Sciences and Di&s;ciplines, that &s;o it might di&s;cover and practi&s;e what is mo&s;t advanta|geous and reall therein, is particularly employed in the cen&s;ure and judgement of Authours. This is &s;o truly nece&s;&s;ary, and of &s;uch importance, that, being once well ordered, it &s;o guides us into the interiour of the per&s;ons we deal with, that it di&s;|covers the calms or tempe&s;ts of their pa&s;&s;ions, the <HI>Euripus</HI> of their &s;everall agitations, and the admi|rable diver&s;ity of their inclinations. The advan|tage we are to make of it, is like that of a touch|&s;tone to di&s;tingui&s;h truth from fal&s;hood; of a Torch, to light us in the palpable darkne&s;&s;e of Errour, or we mu&s;t look towards it, as our onely Pole-&s;tar, regulating our cour&s;e and di&s;coveries of Truth. For &s;ince &s;he alwayes appears to us masked with the pa&s;&s;ions of tho&s;e, who either out of ignorance, or intere&s;t, endeavour to di&s;gui&s;e her, we mu&s;t, to enter into familiarity with her, and to be ab&s;olutely po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of her, &s;eek her out, as <HI>Palamedes</HI> did <HI>Uly&s;&s;es,</HI> or young <HI>Aristeus</HI> the Sea-god; in tho&s;e places where &s;he is hidden and be &s;o importunate with her, that after &s;he lurked under the indi&s;cretion of the ignorant, the envie of the pa&s;&s;ionate, the extravagancies of the teme|rarious, the blindne&s;&s;e of the intere&s;&s;ed, and an infinite number of fabulous, &s;trange, and ridicu|lous opinions, &s;he may appear at la&s;t re&s;tored to her own former &s;hape;</P>
<Q><L><NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Virg. Geor. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> Et quant<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> illa magis formas &s;e vertet in omnes,</L>
<L>Tanto, nate, magis contende tenacia vincla,</L>
<L>Donec talis erit, mutato corpore qualem</L>
<L>Videris incaepto, tegeret cum lumina &s;omno,</L></Q>
<P><PB N="3" REF="10">
To do this, we mu&s;t &s;hake off all the in&s;inuating titles, the Panegyricks, the manife&s;t gratulations, which are ordinarily be&s;towed on tho&s;e, who are the mo&s;t able to di&s;gui&s;e her with the greate&s;t Ar|tifices and Palliations. For we &s;hould be more tender of our liberty, than to be fooled out of it by the number of their &s;uffrages, as if we were obliged, as a packed Jury, to approve whatever they are plea&s;ed to tell us, and had not the free|dom of a diligent di&s;qui&s;ition and cen&s;ure, to con|&s;ider whether it be ju&s;t and rationall. To our di&s;care, as to this point, may we ju&s;tly attribute all the fables, impertinencies, and &s;uper&s;titions, that have to this day crept into the writings and imaginations of abundance of people, e&s;pecially that &s;imple and ridiculous opinion of a many, who have thought the mo&s;t eminent men that ever were, even to the highe&s;t Magi&s;trates of the Ec|cle&s;ia&s;ticall State, Sorcerers and Magicians. But as this di&s;care hath been extreamly prejudiciall to us, &s;o mu&s;t we endeavour to make it as advan|tagious, and u&s;e it as <HI>Telephus</HI>'s &s;pear, which only could cure the wounds it made; or as the Sun, who onely di&s;per&s;es tho&s;e clouds and mi&s;ts which were ri&s;en in its ab&s;ence.</P>
<P>This task is indeed too difficult and &s;ubtle to be indifferently accommodated to all per&s;ons, and therefore <HI>Experience,</HI> which is onely acquired by Time, the <HI>Reflection</HI> men ought to make on what they have conceived, the carefull <HI>ob&s;ervation</HI> of the excellent &s;ayings, and prudent actions of others, and above all things, that <HI>Indifference</HI> which &s;hould alwayes carry the light before us in this di&s;qui&s;ition of Truth, give a certain di&s;pen|&s;ation to weak, incon&s;tant, and ob&s;tinate minds,
<PB N="4" REF="11">
as al&s;o to young men, &s;uch for the mo&s;t part, as he whom <HI>Virgil</HI> de&s;cribes,
<Q><L>En&s;e velut nudo, parm&acirc;&abque;, inglorius alba,</L></Q>
from employing them&s;elves in this cen&s;ure, whereof a riper age, and a well-&s;ettled con&s;titu|tion of mind, acquits it &s;elf with better &s;ucce&s;&s;e, and le&s;&s;e difficulty. Nor can we but ob&s;erve, that <HI>Era&s;mus, Vives, Scaliger, Bodin, Montaigne, Ca|nus, Po&s;&s;evin,</HI> and many more, who re&s;erved this employment for their more &s;erious &s;tudies, have proved &s;o fortunate in this kind, that we mu&s;t needs (if with <HI>Seneca</HI> we acknowledge, that <HI>Bona mens nec emitur, nec commodatur)</HI> adde &s;omething to it by their examples, and by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of tho&s;e precepts, which may be generally given for the regulation and refining of the judgement: whereof,</P>
<P>The fir&s;t is, to be very well ver&s;ed in tho&s;e Au|thours, who have been mo&s;t excellent in this kind; as for in&s;tance, <HI>Seneca, Quintilian, Plutarch, Charron, Montaigne, Vives;</HI> as al&s;o in tho&s;e admi|rable and great Genius's of Hi&s;tory, <HI>Thucydides, Tacitus, Guicciardine, Comines,</HI> and <HI>Sleidan.</HI> Adde to this an acquaintance with tho&s;e who have been Authours of politicall and rationall <HI>Di&s;cour&s;es,</HI> and all &s;uch as are eminent for new di&s;coveries and conceptions, &s;uch as <HI>Cardan,</HI> and the great Chancellour of England, <HI>Verulam,</HI> in all their books.</P>
<P>The &s;econd requires the knowledge of <HI>Logick,</HI> to be able with more readine&s;&s;e and facility, to di&s;tingui&s;h between true and fal&s;e, &s;imple and compound, nece&s;&s;ity and contingence; which
<PB N="5" REF="11">
does (as it were) open the way to</P>
<P>The third and la&s;t, which is a certain familia|rity with the mo&s;t profitable Sciences, and the mo&s;t univer&s;all and generall account of the af|fairs of this World that may be had, which is to be gained, partly by our own indu&s;try, partly by the endeavours of tho&s;e who have gone before us, &s;uch as may be tho&s;e of Hi&s;torians. But in this the choice is of &s;uch con&s;equence, that there can|not be too much circum&s;pection u&s;ed, e&s;pecially in the pre&s;ent age, wherein &s;elf-love does &s;o ea|&s;ily triumph over the indu&s;try of men, to force upon the world the fruits of their ignorance.</P>
<Q><L>&mdash;<NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Nao|georgus, Sat. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> Sic dira frequentes</L>
<L>Scribendi inva&s;it &s;cabies, &amp; turpe putatur</L>
<L>In nullis penitus nomen prae&s;tare tabernis.</L></Q>
<P>In &s;o much, that we may ju&s;tly &s;ay of the My&s;tery of <HI>Printing,</HI> the Mint of all the&s;e rampant imagi|nations, what <HI>Seneca</HI> &s;aid upon &s;uch an occa&s;ion in Nature, as this is in Art, <HI>Si beneficia naturae uten|tium pravitate perpendimus, nihil non no&s;tro malo accepimus.</HI> This is no more than what was fore|&s;een above an hundred and twenty years &s;ince, by the learned <HI>Hermolaus,</HI> Patriarch of <HI>Aquilea,</HI> and <HI>Perrot,</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Sipontum,</HI> and to which alone, as to their cau&s;e, we are to attribute the &s;udden di&s;|&s;emination of our modern Here&s;ies, with this complaint into the bargain, that with all the ad|vantages we derive from the Ancient, we are much inferiour to them in point of learning. I therefore think it extreamly nece&s;&s;ary, amid&s;t &s;uch a multitude of Authours, to be curious in the choice and &s;election of tho&s;e&punc; the diligent reading
<PB N="6" REF="12">
whereof may convince us, that they have been furni&s;hed with all the conditions required in a perfect Hi&s;torian, &s;uch as was for the Engli&s;h, <HI>Po|lydor Virgil;</HI> for the Germans, <HI>Rhenanus;</HI> and for the French, <HI>Paulus Aemilius,</HI> and di&s;card all the re&s;t, who (as the fore-mentioned) have not the mark of truth. But if we are de&s;irous to read them, let it be on the &s;ame conditions, as <HI>Seneca</HI> permitted his friend <HI>Lucilius; Nec te prohibuerim</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>aliquando i&s;ta agere, &s;ed tunc cum voles nihil agere.</HI> For my part it &s;hould be my cen&s;ure, that they be all &s;uppre&s;&s;ed, or that, as anciently all under fourty years of age were forbidden the reading of the <HI>Apocalyps,</HI> and the la&s;t chapter of the Prophet <HI>E&s;dras,</HI> &s;o they, who&s;e judgements are not &s;ettled by the reading of good books, &s;hould not be permitted to &s;urfet on tho&s;e abor|tive fruits of ignorance, whereof there is no end, but that of degenerating and ba&s;tardizing the &s;pi|rits of tho&s;e that trouble them&s;elves with them, <HI>Nam qui omnes etiam ind<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">gnas lectione &s;chedas ex|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">utit, anilibus quoque fabulis accommodare operam potest.</HI></P>
<P>But before we dilate any further upon the cen&s;ure and precaution we are to make of them, it will not be ami&s;&s;e, by the way, to lay open the extravagance of, I know not what, per&s;ons, who are of a &s;aith, that <HI>Painting</HI> and <HI>Poe&s;ie</HI> are two &s;worn &s;i&s;ters, exerci&s;ing an Empire over our <HI>Be|lief,</HI> equivalent to that of the mo&s;t impartiall <HI>Hi|&s;tories.</HI> For though it be pre&s;umed they may hap|ly take their ri&s;e from a true Relation, yet taking the liberty to di&s;gui&s;e it, as they plea&s;e, with their Chimericall imaginations, they have long &s;ince incurred the &s;ame &s;entence&punc;
<Q><PB N="7" REF="12">
<L>Nam&abque; unum &s;ectantur iter, &amp; inania rerum</L>
<L>Somnia concipiunt, &amp; Homerus, &amp; acer Apelles.</L></Q>
That per&s;on might very de&s;ervedly be laugh'd at, who &s;hould be per&s;waded that <HI>Turnus,</HI> little <HI>Ty|daeus,</HI> and <HI>Rodomont,</HI> flung quarters of mountains at their enemies, meerly upon the reputation of Poets; or that <HI>Je&s;us Christ</HI> a&s;cended into Hea|ven upon an <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Flor&punc; de Remond. c. <HI>13. of Pope</HI> Joan.</NOTE> Eagle, becau&s;e he is &s;o repre&s;ent|ed in the Metropolitane Church of St. <HI>Andrew,</HI> in the City of <HI>Bourdeax;</HI> and that the Apo&s;tles play'd on cymbals at the funerall of the ble&s;&s;ed Virgin, becau&s;e a capricious Painter thought fit to paint them &s;o: which con&s;idered, we may well excu&s;e the Satyricall retort of <HI>Beza,</HI> to the pictured ar|gument, which Dr. <HI>De Sainctes</HI> thought &s;o pre|valent at the conference of <HI>Poi&s;&s;y.</HI> Nor &s;hall I be too forward to give any more credit to &s;o many other fabulous narrations, as have crept into the world (if it may be permitted to ob&s;erve &s;ome, even in the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Hi&s;tory) under the ban|ners of &s;uch in&s;inuating and &s;pecious titles, as tho&s;e of, <HI>De infantia Salvatoris, The Conformity of St. Francis, The Golden Legend, The Proto-Evan|gelium, The nine or ten Go&s;pels,</HI> and a many &s;uch like, which having been at fir&s;t printed in the <HI>Micropresbyticon,</HI> have been &s;ince prudently left out of the <HI>Orthodoxographia,</HI> and the <HI>Library of the Fathers.</HI> Tho&s;e who would have <HI>Pliny, Al|bertus Magnus, Vincent de Beauvais, Cardan,</HI> and &s;ome others not inferiour to them, accounted fabulous Secretaries of Nature, are in my judge|ment extreamly in&s;en&s;ible of the obligation we owe the&s;e great per&s;ons, for their excellent ob&s;er|vations.
<PB N="8" REF="13">
It were much more rationall to bla&s;t with this breath the impo&s;tures of <HI>Mountebanks,</HI> the re&s;veries of <HI>Alchymi&s;ts,</HI> the fooleries of <HI>Magicians,</HI> the riddles of <HI>Cabali&s;ts,</HI> the combina|tions of the <HI>Lullists,</HI> and other like extravagances of certain Engro&s;&s;ers, and Collectours of Secrets, &s;ince they do not&punc;contribute any thing more &s;olid to naturall Hi&s;tory, than all tho&s;e old and rotten monuments of <HI>Olaus, Saxo-Grammaticus, Turpin, Neubrigen&s;is, Merlin, Nauclerus, Phreculphus, Si|gebert, Paulus Venetus,</HI> and a multitude of others, do to Policie and civill Society. For the&s;e, be|&s;towing their time rather in gleaning what was &s;cattered up and down, than in weighing the au|thority of the Authours from whom they bor|rowed their notes, have not onely advanced an Iliad of chimericall and ridiculous &s;tories, but with the &s;ame labour, brought upon the &s;tage &s;ome more improbable than the other, reporting them as mo&s;t true &amp; certain. Of this, one rea&s;on or motive is ob&s;tinacie, in that having once expo|&s;ed them, they could not imitate Sr. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in his <HI>Retractations, Quamvis enim,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Seneca, vana nos concitaverint, per&s;everamus, ne videamur caepi&s;&s;e &s;ine cau&s;a.</HI> Another, haply more likely is that be|ing content to follow the common track of tho&s;e, who when they write, make it their onely bu&s;i|ne&s;&s;e, to prove and make good what they have undertaken, by what means they care not, they bring in rea&s;ons and arguments by head and &s;houlders, and take hear-&s;ayes for certain truth, and old wives tales for demon&s;trations:</P>
<Q><L>&mdash;<NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Prudent. in Symach.</NOTE> Et &s;ic ob&s;ervatio cre&s;cit</L>
<L>Ex atavis quondam mal&egrave; caepta, deinde &s;equutis</L>
<L>Tradi ta temporibus, &s;eri&s;&abque; nepotibus aucta.</L></Q>
<P><PB N="9" REF="13">
This certainly mu&s;t needs be an impertinent kind of writing, and proper to &s;heepy mindes, &s;uch as willfully quit the bark of <HI>Truth,</HI> to ca&s;t them|&s;elves one after another into the Sea of <HI>Er|rour.</HI></P>
<P>But to avoid all the&s;e ab&s;urdities, we are only to con&s;ider the method &amp; de&s;igne of &s;uch as enter|tain us with the&s;e fine conceptions, and make an a&s;cent from one to another, till we come to di&s;cover the fir&s;t advancer of them, and haply the only man from whom all the re&s;t derived them. For in&s;tance; It is out of all controver&s;ie, that all our old <HI>Romances</HI> took their ri&s;e from the <HI>Chroni|cles</HI> of Bi&s;hop <HI>Turpin;</HI> all the Stories of <HI>Pope Ioan,</HI> from one <HI>Marianus Scotus;</HI> the Salvation of <HI>Trajan,</HI> from one <HI>John Levit;</HI> the opinion of <HI>Virgill's</HI> being a Magician, from <HI>Helimnndus</HI> the <HI>Monk.</HI> This man once found out, we mu&s;t di|ligently con&s;ider his quality, the party he inclin'd to, and the time wherein he fir&s;t writ; and thence bethink our &s;elves, whether we ought not to give greater credit to tho&s;e who have had the man|nagment of Affairs, than to Monks and private men; to per&s;ons of honour and worth, than to the dreggs of ignorance and the populace.</P>
<P>In the &s;econd place, we are to look on Hi&s;to|rians, (tho&s;e only who are perfectly Heroick excepted) as a fort of people &s;eldome or ne|ver repre&s;enting things truly and naturally, but &s;hadowing and masking them according as they would have them appear, and &s;uch as to gain their judgment a reputation, and to in&s;nare others therein; &s;pare not either abilities or eloquence, Stretching, Amplifying, bya&s;&s;ing and di&s;gui|&s;ing all things, as they think mo&s;t proper to their
<PB N="10" REF="14">
de&s;ign. Hence it is that we find Heathens and Idolaters have &s;poken many things again&s;t the fir&s;t Chri&s;tians, out of the aver&s;ion they had to the Religion; that the adherents of &s;ome Em|perours broach'd many indignities again&s;t the Popes; that the Engli&s;h repre&s;ented the Mayd of <HI>Orleans</HI> as a witch and Sorcere&s;&s;e; and that modern Heretiques have vented &s;o many fables again&s;t the dignity of the Church, and the main Pillars of it.</P>
<P>In the Third place, we are to make that judg|ment of Books which <HI>Paterculus</HI> made of Learned men, experience teaching us, that in a manner, all Hi&s;tories within &s;even or eight hundred years pa&s;t are &s;o hydropically &s;woln with lying legends, that a man would think the Authors of them had made it their main &s;trife, who &s;hould advance the greate&s;t number, From the&s;e &s;everall conditions requi&s;ite to the cen&s;ure of Hi&s;torians, it may be in|ferr'd that theywill &s;ignifie little as to the direction of tho&s;e dull &amp; earthly &s;ouls, which are repre&s;ented to us in the Aegyptian <HI>Hieroglyphicks</HI> by the <HI>Ono|cephalus,</HI> a Creature that &s;tirres not from the &s;ame place, that is to &s;ay, &s;uch as are not acquain|ted with any thing beyond the limits of their own Country, who read no Hi&s;tories, who trouble not them&s;elves, with any thing done el&s;ewhere, and who are unletterr'd and ignorant to that de|gree, that when they hear &s;ome great per&s;on nam'd, they think the di&s;cour&s;e is about &s;ome African mon&s;ter or &s;omething of the new world. For the&s;e having nothing either to contradict or oppo&s;e, make no difficulty to admit or reject what &s;uits or &s;uits not with their humour, quite contrary to the procedure of a prudent man, <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Ae<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">as Sylvius.</NOTE>
<PB N="11" REF="14">
<HI>cui &s;i plura n&ocirc;&s;&s;e datum e&s;t, majora <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">um &s;equuntur dubia;</HI> and of the old men repre&s;ented to us by <HI>Aristotle, qui rerum vitiis longo u&s;u detectis et cog|nitis, nihil impudenter a&s;&s;everant,</HI> and of whom he &s;ayes in the &s;ame place, that their long pra|ctice and experience makes them commonly in|credulous, and &s;u&s;pecting all things: A qualifica|tion, which indeed mu&s;t alwayes be &s;uppo&s;ed in tho&s;e who expect to make any advantage of their Readings!</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. II.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of Magick and its Species.</HEAD>
<P>The famous <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Alciat Embl. <HI>187.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Civilian</HI> hath in his Emblemes, taken occa&s;ion to repre&s;ent the three <HI>cau&s;es</HI> of ignorance by the image of <HI>Sphinx;</HI> plea&s;ure, by her face; incon&s;tancy, by her feathers; and pride, by her feet. Methinks it is not hard to add &s;ome|thing to this repre&s;entation, by ob&s;erving the <HI>effect</HI> of ignorance by the cruelty of the &s;ame Mon&s;ter. For as that took a certain plea&s;ure in ca&s;ting down from the top of the Rock &s;he &s;ate on, all tho&s;e who either could not or would not re&s;olve her Riddles; &s;o Ignorance hath ever made it her bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to precipitate tho&s;e out of all cre|dit and reputation, who, better employ'd, would not mind tho&s;e fooleries and legerde|maines. Nor indeed can we but perceive, that, before Humanity and Learning became common and generally attainable by the happine&s;&s;e of this la&s;t age, all tho&s;e who endeavoured their propa|gation and advancement, were (infamou&s;ly) term|ed
<PB N="12" REF="15">
<HI>Grammarians</HI> and <HI>Hereticks;</HI> tho&s;e who made &s;tricter &s;crutinyes into the knowledge of naturall cau&s;es incurr'd the cen&s;ure of <HI>Scepticks</HI> and <HI>Athei&s;ts;</HI> he who was more then Ordinarily ver&s;'d in the Hebrew tongue, went for a <HI>Jew</HI> or an <HI>Apo&s;tate;</HI> and tho&s;e who &s;tudied the <HI>Mathe|maticks,</HI> and more hidden Sciences&punc; were &s;u&s;|pected to be <HI>Conjurers</HI> and <HI>Magicians;</HI> A Calum|ny that had no other ground then either popular Ignorance, or the envy which the multitude bears to the vertue of eminent per&s;ons, becau&s;e of the little corre&s;pondence there is between the incli|nations of the one and the other, as <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg"><HI>Epi&s;t.</HI> 29.</NOTE> Seneca ingenuou&s;ly acknowledges in this pa&s;&s;age; <HI>Nun|quam volui populo placere: nam quae ego Scio, non probat populus, &amp; quae probat populus; ego ne|&s;cio.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;ince the former have, through the di&s;co|veries of time, and the endeavours of tho&s;e who have undertaken their ju&s;t cau&s;e, outliv'd and trampled on the cen&s;ures of envy and Ignorance&punc; I cannot &s;ufficiently wonder, that amid&s;t &s;uch a multitude of writers, there is not any one hath taken pen in hand to re&s;cue the honour of all tho&s;e hegemonick and predominant &s;oules, and particularly the greate&s;t Lights of Religion, even Popes and Prelates, from a vanity the mo&s;t ri|diculous and oppo&s;ite to their &s;tate that can be imagin'd, which is, that of their having been <HI>Magicians, Sorcerers,</HI> and <HI>Conjurers.</HI> This taske I &s;hall without much difficulty undertake, yet hope to unskale the eyes of vulgar Ignorance, &s;crupulous &s;implicity and zeal, and Hereticall malice: all which combine together to keep up the&s;e &s;ables and erroneous opinions, to the pre|judice
<PB N="13" REF="15">
of accu&s;ed innocence, Truth, as to matter of fact, and the honour and integrity of Religion, which certainly never could &s;o far mi&s;carry in the choice of her principall Mini&s;ters, as that they &s;hould make an unnaturall conjunction between the Prince of Light and that of Darkne&s;&s;e, God and the Devil, Chri&s;t and Lucifer, Heaven and Hell, and the Sacrifices of the Creatour and tho&s;e of the mo&s;t vile and abominable creature in the world. It is certainly not onely to be admired, but deplored, that this opinion, kept above wa|ter by &s;ome vain and triviall conjectures, &s;hould have taken &s;uch rooting, that it now concerns us to maintain the piety of tho&s;e great Souls, who&s;e lives and actions &s;hould rather be an example by which to regulate ours, than afford us occa&s;ions of Apologies and Vindication.</P>
<P>We &s;hall then lay our foundation with the di|&s;tinction of Magick into <HI>lawfull,</HI> and <HI>unlawfull</HI> or <HI>prohibited:</HI> whereof if every one were but inten|tive to ob&s;erve the &s;everall &s;pecies and effects, me thinks it were not very difficult to comprehend them. Let us then con&s;ider Man, as a perfect and accompli&s;hed creature, made after the image of his Creatour, the noble&s;t production of all Nature, &s;uch as &s;he thought fitte&s;t to &s;hed her fa|vours on, and to furni&s;h with her greate&s;t excel|lencies, that &s;o he might be Lord Paramount over all the re&s;t, and exerci&s;e dominion over them, it being the inherent right of his excellencie,
<Q><L>&mdash;<NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Ovid. Met. 1.</NOTE> Et quod dominari in c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ter<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> po&s;&s;et</L>
<L>Natus homo,&mdash;</L></Q>
ordering and regulating his extraordinary acti|ons,
<PB N="14" REF="16">
either by the particular grace of Almighty God, or by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of an Angel, or by that of a Daemon; or la&s;tly, by his own indu&s;try and ability. From the&s;e four different wayes, we in|fer four kinds of Magick: <HI>Divine,</HI> relating to the fir&s;t; <HI>Theurgick,</HI> to the &s;econd; <HI>Geotick,</HI> to the third; and <HI>Naturall,</HI> to the la&s;t.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t is that &s;acred and divine Magick, which being ab&s;olutely happy and accompli&s;hed, exceeds our forces, and wholly depends on that Spirit, <HI>qui qu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> vult &s;pirat,</HI> and which di&s;covers it &s;elf in its noble and &s;upernaturall operations, &s;uch as Prophecie, Miracles, the gift of Tongues, by means whereof it forces its knowledge upon mankind, affords it matter both of in&s;truction and entertainment, &s;o to cha&s;tize and mind men of their duties, and to rai&s;e a veneration for the Mini&s;ters of its Commandments. Magicians of this kind were <HI>Mo&s;es, Jo&s;hua,</HI> the <HI>Prophets,</HI> the <HI>Apo&s;tles, Gregory Thaumaturgus,</HI> and <HI>Simeon Sti|lites,</HI> tho&s;e great Wonder-workers, and a multi|tude of others, who have exerci&s;ed this Mo&s;aicall <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 30. <HI>cap.</HI> 1.</NOTE> Magick. This <HI>Pliny,</HI> not under&s;tanding it, con|demns; as al&s;o another, which he cals by the name of the <HI>Cyprian</HI> Magick, that is, that of St. <HI>Paul,</HI> who being in <HI>Cyprus,</HI> did, in the pre&s;ence of the Pro-Con&s;ul <HI>Sergius,</HI> make <HI>Elymas</HI> the Sorcerer lo&s;e his &s;ight. But this kind never di&s;covered it &s;elf with &s;o much lu&s;tre and miracle, as in tho&s;e two tran&s;cendent actions, the alliance of God with man, made at &s;everall times, by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and <HI>Je&s;us Christ,</HI> who confirmed it onely by the ver|tue of this Magick. For the former, he was &s;o fortunate in it, that having abjured what he <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ad learned in the &s;chool of men, he by the practice
<PB N="15" REF="16">
of this, delivered the people of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> out of Ae|gyptian bondage, and made him&s;elf a Generall of 600000 men, whom he and his Succe&s;&s;ours go|verned according to the Laws he had received from God with thunder and lightening. The lat|ter, <HI>Je&s;us Christ,</HI> wrought wonders with &s;o much ea&s;e, that both Jews and Gentiles, not able to comprehend whence that power was derived, which yet was no other than that of his Divinity, imagined all done by a wicked and Diabolicall Magick. Thence it came they were &s;o impudent (as <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">In <HI>13.</HI> Ezech.</NOTE> S. <HI>Hierome,</HI> and S. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> ob&s;erve) that they publi&s;hed certain books under the title of, <HI>Magia Je&s;u Chri&s;ti ad Petrum &amp; Paulum Apo&s;to|los.</HI> But the &s;aid Doctors prove them clearly &s;pu|rious, in that having &s;een and read them, they found them fraught with &s;tories quite di&s;con&s;o|nant to the actions of <HI>Je&s;us Christ,</HI> who left no|thing behind him in writing, nor called <HI>Paul</HI> to the Apo&s;tle&s;hip till after his A&s;cen&s;ion: be&s;ides that, he could not by his Magick have made the Prophets &s;ay what they had foretold both of his Deity and Coming.</P>
<P>The &s;econd is the <HI>Theurgick,</HI> or <HI>White Magick,</HI> which upon the account of Religion, enjoyns fa&s;ting and ab&s;tinences, piety, purity, candour, and integrity of life, that the Soul de&s;irous of com|merce with the &s;uperiour Deities, may not be in any thing diverted by its polluted and &s;infull bo|dy. Hence it is that the Apo&s;tle &s;ayes, <HI>Corpus quod corrumpitur, aggravat animam,</HI> and &s;uffers not a man to make u&s;e of that &s;trictne&s;&s;e of Di&s;|qui&s;ition, which is ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary in this o|peration; which, me thinks, <HI>Scaliger</HI> too prodi|gally commends, if &s;o be what he &s;ayes in his third
<PB N="16" REF="17">
book again&s;t <HI>Cardan,</HI> be meant of this kinde: <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg"><HI>Exercit.</HI> 327. <HI>nu.</HI> 3.</NOTE> <HI>Terti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> divina est; nomen apud vulgus odio&s;um facit colluvies impo&s;torum, propter Smerdis proditio|onem ac perfidi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m infen&s;a diu; hac Dominum Je&s;um fui&s;&s;e promi&s;&s;um Regem; cognoverunt illi qui ad eum adorandum longinquis &egrave; regionibus profecti fuerant.</HI> For my part, I &s;hould rather explane this of Na|turall Magick, again&s;t the opinion of <HI>Loyer</HI> and <HI>Godelman,</HI> who ground theirs perhaps only on his, calling it <HI>Divine.</HI> Yet for his &s;o doing there is &s;ome rea&s;on, &s;ince that tho&s;e who practi&s;e it, ac|knowledge thereby that &s;upream and onely Divi|nity, and may as well by the knowledge it gives us of the creatures, a&s;cend to that of the Creatour (according to the direction of <HI>Mo&s;es, Faciem meam non videbis, po&s;terior a autem mea videbis)</HI> as by the a&s;&s;urance it gives us of the miracles of the new Te&s;tament, to that of the Redeemer. Other|wi&s;e we mu&s;t &s;uppo&s;e <HI>Scaliger</HI> extreamly mi&s;ta|ken, in making &s;uch Panegyricks on this <HI>Theurgie,</HI> when it is, not unju&s;tly, condemned by <HI>Delrio, Pererius,</HI> and all the re&s;t, who de&s;erve more credit than this modern Writer, who leaving not a &s;tone unmoved to gain the reputation of a Magician, though ineffectually, thought fit, not long &s;ince, to put forth a Rhetorick, con&s;i&s;ting of five parts, new and never u&s;ed before, which he would make con&s;onant to the Ancient, that is, the Art of <HI>Trithemius</HI> to <HI>Invention, Theurgie</HI> to <HI>Di&s;po&s;ition,</HI> the Art of <HI>Armadel</HI> to <HI>Elocution,</HI> the Art <HI>Paulin</HI> to <HI>Pronunciation,</HI> and that of <HI>Lullius</HI> to <HI>Memory.</HI> For this, I doubt not, &s;ince his reputation encrea|&s;es daily, he will have his reward, that is, within fifty years he &s;hall have as fine &s;tories made of him, as there are now of Dr. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">au&s;tus,</HI> De <HI>Maugis,</HI>
<PB N="17" REF="17">
<HI>Merlin, No&s;tradamus,</HI> and others who are mar|ked with red letters in the Magicians Calendar. To which Catalogue we mu&s;t al&s;o adde <HI>Homer, Socrates, Ari&s;totle, Proclus, Jamblichus, Porphyrius, Maximus,</HI> and all the great Wits of the&s;e latter ages, if it be true, as they would fain per&s;wade us, that they were acquainted with their Genii, and could di&s;po&s;e of their good Angels, meerly by the Criticall ob&s;ervation of all tho&s;e ceremo|nies and Theurgick preparations, &s;o much cele|brated by the Poet <HI>Palingenius,</HI> that a man would think all the morall precepts, whereof his <HI>Zo|diak of humane life</HI> is &s;o full, aim only at the pra|ctice of all tho&s;e knacks and Image-Arts of <HI>Ar|madel, Paulin,</HI> and the <HI>Planetary, Et huju&s;modi &s;u|per&s;titionum</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Agrip. de vanit&punc; c. <HI>45</HI></NOTE> <HI>genera, quae e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;unt pernicio&s;iora, qu&ograve; no|bis apparent diviniora;</HI> &s;ince e&s;pecially they bring us thorow the back door to the knowledge &amp; pra|ctice of Conjurations and Diabolicall Magick, <HI>quae c&ugrave;m &s;it occulta, non minus qu&agrave;m tetra &amp; horri|bilis,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apul. in Apolog.</NOTE> <HI>plerun&abque; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">octibus vigilata, &amp; tenebris ab&s;tru|&s;a, &amp; arbitris &s;olitaria, &amp; carminibus mumurata,</HI> we ought con&s;equently to be very di&s;tru&s;tfull of, as the principall in&s;trument the Devil hath ever made u&s;e of, to pretend to the honour belongs not to him, and to be &s;o idoliz'd by men, as that he might divert them from the wor&s;hip they owe their Creatour. To compa&s;&s;e this with the more ea&s;e, we &s;ee it hath been his con&s;tant employ|ment, to bring into practice all the artificies and &s;ubtleties imaginable, putting on all &s;hapes, and making his advantage of all creatures, to make this Idolatry the more univer&s;al, &amp; con&s;equently more abominable to him, who, for the love he bears us, call'd him&s;elf &s;ometime <HI>a jealous God.</HI> We <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Exo.</HI> 20. 5.</NOTE>
<PB N="18" REF="18">
have it from &s;ome Hi&s;torians, that he &s;poke to <HI>Apollonius</HI> under the &s;hape of an Elm, to <HI>Pythago|ras</HI> under that of a River, to <HI>Simon Magus</HI> under that of a Dog, to &s;ome others under that of an Oak. He entertain'd the Heathen in their &s;uper|&s;titions, by heaps of Stones and Statues, whence proceeded <HI>Oracles,</HI> and (as they &s;ay) pre&s;ides yet among tho&s;e wretched A&s;&s;emblies which frequent his Sacrifices, under the repre&s;entation of a Hee|goat, the uglie&s;t may be &s;een; for which yet there mu&s;t be no more re&s;pect had, than that <HI>Aprilibro</HI> made of Virgin Parchment, at the opening where|of (they &s;ay) he is oblig'd to an&s;wer; or that <HI>Shirt of Nece&s;&s;ity,</HI> the <HI>Looking-gla&s;&s;e of Darkne&s;&s;e,</HI> and &s;uch in&s;truments of perdition, as the&s;e poor, &s;u|per&s;titious, and melancholly wretches take abun|dance <NOTE PLACE="marg">Scalig. Exer. <HI>327.</HI> num. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> of pains to make, <HI>cum cantiunculis, cadave|ribus, funibus &s;u&s;pendio&s;orum; quae &s;iquis attrectare aude at, etiam mereatur.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;entence we have pa&s;s'd again&s;t the &s;e|cond, may in like manner, with no le&s;&s;e earne&s;t|ne&s;&s;e and truth, be directed to all tho&s;e who bu&s;ie them&s;elves in a &s;ort of endle&s;&s;e Divinations, the &s;pawn of the third kind of Magick, which there is no nece&s;&s;ity of &s;pecifying more particularly, it being the cu&s;tom of all that write on that Subject, to di&s;po&s;e it into <HI>Alphabets</HI> and <HI>Catalogues.</HI> But to deal ingenuou&s;ly, it were much more di&s;cre|tion to give them a perpetuall act of Oblivion, not only becau&s;e we may &s;ay, and ju&s;tly, that of them which <HI>Tertullian</HI> does upon another occa&s;ion, <HI>Tot pernicies quot &s;pecies, tot dolores quot colores, tot ve|nena quot genera,</HI> but al&s;o becau&s;e they &s;eem to be of the nature of a flame, which (as <HI>Ovid</HI> de&s;cribes it) heightens and increa&s;es the more it is &s;tirr'd:
<Q><PB N="19" REF="18">
<L>Vidi ego jactatas mot<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> face cre&s;cere flammas,</L>
<L>Et rur&s;us, nullo concutien<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e, mori.</L></Q>
It were therefore much more to our purpo&s;e, and the advantage of Religion, to be&s;tow &s;ome time in refuting what <HI>Picus,</HI> in his Apologie, <HI>Crinitus,</HI> and the re&s;t affirm, that this wicked and unlawfull Magick was &s;o predominant all over Aegypt, that people re&s;orted thither from all parts of theworld, as if it had been &s;ome Academy or Lycaeum, pur|po&s;ely &s;et up for the propagation of this Idolatry. Hence it proceeds that <HI>Lucians</HI> and Infidels de|rive much from this opinion, when they would prove that <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> who according to the <HI>Wi&s;e-man, Jo&s;ephus</HI> and <HI>Philo,</HI> had been in&s;tructed in all the wi&s;dom of the Aegyptians, was &s;o well ver&s;'d in this Magick, that he made u&s;e of it in the working of miracles. To this &s;ome adde, that <HI>Je&s;us Christ</HI> practi&s;'d it, as we find in <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg">De Relig. Chri&s;t. c. <HI>30.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Mar&s;ilius Ficinus,</HI> and more particularly in <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg">Cont. Gent. l. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Arnobius,</HI> who affirms, that it was the common objection of tho&s;e blind wretches, to &s;ay, <HI>Magus fuit, clande&s;tinis artibus omnia perfecit: Aegyptiorum ex adytis Angelorum potentium nomina, &amp; remotas furatus est di&s;cipli|na<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> This the Author of the <HI>Fortalitium fidei</HI> might have &s;par'd his ordinary glo&s;&s;es upon, had he but con&s;idered the&s;e objections, as ridiculous as tho&s;e of a many others, who would have <HI>Abra|ham</HI> and <HI>Jacob</HI> pa&s;&s;e for great A&s;trologers, <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> for a South&s;ayer, and <HI>Salomon</HI> for a Necromancer, grounded only on certain pa&s;&s;ages of the Bible, w^c^h many of our Doctors have interpreted much more &s;uper&s;titiou&s;ly than ever did the Rabbins.</P>
<P>But it is almo&s;t demon&s;trable, that this kind of
<PB N="20" REF="19">
Magick which was practi&s;'d &s;o univer&s;ally over all <HI>Egypt</HI> was no other than the <HI>Naturall,</HI> di&s;gui&s;'d haply with &s;ome vain and impertinent Ceremo|nies, as may be ea&s;ily judg'd, in that <HI>Zoroa&s;tes, Zamolxis, Abbaris, Oroma&s;is, Charondas</HI> and <HI>Damigeron,</HI> who were mo&s;t eminent therein, as all Authours generally affirm, are commended <NOTE PLACE="marg">in Alcib&punc; ct in Car|mide.</NOTE> by <HI>Plato,</HI> e&s;pecially the two fir&s;t, as per&s;ons very intelligent and excellent for the knowledge of Nature rather then any command they had over tho&s;e <HI>Genii,</HI> Spirits, and Robin-good-fellowes. This may be further prov'd by the examples of <HI>Plato</HI> him&s;elf, of <HI>Pythagoras, Empedocles,</HI> and <HI>Democritus,</HI> who have ever been reputed Philo|&s;ophers and not Magicians, though by their tra|vels into <HI>Egypt</HI> they had attain'd tho&s;e Di&s;ciplines. For indeed it were a &s;trange thing, as the Learned <NOTE PLACE="marg">De &s;ing. cert l. <HI>29.</HI> fol. <HI>517.</HI></NOTE> Bi&s;hop <HI>Mirandulanus</HI> ob&s;erves, that, this Ma|gick having been &s;o much in vogue, neither <HI>Aristotle,</HI> nor any Philo&s;opher of his rate, took any paines to leave us the lea&s;t account of it, e&s;pe|cially the former, who having ob&s;erv'd what|ever was conformable to rea&s;on in his Books, could not have forgot him&s;elf &s;o far, as to pa&s;&s;e over the effects of this admirable doctrin, in that little Book wherein he hath, with &s;o much pru|dence, layd up together whatever he had di&s;|cover'd that were &s;ecret, and &s;urpa&s;&s;ing the Or|dinary cour&s;e of Nature.</P>
<P>It is therefore no hard conjecture, to think that the&s;e tran&s;cendent Sciences, this rare doctrin, the&s;e admirable di&s;ciplines amounted to no more than the practice of our fourth and la&s;t kind of <HI>Magick,</HI> called <HI>Naturall.</HI> To di&s;cover and unmask which, we are to remember that man be|ing
<PB N="21" REF="19">
a Conver&s;ative creature, capable of di&s;cipline, and furni&s;hed with all in&s;truments requi&s;ite for ratiocination and his in&s;truction in the truth of all things, he is able to put them in practice, either for the attaining of an ordinary vulgar knowledge proportionable to that of others, lit|tle or not exceeding that of his Equalls, &s;uch as have nothing extraordinary or miraculous in it, becau&s;e <HI>(n) inaequalitas tantum est ubi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> quae eniment</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">See. Ep i&s;t <HI>33.</HI></NOTE> <HI>notabilia &s;unt; non est admirationi una arbor, ubi i n eandem altitudinem tota &s;ylva&punc; &s;urrexit.</HI> Or haply to rai&s;e him&s;elf to the highe&s;t and mo&s;t tran&s;cendent &s;peculations, to avoid the common road, and take a Noble flight into tho&s;e azure vaults of the pure&s;t part of our &s;oul, to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">oare up into that terre&s;tiall paradi&s;e of the Contem|plation of Cau&s;es, that &s;o he may at length arrive at that &s;upreme degree of felicity; which onely opens a man the way into tho&s;e places &s;o much celebrated by <HI>Lucretius,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2.</NOTE>
<Q><L>Edita doctrin&acirc; Sapientum templa &s;erena.</L></Q>
This is indeed the true effect of this kind of <HI>Ma|gick,</HI> which the <HI>Per&s;ians</HI> called, anciently, <HI>Wi&s;dom,</HI> the Greeks <HI>Philo&s;ophy,</HI> the Jews <HI>Cab|bala;</HI> the <HI>Pythagoreans, Science of the formall numbers;</HI> and the <HI>Platonicks,</HI> the <HI>Soveraigne Remedy,</HI> which &s;eats the &s;oul in perfect Tranquil|lity, and pre&s;erves the body in a good Con&s;titu|tion by the faculty it hath of being able to recon|cile the pa&s;&s;ive effects to the active vertues, and to make the&s;e elementary things here below, comply with the actions of the Stars and cele&s;ti|all Bodies, or rather the Intelligences which guide them by materialls, proper and conveni|ent
<PB N="22" REF="20">
for that purpo&s;e. We may therefore con|clude with the Learned <HI>Verulam,</HI> that this fourth kind of <HI>Magick Naturalem Philo&s;ophiam &agrave; veri|tate &s;peculationum ad magnitudinem operum revoca|re nititur,</HI> it being nothing el&s;e then a practical Phy&s;ick, as Phy&s;ick is a contemplative <HI>Magick;</HI> and con&s;equently &s;ince what is &s;ubalternate to the one is the &s;ame to the other, it will not be hard to di&s;entangle it out of an infinite web of Super|&s;titions, confine it to that which it only hath to do with, and appoint it its due bounds and li|mits.
<Q><L>Quos ultr&agrave;citra&abque; nequit con&s;istere rectum.</L></Q>
The&s;e are no other than what are a&s;&s;ign'd to Phy&s;ick by <HI>Wendelinus, Combachius,</HI> and the &s;ubtle <NOTE PLACE="marg">De Divi&s;. Scien.</NOTE> <HI>Algazel,</HI> and confirmed by <HI>(p) Avicenna,</HI> who &s;tating the parts of <HI>Naturall</HI> Philo&s;ophy attributes to it, fir&s;t <HI>Medicine&punc;</HI> then <HI>Chymistry, Astrono|my, Phy&s;iognomy</HI> and <HI>Oneiro&s;copy,</HI> to which may be added <HI>Chiromancy, Metopo&s;copy, Elio&s;copie,</HI> and <HI>Geomancy,</HI> that is, the three former to <HI>Phi|&s;iognomy,</HI> and the la&s;t, as <HI>Albertus Magnus, Vigenere,</HI> Dr. <HI>Flood, Pompanatius,</HI> and <HI>Agrippa,</HI> would have it, to <HI>Astrologie.</HI> All the&s;e parts, in regard they have &s;ome foundation in naturall cau&s;es, may be, as the&s;e Authors affirm, freely practi&s;ed, and that without the &s;u&s;picion of any other <HI>Magick</HI> then the <HI>Naturall</HI> &s;uch as is allow'd and approved by all, yet provided al|wayes, that the profe&s;&s;ors confine them&s;elves, the mo&s;t &s;trictly that may be; within the Limits of their Cau&s;es, without wandring into a million of ridiculous ob&s;ervations, &s;uch as but too too ea&s;i|ly
<PB N="23" REF="20">
creep in to their mindes, who make it their employment.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. III.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">That many Eminent Per&s;ons have been accounted Magicians, who were only Politicians.</HEAD>
<P>WEre it lawfull to adde any thing to that excellent con&s;ideration upon which the French <HI>(a) Seneca</HI> built the fir&s;t Chapter <NOTE PLACE="marg">Montaigne.</NOTE> of his <HI>E&s;&s;ayes, namely that it is po&s;&s;ible by &s;everall wayes, and tho&s;e ab&s;olutely different, to attain the &s;ame end;</HI> I know not any example contibutes more to the demon&s;tration of this truth then that of the puni&s;hment of lying and fabulous Authors, who&s;e malice may be &s;uppre&s;&s;'d by a meanes quite con|trary to what was anciently practi&s;'d by the <HI>Lyci|ans</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heracl. in frag. de po|liticis.</NOTE> again&s;t fal&s;e witne&s;&s;es and informers. For whereas the cu&s;tome among them was to treat &s;uch as &s;laves and to pro&s;titute them in publick places, we are on the contrary to e&s;tabli&s;h a Law, that all Hi&s;tories &s;hould be like tho&s;e con|tracts which the Civilians call <HI>Stricti juris,</HI> and that the di&s;covery of the fir&s;t impo&s;ture &s;hould fairly entitle the whole body of the Book to the fire, or at lea&s;t hinder the &s;ale and publi&s;hing of it. Had this been as carefully lookt after heretofore as it is nece&s;&s;ary to be put in practice now, we &s;hould, I mu&s;t confe&s;&s;e, have fewer precepts but more profitable, fewer Books but more fraught with Learuing, le&s;&s;e Hi&s;tory but more truth, and con&s;equently we &s;hould have &s;ome|thing el&s;e to do than to t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ouble our &s;elves for
<PB N="24" REF="21">
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ca&s;siodor. lib. <HI>4.</HI> var. Epi&s;t. <HI>22.</HI></NOTE> Apologies for all tho&s;e excellent per&s;ons, <HI>(c) tanquam artis &s;inistrae contagione pollutos.</HI> Nay there is &s;uch a multitude of writers repre|&s;ent them as &s;uch, that the Civilian <HI>Heraldus,</HI> con&s;idering with him&s;elf that in the&s;e daies they are only pittifull wretches that are drawn into the&s;e pernicious and unlawfull practi&s;es, took occa&s;ion to &s;ay that the trade was now ab&s;olutely fallen into the hands of cheats and the Ignorant, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>5.</HI> Rer. ju|dic.</NOTE> <HI>(d) non amplius Philo&s;ophorum, &s;ed ru&s;ticorum et idoitarum.</HI></P>
<P>Having therefore &s;hewn in the fir&s;t Chapter of this Apologie that the Propagation of all the&s;e vulgar errours happened by the want of Judg|ment in tho&s;e that read Authors, we are now to proceed further in our de&s;igne; and finde out the generall cau&s;es of all the&s;e fal&s;e reports, which being of the &s;ame alloy with the mo&s;t extrava|gant imaginations of the Poets, crept into repu|tation under the appearance of &s;ome adventure or occa&s;ion. <HI>Titus Livius</HI> &s;eems to &s;hew us a little light in the Di&s;covery of the fir&s;t cau&s;e for which many excellent per&s;ons have been charg'd with <HI>Magick,</HI> though not any of them had ever the lea&s;t acquaintance with it, where he tells us, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Libr.</HI> 4. <HI>Dec.</HI> 1.</NOTE> that, <HI>datur hac venia Antiquitati, ut mi&s;cendo humana divinis primordia urbium augu&s;tiora faci|at.</HI> Whence we may ea&s;ily conjecture, that the more &s;ubtle and practi&s;'d Lawgivers knowing that the readie&s;t way to gain Authority, among&s;t the people and to continue it, was to per&s;wade them that they were only the In&s;truments of &s;ome &s;upreme diety, who was plea&s;ed to favour them with its a&s;&s;i&s;tance and protection, have not un&s;uc|ce&s;&s;efully father'd all upon feigned Dieties, pre|tended
<PB N="25" REF="21">
Conferences, imaginary Apparitions, and in a word, this <HI>Magick</HI> of the Ancients, the better to palliate their ambition, and to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ay a &s;urer foundation of future Empire. Hence came it, that &s;ometime <HI>Tri&s;megistus</HI> affirmed the derivation of his Laws from <HI>Mercury, Zamolxis</HI> from <HI>Vesta, Charondas</HI> from <HI>Saturn, Minos</HI> from <HI>Jupiter, Lycurgus</HI> from <HI>Apollo&punc; Draco</HI> and <HI>Solon</HI> from <HI>Minerva, Numa Pompilius</HI> from the Nymph <HI>Aegeria,</HI> and <HI>Mahomet</HI> from the Angel <HI>Gabriel,</HI> who often whi&s;pered him in the eare under the Shape of a Pidgeon, being as well in|&s;tructed to further his de&s;ign, as <HI>Pythagoras</HI>'s Eagle and <HI>Sertorius</HI>'s Hind were for theirs. Nay the Cheat hath prov'd no le&s;&s;e fortunate to &s;ome <HI>Politicians,</HI> who u&s;ing all the indu&s;try and arti|fices po&s;&s;ible to gain the reputation of the indul|gence of &s;ome Divinity, by the means of this Theurgie and feigned apparitions, have brought to pa&s;&s;e, &s;ome adventures difficult beyond im|agination. Such were tho&s;e of the Hermit <HI>Schaca|culis,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Nouveau C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n&eacute;e pag. <HI>102.</HI></NOTE> who, having acted that part excellently well for &s;even or eight years in a de&s;ert, at la&s;t drew the Curtains, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;'d him&s;elf of &s;everall Citties, defeated a Ba&s;haw, and <HI>Mahomets</HI> Son, and had done much more mi&s;chief, had he not incen&s;'d the Sophy by the meanes of one certain <HI>Celender,</HI> who under pretences of devo|tion &s;hook all <HI>Natolia,</HI> and found the Turk work enough, till at la&s;t he lo&s;t his life in a pitch'd field. To be &s;hort, &s;uch another was <HI>Elinahel</HI> an African who took the &s;ame cour&s;e to wre&s;t the Scepter out of his Ma&s;ter's hands the King of <HI>Morocco;</HI> to whom we might adde a many others, who&s;e extraordinary fortune gave <HI>Cardan</HI> occa|&s;ion
<PB N="26" REF="22">
<NOTE PLACE="marg">De Sapient. Lib. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> to advi&s;e &s;uch Princes and Soveraignes, who by rea&s;on of the meanne&s;&s;e of their extraction, want of friends or a military force, have not credit enough to governe their Countries; to apply them&s;elves, to this &s;acred Theurgie. By &s;uch meanes did <HI>James Bu&s;&s;ularius</HI> make a &s;hirt to rule for &s;ome time at <HI>Pavia; John de Vin|cence,</HI> at <HI>Boulongue;</HI> and <HI>Savanorola</HI> at <HI>Florence</HI> of which latter we have this remark of the Polite <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1. <HI>Di&s;.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">3.</NOTE> Italian in his di&s;cour&s;e upon <HI>Livy; The people of Florence are no fools, yet Brother</HI> Hierom Savano|rola <HI>per&s;waded them that he had conferences with God.</HI> But before all the&s;e, had <HI>Ve&s;pa&s;ian</HI> done as much by his miracles, and <HI>Nama</HI> the &s;econd <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tertul. in Apol. cap. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">5.</HI></NOTE> founder of <HI>Rome, qui Romanos opero&s;i&s;&s;imis &s;u|per&s;titionibus oneravit, ut rapaces et adhuc feros hominee multitudine tot numinum demerendorum at|tonitos efficiendo, ad humanitatem tempera|ret.</HI></P>
<P>And indeed this kind of circumvention is of &s;uch con&s;equence, that tho&s;e who thought not fit to make u&s;e of it this way, as conceiving it too low, and not able to bring about their ambitious ends, have a&s;cended a &s;tep higher, affirming them&s;elves to be the Sons of the&s;e &s;upreme Dei|ties (rather Devills); under pretence of who&s;e favo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">r all other Law-givers, and Politicians were glad to keep up their credit and Autho|rity.
<Q><BIBL>Virg&punc;</BIBL>
<L>&mdash;Veluti Parna&s;&s;ia laurus</L>
<L>Parva&punc; &s;ub ingenti matris &s;e protegit umbra.</L></Q>
When therefore we find <HI>Hercules</HI> calling him&s;elf the Son of <HI>Jupiter, Romulus</HI> of <HI>Mars, Servi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s</HI> of
<PB N="27" REF="22">
<HI>Vulcan, Alexander</HI> of <HI>Ammon,</HI> and &s;o of others, we mu&s;t conceive they did it, either to bring the people under obedience, and to gain that re&s;pect among men which they bore their &s;uppo&s;ed Fa|thers. Or haply their Mothers being more then ordinarily crafty and politick <HI>hoc pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">texunt nomine culpam;</HI> a trick probalbly play'd by tho&s;e of <HI>Plato, Apollonius, Luther,</HI> and the Prophet <HI>Mer|lin,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Alan. de In&s;ulis.</NOTE> who&s;e <HI>Romance</HI> mu&s;t needs take its ri&s;e from the pretty &s;tory of his birth, that &s;o nothing might be omitted that &s;hould render his adventures more full of prodigy and a&s;toni&s;h|ment.</P>
<P>To this head may al&s;o be reduc'd the vanity of tho&s;e private per&s;ons, who no le&s;&s;e de&s;irous, to have &s;ome influence over their fellow-citizens and the ordinary rate of men, than Princes and Monarchs have over their &s;ubjects, make it their bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to per&s;wade us that the Gods have an extraordidary renderne&s;&s;e for their per&s;ons by a&s;&s;igning them &s;ome Guardian-Angell, or Di|rector in all the mo&s;t important actions of their lives, Among the&s;e may be ranked <HI>Socrates, Apol|lonius, Chicus, Cardan, Scaliger, Campanella</HI> and &s;ome others, who would per&s;wade them&s;elves, that all the proofs and a&s;&s;urances which they &s;hould be plea&s;'d to afford us of their familiar <HI>Demons</HI> &s;hould be acknowledg'd by <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s, with no le&s;&s;e veneration than tho&s;e ancient Commen|taries <NOTE PLACE="marg">Reuclin. de Art caba|li&s;t.</NOTE> of the Rabbins, which lay it down as undeniable that among the Patriarchs of the Old Te&s;tament, <HI>Adam</HI> had been govern'd by his An|gel <HI>Raziel, Sem</HI> by <HI>Jophiel, Abraham</HI> by <HI>Tzad|kiell, I&s;aac</HI> by <HI>Raphael, Jacob</HI> by <HI>Piol,</HI> and <HI>Mo|&s;es</HI> by <HI>Mitraton.</HI> No<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> indeed do I &s;ee any rea&s;on
<PB N="28" REF="23">
to pa&s;&s;e any other judgment of the one than of the other; and that the be&s;t advantage we can make of all the&s;e extravagances, is to u&s;e them as a Collyrium to help us to di&s;cern truth from fal&s;hood, reall Magick from fictions and pre|tences, and politicall and naturall operations from the Diabolicall, which, as &s;uch, are con|demn'd by all. Such were tho&s;e practi&s;'d &s;ome|time <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. Tim&punc; c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> again&s;t <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> by the Magicians of <HI>Pharaoh,</HI> called by St. <HI>Paul, Jammes,</HI> and <HI>Mambres;</HI> tho&s;e of <HI>Simon Magus</HI> who oppo&s;'d St. <HI>Peter;</HI> of <HI>Cy|nops,</HI> who was drown'd upon the prayer of St. <HI>John</HI> the Evangeli&s;t; of <HI>Elymas</HI> &s;truck blind by St. <HI>Paul;</HI> of <HI>Zaores</HI> and <HI>Arphaxat,</HI> who&punc; accor|ding <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Liv.</HI> 6.</NOTE> to the Hi&s;tory of <HI>Abdias,</HI> were de&s;troy'd by thunder in <HI>Per&s;ia.</HI> To the&s;e we may adde of latter times Dr. <HI>Fau&s;tus, Zedechias</HI> the Jew, the <HI>little Scot, Trois-e&s;chelles,</HI> he who under <HI>Charles</HI> the fifth, would needs be called <HI>Magi&s;ter videns,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lege. <HI>7.</HI> Cod. de malef et Mathem.</NOTE> and a many others of whom we mu&s;t under&s;tand the Decree, thundring in the <HI>Code</HI> again&s;t <HI>Magici|ans, Magi, in quacun&abque; &s;int parte terrarum, hu|mani generis inimici credendi &s;unt.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. IV.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">That the extraordinary Learning of many great men hath oftentimes been accounted Magick.</HEAD>
<P><HI>FUrius Ve&s;inius</HI> the Pea&s;ant, accu&s;'d before the people of <HI>Rome</HI> for a &s;ort of wizzardry done by him upon the Lands of his neighbours, which though of greater extent, yet yeelded not &s;o great a Crop as his that were le&s;&s;e, would take no other
<PB N="29" REF="23">
cour&s;e to ju&s;tifie his Innocence, then to bring along with him, on the day of his appearance, all the In&s;truments of Agriculture, kept in very good order, be&s;eeching his Judges to believe that he had made u&s;e of no other poi&s;ons or unlawfull drugges then tho&s;e, together with abundance of paines and a many watchings, which, to his &s;or|row, he knew not how otherwi&s;e to repre&s;ent. In like manner the&s;e great per&s;ons
<Q><L>&mdash;Queis arte benigna</L>
<L>Et meliore luto finxit pracordia Titan,</L></Q>
need no more, to bla&s;t this Calumny, which to this day lyes heavy upon them, than to manife&s;t and di&s;cover the proceedings whereby they have attain'd &s;o great Learning and Abilities. Tho&s;e indeed they were &s;o eminent for, that it &s;eems in &s;ome &s;ort to excu&s;e their weakne&s;&s;e who could referr them to no cau&s;es but what were extraor|dinary, and upon no other account have made it a crime, &s;uch as, were it not true what <HI>Apuleius</HI> &s;aies, that, <HI>Calumniari quivis innocens pote&s;t, revin|ci</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Apolog.</HI> 1.</NOTE> <HI>ni&s;i nocens non pote&s;t,</HI> we might &s;ay are in a man|ner entail'd on all per&s;ons of more than ordinary de&s;ert. Galen, that great <HI>Genius</HI> of <HI>Medicine,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. <HI>17.</HI> de ratione cu|randi per &s;ang. mi&s;si|onem.</NOTE> confe&s;&s;es that at <HI>Rome</HI> he was thought guilty of it, for diverting a <HI>fluxion,</HI> by <HI>Phlebotoimy</HI> in le&s;&s;e then two dayes, which <HI>Era&s;istratus</HI> could not effect in a long time, becau&s;e he would not make u&s;e of that remedy. <HI>Apuleius</HI> was forc'<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> to the trou|ble of two Declamations in publick, and to di&s;play all his great abilities and Learning to re|&s;cue them from the cen&s;ure of Magick, which his Enemies would fa&s;ten on them, wherein they
<PB N="30" REF="24">
mu&s;t needs be mi&s;taken, unle&s;&s;e they took the word according to the explication of Sr. <HI>Hierom,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ad cap. <HI>2.</HI> Daniel.</NOTE> where he &s;ayes, <HI>Magi &s;unt qui de &s;ingulis philo&s;o|phamur.</HI> For if it be re&s;trained to that &s;en&s;e, we &s;hall freely acknowledge, that <HI>Galen, Apuleius,</HI> and the re&s;t for whom we make this Apologie, were <HI>Magicians,</HI> that is, &s;tudious per&s;ons, inde|fatigable, as to travell; and con&s;equently pale, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apul. Apo|log. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> wan, and &s;ickly, <HI>quibus continuatio etiam literalis laboris omnem gratiam corpore deterget, habitudi|nem tenuat, &s;uccum ex&s;orbet, colorem obliterat, vigo|rem debilitat.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e indeed are the charms and enchant|ments, whereby they came to under&s;tand the <HI>Tri|vium</HI> and <HI>Quadrivium</HI> of the &s;even Liberall Sci|ences, &s;o much celebrated by the Moderns, and con&s;equently arrived to the knowledge of the whole Encyclopedy. This it was, that in &s;ome &s;ort rai&s;ed them to a communication with that Divinity which <HI>Homer</HI> attributes to the Sun, be|cau&s;e he &s;ees all things. This likened them to the <HI>Gymno&s;ophi&s;ts,</HI> who as <HI>Philo&s;tratus</HI> affirms, thought them&s;elves the more acceptable to their Gods, the higher they jumped and lifted them&s;elves up into the air in their carols and dances. That in|deed bred the quarrell, the&s;e great intelligences rai&s;ed them&s;elves to &s;uch a height of perfection, that the ignorance of the ages they lived in, envy|ing the di&s;tance between them and other men, hath alwayes charged them with impiety in their Speculations and Theory, and Magick in their A|ctions. <NOTE PLACE="marg">In vita Ni|ci<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> As to the former, <HI>Plutarch</HI> was the fir&s;t Authour of this excellent ob&s;ervation, where he tels us that <HI>Anaxagoras</HI> and tho&s;e Philo&s;ophers, who fir&s;t found out the cau&s;es of Eclip&s;es, com|municated
<PB N="31" REF="24">
it to their Di&s;ciples in a Cabali&s;tical &amp; Traditionall way very &s;ecretly, not daring to ven|ture it among the people, who&s;e faith it was, that only temerarious and impious per&s;ons &s;ought out any rea&s;on for tho&s;e entraordinary effects, which depended immediately on the will of the Gods, who&s;e Liberty they thought incompatiblewith the indi&s;turb'd order of tho&s;e cau&s;es, whereof the Philo&s;ophers pretended a naturall Demon&s;tra|tion. Hence proceeded the rigorous puni&s;h|ment inflicted on them, either by bani&s;hment, as happened to <HI>Protagoras,</HI> or long impri&s;onment as to <HI>Anaxagoras,</HI> out of which <HI>Pericles</HI> had all the trouble in the world to make him go. Nay they would not pardon <HI>Socrates,</HI> but condemn'd him upon this very account that his Philo&s;o|phy had &s;omething different from tho&s;e that went before him. The&s;e har&s;h proceedings gave <HI>Plato</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">in Epi&s;t.</NOTE> &s;uch an alarm, that he ingenuou&s;ly confe&s;&s;'d to <HI>Diony&s;ius,</HI> that for that very rea&s;on he had not advanc'd any opinion of his, but under the name of <HI>Socrates</HI> or &s;ome other Philo&s;opher, lea&s;t &s;ome|time or other he &s;hould be called to account for it. The &s;ame per&s;on, con&s;ulted by the <HI>Atheni|ans</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Plat. lib. de Daemone Socrat:</NOTE> about the execution of the Oracles an&s;wer which had commanded them to double their Altar, which was of a Cubick figure, took that occa&s;ion, as extreamely advantageous, to per|&s;wade them to the &s;tudy of Philo&s;ophy e&s;pecially Mathematicks, without the knowledge whereof it was ab&s;olutely impo&s;&s;ible to &s;atisfie the Oracle&punc; This might haply &s;eem fabulous to a many who have a greater reverence for Antiquity then to Imagine it &s;o &s;tupid and Ignorant; but that the Author from whom we have this te&s;timony is not to be &s;u&s;pected guilty of either mi&s;take or negli|gence.
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But if we come nearer our own age, we &s;hall find there was not much more rea&s;on, &s;ome ages &s;ince, to deny as <HI>Lactantius</HI> did, again&s;t <HI>Avi|cenna,</HI> that the Torrid Zone was habitable; or to di&s;pute again&s;t the opinion of the <HI>Antipodes,</HI> and to &s;ay, by way of <HI>raillerie,</HI> to tho&s;e that maintai|ned <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>3.</HI> de fal&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;api|entia, c. <HI>23.</HI></NOTE> it, <HI>Et miratur aliquis hortos pen&s;iles inter &s;eptem mira narrari, cum Philo&s;ophi &amp; agros, &amp; maria, &amp; urbes, &amp; montes, pen&s;iles faciant?</HI></P>
<P>Nay, &s;o ridiculous and contrary to Religion was this opinion thought in that time, that the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Aventinus, lib. <HI>3.</HI> An|nal. Boio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> poor Bi&s;hop <HI>Virgilius</HI> was excommunicated, and condemned for an Heretick, for patronizing that rever&s;e of this world, long before it was di&s;co|vered by <HI>Columbus.</HI> Nor is it a thing le&s;&s;e &s;trange, that <HI>Phila&s;trius</HI> &s;hould put into the Catalogue of the hereticall and condemned opinions in his time, that of &s;ome Philo&s;ophers, who held the <HI>Solidity</HI> of the Heavens, which yet hath ever been acknowledged, and &s;till is in the Schools, though within the&s;e thirty or fourty years, &s;ome Profe&s;|&s;ours have di&s;carded it, to introduce the ancient, which was the more common and authentick in the time of <HI>Phila&s;trius.</HI></P>
<P>It is therefore no miracle, when all the pro|po&s;itions of the&s;e great wits, though mo&s;t &s;olid and rationall, have ever met with contempt, by the <HI>Gentiles,</HI> out of &s;u&s;picion of <HI>impiety;</HI> by the <HI>Chri&s;tians;</HI> of <HI>here&s;ie,</HI> onely becau&s;e they happen'd in ages di&s;tru&s;tfull of tho&s;e va&s;t and extraordinary acque&s;ts of learning, if the greate&s;t part of <HI>Philo|&s;ophers, Mathematicians,</HI> and <HI>Naturali&s;ts</HI> have been unju&s;tly charged with Magick: an ob&s;erva|tion <NOTE PLACE="marg">Initio Dialect.</NOTE> we are obliged for, to that great per&s;on, whom <HI>Laurentius Valla</HI> cals the la&s;t of the La|tines,
<PB N="33" REF="25">
who among other lamentations directed to <HI>Philo&s;ophy,</HI> forgot not to &s;ay, <HI>Atque hoc ip&s;o af|fines</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>1.</HI> De Con|&s;ol. Philo|&s;oph. pro&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&punc; <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> <HI>fui&s;&s;e videmur maleficio, quod tuis imbu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i di&s;ci|plinis.</HI> From which pa&s;&s;age we may learn, that that calumny hath been &s;o pinned to the &s;leeves of all that have profe&s;&s;ed tho&s;e Di&s;ciplines, that it &s;eems in a manner an e&s;&s;entiall property in them to be accounted Magicians&punc; &s;ince it &s;eldom or ne|ver happens, that any Lawyers and Divines (un|le&s;&s;e Hereticks) have been charged therewith. Whereas on the contrary, tho&s;e who are the mo&s;t intimately acquainted with Philophy, have not been able to ward off this reproach, or divert men from attributing the fruits of their indu&s;try to their proficiencie in the Academy of Devils, where they yet profited more than in any of the other Sciences, if we may tru&s;t tho&s;e who would furni&s;h us with more Magicians, <HI>qu&agrave;m olim mu&s;|carum</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Plaut. in T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">uc.</NOTE> <HI>e&s;t, tum c&ugrave;m caletur maxime.</HI></P>
<P>But to facilitate the di&s;covery in this point, all our bu&s;ine&s;&s;e is to ob&s;erve the fir&s;t appearances of Learning, the fir&s;t ri&s;ings of great Wits, the time they flouri&s;hed, the ages which have brought forth mo&s;t, and take notice by the way, how that ignorance hath alwayes per&s;ecuted them with this calumny. It will tell us, if we will hearken to it, that <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> and <HI>Zamolxis</HI> never did any thing, but fool away their time in <HI>Sacrifices;</HI> that <HI>Pythagoras, Democritus, Empedocles, Socrates</HI> and <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> had never known any thing, had they not applyed them&s;elves to the <HI>Daemons;</HI> that <HI>Apu|leius</HI> was but a Wizard; that <HI>Geber, Alchindus&punc; Avicenna,</HI> and all the mo&s;t excellently learned among the <HI>Arabians,</HI> were Profe&s;&s;ours of Ma|gick; that <HI>Roger Bacon&punc; Ripley, Bongey, Scotus,</HI>
<PB N="34" REF="26">
were &s;o many cunning men among the Engli&s;h, excellently well ver&s;'d in Necromancie, and very able Conjurers; that <HI>Chicus,</HI> the <HI>Conciliator, An|&s;elm</HI> of <HI>Parma,</HI> and divers other Italians, were very well acquainted with the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of Invo|cations; that <HI>Arnoldus</HI> de <HI>Villa nova,</HI> and <HI>William</HI> of <HI>Paris,</HI> were al&s;o very fortunat therein, in France. In a word, all Countreys that had any men famous for learning were &s;ure to have al&s;o Magicians; whereof, for want of the former, <HI>Germany</HI> had alwayes been barren enough, <HI>Alber|tus Magnus</HI> excepted, till that, furbi&s;h'd &amp; refin'd by letters, it brought forth <HI>Trithemius &amp; Agrippa,</HI> as the Ring-leaders of all the fore-mentioned. To the&s;e: if we beleeve <HI>Bodin,</HI> we mu&s;t add <HI>Hermolaus &amp; Cardan&punc;</HI> if <HI>de Lancre&punc; Scaliger &amp; Picus;</HI> if &s;ome o|thers yet more &s;uper&s;titious, all the mo&s;t eminent per&s;ons, as if there had been no other &s;chools than the Ca<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">es of <HI>Toledo,</HI> no other books than the <HI>Cla|viculae,</HI> no other Doctors than <HI>Devils,</HI> no other wayes for a man to become learned, but by the practice of all tho&s;e Magicall Super&s;titions; or la&s;tly, that the reward of a great indu&s;try, and the fruits of excellent endowments, were only to en|able a man to ca&s;t him&s;elf into the claws of that enemy of mankind, who&s;e acquaintance is but too too ea&s;ily procur'd, it being his bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, to <HI>go about like a roaring Lion, &s;eeking whom he may devour.</HI></P>
<P>Having therefore well con&s;idered whence it comes to pa&s;&s;e, that many have made &s;uch di&s;|advantagious glo&s;&s;es on the learning of the&s;e great per&s;ons; I am, in the fir&s;t place, per&s;waded it might proceed from a rea&s;on common to all the erroneous per&s;wa&s;ions which in&s;en&s;ibly thru&s;t
<PB N="35" REF="26">
in among us, as the learned <HI>Verulam</HI> hath ob&s;er|ved, <HI>Is humano intellectui error e&s;t proprius &amp; per|petuus,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>3.</HI> in|&s;taur. mag.</NOTE> <HI>ut magis moveatur &amp; excitetur affirmativis qu&agrave;m negativis.</HI> In the &s;econd, that haply it might come from this, that the&s;e Philo&s;ophers &s;oaring up into contemplations too high and remote from ordinary apprehen&s;ions; tho&s;e, who, in com|pari&s;on of them, onely crept upon the ground, were oblig'd to admire them, and, in time, to re|proach, as over-confident and &s;upernaturall, whe|ther this change proceeded from the weakne&s;&s;e of their judgement, or a de&s;igne to calumniate them, as <HI>Seneca</HI> ob&s;erves, <HI>qu&agrave;m magnus mirantium, tam</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">De vita beata.</NOTE> <HI>magnus invidentium est populus.</HI> Or la&s;tly from this, that whatever the mo&s;t &s;ubtle and ingenious among men can perform, by the imitation or a&s;|&s;i&s;tance of Nature, is ordinarily comprehended under the name of Magick, untill &s;uch time as it be di&s;covered by what wayes and means they ef|fect tho&s;e extraordinary operations. Of this we have an example in the invention of <HI>Guns</HI> and <HI>Printing,</HI> and the di&s;covery of the new world; the people wherof, thought at fir&s;t &s;ight, that our &s;hips were made by Magick, our vaults &amp; arches by en|chantment, and that the Spanyards were the De|vils that &s;hould de&s;troy them, with the thunder and lightening of their Arquebuzzes and Guns.</P>
<P>From what hath been &s;aid may be inferr'd, that all the&s;e great per&s;ons have incurr'd the cen&s;ure of Magicians, for having performed many &s;trange things by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of Phy&s;ick and other Sci|ences they were Ma&s;ters of, and in the practice whereof all good Authours are wont to compre|hend Magick. The rea&s;on of this, is, that they are not &s;o ea&s;ie to be pro&s;tituted to the knowledge of
<PB N="36" REF="27">
the Vulgar as the Mechanicks are, which cannot &s;o much command admiration, becau&s;e, being exerci&s;'d about manife&s;t and palpable Bodies, it is a manner impo&s;&s;ible that the Authors thereof &s;hould keep up the &s;ecret of their &s;everall can&s;es and operations. And this leads us to a nece&s;&s;ity of acknowledging that the practice of the Mathe|maticks, and, above all, of the&s;e Mechanicks, and judiciary A&s;trology, hath contributed much to the confirmation of all the&s;e erroneous opini|ons, as we &s;hall &s;hew more at large el&s;e|where.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. V.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">That Mathematicians have many times been accoun|ted Magicians.</HEAD>
<P>AMong all the Precepts which contribute any thing to the regulation and conduct of our Actions, me thinks there is not any more &s;erious or of greater con&s;equence then that which minds us, that, <HI>Venena non dantur ni&s;i mel|le circumlita, &amp; vitia non decipiunt ni&s;i &s;ub &s;pecie Virtutum.</HI> Of this we have daily experience, in that as Coyners of fal&s;e mony employ all their indu&s;try &s;o to di&s;po&s;e &s;ome little Gold or Silver upon bad pieces that they may pa&s;&s;e for good and current; &s;o the greate&s;t part of tho&s;e who by rea&s;on of the lightne&s;s and vanity of their Doctrine fall into the generall contempt, are forc'd to change Scenes, to di&s;gui&s;e, and if they are Here|ticks, for example, to take the title of Divines; if Impo&s;tors, of Chymi&s;ts, if Mounte-banks, of
<PB N="37" REF="27">
Doctors; if Sophi&s;ters, of Philo&s;ophers; if Con|jurers, of Well-wi&s;hers to the Mathematicks. This makes &s;ad and &s;trange confu&s;ion in all things, e&s;pecially the Sciences, that, if it be not ab&s;o|lutely impo&s;&s;ible, it is certainly very difficult to be able to di&s;cern the Legitimate profe&s;&s;ors from the Ignorant and pre&s;umptuous profaners of them; who, having &s;cattered into them abundance of cheats &amp; &s;uper&s;titions, have made them &s;o &s;u&s;pect|full, that even tho&s;e who have courted them with greate&s;t religion could never do it with the gene|rall approbation and allowance of all. This certainly is one principal rea&s;on whereby the mo&s;t criticall and accompli&s;h'd Wits, have given their Enemies occa&s;ion to defame them as Magicians, becau&s;e they had made greater di&s;coveries into tho&s;e four parts of the Mathematicks, which are called by <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Eph. <HI>45.</HI> l. <HI>1.</HI> var. Metal. c. <HI>24.</HI> in Encom. Art. liberal&punc;</NOTE> <HI>Ca&s;&s;iodorus, Quadrifariae Mathe&s;is Januae;</HI> by <HI>Sarisberien&s;is, Quadrivii rotae;</HI> and by <HI>Calcagnin, Quadriga di&s;ciplinarum,</HI> that is, <HI>Ari|thmetick Geometry, Mu&s;ick,</HI> and <HI>Astrology.</HI> The&s;e indeed are &s;uch, that, by rea&s;on of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">he &s;ubtle operations are wrought by them, the Je&s;uit <HI>Pe|rerius</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">De Mag. l. <HI>1.</HI> cap. <HI>9&punc;</HI></NOTE> took occa&s;ion to divide Naturall Magick into two kinds. One hath an ab&s;olute depen|dance on Phy&s;ick and its parts, working, by the meanes both of the occult and known qualities of all things, many times, very &s;trange and mi|raculous effects, &s;uch as might be the Golden henne of <HI>Sennertus,</HI> the Magneticall unguent of <HI>Goclinus,</HI> the Lamp and invulnerable Knight of <HI>Burgravius,</HI> the Idaeall pouder of <HI>Quercetanus,</HI> the Fulminant Gold of <HI>Beguinus,</HI> the Vegetall Tree of the <HI>Chymi&s;ts,</HI> and many &s;uch naturall miracles which the&s;e Authours affirme they have &s;een and
<PB N="38" REF="28">
experienc'd. The other giuded by Mathematicall precepts, makes certain artificiall Engines by meanes whereof we come afterwards to admire <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. <HI>45.</HI> lib. <HI>1.</HI> var.</NOTE> that Sphere of <HI>Archimedes, parvam machinam, gravidam mundo, Caelum ge&s;tabile&punc; compendium rerum, Speculum naturae.</HI> To that adde tho&s;e <HI>Au|tomata</HI> of <HI>Daedalus,</HI> tho&s;e Tripods of <HI>Vulcan,</HI> the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Du Bartas. <HI>1.</HI> Week. <HI>6.</HI> day.</NOTE> Hydraulicks of <HI>Bo&euml;tius</HI> the <HI>Pidgeon</HI> of <HI>Architas,</HI> that indu&s;trious Iron-fly pre&s;ented to the Empe|rour <HI>Charles</HI> the <HI>V.</HI> by <HI>John de Mont royal,</HI> which</P>
<Q><L>&mdash;from under's hand flew out</L>
<L>And having flown a perfect Round about,</L>
<L>With weary wings return'd unto her Ma&s;ter,</L>
<L>And (as judicious) on his Arm &s;he plac'd her.</L></Q>
<P>Be&s;ides which, there are many other producti|ons of man's wit, working, it as it were in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">pight of nature, which have &s;o dazzled weaker minds, that it is indeed no wonder, if, not able to di&s;|cover the rea&s;ons, which were purpo&s;ely kept from them, they have attributed all tho&s;e in&s;tru|ments and engines, rather to Diabolicall opera|tions then humane indu&s;try, and have through ignorance, be&s;patter'd the greate&s;t Mathemati|cians with the infamy of Magick. An in&s;tance of this we have in that <HI>Archimedes</HI> of <HI>Ga&s;cony, Francis Flu&s;&s;ad</HI> of <HI>Candale,</HI> who was not able to ward off the blowes of that Calumny. To him adde <HI>John Denys</HI> an excellent Mathematician of our time, who printed an Apology for him&s;elf in the year 1570. and pleaded his own cau&s;e at <HI>London.</HI> And to him, Pope <HI>Silve&s;ter, Bacon, Michael Scotus, Albertus Magnus,</HI> and all the re&s;t who now put in their Bills of Com|plaint.
<Q><PB N="39" REF="28">
<BIBL>Ovid. de Nace.</BIBL>
<L>Fructus obest, peperi&s;&s;e nocet, nocet e&s;&s;e feracem. </L></Q></P>
<P>Wherein there is certainly much ju&s;tice, their on|ly crime being, that their Sciences, their in&s;tru|ments, their brazen heads, their Clocks, and all their other &s;ubtle Inventions, have &s;o a&s;toni&s;h'd the populace, that in&s;tead of referring the&s;e &s;in|gular effects to their true cau&s;e and the experience of the Mechanicks&punc;, the Operator whereof, is&punc; if I may &s;o expre&s;&s;e it, <HI>pen&egrave; &s;ocius naturae, occulta</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ca&s;&s;iod l. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> var. Ep <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">5</HI></NOTE> <HI>re&s;erans, manife&s;ta convertens, miraculis ludens,</HI> it hath attributed all to Diabolicall Magick. This they think was very much more in reputation five or &s;ix hundred years &s;ince than itis now<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> and that was publickly taught in certain Schools in <HI>Spain,</HI> whereof the ruines are yet to be &s;een in the Cel|lars near <HI>Toledo</HI> and <HI>Salamanca.</HI> But this rather begs our belief then requires it, in as much as the Authors from whom we have the&s;e things, being no more Authentick Te&s;timony, then what we might produce to affirm as much of the Ca&s;tle of <HI>Vice&s;tre.</HI> But indeed, it is a certain piety not to think that Citty ever was the Seminary of &s;o many Magicians, which God honour'd with a prero|gative above all other, that the doctrine and po|licy of his Church was confirm'd and maintain'd therein by the a&s;&s;emblies of 17. Councells; be|&s;ides that tho&s;e who make <HI>Sylve&s;ter</HI> a Magician acknowledge that he learn'd, what he knew that way, at <HI>Toledo.</HI></P>
<P>But when it &s;hall be hereafter evinc'd that <HI>Syl|vester</HI> was no &s;uch man, but the greate&s;t aud mo&s;t excellent Mathematican of his Age, it will be but rationall to grant, that, by the <HI>Magick</HI>
<PB N="40" REF="29">
taught at <HI>Toledo</HI> is only meant the <HI>Mathematicks,</HI> which had gain'd &s;uch reputation there, and were &s;o perfectly taught, that a certain Engli&s;h man called <HI>Daniel Morlerus</HI> (who flouri&s;h'd in the year 1190. and writt excellently well therein) after a long aboad in <HI>Barbarie</HI> to learn them, was at la&s;t advi&s;ed to tran&s;port him&s;elf to <HI>Toledo,</HI> as the mo&s;t famous place for their profe&s;&s;ion in the World. Such, it &s;eems, it was then, and continu'd &s;o, long after, even to <HI>Alphon&s;us</HI> King of <HI>Castile</HI> in the year 1262. who became &s;uch a Mecaenas and Patron of the&s;e di&s;ciplines that he gave, by way of recompence, to certain Arabi|ans who&s;e a&s;&s;i&s;tance and indu&s;try he had made u&s;e of in compo&s;ing his <HI>Astronomicall</HI> Tables, above 400000 Crownes: &s;o infinitely de&s;irous was he of being accounted the common Benefactor of all the Mathematicians of his time, that there needs no further &s;ecurity for it, then that infinite num|ber of Treati&s;es and Tran&s;lations upon this &s;ub|ject, which had never been done but by the influ|ence of his name, and the example of his Libe|rality. <NOTE PLACE="marg">l. ult. c. ult. adv. A&s;tro|log.</NOTE> That indeed brought the&s;e Di&s;ciplines much into reque&s;t, e&s;pecially judiciary A&s;trology, as <HI>Mirandula</HI> ob&s;erves, that it is not to be wondered at, that the place where it was &s;o diligently practi|&s;ed, &s;hould be taken for the Schoole of Magick. If <NOTE PLACE="marg">Metam. lib. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> &s;o, tho&s;e certainly, who glory'd in the imitation of the A&s;trologer <HI>Diophanes,</HI> who boa&s;ted in <HI>Apuleius</HI> that he certainly knew <HI>qui dies copulam nuptialem affirmet, qui fundamenta moenium perpetuet, qui negotiatori commodus, qui viatori celebris, qui na|vigiis opportunus,</HI> mu&s;t needs expect to be brand|ed <NOTE PLACE="marg">lib. de Ido|lolat.</NOTE> for Magicians, not much differing from the opinion of <HI>Tertullian,</HI> who &s;ometimes &s;aid, <HI>Sci|mus</HI>
<PB N="25" REF="29">
<HI>Magiae &amp; A&s;trologiae inter &s;e &s;ocietatem.</HI> It is al&s;o the opinion of the <HI>Civilians,</HI> who under the &s;ame head, treat <HI>De Maleficis et Mathematicis,</HI> upon occa&s;ion of Divinations and this A&s;trolo|gie, which hath been condemn'd under the name of Mathematicks, becau&s;e <HI>Justinian</HI> de|&s;irous to make his Con&s;titutions clear and in|telligible, made u&s;e of the mo&s;t u&s;uall and Vulgar words: <HI>Vulgus autem,</HI> &s;aies <HI>Gellius, quos genti|litio</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>lib.</HI> 1&punc; <HI>c.</HI> 9&punc;</NOTE> <HI>vocabulo Chaldaeos dicere oportet, Mathema|ti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">os dicit.</HI> We have it confirmed al&s;o by a pa&s;|&s;age in Juvenal,
<Q><BIBL><HI>Sat.</HI> 14.</BIBL><L>Nota Mathematicis gene&s;is tua&mdash;</L></Q>
which, as that of <HI>Gellius,</HI> is not to be under&s;tood of Arithemetick, Geometry, Mu&s;ick, and A&s;tro|nomy, which are particularly &s;ignifi'd by the name of Mathematicks, and generally approved by all, but only of Judiciary A&s;trology, which is, with much rea&s;on, condemn'd by the Church, not as &s;u&s;pected guilty of any thing of Magick, but as a Profe&s;&s;ion, <HI>quae &s;tellis ea quae ge|runtur</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Origen. hom. <HI>3.</HI> Hierom&punc;</NOTE> <HI>in terra con&s;ecrat,</HI> makes us &s;laves to the de&s;tinies, and is ab&s;olutely in con&s;i&s;tent with all kinds of Religion.</P>
</DIV2>
<PB N="40" REF="30">
<GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page">
<PB N="25" REF="30">
<GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page">
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="42" REF="31">
<HEAD>CHAP. VI.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">That the Books attributed to divers great per&s;ons, are not a &s;ufficient testimony to make them guilty of Magick.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Steph. For|cat&punc; in Prometheo&punc;</NOTE> VVE find in Hi&s;tory, that that potent King of <HI>Aegypt, Ptolemaeus Philadelphus,</HI> ha|ving &s;par'd no indu&s;try to adde to and adorn the proud Library he had erected in <HI>Alexandria,</HI> ap|pointed, for its further &s;plendour, a certain &s;o|lemn day, on which all the Poets a&s;&s;embled toge|ther, recited ver&s;es in honour of the Mu&s;es, that the mo&s;t able and fortunate might be gratified with the pre&s;ents he had de&s;igned for them. The&s;e guerdons were already voted to divers of the Candidates, when <HI>Aristophanes,</HI> who was the &s;e|venth of the Judges, oppo&s;ed the &s;entence of the re&s;t, and opening the trea&s;ury of his memory, a|maz'd all with the greatne&s;&s;e of his reading and his miraculous learning, and di&s;cover'd that the pieces they thought &s;o excellent and accompli&s;h|ed, were not theirs who had recited them, but had been taken out of the be&s;t Authours, whom he particulariz'd one after another, making &s;uch an Inventory of Felonies, that the King, People, and Judges revok'd the former &s;entence, for to fa|vour &s;ome others, who had not brought any thing, but what was of their own invention. For my part, I am clearly of opinion, that there was not more occa&s;ion, for that <HI>Aristophanes</HI> in the time of <HI>Ptolemy,</HI> than there is in this, and that he &s;hould find much more occa&s;ion to di&s;cover his
<PB N="43" REF="31">
prodigious reading, not onely in the cen&s;ure and condemnation of Plagiaries, but al&s;o in the vin|dications of the&s;e great per&s;ons. For in &s;tead of receiving tho&s;e elogies and honorary titles, &s;ome|times given them by <HI>Richard de Bury,</HI> Chancellor of <HI>England,</HI> the greate&s;t Lover of Books that hath been &s;ince the time of <HI>Ptolemy Philadelphus,</HI> who, to in&s;inuate the advantage of good books, tels us, <HI>Hi &s;unt Magistri qui nos in&s;truunt &s;ine virgis</HI> &amp; <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. <HI>2.</HI> Phi|lobiblii.</NOTE> <HI>ferula, &s;ine verbis &amp; cholera, &s;ine pannis &amp; pecunia: &s;i accedis non dormiunt, &s;i inquiris non &s;e ab&s;con|dunt, non remurmurant &s;i oberres, cachinnos ne&s;ciunt &s;i ignores;</HI> in &s;tead of the&s;e Elogies, I &s;ay, they have father'd upon them a number of pernicious and pe&s;tilent books, for which, in &s;tead of the&s;e com|mendations, they meet with onely the contempt and imprecations of tho&s;e, who cannot di&s;tin|gui&s;h the&s;e &s;uppo&s;ititious brats from their true and legitimate children.</P>
<P>This hath given &s;ome occa&s;ion to imagine, that many great men have not been charg'd with Ma|gick, but meerly upon this fourth cau&s;e, and the books unju&s;tly father'd upon them, &s;uch as are tho&s;e of <HI>Trithemius</HI>'s Catalogue, and many other Manu&s;cripts, <HI>qui e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> periculo&s;ius errant, qu&ograve; in &s;olidi|tate</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Sarisber. Polycrat. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>18.</HI></NOTE> <HI>naturae &amp; vigore rationis &s;uum fundare videntur errorem.</HI> For an Antidote again&s;t the venom of this fourth kind, according to our method in the precedent, we are to &s;hew that there is no proba|bility, that all the&s;e books <HI>improbatae lectionis,</HI> as <NOTE PLACE="marg">Vulpian&punc;</NOTE> the Civilians call them, were ever written or compo&s;ed by tho&s;e, under who&s;e names and au|thority they are publi&s;h'd, which yet if we &s;hould grant, yet can there not any certain proof be de|duced out of them, to conclude the Authours
<PB N="44" REF="32">
Magicians. For, in the fir&s;t place, we have no o|ther knowledge or account of the&s;e books, than what we find in certain Catalogues, who furni&s;h us with their titles in &s;uch a manner, that we can|not judge, unle&s;&s;e by &s;ome other circum&s;tances, what the Authours drift and de&s;igne was in the compo&s;ition of them, whether to illu&s;trate or confute, plead for or again&s;t, mantain or condemn the &s;ubject they treat of, and bu&s;ie them&s;elves a|bout. Whence it came to pa&s;&s;e, that many find|ing by the&s;e Catalogues, that <HI>Alexander Aphrodi|&s;aeus</HI> had written of Magicall Arts, <HI>Aquinas</HI> of ju|diciary A&s;trologie, and <HI>Roger Bacon</HI> of Necro|mancie, have pre&s;ently entered into imaginati|ons contrary to what they &s;hould, beleeving that they contain'd nothing el&s;e, but the precepts and direction we are to follow, to be perfect in the practice of all tho&s;e Divinations, and con&s;equent|ly, that there was much rea&s;on, why the Authors &s;hould be accounted Magicians.</P>
<P>But this con&s;equence is vain, light, and ground|le&s;&s;e; for be&s;ides the fir&s;t errour, we may ob&s;erve a &s;econd, which, becau&s;e not &s;o obvious, hath de|luded a many, even to this day, who held that there needed no more to qualifie any one, an En|chanter or Magician, than to write of Magick: which once granted, we mu&s;t al&s;o infer, that all tho&s;e who undertake to write again&s;t, and to con|vince them, &s;hould be bemir'd with the &s;ame vice, and accordingly incur the &s;ame puni&s;hment. For it mu&s;t be &s;uppo&s;ed, that they cannot di&s;cover the ab&s;urdity of their precepts and maximes, un|le&s;&s;e they under&s;tand and declare them to us, which if they do, they become equally guilty, be|cau&s;e the good or bad intention of the one and
<PB N="45" REF="32">
the other, doth not make any alteration in the ca&s;e, relating onely to the nature of Precepts, which &s;hould have no more force taken out of <HI>Picatrix</HI> than <HI>Delrio,</HI> if he hath once explan'd them, nor of the prohibited Authours, than tho&s;e who refute them. Nay, we mu&s;t pre&s;&s;e further, and affirm, that all tho&s;e who are able to di&s;|cour&s;e pertinently of Magick, ought to be con|demn'd as Magicians, were there no other rea&s;on than that it is in their power, as much as theirs who did it before, to furni&s;h us with books and precepts, which if they do not, it is either becau&s;e they think it not convenient&punc; or out of &s;ome other motive, without any prejudice to their learning. We find <HI>Socrates, Carneades,</HI> and divers others ac|counted good Philo&s;ophers, though they would never take the pains to commit any thing to wri|ting; <HI>Horten&s;ius,</HI> thought, in <HI>Cicero</HI>'s time, the be&s;t Oratour in all <HI>Rome,</HI> who, probably, out of an imitation of a many others highly celebrated by <HI>Seneca</HI> and <HI>Cicero,</HI> would never publi&s;h any of his Declamations. Adde to this, that it were a &s;trange &s;implicity to think, that only &s;uch as have been in the Circle, are practi&s;ed in Invocations, and have exerci&s;ed Magick, can write or make books of it, whereas every one is at liberty to di&s;|cour&s;e according to his humour, of a thing where|in there is neither precepts, order, nor method, and where all a man hath to do, is to mingle the characters of the twelve Signes and the &s;even Planets, the names of certain Angels mentioned in Scripture, the <HI>Tohu</HI> and the <HI>Boh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> the <HI>Urim</HI> and <HI>Thummim,</HI> the <HI>Bere&s;ith</HI> and <HI>Merchava,</HI> the <HI>En&s;oph</HI> and the <HI>Agla</HI> of the <HI>Cabalists,</HI> with the <HI>Hippomanes, Virgin parchment, Pentacle, the dead</HI>
<PB N="46" REF="33">
<HI>mans muffler, the Deaths head, the blood of Owls and Bats,</HI> and certain prayers and conjurations out of the <HI>Flagellum Daemonum,</HI> to make a world of my|&s;terious Books and Treati&s;es. The&s;e mu&s;t after|wards be &s;old very &s;ecretly, and for good round prices, by &s;uch as can make no other &s;hift to &s;tave off their clamorous nece&s;&s;ities, than by making a trade of the&s;e cheats and impo&s;tures, to the co&s;t and &s;orrow of many weak, &s;uper&s;titious, and me|lancholy inclinations, who think they are within &s;ight of Felicity, and can do miracles, when they meet with the&s;e Cheats and Mountebanks.
<Q><L>&mdash;Tam magna penuria mentis ubique!</L>
<L>In nug as tam prona via est!&mdash;</L></Q></P>
<P>La&s;tly, there is no likelihood that the&s;e books, which are onely for the mo&s;t part, the fruits of a long Theory and Speculation, &s;hould be &s;uffici|ent proofs to convince the Authours of Magick, which con&s;i&s;ts rather in certain practices and ope|rations, than in the laying down of precepts; he <NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;. de magicis a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tionib.</NOTE> onely, according to <HI>Biermannus,</HI> de&s;erving the name of a Magician, who contracts with the De|vil to make u&s;e of him in what he &s;hall think fit to employ him in. This definition indeed cannot po&s;|&s;ibly agree to all tho&s;e, for whom we make this A|pologie, if there be no other charge again&s;t them, than that of the Books they have written on this Subject&punc; &s;ince it is po&s;&s;ible they made them with|out any contract expre&s;&s;ed or under&s;tood, &s;imple or publike, as we have &s;hewn before. Nay, to take away all controver&s;ie, it is a pure calumny mali|ciou&s;ly advanced, an opinion ab olutely errone|ous and ra&s;h, to think to maintain or prove, that
<PB N="47" REF="33">
any one of them ever made or troubled him&s;elf with the compo&s;ure of any Book treating of Geotick or unlawfull Magick, or of any Species or difference thereof. And this, in the fir&s;t place may be confirm'd by the Te&s;timony of him who is accounted the Prince and Ring-leader of the <NOTE PLACE="marg">De Vanit. Scient. cap. <HI>45.</HI></NOTE> Magicians, who very well under&s;tood the chears and &s;upri&s;es of all the&s;e Books vamp'd and never &s;et up with fal&s;e Titles, and father'd upon <HI>Zoro|astes, Enoch, Tri&s;megistus, Abraham, Solomon, Apuleius, Aquinas, Albertus magnus,</HI> and &s;everall other great per&s;ons. To this adde the Suffrage of <NOTE PLACE="marg">De prae&s;t. Lib. <HI>2.</HI> Cap. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Vuierus</HI> and all tho&s;e who have written with mo&s;t judgment upon this &s;ubject, grounded, probably upon the &s;ame rea&s;on that made <HI>Picus Mirandula</HI> give the like Judgment of &s;ome &s;uch Books of <NOTE PLACE="marg">l. <HI>1.</HI> adv. A&s;trolog.</NOTE> <HI>Judiciary Astrology,</HI> which, as he &s;aies, are fal&s;ify'd by certain impo&s;tors, who, <HI>quoniam, quae produn|tur ab iis, rationibus confirmari non po&s;&s;unt, &s;ive ip&s;i illa vera credunt, &s;ive credi volunt ab aliis, libros huju&s;modi fabularum, viris clari&s;&s;imis et antiqui&s;|&s;imis in&s;cribunt, et fidem errori &s;uo de fictis Authori|bus aucupantur.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;ame remarke we may make on all the other kinds of Quack&s;alving, e&s;pecially that of <HI>Alchymi&s;ts,</HI> who think they have not done their duty and cheated as they &s;hould, if after they have made a &s;hift to find the explication of all their <HI>Chimera's</HI> in <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> the <HI>Apocalyp&s;e,</HI> the <HI>Hieroglyphicks,</HI> the <HI>Ody&s;&s;ey,</HI> the <HI>Metamorph&ocirc;&s;es,</HI> nay even in Epitaphs, Sepulchres, and Tombes, they &s;hould not &s;end their Books into the world under the names of <HI>Mary Mo&s;e's</HI> Si&s;ter, <HI>Tri&s;me|gistus, Democritus, Aristotle, Syne&s;ius, Avicenna, Albertus magnus,</HI> and <HI>Aquinas.</HI> As if all the&s;e
<PB N="48" REF="34">
Learned men and great Authors had had no other employment all their lives then blowing &amp; &s;tirr|ing of fires, or making of Circles, Characters and Invocations; and that the barbari&s;me, the extra|vagances, the childi&s;hne&s;&s;e, want of order, the lowne&s;&s;e, errour, and Ignorance of all the&s;e Books were not &s;ufficient arguments to re&s;cue from &s;o black a calumny, &s;uch tran&s;cendent Soules, and Intelligences of Litterature,
<Q><L>Omnes coelicolas, omnes &s;upera alta tenentes.</L></Q>
And not only that, but with the &s;ame labour di&s;|cover unto us the muddy, and pe&s;tilent &s;ource, the Styx and Tartarus, whence proceed all the&s;e lit|tle Mon&s;ters, the&s;e Apparitions, the&s;e Ba&s;tards, the&s;e abortive fruits, which indeed is no other <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cic. de di|vin. l. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> then the temerity of &s;ome poor reptile Spirits, <HI>qui &s;ui quaest&ucirc;s cau&s;a fictas &s;u&s;citant &s;ententias:</HI> fa|thering them upon the fir&s;t comes into their mind <NOTE PLACE="marg">C. <HI>4.</HI> Com|ment. in Sphaeram. cap. <HI>17&punc;</HI> lib. <HI>2.</HI> Polycrat.</NOTE> never minding any rea&s;on, choi&s;e con&s;ideration or re&s;pect. Hence it comes that <HI>Chicus</HI> affirmes he had &s;een a Book written by <HI>Cham</HI> concerning Magick, and another made by <HI>Solo|mon, de umbris Idaearum;</HI> that <HI>John</HI> of <HI>Sali&s;bury</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">dve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. A&s;trolog. lib. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> makes mention of an <HI>Art of Dreams</HI> vented under thename of <HI>Daniel;</HI> that the two <HI>Picus's</HI> aknow|ledge not for legitimate the treati&s;es of Necro|mancy <NOTE PLACE="marg">Francis c. lib. <HI>5.</HI> cap. <HI>6.</HI> Antip. l. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> attributed to Saint <HI>Hierome, Aquinas,</HI> and <HI>Plato;</HI> and that the Abbot <HI>Trithemius,</HI> not without rea&s;on, laughs at all that is father'd upon <HI>Al|bertus Magnus</HI> and divers others.</P>
<P>For what rea&s;on or ground is there to believe that <HI>Hippocrates</HI> was Author of the Book of <HI>Lu|nar Astrologie, Plato</HI> of that of <HI>the herbes and the</HI>
<PB N="49" REF="34">
<HI>Cow, Aristotle</HI> of tho&s;e of the <HI>Apple</HI> of <HI>Vegeta|bles</HI> of the <HI>properties of Elements</HI> and the <HI>Secrets of Alexander, Galen</HI> of that <HI>of Enchantments; Ovid,</HI> of that of the <HI>Old Woman, and the Loves of Pamphilus; Seneca,</HI> of the little Book <HI>of Vertues</HI> and the <HI>Epistles</HI> of St. <HI>Paul;</HI> and that all the be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">t Authors &s;pent their time &s;o trivially upon trifling Books of no Value or con&s;equence; whereof we have &s;o little a&s;&s;urance of the true Authors, that we are not certain to whom we ought to at|tribute a many we afford places to in our Lib<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">a|ryes. For, to pa&s;&s;e by the works of <HI>Orpheus, Tri&s;megistus, Bero&s;us,</HI> and <HI>Manethon,</HI> all which are ab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">olutely feigned, &s;ome Apocryphall peeces of holy writ; doubtful Treati&s;es of <HI>Hippocrates, Galen,</HI> tho&s;e que&s;tion'd by <HI>Era&s;mus</HI> at the im|pre&s;&s;ion of the Fathers, the Pamplets of <HI>Ge<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n, Fene&s;tella, Pythagoras,</HI> and <HI>Cato,</HI> and all that lye under &s;u&s;picion among <HI>Humani&s;ts;</HI> is it not &s;trange that <HI>Francis Picus,</HI> &s;ucce&s;&s;or to the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>4.</HI> Ex|amin. va|nit. doctri|nae gent.</NOTE> Learning as well as Principality of his Uncle the great <HI>Picus,</HI> the Phaenix of his Age, &s;hould take &s;o much paines to prove, that it is altogether un|certain whether <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> be Author of any one Book of all tho&s;e that are found in the Catalogue <NOTE PLACE="marg">I. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>6.</HI> De rect&acirc; rat. Philo|&s;oph.</NOTE> of his Works? And yet he is therein &s;econded by <HI>Nizolius,</HI> and the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e &s;o &s;trictly <HI>di&s;cu&s;&s;'d</HI> by <HI>Patricius,</HI> that, after he had di&s;covered a miraculous indu&s;try in the &s;crutiny of the truth <NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;cu&s;&s;. Peripat. Tom. <HI>1.</HI> l. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> of that propo&s;ition, he concludes at la&s;t, that, of all the Books of that great Genius of nature, there are but four, of little bulk and le&s;&s;e con&s;e|quence, come to us, as his, without the lea&s;t doubt or controver&s;y; that is, That of he <HI>Mechanicks,</HI> and three others he writ again&s;t <HI>Zeno Goro<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">as</HI> and
<PB N="50" REF="35">
<HI>Xenophanes.</HI> On the other &s;ide <HI>Ammonius,</HI> in his Commentaries upon the <HI>Praedicaments,</HI> affirms, that there were in the Library of <HI>Alexandria</HI> forty Books of <HI>Analyticks,</HI> all under the name of <HI>Aristotle;</HI> though he had made but four, whereof the two fir&s;t are an&s;werable to the nine cited by <NOTE PLACE="marg">Comment. in lib. Hipp. de <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">at. huma|na.</NOTE> <HI>Diogenes Laertius.</HI> But this, if we credit <HI>Galen,</HI> is to be attributed to the emulation that was be|tween the Kings of <HI>Pergamus</HI> and <HI>Aegypt</HI> in re|warding tho&s;e who brought them the Books of any good Author, e&s;pecially <HI>Aristotle;</HI> for the greater ornament&punc; of their Libraries; it having never happened before, that the Titles of Ancient <NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;cu&s;&s;. peripat. Tom. <HI>1.</HI> l. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> Books had been fal&s;ifyed. But in this point we &s;hold have been more large had not <HI>Patricius</HI> taken the paines before us; or that it had been nece&s;&s;ary to demon&s;trate how unju&s;t it is, and be&s;ide all ap|pearance of rea&s;on, that &s;ome, under their names, who&s;e prodigious Learning rai&s;'d them to great|e&s;t reputation, have pe&s;ter'd the world with an infinite number of impertinent fragments, di&s;|order'd collections, fabulous Treati&s;es, fruitle&s;&s;e writings, and Books &s;huffell'd together without rea&s;on, method, or judgment.</P>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><L>&mdash;Quos&mdash;ip&s;e</L>
<L>Non &s;iani e&s;&s;e hominis non &s;anus juret Ore&s;tes.</L></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="7" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="51" REF="35">
<HEAD>CHAP. VII.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of all the other Cau&s;es which may give any occa&s;ion of &s;u&s;picion thereof.</HEAD>
<P>THough the number of tho&s;e who have endea|voured to di&s;cover &amp; explain to us the nature &amp; condition of Magick within the&s;e two hundred years is almo&s;t infinite yet me thinks the fir&s;t that undertook it have done it with no &s;mall di&s;tracti|on, as not &s;eeing well; and the greate&s;t part of the more Modern have endeavoured to faciliate the di&s;qui&s;ition by the u&s;e of tho&s;e Gla&s;&s;es which make Ants &s;eeme as great as a man's thumbe, &s;o to repre&s;ent to us in their Books, atomes like Mountaines and flyes like Elephants, that is, magnifie the &s;malle&s;t faults into the greate&s;t crimes, by a childi&s;h metamorpho&s;is of the lea&s;t jealou&s;y into truth, of a hear&s;ay into a demon|&s;tration, and accidents of no con&s;equence into prodigious and memorable Hi&s;tories. Whence it is not to be wonder'd at, that as the higher &amp; greater things are, the more &s;ubject they are to Light|ning; &s;o the greate&s;t part of tho&s;e Noble Souls of pa&s;t ages, tho&s;e tutelary Gods of Parna&s;&s;us and favourites of the Mu&s;es have not been free from that of Tongues. For being the principall Actors upon the Stage of this world, and as much above the ordinary rate of men, as they are above other Creatures; their lea&s;ts, faults and mo&s;t in con&s;idera|ble mi&s;apprehen&s;ions have been more narrowly pry'd into, whether it be that the lea&s;t mark or mole is more obvious in an extraordinary Beau|ty
<PB N="52" REF="36">
than on &s;ome poor <HI>Baucis</HI> or <HI>Cybale,</HI> or that, according to the &s;aying of the &s;ententious Po|et.
<Q><L>Omne animi vitium tanto con&s;pectius in &s;e</L>
<L>Crimen habet, quanto major qui pecat habetur.</L></Q></P>
<P>However it be, we may adde this cau&s;e to the precedent, as one of the principall that hath cau&s;ed learned men to be thought Magicians, and upon account whereof the curio&s;ity of <HI>Al|bertus magnus,</HI> the naturall Magick of <HI>Bacon,</HI> the judiciary A&s;trology of <HI>Chicus,</HI> the Mathema|ticks of <HI>Sylve&s;ter,</HI> and he re&s;y of <HI>Alchindus,</HI> and certaine &s;uper&s;titious obervations, have been re|puted Geotick and diabolicall Magick. But it mu&s;t be confe&s;&s;'d, it is for the mo&s;t part the ma|levolent interpretation of tho&s;e who judge not of things, but with mi&s;pri&s;ion; of Authors, but by their out&s;ide and &s;uper&s;criptions; of Books, but by their titles; nor of men, but by their vi|ces; div<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ging what they ought in prudence to conceale, and priding it, not only to lay open to the world the mi&s;carriages of all the&s;e great per|&s;ons, but magnifying and aggravating them pur|po&s;ely to prepo&s;&s;e&s;&s;e, and con&s;equently make us pa&s;&s;e &s;entence again&s;t their innocence, which certainly ought to have all the faire play that may be, it being ju&s;t to &s;uppo&s;e it not &s;o weak and wounded as it is repre&s;ented to us. Be&s;ides, &s;hould we a little more narrowly &s;earch into the truth of this opinion <HI>quae mala attollit et exag|gerat,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lip&s;. de co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">taa.</NOTE> &amp; <HI>cothurnis quibu&s;dam auget,</HI> we &s;hall find all the&s;e proofs re&s;olv'd into conjectures, and all the&s;e enormous crimes into certain vaine and triviall &s;nper&s;titions. Nor is it in the mean
<PB N="53" REF="36">
time any miracle at all, that the&s;e glorious men in their times &s;hould &s;omewhat degenerate that way, nay endeavour to practi&s;e them, when it is of ordinary experience, that what is mo&s;t accom|pli&s;hed, is al&s;o mo&s;t delicate and peri&s;hable. Thus we find that the &s;harpe&s;t points are the &s;oon|e&s;t blunted, the perfect'&s;t white the mo&s;t ea&s;ily &s;oyl'd, the be&s;t complexion the mo&s;t &s;ubject to &s;e|veral altrations, &amp; we have it from holy Writt, that the noble&s;t of the Angels was the fir&s;t that fell.</P>
<P>Having therefore thus deduc'd all the cau&s;es we could find of this &s;u&s;picion as to what con|cernes the accu&s;ed, we &s;hall in the re&s;t of this Chapter ob&s;erve five others, which we may &s;ay, have contributed more to the propagation of this erroneous opinion, then the former. The&s;e are, Here&s;y, Malice, Ignorance, Credulity, and the Di&s;-circum&s;pection, and want of judgment in Authors and writers.</P>
<P>For the fir&s;t, it amounts to &s;omething more then a conjecture that <HI>Alchindus&punc; Peter d' Apono, Arnoldus de Villa nova Riply,</HI> and &s;ome others who with &s;ome rea&s;on have been &s;u&s;pected guilty of Here&s;y, may without any be charg'd with Ma|gick, though <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;ometimes &s;aid, <HI>Notata</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">De pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;crip. Cap. <HI>43.</HI></NOTE> <HI>&s;unt etiam commercia Haereticorum cum Magis plurimis, cum Circulatoribus, cum A&s;trologis,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">De anima, cap. <HI>57.</HI></NOTE> <HI>cum Philo&s;ophis.</HI> Which cen&s;ure be confirmes el&s;ewhere, calling Magick, <HI>haereticarum opinionum</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;it. mag. in p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o|log.</NOTE> <HI>auctricem.</HI> Hence haply &s;ome Catholick Doctors, e&s;pecially <HI>Delrio</HI> and <HI>Maldonat,</HI> took occa&s;ion to lay it down as a Maxime, &s;trengthened by con|&s;tant experience, that either the Authors and fir&s;t <NOTE PLACE="marg">lib. de Dae|mon.</NOTE> promoters of Here&s;ies, have been them&s;elves Magicians, as <HI>Simon Magus, Menander, Valenti|nianus,</HI>
<PB N="54" REF="37">
<HI>Carpocrates, Pri&s;cillianus, Berengarius,</HI> and <HI>Hermogenes;</HI> or that prohibited and Magical Arts have alwayes come in the neck of &s;ome here&s;y. This they exemplify out of &s;ome Hi&s;torians of <HI>Spaine,</HI> who relate, that after the <HI>Arrians</HI> had long continu'd therein, the Devils were for a good &s;pace of time &s;een tormenting men there. So was the here&s;y of <HI>Hus</HI> &s;econded by a great tempe&s;t of Sor|cerers and Demons through <HI>Bohemia</HI> and <HI>Germa|ny,</HI> and that of the <HI>Lollards</HI> through the Apenni|ne Hills. Of this the Je&s;uit <HI>Maldonat</HI> gives five principall rea&s;ons, which we &s;hall not pre&s;&s;e in this place.</P>
<P>In the &s;econd cau&s;e of &s;u&s;picion, we may ob|&s;erve, that Malice &s;ometime, made <HI>Apuleius</HI> be accu&s;'d of Magick by his wife's friends; the Popes <HI>Sylvester</HI> and <HI>Gregory</HI> by the Emperours they had excommunicated, and &s;ome Heretiques their im|placable enemyes. To which may haply be add|ed the procedure of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> again&s;t the Mayd of <HI>Orleance,</HI> who accordingly condemn'd her for a Witch, whereas <HI>de Langey</HI> and <HI>du Haillan</HI> make her act another quite contrary part. But if the common opinion of tho&s;e who were be&s;t acquain|ted with her may prevaile, there is little proba|bility &s;he &s;hould have been a Witch, which is the conclu&s;ion <HI>Valerandus Varanius</HI> puts to the Hi&s;to|ry he made of her.</P>
<Q><L>Tandem collatis patres ultro&abque; citro&abque;</L>
<L>Articulis, flammas &s;ub iniquo judice pa&s;&s;am</L>
<L>Darcida, concordi decernuntore: modum&abque;.</L>
<L>Angligenas viola&s;&s;e fori, juri&s;&abque; tenorem.</L></Q>
<P>But Learning, formerly alledg'd by us as one
<PB N="55" REF="37">
of the principall cau&s;es of this fal&s;e accu&s;ation, obliges us now to &s;ay &s;omething of <HI>Ignorance,</HI> its adver&s;e party, and &s;hew, how prodeminant it was, as well among the Greeks before <HI>Socrates,</HI> who may be called the Patriarch of Philo&s;ophy, as the <HI>Latines,</HI> from the times of <HI>Boetius, Symma|chus</HI> and <HI>Ca&s;&s;iodorus,</HI> till the la&s;t taking of <HI>Con&s;tan|tinople.</HI> Then indeed the world began to put on another face, the Heavens to move upon new Hypothe&s;es, the Aire to be better known as to Meteors, the Sea to be more open and ea&s;ie, the Earth to acknowledge a Si&s;ter Hemi&s;phere, men to enter into greater corre&s;pondences by Naviga|tion, Arts to be delivered of tho&s;e miraculous in|ventions of Guns and Printing. Then were the Sciences re&s;tor'd to their former lu&s;tre, in <HI>Gorma|ny</HI> by <HI>Reuchlin</HI> and <HI>Agricola,</HI> in <HI>Switzerland</HI> by <HI>Era&s;mus,</HI> in <HI>England</HI> by <HI>Linacer</HI> and <HI>A&s;cham,</HI> in <HI>Spain</HI> by <HI>Vives,</HI> and <HI>Nebri&s;&s;en&s;is,</HI> in <HI>France</HI> by <HI>Faber</HI> and <HI>Budaeus,</HI> in <HI>Italy</HI> by <HI>Hermolaus, Po|litianus, Picus,</HI> and the Greeks who fled thither for refuge from <HI>Constantinople;</HI> and la&s;tly in all other parts of the earth, by the meanes of new Characters and Printing. We formerly ob&s;erv'd out of <HI>Plutarch</HI> that, before the revolution hap|pening in <HI>Socrates</HI>'s time, it was not lawfull in <HI>Greece</HI> to advance any thing of A&s;trology, to &s;tudy the Mathematicks, or profe&s;&s;e Philo&s;ophy. Thence we are now to con&s;ider what capacity may be allow'd tho&s;e, who, &s;uffering the be&s;t Authors to moulder away in Libraries, made u&s;e of no other <HI>Grammarians,</HI> then <HI>Graeci&s;mu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Barbari&s;mus</HI> and <HI>Alexander de Villa dei;</HI> no other Rhetoricians then <HI>Aquilegius;</HI> no other Philo&s;ophers, then <HI>Gingolfus Rapoleus&punc; Ferrabrit,</HI>
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and <HI>Petrus Hi&s;panus;</HI> no other Hi&s;torians, than the, <HI>Fa&s;ciculus Temporum,</HI> and the <HI>Mo|ther of Histories,</HI> nor other Books in Mathema|ticks than the <HI>Compot Manuel,</HI> and the <HI>&s;hepheard's Kalender.</HI> What could the Grammarians expect from the&s;e, but Barbari&s;ms like that of the Prie&s;t, whom the <HI>Ma&s;ter of Sentences</HI> mentions baptizing of infants, <HI>In nomine Patria, Filia, &amp; Spiritua Sancta?</HI> What could Philo&s;ophers find there, but &s;uppo&s;itions, ampliations, re&s;trictions, &s;ophi&s;ms, obligations, and a Labyrinth of fruit|le&s;&s;e niceties comprehended under the title of <HI>Parva Logicalia?</HI> So al&s;o, for tho&s;e that read Hi&s;tories, what entertainment had they but that of ridiculous tales upon <HI>Merlin's</HI> prophecy, S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>Patrick<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> Purgatory, <HI>Pilate's&punc;</HI> Tower, <HI>Ammon's</HI> Ca&s;tle, <HI>Pope Joan,</HI> and abundance of &s;uch fabu|lous tra&s;h and trumpery, as now,
<Q><L>Vix pueri credunt ni&s;i qui nondum are lavantur.</L></Q></P>
<P>Not indeed is it any thing extraordinary, when they are commonly accounted Magicians that can produce Ro&s;es and Summer-Flowers in the depth of Winter. That tho&s;e gallant men, who have been &s;een like &s;o many Stars &s;hining in that dark and Melancholy night, and have darted the influ|ences of their miraculous Learning, in the cold|e&s;t and fro&s;tie&s;t &s;ea&s;on of Letters, have pa&s;&s;'d to us under the &s;ame Title, through the over ea&s;y belief of tho&s;e who fir&s;t mi&s;took, then repre&s;ented them for &s;uch. But ala&s;&s;e what &s;hall we &s;ay of a &s;ort of empty unballa&s;ted &s;oules, but that they may be ea&s;ily weigh'd down any way by an errone|ous per&s;wa&s;ion, which is as con&s;tant an atten|dant
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of ignorance, as a &s;hadow is of the body, or envie of vertue.</P>
<P>And now we have but a &s;tep to the fourth cau&s;e of &s;u&s;picion which fa&s;tens on the&s;e great per&s;ons, that is, from <HI>Ignorance</HI> to that of <HI>Credulity,</HI> which ea&s;ily admits abundance of &s;uch things, as though improbable and &s;uper&s;titious, ordinarily fall and follow one in the neck of another. To make this more evident and apprehen&s;ible, we mu&s;t begin with what we find related in a little Treati&s;e, which St. <HI>Agobart</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Lyons</HI> made in the year of Chri&s;t 833, again&s;t the extravagance of the people then, who beleev'd that tho&s;e could trou|ble the air, and rai&s;e tempe&s;ts, who, for that rea|&s;on, in the fir&s;t chapter of the Capitularies of <HI>Charlemaigne,</HI> and <HI>Lewis</HI> the <HI>Debonaire,</HI> are called, <HI>Tempe&s;tarii, &s;ive immi&s;&s;ores Tempe&s;tatum.</HI> It was, it &s;eems, the common, and, by a many, &s;tiffely maintain'd opinion, that there were in his time certain Conjurers, that had the power to make it hail and thunder, or to rai&s;e tempe&s;ts, as often and when they plea&s;'d, &s;o to &s;poil and de&s;troy the fruits of the earth; which &s;o de&s;troy'd, they after|wards &s;old to certain Inhabitants of the Countrey of <HI>Magodia,</HI> who every year brought &s;hips tho|row the air, to carry away tho&s;e provi&s;ions. This was grown into &s;uch a vulgar article of faith, that the good Bi&s;hop had much ado one day, to deli|ver three men and a woman out of the clutches of the di&s;tracted multitude, who were dragging them to execution, as having fallen out of tho&s;e &s;hips. The &s;ame Authour relates further in the &s;ame book, that there being a generall mortality <NOTE PLACE="marg">Life of <HI>Charle|maigne.</HI></NOTE> among Cattle, e&s;pecially Oxen, (whereof there died &s;uch a number over all Europe, that <HI>Bellefo|rest</HI>
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thought fit to take notice of it in his Additi|ons upon <HI>Nicholas Gilles)</HI> the more &s;uper&s;titious &s;ort of people pre&s;ently imagin'd, that one <HI>Gri|moald,</HI> Duke of <HI>Benevent,</HI> and a great enemy of <HI>Charlemaigne,</HI> had &s;ent a many men with veno|mous powders, which they &s;hould &s;catter up and down the &s;ens, fields, and into &s;prings: In&s;o|much, that this holy and judicious per&s;on, &s;eeing abundance of innocent people daily hanged, drown'd, and extreamly per&s;ecuted for this &s;im|ple fable, ends his book full of indignation, with this excellent &s;entence; <HI>Tanta jam &s;tultitia op|pre&s;&s;it mi&s;erum mundum, ut nunc &s;ic ab&s;urd&egrave; res credantur &agrave; Chri&s;tianis, quales nunquam antea ad credendum poterat qui&s;quam &s;uadere Paganis.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e and the like Fables were but the Pro|logue to <HI>Romances,</HI> which came upon the &s;tage immediately after, in the reigne of <HI>Lewis</HI> the <HI>De|bonaire</HI> (in who&s;e time the Bi&s;hop was &s;till alive) and multiply'd &s;o &s;trangely by the ignorance of that age, ea&s;ily, it &s;eems, lay'd a&s;leep by an y ab|&s;urdities, though ever &s;o extravagant, that all tho<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">, who meddled with the hi&s;tory of that time, would needs, to render it more plea&s;ant, interweave it with abundance of &s;uch relations. This is very pertinently ob&s;erv'd by a certain Di|vine, who ingenuou&s;ly confe&s;&s;es, that, <HI>Hoc <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rat</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Pitheus in Galfred<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Mon.</NOTE> <HI>antiquorum plurium vitium, vel potius quaedam &s;ine judicio &s;implicitas, ut in cl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rorum virorum ge&s;tis &s;cribendis &s;e minus exi&s;timarent elegantes, ni&s;i ad or|natum (ut putabant) &s;ermonis, poetic as fictiones, vel aliq<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">id earum &s;imile admi&s;cerent, &amp; con&s;equenter vera f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">l&s;is committerent.</HI> Nay, &s;uch reputation did the&s;e books gain, that in the year 1290, <HI>James de Voragine,</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Gennes, Homo</HI> (as <HI>Vives,</HI>
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and <HI>Melchior Canus</HI> call him) <HI>ferrei oris, plumbei cordis, animi certe parum &s;everi &amp; prudentis,</HI> yet who&s;e intention was certainly good, thought fit to introduce that &s;tyle into the <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall</HI> Hi|&s;tory, and &s;o writ a <HI>Golden Legend,</HI> whereby many devout and pious &s;ouls were edified, till the late Hereticks began to metamorpho&s;e it in a &s;ove|raigne <HI>Pantagrueli&s;me,</HI> purpo&s;ely to affront the Catholicks, and undermine the foundations of the reverence they pay tho&s;e holy, but pernicious Relicks.</P>
<P>To the vanity of the&s;e Romances we are fur|ther obliged for all the fal&s;e relations which were &s;oon after &s;cattered among the people&punc; of the mi|raculous &s;tratagems of <HI>Sylve&s;ter, Gregory, Michael Scotus, Roger Bacon, Peter d' Apono, Thebit,</HI> and in a manner, all the mo&s;t learned of that time. The&s;e proved excellent entertainments, till the year 1425, when an infinity of other &s;uper&s;titions began to &s;warm, giving (as it were) a ce&s;&s;ation to the precedent. And the&s;e we have thought fit to particularize, to &s;hew it is no miracle, if the great knowledge of a many of that time occa&s;i|oned millions of ridiculous &s;tories and fictions, when the zeal and good life of the greate&s;t Saints, &amp; the conduct &amp; courage of the greate&s;t Captains and Commanders have met with the &s;ame fate. Nor does it amount to much, that &s;ome of their books have been condemn'd as conjuring books, when a many others, whereof the very reading &s;ufficiently clears their innocence, have met with as little favour. We may in&s;tance in the three propo&s;itions made by the famous Chancellour of the Univer&s;ity of <HI>Paris, Ger&s;on</HI> upon the <HI>Romance of the Ro&s;e,</HI> and the judgement of <HI>John Raulin,</HI> a
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famous Doctor of the &s;ame Univer&s;ity upon that of <HI>Oger</HI> the <HI>Dane,</HI> wherein they affirm the Au|thours as certainly damn'd as ever <HI>Judas</HI> was, if they died without repentance, for the making and venting of &s;uch pieces.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, though it be alwayes more rationall and commendable, &s;o to interpret, as to give the be&s;t &s;en<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e to every mans writings, than to impeach them, and to excu&s;e than to aggravate, to avoid a compari&s;on with tho&s;e, who wor&s;hip not the ri|&s;ing Sun, but with affronts and imprecations; yet can we not, but make this Chapter full weight with the explication of the la&s;t cau&s;e of the whole calumny, which to do Truth right, is nothing el&s;e, but the neg<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">igence of Authours, or rather their want of circum&s;pection and judgement in the compo&s;ition of their works. For whether they have an itch to &s;well them with le&s;&s;e trou|ble, or prove in &s;ome degree what they had once undertaken, or make o&s;tentation of their reading, or that tho&s;e found the be&s;t entertainment and reception, who were fulle&s;t of &s;trange and mira|culous adventures; or la&s;tly, were &s;o &s;otti&s;h, as to beleeve all things, they have &s;o outvied one another in the allegations of the&s;e fabulous &s;to|ries, that the impertinences of old Romances, the fooleries of I know not what books, the tales of <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Philo-P&s;eude.</NOTE> old wives, and &s;uch fictions, as tho&s;e of <HI>Lucian</HI>'s Dialogues, and <HI>Apuleius</HI>'s Metamorpho&s;es, have the&s;e Authours taken for irrefragable Demon&s;tra|tions, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Metalog. l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>7.</HI></NOTE> as being a &s;ort of Writers, <HI>Qui compilant omnium opiniones &amp; eae&punc; quae etiam &agrave; vili&s;&s;imis di|cta, &amp; &s;cripta &s;unt, ab inopia <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">udicii &s;cribunt; &amp; proponunt omnia&punc; quia ne&s;ciunt praeferre meliora.</HI> But it were a thing hard and pre&s;umptuous, and
<PB N="61" REF="40">
haply too tedious, to &s;hew by a large cen&s;ure on all tho&s;e that have written on this &s;ubject, what freedome, every one took to di&s;cour&s;e thereof at random and to interweave abundance of triviall tales with the mo&s;t certain and unde|nyable Truths. For this we may bring to the Bar <HI>John Nider, James. Sprenger,</HI> and <HI>Henry Institor,</HI> the Former confe&s;&s;ing ingenuou&s;ly (again&s;t <NOTE N="l" PLACE="marg">in cata<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> go. in B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">li|oth. Theo|log.</NOTE> <HI>Trithemius</HI> and <HI>Molanus,</HI> who made him Judge upon the Witches of <HI>Germany)</HI> that what&s;oever he had &s;aid of them, and other Ma|gicians in the la&s;t book of his <NOTE N="m" PLACE="marg">Fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">mica|rii. lib. <HI>5.</HI> c. <HI>3</HI></NOTE> <HI>Formicarium,</HI> which is as it were the Leaven of all that hath been &s;aid &s;ince upon that Subject, he had learn'd from a Judge of the City of <HI>Berne,</HI> &amp; a <HI>Benedictine</HI> Monk, who before his going into the Order, had been, <HI>Necromanticus, Joculator, Mimus, &amp; Truphator apud Seculares Principe&punc; in&s;ignis &amp; expertus.</HI> The two other have faggoted together &s;o many &s;tories into the <HI>Malleus Maleficarum,</HI> which came abroad in the year 1494 that <HI>Vui|er</HI> had &s;ome rea&s;on to que&s;tion whether they de|&s;erved any more credit then tho&s;e brought by <HI>Niderus.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;ame judgment may be given upon a ma|ny others who have follow'd the&s;e as it were by the &s;cent, who&s;e mi&s;carriages yet are not &s;o con&s;iderable as tho&s;e of &s;ome latter writers, and particularly of that eminent man of <HI>France, John Bodin.</HI> Thi sman, having, with a miraculous viva|city attended by a &s;olid judgment, treated of all things divine, naturall and civill, would haply have been thought &s;omething more then Man, nay &s;ome Intelligence, had he not left &s;ome tracks of his humanity, in his <HI>Demonomancie,</HI> hand|&s;omely
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<GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page">
<PB N="61" REF="41">
<GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page">
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<NOTE PLACE="marg">K. <HI>James.</HI> In lib. de &s;trigib.</NOTE> cen&s;ur'd by the late learned King of <HI>Eugland Majori collecta &s;tudio, quam &s;cripta judicio.</HI> But to make the be&s;t of it, we may &s;ay, that this great ingenuity more then ordinarily ver&s;'d in the holy Tongue; was a little be&s;otted with the Learning <NOTE PLACE="marg">In judicio librorum <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">dini.</NOTE> of the <HI>Rabbins</HI> and <HI>Thalmudists, quibus,</HI> as the Je&s;uit <HI>Po&s;&s;evin</HI> affirmes, <HI>hoc libro tam videtur ad|dictus, ut ad eos &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">pi&ugrave;s recurrat qu&agrave;m ad Evange|lium,</HI> Whence we may ea&s;ily conceive that this Book, and that which <HI>Vuier</HI> made of the im|po&s;tures and delu&s;ions of Devils may &s;tand for the two extreames in compari&s;on of the mean which &s;hould be ob&s;erv'd in judging of the truth of the&s;e things, and the integrity of the principall Au|thors, who fir&s;t advanc'd them. By this meanes we are di&s;engag'd from the re&s;t, who, by fabu|lous reports, and the little judgment they di&s;|cover in this Di&s;qui&s;ition would have us embrace the Clouds of their imaginations in&s;tead of the reall <HI>Juno,</HI> and thereby engage us to a recanta|tion of &s;uch an abundance of childi&s;h and &s;puri|ous Opinions, as are demon&s;trative arguments that our Minds may be much more ju&s;tly &s;aid to creep than to fly; and that, to be re&s;cu'd from the&s;e Chimera's, they mu&s;t be &s;et at Liberty, and ab&s;olutely po&s;&s;e&s;&s;'d of their full right, that &s;o they may freely do their duty, which is to reve|rence and acquie&s;ce in <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tiall</HI> Hi&s;tory, to di&s;cour&s;e upon <HI>natnr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ll,</HI> and to be alwayes doubt|full of the <HI>Civill.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="8" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="63" REF="42">
<HEAD>CHAP. VIII.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">That <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> was neither Author nor Promoter of <HI>Geotick, Theurgick</HI> or unlawfull <HI>Magick.</HI></HEAD>
<P>WE have indeed many di&s;coveries of the the nimblene&s;&s;e and &s;ubtilty of that Emperour's wit, who&s;e infamy for his Apo&s;tacy outweigh'd the reputation, his many Vertues and perfections otherwi&s;e, which were wholly particular in him, had gain'd him. But me thinks he never made a greater expre&s;&s;ion of <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ammiam. Mar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ellin&punc;</NOTE> it then at <HI>Paris,</HI> when the Subtle Orator <HI>Delphi|dius,</HI> having accu&s;'d before him <HI>Numerius</HI> Gover|nour of <HI>Languedoc,</HI> and perceiving he had not &s;uf|ficient te&s;timony to convince him, cry'd out, as it were in indignation, that No man would ever be found guilty if he had no more to do then to deny. The word was no &s;ooner out of his mouth, but the Emperour <HI>Julian</HI> judiciou&s;ly reply'd, that <HI>no man's innocency was &s;ecure, if bare accu&s;ations &s;hould be admitted for proofs.</HI> His meaning in that witty retort was, that the impeach't are not al|wayes criminall, nor the accu&s;'d puni&s;hable; and that to condemne a man and to la&s;t the verdure of his Innocence, there are other proofes re|quir'd then that of a &s;imple word, which argues oftener the ignorance, ra&s;hne&s;&s;e, or pa&s;&s;ion, of &s;ome envious and malevolent per&s;on, then it does the guilt or de&s;ert of him again&s;t whom it is directed.</P>
<P>This certainly cannot but make &s;omething for all the&s;e renowned per&s;ons, who mu&s;t needs
<PB N="64" REF="43">
be cru&s;h'd by the multitude of their Accu&s;ers, if we were oblig'd, as Civilians, or forc'd, as were anciently the <HI>Roman</HI> Tribunes, rather to count the &s;uffrages then to examine the rea&s;ons; or if <HI>Senecae</HI> had not &s;ometime given us this advice, which we may now make u&s;e of for their defence, <HI>Non tam bene cum rebus humanis geritur, ut meliora pluribus placeant.</HI> But he who by a diligent reading knows how to di&s;cover the rea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ity of things, will not think this multitude &s;o con&s;iderable. For as &s;ome Captaines are glad to fill their Troops with Rogues and hedge Birds, and force armes up|on Boyes and peedees to give the enemy a check upon the fir&s;t appearance; &s;o the <HI>Timons</HI> of Li|terat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">re, and enemies of all learned men make u&s;e of &s;uch another Stratageme, and level again&s;t their Fame, the authority of a multitude of wretched &amp; Vulgar Souls with certain plagiaries and cut|pur&s;es of writers. The&s;e, like the <HI>Potamonick</HI> Philo&s;ophers think nothing good or right, but what is judg'd &s;o by others, &s;ee not but with Spectacles, as the <HI>Lamiae,</HI> have no other cloaths then the ca&s;t ones of their Ma&s;ters, as the pee|dees, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ci<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. de nat. deor. l. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> follow no other path then what is the mo&s;t beaten, like &s;o many &s;heep, and in all things re&s;emble tho&s;e religious Di&s;ciples of <HI>Py|thagoras apud quos tantum opinio praejudicatae poterat, ut etiam &s;ine ratione valeret Authori|t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;hall not therefore &s;tand to &s;ift all popular a&s;&s;ertions of the Magick of the ancient Philo&s;o|phers, &s;uch as were <HI>Zoroa&s;tes, Orpheus, Pythago|ras, Democritus,</HI> and others; but, having treated of it in generall, de&s;cend now to particulars, and make that good of every one, which hath
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been prov'd of all together. With this caution neverthele&s;&s;e, that it is not my intention to pur&s;ue the de&s;igne as far as any thing may be &s;aid of it, if a man would undertake to write whole Volumes, in defence of every one of the&s;e great per&s;ons. For when we have once examin'd the opinions of the be&s;t Authors upon their doctrine, whatever may be added otherwi&s;e, is not produc'd &s;o much for explication as to &s;well up a Volume, and make tho&s;e, who&s;e Stomacks cannot bear &s;uch repetitions, &s;ay what they do of a many others.</P>
<Q><L>Et veterem in limo ranae <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ecinere querelam.</L></Q>
<P>This engagment cannot be better or more fitly begun then with the defence of <HI>Zoroastes,</HI> a per|&s;on repre&s;ented to us, as the living &s;pring and originall of all Magicians, neither more nor le&s;&s;e then <HI>Cain</HI> was of murtherers, <HI>Nimrod</HI> of Tyrants, <HI>Ninus</HI> of Idolaters, and <HI>Simon Magus</HI> of Here|tiques, through the opinion of the Abbot <HI>Serenus</HI> in <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg"><P>Collat. <HI>8.</HI> c. <HI>21.</HI> Lib. <HI>2.</HI> divin. In|&s;tit.</P>
<P>De idolor. Vanit.</P></NOTE> <HI>Ca&s;&s;ian,</HI> of <HI>Lactantius,</HI> St. <HI>Cyprian, Pererius</HI> and mo&s;t other Doctors, is much more probable. They hold for certain that men &s;hould not ima|gine any other Author of this perver&s;e and un|lawfull Magick then <HI>Satan,</HI> the &s;worne enemy of all the Creation, who made u&s;e of this <HI>Geotick</HI> long before the Deluge. For, as <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Praep. Evang. l. <HI>5.</HI> c. <HI>7.</HI></NOTE> ob&s;erves, the innocency of the fir&s;t ages had not been defil'd and corrupted with all tho&s;e vain &s;uper&s;titions and ceremonies, if this jealous &s;pirit, envying the hoped-for &s;alvation of man|kind, had not bent all his forces to en&s;nare them as deeply in this Magical Idolatry as they were in
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all other exorbitancies and iniquities, which in time &s;o far prevailed over vertue, that God could do no le&s;&s;e than &s;end an univer&s;all Deluge to clean&s;e the earth from all tho&s;e abominations. But the waters were no &s;ooner return'd into their place, but this &s;pirit of pre&s;umption, this <HI>Beelze|bub,</HI> Prince of Flies, began to renew his practices, and to lay the foundation of his &s;econd Monar|chy in tho&s;e weak minds, which are mo&s;t ea&s;ily taken, and entangled in the cobwebs of a multi|tude of &s;u&s;picious operations, &s;trange &s;acrifices, and magicall &s;uper&s;titions. It is not indeed po&s;&s;i|ble to particularize and tell ju&s;tly, who, of all the men of this &s;econd age of the world, was the fir&s;t in&s;trument of this fatall enemy of Nature, to di|&s;per&s;e his conjurations over the habitable earth, as we find them now received and practi&s;ed.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 30. <HI>c.</HI> 1, 2.</NOTE> Whence we may charge <HI>Pliny</HI> with a double errour, where he treats of this Subject; one, in that being an <HI>Epicurean</HI> as well as <HI>Lucretius,</HI>
<Q><L>Et mundum nullo credens re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tore moveri</L>
<L>Natur&acirc; volvente vices &amp; lucis &amp; anni;</L></Q>
as he openly profe&s;&s;es in the&s;e words, with no <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2.</NOTE> le&s;&s;e ra&s;hne&s;&s;e than ignorance, <HI>Per quae haud dubie declaratur, naturae potentiam id quoque e&s;&s;e quod Deum vocamus;</HI> he had not recour&s;e, as the Chri|&s;tians and Platonick Philo&s;ophers, to the fir&s;t Authour of Magick, who is no other than he whom we have already de&s;cribed, as may be fur|ther, were it needfull, proved by a pa&s;&s;age of <HI>Por|phyrius</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Praep. E|vang.</NOTE> cited by <HI>Eu&s;ebius.</HI> The other is, where he affirms <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> to have been the fir&s;t that ever practiz'd it, and brought it into e&s;teem among
<PB N="67" REF="44">
men. This, how unlikely &s;oever, is receiv'd with &s;o little difficulty by all that have written after him, that few or none have taken the pains to ex|amine that propo&s;ition; which, as it is grounded chiefly on the long time it hath been acknow|ledged, and their authority who maintain it; &s;o is there but little rea&s;on it &s;hould be received as infallibly true, when <HI>Pliny</HI> him&s;elf wonders, how the memory and precepts of <HI>Zoroastes</HI> could be pre&s;erved &s;o long time, he having lived, according to one <HI>Eudoxus,</HI> whom he cites for it, &s;ix thou|&s;and years before <HI>Plato.</HI> Nay, if we allow the o|pinion of <HI>Pererius</HI> and &s;ome Moderns, who make <NOTE PLACE="marg">De Mag. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>13.</HI></NOTE> him flouri&s;h in the time of <HI>Ninus</HI> and <HI>Abraham,</HI> yet this age we have &s;o &s;lender an account of, and the things &s;aid of it, &s;o lo&s;t in the Labyrinth of &s;o many ages, that it were more ingenuous to con|fe&s;&s;e our ignorance, than pre&s;umptuou&s;ly to af|firm <HI>Zoroastes,</HI> of whom,
<Q><L>Ad nos vix tenuis famae perlabitur umbra,</L></Q>
to have been the fir&s;t of all Magicians. Adde to this, that the little knowledge we have of him is &s;o di&s;gui&s;ed by Hi&s;torians, that we can hardly meet with two or three, who do not contradict and confute one another in the hi&s;tory of this per&s;on.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;ter. l. <HI>2.</HI> Serm. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> For if with <HI>Theodoret</HI> and <HI>Agathias</HI> we call him <HI>Zarades,</HI> he will pre&s;ently be confounded, by all tho&s;e Writers who mind not the order of time and Chronology, with one <HI>Zaratas,</HI> whom <HI>Plutarch</HI> makes Ma&s;ter to <HI>Pythagoras;</HI> with one <NOTE PLACE="marg">Li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. de ge|nit. animae, &egrave; Timaeo.</NOTE> <HI>Zabratus,</HI> mentioned by <HI>Malchus</HI> (who is no o|ther than <HI>Porphyrius)</HI> in the life of <HI>Pythagoras;</HI>
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<NOTE PLACE="marg">1. <HI>Stro|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">iat.</HI></NOTE> and with one <HI>Nazaratus,</HI> whom &s;ome in <HI>Clemens Alexandrinus</HI> would have to be the Prophet <HI>Eze|kiel.</HI> Or if we will allow him the name of <HI>Zoro|a&s;tes,</HI> as the mo&s;t common, yet will there be no le&s;&s;e difficulty to gue&s;&s;e which of the &s;ix men, who were of the &s;ame name, was the Magician, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Bulenger Ecl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">. ad Arnob. c. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> four whereof are named by <HI>Arnobius,</HI> the fifth by <HI>Suidas,</HI> and the &s;ixth by <HI>Pliny.</HI> Further, be it &s;up|po&s;ed that the true <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> was well known among &s;o many, yet mu&s;t we allow &s;omewhat to <HI>Sixtus Senen&s;is,</HI> who mentions two Kings of that name, one of the <HI>Per&s;ians,</HI> Authour of <HI>Naturall Magick;</HI> the other of the <HI>Bactrians,</HI> fir&s;t Inven|tor <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 18. <HI>c.</HI> 19.</NOTE> of the <HI>Diabolicall:</HI> &s;omewhat to <HI>Rhodoginus,</HI> and diver&s;e others, who will allow both Nations but one <HI>Zoroastes</HI> for a Law-giver, that according to the common opinion of all Writers, endea|vour'd to per&s;wade them that he had received his Laws and Con&s;titutions from a certain Divinity, whom he called <HI>Oroma&s;is.</HI> But, what &s;hould make us yet more di&s;tru&s;tfull of what is &s;aid of him, is, that the &s;ame Authours would per&s;wade us, that he was the &s;on of that <HI>Oroma&s;is,</HI> or <HI>Ari|manius,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de o|rigine ani|mae, &egrave; Ti|maeo.</NOTE> whereas <HI>Plutarch,</HI> the mo&s;t con&s;iderable man of Antiquity a&s;&s;ures us, that <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> meant nothing el&s;e by tho&s;e two words he pronounced &s;o often, than the good and bad Daemon, to which he was wont to refer that miraculous order which is ob&s;erved in the cour&s;e of Nature and revolution of all things, as <HI>Heraclitus</HI> did to <HI>har|mony; Anaxagoras,</HI> to <HI>mind</HI> and <HI>infinite; Empe|docles,</HI> to <HI>friend&s;hip</HI> and <HI>debate;</HI> and <HI>Parmenides,</HI> to <HI>light</HI> and <HI>darkne&s;&s;e.</HI> This the &s;ame Authour confirms in the Treati&s;e of <HI>I&s;is</HI> and <HI>O&s;iris,</HI> as al&s;o <HI>Diogenes Laertius, Bri&s;&s;onius, Calcagnin</HI> and <HI>Phi|lelphus,</HI>
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who would not di&s;parage their judge|ment &s;o much, as to heap multitudes of fables and contradictions one upon another, to repre|&s;ent this <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> as the Prince of Magicians. For indeed there is much more rea&s;on to think him, that of Philo&s;ophers and Profe&s;&s;ours of Learning, as, when we have refuted the errour of this pernicious opinion, we &s;hall make appear. It does indeed &s;ufficiently undermine it &s;elf by the di&s;cord of tho&s;e that maintain it, and the at|tendant contradictions, as it ordinarily happens in all other lies; yet, to blow it up, and to apply a remedy as &s;overaigne as the di&s;ea&s;e is inve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e|terate, we mu&s;t reduce all the&s;e opinions to four principall heads, and, in the particular explicati|on of them, &s;hew, that there is no rea&s;on in the world, why this <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> &s;hould be repre&s;ented to us, as the fir&s;t and mo&s;t eminent of all Conju|rers and Magicians.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">In Gallicis.</NOTE> The fir&s;t &s;hall be that of <HI>Goropius Becanus,</HI> as being the ea&s;ie&s;t, and needing no other &s;olution than to be under&s;tood and propo&s;ed. For that <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> was no Magician, he endeavours&punc; to make good, by alledging it was a meer fable, and that really there never was any &s;uch man; which right he does not onely do him, but <HI>Mercurius Tri&s;megi&s;tus, &amp; Orpheus,</HI> deriving the Etymologie of the&s;e words from a certain Cimmerian lan|guage in u&s;e, as he &s;ayes, from the Creation to the Deluge. But while he chimeri&s;es on that in liberty of con&s;cience, there fals from him a mani|fe&s;t contradiction, ob&s;erv'd &s;ince by <HI>Patricius,</HI> in <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Magia Philo&s;ophi|ca.</NOTE> that having maintain'd the negative as an unde|niable axiom, he afterwards indifferently con|founds this <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> with <HI>Japhet</HI> one of the &s;ons of <HI>Noah.</HI></P>
<P><PB N="70" REF="46">
But this opinion, if true, would in &s;ome &s;ort agree with the &s;econd, which we are now to de|duce, the promotets whereof endeavour to prove, That <HI>Cham</HI> and <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> were but one per&s;on, according to <HI>Bero&s;us, Didymus</HI> of <HI>Alexandria,</HI> and the Author of the <HI>Scholastick Hi&s;tory,</HI> that <HI>Cham</HI> was the fir&s;t that exerci&s;ed Magick after the De|luge, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 3.</NOTE> as is affirm'd by the &s;ame <HI>Bero&s;us</HI> in his Hi|&s;tory; and that, this granted, it is to be inferr'd, that <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> after the re&s;tauration of the world, fir&s;t began to &s;oil mens minds with the &s;oot of his invocations &amp; &s;orceries. Nay, they &s;tick not to affirm that the fir&s;t he practi&s;ed them on, was his own Father, affirming, that the only motive that <HI>Noah</HI> had to thunder &s;uch a cur&s;e again&s;t him, was that the other had by his Magick &s;o bound and made him impotent&punc; that having, at it were, lo&s;t the prerogative of his nature,
<Q><BIBL>Corn. Gall. Eleg. <HI>3.</HI></BIBL>
<L>Diriguit, quantu&s;&abque; fuit calor, o&s;&s;a reliquit.</L></Q>
In&s;omuch, that afterwards he could not get any children, either on his wife or any other, as is &s;o clearly and methodically &s;et down by <HI>Bero&s;us,</HI> that we need not &s;eek that contradiction in his Hi&s;tory, which is fal&s;ly impo&s;ed upon him by <HI>du</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Fol.</HI> 76.</NOTE> <HI>Verdier</HI> in his <HI>Cen&s;ure.</HI> Whence it comes to pa&s;&s;e, that many keep a coil to have this opinion of the fir&s;t Author of Magick maintain'd, not only upon the account of <HI>Bero&s;us,</HI> who indeed is the mo&s;t an|cient and venerable Hi&s;torian we have left, but al&s;o tho&s;e of <HI>Gregory</HI> of <HI>Tours,</HI> and St. <HI>Clement,</HI> (the two other principall opinions) who, to &s;trengthen his authority &s;ay, that <HI>Chus</HI> or <HI>Mi&s;|raeim,</HI> the two elder &s;ons of <HI>Cham</HI> were &s;ir|nam'd
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<HI>Zoroa&s;tes,</HI> which &s;ignifies onely <HI>Living Stars,</HI> in acknowledgement of the miraculous o|perations which they effected by this Di&s;clipline.</P>
<P>But if we &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;ider the &s;trength of the&s;e proofs, we &s;hall at la&s;t find, that the two latter are no more probable than the former, and that the whole web of the Argument hath no more truth than likelihood, as is not hard to &s;hew. For fir&s;t, as to the three Authours, who make <HI>Cham</HI> and <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> but one and the &s;ame per&s;on; <HI>P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tri<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ius,</HI> who produces the authority <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Magia Philo&s;oph.</NOTE> of the &s;econd, immediately addes, that it de&s;erves no credit, as having no ground of rea&s;on or pro|bability. The &s;ame account doth <HI>Pererius</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">De Mag. c. <HI>13.</HI></NOTE> make of the authority of the third, who &s;ayes, that <HI>Ninus</HI> &s;ubdued <HI>Cham,</HI> who was yet alive, and called <HI>Zoroa&s;tes,</HI> making him, according to the opinion of &s;ome, King of <HI>Thrace;</HI> whereas <HI>Ju&s;tin</HI> affirms, in the beginning of his Hi&s;tory, that the <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> that was overcome by <HI>Ninus</HI> was King of the <HI>Bactrians.</HI> According then to the calcula|tion of this Writer, <HI>Cham</HI> mu&s;t have lived, at lea&s;t, twelve hundred yeers, &s;ince <HI>Ninus</HI> was contem|porary with <HI>Abraham</HI> and <HI>Melchi&s;edec,</HI> whom St. <HI>Epiphanius,</HI> relying on the tran&s;lation of the <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">re&s;.</HI> 55.</NOTE> &s;eventy Interpreters, places 1100 years after the Flood, to which adde the hundred years that <HI>Cham</HI> liv'd before; it will be evident, that he could not be overcome by <HI>Ninus,</HI> unle&s;&s;e he be allow'd to live twelve hundred years, a thing not affirm'd by any Authour.</P>
<P>Nor can it be probably &s;aid, that notwith&s;tand|ing his fathers cur&s;e, he outliv'd him by two hun|dred and fifty years, and his brother <HI>Sem</HI> by &s;ix hundred. For as to <HI>Bero&s;us,</HI> I think it much
<PB N="72" REF="47">
more pardonable not to credit him than tho&s;e that preceded him; &s;ince all the books publi&s;hed under his name, are nothing but the extravagant imaginations of <HI>Annius</HI> a Monk of <HI>Viterbo,</HI> as hath been well ob&s;erv'd by <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>1.</HI> Polit.</NOTE> <HI>Faber Stapulen&s;is,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>5.</HI> de tradend. di&s;cipl.</NOTE> <HI>Vi|ves,</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>18.</HI> c. <HI>1.</HI> de Ci|vit.</NOTE> <HI>Goropius,</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Qu. <HI>5.</HI> de repar. temp. Hiero&s;.</NOTE> <HI>Vergara,</HI> <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Syntag. <HI>4.</HI> de Diis Gentium.</NOTE> <HI>Giraldus,</HI> <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">Lib, inte|gro, Romae Ed<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">t. <HI>1560</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ga|&s;par Varenus, Melchior Canus,</HI> and divers others, who&s;e authority is of greater con&s;equence again&s;t him, than all that <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> de lo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. Tb<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ol.</NOTE> <HI>Po&s;tel, quem in&s;ania,</HI> &s;aith <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Lib. de o|rigin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">. he<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">r. &s;ol. <HI>20 &amp; 222.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Scaliger, &agrave; communi invidia liberare debet,</HI> could &s;ay to keep up his credit, as making u&s;e of him, as a Ba&s;e on which to ground the learned <HI>Re&s;veries</HI> he daily fan&s;ied to him&s;elf, upon the happy conque&s;ts of the univer&s;all Empire&punc; promi|&s;ed the French Monarchy.</P>
<P>The &s;ame an&s;wer may be made to the &s;econd propo&s;ition of the contrary Argument, which, &s;til|ted up by the onely authority of <HI>Bero&s;us,</HI> would prove <HI>Cham</HI> to have been a Magician. There needs no more than to deny it, unle&s;&s;e it be meant of naturall Magick, or rather tho&s;e Sciences, wherein <HI>Delrio</HI> &s;ayes he was in&s;tructed by his fa|ther <HI>Noach,</HI> which name he thinks corrupted by <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 3. <HI>c.</HI> 1.</NOTE> <HI>Pliny</HI> into that of <HI>Azonach,</HI> who he affirms to have been the Ma&s;ter of <HI>Zoroastes,</HI> as <NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="marg">Daemon. l. <HI>2.</HI> cap. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Bodin</HI> ob|&s;erves, that he changed that of <HI>Gabbala</HI> into <HI>Jo|tappe,</HI> or <HI>Jochabelia,</HI> Authour of a certain kind of Magick. And yet there is not much to be built on that light conjecture of <HI>Delrio&punc;</HI> &s;ince what he <NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;q. Ma|gic. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> &s;ayes ab&s;olutely, that, <HI>Cham &amp; &s;ilii ejus magiam bonam edocti &s;unt &agrave; Noacho,</HI> cannot be any wayes under&s;tood of this <HI>Zoroastes,</HI> who is repre&s;ented to us, as a mo&s;t eminent practi&s;er of Magick and Necromancie.</P>
<P>Nor needs there any other an&s;wer to the &s;tory
<PB N="73" REF="47">
of the Magick which <HI>Cham</HI> exerci&s;ed upon his fa|ther, brought upon the &s;tage to confirm the &s;e|cond propo&s;ition. For &s;ince we have no other Authour for it than <HI>Bero&s;us,</HI> fal&s;ified by the Monk of <HI>Viterbo,</HI> there is no rea&s;on to admit it for true, and make it outlive the credit and authority of him who&s;e it was, &s;eeing, that if we look narrow|ly into the originall of this relation, and take off its mask, we &s;hall find that it is grounded upon the cur&s;e pronounced by the Patriarch <HI>Noah</HI> in the ninth of <HI>Gene&s;is, Maledictus puer Chanaan, &s;er|vus &s;ervorum erit fratribus &s;uis.</HI> Whereof though the cau&s;e be clearly laid down in the &s;ame place, yet <HI>Bero&s;us,</HI> the <HI>Rabbins,</HI> and <HI>Thalmudi&s;ts</HI> mu&s;t needs glo&s;&s;e upon, and metamorpho&s;e it as they plea&s;e, but with a doctrine &s;o flat, and concepti|ons &s;o contradictory and fanta&s;tick, that they may &s;erve, beyond any thing I know, to convince us of the truth of what <HI>Lactantius</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Hac</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">In divinar. In&s;tit. l. <HI>5.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>mendaciorum natura est, ut cohaerere non po&s;&s;int.</HI> For if we credit the former in his Hi&s;tory, we mu&s;t withall beleeve that <HI>Cham</HI> u&s;ed certain charms and &s;orceries, to make his father unable as to the act of generation, If the Rabbi <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg">Pererius in Gene&s;. l. <HI>14.</HI> c. <HI>1.</HI> ver&s;. <HI>17.</HI> &amp; Genebrar. l. <HI>1.</HI> Chro|nolog.</NOTE> <HI>Levi</HI> in his Commentary on <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> that, like another <HI>Saturn,</HI> he guelt him of the parts nece&s;&s;ary for that act. If R. <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">In forta|litio fidei, l. <HI>3.</HI> p. <HI>204.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Samuel,</HI> that he &s;hewed him &s;uch a na&s;ty and abominable trick, that I &s;hall be more tender of cha&s;te ears than to mention it, and pa&s;&s;e it by, as <HI>Laur. Valla</HI> did a word of the like &s;ignification&punc; <HI>Malo ignorari, qu&agrave;m me docente cog|no&s;ci</HI> And la&s;tly, if we refer our &s;elves to the <NOTE N="p" PLACE="marg">Ibidem.</NOTE> <HI>Thalmudists,</HI> we mu&s;t grant that <HI>Cham</HI> in|curr'd this malediction for all the cau&s;es toge|ther mentioned by the Rabbins, which we have
<PB N="74" REF="48">
particulariz'd, to &s;hew, that though <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> &s;hould a&s;&s;ume <HI>Cham</HI>'s per&s;on, yet were there no ju&s;tice to condemn him for an Enchanter and Magician.</P>
<P>Having therefore di&s;patch'd that, we come now to di&s;cover the errour of the third opinion, which men have had of this per&s;on: according to which, many have thought him to have been King of the <HI>Bactrians,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>Ju&s;tin</HI> &s;eems to be of their &s;ide, when &s;peaking of <HI>Ninus,</HI> in the fir&s;t book of his <HI>Epitome,</HI> he &s;ayes, <HI>Po&s;tremum illi bel|lum cum Zoroastre Rege Bactrianorum fuit, qui primus dicitur artes magicas inveni&s;&s;e, &amp; mundi principia, &s;yderum&abque; motus diligenti&s;&s;im&egrave; &s;pecta&s;&s;e.</HI> And yet this Herculean pa&s;&s;age, which hath been alwayes quoted, to call down the good reputati|on of <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> at his enemies feet, may ea&s;ily be refuted by the contrary authority of <HI>Diodorus Si|culus,</HI> who &s;ayes, that this King of the <HI>Bactrians,</HI> again&s;t whom <HI>Ninus</HI> made war, was called <HI>Oxi|artes</HI> and of who&s;e Magick, neither he not <HI>Cte|&s;ias,</HI> who according to <HI>Arnobius,</HI> writ his particu|lar Hi&s;tory, make not the lea&s;t mention. Nor in|deed does <HI>Ju&s;tin</HI> &s;peak of it, but under the cauti|on of a <HI>Hear-&s;ay,</HI> and in &s;uch ambiguous and doubtfull expre&s;&s;ions, that not &s;pecifying what kind of Magick this <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> was Authour of, there is nothing more obvious than to conclude from the con&s;equent words, &amp; <HI>mundi principiae, coeli&abque; motus diligenti&s;&s;ime &s;pecta&s;&s;e,</HI> that it was meant of the philo&s;ophicall and naturall. Whence it is certain, that according to the fourth and la&s;t opinion, which the mo&s;t re&s;erv'd have had of this <HI>Zoroa&s;tes,</HI> he was an excellently knowing man, well acquainted with all manner of Di&s;ciplines, a
<PB N="75" REF="48">
&s;ubject of <HI>Ninus,</HI> contemporary with <HI>Abraham,</HI> and by countrey a Chaldaean, who having been in|&s;tructed by <HI>Azonach,</HI> one of the Di&s;ciples of <HI>Sem</HI> or <HI>Heber,</HI> was &s;o earne&s;t in the cultivation and re|&s;tauration of the Di&s;ciplines lo&s;t by the Floud, that he became the mo&s;t eminent man of his time, and writ a many books, of which <HI>Suidas</HI> &s;ayes, Four treated of Nature, one of Precious Stones, and five of A&s;trologie. To the&s;e <HI>Pliny</HI> addes &s;ome of Agriculture, and <HI>Mirandula</HI> ano|ther <NOTE PLACE="marg">In epi&s;t. ad Mar&s;il. Ficin.</NOTE> of Caldaick Sentences, which he &s;aid he had in his Library, with Commentaries upon them in the &s;ame language; one part whereof was fir&s;t printed at <HI>Paris,</HI> and &s;ince augmented by <HI>Patri|cius,</HI> who dige&s;ted it into the fir&s;t part of his Book, <HI>De Magia Philo&s;ophica,</HI> alluding, in all pro|bability, to that of <HI>Zoroa&s;tes,</HI> which certainly was onely naturall and philo&s;ophicall. Nor is it hard to infer thus much from tho&s;e &s;hreds which we have left of his <HI>Aphori&s;ms</HI> and <HI>Sentences,</HI> which are &s;o far from being guilty of any thing of dia|bolicall or &s;uper&s;titious Magick, that, on the contrary, <HI>Steuchus Eugubinus,</HI> in his &s;o much cri'd up Book again&s;t Infidels, Athei&s;ts, and Phi|lo&s;ophers, makes u&s;e of them ever and anon, to prove and maintain the my&s;teries of Chri&s;tian Re|ligion. Adde to this, the improbability that <HI>Syria|nus,</HI> the mo&s;t learned of all the Platonicks, would be&s;tow on them a Commentary of ten books, as <HI>Suidas</HI> affirms he did; or that <HI>Mar&s;ilius Ficinus</HI> would cite them &s;o often in his Book <HI>Of the Im|mortality of the Soul,</HI> and <HI>Picus</HI> draw fifteen of his <HI>Conclu&s;ions</HI> thence, if they had been fraught with &s;o many triviall and &s;uper&s;titious things, &s;uch as many have imagin'd them, contrary to the opi|nion
<PB N="76" REF="49">
of the &s;ame <HI>Ficinus, Mirandula,</HI> and <HI>Plato.</HI> The fir&s;t of the&s;e layes it down as a certain max|ime, that <HI>&agrave; Zoroa&s;tre, omnis manavit Theologorum veterum &s;apientia;</HI> the &s;econd openly confe&s;&s;es in the defence of his conclu&s;ions, that that Magick, which &s;tudies the perfect knowledge of Naturall Philo&s;ophy was fir&s;t brought into vogue by <HI>Zoro|astes</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Alcibia|de.</NOTE> &amp; <HI>Zamolxis;</HI> and the la&s;t tell us that the Ma|gick of <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> is nothing but that knowledge of divine things wherein the Kings of <HI>Per&s;ia</HI> cau&s;'d their children to be in&s;tructed, <HI>ut ad exemplar mundanae Reipub&punc; &s;uam ip&s;i Rempublicam regere edo|cerentur.</HI></P>
<P>To make this good weight, we might adde a many Authorities and pa&s;&s;ages out of the be&s;t Authors, were they not already produc'd by <NOTE N="&s;" PLACE="marg">De Reg. Per&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">r. l. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Bri&s;&s;onias,</HI> <NOTE N="t" PLACE="marg">Eclog. ad Arnob. cap. <HI>5&punc; 6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Bulenger,</HI> <NOTE N="u" PLACE="marg">Convi|vior. l. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Philelphus</HI> and <NOTE N="x" PLACE="marg">Philo &s;oph. Bar|varicae. l. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Heurnius,</HI> who have made a faithfull collection of all that can be &s;aid, to prove that the&s;e Mages of <HI>Per&s;ia</HI> and <HI>Chaldaea,</HI> were only prie&s;ts and Phi|lo&s;ophers&punc; and their doctrine an excellent Theo|logy grounded upon the wor&s;hip and adoration of one &s;upreme omnipotent Divinity, as is perti|nently ob&s;erv'd by the Learned Ma&s;ter of <HI>Lactan|tius,</HI> where he &s;ayes, that <HI>Eorum Magorum &amp; eloquio et negotio, primus Ho&s;thanes verum Deum merita ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;tate pro&s;equitur, et Angelos Ministros &amp; nuncios dei, &s;ed veri, ejus venerationi novit a&s;&s;i&s;te|re.</HI> Whence we may well judge that, if <HI>Pliny</HI> de&s;cribe this Ho&s;tanes (&s;o excellent a per&s;on in the judgment of Arnobius) as a famous impo&s;tor and Mountebank, <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> mu&s;t needs meet with wor&s;e handling from him and others, who thinking it a &s;hame to be beaten out of the pit, will yet to keep this &s;o long agitated que&s;tion in
<PB N="77" REF="49">
play, fly to certain impertinent and &s;imple ob&s;er|vations of the pre&s;ages of his Nativity, the cour&s;e of his life, and the manner of his death. From thence they would conclude, for&s;ooth, that his laughing when he was borne, the beating of his brain, &s;o &s;trongly that it forc'd back ones hand; his twenty years &s;olitude, and the fire from Hea|ven which con&s;um'd him for his offences, are, (were there no other rea&s;ons) more than au|thentick proofs to make him a great enchanter and Magician. This indeed may &s;eem &s;omething probable, to tho&s;e who look on all Securities as good and &s;olvent, who will receeive any mony though ever &s;o bad, who mind only the &s;uperfi|cies of things, &amp; <HI>quorum nu&s;quam penetrat ad inti|ma telum.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;ince we mu&s;t try what we can pick out of the&s;e proofs, we may an&s;wer, to the fir&s;t&punc; that there is not any one can a&s;&s;ure us that this laughing of <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> happened preci&s;ely on the day of his na|tivity, whether when he was a&s;leep or awake, whe|ther by the percu&s;&s;ion of the Aire, or only an agi|tation of his lips all which one &s;hould know to judge aright of it. But to take away the prodigy &amp; &s;trangene&s;&s;e of this accident, <HI>Hippocrates</HI> tells us <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de Sep|time&s;tri. partu.</NOTE> that Children, a&s;&s;oon as they are born &s;eeme to laugh or cry as they &s;leep; and that, waking, there is a con&s;tant vici&s;&s;itude of laughing and crying till they have pa&s;&s;ed forty dayes. This might have happened more particularly to <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> through abundance of Spirits, and con&s;equently heat, which re&s;cuing him from that humidity that is common to others, cau&s;'d that action in him, which might well &s;ignifie that he &s;hould
<PB N="78" REF="50">
one day prove a very great man, but not a Magi|cian. It is indeed a Circum&s;tance hath ever been thought very fortunate, &s;o that it gave <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Eclog.</HI> 4.</NOTE> <HI>Virgil</HI> occa&s;ion to &s;ay
<Q><L>&mdash;Cui non ri&s;ere parentes,</L>
<L>Nec deus hunc men&s;a, Dea nec dignata cubili e&s;t.</L></Q>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aphori&s;.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">3. <HI>Sect.</HI> 1.</NOTE> For tho&s;e who laugh &s;o &s;oon are ordinarily more active and lively, or as <HI>Hippocrates</HI> calls them <GAP DESC="foreign">, that is, &s;uch as have a certaine nim|blene&s;&s;e and vivacity of &s;pirit, and accordingly give greater hopes of their future good fortune, then tho&s;e who are &s;tupi'd, &s;low, and who&s;e &s;pirits are dull and heavy.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 7. <HI>c.</HI> 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> Nor &s;hall we need, if we may tru&s;t <HI>Pliny,</HI> trou|ble our &s;elves <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o derive any greater pre&s;age from the motion of his Braine, it being ordinary in all Children newly born to have a certain cavity about the brain-pan where the &s;agittall future meets with the coronall, which is cover'd with a gro&s;&s;e and thick membrane, about which, at lea&s;t till it be converted into bone, a man may ea&s;ily <NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;agogicae tractat. Sect. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> perceive, <HI>vi&s;u &amp; tactu</HI> (as the mo&s;t Learned <HI>Ana|tomist Riolanus</HI> hath ob&s;erved in his <HI>O&s;te|ologie)</HI> the con&s;tant beating of the brain, which haply was preceiv'd more &s;trong and vehement in <HI>Zoroastes,</HI> then it is u&s;ually in other Children, by rea&s;on of the abundance of Spirits and naturall heat, which we have &s;hewn to have been parti|cular in him.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, if any one will inferre that <HI>Zoroastes</HI> was a Magician, becau&s;e <HI>Pliny</HI> tells us that he remain'd 20. years in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, and that <HI>Suidas</HI> and <HI>Volaterranus</HI> affirme that he dy'd
<PB N="79" REF="50">
&s;truck with a Thunderbolt; he mu&s;t al&s;o with the &s;ame breath conclude that <HI>Epimenedes</HI> who &s;tay'd therein 50. years, that <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> who &s;pent the third part of his age in it, and that all the Fathers of <HI>Thebais</HI> were far greater Magicians then he, &s;ince they be&s;tow'd all their life time there: And that <HI>Tullus Ho&s;tilius, Pompeius Strabo, Aurelius Carus, Anasta&s;ius,</HI> and <HI>Simeon Stilites</HI> were great Sorcerers and enchanters, becau&s;e they all dy'd thunder&s;tuck. And yet this is not a little in jurious to the truth of the Hi&s;tory, and to what is ex|pre&s;ly ob&s;erv'd of the la&s;t, in the Spirituall Mea|dow of <HI>Sophronius,</HI> where it is &s;aid, that the Ab|bot <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cap.</HI> 57.</NOTE> <HI>Julian Stilites</HI> incen&s;ing at an un&s;ea&s;onable hour, an&s;wer'd tho&s;e who ask'd him the rea&s;on of it, <HI>quia modo frater meus Simeon &agrave; fulgure dejectus interiit, &amp; ecce tran&s;it anima ejus in tripudio &amp; ex|ultatione.</HI> Whence may be ea&s;ily ob&s;erv'd their want of judgment, who, upon the di&s;-&s;ecurity of &s;uch vain conjectures, would per&s;wade us that <HI>Zoroa&s;tes</HI> was the fir&s;t inventer of Magick, and the greate&s;t enchanter of his time. Which con|fidence I have the rather taken the trouble to re|fute, to make way for that light of truth which we are to follow in the account we have of him; and with the &s;ame breath, blow away the proofs and grounds of certain Authors, who believe, that all the Learning the ancient Philo&s;ophers acquir'd in <HI>Aegypt,</HI> was no other then that of the Magick and Invocations of this excellent per&s;on.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="9" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="80" REF="51">
<HEAD>CHAP. IX.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">That Orpheus was no Magician.</HEAD>
<P>HUmane nature is &s;o limited and confin'd that it cannot judge of things &s;pirituall but by the &s;en&s;ible and materiall, nor of &s;ub&s;tances but by their Accidents, nor indeed of any thing it knows but by appearances. The only way then, me thinks, to di&s;engage Truth out of all the&s;e maskes and di&s;gui&s;es, is, to take as &s;trict and near a view of them as may be, and, when we come to the weight and tryall of them, never to admit that prejudicate opinion, which often ob|liges us to choo&s;e and preferre &s;hadows before bodies, darkne&s;&s;e before Light, and the mo&s;t ex|tra-regular fables before certain and authentick Hi&s;tories. This we are to do with &s;o much the more diligence and circum&s;pection in this Chap|ter by how much that there is not any thing, as <HI>Plutarch</HI> affirmes, &s;lides more in&s;en&s;ibly into our &s;oules, or hath &s;o much charme and force to at|tract and in&s;inuate as the di&s;po&s;ition of certain tales hand&s;omely couch'd and interwoven; &s;uch as, for in&s;tance, tho&s;e of the miraculous Mu|&s;ick of <HI>Orpheus,</HI> at which we &s;ee, that,
<Q><L>Mirantur ju&s;ti&abque; &s;enes, trepidae&abque; puellae,</L>
<L>Narrantis conjux pendet ab ore viri.</L></Q></P>
<P>To proceed then to a &s;trict and di&s;pa&s;&s;ionate ex|amination of all the grounds, which men have had to &s;u&s;pect this Great man, and fir&s;t Profe&s;&s;or of divinity, guilty of magick, we mu&s;t build up|on
<PB N="81" REF="51">
the foundations layd in the former Chapter, and &s;ay with <HI>Patricius,</HI> that, according to the te&s;timony of <HI>Philo, Jo&s;ephus,</HI> and all the be&s;t Au|thors, the Sciences and di&s;ciplines which had been lo&s;t by the Flood, having been re-e&s;ta|bli&s;h'd in the Schooles of <HI>Sem</HI> and <HI>Heber,</HI> the fir&s;t erected, as the Rabbins and Thalmudi&s;ts af|firme, <HI>Zoroastes,</HI> who had been in&s;tructed in them, and who might be one of the Sons or <HI>Ne|phews</HI> of <HI>Cham,</HI> endeavour'd &s;o much to dilate and make them flouri&s;h in his Country of <HI>Chaldaea,</HI> and among tho&s;e of this Nation, that be&s;ides the knowledge which <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">2. <HI>Florid.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Apuleius</HI> allows him of Medicine, and that of A&s;trology attributed to him by St. <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Ad c. <HI>2.</HI> Dan.</NOTE> <HI>Hierome,</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Homil. <HI>3.</HI> in Hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|rem.</NOTE> <HI>Origen,</HI> <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2. <HI>eleg.</HI> 5.</NOTE> <HI>Proper<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ius,</HI> <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">De Divi|nat.</NOTE> <HI>Cicero,</HI> <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">In Con|viv.</NOTE> <HI>Philelphus</HI> and mo&s;t Writers, and upon the account whereof they pa&s;&s;'d anciently for A&s;trologers, as the Canaanites for Merchants and the Arabians for Robbers, we have the Au|thority of <HI>Averroes</HI> cited by <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">In Ma|gia Philo|&s;oph.</NOTE> <HI>Patricius,</HI> who &s;ayes, that Philo&s;ophy was &s;ometime in as much e&s;teem in <HI>Chaldaea,</HI> as it was in his time in <HI>Spaine</HI> by the meanes of the Univer&s;ity of <HI>Corduba.</HI> All the&s;e Di&s;ciplines were afterwards tran&s;lated into <HI>Aegypt,</HI> when <HI>Abraham&punc;</HI> as is ob&s;erv'd in the Scripture, <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg"><HI>Gen.</HI> 12&punc;</NOTE> went down into <HI>Aegypt,</HI> to &s;o|journe there, becau&s;e the famine was &s;ore in the Land. For <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> &s;ayes plainely, and <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg">In Epino|mide&punc;</NOTE> <HI>Plato</HI> &s;eems to agree with him, that during his abode in that Country, he taught the Aegytian Prie&s;ts the Mathematicks, and gave them as it were the fir&s;t rudiments of all the other Sciences, which thereupon &s;o thriv'd and were &s;o much im|prov'd that it became the &s;pring-head, whence the Greeks by long draughts got all their wi&s;dom
<PB N="82" REF="52">
and Learning, by the travells and pilgrimages of <HI>Orpheus, Thales, Democritus,</HI> and <HI>Pythagoras:</HI> whereof, the fir&s;t brought thence Theology, the &s;econd the Mathematicks, the third Phy&s;ick; and the la&s;t, all the foremention'd with Morall Philo&s;ophy into the bargain.</P>
<P>This is it we are now to prove of <HI>Orpheus,</HI> and hereafter of <HI>Pythagoras</HI> and <HI>Democritus,</HI> to &s;hew, by an apparant di&s;covery of what they were, how much they are mi&s;taken, who would &s;till make <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2. <HI>c.</HI> 6.</NOTE> them no other then Sorcerers and Mountebanks. For as to <HI>Orpheus, Diodorus, Siculus</HI> affirmes him to be one of the fir&s;t that pa&s;&s;'d into <HI>Aegypt</HI> (which happened about the year of the World 3060, long before <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> who return'd thence in the time of <HI>Polycrates,</HI> Tyrant of <HI>Samos</HI> in the year 3<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">90.) and that he brought thence with him, his <HI>Hymnes,</HI> his <HI>Diony&s;iacks,</HI> and his <HI>Orgia,</HI> which were no other then tho&s;e of <HI>I&s;is</HI> and <HI>O&s;iris.</HI> This made <NOTE N="m" PLACE="marg">Civit. d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i. Lib. <HI>18.</HI> c. <HI>14.</HI></NOTE> St. <HI>Au&s;tine</HI> put him into the Chap|ter of Divine Poets, <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg"><HI>Aeneid.</HI> 6</NOTE> <HI>Virgil</HI> to give him the name and ve&s;tment of a prie&s;t where he &s;ayes of him.</P>
<P><Q><L>Nec non Thr&euml;icius long&acirc; cum veste &s;acerdos,</L>
<L>Obloquitur numeris &s;eptem di&s;crimina Vocum.</L></Q>
So <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">Praep. Evang. Lib. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> gives him the title of the great|e&s;t Ma&s;ter of Theologie. <NOTE N="p" PLACE="marg">Orat ex|hortat. ad ventes.</NOTE> <HI>Justin</HI> and <NOTE N="q" PLACE="marg">Apolog. pro Chri&s;ti|an&punc;</NOTE> <HI>Athe|nagoras</HI> a&s;&s;ure us, that he was the fir&s;t that advanc'd and propo&s;'d the names and &s;acrifices of the An|tient Gods, and reduc'd their Theologie into or|der, not only in his Hymnes and Books fore|mentioned, but in divers others which <HI>Suidas</HI> &s;ayes he made, of the My&s;teries of the Trinity,
<PB N="83" REF="52">
of the occult rea&s;on of divine things, of &s;acred Conferences, of Oracles, and of Purgations. This gave <HI>Plutarch</HI> occa&s;ion to call his Learning <NOTE PLACE="marg">Sympos. l. <HI>2.</HI> qu. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Sacred,</HI> in&s;omuch, that diver&s;e Catholick Doctors have been of opinion, that it might be very &s;erviceable to refute the Religion of the Ancients, and confirme Chri&s;tianty. Among the&s;e were St. <NOTE N="&s;" PLACE="marg">Lib. cont Fau&s;tum Manch.</NOTE> <HI>Augustine,</HI> <NOTE N="t" PLACE="marg">Praep. Evan. l. <HI>13.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Eu&s;ebius,</HI> <NOTE N="u" PLACE="marg">Lib. de animi im|mortalitate.</NOTE> <HI>Mar&s;ilius Ficinus,</HI> <NOTE N="x" PLACE="marg">in apolog. et in con|clu&s;.</NOTE> <HI>Picus,</HI> <NOTE N="y" PLACE="marg">Comment. in Quintil. Lib. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Mo&s;ellanus&punc;</HI> <NOTE N="z" PLACE="marg">H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">b. do|mad. l. <HI>7.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Fabius Paulinus,</HI> and the Learned Divine, <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>10.</HI> de perenni Philo&s;oph. c. <HI>7.</HI> lic. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Steu|chus Eugubinus,</HI> who, with great diligence and a commendable curio&s;ity, hath made a certain <HI>Analogy</HI> or parallell between the Doctrine of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and that of <HI>Orpheus,</HI> the fir&s;t Philo&s;opher and Divine among the Greeks, as <HI>Zoroastes</HI> was among the <HI>Chaldaeans,</HI> and <HI>Tri&s;megistus</HI> among the <HI>Aegyptians.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e Authorities I have been the rather en|clin'd to &s;umme up together, to &s;hew, both by the number and diver&s;ity of them, what account we &s;hould make of the mo&s;t part of our Daemonogra|phers, who mu&s;t needs be guilty either of Igno|rance or a huge pre&s;umption, if they know not or e&s;teem not the judgment of &s;o many great per&s;ons, <HI>qui, ut rationem nullam afferrent, ip&s;a au|toritate nos frangerent,</HI> to court and embrace an old fable, and the dreams of doting Antiquity. And to make the madne&s;&s;e compleat, they think they have ground enough becau&s;e they find it in <HI>Pau&s;anias,</HI> who &s;ayes, that &s;ome were of opinion, <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Po&s;t. El<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|acis.</NOTE> that this principall Divine among the Greeks was a Sorcerer and Magician, making it their bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to retrive the Story &amp; dre&s;s it up, as they plea&s;e; &s;o it contribute any thing to the opinion they would either introduce or maintaine, yet do I not meet
<PB N="84" REF="53">
with any of all tho&s;e that maintaine this extrava|gance, hath made it reach further then <HI>le Loyer,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 4. <HI>c.</HI> 3.</NOTE> in his <HI>de Spectris,</HI> where he &s;ayes, <Q>that the <HI>Orphe|otelestae</HI> were &s;o called from <HI>Orpheus</HI> the greate&s;t Sorcerer and Necromancer that ever was, who&s;e writings contain'd nothing but the prai&s;es of Devils, as of <HI>Jupiter Alastor, Daemon Vindex, &amp; exterminator;</HI> of <HI>Bacchus,</HI> his Ma&s;ter; of the Satyres, of <HI>Phaneros,</HI> who in my judgment was that <HI>Lucifer</HI> whom we believe turn'dout of Hea|ven; the originall of the Gods, alledged by <HI>Athenagoras;</HI> uncha&s;t mixtures of Gods with men, (blazon'd &s;ince by <HI>Homer</HI> and <HI>He&s;iod)</HI> which indeed are nothing but the copulations of Devils, with Sorcerers, for the generation of Gyants; and la&s;tly, the initiations into Bac|chanalian and Diabolilcal Ceremonies, &s;hrowded in ob&s;cure termes, not under&s;tood even by tho&s;e who were of the Magicall Frater|nity of the <HI>Orphcotele&s;tae.</HI></Q></P>
<P>From which pa&s;&s;age it is ea&s;ily conjectur'd, that the chiefe&s;t argument and motive to conclude <HI>Orpheus</HI> a Magician, may, according to this Au|thour and the re&s;t, be drawn from the charmes and &s;uper&s;tition of his Hymnes, which, in &s;ome &s;en&s;e they may be taken in, or &s;ome expo&s;ition may be giving them, containe nothing but the names of infernall Spirits, the order of their &s;acrifices, and the &s;everall Ceremonies and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">uffumigations requi&s;ite in their invocations. Whence many have bin per&s;waded, that they were as effectuall in <HI>Geotick</HI> Magick, as the P&s;almes of <HI>David</HI> in the <HI>Divine&punc;</HI> the diver&s;e letters, Sylla|bles and Combinations of the Mercaua in the Theurgick, and the medicinall applications of
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<HI>Virgil</HI> in the Naturall. <HI>Bodin</HI> therefore doth <NOTE PLACE="marg">Daemonom. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> not unju&s;tly charge <HI>Mirandula</HI> with too much &s;u|per&s;tition, for grounding &s;ome of his Conclu&s;i|ons upon the Doctrine of this Magician, who certainely mu&s;t needs be &s;uch, when by the tones of enchanted Mu&s;ick, he drew after him, not only the mo&s;t untractable Animals, but even Woods, Rocks, and Rivers,
<Q><BIBL>Horat. l. <HI>1.</HI> Ode <HI>12.</HI></BIBL> <L>Unde vocalem temer&egrave; in&s;ecutae</L>
<L>Orphea Sylvae.</L></Q>
To this <HI>Philo&s;tratus</HI> addes, that he became Oracu|lar after his Death by the Organs of his head, which kept in the I&s;le of Lesbos, an&s;wer'd the Greeks, that they &s;hould never take Troy without the Ar|rowes of <HI>Hercules&punc;</HI> &amp; the Amba&s;&s;adors of <HI>Cyrus</HI> that the fate of their Prince &s;hould be like his own, that is, that he &s;hould dye by the hands of a Woman.</P>
<P>But all this amounts to very little in compari&s;on of what <HI>le Loyer</HI> affirmes of this per&s;on&punc; that is, that <NOTE PLACE="marg">De Spectris l. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> he in&s;tituted the Fraternity of the <HI>Orpheotele&s;tae,</HI> among whom <HI>Bacchus</HI> had anciently the &s;ame place, as the Devill hath now in the A&s;&s;emblyes of Magicians, who have deriv'd all their &s;uper|&s;titious operations from the&s;e <HI>Orpheotele&s;tae.</HI> This puts him into an a&s;toni&s;hment, that none of all the Authors, who writ upon that &s;ubject be|fore him, made no u&s;e of that proof to convince the followers of <HI>Peter d' Apono,</HI> and <HI>Vuierus,</HI> who deny there were any Magicians anciently, and laugh at the homage which they &s;ay they do the Devill. For he ob&s;erves that what was &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ng in the <HI>Orgia, Saboe Evohe</HI> is an&s;werable to the Shouts and exultations of Magicians <HI>Har Sabat Sabat;</HI> and that <HI>Bacchus,</HI> who was only a di&s;gui&s;'d De|vill,
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was call'd <HI>Saba&s;ius,</HI> becau&s;e of the <HI>Sabat</HI> or conventions of the&s;e <HI>Bacchanalian</HI> Prie&s;ts, where|in after they were initiated, they were wont to &s;ay, <HI>I have drunk of the Tabour, and have eaten of the Cymbal, and &s;o I am admitted. Le Loyer</HI> would have this to be &s;o explicated, that by the <HI>Cymbal</HI> we &s;hould under&s;tand the Cauldron or Ba&s;on, which they made u&s;e of, as the modern Magicians do, to boyle the little children they feed on; and by the <HI>Tabour,</HI> the Goat-skin out of which they drew the juice and quinte&s;&s;ence to drink.</P>
<P>This way the manner of admi&s;&s;ion to the Ceremonies of their <HI>Bacchus,</HI> which were &s;o na&s;ty and dete&s;table, that <HI>Demo&s;thenes</HI> had, as he <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Orat. de corona.</NOTE> ob&s;erves, much rea&s;on to reprove <HI>Ae&s;chines,</HI> his adver&s;ary, that in his younger years he and his mother had been initiated in them, and had cry'd <HI>Evre Sabaoe.</HI> But for my part, I am in as great an a&s;toni&s;hment that he &s;hould not expect to be reprov'd him&s;elf and to be laught at too for producing &s;uch triviall conjectures, &s;uch groundle&s;s proofs, and &s;uch fanta&s;tick, extravagant, and ri|diculous conceptions to prove that the <HI>Orpheote|le&s;tae&punc;</HI> practis'd all the Ceremonyes, common among the Magicians of this time; and con&s;e|quently, that he, who was the In&s;titutor of them, ought to be the rather look'd on, as an Enchanter and Magician. For if Rea&s;on may moderate the ex|ce&s;&s;e of the&s;e Symptoms, may we not by the way, truely affirme, that he gives the name of <HI>Orpheotele&s;tae</HI> to all the Prie&s;te&s;&s;es of <HI>Bacchus</HI> which yet appertain'd not but to the Ma&s;ters of their Congregation. But then if the former con|&s;equence hold, this al&s;o mu&s;t, That <HI>Hugh de Payennes,</HI> and <HI>Godefrey de</HI> St. <HI>Aumart,</HI> who
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founded the order of the Knights <HI>Templers,</HI> were Sorcerers and Idolaters; becau&s;e many Authors are of opinion, that this Order was aboli&s;h'd by <HI>Clement V.</HI> for the&s;e two Vices which had in&s;en&s;i|bly crept into it. And if that, this al&s;o, That all the corruption and irregularity of life, which hap|pens often enough in mo&s;t Orders and Religious Fraternities, long after their In&s;titutions, mu&s;t reflect upon the innocence and Sanctity of their Authors.</P>
<P>But, in the mean time, there's no rea&s;on to admit for truth the wantonizing conjectures of this Writer upon the relation there is between the Magicians and the Orpheorele&s;tae, &s;ince they proceed rather from an ambition in him to &s;tart out &s;ome new ob&s;ervation upon &s;o thread-bare a &s;ubject, then that he gave the extravagance any credit. To cure him of it, and to cleare up the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e from the bottom, we mu&s;t remember, that, according to all the be&s;t Authors, the Bac|chanalian <HI>Orgia</HI> or Diony&s;iacks were fir&s;t in&s;ti|tuted by <HI>Orpheus</HI> in his own Country, <HI>Thracia;</HI> ordaining that they &s;hould be celebrated by the Women when they were in their <HI>terms,</HI> meerly to &s;eparate them for that time from the company their Husbands, to avoid the accidents which might happen if they &s;hould conceive in that con|dition. But finding by experience that they were a&s;ham'd to be at them, becau&s;e it di&s;cover'd what they were wont to di&s;&s;emble with all po&s;&s;ible artifice, and con&s;quently, that he &s;hould be forc'd, to his own di&s;honour, to aboli&s;h them if he did not think of &s;ome remedy, took occa|&s;ion from this di&s;like to make them more famous, permitting all women in general to exerci&s;e them
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upon certain dayes appointed for tho&s;e Ceremo|nies. In the&s;e they took &s;o much freedom and enjoyment, that, be&s;ides their Dances, which they regulated by the &s;ound of Tabours and Cym|balls, as al&s;o by the Voices and acclamations which they often repeated <HI>Euhoe,</HI> whence Bac|chus, who was no other than the Sun, was &s;ince called <HI>Euhoeus,</HI> as <HI>Saba&s;ius,</HI> from their run|ning and skipping. There were al&s;o certain men di&s;gui&s;'d in Womens Cloaths, who, as <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">De Syra Dea.</NOTE> <HI>Lucian,</HI> <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1.</NOTE> <HI>Columella,</HI> and <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg">Praep. Evang. Lib. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> affirme, carry'd the image of the God Priapus, as the repre&s;enta|tion of fruitfulne&s;&s;e, and the production of all things, which <HI>Orpheus</HI> would have highly e&s;teem'd and reverenc'd. But it being true, what the Poet &s;ayes,
<Q><L>Nox, &amp; amor, vin&uacute;m&abque; nihil moderabile &s;uadent,</L></Q>
becau&s;e, as he addes,
<Q><L>Illa pudore vacat, vina Venu&s;&abque; metu.</L></Q>
the&s;e &s;acrifices and Ceremonyes could not &s;o well moderate their enjoyments, nor continue the u&s;e of them among tho&s;e Nations who after|wards receiv'd them into their Countryes, but at la&s;t they were made a cloak and covering for thou&s;ands of cheats, ba&s;ene&s;&s;es, and fornications, <HI>Cum vinum &amp; nox, &amp; misti faeminis mares aetatis</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tit. Liv. Dec. <HI>4.</HI> l. <HI>9.</HI></NOTE> <HI>tenerae majoribus di&s;crimen omne pudoris extinxi&s;|&s;ent.</HI> Upon which account they were ab&s;olutely &s;uppre&s;&s;'d and aboli&s;h'd at <HI>Rome</HI> the year after its foundation 568. in the Con&s;ul&s;hip of <HI>Po&s;thumus Albinus,</HI> and <HI>Martius Philippus.</HI></P>
<P>This hath co&s;t me the pains of con&s;ulting Au|thours much more moderate and judicious than
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<HI>le Loyer</HI> was, when he de&s;crib'd this imaginary Sabat of the <HI>Orpheotelestae,</HI> or Superiours of this Bacchick Fraternity, to &s;hew, by the naked truth and &s;imple relation of what was done in the&s;e <HI>Orgia</HI> and <HI>Diony&s;iacks,</HI> how little rea&s;on this Authour had (unle&s;&s;e his great learning and va&s;t reading may &s;omewhat excu&s;e him) to make &s;uch a &s;trange metamorpho&s;is of <HI>Euhoe</HI> into <HI>har-Sabat,</HI> a Tabour into a Goat which was &s;uck'd to the very la&s;t drop, and little Bels and Cymbals into great Kettles and Cauldrons, wherein they boil'd little and newly born children. He might have hit, if not more fortunately, yet more pertinently, if he had reflected on the Bowls, which, as <HI>Pau|&s;anias</HI> affirms, the women, engaged in the&s;e Sa|crifices, carried in their hands; or the Goat which gave <HI>Arnobius</HI> occa&s;ion to &s;ay, &s;peaking to men who troubled them&s;elves with the&s;e Congregati|ons, <HI>Atque, ut vos plenos Dei numine ac maje&s;tate doceatis, caprorum reclamantium vi&s;cera cruenta|tis oribus di&s;&s;ipatis.</HI> This had been much more proper to prove what he &s;aid, than what he re|lates of the Tabour, or yet the pa&s;&s;age of <HI>Demo|&s;thenes</HI> ju&s;tly reproving <HI>Ae&s;chines,</HI> for that he and his mother were initiated in the&s;e ceremonies, at that time much &s;u&s;pected and cried down for the rea&s;ons beforementioned, ob&s;erved by <HI>Livy.</HI> But as <HI>Hercules</HI> overcame not the <HI>Hydra</HI> till he had cut off all her heads, &s;o is it nothing to have over|thrown this fir&s;t Argument, if we cannot do the like with three others yet to come&punc; &s;ince that the lea&s;t of them remaining entire and without an|&s;wer, were enough to maintain the &s;u&s;picion there is, that <HI>Orpheus</HI> was a Magician.</P>
<P>To begin then with that wherein they &s;ay, that
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his head became an Oracle, and gave an&s;wers in the I&s;le of <HI>Lesbos.</HI> I &s;hall not &s;tick at the doubt may ju&s;tly be made, whether this &s;tory be true, though all the Authours &s;peak of it with much contradiction, &s;ince that, it being &s;uppo&s;ed true, it makes nothing again&s;t <HI>Orpheus.</HI> For the mira|cle happen'd long after his death, and con&s;e|quently it was not he that &s;poke thorow his &s;cull; but the Devil undertook to give an&s;wers in it, to advance Idolatry among&s;t his creatures, making this head to &s;peak, as he &s;ince did that of one <HI>Po|lycritus,</HI> which expo&s;ed in the Market-place, fore|told the <HI>Aetolians</HI> that they &s;hould lo&s;e the bat|tle they were to fight again&s;t the <HI>Acharnanians.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Phlegon. lib. de mi|rabilibus. Plin. l. <HI>7.</HI> c. <HI>52.</HI> Bern. Serm. <HI>2.</HI> de Virg.</NOTE> The like feat he al&s;o did with the head of one <HI>Ga|binius,</HI> which after it had been retriv'd out of a Wolves throat, did, in a long Poem, &s;ing all the mi&s;-fortunes which &s;hould happen to the City of <HI>Rome.</HI> The inference will be as prejudiciall to the two la&s;t as to <HI>Orpheus.</HI> Were it not madne&s;&s;e to &s;ay, that <HI>Samuel</HI> being dead an&s;wered the Witch, the Abbot <HI>Ca&s;&s;ian,</HI> St. <HI>Germain,</HI> and ano|ther St. <HI>Macaire,</HI> that is, that all the&s;e holy per|&s;ons were Magicians. For it mu&s;t be thought, that as the Angels &s;poke under the per&s;ons of the&s;e la&s;t, for the in&s;truction of the devout and faith|full; &s;o the Devil, the true Ape of all divine acti|ons made his advantages of the former, the more ea&s;ily to deceive men, and involve them in an aby&s;&s;e of new wor&s;hips and &s;uper&s;titions.</P>
<P>This granted, our next bu&s;ine&s;&s;e is to &s;hew the <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">siodor. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ar. Epi&s;t. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. ep. <HI>31.</HI></NOTE> little rea&s;on thereis to beleeve that <HI>Orpheus, Mu|tis animalibus imperavit, vago&s;&abque; greges, contemptis pa&s;cuis, ad audiendi epulas invitavit.</HI> This errour, as we have ob&s;erv'd in the fir&s;t Chapter proceeds
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from this, that many times men take Poeticall Fables for evident Truths; and the literall &s;en&s;e of their writings, for the allegoricall and morall which they meant, as may be particularly ob&s;er|ved in this fabulous mu&s;ick of <HI>Orpheus.</HI> It mu&s;t then be under&s;tood of the civilization which his Laws wrought upon &s;avage and barbarous people, reducing them to quiet and better conver&s;ation, if we take the &s;ecurity of <HI>Horace,</HI> who &s;ayes,</P>
<Q><BIBL>De Art. poet.</BIBL>
<L> Sylvestres homines &s;acer interpre&s;&abque; Deorum,</L>
<L>Caedibus, &amp; victu foedo deterruit Orpheus,</L>
<L>Dictus, ob id, lenire tygres, rabido&s;&abque; leones.</L></Q>
<P>Which is al&s;o the common explication of <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">Orat. de Homero.</NOTE> <HI>Dion, Chry&s;o&s;tom,</HI> <NOTE N="p" PLACE="marg">De Gene|al. Deorum.</NOTE> <HI>Boccace&punc;</HI> <NOTE N="q" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2. <HI>ep.</HI> 41.</NOTE> <HI>Ca&s;&s;iodorus,</HI> <NOTE N="r" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>3</HI> in &s;omn. Scip. c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ma|crobius,</HI> and <NOTE N="&s;" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 10.</NOTE> <HI>Quintilian.</HI> It were therefore impertinent to endeavour to explane the &s;even &s;everall rea&s;ons which <NOTE N="t" PLACE="marg">Hebde|madum, l. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Fabius Paulinus</HI> would draw from the Philo&s;ophy of the Platoni&s;ts, to prove this motion of things inanimate po&s;&s;ible in Nature, &s;ince he confe&s;&s;es him&s;elf, that he propo|&s;es them not, but to exerci&s;e his learning; where|as, had he advanced &s;eriou&s;ly, and as true, <HI>Delrio</HI> hath &s;o fully refuted them, that there were not now any ground to receive them as legitimate; be&s;ides that, their main drift was to &s;hew the po&s;|&s;ibility of that mu&s;ike, which certainly is a very weak proof, and in a manner of no con&s;equence, if we con&s;ider with <HI>Apuleius,</HI> that, <HI>Non omnia</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Apolog.</HI> 2.</NOTE> <HI>quae fieri potuerunt pro fact is habenda &s;unt.</HI></P>
<P>The conjecture they would draw from his <HI>Hymnes</HI> would be more con&s;iderable than either of the precedent, if we were obliged to follow the glo&s;&s;e and interpretation which hath been
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<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de Spectris.</NOTE> made of it by diver&s;e per&s;ons, e&s;pecially <HI>le Loyer,</HI> who will, I hope, pardon me, if I endeavour to prove, that he hath been as unfortunate in the ex|plication of his <HI>Hymnes,</HI> as the Metamorpho&s;is of the <HI>Orpheotelestae</HI> into Magicians. For, not to quarrell with the little account or knowledge we have of the Compo&s;er of them (&s;ince <HI>Genebrard</HI> a&s;&s;ures us, that there is not any one book left of all tho&s;e old Authours, and fir&s;t Divines, &s;uch as <HI>Orpheus, Linus, Mu&s;aeus, Phenias,</HI> and <HI>Ari&s;teus Procone&s;ien&s;is,</HI> grounding his opinion haply on the authority of <HI>Cicero,</HI> who fathers the&s;e Hymnes upon one called <HI>Cecrops,</HI> and tho&s;e of <HI>Franci&s;cus Picus, Selden,</HI> and <HI>Eugubinus,</HI> who ingenuou&s;ly acknowledge that their Authour is utterly un|known to us) we may &s;hew in two words, that the&s;e Hymnes contain not any thing that &s;hould bring them into the lea&s;t &s;u&s;picion of Magick; whether they be con&s;idered literally, or in the &s;e|verall interpretations of their allegoricall and mo|rall &s;en&s;e.</P>
<P>For to &s;hew that there is no &s;uch danger as to the former, we need onely reflect on the indu|&s;try of this fir&s;t planter of Theologie, who, to &s;ubdue and refine the &s;pirits of a rough and &s;al|vage people, took the mo&s;t effectuall cour&s;e that could be thought upon, to bring about his enter|pri&s;e, which was to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e them with a fear and veneration of certain Divinities. The&s;e he him|&s;elf celebrates in his Hymnes, as well to bring them into reputation by his example, as to leave his Succe&s;&s;ours a certain Modell (as it were) of tho&s;e ob&s;ervations and ceremonies which ought to be practiz'd, to keep up the honour and devo|tion of their Sacrifices, whereof there were cer|tainly
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many kinds. For as the ceremonies of Chri&s;tianity, at the pre&s;ent, are not much diffe|rent one from another, becau&s;e they relate to the &s;ervice of one onely Almighty God; So tho&s;e, of the fal&s;e Religion of the Ancients, could not but be very contrary and di&s;cordant, by rea&s;on of the infinite number of Gods, Idols and Images, which were to be ador'd with Sacrifices peculiar to every one of them; <HI>Cum ex hoc Divorum nume|ro,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de Deo Socratis.</NOTE> (&s;aith <HI>Apuleius) nonnulli nocturnis vel diurnis, promptis &amp; occultis, laetioribus vel tri&s;tioribus ho|&s;tiis, vel ceremoniis, vel ritibus gauderent.</HI> But this proceeded meerly from the &s;leight and &s;ubtilty of the Law-makers and fir&s;t Divines, who thus diver&s;ify'd the Sacrifices, as they &s;aw it mo&s;t con|venient
for the people. We have a manife&s;t ex|ample hereof in the&s;e Hymnes of <HI>Orpheus,</HI> un|le&s;&s;e any one would &s;ift out a more my&s;terious and hidden &s;en&s;e under the veil of their Allego|ries, as <HI>Picus</HI> acknowledges we mu&s;t, when he <NOTE PLACE="marg">Praefat. in Apolog.</NOTE> &s;ayes, that, <HI>Ut erat veterum mos Theologorum, it a</HI> Orpheus <HI>&s;uorum dogmatum mysteria, fabularum involucris, &amp; poetico velamento di&s;&s;imulavis, ut &s;i quis legat illius hymnos&punc; nihil &s;ube&s;&s;e credat praeter fabellas nuga&s;&abque; meraci&s;&s;imas.</HI></P>
<P>But this <HI>Mythologie</HI> once admitted, the <HI>Chy|mists</HI> pre&s;ently explane the&s;e Hymnes of their &s;e|verall <HI>Tinctures</HI> and their <HI>Philo&s;ophers</HI> &s;tone; the Cabali&s;ts, of the <HI>En&s;oph</HI> and its <HI>Zephirots;</HI> Di|vines, of the my&s;teries of <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> Religion; Phi|lo&s;ophers, of <HI>Nature</HI> and its cau&s;es; and Daemo|nographers, of <HI>Sacrifices</HI> and <HI>Conjurations.</HI> When yet there is no ground to beleeve, that <HI>Orpheus</HI> would conceal &s;o many my&s;teries, and tho&s;e &s;o different one from another, under the mask of his
<PB N="94" REF="58">
fables, which can neither be interpreted of the univer&s;all &s;pirit, or the Philo&s;ophers &s;tone, nor of the &s;orceries of Magicians. For as to the inter|pretation of Alchymi&s;ts, we &s;hall in the en&s;uing Chapters &s;hew, that it hath ever been one of their main fooleries, to be de&s;irous to glo&s;&s;e on all things ob&s;cure and difficult, advantageou&s;ly to their di&s;qui&s;ition. For that of <HI>du Loyer</HI> and other Daemonographers, it were irrationall to admit it for the legitimate, &s;ince fir&s;t, we have the contrary authority of all the Catholike Doctours, &s;pecifi'd before, who allow their authority may be u&s;ed to confirm the principall points of our Religion. Secondly, we are able to &s;hew that they cannot be better interpreted than of Phy&s;ick, according to the judgement even of the great <HI>Mirandula,</HI> who in the third of his Conclu&s;ions upon the Doctrine of <HI>Orpheus,</HI> &s;ayes expre&s;&s;ely, that <HI>Nomi|na Deorum quos</HI> Orpheus <HI>canit, non decipientium Daemonum, &s;ed naturalium virtutum divinarum&abque;</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Geogr. l. <HI>10</HI></NOTE> <HI>&s;unt nomina.</HI> This is further confirm'd by <HI>Strabo,</HI> who ob&s;erves, that in all the Di&s;cour&s;es were an|ciently made of the Gods, under the umbrage of diver&s;e Fables &amp; Metamorpho&s;es, were &s;hrowded the mo&s;t famous opinions of tho&s;e who were par|ticularly excellent in the knowledge of Nature. Such is <HI>Orpheus</HI> in his Hymnes, which if we would <NOTE PLACE="marg">Nat. quae&s;t. cap. <HI>14.</HI></NOTE> interpret in their tr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e &s;en&s;e, we mu&s;t with <HI>Seneca</HI> ob&s;erve, that the Aegyptians, from whom this fir&s;t Philo&s;opher and Divine had deriv'd all his learning, divided every element into two parts, one whereof they called the male, the other the female. Thus in the earth, rocks and &s;tones; in the air, the winds; in the water, the Sea; in the fire, flame and thunder, are held the &s;tronge&s;t
<PB N="95" REF="58">
and mo&s;t forcible parts; and the &s;oft and tracta|ble earth, fre&s;h waters, the mo&s;t untroubled Aire, and the lea&s;t activefire, are the weaker and more feminine parts.</P>
<P>In allu&s;ion to this, does <HI>Orpheus</HI> put two di&s;tinct Vertues into all the bodies of the Vni|ver&s;e, one whereof was de&s;tin'd only to Governe its Sphere, the other to produce the effects which depended on its perfection. De&s;irous there|fore to &s;pread this doctrine under the &s;weetne&s;&s;e of his Hymnes, he compo&s;'d them all under the names of his vertues, calling tho&s;e he directed to the Earth, <HI>Pluto</HI> and <HI>Pro&s;erpina,</HI> to the water <HI>Thetis</HI> and <HI>Oceanus;</HI> to the Aire, <HI>Jupiter</HI> and <HI>Juno;</HI> to the Fire, <HI>Aurora</HI> and <HI>Phaneta,</HI> and giving the names of the Nine Mu&s;es, and an Epithet of the God <HI>Bacchus</HI> to all the re&s;t, whom he plac'd in the Spheres of the &s;even Planets the Firmament and the &s;oul of the World, as may be &s;een more particularly in <HI>Caelius Rhodiginus.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 22. <HI>c.</HI> 2.</NOTE></P>
<P>All which put together may be enough to de|mon&s;trate, that <HI>Le Loyer</HI> and &s;uch Writers have been extreemly mi&s;taken, when they interpre|ted tho&s;e names of a Legion of Devils, and &s;o pittifully charg'd this Author with Magick upon the Authority of <HI>Pau&s;anias,</HI> who &s;ufficiently re|futes him&s;elf, both as mentioning it only upon the &s;core of a common report, and that he fa&s;tens the &s;ame calumny upon <HI>Amphion,</HI> a per&s;on ex|cellent only for Mu&s;ick, <HI>qui canendo chordis,</HI> as <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> vari|ar&punc; ep. <HI>40.</HI></NOTE> <HI>(Ca&s;&s;iordorus</HI> hath well ob&s;erv'd) <HI>Thebanos mu|ros dicitur condidi&s;&s;e, ut cum homines labore marcidos ad &s;tudium perfectionis erigeret, &s;axa ip&s;a viderentur relictis rupibus adveni&s;&s;e.</HI> To which we may adde one thing more that may oblige us to have &s;enti|ments
<PB N="96" REF="59">
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 30, <HI>c.</HI> 1.</NOTE> of this great per&s;on contrary to theirs who too lightly &s;u&s;pect him, which is, that <HI>Pliny</HI> him|&s;elf delivers him out of the Inqui&s;ition after he had charg'd a many others, who&s;e Innocencie &s;hall neverthele&s;&s;e appear when we come to their par|ticular vindication.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="10" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. X.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">A Vindication of <HI>Pythagoras.</HI></HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de au|diendo.</NOTE> HAd we not from <HI>Plutarch</HI> this Character of <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> that he was wont freely to ac|knowledge, that the greate&s;t advantage he had reap'd from Philo&s;ophy, was, Not to wonder at any thing; I &s;hould not ea&s;ily be per&s;waded but that he would find much matter for his admirati|on, when he &s;hould con&s;ider how the malice and ignorance of men hath &s;o chang'd the truth of his Hi&s;tory, and the genuine &s;en&s;e of his Doctrine, that his life &s;eems now like that of &s;ome Mounte|bank or Hocus Pocus, and his precepts &s;o fabu|lous, impertinent, and at &s;uch di&s;tance with Rea|&s;on, that a man cannot avoi'd a&s;toni&s;hment at &s;uch a prodigious Metamorpho&s;is. To reduce which to its former lu&s;tre and &s;cowre it from that ru&s;t and rubbidge which ob&s;cure the Noble&s;t &s;troaks, and what ever is mo&s;t like and naturall in the Hi&s;toricall draught of this great Philo&s;o|pher, we need only follow the method ob&s;erv'd in the precedent Chapter. That is, as Vertue precedes Vice, and truth fal&s;hood, to &s;hew, in the fir&s;t place, what he hath been, according to the true telation of tho&s;e who knew mo&s;t of him,
<PB N="97" REF="59">
that &s;o we may the more ea&s;ily judge what ac|count we &s;hould make of all the&s;e forged &s;toryes which impeach him &s;o highly of &s;orcery and in|chantment, as if he had done nothing all his life, to the de&s;truction of tho&s;e of his own Species, but deal and trade in,
<Q><L>Quicquid habet Circe, quicquid Medaea veneni,</L>
<L>Quicquid et herbarum The&s;&s;ala terra gerit.</L></Q></P>
<P>This great per&s;on borne to things far above the ordinary rate of men, and having a mind, able to comprehend what ever the world could; that is, &s;uch as could not be &s;ati&s;fied within the nar|row limits of a City, re&s;olv'd to go and learne among the Aegyptians &amp; Chaldaeans what he could not in his own Country, that is, <HI>Ceremoniarum</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apud. Florid. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>incredendas potentias, numerorum admirandas vices, &amp; Geometriae &s;olerti&s;&s;imas formulas.</HI> Having by a peregrination of fifteen years made him&s;elf Ma|&s;ter of all manner of Di&s;ciplines, he brought, as it were, the Spoiles of <HI>Aegypt</HI> into <HI>Greece,</HI> and par|ticularly into the City of <HI>Crotona,</HI> where he be|gan to erect an Academy, according to the order which may be &s;een in <HI>Gellius.</HI> Here he though <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 9.</NOTE> fit to communicate the precious talent he had ac|quir'd by his &s;tudy and travell, and lay open the trea&s;ures of the Encyclopedie, wherewith he was &s;o inrich'd, that, not to rely too much on the te&s;timonies of <HI>Laertius</HI> and <HI>Jamblichus,</HI> who might be thought too favourable to him, becau&s;e they have made it their bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to write his Hi&s;tory; it is not to be doubted after the gene|rall con&s;ent of all good Authors, who have bu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> ju&s;tly been tender of the honour and re&s;pect due to his memory.</P>
<P><PB N="98" REF="60">
For if we begin with his <HI>Philo&s;ophy,</HI> we have no rea&s;on to doubt of it, &s;ince he is call'd by <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> Florid.</NOTE> <HI>Apuleius, Primus Philo&s;ophiae nuncupator &amp; cre|ditor,</HI> as well becau&s;e he chang'd the name of <HI>Wi&s;dome,</HI> in his judgment too arrogant, into that of <HI>Philo&s;ophy,</HI> as that he was the Prince and In&s;titutor of the <HI>Italick</HI> Philo&s;ophers, as <HI>Thales</HI> had been of the <HI>Ionick,</HI> as <HI>Laertius</HI> and others affirme; and that <HI>Reuchlin,</HI> who fir&s;t di&s;pell'd the cloudy ignorance of <HI>Germany,</HI> hath de&s;ign'd the &s;econd Book of his Cabali&s;ticall Art, to explaine and revive, in his Country, the Philo&s;ophy of <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> in imitation, as he &s;ayes, of <HI>Faber Stapulen&s;is</HI> and <HI>Mar&s;ilius Ficinus,</HI> who both in <HI>France</HI> and <HI>Italy</HI> had brought into reputation tho&s;e of <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> and <HI>Plato.</HI> If we proceed to <HI>Medicine,</HI> <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 9.</NOTE> <HI>Laertius</HI> and <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">2. <HI>Florid.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Apuleius</HI> are a &s;ufficient te&s;timony to convince us, that he was excellently able in it. Nor have we wor&s;e &s;ecu|rity for his knowledge of the four parts of <HI>Mathematicks.</HI> For as to <HI>Arithmetick</HI> or the Science of Numbers, be&s;ides the te&s;timony of tho&s;e two Authors, we may out of thou&s;ands <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Lueullo.</NOTE> pitch upon that of <HI>Cicero,</HI> who &s;ayes, that <HI>Py|thagoras</HI> deduc'd all things from Numbers and the Principles of <HI>Mathematicks,</HI> whereto he attri|buted very great My&s;teries, and gave the names of certain Divinities. The&s;e are explain'd at large by <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Lib. de I&s;ide &amp; O&s;iride.</NOTE> <HI>Plutarch</HI> and <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. lib. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Calcagnin,</HI> who up|on them ground the &s;ubtlery of that Ancient Cu&s;tome of giving an account of all things by Numbers, as <HI>Picus</HI> promi&s;'d to do in his Conclu|&s;ions, to re&punc;e&s;tabli&s;h that Philo&s;ophy neglect'd ever &s;ince the time of <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> who was &s;o well ver&s;'d therein, that by the difficulties of it
<PB N="99" REF="60">
he try'd the ingenuity of his Di&s;ciples. He al&s;o gain'd thereby &s;ome advantage as to the practice of <HI>Geometry,</HI> wherein he was &s;o admirably able, that he, <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg"><P>Ari&s;tox|enus apud Diogen.</P>
<P>Pol&punc; Virgil. ex Diog. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>19.</HI></P></NOTE> fir&s;t, brought the Geometricall in|&s;truments, of the invention of <HI>Moeris</HI> to perfecti|on, and was the fir&s;t among the Greeks, that u&s;'d weights and mea&s;ures. Which yet he could not have done without the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of that Sci|ence, which he &s;tudy'd with &s;o much importu|nity, that having found out an excellent propo|&s;ition in it, which is the 47. of the fir&s;t Book of <HI>Euclid's</HI> Elements, he was &s;o overjoy'd, that he expre&s;&s;'d his thanks to the Gods, in a Hecatomb, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apollodor. Supputator apud Dio|gen.</NOTE> or Sacrifice of 100 Oxen.</P>
<P>The&s;e two Sciences were as it were &s;teps for him to a&s;cend to two others more excellent, which are tho&s;e of <HI>Mu&s;ick</HI> and <HI>Astronomy,</HI> the former whereof he mu&s;t needs be well acquainted with, &s;ince <NOTE N="m" PLACE="marg">In &s;om|no Scip. lib. <HI>2.</HI> Cap. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Macrobius,</HI> <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg">Mu&s;icae l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Boetius,</HI> <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">In com|pendio Ti|m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i.</NOTE> <HI>Fici|nus,</HI> <NOTE N="p" PLACE="marg">Mu&s;icae l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>8.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Gafurius,</HI> and <NOTE N="q" PLACE="marg">Epi&s;tol. l. <HI>5.</HI> &s;. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">0.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Calcagnin</HI> (to omit all the re&s;t who are of the &s;ame opinion) particularly de&s;cribe his indu&s;try in finding out the tones of Mu&s;ick, by the proportion he ob&s;erv'd in Smiths, when five or &s;ix beat upon their Anviles together. The &s;ame <HI>Macrobius, Athenaeus</HI> and <HI>Maximus Ty|rius</HI> affirme that he fir&s;t found out the inferiour and cele&s;tiall Harmony, whether it be interpre|ted of the admirable order and Symphony of Na|ture&punc; or of the Mu&s;ick which <NOTE N="r" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>14.</HI> Dcipno&s;oph. Serm. <HI>21.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Pontus de Tyard,</HI> and <NOTE N="&s;" PLACE="marg">Au Dia|long. <HI>2.</HI> du &s;olitaire.</NOTE> <HI>Kepler</HI> do maintaine there ought to be in the proportionall revolution of tho&s;e Globes and great Machins of Heaven. Whence we may draw an evident argument of his knowledge in <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 20.</NOTE> A&s;tronomy; to learn which <HI>Ju&s;tin</HI> &s;ayes, he went <NOTE PLACE="marg">Nat. hi&s;t. l. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> to <HI>Aegypt</HI> to <HI>Babylon,</HI> and <HI>Pliny</HI> and <HI>Laertius</HI>
<PB N="100" REF="61">
affirme, that he fir&s;t demon&s;trated the obliquity of the Zodiack, and di&s;cover'd the nature and qua|lity of the Planet <HI>Venus.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, for what concernes the other Sciences, it may be pre&s;um'd he was as well provided as for the former, if we may credit <HI>Ovid,</HI> ande&s;pecially <HI>Apuleius,</HI> who &s;ayes, that <HI>Pythagoras</HI> learnt of the <HI>Brachmanes, quae mentium documenta, quae corporum exercitamenta, quot partes animi, quot vices vitae, quae diis manibus pro merito &s;uo cui&abque; tor|menta vel praemia.</HI> Adde to this, the Lawes he gave the Inhabitants of <HI>Crotona,</HI> and the three Books which <HI>Plutarch</HI> and <HI>Laertius</HI> &s;ay he writ, one of <HI>Iustitution,</HI> another <HI>of Civility,</HI> and the third <HI>of Nature;</HI> the fame whereof was &s;o great that <HI>Pla|to</HI> hearing that <HI>Philolaus</HI> intended to publi&s;h them, gave order they &s;hould be bought up for him at the rate of a hundred minae of Silver.</P>
<P>This Univer&s;all acquaitance with the Sciences gain'd him &s;uch re&s;pect in his life time, that <HI>Plu|tarch</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Plac. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hil. l. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> affirmes, he taught at <HI>Crotona</HI> and <HI>Metapont</HI> above thirty years without any interuption, be|ing alwayes follow'd by above 600. Auditors, who, for the integrity of his life and eloquence of <NOTE PLACE="marg">De nat deor. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> his di&s;cour&s;es, took his words for Oracles, &s;o far, that, as the Roman Orator affirmes, his autho|rity was thought rea&s;on, and divers Princes and <NOTE PLACE="marg">In the trea|ti&s;e, of Phi|lo&s;ophers conver&s;ing&punc; with Prin|ces&punc;</NOTE> Potentates of Italy were glad, as <HI>Plutarch</HI> affirmes, to take his advice in all affaires. For the&s;e great de&s;erts did the people of <HI>Metapont</HI> immediately after his death con&s;ecrate his hou&s;e, calling it <HI>the Oratory of Ceres;</HI> and the Street, the <HI>Sacred Street of the Mu&s;es.</HI> Upon the &s;ame ac|count, the Romans, having had an Oracle in the time of the Warrs with the <HI>Samnites,</HI> that
<PB N="101" REF="61">
they &s;hould erect Statues to two men, whereof one had been the greate&s;t Warriour, the other the wi&s;e&s;t among the Grecians, without any debate ca&s;t that honour on <HI>Alcibiades</HI> and <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> the fir&s;t having been the greate&s;t Captain of his time, the other gain'd &s;uch reputation through all Italy, that <HI>qui &s;apiens haberetur, is continu&ograve; Py|thagoreus</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cic. Tu&s;e. qu. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> <HI>putaretur.</HI></P>
<P>But it were an endle&s;&s;e work to run over all the eulogies &amp; honorary titles that are &s;catter'd of this per&s;on, in all the Books of the Ancients. The&s;e had an extraordinary e&s;teem and reverence for him, as being indeed one of the greate&s;t Wits of all Antiquity, who had the greate&s;t earne&s;tne&s;&s;e for that which is good and hone&s;t, and who en|deavour'd more then any other among the Pagans to reduce mankind to a re&s;pect and knowledge of a fir&s;t cau&s;e, and to draw it out of irregularity and di&s;&s;olution, to rai&s;e it to the contemplation of things naturall and Civill.</P>
<P>From the little we have, it is ea&s;y to judge what might be &s;aid in his prai&s;e; we &s;hall there|fore now come to an examination of all tho&s;e fal|&s;ities, or rather extravagances, which &s;ome, either out of envy to his Vertue or enmity to his fame, have in&s;en&s;ibly foi&s;ted into the relation of his life, grounded, probably at lea&s;t, upon his va&s;t knowledge of the Mathematicks, and great Learn|ing. Which once done, we &s;hall need no more then the improbability &amp; impertinences of tho&s;e little &s;tories, to &s;atisfie us, what di&s;tance they are at with Rea&s;on, who not weighing the proofs they meet with, pre&s;ently believe that all the an|cient Philo&s;ophers, and fir&s;t Authors of Sciences <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Epi&s;t.</HI> 65.</NOTE> and Di&s;ciplines, &s;uch as <HI>Seneca</HI> calls <HI>Praeceptores,</HI>
<PB N="102" REF="62">
<HI>generis humani,</HI> have been ab&s;olute Necromancers and Magicians. For as to <HI>Pythagoras</HI> in particu|lar, they are &s;o confident, that they think it not to be que&s;tion'd after the in&s;tances of it, which may be taken out of <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg"><HI>Cap.</HI> 13, 16, 28.</NOTE> <HI>Iamblicus,</HI> in his life, <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 24. <HI>c.</HI> 17. &amp; 30</NOTE> <HI>Pliny,</HI> <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Lib. de Anim. c. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Tertullian,</HI> <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">Adv. Cel|&s;um.</NOTE> <HI>Origen,</HI> <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">De civit. Dei, lib. <HI>7.</HI> c. <HI>35.</HI></NOTE> St. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine,</HI> <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>21.</HI> Hi&s;tor.</NOTE> <HI>Ammianus Marcellinus,</HI> and, the mo&s;t accurate Writer on this Subject, <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>3.</HI> Metalog. c. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Delrio,</HI> not to put into the &s;cale the authority of &s;ome late Daemonographers, <HI>quibus &s;atisfactum non e&s;t,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Sarisberien&s;is, ni&s;i libello doceant quicquid alicubi &s;criptum invenitur,</HI> and who accordingly &s;tifle their judgement with a confu&s;ed collection of all the &s;tories they can patch up together upon this Subject. Such are tho&s;e that are brought upon the &s;tage in the hi&s;tory of this per&s;on, whereof &s;ome may be found in <HI>Boi&s;&s;ardus,</HI> who &s;eems to have taken more pains than any, to rank him among the Magicians&punc; whom he de&s;cribes in his book of Divinations. From which and all the precedent may be inferr'd, that <HI>Pythagoras</HI> was accounted a Sorcerer and Magician; becau&s;e, fir&s;t, he had liv'd long in <HI>Aegypt,</HI> and had read the books of <HI>Zoro|a&s;tes,</HI> out of which he might probably have learnt the properties of certain herbs, which he called <HI>Corace&s;ia, Callicia, Menais, Corinthas&punc;</HI> and <HI>Aproxis,</HI> whereof the two fir&s;t put into water, cau&s;ed it to freeze, the two next were excellent again&s;t the biting of Serpents, and the la&s;t took fire at a di|&s;tance. He al&s;o in one of his Symbols expre&s;&s;ely forbade the u&s;e of <HI>Beans,</HI> which, according to the &s;ame &s;uper&s;tition&punc; he boyl'd, and, for certain nights expo&s;'d to the Moon, till &s;uch time, as, by a &s;trange effect of Magick they were converted into Blood. This haply he did in order to another delu&s;ion,
<PB N="103" REF="62">
mention'd by <HI>Coelius Rhodiginus,</HI> after <HI>Suidas,</HI> and the Scholia&s;t of <HI>Aristophanes</HI> in his Comedy of the Clouds, who affirm that this Philo&s;opher writ with blood upon a hollow gla&s;&s;e, what he thought fit, and holding the letters oppo&s;ite to the face of the Moon, when &s;he was in the full, he &s;aw in the &s;tar what he had written in his gla&s;&s;e. Adde to this, his appearance with a golden thigh at the Olympick games; as al&s;o, that he cau&s;ed him&s;elf to be &s;aluted by the river <HI>Ne&s;&s;us;</HI> that he &s;tay'd the flight of an Eagle, tam'd a Bear, kill'd a Serpent, drove away an Oxe that &s;poil'd a field of Beans, by the meer vertue of certain words. He was &s;een on the &s;ame day, at the &s;ame hour, in the City of <HI>Crotona</HI> and that of <HI>Metapont,</HI> and foretold things to come with &s;o much certainty, that many think him call'd <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> becau&s;e he gave as certain &amp; as in&s;allible an&s;wers, as the <HI>Pythian</HI> Ora|cle. This he perform'd by <HI>Onomancie,</HI> wherein he excell'd as we may ghe&s;&s;e by the fragments we have of his &s;uper&s;titious Arithmetick, and the wheel attributed to him by <HI>Flood</HI> and <HI>Catinus.</HI></P>
<P>The troth on't is, I am a&s;ham'd to &s;well up this Chapter with the relation of &s;o many fables and fooleries, &s;o flat and incon&s;i&s;tent with truth, as might make us &s;ay with much more rea&s;on, what the Satyri&s;t anciently did,</P>
<Q><BIBL>Juven. Sat. <HI>8.</HI></BIBL>
<L>&mdash;Quid diceret ergo,</L>
<L>Vel qu&oacute; nunc fugeret, &s;i nunc haec mon&s;tra videret,</L>
<L>Pythagoras?&mdash;</L></Q>
<P>For my part, I think he would be di&s;tracted by two &s;everall pa&s;&s;ions, that is, that of amdiration at their want of judgement, who &s;ay of him,
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what they would be loth to affirm of the mo&s;t no|torious Cheat and Mountebank that ever was; or that of compa&s;&s;ion for their &s;hallowne&s;&s;e, in the choice and triall of all the&s;e proofs, which may not by any means be receiv'd for legitimate. For it may be generally &s;aid of them, that it were ab|&s;olutely irrationall, to imagine that a man, &s;o &s;e|rious all his life, and &s;o learned (as we have re|pre&s;ented him) could &s;pend his time in &s;uch vain fooleries and legerdemain, &s;uch as can be no other than the imaginary productions of popular igno|rance, and the malice of his Enemies and Emu|latours. That is a hand&s;om ob&s;ervation of <HI>Rheu|clin,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">De art. Ca|bal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Non enim caruit aemulorum livore prae&s;tanti&s;&s;i|ma ejus viri virtus, innocenti&s;&s;ima vita, egregia do|ctrina, celebris fama, ut&abque; fit, nihil non pollutum re|liquerunt invidi carptores. Timon, Xenophanes, Cra|tinus, Ari&s;tophon, Hermippus, &amp; alii qui de Pytha|gora &s;uis in libris mendacia plurima &s;crip&s;ere.</HI> This is particularly levell'd at the &s;tories that were crept into his <HI>Metemp&s;ycho&s;is,</HI> and his prohibition of eating Beans: For as to the Hi&s;tories which concern his Magick, he conceives them &s;o feign'd and ab&s;urd, that he would not &s;o much as menti|on them, in a Book, wherein he &s;hould have brought in the greate&s;t part, had he thought there had been any thing of truth in them, &s;ince the drift of it is to prove a re&s;emblance between the Doctrine of <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> and the <HI>Cabala</HI> of the Hebrews, &s;o far, that he affirms in his Book, <HI>De Verbo mirifico,</HI> that many &s;trange and extraordi|nary things may be done by the vertue of num|bers and words.</P>
<P>But if the <HI>Metemp&s;ycho&s;is,</HI> or tran&s;animation, which was one of the principall points of <HI>Pytha|goras</HI>'s
<PB N="105" REF="63">
Doctrine, if the greate&s;t part of his <HI>Sym|bols,</HI> his prohibition of eating things animate, the main actions of his life, and the hi&s;tory of his death, be &s;o much controverted among Authours, what certainty can we have of the&s;e old wives tales, and <HI>Hocus Pocus</HI> tricks, when <HI>Laertius</HI> and <HI>Iamblicus</HI> have prudently pa&s;&s;ed them by, in&s;tan|cing onely in two or three of &s;o great a number, and that upon the credit of other Writers. If further their authority be pre&s;&s;ed, for their &s;ati&s;|faction, and that of all tho&s;e who have accounted <HI>Pythagoras</HI> a Magician, we may rationally pre|&s;ume, that they did not put into their Books their own opinions of that per&s;on, but the fal&s;e reports which from time to time had been &s;cattered of him among the people, by the malice of <HI>Timon</HI> the <HI>Phlyr&s;ian</HI> &amp; others his enemies, <HI>qui viro ali&agrave;s</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rhodigin. l. <HI>19&punc;</HI> c. <HI>7.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Coryphaeo propemodum magicae vanitatis crimen in|u&s;tum voluerunt.</HI> Thus came the fables before|mentioned into reputation, which though they &s;ufficiently refute them&s;elves, we may yet, to di&s;|cover the impertinencie of every one in particu|lar, affirm, that what hath been &s;aid before of the Aegyptian Magick, and the books of <HI>Zoroa&s;tes,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cap.</HI> 2. &amp; 8.</NOTE> make it clear, that the voyage of <HI>Pythagoras</HI> into that Countrey, and his reading, as <HI>Clemens Alex|andrinus</HI> delivers, of the books of that per&s;on, are rather arguments of his knowledge in Phy&s;ick, medicine, and naturall Magick, than any thing he could do in the Geotick and &s;uper&s;titious. His acquaintance with the former may be further ar|gued, from his knowledge, as <HI>Pliny</HI> relates of cer|tain herbs, from which our Adver&s;aries would derive a certain proof to convince him of Magick. Which they might have done with &s;ome colour,
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if <HI>Pythagoras</HI> had de&s;cribed them with &s;o much &s;uper&s;tition, as &s;ometimes did their Authours, <HI>Andreas</HI> and <HI>Pamphilus,</HI> in the book which <HI>Galen</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>6.</HI> de &s;imp. med. facul.</NOTE> &s;ayes they made, <HI>Of Charms, and the conver&s;ion of the &s;acred herbs into Daemons,</HI> or had gather'd them under &s;ome certain Star or Planet, as tho&s;e that were anciently called <HI>Herbae Decanorum,</HI> for the <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>C.</HI> 19. <HI>fol.</HI> 323.</NOTE> rea&s;on given by Mon&s;ieur <HI>Moreau</HI> in his learned Comment upon <HI>The School of Salerna.</HI> But <HI>Pliny</HI> &s;aying nothing of them that had any relation to the&s;e vain ceremonies and ob&s;ervations, I &s;ee not what rea&s;on they had to make &s;uch an extravagant conjecture, nay, he doubting withall, whether the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t. nat. l. <HI>24.</HI> c. <HI>17.</HI></NOTE> book wherein they are de&s;cribed, &s;hould be attri|buted to <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> or to one <HI>Cleemporus.</HI> And if we mu&s;t follow their opinion, who will have it to be his, their vertue was not &s;o prodigious and extraordinary, but we daily find as much in <HI>Mallows, Ba&s;il, Bawme, Vervin, Horehound, Hen|bane, Cypre&s;&s;e, Benjamin,</HI> and <HI>Germander,</HI> all which are very good again&s;t the biting of Serpents; or in the leaves of <HI>Willows, Vines, Lettice, Violets,</HI> and <HI>Water-lily,</HI> which can much more ea&s;ily cool wa|ter, than they do the air in &s;ick folks chambers. It may be al&s;o &s;uppo&s;ed, he might put in Salt-peter, which is u&s;ed in &s;tead of ice, to cool wine in the height of Summer. Nay, <HI>Pliny</HI> &s;eems to give a rea&s;on of what might be thought mo&s;t hard in the vertue and properties of the&s;e herbs, when he &s;ayes that the root of <HI>Aproxis</HI> took fire at a di|&s;tance, as <HI>Naphte</HI> did, becau&s;e it might be of a bi|tuminous nature, which exhaling many fat &amp; un|ctuous &s;pirits, takes fire as a candle newly put out, which is not to be at all doubted of, after the ma|ny experiences of it, as they may be found in the
<PB N="107" REF="64">
books of <NOTE N="r" PLACE="marg">Lib. de bituminib.</NOTE> <HI>Libavius</HI> and <NOTE N="&s;" PLACE="marg">Lib. de Subterra|neis.</NOTE> <HI>Agricola.</HI></P>
<P>The proofs deduced from this Philo&s;ophers forbidding the eating of Beans, and the cour&s;e he took to convert them into blood, may refuted with as much ea&s;e as the precedent, &s;ince <HI>Rheuclin</HI> ju&s;tly laught at all tho&s;e impertinencies, which &s;ome hollow and di&s;located brains have forg'd upon this prohibition, &s;uch as might be that of <HI>Hermippus</HI> in <HI>Laertius,</HI> who thought <HI>Pythagoras</HI> would rather have &s;uffered death at the entrance into a field of Beans, than pa&s;&s;e thorow it to avoid his enemies. But the rea&s;on of the prohibition, was certainly no other than the fir&s;t giuen by M. <HI>Moreau</HI> in the place before mentioned upon the <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cap.</HI> 19.</NOTE> School of <HI>Salerna;</HI> namely, that <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> who commanded his Di&s;ciples to lie down to re&s;t with the &s;ound of the harp and plea&s;ant &s;ongs, as it were to charm the &s;oul, and, by harmony, to bring it into it &s;elf, ab&s;olutely forbade the u&s;e of that fruit, the juyce whereof being flatulent, gro&s;&s;e, and of ill nouri&s;hment, &s;ends &s;uch vapours to the brain as make it heavie; and divert the &s;pirits from minding the contemplations of Philo&s;ophy, which were the main bu&s;ine&s;&s;e and entertain|ment of his followers. It may be al&s;o affirm'd, that there was nothing extraordinary in the con|ver&s;ion he made of Beans into blood, for M. <HI>Mo|reau,</HI> in the &s;aid Commentary, &s;hews clearly, that according to the principles of Chymi&s;try, which put &s;imilitude and re&s;emblance for cau&s;es of an action, it is a thing may be done and demon&s;tra|ted by naturall rea&s;ons. In the mean time, let no man per&s;wade him&s;elf from hence, that <HI>Pythago|ras</HI> ever made u&s;e of this <HI>Elixir</HI> of Beans, or hu|mane blood, to write upon his hollow gla&s;&s;e; for
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be&s;ides the little rea&s;on there is he &s;hould rather u&s;e blood in that bu&s;ine&s;&s;e than any other liquor, <NOTE N="u" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>4.</HI> de &s;en&s;u.</NOTE> <HI>Campanella</HI> proves by &s;ound rea&s;ons that ope|ration ab&s;olutely impo&s;&s;ible. And whereas <NOTE N="x" PLACE="marg">Occult. Phil. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>A|grippa</HI> boa&s;ted, that he knew the &s;ecret of it, and <HI>Natalis</HI> <NOTE N="y" PLACE="marg"><HI>Mythol. l.</HI> 3. <HI>c.</HI> 1, 7.</NOTE> <HI>Comes</HI> hath written, that in the times of <HI>Francis</HI> the Fir&s;t, and <HI>Charles</HI> the Fifth, men knew at <HI>Paris</HI> in the night, whatever had pa&s;&s;ed the day before in the Ca&s;tle of <HI>Milan;</HI> the for|mer onely &s;aid it to gain reputation, as &s;hall be &s;hewn more particularly in his vindication; and the relation of the latter is a pure Fable and Ro|mance, advanced by tho&s;e who would needs joyn Magick to the Arms of tho&s;e two great Prin|ces, as hath been affirmed before, of <HI>Ninus</HI> and <HI>Zoroa&s;tes, Pyrrhus</HI> and <HI>Croe&s;us, Nectanebus</HI> and <HI>Philip</HI> of <HI>Macedon.</HI> Whence may be inferr'd, that what ever is &s;aid of this Looking-gla&s;&s;e of <HI>Pytha|goras,</HI> is as unju&s;tly attributed to him, as the &s;u|per&s;titious <HI>Arithmetick,</HI> and the wheel of <HI>Ono|mancie;</HI> or if he ever made u&s;e of it, it was cer|tainly &s;ome game, impo&s;ture, or juggling trick, and, to conclude with <HI>Suidas,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">.</P>
<P>We may well pa&s;&s;e the &s;ame &s;entence on the the relation of <HI>Laertius,</HI> concerning the <HI>golden</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Vit. Numa.</NOTE> <HI>thigh</HI> of this Philo&s;opher, &s;ince <HI>Plutarch</HI> openly acknowledges, that it was a pure &s;tratagem of <HI>Py|thagoras</HI> to gain him the reputation of &s;ome He|ros or Demy-God, among the infinite number of people that came to the Olympick exerci&s;es. Which yet does not prejudice the probability there is, that that golden thigh was not attributed to him by the Ancients, but in &s;ome allegoricall and morall &s;en&s;e, yet not &s;uch as Alchymi&s;ts ima|gine, who think that <HI>Pandora</HI>'s box, <HI>Ja&s;on</HI>'s fleece,
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<HI>Si&s;iphus</HI>'s &s;tone, and <HI>Pythagoras</HI>'s golden thigh, are the true Hieroglyphicks of their Philo&s;ophers &s;tone. But much more likely it was, as <HI>Calcagnin</HI> makes it, when he &s;ayes, in the explication of the particular marks of all the old Philo&s;ophers, that <HI>Phythagorae rerum abditarum pretium, &amp; excellens</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>3.</HI> epi&s;t. f. <HI>41.</HI></NOTE> <HI>indicatura, femur aureum fecit.</HI> Nor indeed is there any rea&s;on this thigh &s;hould be taken lite|rally, or that we &s;hould beleeve it was of ma&s;&s;ie gold, as the tooth of the <HI>Sile&s;iun</HI> youth, who liv'd within the&s;e fourty yeers, not onely by rea&s;on of the impo&s;&s;ibility of it, both in Nature and Art, but al&s;o for the di&s;agreement of Authours &s;peak|ing of it; &s;ome, cited by <HI>Delrio,</HI> affirming it to <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 5. <HI>quae&s;t.</HI> 1. <HI>&s;ect.</HI> 1.</NOTE> be a golden river, which he made to run at the Olympick games; others, that it was his reall thigh, according to <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Var. hi&s;t. l. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Aelian, Plutarch, Laer|tius,</HI> and <HI>Lucian.</HI> But the more probable opinion is that of <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Cont. Cel&s;um, l. <HI>6</HI></NOTE> <HI>Origen,</HI> that it was of <HI>Ivory,</HI> it being ea&s;ie to imagine that it was the naturall thigh of <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> which being fair, white and &s;mooth, was haply celebrated by &s;ome of his friends with a &s;imilitude to Ivory, a compari&s;on we find <HI>Solo|mon</HI> makes u&s;e of, when he commends his Spou&s;e, <HI>Thy belly is of Ivory, thy neck is as a Tower of Ivory.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cap.</HI> 5. &amp; 7.</NOTE> Adde to this, that the Gods could not think of a fitter materiall to make <HI>Pelops</HI> a &s;houlder than this, becau&s;e of the colour, and other relations there are between Ivory, and a delicate and &s;mooth fle&s;hine&s;&s;e, &s;uch as haply was that of this &s;o much talk'd of thigh of <HI>Pythagoras.</HI></P>
<P>The reputation of all the&s;e miraculous opera|tions gave occa&s;ion to &s;ay he was &s;aluted by the genius of a river, which <HI>Laertius</HI> &s;ayes was that of <NOTE PLACE="marg">In vit. Py|thag.</NOTE> <HI>Ne&s;&s;us, Apollonius Dy&s;colus</HI> that of <HI>Samus,</HI> and
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<HI>Porphyrius</HI> that of <HI>Cauca&s;us,</HI> which diver&s;ity &s;hews what account we &s;hould make of &s;uch a &s;alutation, as cannot but be fabulous, unle&s;&s;e, to &s;ave the credit of the&s;e Authors, we &s;hould &s;ay it was another politick &s;leight of <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> &s;uch as I have read of <HI>Mahomet,</HI> who, having hid one of his Companions under ground, had in&s;tructed him, when he heard him pa&s;&s;ing by with a great multitude of people, to cry out through a Trunk that <HI>Mahomet was the great Prophet &s;ent from the Living God.</HI> Which having done with care, he was very ill rewarded for it: for <HI>Mahomet</HI> de&s;i|rous the cheat of the miracle &s;hould never be di&s;|cover'd, entreated tho&s;e that were about him to marke the place where they had had &s;o &s;trange a revelation, by rai&s;ing there a great heap of &s;tones, which they immediately did with &s;uch devotion, that the poor &s;ubterranean Angell was pre&s;ently buried under the weight of &s;uch a ma&s;&s;e and Py|ramid.</P>
<P>Were I not affraid, while I would deliver <HI>Py|thagoras</HI> out of one danger, to make him fall in|to another, and repre&s;ent him as an impo&s;tor and crafty <HI>Polititian,</HI> to take away from him the impu|tation of a <HI>Magician,</HI> I &s;hould with the &s;ame expli|cation an&s;wer what is &s;aid of his appearance on the &s;ame day, at the &s;ame hour in the two &s;everal Cities of <HI>Crotona</HI> and <HI>Metapont.</HI> For it being a thing ab&s;olutely impo&s;&s;ible as to men (who&s;e e&s;&s;ence requires no le&s;&s;e union as to their own particular, then &s;eperation from all other) and not happening by divine permi&s;&s;ion, as the appa|ritions of &s;ome Saints in &s;everall places at the &s;ame time; as tho&s;e of St. <HI>Ambro&s;e, Agatha, Nicholas,</HI> and <HI>Benedict,</HI> we mu&s;t conclude, that
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either it is a pure Chimera and fiction (which I think the mo&s;t probable) or that it was effected by the Subtlety of <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> who cau&s;'d his ge&s;tures and per&s;on to be acted by one of his Di&s;|ciples or Companions, whom he &s;ent, in his name, to talke with &s;ome &s;imple man or woman of either of tho&s;e two Cities. Nor indeed need|ed there any more to rai&s;e the report of that mi|raculous apparition, which ought rather to be thus reconcil'd, then to have any recour&s;e to &s;pi|rits and Daemons. For it brings with it no dif|ficulty or inconvenience, be&s;ides that <HI>Laertius</HI> gives &s;uch another interpretation of what <HI>Her|mippus</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Vit Numa&punc;</NOTE> affirmes of <HI>Pythagoras</HI>'s de&s;cent into Hell, and <HI>Plutarch</HI> of the tales were made of his Gol|den thigh, and the Eagle which he had &s;o well in&s;tructed that he made him de&s;cend when he would upon his head, as they &s;ay <HI>Mahomet</HI> did his Pidgeon. Yet it &s;hould &s;eeme by his &s;tory of the Eagle that <HI>Pythagoras</HI> was well acquainted with that part of Magick which con&s;i&s;ts in <HI>Liga|tures,</HI> if we had not &s;ufficient rea&s;ons to an&s;wer whatever may be &s;aid of the power he had over certain creatures. For if it be objected that he brought up a Bear familiarly in his lodgings, what rea&s;on is there to conclude he had tam'd it by Magick, &s;ince that, not to mention that which was <HI>Paris</HI>'s Nur&s;e, or another which St. <HI>Corbinian</HI> made to carry his Luggage in&s;tead of the A&s;&s;e whom it had devour'd, the two Bears, called <HI>Mica aurea</HI> and <HI>Innocentia,</HI> which the Emperour <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ammian Marcell.</NOTE> <HI>Valentinian</HI> cau&s;'d to be brought up in the &s;ame Chamber in a manner with his own; and that which <HI>Sindrigal</HI> Prince of the <HI>Lithuaniaus,</HI> had u&s;'d to come from its denne and Knock at his
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Chamber door, and receive a certain almes for its nouri&s;hment, wherewith it return'd to the Woods till the next day that it came again at the &s;ame hour; the&s;e are enough, I &s;ay, to make us admire the Docility of the&s;e Creatures, which are not &s;o &s;avage, but the indu&s;try of men is able to reduce them, and that by the force, tis true, of certain words, not Magicall and &s;uper&s;titious, but tho&s;e pronounc'd by the Creator of all things, when he &s;aid to our fir&s;t parents, <HI>Have</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Gen.</HI> 1.</NOTE> <HI>dominion over the fi&s;h of the Sea, and over the fowle of the Aire, and over all the Creatures that move up|on the Earth.</HI></P>
<P>Nor is it worth much con&s;ideration, that <HI>Py|thagoras,</HI> by the uttering of certain words, kill'd a Serpent which did abundance of mi&s;chief in <HI>Italy.</HI> For <HI>Boi&s;&s;ardus,</HI> who cites <HI>Aristotle's</HI> Authority for the &s;tory, quotes not the Book whence he took it, and if we &s;earch a little more narrowly into it, we &s;hall find it prove ab&s;olutely fal&s;e, as being grounded only on their Ignorance who change <HI>Socrates</HI> into <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> and who take for &s;terling a fable related of the former, in a Book <HI>of the cau&s;es and properties of Elements,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><P>Di&s;cu&s;&s;. pe|ripat.</P>
<P>Lib <HI>1.</HI> l. <HI>3.</HI> Vit. Numae.</P></NOTE> which <HI>Patricius</HI> demon&s;trates fal&s;ely attributed to <HI>Ari&s;totle.</HI> But this negllgence of <HI>Boi&s;&s;ardus</HI> might have been well excu&s;'d, had he not com|mitted another great and more ob&s;ervable, when <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 19. <HI>c.</HI> 7.</NOTE> he cites <HI>Plutarch</HI> to patroni&s;e the &s;tory of the Ox, which <HI>Pythagoras</HI> &s;ent packing out of a Bean-field; after he had whi&s;pered &s;omething in his eare. He had better confe&s;t he had tran&s;lated it out of <HI>Caelius Rhodiginus,</HI> who indeed cites <HI>Plutarch</HI> in the beginning of his Chapter, but upon ano|ther occa&s;ion than that of this fable, whereof
<PB N="113" REF="67">
it will be found he never made any mention. To give it then a finall &s;hock, we may &s;ay, that it is ab&s;ur'd and irrationall that this Philo&s;opher, &s;o grave &amp; vertuous in all his other actions, &s;hould trouble him&s;elf to drive away that Creature, e&s;|pecially when it was executing his will, &s;poyling &amp; trampling the beans, the u&s;e whereof he thought the greate&s;t abhomination in the World. But &s;up|po&s;ing he &s;hould take paines to do it, yet is it not likely it was by the vertue of certain words, or by the wayes known and practi&s;'d by certain Moun|tebanks, as may be &s;een in <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg">De En|&s;almis&punc; Sect. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>1.</HI> art. <HI>14.</HI> &amp; Sect. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI> art <HI>13.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Emanuel de Mou|ra,</HI> <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">In Hie|roglyph. tit. bono|rum ob&s;e|quium.</NOTE> <HI>Pierius,</HI> and <NOTE N="p" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> contradict. tract. <HI>2.</HI> contrad. <HI>7.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Cardan;</HI> &s;ince the lea&s;t Child, coming near the one might as ea&s;ily have done it as this Philo&s;opher.</P>
<P>La&s;tly for what concernes his conjectures and praedictions, we may &s;ay they can be but of three &s;orts, that is, <HI>morall,</HI> as tho&s;e of <HI>Socrates,</HI> or <HI>na|turall,</HI> as tho&s;e of <HI>Pherecydes, Thales,</HI> and <HI>Anaxa|goras,</HI> or <HI>Diabolicall</HI> and &s;uper&s;titious, as tho&s;e of all Magitians. Since then it is ea&s;ie to conjecture, by what hath been &s;aid concerning his doctrine, that he might well practi&s;e the two former, it were no le&s;&s;e barbari&s;me and &s;implicity to think he &s;hould be engag'd in the la&s;t than to receive the proofes are brought for it, as good and Au|thentick, when they are only grounded upon the &s;uper&s;titious Arithmetick and the Wheele of Onomancy fal&s;ely attributed to him by <NOTE N="q" PLACE="marg"><HI>Tom.</HI> 1. <HI>tract.</HI> 2. <HI>part.</HI> 1.</NOTE> <HI>Flood</HI> and <NOTE N="r" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>1.</HI> &amp; <HI>8.</HI> Micro|co&s;. at the end of his Geomancy.</NOTE> <HI>Catanus.</HI> For this Arithmetick and all the impertinent fooleries in&s;en&s;ibly crept into it, is nothing but the pure imagination of tho&s;e who would needs glo&s;&s;e upon the pa&s;&s;age of <HI>Plutarch</HI> where he &s;ayes, that the <HI>Pythagoreans</HI> honoured Numbers and Geometricall figures with the
<PB N="114" REF="68">
names of the Gods, calling a Triangle with equal &s;ides <HI>Pallas</HI> and <HI>Tritogonia,</HI> becau&s;e it is equally divided by three lines perpendicularly drawn from each angle. They call'd Unity by the name of <HI>Apollo,</HI> the binary by that of <HI>Contention</HI> and <HI>Boldne&s;&s;e,</HI> the <HI>trinary</HI> by that of <HI>Ju&s;tice,</HI> for as much as to offend or be offended, to do or &s;uffer an injury, is done by exce&s;&s;e and defect, Ju&s;tice remaining equally in the middle.</P>
<P>Nor is it a le&s;&s;e injury to this great per&s;on, to think that he ever troubled him&s;elf with the practice of this <HI>Wheele</HI> which <NOTE N="s" PLACE="marg">Antipali. Malef. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Trithemius</HI> and <NOTE N="t" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> Epi&s;. Ma|thema.</NOTE> <HI>Ragu&s;eus</HI> acknowledge as fal&s;ely publi&s;h'd un|der his name, as that of <HI>Plato</HI> and <HI>Apuleius;</HI> or that he ever exerci&s;ed Onomancy by the help of Common numbers repre&s;ented by the Letters of <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Epi&s;t.</HI> 4.</NOTE> the Alphabet, the &s;even Planets, the dayes of the week, &amp; the 12. Signes, as <HI>Flood</HI> would per&s;wade us in his Microco&s;me. For in the fir&s;t place, this kind of Divination is counterfeit, and without any ground at all; this application of Numbers with|out any relation or corre&s;pondence with the &s;igns and Planets; this Arithmetick ab&s;olutely fa|bulous. And la&s;tly, it was ever the cu&s;tome of tho&s;e, who made it their bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to bring into reputation, &s;uch impertinences as the&s;e, or any other Mathematicall Niceties; to divulge them under the name of this Philo&s;opher, by rea&s;on of the great knowledge he had therein. Whereof we have a manife&s;t example in <HI>de Boi&s;|&s;iere</HI> who within the&s;e 60. years making &s;ome ad|ditions to the <HI>Rythmomachia,</HI> hath in like manner put it out under the title of, <HI>Pythagoricall Recrea|tion,</HI> though there be nothing to manife&s;t, as that <HI>Pythagoras</HI> minded this &s;leight, now attributed to him, as litle as all the other &s;tories, which de&s;erve rather
<Q><PB N="115" REF="68">
<BIBL>Juven. Sat. <HI>8.</HI></BIBL>
<L>&mdash;Purgantes corpora &s;uccos,</L>
<L>Quicquid &amp; in tota na&s;citur Anticir&acirc;&punc;</L></Q>
than what we have been obliged to &s;ay in this Chapter, to di&s;cover their vanity, and the little ground there is to admit them for true.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="11" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XI.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of Numa Pompilius.</HEAD>
<P><HI>THeodorus Gaza,</HI> the learned&s;t Greek that ever came from <HI>Constantinople,</HI> being ask'd by a friend of his, what Authour he would pre&s;erve, in ca&s;e a generall wrack were to de&s;troy all the re&s;t, would not &s;eem &s;o fond of his own Tradu|ctions, as to prefer <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> or <HI>Cicero</HI> before <HI>Plu|tarch.</HI> Him he thought worthy to &s;urvive all the re&s;t, not &s;o much, as I conceive, for his admirable learning &amp; variety, as to per&s;erve in him the mo&s;t judicious Authour that ever was, what could not <NOTE PLACE="marg">Montaigne l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> have been found in any other, to wit, the judge|ment he gave of all the things he treated of, which we might make u&s;e of as a certain mark to di&s;tin|gui&s;h truth from fal&s;hood, or as a guide to con|duct us thorow tho&s;e noble ruines of Antiquity, which we find in his Works. This puts me into a more than ordinary admiration, at the malice or negligence of mo&s;t of our Daemonographers, who will not apprehend the true account which this Authour gives us of <HI>Numa Pompilius,</HI> as they have done long &s;ince in the Metamorpho&s;is of <HI>Apu|leius,</HI> which they quote upon all occa&s;ions, as a
<PB N="116" REF="69">
manife&s;t hi&s;tory to prove <HI>Lycanthropie.</HI> Out of &s;ome &s;uch jealou&s;ie it was, that the Authour thought him&s;elf oblig'd to give us all the precau|tions po&s;&s;ible, to &s;hew that his tran&s;mutation was a meer Fable and Romance, when he &s;ayes in the fir&s;t page of his Book, <HI>At ego tibi &s;ermone i&s;to Mile&s;io varias fabellas con&s;eram,</HI> and a little after, <HI>Fabulam Graecam incipimus, lector intende, laetaberis.</HI> Which laid down, if tho&s;e are de&s;er|vedly laugh'd at, who would e&s;tabli&s;h and con|firm a propo&s;ition of &s;uch con&s;equence by a rela|tion acknowledged to be fabulous, even by the Authour of it, we may with as much rea&s;on af|firm tho&s;e guilty of a greater malice and teme|rity, who &s;o apparently fal&s;ifie the authorities of <HI>Plutarch, Diony&s;ius Halicarna&s;&s;aeus,</HI> and <HI>Livie,</HI> to convert into Magick the admirable wi&s;dom and excellent policie of <HI>Numa.</HI></P>
<P>That I undertake his vindication next that of <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> is not grounded on the opinion of <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Metam.</HI> 15.</NOTE> divers, e&s;pecially <HI>Ovid,</HI> who have made him la|ter, and a Di&s;ciple of that Philo&s;opher; &s;ince <HI>Livie</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1.</NOTE> &s;ayes in his Decads, <HI>Authorem doctrinae ejus, quia non extat alius, fals&ograve; Samium Pythagoram edunt.</HI> The &s;ame is al&s;o confirm'd by the &s;aid <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Antiq. Rom. lib. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>Diony|&s;ius Halicarna&s;&s;aeus,</HI> <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Vit. Nu|ma.</NOTE> <HI>Plutarch,</HI> <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>19.</HI> c. <HI>8.</HI> antiq. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ect.</NOTE> <HI>Rhodiginus;</HI> and <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">De prin|cipiis rer. natur. in Pythag.</NOTE> <HI>Pererius;</HI> the former whereof &s;hews that the City of <HI>Crotona</HI> was but founded in the fourth year of <HI>Numa</HI>'s reign; and the three others in&s;i&s;t much upon all the chronologicall rea&s;ons which may prove the&s;e two per&s;ons not to have been Contemporaries, but by a figure of <HI>Anachroni&s;m,</HI> ordinary, and indeed tolerable, in Poets; but by no means allow'd an Hi&s;torian. But in regard <HI>Iambli|cus</HI> ob&s;erves in the life of <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> that he had
<PB N="117" REF="69">
borrow'd all his learning from the Theologie of <HI>Orpheus,</HI> I have put their Chapters one after the other, without being too Criticall, as to the time wherein they flouri&s;hed, &s;ince it contributes no|thing to their vindication, and that I am oblig'd to neglect it in divers other parts of this <HI>Apo|logie.</HI></P>
<P>We are then to note, that the accu&s;ation again&s;t <HI>Numa</HI> is grounded upon four principall points, the lea&s;t whereof, were it true, were enough to condemn him for an Enchanter and a Magician. For, fir&s;t, it is urg'd, that the Genius attributed to him by <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2.</NOTE> <HI>Ammianus Marcellinus,</HI> and which <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> Antiq. Ro|man.&punc;</NOTE> <HI>Diony&s;ius Halicarna&s;&s;aeus,</HI> <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">In vit. Numae.</NOTE> <HI>Plutarch</HI> and <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg"><HI>Dec.</HI> 1. <HI>l.</HI> 1.</NOTE> <HI>Livie</HI> affirm to have been one of the nine Mu&s;es, or rather a Nymph called <HI>Aegeria,</HI> was no other than a <HI>Succuba</HI> with whom he was very familiar, as being one of the cunning'&s;t and be&s;t ver&s;&punc;d that ever was, in the invocations of the tutelary Gods, and the Genii of Men and Cities. Hence <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">De orig. Etrur. f. <HI>139.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Po&s;tellus</HI> takes occa&s;ion to maintain, that th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s Familiar was the &s;ame that had attended <HI>Vesta</HI> the wife of <HI>Janus</HI> or <HI>Noah,</HI> and then was Guardian of <HI>Rome, Quo duce,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>Numa tantae molis urbem &s;tabilivit.</HI> It is al&s;o taken for certain, that by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance and indu&s;try of this Divinity, he did many &s;trange and miraculous things, to gain reputation among the people of <HI>Rome,</HI> that &s;o he might govern at his plea&s;ure. To this purpo&s;e is haply, what is related by <HI>Diony&s;ius Halicarna&s;&s;aeus</HI> and <HI>Plutarch,</HI> That having once invited many Citizens to &s;upper, he entertain'd them with mean and ordinary things, and with plate that &s;poke neither wealth nor magnificence. But they had not &s;ate down long, ere he took
<PB N="118" REF="70">
occa&s;ion to tell them, that the Godde&s;&s;e whom he conver&s;'d with, at that very in&s;tant was come to give him a vi&s;it, and that immediately there|upon the room was excellently well furni&s;h'd, and the tables covered with all manner of meats, the mo&s;t exqui&s;ite and delicate in the world. The &s;ame may al&s;o be confirm'd by the di&s;cour&s;es he <NOTE PLACE="marg">Initio, l. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> had with <HI>Jupiter,</HI> &s;uch as may be &s;een in <HI>Arno|bius,</HI> who &s;ayes that <HI>Numa,</HI> by the advice of his Nymph <HI>Aegeria,</HI> found out a way to bind two Devils, or internall Gods, <HI>Faunus</HI> and <HI>Picus,</HI> who taught him how to invocate <HI>Jupiter,</HI> and force him to come to him by &s;trong and imperious conjurations, in ca&s;e he &s;hould not willingly and of his own accord. This it &s;eems he was &s;o for|tunate in, that he fetch'd out of his throne, the greate&s;t and mo&s;t powerfull of all the Gods, and forc'd him to declare, how by &s;acrifice he &s;hould expiate the thunder and lightening. To which may be added the Hydromancie which <HI>Varro,</HI> ci|ted <NOTE PLACE="marg">De Civit. D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i, l. <HI>3.</HI> c. <HI>35.</HI></NOTE> by St. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> &s;ayes, he was very well ver|&s;ed in; as al&s;o his magicall books, di&s;cover'd four hundred years after his death, and condemn'd to the fire as mo&s;t pernicious, in the Con&s;ul&s;hip of <HI>Publius Cornelius</HI> and <HI>Marcus Bebius.</HI> All this ad|mitted, we may well conclude with all our Dae|monographers, e&s;pecially <HI>le Loyer</HI> and <HI>Delrio,</HI> the mo&s;t learned among them&punc; That <HI>Numa Pompilius</HI> was the greate&s;t Magician of any that ever wore Crown, and that he had a greater power over De|vils than over men, &s;ince he made u&s;e of the a&s;&s;i|&s;tance of the former, to reduce the Romane peo|ple to &s;ubjection and obedience to his Laws and In&s;titutions.</P>
<P>But if we would &s;hew how all the&s;e Authours
<PB N="119" REF="70">
are too prodigall of our lei&s;ure and their own, when they take &s;o much pains to hatch a &s;ort of &s;trange and hideous imaginations, and thereby captivate our belief, we need do no more than take a view of the fir&s;t draught of this per&s;on, done not onely by <HI>Livie,</HI> and <HI>D. Halicarna&s;&s;aeus,</HI> who drew the fir&s;t lines of him, but particularly by <HI>Plutarch,</HI> who hath clad him in his proper co|lours, and all the circum&s;tances and particulari|ties of his life, that we might thereby judge of the lea&s;t vices and vertues, as al&s;o the di&s;po&s;ition, cu&s;tom and proceedings of this great Politician, and &s;econd Founder of <HI>Rome.</HI> Whence it will not be hard to re&s;olve, what credit we &s;hould give all the&s;e after-draughts and copies of the mo|dern, who have rather follow'd the Originall in their own fanta&s;tick imaginations, than that of <HI>Plutarch</HI> and the be&s;t Hi&s;torians, who &s;eem not to mention <HI>Numa,</HI> but out of a de&s;igne to cele|brate his vertues, and admire the excellent con|duct, whereby he fa&s;tened and e&s;tabli&s;hed the Ro|mane Monarchy. For that, being loo&s;e, and but newly &s;et together, might ea&s;ily have been ruin'd by the lea&s;t ho&s;tile violence, if <HI>Numa</HI> had not by a peace of three and fourty years, given it time to take root and growth, looking on the Romane people as a Champion that were to fight, having exerci&s;'d it &s;elf at lei&s;ure, for the time he &s;hould reign over it, would by that means prove &s;trong enough to oppo&s;e any that &s;hould que&s;tion the limits of their Empire.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t thing he did, after he had po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed him&s;elf of the government, was to &s;often and ci|vilize the City, converting their rough &amp; warlike humour into a gentle and tractable, remitting
<PB N="120" REF="71">
that height of courage and earne&s;tne&s;&s;e of fight|ing, by Sacrifices, Fe&s;tivals, Dances, and Proce&s;&s;i|ons&punc; nay &s;ometimes, as <HI>Plutarch</HI> &s;ayes, repre&s;ent|ing unto them the fear of the Gods. To this end did he make them beleeve, that he had &s;trange vi|&s;ions, or had heard of great calamities, purpo&s;ely to keep down their hearts in a dread of the Gods. To this may al&s;o be apply'd that pa&s;&s;age of <HI>Ter|tullian,</HI> cited in the third Chapter of this <HI>Apologie,</HI> but much more pertinently that of <HI>Lactantius,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Divinar. In&s;tit. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>22.</HI></NOTE> who &s;ayes that <HI>Numa, Sic novi populi feroces ani|mos mitigavit, &amp; ad &s;tudia pacis &agrave; rebus bellicis avocavit.</HI> Whence may be drawn a certain argu|ment, that what&s;oever hath been &s;aid of the Nymph <HI>Aegeria,</HI> was nothing but the meer pre|tences and palliations of this crafty Politician, who by that Fable would e&s;tabli&s;h the authority of his Sacrifices, Laws, and Con&s;titutions, as is well ob&s;erv'd by the &s;ame <HI>Lactantius,</HI> when, &s;peak|ing of <HI>Numa,</HI> he &s;ayes, that to &s;ettle the&s;e things, <HI>aliqua cum authoritate, &s;imulavit cum Dea Aege|ria nocturnos &s;e habere congre&s;&s;us.</HI> This increa&s;es my admiration at the Lethargick judgements, or &s;eared con&s;ciences of our Daemonographers, who can &s;o &s;ecurely deprave the authority of this Au|thour, with tho&s;e of <HI>Halicarna&s;&s;aeus, Livie,</HI> and <HI>Plutarch,</HI> to give &s;ome colour to what they would have beleev'd, and &s;o ground the truth of their propo&s;ition upon the mo&s;t palpable fal&s;ity can be imagin'd. For if <HI>le Loyer</HI> and <NOTE N="m" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2. <HI>c.</HI> 5.</NOTE> <HI>Delrio</HI> may be credited, the principall Authours that affirm all the&s;e fables we have related of <HI>Numa,</HI> are <HI>Plu|tarch,</HI> and <HI>D. Halicarna&s;&s;aeus,</HI> which yet when we come to read, and peru&s;e, we &s;hall find, that on the contrary they are tho&s;e that re&s;ute, under|mine,
<PB N="121" REF="71">
di&s;cover, and advi&s;e us not to credit them.</P>
<P>And that it is &s;o, to begin with the opinion they had of the Nymph <HI>Aegeria; Plutarch</HI> having <NOTE PLACE="marg">Vit. Numae.</NOTE> made a long di&s;cour&s;e of the credit ought to be given the&s;e divine apparitions, concludes it with his own opinion, to this effect. <Q>Howbeit, if any be of a contrary opinion, he is left at liberty; for, I do not hold tho&s;e things improbable, which others relate of <HI>Lycurgus</HI> and <HI>Numa,</HI> and others of their quality; who, being to deal with rough and &s;alvage people, and oblig'd to introduce great alterations into the govern|ment of their Countreys, have prudently pre|tended communication with the Gods, &s;ince tho&s;e fictions and pretences were advantageous even to tho&s;e whom they per&s;waded to a beleef of them.</Q> This he further confirms, when three or four pages after he &s;ayes, immediately after he had cited the ver&s;es of <HI>Timon</HI> the <HI>Phlyr&s;ian,</HI> that this per&s;onation of <HI>Numa</HI> was nothing el&s;e than the love of a Godde&s;&s;e, or &s;ome Nymph of the mountains, and the &s;ecret meetings he pretended to have with her. This &s;eems to have been tran|&s;crib'd out of <HI>D. Haliearna&s;&s;aeus,</HI> where &s;peaking <NOTE PLACE="marg">Antiq. Ro|man. l&punc; <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> of <HI>Numa,</HI> he &s;ayes, as <HI>Portus</HI>'s Latine Tran&s;lation hath it, <HI>Multa autem ea&abque; admiranda de eo dicunt, referentes humanam ejus &s;apientiam ad Deorum mo|nita: fabulos&egrave; enim dicunt illi congre&s;&s;um fui&s;&s;e cum quadam Nympha Aegeria, quae illum a&s;&s;idu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Regiam &s;apientiam edoceret.</HI> Nay <HI>Livie,</HI> who is <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> tax'd with no other vice, than that of having fill'd his Hi&s;tory with abundance of prodigies &amp; mira|culous things, confe&s;&s;es ingenuou&s;ly, that <HI>Numa</HI> re&s;olv'd to keep the Romanes in &s;ubjection by
<PB N="122" REF="72">
the fear of the Gods, and &s;eeing it would not ea|&s;ily fa&s;ten on them, without the di&s;gui&s;e and cir|cumvention of &s;ome counterfeit miracle, <HI>&s;imula|vit &s;ibi cum Dea Aegeria congre&s;&s;us nocturnos, ejus &s;e monitu quae accepti&s;&s;ima Diis e&s;&s;ent &s;acra in&s;titue|re, &s;acerdotes &s;uos cui&abque; Deorum praeficere.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 21&punc;</NOTE> But indeed <HI>Ammianus Marcellinus</HI> &s;eems to be more pertinently cited by our Daemonographers, and con&s;equently to favour them more than all the precedent. For, di&s;cour&s;ing upon a certain vi&s;ion which the Emperour <HI>Con&s;tantius</HI> had, he &s;ayes, that the corre&s;pondence between Gods and men is not a thing &s;o extraordinary, but that there were manife&s;t examples of it in the <HI>Genii,</HI> which &s;ometime were familiar with <HI>Hermes, Socrates, Apollonius, Numa, Scipio, Marius</HI> and <HI>Augustus.</HI> From which pa&s;&s;age it might be imagin'd, he was of opinion, that it was not fabulous what was &s;aid of the Nymph <HI>Aegeria,</HI> and the conver&s;ation that was between her and King <HI>Numa.</HI> But, be it &s;uppo&s;'d that this was his opinion, yet can it not conclude any thing to the prejudice of the prece|dent, &s;ince that thorow all his Hi&s;tory, he di&s;co|vers him&s;elf very prone to beleeve and amplifie &s;uch narrations; alluding to which, I conceive, <NOTE PLACE="marg">De trad. di&s;ciplinis, l. <HI>5.</HI> f. <HI>38.</HI></NOTE> not improbably, <HI>Ludovicus Vives</HI> pre&s;um'd to pronounce this judgement on his Hi&s;tory, <HI>Am|miani Marcellini quod &s;uperest opus, nec Oratoris omnino nec hi&s;torici.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, for <HI>Po&s;tellus</HI>'s Comment upon the Fable, I think it of the &s;ame metall, with what he relates in his Co&s;mography, where he &s;ayes that the Ae|thiopians are black, by rea&s;on of the cur&s;e God thundered again&s;t <HI>Chus</HI> the fir&s;t Authour of their Nation, becau&s;e <HI>Cham,</HI> his father, had known his
<PB N="123" REF="72">
wife in the Ark, again&s;t the expre&s;&s;e command of the Patriarch <HI>Noah</HI> to the contrary. Nor in|deed can there be a more true and mode&s;t &s;olu|tion made to all the&s;e vaine and chimericall &s;pe|culations, then to &s;ay of their Author as the Pro|con&s;ull <HI>Festus</HI> did of St. <HI>Panl, In&s;anis Po&s;telle, multae te literae ad in&s;aniam eonvertunt.</HI></P>
<P>Having thus di&s;cover'd the weakne&s;s &amp; fal&s;ity of the proofs, brought to make this <HI>Aegeria</HI> a Witch or <HI>Succuba,</HI> which was only a &s;ubtle fiction of <HI>Nu|ma's,</HI> we mu&s;t do as much with tho&s;e which <NOTE N="s" PLACE="marg">De &s;pectr. l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>le Loyer</HI> and <NOTE N="t" PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;it. Magic. l. <HI>2.</HI> qu. <HI>9.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Delrio</HI> would draw out of the &s;ame Authors to make good the <HI>enchanted Banquet,</HI> and the <HI>conference</HI> he had with <HI>Jupiter,</HI> by the meanes of this <HI>Hydromancy.</HI> But this was nothing but the fabulous invention of <HI>Numa</HI> to &s;urpri&s;e <HI>Faunus</HI> and <HI>Picus,</HI> putting wine and honey into the Spring out of which they were wont to drink, that they, being taken, &s;hould &s;hew him the way to in<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ocate <HI>Jupiter,</HI> &amp; know of him what he &s;hould do to expiate the Lightning, as we have already ob&s;erved out of <HI>Plutarch</HI> and <HI>Arnobius.</HI> For as to <HI>D. Halicarna&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">us,</HI> tis true, that &s;peaking of the Nymph <HI>Aegeria,</HI> he menti|ons al&s;o the Supper <HI>Numa</HI> made by her meanes; but what he &s;aies in con&s;equence, &s;ufficiently &s;hews that he held it a meer fiction, adding im|mediately after the relation, <HI>&s;ed qui res omnes fa|bulo&s;as</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Antiq. Roman. l. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>ex historia tollunt, Numam haec quae de Aegeria dicebat finxi&s;&s;e dicunt, ut qui Numen di|vinum metuerent facilius animum ad &s;e adverterent, &amp; leges quas e&s;&s;et laturus libenter ut &agrave;diis latas ac|ciperent.</HI></P>
<P>In like manner hath not <HI>Plutarch</HI> fallen upon a relation of the&s;e fables, without a precaution gi|ven
<PB N="124" REF="73">
before, beginning very judiciou&s;ly thus. <Q>By the&s;e rudiments and as it were apprenti&s;hip of Religion, the City of <HI>Rome</HI> became &s;o civiliz'd, &amp; had &s;uch an admiration for the great power of <HI>K. Numa,</HI> had it receiv'd for truths &s;uch tales, as had no more likelihood of truth then there is in meer Fables and thought there was nothing in|credible nor impo&s;&s;ible to him that he &s;hould de&s;ire to effect.</Q></P>
<P>There remaines therefore only the objection concerning his Books about which I &s;hall not gleane up all that may be &s;aid of their number, <NOTE PLACE="marg">In com|mentar. ad <HI>3.</HI> Plinii capita de papyro memb.</NOTE> and the time, when, and the manner, how, they were found, &s;ince <HI>Guillandinus</HI> hath very learned|ly performed that task, and that it is &s;uffici|ent for me to &s;hew, that they were not burnt as treating of <HI>Magick,</HI> as divers moderne Au|thors would per&s;wade us. For it was not the opinion of any of the ancients, as may be ea&s;ily demon&s;trated, in that, according to that of <NOTE N="y" PLACE="marg">Vit Nu|mae.</NOTE> <HI>Plutarch,</HI> <NOTE N="z" PLACE="marg">Dec. <HI>4.</HI> l. ult.</NOTE> <HI>Livy,</HI> and <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Apud Plin. l. <HI>13.</HI> c. <HI>13.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Caius Pi&s;o Cen&s;orius,</HI> they treated only of the offices and duties of the Prie&s;ts, and the Philo&s;ophy of the Greeks, &s;uch as it had been in <HI>Numa's</HI> time; to that of <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Ibidem.</NOTE> <HI>Ca&s;&s;ius Hemina,</HI> they treated only of the Philo&s;o|phy of <HI>Pythagoras;</HI> and to that of <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Divinar. in&s;tit. c. <HI>22.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Lactantius,</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Apud&punc; D. Augu&s;t. de civit. Dei. l. <HI>7.</HI> c. <HI>34.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Varro,</HI> and <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Apud Plin citato in vit. Nu|ma.</NOTE> <HI>Tuditanus,</HI> they contain'd on|ly the order and cau&s;es of the &s;acrifices and cere|monies he had in&s;tituted among&s;t the Romans. Which la&s;t opinion I think the more probable, beau&s;e it di&s;covers the rea&s;on why the Senate thought it not convenient they &s;hould be di|vulg'd, for &s;ince we find in <HI>Plutarch</HI> that <HI>Numa</HI> forbad the Romans to believe that God had the forme either of Man or Bea&s;t; and to make
<PB N="125" REF="73">
any image or Statue of him, which was ob&s;erv'd for the &s;pace of 70. years, and permitted not they &s;hould do &s;acrifice but with the powring out of wine, milk, and a litle flower, it is probable he had given rea&s;ons at large in his Books of that new kind of wor&s;hip. The&s;e coming to light and acknowledg'd for his, four thou&s;and years after, as <HI>Plutarch</HI> affirmes, or according to <NOTE PLACE="marg">Petron. in fragm.</NOTE> <HI>Ca&s;&s;ius Hemina</HI> 535. when the City of Rome was &s;o full of Idols, <HI>ut facilius e&s;&s;et Deum qu&agrave;m homi|nem invenire,</HI> and that all the temples continually &s;weltered in the blood of the Victims, it is, I &s;ay, ea&s;ily conjectur'd, that the Books of this Roman <HI>Tri&s;megi&s;tus,</HI> who, in Juvenal, pa&s;&s;es for the example of a great Prie&s;t, were burnt by order of the Senate, for fear le&s;t &s;ome great change might happen in Religion, if by the peru&s;all of tho&s;e Books, it had been known what rea&s;ons <HI>Numa</HI> in&s;i&s;ted on, both to e&s;tabli&s;h the purity of his Sacrifices, and to clean&s;e men's mind from Idolatry, which had taken &s;uch root there at the time of this di&s;covery, that the be&s;t expedient was to de&s;troy tho&s;e Books which were otherwi&s;e likely to put the whole Roman Monarchy into di&s;turbance; it being a maxime among <HI>Politicians,</HI> that the troubles &amp; di&s;&s;entions in the <HI>State</HI> are ever con&s;equential to tho&s;e that happen in <HI>Religion.</HI></P>
<P>This in my judgment was the true cau&s;e of the condemnation of the&s;e books, and not that which <HI>le Loyer,</HI> and other modernes have endeavoured <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 11.</NOTE> to find out in Magick, or yet what <HI>Ca&s;&s;ius Hemi|na,</HI> who might haply live in <HI>Augustus</HI>'s time, &s;eems to relate of their treating of the Philo&s;o|phy of <HI>Pythagoras.</HI> For as to the former, his opinion being without any ground or Authority,
<PB N="126" REF="74">
<HI>e&acirc;dem facilitate contemnitur qu&acirc; affertur.</HI> For that of the latter, it is &s;ufficiently refuted, not only in what we have &s;hew'd before, that <HI>Py|thagoras</HI> was latter then <HI>Numa,</HI> and, that this la&s;t came not into <HI>Italy,</HI> according to <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 17. <HI>c.</HI> 21.</NOTE> <HI>Gellius,</HI> till the raign of <HI>Tarquin</HI> the proud, but al&s;o by the te&s;timony and contrary opinion of <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg">Dec. <HI>4.</HI> l. Vlt.</NOTE> <HI>Livy,</HI> who &s;aies, that one <HI>Antius Valerius</HI> gave the &s;ame judgment of the&s;e Books <HI>Vulgatae opinioni,</HI> as he adds, <HI>qu&acirc; creditur Pythagorae auditorem fui&s;&s;e Numam, mendacio probabili accommodat&acirc; fide.</HI> After all which an&s;wers and &s;olutions, all I have to wi&s;h, is, that our Daemonographers would own either more mode&s;ty or more judgment, that they may not hereafter &s;o indi&s;creetly forge &s;uch Mon&s;ters and Chimeras as afrerwards frighten them, and make them run away, and cry like little Children, who are many times &s;tartled at the dirt they ca&s;t in the faces of their companions, <HI>qua&s;i quicquam infelicius &s;it homine, cui &s;ua figmenta do|minantur.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="12" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XII.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of<HI> Democritus, Empedocles, </HI>and<HI> Apollo|nius.</HI></HEAD>
<P>I Should never have pre&s;um'd to remove the precious and venerable bounds of Antiquity, which the God <HI>Terminus</HI> in the fabulous Theolo|gie of the Romans, &s;ignify'd to us immoveable, did I not &s;omewhat rely on its being called by <HI>Arnobius, errorum pleni&s;&s;ima mater,</HI> &s;o far at lea&s;t as to be &s;atisfi'd, it was no &s;acriledge to bring that
<PB N="127" REF="74">
to the te&s;t which hath been held for true. And this I do after &s;o many ages, as, by their long and various revolutions, are wont, as well in <HI>Civill</HI> Hi&s;tory as <HI>naturall,</HI> to dragge after them along traine of fables, and from time to time to give them new force and vigour by the multitude of tho&s;e who, out of meer re&s;pect to Antiquity, are en&s;nar'd by them. And indeed it were too great a &s;everity to be oblig'd to follow the &s;uper|&s;titious track of tho&s;e, who will not do the lea&s;t violence to Antiquity, which, as if our eyes were not able to endure a full light, puts a cob|web before them, and burdens all things, e&s;peci|ally the memory and lives of great per&s;ons, with fables and fictions, as it does the Statues erected to them with du&s;t and filth. This our de&s;igne leades us to maintain, by the examples of the&s;e three great Philo&s;ophers or rather Daemons of knowledge, ver&s;'d in all Sciences, and the chiefe&s;t, and of greate&s;t Authority among their people, that is, <HI>Democritus, Empedocles</HI> and <HI>Apollonius.</HI> The&s;e have undergone &s;uch a change and Metamorpho&s;is, by tho&s;e who make it their bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to write without minding that precept of <HI>Horace,</HI>
<Q><L>Quid de quoque viro, &amp; cui dicas, &s;aepe caveto,</L></Q>
that be&s;ides that they are delivered over to us all three for Sorcerers and enchanters, it is further believ'd, that <HI>Democritus</HI> was &s;uch a foole as to put out his own eyes, after he had blown away his e&s;tate in a fruitle&s;&s;e &s;earch of the Philo&s;ophers &s;tone; and that <HI>Empedocles,</HI> as an ambitious <HI>De&s;perado,</HI> ca&s;t him&s;elf into the burning furnaces of Mount <HI>Gibel.</HI></P>
<Q><PB N="128" REF="75">
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hor. de art. poet.</NOTE>&mdash;Deus immortalis haberi</L>
<L>Dum cupit Empedocles, ardentem frigidus Aetnam</L>
<L>In&s;iluit&mdash;</L></Q>
<P>But the&s;e calumnies are &s;o far from being true or well grounded, that, on the contrary, there's nothing ea&s;ier then to &s;hew how they are ab&s;o|lutely fal&s;e, if we may be&s;tow but a few lines on them before we come to joyn i&s;&s;ue with the mo&s;t materiall part of the Charge put in again&s;t the reputation and Learning of the&s;e excellent Per|&s;ons. For fir&s;t, as to the Book of the <HI>Sacred Art,</HI> and the knowledge and practice of <HI>Alchymy,</HI> at|tributed to <HI>Democritus,</HI> it is a &s;ymptome that &s;ignifies the deprav'd imaginations of our <HI>Fur|nace-Imps,</HI> who know no other project to gaine any credit to the Books of their Art, than to fa|ther them on <HI>Mo&s;es, Salomon, Tri&s;megi&s;tus, Ari&s;|totle,</HI> nay (&s;uch is their &s;tupidity and want of judg|ment) <HI>Adam;</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Quintil. Declam. <HI>18.</HI> in Libanii. mania.</NOTE> <HI>ut authoritatem videlicet &s;umat ab homine quae non habet ex veritate.</HI> But to make an ab&s;olute di&s;covery of this impo&s;ture, &s;ufficiently laugh'd at by <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Alchymiae expugnatae, l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Riolanus,</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">De con|&s;en&s;u. l. c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Guibert,</HI> and <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Variar. lect. l. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>9.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Semertus,</HI> we may affirme, that this Book was never made by <HI>Democritus,</HI> &s;ince the learned <HI>Mercurial</HI> a&s;&s;ures us that Chymi&s;try was not known at all in <HI>Ari&s;totle's</HI> time, and that <HI>Delrio</HI> &s;hewes; there is no track of it in any good Au|thor, till from <HI>Caligula's</HI> time, when it fir&s;t broke the &s;hell, till that of <HI>Diocle&s;ian,</HI> under whom lived one <HI>Zozimus,</HI> who, as <HI>Delrio</HI> thinks, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Exercit. ad Annal Bar. Diatr. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE> is the mo&s;t ancient Greek that hath written of it. To which may be added that <HI>Ca&s;aubon</HI> &s;aies, he &s;aw in the K. of <HI>France</HI> his Library, a manu|&s;cript
<PB N="129" REF="75">
treating of the making of Gold, entituled, <GAP DESC="foreign">, or, <HI>the &s;acred Art,</HI> who yet never mentions <HI>Democritus</HI> for the Author of it. To make this good weight, we may urge the poor|ne&s;&s;e of conceptions which it di&s;covers, and the cen&s;ure long &s;ince given it by <HI>Laertius,</HI> when having been very punctuall in the Catalogue of this Philo&s;ophers workes, he &s;ayes that others; under his name, either fal&s;ely attributed to him, or taken out of his Writings, may a&s;&s;ure us, not|with&s;tanding the Authority of <HI>P&s;ellus,</HI> who makes him the Author of it, that <HI>Democritus</HI> had no|thing to do with it, but &s;ome other Greek, le&s;&s;e learned, and much latter, Yet might que&s;tion the Authority of <HI>Mercurial,</HI> and conclude again&s;t him, that <HI>Aristotle</HI> was ver&s;'d in Chime&s;try be|cau&s;e he &s;aies in his <HI>Problems,</HI> that Oyle may be extracted out of &s;alt, which it cannot but by di&s;til|lations and Furnaces; if <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">In Bibi|otheca.</NOTE> <HI>Ge&s;ner</HI> &amp; <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">Di&s;cu&s;&s;. perip. Tom. <HI>1.</HI> l. <HI>24.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Patricius</HI> had not prov'd tho&s;e <HI>Problems</HI> not to be <HI>Aristi|tle's,</HI> and that it is hard to gue&s;&s;e at the time when they were writ, for that as <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">In Philo|&s;oph Poe|tur&acirc;.</NOTE> <HI>Henry Ste|phen</HI> fir&s;t ob&s;erv'd, the Books of <HI>Theophrastus,</HI> Of <HI>Sweating and Wearine&s;&s;e,</HI> are tran&s;crib'd in a manner <HI>Verbatim</HI> in them.</P>
<P>But me thinkes, tho&s;e are yet more irrationall, who, with <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg">Apolog. c. <HI>46.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Tertullian,</HI> believe that this Philo|&s;opher put out his own eyes, becau&s;e he could not look on Women without &s;ome concupi&s;cen|tiall in&s;urrections; or with <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 10. <HI>c.</HI> 17.</NOTE> <HI>Gellius</HI> and <NOTE N="l" PLACE="marg">Lib. de curio&s;itia<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>Plutarch,</HI> that he might &s;tudy Philo&s;ophy more freely, and be le&s;&s;e diverted by externall Objects; or la&s;tly with <HI>Laberius,</HI> that he did it,
<Q><PB N="130" REF="76">
<L>&mdash;malis ben&egrave;</L>
<L>E&s;&s;e ne videret civibus.</L></Q>
For be&s;ides the unlikelihood and diver&s;ity of the&s;e rea&s;ons, we mu&s;t clearly di&s;credit <HI>Hippo|crates</HI> in his Epi&s;tle to <HI>Damagetus,</HI> where he &s;ayes, that being employ'd by the <HI>Abderites</HI> to cure the madne&s;&s;e of <HI>Democritus&punc;</HI> he found him reading certain Books and di&s;&s;ecting Animals, actions certainly much incon&s;i&s;tent with want of &s;ight. We may therefore imagine, that as his <HI>Laughter</HI> was <HI>morall,</HI> his <HI>blindne&s;&s;e</HI> was &s;o too; and that fabulous Antiquity hath, as <HI>Scaliger</HI> con|ceives, <NOTE PLACE="marg">In proble|mat. Gelli|an. prob. <HI>72.</HI></NOTE> repre&s;ented him blind, <HI>quod aliorum more oculis non uteretur.</HI></P>
<P>Nor do I &s;ee any more rea&s;on to believe what is&punc; &s;aid of <HI>Empedocles,</HI> that he ca&s;t him&s;elf into the flames of Mount <HI>Gibel, ut cum repent&eacute; non appar|ui&s;&s;et,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Divinar. in&s;tit. l. <HI>3.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>8.</HI></NOTE> &s;aies <HI>Lactantius, abii&s;&s;e ad Deos crederetur.</HI> For <HI>Empedocles</HI> was &s;o farre from that extrava|gance of ambition, that <HI>Laertius</HI> a&s;&s;ures us, that with incredible con&s;tancy he refu&s;ed a Royall crown pre&s;ented to him, preferring a life peaceable and free from tho&s;e vaine Grandeurs, before the greate&s;t enjoyments of Princes. And indeed the &s;tory is good for none but Polititians, who comment on and make their advantages of it, when they credit it no more than they do a many others; nor indeed do <HI>Pau&s;anias</HI> and <HI>Timaeus</HI> in <HI>Laertius,</HI> di&s;&s;emble the fal&s;hood of it; this lat|ter concluding his opinion with theirs in part of an <HI>Epigram,</HI>
<Q><PB N="131" REF="76">
<L>Si &s;e flagrantem male &s;anus jecit in Aetnam,</L>
<L>Quomodo adhuc Megaris &s;tructa &s;epulchra jacent?</L></Q></P>
<P>For my part, it &s;hall ever be my faith, that the va&s;t paines and indu&s;try of this Philo&s;opher in the di&s;qui&s;ition of naturall things con&s;ider'd, if he dy'd in that manner, it proceeded rather out of his over curio&s;ity to find out the cau&s;e of &s;o miraculous an effect, as it afterward happened to <HI>Pliny</HI> in the burning of <HI>Ve&s;uvius,</HI> than out of any de&s;igne he had to get into the Catalogue of <NOTE PLACE="marg">Plin. in Epi&s;t.</NOTE> the Gods, by &s;o hazardous and indi&s;creet a re&s;o|lution.</P>
<P>Having therefore bru&s;h'd off the du&s;t which hid the lu&s;tre &amp; perfection of the&s;e living Images and modells of vertue, we come now to what is mo&s;t materiall to our purpo&s;e, that is, to an&s;wer tho&s;e proofs, which may be drawn out of <HI>Pliny</HI> and other Writers, who would fa&s;ten on them the <HI>black patches</HI> of diabolicall Magick, <HI>ad quam di&s;cendam,</HI> &s;ayes Pliny, <HI>Pythagoras, Empedccles,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>30.</HI> c. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> <HI>Democritus, Plato, navigav&ecirc;re, exiliis veri&ugrave;s qu&agrave;m peregrinationibus &s;u&s;ceptis.</HI> This he more particularly confirmes of <HI>Democritus,</HI> when he addes in the &s;ame place, <HI>Plenum&abque; miraculi et hoc, pariter utra&s;&abque; artes efflorui&s;&s;e, Medicinam dico, Magicen&abque;, e&agrave;dem aetate; illam Hippocrate, hanc Democrito illu&s;trantibus.</HI> And el&s;ewhere he &s;aies, he was <HI>Magorum po&s;t Pythagoram &s;tudio&s;i&s;&s;imus,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2. <HI>c.</HI> 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> and that he maintain'd thou&s;ands of litle &s;tories and ridiculous propo&s;itions which could not be effected but by Magick. Of this mettall were the&s;e, that of the blood of &s;everall young birds might be engendred a Serpent, which eaten
<PB N="132" REF="77">
would cau&s;e a perfect under&s;tanding of the &s;ing|ing <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 24. <HI>c.</HI> 17.</NOTE> of Birds; that there were certain herbs &s;o powerfull and endu'd with &s;uch vertue, that they were requi&s;ite in the invocation of the Gods, and would make criminals confe&s;&s;e what judges and torments could not. He affirmes further that <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 28.</NOTE> he had writ a Book of the nature of the <HI>Came|leon,</HI> which contained things ab&s;olutely triviall, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 30. <HI>c.</HI> 1.</NOTE> Magical, and &s;uper&s;titious; and la&s;tly that he had publi&s;h'd the works of <HI>Dardanus</HI> a famous Magi|cian, whereto he added his own fraught with fol|lies of the &s;ame nature, and abundance of vaine ob&s;ervations.</P>
<P><HI>Empedocles</HI> he is a little more favourable to, in that he gives him not the quality of <HI>Magician,</HI> but only where he makes him one of the ancient Philo&s;ophers who travell'd into Aegypt; nor in|deed were there any proofes to make him &s;uch, if <HI>Satyrus</HI> did not let fall a word to that purpo&s;e in <HI>Laertius,</HI> where he cites nine or ten ver&s;es of this Philo&s;opher's, wherein are comprehended his Magicall operations, and which are all the ground whereupon the Moderns have made him act the part of a Magician. Of the&s;e, one of <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib</HI> 2. <HI>qu.</HI> 9. &amp; 11.</NOTE> the mo&s;t con&s;iderable is <HI>Delrio</HI> who hath ranked among the miraculous operations of ancient Ma|gicians tho&s;e of <HI>Empedocles</HI> when he mitigated the fury and violence of the <HI>Ete&s;ian</HI> winds, par|alleling it with that of one <HI>Erric</HI> King of the <HI>Goths,</HI> who was &s;urnam'd <HI>Windy-cap,</HI> becau&s;e he made the wind to blow which way &s;oever he turn'd it. To that may be added what is &s;aid of his making the Plague to cea&s;e in the Country of the <HI>Salinuntians,</HI> and of the women he deli|ver'd of a long and dangerous &s;uffocation of the
<PB N="133" REF="77">
Matrix. But &s;ince it may well be imagin'd, that he omitted the&s;e things becau&s;e he thought them either fabulous or naturall, we may as &s;afely pa&s;&s;e the &s;ame &s;entence on tho&s;e we have &s;pecifi'd as well of him as <HI>Democritus,</HI> &s;ince they are all of the &s;ame coyne; and that to &s;peak &s;eriou&s;ly of them, it is ab&s;olutely irrationall to think the&s;e two great per&s;ons guilty of &s;uch pitifull weak|ne&s;&s;es contrary to the confidence we &s;hould have of their va&s;t Learning and integrity, had we no other &s;ecurity for it then that of <HI>Lucretius</HI> and <HI>Hippocrates.</HI> The former thinks it an honour to be the Celebrator of <HI>Empedocles</HI>'s vertues, when after a long di&s;cour&s;e in the prai&s;e of <HI>Sicily,</HI> he &s;aies, that,</P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Lib.</HI> 1.</BIBL> 
<L>Nil tamen hoc habui&s;&s;e viro praeclarius in &s;e,</L>
<L>Nec &s;anctum magis &amp; mirum clarum&abque; videtur.</L>
<L>Carmina quinetiam divini pectoris ejus</L>
<L>Vociferantur, &amp; exponunt praeclara reperta,</L>
<L>Ut vix human&acirc; videatur &s;tirpe creatus.</L></Q>
<P>The latter, whom we may ju&s;tly call the Oracle of truth, a&s;&s;ures us in his Epi&s;tles what account we &s;hould make of the admirable wi&s;dome of <HI>Democritus,</HI> which gave <HI>Cel&s;us</HI> occa&s;ion to call <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 10.</NOTE> him, <HI>magni nominis Philo&s;ophum;</HI> and <HI>Gellius,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>c.</HI> 12. 17.</NOTE> <HI>nobili&s;&s;imum Philo&s;ophorum; virum praeter alios venerandum, authoritate&abque; antiqu&acirc; praeditum.</HI></P>
<P>But as the &s;ame turf brings forth many times both whol&s;ome and hurtfull herbs, and Bees &s;uck honey whence Caterpillers do poi&s;on; &s;o the tra|vels, which they &s;ay the&s;e Philo&s;ophers under|went, to learn Magick, mu&s;t now &s;erve us as a pregnant proof, that they were the occa&s;ions of
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their great Learning and Polymathy. And this mu&s;t be the more probable, if we reflect on what hath been already &s;aid of the Magick of the <HI>Aegy|ptians,</HI> and the travels of <HI>Orpheus, Zoroa&s;tes,</HI> and <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib&punc; de vita Apollon. c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Pythagoras;</HI> as al&s;o on the authority of <HI>Philo&s;tra|tus,</HI> who, though of a contrary opinion to us, as to the Sages of <HI>Per&s;ia</HI> and the <HI>Aegyptians,</HI> yet &s;ayes, that <HI>Pythagoras, Democritus,</HI> and <HI>Empedocles,</HI> not|with&s;tanding their conver&s;ation with them, would not learn any thing of their Science. To &s;trengthen this yet further, we may adde the ne|gative authority of <HI>Laertius,</HI> who makes not the lea&s;t mention of the Magick of <HI>Democritus,</HI> and but one word by the way of that of <HI>Empedocles,</HI> not &s;pecifying, contrary to his cu&s;tom, any thing he had done by the means of it, without bringing on the &s;tage the common &s;olution of this kind of argument. And yet it were but ju&s;t to urge it, when he from whom i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> is taken had made it his bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to &s;ay all he could, and to particularize whatever belongs to the Subject he treats on. For in&s;tance, if any &s;hould undertake to give an exact account of all the <HI>Sciences,</HI> and &s;hould &s;ay nothing of <HI>Medicine,</HI> it might be ju&s;tly inferr'd, he did not rank it among them. So it may be concluded, that <HI>Laertius</HI> and two hundred and eleven Au|thours, whom he quotes, had not heard ought of the Magick of the&s;e two Philo&s;ophers, &s;ince he &s;ayes not any thing of it in his Book, where yet he intended a full collection, even to the jugling tricks of <HI>Pythagoras,</HI> and the mo&s;t incon&s;iderable particulars, though fabulous, he had read of o|thers.</P>
<P>But as to <HI>Democritus</HI> in particular, we may <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 30. <HI>c.</HI> 1.</NOTE> balance <HI>Pliny</HI>'s authority with what he &s;ayes him|&s;elf
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of the doubt which many made to beleeve things &s;o leight and triviall of a man &s;o wi&s;e and di&s;creet in all his other actions. And to that adde the contrary authority of <HI>Gellius,</HI> who hath made <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 10. <HI>c.</HI> 12.</NOTE> an expre&s;&s;e Chapter, <HI>De portentis fabularum quae Plinius &s;ecundus indigni&s;&s;im&egrave; in Democritum Philo|&s;ophum confert;</HI> where he di&s;covers at large the vanity of all the forementioned fables, and at la&s;t concludes with the&s;e words; <HI>Multa autem viden|tur ab hominibus male &s;olertibus huju&s;modi com|menta in Democriti nomen data, nobilitatis, autori|tati&s;&abque; ejus perfugio utentibus.</HI> Nor indeed do I find any more than two things in the&s;e objections of <HI>Pliny,</HI> which we may at all &s;tick at, that is, the magicall books written by <HI>Democritus,</HI> and tho&s;e of <HI>Dardanus</HI> publi&s;h'd by him. To which may be an&s;wer'd, that &s;uch proofs conclude not directly, as we have &s;hewn in the &s;ixth Chapter of this <HI>Apologie;</HI> that the&s;e books are not &s;pecified by <HI>Laertius,</HI> or any other, and that it is extreamly uncertain who that <HI>Dardanus</HI> &s;hould be. For though <HI>Pliny, Tertullian,</HI> and <HI>Apuleius</HI> make him a great Magician, yet all they &s;ay of him is upon the credit of <HI>Columella,</HI> who &s;ayes,
<Q><BIBL><HI>Lib.</HI> 10.</BIBL> <L>At &s;i nulla valet medicina repellere pestem,</L>
<L>Dardaniae veniant artes.&mdash;</L></Q></P>
<P>If we will refer the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to the Civilians, this <HI>Dardanus</HI> may well be &s;ome other than a Magician, &s;ince they &s;ay, that <HI>Dardanarii</HI> are pro|perly <HI>Sepla&s;iarii, Propolae, Proxenetae,</HI> that is, <HI>En|gro&s;&s;ers</HI> and <HI>Regraters,</HI> who fill their barns and &s;tore-hou&s;es with all &s;orts of provi&s;ion, to be &s;old again at extraordinary rates, when a dearth &s;hould
<PB N="136" REF="79">
happen, as it is learnedly interpreted by <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">Ob&s;ervat. l. <HI>10.</HI> c <HI>19.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Cuja|cius</HI> and <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Adver|&s;ar. l. <HI>9.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Turnebus.</HI> To this I adde, to leave this erroneous per&s;wa&s;ion as naked as may be, what <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg"><HI>Cap.</HI> 9.</NOTE> <HI>Solinus,</HI> &s;peaking of the &s;tone <HI>Cathochi|tes,</HI> which &s;tuck to the hands of tho&s;e that handled it, as if it had been of a vi&s;cous and glewy nature, &s;aith, <HI>Democritum Abderitem o&s;tentatione &s;crupuli hujus frequenter u&s;um, ad probandam occultam na|tur <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> potentiam in certaminibus quae contra magos ha|buit.</HI> And to that, the opinion of the Spaniard <NOTE PLACE="marg">Delictor Magic. l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI> art. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Torreblanca,</HI> who &s;ayes expre&s;&s;ely, that <HI>Magiam Daemoniacam pleno ore negarunt Democritus, Aver|roes, Simplicius, &amp; alii Epicurei qui un&agrave; cum Sad|du<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">aeis Daemones e&s;&s;e negarunt.</HI> For indeed he well di&s;cover'd what account he made of Spirits and <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lucian. in Philop&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ud</NOTE> Magick, when he plea&s;antly laugh'd at tho&s;e young men of <HI>Abdera,</HI> who had di&s;gui&s;'d them|&s;elves like Devils, purpo&s;ely to frighten him in <NOTE PLACE="marg"><P>Imperat.</P>
<P>Julian. in Epi&s;t.</P></NOTE> his &s;olitude, and that being &s;ent for by King <HI>Da|rius,</HI> and entreated by him to rai&s;e up his wife, he an&s;wer'd him with a good morall in&s;truction, that he would do it with all his heart, provided he would bring him but three men who had never bewail'd the death of their neere&s;t friends; for there needed no more than to write their names, and put them upon his wife's tomb, to make her ri&s;e again immediately. This was much different from the proceeding of <HI>Simon Magus,</HI> or rather <NOTE PLACE="marg">Glycas An|nal. p. <HI>4.</HI> f. <HI>415.</HI></NOTE> the counterfeit Monk <HI>Santabarenus,</HI> who entreat|ed by the Emperour <HI>Ba&s;ilius,</HI> that he might &s;ee his Son, though dead; was much more kind than <HI>Democritus,</HI> for he gave him a meeting with him, as he went a hunting, and &s;uffer'd them to em|brace one another for &s;ome time; which it was as ea&s;ie for him to do by his Enchantment, as it was
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impo&s;&s;ible for <HI>Democritus,</HI> who had attain'd the knowledge of all things, &s;ave that of <HI>Magick.</HI></P>
<P>Nor is my admiration le&s;&s;e, that <HI>Delrio</HI> &s;hould al&s;o refer thereto what was done by <HI>Empedocles</HI> to hinder the over-violence of the winds that blew in his Countrey. For <HI>Laertius</HI> expla<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ing it, &s;ayes, He commanded a many A&s;&s;es to be flay'd &amp; their skins to be made into bags, and put upon the tops of mountains, to repre&s;&s;e the immoderate gu&s;ts of the <HI>Ete&s;ian</HI> winds. Wherein it is ea&s;ily percei|ved there was no more Magick, than in the indu|&s;try he u&s;ed to deliver the <HI>Salinunti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ns</HI> from the plague cau&s;ed by the noi&s;omne&s;&s;e of a river, by cutting into it two little rivulets, which di&s;&s;olv'd the vi&s;cou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and carried away all the filth, or in the &s;imple cure he did of the &s;uffocation of the Matrix, which yet hath given &s;ome occa&s;ion to &s;ay, that he rai&s;'d a woman to life, and to <HI>Satyrus</HI> in <HI>Laertius,</HI> that he was a Magician, though mo&s;t part of the ver&s;es he produces to prove it, and a|mong others the&s;e,</P>
<Q><L>Pharmaca queis pellas morbos, releve&s;&abque; &s;enectam</L>
<L>Percipies, quae cuncta tibi communico &s;oli</L>
<L>Extinctum&abque; hominem nigro revocabis ab Orco.</L></Q>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rer. recon|d tar. l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>1, &amp; 2.</HI></NOTE> &s;hould be interpreted as <HI>Talentonius</HI> &s;ayes, of a &s;e|cret he had to keep a body, for &s;ome time, from corruption, though depriv'd of nouri&s;hment, re|&s;piration, and the beating of the Arteries; upon the explication whereof may be con&s;ulted <HI>Galen,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>6.</HI> de loois affe|ctis, c. <HI>5.</HI> in voce <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <HI>Goreus,</HI> and the forementioned <HI>Talentonius.</HI></P>
<P>Drawing now neer unto the end of the Chap|ter, I have briefly two things to note upon the Romance we have from <HI>Philostratus</HI> in the life of
<PB N="138" REF="80">
<NOTE PLACE="marg">Antrop. l. <HI>13</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI> lib. de Di|vinat.</NOTE> <HI>Apollonius.</HI> But I &s;hall fir&s;t ob&s;erve the inadver|tencie of <HI>Volateranus, Ca&s;&s;iodorus, Boi&s;&s;ardus,</HI> and <HI>de Lancre,</HI> who a&s;&s;ure us there is now to be &s;een in the <HI>Vatican</HI> at <HI>Rome</HI> a book, <HI>De figuris conicis,</HI> compo&s;'d by <HI>Apollonius Thyanaeus,</HI> the ambiguity of the name having made them mi&s;take him for <HI>Apollonius Pergaeus,</HI> &s;irnamed <HI>Magnus Geometra,</HI> who liv'd in the time of <HI>Cleomedes,</HI> an hundred and fifty years before the nativity of our Saviour; for he it was that writ eight books <HI>de Ominicono,</HI> four whereof are tran&s;lated out of the Greek by <HI>Frederick Commandin,</HI> printed at <HI>Bologne</HI> in the year 1566. This being granted, as needing no other proof, I &s;hall &s;ay, fir&s;t, that this <HI>Apollonius Thyanaeus</HI> might be &s;ome vertuous man, of a va&s;t and powerfull wit, one who made excellent ad|vantages of philo&s;ophicall &s;peculations and his own nature, to di&s;po&s;e of that of Kings and Prin|ces, and &s;o came as neer the Hero's and Demi-Gods, as he was far from the ordinary &s;ort of men. Whence <HI>Sidonius Apollinaris</HI> took occa&s;ion very much to celebrate one of his friends, a Coun&s;el|lour to, and of great authority with <HI>Evarix</HI> King <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 8. <HI>e|pi&s;t.</HI> 3.</NOTE> of the Goths, putting him into the &s;cales with this Philo&s;opher. <HI>Lege virum,</HI> &s;aid he to him <HI>(Fidei Catholicae pace praefara) in plurimis &s;imilem tui, id est, &agrave; divitibus ambitum, nec divitias ambi|entem, cupidum &s;cientiae, continentem pecuniae, inter epulas ab&s;temium, inter purpuratos linteatum.</HI> This certainly might well &s;eem &s;trange in the mouth of a Bi&s;hop, and a friend who would commend another, were it not evident by the te&s;timonies of <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> and <HI>Ca&s;&s;iodorus,</HI> that this <HI>Apollonius</HI> was a famous Philo&s;opher and a very wi&s;e man. Be&s;ides, that it were imprudence to credit the fi|ctions
<PB N="139" REF="80">
of <HI>Philostratus</HI> rather than the authorities of St. <HI>Hierom,</HI> and <HI>Ju&s;tin Martyr,</HI> who a&s;&s;igne no other cau&s;e of all his miraculous operations than the knowledge he had of Nature, and &s;o ab&s;olute|ly clear him of Magick; the former &s;aying in his Epi&s;tle to <HI>Paulinus, Apollonius &s;ive Magus, ut vul|gus</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ep.</HI> 103.</NOTE> <HI>loquitur, &s;ive Philo&s;ophus, ut Pythagorici tra|dunt.</HI> The latter is much more open in his Que|&s;tions <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Qu.</HI> 24.</NOTE> to the Orthodox, <HI>Apollonius ut vir natura|lium potentiarum, &amp; di&s;&s;en&s;ionum at&abque; con&s;en&s;ionum earum peritus, ex hac &s;cientiae mira faciebat, non authoritate divina; hanc ob rem in omnibus indiguit a&s;&s;umptione idonearum materiarum quae eum adju|varent ad id perficiendum quod efficiebatur.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Quae&s;t. in S. Script. <HI>23.</HI></NOTE> But if this be not enough, we may read in St. <HI>Ana&s;ta&s;ius</HI> and <HI>Cedrenus,</HI> that one <HI>Julian</HI> a Chal|daean, and another famous Magician called <HI>Ma|nethon,</HI> &s;leighted all the naturall performances of <HI>Apollonius,</HI> as being nothing in compari&s;on of what they daily did, by the means of Geotick and prohibited Magick; whereas there cannot any proof to the contrary be drawn out of a many Au|thours, who have forg'd as many lies and Chime|ra's upon his life, as all our old Romances have done on that of <HI>Paladin Rowland.</HI> For <HI>Vopi&s;cus</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">In D. Au|reliano, e|pi&s;t. <HI>3.</HI> l. <HI>8.</HI></NOTE> made not that Book he promi&s;'d of his Hi&s;tory; <HI>Sidonius</HI> had de&s;crib'd him &s;uch as we have repre|&s;ented him; <HI>Ta&s;cius Victorianus</HI> and <HI>Nicomachus</HI> are not to be met with, in any Library; &s;o that it cannot be judg'd in what &s;en&s;e they writ of him. And for the more ancient, <HI>Hierocles</HI> had borrow'd <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eu&s;eb. in Hieroclem.</NOTE> all his relation from <HI>Philo&s;tratus,</HI> who had dre&s;&s;'d up his at the reque&s;t of the Empre&s;&s;e <HI>Julia;</HI> as at the pre&s;ent, Love-&s;tories and Romances are writ|ten for the entertainment of Queens and Prin|ce&s;&s;es.
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Be&s;ides the fal&s;e notes of his own imagi|nation, he made u&s;e of tho&s;e of one <HI>Maximus,</HI> who had written a relation of what <HI>Apollonius</HI> had done at <HI>Tar&s;us,</HI> but his main a&s;&s;i&s;tance was the Diary or Diurnall of <HI>Damis.</HI> Of the integrity of this <HI>Damis,</HI> &s;ince a Lion may be known by his claw, and that a man need not drink up the Sea, to try whether it be &s;alt; we are not to make the lea&s;t account, &s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ce he is &s;o impudent as to affirm, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 3. <HI>l.</HI> 2. <HI>c.</HI> 2.</NOTE> in <HI>Philo&s;tratus,</HI> that he had &s;een the chains where|with <HI>Prometheus</HI> had been fa&s;ten'd to Mount <HI>Cau|ca&s;us,</HI> which were yet in the &s;tones, when he pa&s;|&s;ed it with <HI>Apollonius,</HI> who was travelling to the Indies. But as all things, even the mo&s;t fabulous, have &s;ome ground, and that all painting &s;uppo&s;es a firm and &s;olid body under it, &s;o mu&s;t it be ac|knowledg'd, that this great Volume blown up with fal&s;ities, was written by <HI>Philo&s;tratus</HI> out of no other de&s;igne, than to make a parallel between the miracles of this Philo&s;opher, and tho&s;e of <HI>Je|&s;us Christ,</HI> purpo&s;ely to undermine the foundati|ons of our Religion, and &s;et people at a lo&s;&s;e, whe|ther of the two they rather ought to credit, our Saviour or <HI>Apollonius.</HI> The &s;ame cour&s;e took <HI>Eu|napius,</HI> an implacable enemy of the Chri&s;tians, to di&s;parage the miracles of Saints and Martyrs, by advancing a many invented by him&s;elf of <HI>Plotinus, So&s;ipater, Porphyrius, Maximus, Iamblicus,</HI> and divers other Platoni&s;ts, who&s;e lives he writ. That the ca&s;e &s;tands thus with <HI>Philo&s;tratus,</HI> the conje|cture is but too probable; for the Empre&s;&s;e <HI>Ju|lia</HI>'s de&s;ire, to &s;ee &s;omething of his writing (as be|ing a man very polite and eloquent) might well give him occa&s;ion to publi&s;h that chimericall, yet pernicious Hi&s;tory, in the time of the &s;ixth Per|&s;ecution,
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which happen'd under <HI>Septimus Seve|rus,</HI> about two hundred and ten years after Chri&s;t, when the Pagans endeavour'd the de&s;truction of Chri&s;tianity, no le&s;&s;e by Artifices than by open war. Upon this very account was it, that <HI>Vopi&s;cus</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Divo Aureliano.</NOTE> celebrated &s;o highly, though in few words, the vertues and miracles of this <HI>Thyanaeus;</HI> for accor|ding to the learned <HI>Ca&s;aubon</HI>'s glo&s;&s;e upon it, <HI>Cum</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">In notis ad Vopi&s;cum.</NOTE> <HI>hoc tibicine fulcirent homines pagani ruentes jam &s;u|per&s;titiones &s;uas, nemo debet mirari Vopi&s;cum hoc loco in illius laudes ferri.</HI></P>
<P>We may therefore pa&s;&s;e our finall judgement on all this, with <HI>Paulus Oro&s;ius,</HI> and <HI>Leonard Vair,</HI> viz. That as the greate&s;t part of the Fables of Po|ets, and other Heathen Writers, &s;eem to have ta|ken their di&s;gui&s;es out of the holy Scriptures; as for in&s;tance, the Deluge in the time of <HI>Deucalion</HI> and <HI>Pyrrha,</HI> from that of <HI>Noah;</HI> the fall of <HI>Pha|eton,</HI> from the miracle of <HI>Jo&s;hua;</HI> the Gyants war, from the Tower of <HI>Babel;</HI> the Ambro&s;ia of the Gods, from the Manna of the I&s;raelites; the plague at <HI>Rome</HI> from that in the De&s;ert; and the Serpent of <HI>Ae&s;culapius,</HI> from the Brazen one ere|cted by <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> So without que&s;tion all the extra|vagancies of <HI>Philo&s;tratus</HI> upon his <HI>Apollonius,</HI> took their ri&s;e from the true miracles of our Saviour, &s;ince he hath been plea&s;'d to oppo&s;e the Daemon, which came to give <HI>Apollonius</HI>'s mother notice of <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 3, 4, 7, 9, 19. <HI>l.</HI> 2. <HI>c.</HI> 2. <HI>l.</HI> 4. <HI>c.</HI> 1, 6, 16. <HI>l.</HI> 8. <HI>c.</HI> 5.</NOTE> his nativity, to the my&s;tery of the <HI>Annunciation;</HI> the &s;inging of Swans, to that of the Angels; the lightening that &s;ell from Heaven, to the Star that appear'd in <HI>Bethleem;</HI> the Letters &s;ent to him from divers Kings, to the adoration of the <HI>Magi;</HI> the di&s;cour&s;es he held, when very young, in the Temple of <HI>Ae&s;culapius,</HI> to the di&s;putation of
<PB N="142" REF="82">
<HI>Christ</HI> among the Doctours; the que&s;tions put to him by his Di&s;ciples, to tho&s;e of the Apo&s;tles; the judgement he pa&s;&s;ed upon the Eunuch and the Concubine, to that on the woman taken in adul|tery; the apparition he met with upon Mount <HI>Cauca&s;us,</HI> to the temptation of the Devil in the wilderne&s;&s;e; the incredulity of the Ephe&s;ians, to that of the Jews; his deliverance of a young man po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with the Devil, to the like action of <HI>Christ;</HI> the Maid he rai&s;ed to life at <HI>Rome,</HI> to <HI>Jairus</HI>'s daughter; his appearing to <HI>Damis</HI> and <HI>Demetrius</HI> without the City, to that of our Savi|our to the two Di&s;ciples going to <HI>Emmaus;</HI> the words he &s;aid to them, to tho&s;e of <HI>Je&s;us Christ, Spiritus carnem &amp; o&s;&s;a non habet;</HI> and la&s;tly, his death and a&s;cen&s;ion, either to that of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> or to the tran&s;lation of <HI>Enoch</HI> or <HI>Eliah.</HI> All the&s;e pa|rallels I have the rather thought fit to particula|rize, to &s;hew the malice, and the pitifull and in|di&s;creet &s;ubtlety of <HI>Philo&s;tratus;</HI> and con&s;equent|ly, that the &s;afe&s;t way to refute all the&s;e fictions, is to deny them any relation to Magick, contrary <NOTE PLACE="marg">De rerum praenot. l. <HI>7.</HI> c. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE> to what <HI>Franci&s;cus Picus</HI> hath done, becau&s;e Jews and Gentiles might make their advantage of them, aud thence draw an example, to prove what they have &s;o often &s;aid of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> in the Go|&s;pel, <HI>Now we know thou ha&s;t a Devil, for thou ca&s;test out Devils, through Beelzebub the prince of Devils.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Adver&s;us Hieroclem.</NOTE> Be&s;ides that, we mu&s;t with <HI>Eu&s;ebius</HI> ab&s;olutely deny them, and &s;o proceed, according to his dire|ctions in the di&s;covery of them, that we may lay open the weak grounds they are built upon, and all the imperinencies and contradictions they are <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ci<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. in Pa|radox<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s.</NOTE> guilty of, <HI>Ut vetu&s;ta habeantur i&s;ta, non ut in vin|cula virorum &s;int, &s;ed oblectamenta puerorum.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="13" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="143" REF="82">
<HEAD>CHAP. XIII.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of the Genii attributed to Socrates, Aristotle, Plo|tinus, Porphyrius, Jamblicus, Chicus, Scaliger, and Cardan.</HEAD>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">De apparit&punc; Spirit. c. <HI>14.</HI> num. <HI>346.</HI></NOTE> THe Je&s;uit <HI>Thyraeas</HI> quotes an ob&s;ervation of &s;ome people &s;ufficiently &s;uper&s;titious, who &s;ay that all Children borne in the Ember-weeks commonly bring along with them their caules or certaine membranes, and are much more likely then others to gaine the acquaintance and fami|liarity of the Genii de&s;igned for their conduct. The &s;ame Priviledge they al&s;o pretend to, accor|ding to <HI>Ptolemy,</HI> who have the Moon, in con|junction <NOTE PLACE="marg">Quadrip. l. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>13.</HI> textu. <HI>18.</HI></NOTE> with Sagittary, Lady of their actions, or with Pi&s;ces, of the Nativity. All we inferre hence, is, to imagine one of the&s;e two happened in the Nativities of all tho&s;e for whom we make this Chapter, &s;ince that by the Anthority of mo&s;t Authors, every one of them might pre&s;ume he was brought into the Temple of Glory and Im|mortality by the extraordinary a&s;&s;i&s;tance of &s;ome Genius or familiar Daemon, which was to them, as <HI>Apuleius</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>&s;ingularis praefectus, dome&s;ticus</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de Deo Socrat.</NOTE> <HI>&s;peculator, individuus arbiter, in&s;eparabilis te&s;tis, ma|lorum improbator, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">onorum probator.</HI> But &s;ince this opinion cannot be a&s;&s;erted without much injury done to the&s;e great men, and taking away from the obligation we owe their excellent Labours, by the meanes whereof, and not by that of the&s;e Daemons and tutelary Gods, &s;o many precious reliques and monuments of their Learning have
<PB N="144" REF="83">
come to our knowledge: me thinks it is but ju&s;t we &s;hould continue them in their de&s;erv'd repu|tation, and &s;hew the true meaning may be gi|ven this Conver&s;ation and corre&s;pondence, how extravagant their imaginations are who believe it to have been &s;uch as that of the Angels with holy men, or that of Devills with Magici|ans.</P>
<P>For to come as near the truth as may be, we are to ob&s;erve that the Platonicks, as <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg"><P>Lib. de My&s;ter.</P>
<P>Aegypt.</P></NOTE> <HI>Jam|blichus</HI> and <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Comment in Phaedo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&punc;</NOTE> <HI>Foxius</HI> affirme, a&s;&s;igned four kinds of rationall Creatures, after that which they called the fir&s;t Being, or fir&s;t Goodne&s;&s;e, that is, the fir&s;t Author and Mover of all things; that is to &s;ay, the <HI>Cele&s;tiall Gods</HI> or Angels; the <HI>Daemons</HI> inferior to them; the <HI>Heroes;</HI> and the &s;ouls of all men. The principall duty and employment <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de an|im&acirc; et Dae|mone.</NOTE> of the Daemons being, as <HI>Proclus</HI> affirmes, only to enterpo&s;e and manage the affaires and conduct of the la&s;t, and to be as it were their guides and interpreters towards the Gods, &s;ome have taken occa&s;ion, from the re&s;emblance of the&s;e actions, with tho&s;e of the &s;ouls over their bodies; to call them &s;ometimes by the name of <HI>Daemons.</HI> And to do this they thought there was much more rea&s;on, when they arriv'd to &s;uch a defiance of the Slavery and tyranny of the matter wherein they were as it were immer&s;'d, that they had the ab&s;olute di&s;po|&s;all of all their faculties, and were as miraculous <NOTE PLACE="marg">De Deo So|crat.</NOTE> in all they did as tho&s;e Daemons were thought. According to this &s;en&s;e that does <HI>Apuleius</HI> &s;ay, <HI>Animus humanus etiam nunc in corpore &s;itus, Dae|mon nuncupatur;</HI> and <HI>Heraclitus,</HI> that the Spirit of a man was to him in&s;tead of a Genius, <GAP DESC="foreign">: be&s;ides that it may ea&s;ily be in|ferr'd
<PB N="145" REF="83">
from the&s;e two ver&s;es of <HI>Virgil.</HI>
<Q><L>&mdash;Diine nunc ardorem mentibus addunt</L>
<L>Eurgale? an &s;ua cui&abque; deus fit dira cupido?</L></Q>
that the ju&s;t de&s;ires and good operations of the &s;oul may in like manner be qualifi'd with the name of God. Adde to this what <HI>Porphyrius</HI> &s;ayes, after <HI>Plato</HI> in his <HI>Timaeus,</HI> that God hath a&s;&s;ign'd the &s;uperior faculty of our Mind as a Dae|mon to conduct us, and that it may be ju&s;tly call|ed <HI>Eudaemon,</HI> who looks on Wi&s;dom as the Pha|ros that &s;hould direct it in all the actions of his life.</P>
<P>This might well &s;erve for a generall &s;olution to that whatever may be &s;aid of the familiarity and acquaintance of <HI>Socrates, Aristotle,</HI> and others, with certain Devils; were it not al&s;o requi&s;ite, to an&s;wer the objections may be made again&s;t them in particular. To begin then with that famous and &s;o well known Daemon of <HI>So|crates,</HI> no le&s;&s;e celebrated by their Authority from whom we have the hi&s;tory of it, than by the great <NOTE PLACE="marg">De &s;act. &amp; dict. Socrat. in Theage.</NOTE> diver&s;ity of opinions concerning it. Some affirm it might truely be &s;ome Apparition, &amp; others that it was a pure fiction of that Philo&s;opher, or of his two Di&s;ciples <HI>Xenophon</HI> and <HI>Plato,</HI> who as fal&s;ely advanc'd the report of this divine a&s;&s;i&s;tance, as that of the Oracle's declaring him the wi&s;e&s;t of Mankind, as if there were any rea&s;on to be&s;tow the highe&s;t and proude&s;t Title imaginable, on a lewd fellow that publikely pro&s;e&s;&s;'d Ignorance, Sloath and Sodomy, who liv'd upon almes, knowing not any art or di&s;cipline, and endea|vouring to di&s;credit all the Sciences by his igno|rant Wi&s;dome&punc;
<Q><PB N="146" REF="84">
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Pa&s;&s;erat. in Poemat. de nihilo.</NOTE> Socratici&abque; gregis fuit haec Sapientia quondam</L>
<L>Scire nihil&mdash;</L></Q>
a man that breath'd nothing but the introduction of <HI>Athei&s;me,</HI> de&s;ervedly reprov'd and laugh'd at by <HI>Aristophunes, Timon, Aristotle</HI> and <HI>Athenaeus.</HI> And la&s;tly a man that for all the prai&s;es have been given him, is only oblig'd to two of his di&s;ciples, per&s;ons not free from &s;u&s;pition, and con&s;equently not ab&s;olutely creditable, who might as well write Apologies for him, a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d outvy one another in his commendations, as <HI>Gellius</HI> ob&s;erves that one of them did when he writ his <HI>In&s;titutions of</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib&punc;</HI> 14. <HI>c.</HI> 3.</NOTE> <HI>Cyrus,</HI> out of aemulation to the other, who had publi&s;hed ten Books <HI>of Common-Wealth.</HI></P>
<P>But the&s;e are de&s;perate Sallyes of a dangerous &s;ort of &s;pirits, who, purpo&s;ely to expo&s;e him to generall contempt, &s;o freely di&s;credit the Authority of the&s;e two great Philo&s;ophers, as al&s;o tho&s;e of <HI>Apuleius, Maximus Tyrius, Cicero, Plutarch</HI> and the be&s;t Authours, out of no other motive then that of meer vanity and a groundle&s;s hope of being thought more criticall and quick|&s;ighted then others for breaking and battering this ancient image. I &s;hould, for my part, rather be of their number who reverence it, out of a be|lief that &s;o many Authors would not be&s;tow &s;uch Elogies on <HI>Socrates,</HI> or call him, as <HI>Martial</HI> did, <HI>magnum Senem,</HI> as <HI>Per&s;ius, barbatum Magistrum,</HI> as <HI>Val. Maximus, palliatum animum virilitatis ro|bore,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de deo Socratis.</NOTE> or la&s;tly as <HI>Apuleius, Divinae prudentiae &s;enem,</HI> if he had not been &s;o famous for his wi&s;dome, that they are rather to be excu&s;'d then condemn'd who, with &s;ome rea&s;on thought he had acquired it by the favour and a&s;&s;i&s;tance of his <HI>Daemon.</HI>
<PB N="147" REF="84">
With this misfortune, neverthele&s;&s;e, that there is as much uncertainty in the explication of the na|ture of it according to this opinion, as there was malice and calumny in the precedent. For <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">Ibidem.</NOTE> <HI>Apuleius</HI> will have it to be a God, <NOTE N="p" PLACE="marg">Divinar Lib. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>14.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Lactantius</HI> and <NOTE N="q" PLACE="marg">In Apo|log.</NOTE> <HI>Tertullian,</HI> a Devil, <NOTE N="r" PLACE="marg">In Theage</NOTE> <HI>Plato,</HI> invi&s;ible; <HI>Apuleius</HI> affirmes that it might be vi&s;ible <NOTE N="s" PLACE="marg">De Deo. Socr.</NOTE> <HI>Plutarch</HI> that it was a certain &s;neezing on the left or right &s;ide, according to which <HI>Socrates</HI> pre|&s;ag'd good or bad &s;ucce&s;&s;e in the thing undertaken. <NOTE N="t" PLACE="marg"><HI>S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rmonib.</HI> 26. 27.</NOTE> <HI>Maximus Tyrius</HI> &s;ayes, it was only a remor&s;e of con&s;cience again&s;t the violence of his naturall inclination, which was neither heard nor &s;een, whereby <HI>Socrates</HI> was re&s;train'd from doing what was ill; <NOTE N="u" PLACE="marg">De in|cantationi|bus, c. <HI>11.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Pompanatius,</HI> that it was the a&s;cendent of his Nativity, &amp; la&s;tly <NOTE N="x" PLACE="marg">E&s;&s;ayes. l. <HI>1.</HI> Chap. <HI>11.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Montaigne</HI> that it was a certain impul&s;ion of the will, that pre&s;ented it &s;elf to him, beyond the direction of his di&s;cour&s;e. But for my part, I think it may be truely and ration|ally &s;aid, that this familiar Daemon of <HI>Socrates,</HI> which was to him, <NOTE N="y" PLACE="marg">Apul. de deo Socr.</NOTE> <HI>in rebus incertis pro&s;pecta|tor, dubiis pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">monitor, periculo&s;is viator,</HI> was only the good regulation of his life, the wi&s;e conduct of his Actions, his experience of things, and the re&s;ult of all his Vertues, which wrought in him that prudence, which may ju&s;tly be termed the &s;alt and &s;ea&s;oning of all actions, the rule and line of all affaires, the eye which &s;ees, directs and di&s;|po&s;es all; and in a word, the Art of life, as Me|dicine is the Art of health. So that there is much more rea&s;on to believe that the &s;oul of this Philo&s;opher, not only refin'd from its vio|lent pa&s;&s;ions, but inrich'd with all &s;orts of Ver|tues, was the true Daemon of his carriage, than toimagine him entangled in the delu&s;ions and
<PB N="148" REF="85">
conver&s;ing with Hobgoblins, crediting them or following their directions, an imagination &s;o ab&s;urd that <HI>Plutarch</HI> thought him&s;elf concern'd to endeavour to weed it out of our belief. For in his Book upon <HI>Socrates</HI>'s <HI>Daemon</HI> he &s;aies, that <HI>Socrates</HI> &s;lighted not cele&s;tiall things, as the <HI>Athenians</HI> would have it believ'd at his condemnation, but that abundance of im|aginary apparitions, fables, and &s;uper&s;titions hav|ing crept into the Philo&s;ophy of <HI>Pythagoras</HI> and his di&s;ciples, whereby it was become ab&s;olutely ridiculous and contemptible, he endeavour'd to regulate it by prudence, to clean&s;e it from all tho&s;e Stories, and not to believe any more then what he thought rationall.</P>
<P>To this we may adde a generall <HI>Goodne&s;&s;e</HI> &s;hining through all his actions, and that he had no other de&s;igne then to lead his neighbour in the paths of vertue, and thence perceive the little ground we have to conclude this <HI>Genius</HI> to have been a bad Daemon. Which yet we &s;hould rather believe than that it was a good An|gel, &s;ince that he mu&s;t either have it voluntarily and by divine permi&s;&s;ion (a &s;ecret hath not been yet reveal'd) or by the force of his conjurations. But the&s;e mu&s;t needs be vain at that time, where|in Angels rather commanded men, and were not courted with &s;o much facility as &s;ince the pa&s;&s;ion of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, who hath deliver'd us from the &s;la|very of &s;in, to make us equalls and companions to Angels, who would not be ador'd by St. <NOTE N="z" PLACE="marg"><HI>A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">oc.</HI> 19. 20.</NOTE> <HI>John,</HI> as they had &s;ometimes been by <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg"><HI>Gen&punc;</HI> 18&punc; 2.</NOTE> <HI>Abraham.</HI></P>
<P>This foundation layd, there remaines only to re&s;olve three difficulties which may happen con|cerning this <HI>Daemon.</HI> The fir&s;t is, why he never
<PB N="149" REF="85">
per&s;waded him to do any thing, but only not to undertake &s;omething, and to take heed and avoid it. To this it may be an&s;wered that <HI>Socrates</HI> needed it not, in as much as being naturally en|clin'd to whatever were vertuous, his particu|lar endeavour was, by a long habit, to arrive to that re&s;ervedne&s;&s;e which the greate&s;t per&s;ons, e|ven in their mo&s;t violent pa&s;&s;ions, and notwith|&s;tanding their courage, either have or ought to have. This is true prudence, which regulates their conduct, and makes them do all things wi&s;ely, <HI>quae ratio,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Cicero, Poetas, maxime&abque; Home|rum impulit, ut principibus Heroum, Uly&s;&s;i, Aga|memnoni, Diomedi, Achilli, certos deos di&s;criminum &amp; periculorum comites adjungerent.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;econd is a proof taken from the Ec&s;ta&s;ies which were ordinary to this per&s;on, whence &s;ome conclude they could not happen to him but by the means of a Daemon more powerfull then that of the perfection of his Soul. As if it were not more rationall, with <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> and <HI>Mar&s;ilius</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>13.</HI> de immort.</NOTE> <HI>Ficinus,</HI> who repre&s;ent <HI>Socrates</HI> as a man extream|ly melancholy, to imagine the&s;e ec&s;ta&s;ies as na|turall in him as tho&s;e of <HI>Charles de Bouille,</HI> menti|oned <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Biblioth. lib. de Scrip torib&punc; Eccle&s;ia&s;t.</NOTE> by <HI>Ge&s;ner</HI> and <HI>Trithemius.</HI> For Melancho|ly may for a long time entertaine the Soul, in a deep meditation, and when the Spirits attend the &s;oule to that place where it retreats as it were into its centre, to do it &s;ome &s;ervice there, the other parts are depriv'd of their influent heat, and &s;eem not to have any &s;park of life, and this is properly what is called Ec&s;ta&s;ie.</P>
<P>The la&s;t depends upon the great number and certainty of the praedictions of this Philo&s;opher, whence is drawn the &s;ame inference as from the
<PB N="150" REF="86">
precedent, as that <HI>Socrates</HI> was certainly the in|&s;trument of that Daemon, which not content to have declar'd him the wi&s;e&s;t of all men, would needs add a further re&s;pect to him by the meanes of his Oracles and an&s;wers. To this may be &s;aid, that, be&s;ides that it were an open breach of <HI>Horace's</HI> commandment.</P>
<P><Q><L>Nec Deus inter&s;it, ni&s;i dignus vindice nodus</L>
<L><NOTE PLACE="marg">De art. Poel.</NOTE> Inciderit,&mdash;</L></Q>
to attribute the&s;e predictions of <HI>Socrates,</HI> and the advice he gave his Friends, to &s;ome Divinity; it were more rationall to conceive, that, as he was ab&s;olutely enclin'd to morall actions, &s;o had he &s;o particularly con&s;ider'd all the accidents that happen to men, that any thing almo&s;t gave him &s;ome light to judge of and fore&s;ee what was to come. Hence it al&s;o came that he was repu|ted the eighth wi&s;e-man of <HI>Greece,</HI> becau&s;e he ab|&s;olutely re&s;ign'd him&s;elf to the practice of com|mendable and vertuous Actions, not medling with the fruitle&s;&s;e &s;peculations of the Sciences; which, like mony, are &s;ometimes current, &s;ome|times cry'd down, one while &s;tamp'd one way, another, another; but alwayes emba&s;'d and very leight. And herein he imitated the &s;even fa|mous per&s;ons of Antiquity, among whom was only <HI>Thales</HI> who&s;e wi&s;dome exceeded the con|templation of tho&s;e things which were in com|mon u&s;e among men; for, him excepted, all the re&s;t acquir'd that &s;o honourable title by their great under&s;tanding of Morality, and Matters of State and Government.</P>
<P>There are tho&s;e, who, to make <HI>Aristotle</HI> not
<PB N="151" REF="86">
inferiour to <HI>Socrates,</HI> maintaine he had the par|ticular a&s;&s;i&s;tance of &s;ome <HI>Daemon.</HI> But the&s;e, methinks, do his doctrine as much violence as <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">De &s;ubti|lit. l. <HI>19.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Cardan</HI> did that of <HI>Averroes</HI> (who never be|lievd there were any Devils) when he introduces a Daemon who call'd him&s;elf one of his di&s;ciples and followers; or the Alchimi&s;ts daily do to <HI>Avicenna,</HI> to whom, (though, in <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">Quodli|bet. <HI>3.</HI> quae&s;t. <HI>8.</HI> ex ejus com|ment. in lih. Meteor.</NOTE> <HI>Aegidius Romanus,</HI> he ab&s;outely deny the po&s;&s;ibility of their metallick tran&s;mutation) they yet attribute the knowledge and practi&s;e of the Philo&s;opher's &s;tone. For there is nothing, &s;o certain in the Doctrine of <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> not wherein his Interpre|ters do &s;o much agree; as that he never admitted any other intelligences then tho&s;e which cau&s;ed the motion of the cele&s;tiall Bodies, di&s;carding all other kinds of Daemons and Angels, &s;o con|firming his own principles, and admitting no|thing which was not known to him either by mo|tion or operation. This is the generall a&s;&s;erti|on of the <HI>Peripateticks,</HI> with <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">Quae&s;t. de Daemonib. art. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Aquinas,</HI> <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Parte. <HI>2.</HI> partis de univer&s;o &s;piritu.</NOTE> <HI>William Bp.</HI> of <HI>Paris,</HI> <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg">De incan|tation. c. <HI>10</HI></NOTE> <HI>Pompanatius,</HI> <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>19.</HI> de &s;ubtil. et l. <HI>6.</HI> de variet c. <HI>93.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Cardan</HI> <NOTE N="l" PLACE="marg">In Aca|demic. con|templ.</NOTE> <HI>Theupolus,</HI> <NOTE N="m" PLACE="marg">Comment in Fernel. l. <HI>1.</HI> de abdi|tis. c. <HI>11.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Riolanus,</HI> <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg">Lib. de Daemon. c. <HI>3</HI></NOTE> <HI>Niphus,</HI> and <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>29.</HI> de &s;ingul. certam. p. <HI>519.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Bernard Mirandulanus,</HI> who expre&s;&s;ely &s;ayes, <HI>illud negare non po&s;&s;umus, Ari&s;totelem ratione natura|li non perveni&s;&s;e ni&s;i ad form as quae in corpore aliquo &s;unt.</HI> To the &s;ame purpo&s;e <HI>Niphus,</HI> before him, &s;aid, that &s;uch forms and &s;eparated &s;ub&s;tances, ac|cording to the doctrine of the <HI>Peripateticks, erant Tereti&s;mata quaedam &amp; figmenta,</HI> &s;uch as <HI>Theu|polus</HI> &s;ayes <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> ever &s;lighted, <HI>tanquam Sphin|gis &amp; Chimaerae inania nomina,</HI> attributing what is commonly &s;aid of them, to nature, that is, to the properties of naturall things, to the humour and temperament of Animals, to the
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qualities of places, and to their vapours and ex|halations, leaving nothing at all for the &s;ub&s;tances to do. And that there is not any di&s;pute con|cerning them in his workes, is, not that he could not a&s;&s;ert them without &s;ome Demon&s;tra|tion, but that he dur&s;t not openly refute them, not becau&s;e he would not contradict <HI>Plato,</HI> who had gaind much reputation by introducing them, but that he would avoid the cen&s;ure of impiety by oppo&s;ing the Lawes of his Country, &amp; the common opinion concerning Gods &amp; Oracles. However it be, we cannot conclude according to his doctrine, that they were any thing but dreames and <HI>Chime|ra's.</HI> For if there were any, they mu&s;t be either <HI>Corporeall</HI> or <HI>incorporeall;</HI> to &s;ay they were incor|poreall were to contradict what he &s;ayes in the 12. of his <HI>Metaphy&s;icks,</HI> that there is no Intelligence but is joyn'd to &s;ome body. Be&s;ides they mu&s;t be thought all good; and void of malice and corrup|tion according to what he &s;ayes in the ninth Book of the &s;ame treati&s;e, that &s;in cannot proceed but from matter; wherein&punc; as he explaines it in his <HI>Ethicks,</HI> lyes the &s;en&s;uall appetite, which, when it exceeds and over-rules the rationall, cau&s;es that deformity. If they were corporeall, their Bo|dies were either eternall or mortall; the former they cannot be, becau&s;e, in all his Phy&s;icks, he a&s;|&s;igns but one only body of that nature, that is that of Heaven. If mortall, they were either &s;imple or compound; if &s;imple, what he &s;ayes in the fir&s;t and &s;econd Book, <HI>de Anima,</HI> that &s;he is never found in a &s;imple Body, cannot any way &s;tand with it; if the latter, they were con&s;equently corruptible, palpable, perceptible, and &s;ubject to a thou&s;and changes and alterations, which can|not be admitted.</P>
<P><PB N="153" REF="87">
Nor does it amount to much that he hath the word Daemon in &s;everall places of his Books, for then it mu&s;t be conceiv'd he &s;peakes according to the opinion of the vulgar &amp; the Platonicks, as <HI>Al|exander &amp; Niphus</HI> affirme, upon the fift of his <HI>Me|taphy&s;icks,</HI> and the third, <HI>Of the generation of Ani|mals,</HI> Chap. 14. Or haply he made u&s;e of that word &s;peaking of God, as is evident from that pa&s;&s;age in the &s;econd Book of his <HI>Rhetorick,</HI> where he &s;ayes, that the Demon is &s;ent to divers per&s;ons of extraordinary Pro&s;perities, not out of any af|fection he bears them, but to make their Cala|mity the more remarkable; for certain it is that only God can &s;end tho&s;e pro&s;perities.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides all the&s;e proofs, me thinks there is one very pertinent may be had out of his Book <HI>Of Di|vination by dreames,</HI> where to &s;hew there was no|thing &s;upernaturall in them, he &s;ayes, <HI>Omnin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> autem quoniam nonnulla etiam &s;omniant animalia, a Deo cert&eacute; mi&s;&s;a non erunt &s;omnia, neque hujus gra|ti&acirc; fiunt, &s;ed daemonia &s;an&eacute; ernnt, &s;iquidem natura daemonia e&s;t, non divina.</HI> For though it hath bred much controver&s;y among the Interpreters and Commentators of <HI>Aristotle,</HI> about the &s;en&s;e wherein the Epithet, he gives Nature, &s;hould be taken, yet me thinks <HI>Leonicus</HI> hath gue&s;&s;'d better then any of the re&s;t&punc; and that the Learned <NOTE N="p" PLACE="marg">Comment&punc; on that place.</NOTE> <HI>Carpentarius</HI> hath di&s;cover'd the full &s;ignification of that Phra&s;e, when he &s;ayes that <HI>Aristotle</HI> would thereby &s;hew, <NOTE N="q" PLACE="marg">In cap. <HI>13.</HI> Alcinoi digre&s;&s;. <HI>4.</HI> pag. <HI>338.</HI></NOTE> <HI>in natur&acirc; ben&eacute; ordinat&acirc; depen|dente ex coelestium orbium conver&s;ione ip&s;is Intelli|gentiis, eam vim ad omnia explicanda reperiri po&s;&s;e propter quam alii ad Daemones confugerunt.</HI> This explication does fir&s;t confirme what we have &s;aid before of <HI>Aristotles</HI>'s opinion concerning the&s;e
<PB N="154" REF="88">
&s;eparated &s;ub&s;tances, and then confute the only <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. <HI>7.</HI> lib. de inve&s;tig. Daemon.</NOTE> Rea&s;on which <HI>Ce&s;alpinus</HI> gives to a&s;&s;ert them, even out of his very doctrine.</P>
<P>This certainly were enough to &s;atisfie the World how much this Philo&s;opher is injur'd, when he is charg'd with the familiarity of one of the&s;e <HI>Genii</HI> or <HI>Daemons,</HI> which he never took for any thing but dreams and imaginations. But here are yet &s;ome trivall Objections rai&s;'d by certain Authors, who wanting Rea&s;on to compa&s;&s;e their de&s;igne, fly to Stratagems and ca&s;t du&s;t in our eyes. <HI>Medina</HI> and others upon <NOTE N="s" PLACE="marg">1. <HI>Secundae quae&s;t.</HI> 109. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rt.</HI> 1.</NOTE> <HI>Aquinas</HI> would af|firme, that the reach of our &s;pirit is not &s;o great, as to be able to dive into the knowledge of na|ture, as did that of <HI>Aristotle,</HI> without the parti|cular a&s;&s;i&s;tance of &s;ome good or bad <HI>Genius.</HI> And that he made u&s;e of the latter, is not, &s;ay they, to be que&s;tioned, after the proofs whi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">h <NOTE N="s" PLACE="marg">In proaem. de vit. Philo&s;oph.</NOTE> <HI>La|ertius,</HI> and <NOTE N="t" PLACE="marg"><P><HI>11.</HI> Part. de univer&s;o &s;pirit.</P>
<P><HI>Cap.</HI> 92. 153. &amp; 2. <HI>part. c.</HI> 6.</P></NOTE> <HI>William, Bi&s;hop</HI> of <HI>Paris,</HI> afford. The former cites a Book of his treating <HI>of Ma|gick;</HI> the latter, in divers places of his Works, &s;ayes that this Philo&s;opher had for Coun&s;ellour in all his Actions, a <HI>Spirit</HI> he made to come down out of the Sphere of <HI>Venus,</HI> by the &s;acrifice of an in&s;nar'd Lamb, and &s;ome other Ceremonies. This piece of &s;uper&s;tition gave <HI>Emanuel de Moura</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de En|&s;al. Sect. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI> n. <HI>19.</HI></NOTE> occa&s;ion to relate out of <HI>Philoponus</HI> in the life of <HI>Aristotle,</HI> again&s;t tho&s;e who would make him an <HI>Atheist,</HI> that he was &s;o &s;trangely cajoll'd by a Woman, that &s;he made him con&s;ult the oracle of <HI>Apollo.</HI> Adde to this what <HI>Plutarch</HI> and <HI>Laer|tius</HI> affirme, that he ordain'd by his la&s;t will, that there &s;hould be dedicated to <HI>Jupiter Soter</HI> and <HI>Minerva Sotira</HI> the effigies of certain Animals, of &s;tone, of four cubits, in performance of the
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vow he had made for <HI>Nicanor</HI>'s health. Be&s;ides all which, the &s;aid <HI>de Moura</HI> would have him con|fe&s;&s;e <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Sect.</HI> 2. <HI>c.</HI> 2&punc; <HI>num.</HI> 20.</NOTE> in his fir&s;t book, <HI>Of Heaven and the World, Se cum aliis obtuli&s;&s;e diis trina &s;acrificia, in recognitio|nem trinae perfectionis in eis inventae.</HI></P>
<P>From the&s;e pa&s;&s;ages may be inferr'd, not only that he beleev'd <HI>Devils,</HI> and was very &s;uper&s;titious in his <HI>Religion,</HI> but al&s;o that he had &s;tumbled on the harde&s;t &amp; highe&s;t my&s;tery of our Faith, that is, the Trinity of Per&s;ons in the Unity of E&s;&s;ence, as <NOTE N="y" PLACE="marg"><HI>Tom.</HI> 2. <HI>tract.</HI> 25 <HI>&s;ect.</HI> 3.</NOTE> <HI>Salmeron</HI> would have it, and before him <NOTE N="z" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> de comparat. Ari&s;tot. &amp; Platonis.</NOTE> <HI>Trapezontius,</HI> who hath writ a compleat book, <HI>Of the conformity of Ari&s;totles doctrine with the Scriptures.</HI> It was al&s;o the opinion of that famous Divine <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Apud Si|byllam <HI>1.</HI> Decad. Pe|regr. quae&s;t. cap. <HI>8.</HI> qu. <HI>1.</HI> quae&s;tiun|cula <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Henry d' A&s;&s;ia,</HI> that <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> might naturally arrive to as perfect a knowledge of Di|vinity, as that di&s;cover'd to our fir&s;t Parent, when he &s;lept in the terre&s;triall Paradi&s;e, or that of St. <HI>Paul</HI> when he was taken up into Heaven. But the &s;pinning out of the&s;e proofs, would bring us at la&s;t to di&s;cour&s;e of the &s;alvation of this Philo|&s;opher, an opinion &s;o common, that one of the Fathers and Doctours of the Church hath &s;aid, &s;peaking (as it were) to him, <HI>Ari&s;toteles, laudaris ubi non es, &amp; cruciaris ubi es;</HI> and <HI>Werlinus</HI> cites a certain Philo&s;opher called <HI>Lambert du Mont,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">In addit. <HI>2.</HI> ad Trithe|mium.</NOTE> who hath made a Magi&s;trall que&s;tion, upon what may be rationally thought of it. It were there|fore much more rationall to unravell all the&s;e ab&s;urdities, which fall one in the neck of ano|ther, without aim or end, and clear up the fore|mentioned, than to digre&s;&s;e into further repeti|tions.</P>
<P>We &s;hall then begin with the authority of <HI>Me|dina,</HI> who &s;eems to have little rea&s;on to &s;trip <HI>Ari|&s;totle</HI>
<PB N="156" REF="89">
of his own proper faculties, to be&s;tow on him others; and to deny him the excellencie of his own nature, to make him &s;ubject to that of a Daemon. For what ground is there, that tho&s;e naturall Truths, which he &s;ayes, <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> arriv'd to the knowledge of, &s;hould now be thought &s;u|&s;picious and doubtfull, through a &s;warm of <HI>Mo|derns</HI> and <HI>Innovators,</HI> daily encrea&s;ing under the banners of <HI>Tele&s;ius, Patricius, Campanella, Veru|lamio, Jordan, Brun,</HI> and <HI>Ba&s;&s;onius,</HI> out of no other de&s;igne, than to put a &s;lur upon that Philo&s;ophy, and to undermine that great building which <HI>Ari|&s;totle,</HI> and above twelve thou&s;and who have writ upon him, have &s;pent &s;o many ages to build up; and this not &s;o much by any demon&s;tation or force of rea&s;on, as the advantage of that vici&s;&s;i|tude and revolution of all things, which in&s;en&s;i|bly brings it to a declination,
<Q><L><NOTE PLACE="marg">Virgil. Aeneid. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE>&mdash;Et jam per moenia clarior ignis</L>
<L>Auditur, propiuf&abque; ae&s;tus incendia volvunt.</L></Q></P>
<P>The book cited by <HI>Laertius</HI> of <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI>'s <HI>Ma|gick,</HI> cannot at all confirm this opinion of <HI>Me|dina;</HI> for it is clear, that he thought it &s;purious, when citing it onely in the Proem to his <HI>Lives,</HI> he mentions it not in the particular Catalogue of this Philo&s;ophers works. Be&s;ides that, it may well be thought of the fame cloth with that of <HI>Demo|critus,</HI> mentioned before, and all tho&s;e Magicall <NOTE PLACE="marg">In notis ad P&s;ellum de Daemo|nib.</NOTE> Manu&s;cripts, which, as M. <HI>Gaumin</HI> thinks, the modern Greeks have publi&s;hed under the name of <HI>Salomon,</HI> and divers of the Ancients. For it may be gathered from <HI>Laertius,</HI> that <HI>Aristotle</HI> af|firm'd therein, that the <HI>Per&s;ian</HI> Mages medled not
<PB N="157" REF="89">
with Divinations; and con&s;equently, it being fa|ther'd on him, there is more rea&s;on to conclude for our opinion, than that of our Adver&s;aries.</P>
<P>Nor &s;hould they be &s;o confident upon the au|thority of <HI>William</HI> of <HI>Paris,</HI> &s;ince that in another <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de le|gib. c. <HI>28&punc;</HI></NOTE> place &s;peaking of this Genius, he &s;ayes, that <HI>Ari|&s;totle, deceptus fuit ab ip&s;o familiari Daemone &s;uo quem de coelo Veneris de&s;cendi&s;&s;e opinabatur, quod hoc ex &s;omno Rustici cuju&s;dam acceperat.</HI> This clearly &s;hews he had taken this flat and pitifull relation out of a certain book of <HI>Conjurations</HI> and <HI>A&s;trologie,</HI> which <HI>Trithemius</HI> &s;ayes was fal&s;ly pub|li&s;h'd <NOTE PLACE="marg">Antipali malef. l. <HI>1&punc;</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> under his name.</P>
<P>For <HI>Emanuel de Moura,</HI> he evidently injures <HI>Philoponus,</HI> who, according to the Greek Text, and the old Tran&s;lation conformable to that of <HI>Nun|ne&s;ius,</HI> &s;ayes onely, that <HI>Aristotle</HI> having attain'd the &s;eventeenth year of his age, was advi&s;'d by the <HI>Pythian</HI> Oracle, to apply him&s;elf particularly to Philo&s;ophy.</P>
<P>The clau&s;e in his Will, concerning the erection of the Statues he had vow'd for <HI>Nicanor,</HI> might, for a &s;hift, make a better proof than any of the precedent, if this di&s;creet Philo&s;opher had not done it, in imitation of <HI>Socrates,</HI> to pre&s;erve his memory from the infamy of <HI>Athei&s;m,</HI> and to leave a remor&s;e of con&s;cience for tho&s;e who had accu|&s;ed him of it, which &s;hould make more for his ju&s;tification, than the three Sacrifices he made the Gods, or the knowledge of the Trinity, attri|buted to him by diver&s;e Catholike Doctours. For the&s;e are all Chimera's grounded meerly on what he &s;ayes, &s;peaking of the <HI>Ternary</HI> number, in his fir&s;t book of Heaven, <GAP DESC="foreign">
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<GAP DESC="foreign">; That is, <HI>Quapropter hoc &agrave; natura numero &s;umpto, perinde at&abque; quadam illius lege, &amp; in Deorum &s;acrificiis celebrandis uti &s;ole|mus.</HI> From which pa&s;&s;age cannot be concluded any thing, but that <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> &s;ayes, that the num|ber Three was much u&s;ed in Sacrifices in his time. Somewhat to confirm this we have in <HI>Theocritus,</HI> when he &s;ayes in his <HI>Pharmaceutria,</HI>
<Q><L>Ter libo, ter&abque; haec pronuncio my&s;tica verba.</L></Q>
But that <HI>Aristotle</HI> neither did, or could have thought any &s;uch thing, is learnedly &s;hewn <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>3.</HI> c. <HI>15.</HI> adver&s;us Calumniat. Platon.</NOTE> by Cardinall <HI>Be&s;&s;arion,</HI> who laught at <HI>Trapezon|tius,</HI> for taking &s;o much pains to prove from that Text, that <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> had a perfect know|ledge of the <HI>Trinity.</HI> Which ra&s;hne&s;&s;e de&s;erves the greater cen&s;ure, in that he never con&s;ider'd, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 <HI>Part. qu.</HI> 32. <HI>art.</HI> 1.</NOTE> that all the <HI>Fathers,</HI> and after them <HI>Aquinas,</HI> have mantain'd it impo&s;&s;ible and impious, to en|deavour the proof of it by naturall rea&s;ons, and oppo&s;ite to the authority of St. <HI>Paul,</HI> to make <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> and <HI>Plato</HI> &s;o Eagle-&s;ighted in the my&s;te|ries of our Religion. Be&s;ides, it is utterly di&s;con|&s;onant to the Philo&s;ophy of <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> to cele|brate the&s;e Philo&s;ophers &s;o highly in the appre|hen&s;ion of Chri&s;tian Truths.</P>
<P>Whence we may al&s;o with the &s;ame labour give <HI>Henry de A&s;&s;ia</HI> his an&s;wer, viz. that the e&s;|&s;ence of materiall things is the onely object of the &s;pirit of the way-faring man, as the School|men expre&s;&s;e it, that is of man while he is in this world.</P>
<P>Were it our de&s;igne to &s;well up this Chapter into a Volume, we need onely make a particular
<PB N="159" REF="90">
refutation of all may be &s;aid of the Magick of the <HI>Platonicks,</HI> taking the relations of an infinite number of Authours, who would fain per&s;wade us to things utterly impo&s;&s;ible. But &s;ince it were vainly to &s;quander time away, to lop off the bran|ches in &s;tead of pulling up the roots, we mu&s;t with that begin the ruine of all the&s;e fabulous narrati|ons, and &s;hew, that whatever the Platonicks have advanc'd, either of Daemons or Magick, can nei|ther be prov'd by rea&s;on nor experience. For fir&s;t, as to what they &s;ay, that Nature cannot afford two Extreams without &s;ome Medium, cementing and uniting them; and that Heaven and Earth are two Extreams, which can have no other Medium than the&s;e intellectuall powers; The <HI>Peripateticks</HI> an&s;wer, that they neither a&s;&s;igne the Medium, nor the Extreams right; for they &s;hould have op|po&s;'d the fir&s;t Mover, which is ab&s;olutely immu|table, impa&s;&s;ible, and immoveable, to things &s;ub|lunary, and afterwards joyn them together by the cele&s;tiall Nature, which is naturally invariable and eternall, and yet potentially &s;ubject to muta|tion, re&s;embling God in its intelligences, and things tran&s;itory in its motion. We may as ea&s;ily an&s;wer what they &s;ay, that the &s;oul of the World being diffu&s;'d and di&s;per&s;'d thorow the whole U|niver&s;e is not idle, but produces Animals in all its parts, and that tho&s;e generated in Fire and Air are properly the&s;e called Daemons. For, be&s;ides that this univer&s;all Soul is formally denied by <HI>Mer&s;ennus</HI> in his book again&s;t Dei&s;ts, <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 <HI>Part,</HI> 2. <HI>c.</HI> 20.</NOTE> never held, that an Animal that mu&s;t u&s;e &s;everall Organs, can be produc'd and con&s;erv'd in the pu|rity of tho&s;e two Elements. And for their la&s;t rea&s;on, deriv'd from tho&s;e many effects, which
<PB N="160" REF="91">
mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be attributed to tho&s;e cau&s;es, I would, before I am forc'd to allow it for good, they had &s;atisfi'd, as they ought, <NOTE N="k" PLACE="marg">Lib. de Incantat.</NOTE> <HI>Pompanatius,</HI> <NOTE N="l" PLACE="marg">Contra|dict. <HI>6.</HI> tract. <HI>2.</HI> lib. <HI>2.</HI> con|tradict.</NOTE> <HI>Cardan,</HI> and the learned Bi&s;hop <NOTE N="m" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>29.</HI> de &s;ingul. certamine.</NOTE> <HI>Bernard Mirandulanus,</HI> who pertinently &s;hew, that to be|leeve Angels and Daemons, it were better to refer to the a&s;&s;urances of our Religion, than to all tho&s;e experiences whereof a rea&s;on might be gi|ven out of the principles of naturall Philo&s;ophy.</P>
<P>This granted, no que&s;tion, but all that may be &s;aid of the Genii attributed to <HI>Porphyrius, Ploti|nus,</HI> and <HI>Iamblicus,</HI> may be referr'd to what we have already &s;aid of the Daemon of <HI>Socrates,</HI> and that the other &s;tories and miracles related of them, are either meerly the flatteries of their Di|&s;ciples and Followers, or the pure inventions of <HI>Eunapius,</HI> purpo&s;ely advanc'd by him, to le&s;&s;en the e&s;teem which men had of the &s;anctity of the new Chri&s;tians. And that the ca&s;e &s;tood thus with the&s;e three Philo&s;ophers, it may be judg'd by that Treati&s;e of <HI>Plotinus, De proprio Daemone,</HI> that what he &s;ayes of it, was rather out of conje|cture than experience. Nor could <HI>Porphyrius</HI> give better &s;ecurity for the little credit he gave all tho&s;e &s;uper&s;titious practices, than the Epi&s;tle read of him in <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>3.</HI> de curat. Grae|canic. af|fect.</NOTE> <HI>Theodoret,</HI> and <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">Praep. Evang. l. <HI>5.</HI> c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Eu&s;ebius.</HI> For he layes down therein eight or nine difficulties he made, touching the invocations of Devils, and their Sacrifices; the lea&s;t whereof were enough to convince us, that he was no Magician. All the trouble then fals upon <HI>Iamblicus,</HI> becau&s;e he was the man an&s;wer'd all tho&s;e difficulties and doubts, which hath given Authours occa&s;ion to tell more miracles of him than the two former. But the be&s;t on't is, that it is yet with le&s;&s;e ground and
<PB N="161" REF="91">
rea&s;on; for as to <HI>Alectromancie,</HI> by which <HI>Zona|ras,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Timo <HI>3.</HI> in Valent.</NOTE> and mo&s;t of the Daemonographers affirm, that he endeavour'd to find out the name of him that &s;hould &s;ucceed the Emperour <HI>Val<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ns, Ammianus</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;tor. lib. <HI>26.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Marcellinus,</HI> who liv'd in the &s;ame time, delivers him from that calumny, not making the lea&s;t mention of him in the particular account he hath given us of that &s;tory. And for his <HI>Ec&s;ta&s;ies,</HI> evo|cations, and other miracles, a man needs not take the pains to refute them, becau&s;e they &s;uffi|ciently de&s;troy them&s;elves, both by the ab&s;urdity that attends them, and that fear <HI>Eunapius</HI> was in, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de vi|tis Sophi|&s;tar. in Iamblico.</NOTE> to be thought an Impo&s;tour for his relations. This were enough to &s;atisfie us, that the&s;e Philo|&s;ophers were not Magicians, and that if there re|main any difficulty concerning their Books, which might any way prejudice their innocence, as &s;uch as may be fraught with abundance of &s;u|per&s;titious things, we refer them to the &s;ixth Chapter of this <HI>Apologie,</HI> unle&s;&s;e we &s;hould rather follow the opinion of <HI>Cardan,</HI> who &s;peaking of <NOTE PLACE="marg">De Subtili|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> at. l. <HI>19.</HI></NOTE> the&s;e Daemons, &s;ayes very judiciou&s;ly, <HI>Nolim ego ad trutinam haec &s;ectari, velut Porphyrius, P&s;ellus, Plotinus, Proclus, Iamblicus, qui copios&egrave; de his quae non videre, velut hi&s;toriam &s;crip&s;erunt.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;ame motive which made me &s;peak of the&s;e ancient Philo&s;ophers, obliges me to &s;ay &s;om|thing of three modern, who are charg'd with an acquaintance and conver&s;ation with their <HI>Genii,</HI> that is, <HI>Chicus Ae&s;culanus, Scaliger,</HI> and <HI>Cardan,</HI> whereof what I &s;hall deliver of the fir&s;t, tends ra|ther to the vindication of Truth, than the merit of his per&s;on, or the advantage may be reaped from his Works. For the onely Commentary we have of his upon the Sphear of <HI>Sacrobo&s;co</HI> &s;uffici|ently
<PB N="162" REF="92">
di&s;covers that he was not onely very &s;uper|&s;titious, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;it. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> as <HI>Delrio</HI> cals him; but al&s;o that he had a &s;oft place in his head, there being three things in it, that very much lay open his weakne&s;&s;e. The fir&s;t is, his interpretation of <HI>Sacrobo&s;co</HI>'s book, ac|cording to the &s;en&s;e of A&s;trologers, Necroman|cers, and Chiro&s;copi&s;ts. The &s;econd, his citations of abundance of fal&s;ifi'd Authours, fraught with old wives tales and fooleries, &s;uch as, for in&s;tance, that of <HI>Salomon, De umbris idaearum; Hippar|chus, De vinculo &s;pirit&ucirc;s; De mini&s;terio naturae; De Hierarchiis Spirituum; Apollonius, De arte magic&acirc;; Zoroastes, De Dominio quartarum octa|vae Spherae; Hippocrates, De &s;tellarum a&s;pectibus &s;ecundum Lunam; Astafon, De Mineralibus con|&s;tellatis;</HI> and divers others of the &s;ame metall. The third that he often makes u&s;e of the Revela|tions of a Spirit called <HI>Floron,</HI> which he &s;aid was of the Order of the <HI>Cherubims,</HI> and being once ask'd what the &s;pots in the Moon were, he roundly an&s;wered, <HI>Ut terra terra est.</HI> But, be&s;ides that he does not attribute this &s;pirit to him&s;elf in any place of the &s;aid Commentary, it may be ea&s;ily <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2. <HI>c.</HI> 30.</NOTE> judged, that this relation is like what <HI>Pliny</HI> &s;ayes of the Grammarian <HI>Appion,</HI> who invocated the Devil, to know what Countrey-man <HI>Homer</HI> was. <NOTE PLACE="marg">In his Dae|mon<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ma|niae</NOTE> Or to that related by <HI>Bodin,</HI> of <HI>Hermolaus Barba|rus,</HI> who did the &s;ame, to know what <HI>Aristotle</HI> meant by the word <HI>Entelechia.</HI> Or la&s;tly, to what <HI>Niphus</HI> &s;ayes of one in his time, who &s;aw the way to make the <NOTE N="y" PLACE="marg">Comment|in di&s;put. <HI>3.</HI> de&s;truct. quae&s;t. An Necroman|tia &s;it vera&punc;</NOTE> Philo&s;ophers &s;tone written in a piece of paper that was &s;hewn him by a bearded Devil. For all which extravaganeies, what bet|ter &s;olution can there be than that of <HI>Lucre|tius,</HI>
<Q><PB N="163" REF="92">
<L>Quis dubitat quin omne &s;it hoc rationis ege&s;t as?</L></Q></P>
<P>Were I at liberty to follow my inclination ra|ther than my duty, I &s;hould be loth to &s;ay any thing again&s;t the <HI>Genii</HI> attributed to the two only men, whom we may oppo&s;e to the mo&s;t learned and eminent of the Ancients, as being the la&s;t pro|duction and miracle of Nature, <HI>Scaliger,</HI> and <HI>Car|dan.</HI> For I am clearly of opinion, that either they were them&s;elves deceiv'd in acknowledging tho&s;e <HI>Genii,</HI> becau&s;e they could not, after much exami|nation, find any cau&s;e of &s;uch extraordinary per|fection; Or that they have done it out of mode|&s;ty, as unwilling to di&s;cover, by their learning, how much all others were below them. Or la&s;t|ly, they endeavoured, by tho&s;e particular a&s;&s;i&s;t|ances, to elude the envie and jealou&s;ie, which might have been con&s;equent to the great Fame they have acquir'd by their unwearied indu&s;try.</P>
<P>But &s;ince Truth is the &s;ooner found by the a&s;&s;o|ciated di&s;qui&s;itions of a many, tho&s;e may well de|&s;erve our attention, who &s;ay; fir&s;t, That <HI>Scaliger</HI> practi&s;'d that &s;leight by the example of all great per&s;ons; and &s;econdly, that he might not be thought to give ground to the ambition of his Antagoni&s;t. The Genius he attributed to him|&s;elf, was, as we find in his <HI>Poeticall Art,</HI> a &s;imple <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 3. <HI>cap.</HI> 26.</NOTE> &s;ally and emotion of Spirit, whereby the Soul was (as it were) enflam'd in it &s;elf, and &s;o eleva|ted into the knowledge of things, during which a man may &s;ometimes &s;peak or write &s;omething he under&s;tands not, when the heat of that Enthu|&s;ia&s;m is over.</P>
<P><PB N="164" REF="93">
For <HI>Cardan,</HI> 'tis true he &s;peaks &s;o variou&s;ly of his <HI>Genius,</HI> that after he had ab&s;olutely affirm'd in a Dialogue entituled <HI>Tetim,</HI> that he had one, and that <HI>Venereall,</HI> yet participating of the na|ture of <HI>Saturn</HI> and <HI>Mercury,</HI> and in his Book, <HI>De libris propriis,</HI> that it communicated it &s;elf to him by <HI>Dreams,</HI> he in the &s;ame place is at a lo&s;&s;e, whether he truly had any or no, or that it was the excellencie of his own nature, <HI>Sentie|bam,</HI> &s;ayes he, <HI>&s;eu ex Genio mihi praefecto, &s;eu quod natura mea in extremitate humanae &s;ub&s;tantiae con|ditioni&s;&abque; &amp; in con&s;inio immortalium po&s;ita e&s;&s;et,</HI> &amp;c. and &s;o concludes in his Book, <HI>De rerum va|rietate,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 16. <HI>c.</HI> 93.</NOTE> that he had not any, confe&s;&s;ing ingenu|ou&s;ly, <HI>Ego cert&egrave; nullum Daemonem aut Genium mi|hi ade&s;&s;e cogno&s;co.</HI> Whence it may &s;afely be jud|ged, that he and <HI>Scaliger</HI> had no other <HI>Genius,</HI> than that of the va&s;t learning they had acquir'd by their indefatigable labours, and the experi|ence they had of things, upon which rai&s;ing up their judgement, as on two Pyramids, they jud|ged pertinently of all things, and &s;uffered no|thing to e&s;cape them, till they had known and ma&s;ter'd it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="14" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="165" REF="93">
<HEAD>CHAP. XIV.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of Alchindus, Geber, Artephius, Thebit, An&s;elme of Parma, Raymundus Lullius, Arnoldus de villa|nova, Peter d' Apono, and Paracel&s;us.</HEAD>
<P>SHould we credit the fabulous Philo&s;ophy of the Poets, who repre&s;ent all things under the Mythology of their inventions, there were &s;ome ground to receive the Authority of <HI>Pliny,</HI> for good; <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 30. <HI>c.</HI> 1.</NOTE> where he &s;ayes that Magick is a Branch of Medi|cine. The motive to believe this, is only, that the &s;o much celebrated Sorcere&s;&s;e, <HI>Circe,</HI> is by the Poets thought to be the Si&s;ter of <HI>Ae&s;culapius,</HI> the fir&s;t inventor of Medicine, and one of the Sons of <HI>Phoebus</HI> or the Sun, who&s;e Daughter this Sorcer|e&s;&s;e al&s;o was, according to the Poet, who, &s;peaking of her, &s;ayes very freely,
<Q><L>Dives inacce&s;&s;is ubi &s;olis filia lucis</L>
<L>Urit adoratam nocturna in lumina cedrum.</L></Q></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ecclus. c. <HI>38</HI></NOTE> But &s;ince we have a more authentick Authori|ty, that of the Scriptures, which makes God the fir&s;t Author of &s;o nece&s;&s;ary an Art, we need no more to di&s;cover the errour of <HI>Pliny,</HI> and with the &s;ame labour, to re&s;cue Medecine, <GAP DESC="foreign">, as <HI>I&s;idorus Peliu&s;iota</HI> calls it, from the calumny of this inveterat per&s;wa&s;ion. And if &s;o, it mu&s;t al&s;o de|liver the profe&s;&s;ors thereof from the cen&s;ure, wch, to the prejudice of their Innocence, &s;eem'd to be fa&s;tn'd on them upon the account of the pernicious &amp; Diabolical Magick, which <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> de &s;pectr. c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>le Loyer</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">De divi|na. c. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Boi&s;|&s;ardus</HI>
<PB N="166" REF="94">
<NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;. Mag. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Delrio,</HI> <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">De prae|&s;tig. l. <HI>2.</HI> Lib. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Vuierus,</HI> and the re&s;t of the Daemonographers, with divers Hi&s;torians, af|firme to have been the practice of <HI>Alchindus, Geber, Lullius,</HI> and the re&s;t who&s;e cau&s;e we plead in this Chapter.</P>
<P>For though it be endeavour'd to repre&s;ent them, e&s;pecially the Arabians, as the <HI>Bacchan|tes</HI> did <HI>Orpheus,</HI> and that Empericks, A&s;trologers, Chymi&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> and Magicians would gladly cut them in pieces, that they might challenge the greate&s;t and be&s;t part in every one of them; yet is it ea&s;y to judge by the fragments remaining of their workes, and compo&s;itions, that they were Phy|&s;icians. But with this misfortune, that it is as im|po&s;&s;ible punctually to know the particulars of their Lives, and the time of their birth, (which certainly is as indi&s;coverable) as that of the peo|ple called <HI>Aborigines,</HI> without beginning; or of tho&s;e, whom the Poets make to come down out of the Clouds, to avoid the bla&s;ting of their Noble and generous actions by the mean|ne&s;&s;e of their Originall. This neverthele&s;&s;e is not &s;o much to be attributed to any negli|gence of the <HI>Arabians</HI> to leave us &s;ome account thereof; as to the Barbari&s;me raigning among the Latines in their time who have troubled them&s;elves to tran&s;late the Books which might have given us &s;ome knowledge and di&s;coveries thereof, &s;o little, that they have not &s;o much as made a collection of the lives of the mo&s;t learned men that were in e&s;teem even among them&s;elves. In &s;o much that it may be truly &s;aid, that what we now know of <HI>R. Lullius, Arnoldus de villa no|vo, Peter d' Apono,</HI> and the re&s;t, is rather ground|ed on the doubtfull conjectures and &s;everal pa&s;&s;i|ons
<PB N="167" REF="94">
of moderne Authors, then the proofs and te&s;timonies derived from the Ancient.</P>
<P>Whence it comes to pa&s;&s;e that I can only gue&s;&s;e of this famous per&s;on <HI>Alchindus,</HI> with whom we begin the vindication of Phy&s;itians, that he might flouri&s;h five or 600. years &s;ince, becau&s;e <HI>Averro|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s</HI> who liv'd abont the year 1160. and of whom <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Quodlibet.</HI> 9.</NOTE> <HI>Gilles</HI> of <HI>Rome</HI> &s;aies he had &s;een his two Sons at the Court of the Emperour <HI>Frederick</HI> Red-beard, gives him great Elogies, and makes a large com|memoration <NOTE PLACE="marg">De &s;ubtil. l. <HI>16.</HI></NOTE> of his Books, as <HI>Cardan</HI> relates. To which he adds much in prai&s;e of him, giving him the Tittle not only of a great A&s;trologer, with <HI>Albohazen Haly,</HI> and <HI>Haly Rodoan;</HI> or that of a mo&s;t learned and experienc'd Phy&s;ician, with <HI>Ra&s;is</HI> and <HI>Me&s;ue;</HI> or la&s;tly, that of a &s;ubtile Philo&s;opher, with <HI>Averroes</HI> and <HI>Wimpinal,</HI> but proceeding further, and grounding, in all probability, his opinion as well upon what they &s;aid, as his own judgment, he allowes him an honourable place among the greate&s;t Wits, that ever were, that is, <HI>Archimedes, Aristotle, Euclid, Scotus, Sui&s;&s;et, Apollonius Pergaeus, Archit as, Maho|met</HI> the inventer of <HI>Algebra, Geber, Galen,</HI> and <HI>Vi|truvius.</HI> It were not then hard to judge, what an excellently learned per&s;on this was, not only by the two Books that are printed of his, <HI>De Temporum mutationibus, &amp;, De gradibus medici|narum compo&s;itarum inve&s;tigandis,</HI> but al&s;o by divers others, frequently cited by Authours, under the titles of, <HI>De ratione &s;ex Quantitatum; de quinque E&s;&s;entiis; de motu diurno; de Vegetabi|libus; &amp; de Theorica magicarum artium.</HI> Where|of all the difficulty is concerning this la&s;t, &s;ince <HI>Francis Picus,</HI> and <HI>Wimpinall</HI> have made whole
<PB N="168" REF="95">
Treati&s;es out of it, wherein they di&s;cour&s;e at large of the Here&s;ies, bla&s;phemies, and ab&s;urdities which may be ob&s;erv'd therein, as al&s;o of the Magick which <HI>Alchindus</HI> endeavour'd to intro|duce. Hence is it, that all the Daemonographers have taken occa&s;ion to &s;peake of him, as an emi|nent and pernicious Magician. And yet <HI>Johan|nes Picus,</HI> the miracle and a&s;toni&s;hment of his age, &s;ayes expre&s;&s;ely in his <HI>Apologie,</HI> that he knew but three men that had made the be&s;t ad|vantages of naturall and lawfull Magick, <HI>Al|chindus, Roger Bacon,</HI> and <HI>William Bi&s;hop</HI> of <HI>Paris.</HI></P>
<P>But to extract truth out of the&s;e &s;o manife&s;t contradictions, me thinks, when a man hath well con&s;idered, in <HI>Aimery, Wimpinal,</HI> and <HI>Francis Picus</HI> the maine grounds of that Book, there may two things be rationally &s;aid of it. One, that it is extreamely &s;uper&s;titious, and full of he|reticall propo&s;itions and directly oppo&s;ite to the principles of Faith, as having bin writt by one that liv'd under the Law of <HI>Mahomet,</HI> and took a free|dome to write without any re&s;pect to Chri&s;tian Religion, which he accounted fal&s;e and ill|grounded. Whence it is no miracle, if he, <HI>Avi|cenna, Algazel, Averroes,</HI> and all the Arabians have fallen into the&s;e aby&s;&s;es and precipies &s;ince they were not guided by that pole-Starre which conducts us now through the&s;e manife&s;t errours and fal&s;ities. The other, that there is no ground <NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> to make this Author a Magician, when <HI>Delrio</HI> is content to rank him only among the &s;uper&s;titi|ous, &amp; that he was &s;o far from having ought to do with <HI>Theurgick</HI> or <HI>Geotick</HI> Magick, that on the contrary, he &s;eems to have no other de&s;igne in his Books than to referre to <HI>Nature</HI> whatever
<PB N="169" REF="95">
was attributed to <HI>Angels</HI> and <HI>Devils.</HI> In which opinion he hath been &s;ince &s;econded by <HI>Peter d' Apono,</HI> and <HI>Pompanatius,</HI> who, in order there|to, imagin'd an ab&s;olute dependance of things &s;ublunary upon the cele&s;tiall, and that the form|er deriv'd all their vertues and properties from the Latter, and every particular from the whole, by the meanes of certain corporeall rayes which pa&s;&s;ed from the lea&s;t even to the greate&s;t. And the&s;e he a&s;&s;ign'd for cau&s;e of whatever was done in nature, as <HI>Plato</HI> did <HI>Idaea's; Avicenna,</HI> In|telligences; <HI>Hermes</HI> and <HI>Mar&s;ilius, Ficinus,</HI> the Starrs and Planets; <HI>Camillus</HI> and <HI>Albertus mag|nus</HI> the &s;pecificiall forme; and <HI>Galen,</HI> Tempera|ment. Whence we may pa&s;&s;e a finall judgment <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de po|te&s;tate ar|tis &amp; na|turae, c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> with <HI>R. Bacon, quod multi libri reputantur inter Magicos qui non &s;unt tales, &s;ed continent &s;apientiae dignitatem.</HI> If &s;o, <HI>Alchindus</HI> cannot be con|demn'd of Magick; if we do not in the &s;ame &s;en|tence include all tho&s;e Authors, who, as he, have endeavour'd to take away the admiration that follows a many extraordinary effects, by the di&s;co|very of &s;ome more probable cau&s;es which they have found out.</P>
<P>I &s;hould pa&s;&s;e by <HI>Geber</HI> without mentioning him among tho&s;e that have been charg'd with Magick, upon the &s;ecurity of <HI>Ca&s;&s;iodorus,</HI> who &s;ayes, <HI>Calumnia non prae&s;umitur, ubi nulla proba|tio</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Variar. l. <HI>19.</HI> Epi&s;t. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>habetur,</HI> were I not oblig'd to an&s;wer the only argument which our Daemonographers draw by head and &s;houlders out of a book which <HI>Trithe|mius</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Antipal. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> &s;ayes was made by <HI>Geber</HI> King of the Indi|ans, upon the relation between the &s;even Planets and the &s;even names of God, and &s;ome others quoted for Magicians in the &s;econd Book of <HI>Pi|catrix.</HI>
<PB N="170" REF="96">
To which it may briefly be reply'd that this <HI>Geber</HI> King of the Indians was nothing to this we &s;peake of; and that that Book ought no more to be condemn'd as treating of Magick, than the Commentary of <HI>R. Abraham Aben-Ezra,</HI> upon the &s;ixth treati&s;e of the fir&s;t part of the <HI>Thal|mud,</HI> where he makes a Symbolization between the ten Hebrew Sephirots and ten cele&s;tiall Spheres, and the ten Commandements of the Law.</P>
<P>But to take away all &s;u&s;pition there may be of truth in this proof, it mu&s;t be &s;aid, it is ab&s;o|lutely fal&s;e and ab&s;urd; &s;ince that, notwith&s;tand|ing <NOTE PLACE="marg">In his Cy|phers. fol. <HI>118.</HI></NOTE> the Autohrity of <HI>Vigenere,</HI> it is unque&s;tionable, that this <HI>Geber,</HI> who, they &s;ay, was King of the Indians, is a meer fable and Chimaera of the&s;e wretched Charcole-marchants; who by that piti|full fiction, would gain more reputation to the Chymicall writings of a Philo&s;opher of the &s;ame name. This <HI>Geber,</HI> as <HI>Leon</HI> of Africa affirmes, was a Greek by Nation, fir&s;t a Chri&s;tian, then a Mathumetan; and lived, as he &s;ayes, 100 yeares after <HI>Mahomet;</HI> or, according to the cal|culation of <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">De&s;crip. of Africa. Bibliothec. part. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Vigner</HI> about the year 723. though, if the 100. yeares be taken preci&s;ely, it &s;hould be affirm'd he liv'd rather in the year 732. whereto yet <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Prolog. Mathemat.</NOTE> <HI>Blancanus</HI> does not agree but makes him flouri&s;h in the year 801. unle&s;&s;e the mi&s;take be, that he went upon the time of his death, and <HI>Vigner</HI> upon that of his Navity. How|ever it be, this takes away nothing from his Learning, upon occa&s;ion whereof <HI>Cardan</HI> hath not forgot to put him to the te&s;t, among the mo&s;t eminent advancers of Literature. Nor indeed was the honour above his de&s;erts, &s;ince he was &s;o
<PB N="171" REF="96">
great an A&s;trologer, that, as <HI>Blancanus</HI> affirmes, he reform'd many things in the <HI>Almagestum</HI> of <HI>Ptolemy;</HI> and for Chymi&s;try, <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">De Me|tall. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Fallopus</HI> and <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Par. <HI>4.</HI> adver&s;. Paracel&s;.</NOTE> <HI>Erastus</HI> &s;eem to approve the judgment of the Chymi&s;ts, who call him the Ma&s;ter of Ma&s;ters in that Art. Adde to this, that the Catalogue of his works faithfully got together by <HI>Ge&s;ner,</HI> is an evident proof that he knew all but Magick, of which or of the Books he writ thereof, neither he nor any good Author hath deliver'd any thing, <NOTE PLACE="marg">De vera. Sapient. c&punc; <HI>29.</HI></NOTE> as knowing what <HI>Lactantius</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>Turpe e&s;t ho|minem ingenio&s;um dicere id, quod &s;i neges&punc; probare non po&s;&s;it.</HI></P>
<P>And indeed if all tho&s;e who make it their bu|&s;ine&s;&s;e to write, had been as carefull to ob&s;erve this precept, as they have been ambitious to make o&s;tentation of their knowledge and read|ing, by heaping together all tho&s;e fabulous Stories wch make ever &s;o little to their purpo&s;e, we &s;hould not be now to &s;hew that that of <HI>Artephius,</HI> and his living 1025. years by the force of his Magick, is, if not ab&s;olutely fal&s;e, extreamely &s;u&s;picious, as having been glo&s;&s;'d upon by the Alchymi&s;ts and <HI>Roger Bacon.</HI> For he &s;ayes in his Book <HI>of the ab|bridgment of Theology,</HI> that this Philo&s;opher or Chymi&s;t travell'd all over the Ea&s;t, and was to &s;ee <HI>Tantalus,</HI> who &s;ate in a throne of Gold; and di&s;cour&s;ed very pertinently of the mo&s;t ab&s;tru&s;e &s;ecrets of all the Sciences. In <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. &s;uae Philo&s;o|phiae.</NOTE> another of his works, he &s;ayes that he was a live in <HI>Germany</HI> even in his time. To which adde what others &s;ay in <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> de praenot. c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Franci&s;us Picus,</HI> that it is he who is repre&s;ented to us by <HI>Philo&s;tratus</HI> under the name of <HI>Apolloni|us.</HI> All this put together and well con&s;idered, &s;ufficiently di&s;covers, how far they are mi&s;taken,
<PB N="172" REF="97">
who, notwith&s;tanding the impo&s;&s;ibility of this <NOTE PLACE="marg">Animad. in cap. <HI>38.</HI> Scholae Sa|ler<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">it.</NOTE> length of life, evinc'd by M. <HI>Moreau</HI> and divers others, do yet maintaine, and fagot together &s;o many fables upon this per&s;on, and, to make it the more plau&s;ible, will needs father on him two Books or fragments. One, call'd <HI>Clavis majo|ris &s;aepientiae,</HI> treats &s;o perfectly well of the or|der and procedure to be ob&s;erv'd in getting the Philo&s;ophers &s;tone, that <HI>Johannes Pontanus,</HI> one of the greate&s;t Dreamers among the Chymi&s;ts, confe&s;&s;es ingenuou&s;ly, that he had never known the degrees of fire, the principal agent in this Art, had he not read that Book. The other is a little treati&s;e, &s;uper&s;titious and ridiculous beyond ex|pre&s;&s;ion, where he teaches a way to know the Characters of the Planets, the &s;ignification of the motion of Animals, as al&s;o what they mean when they &s;ing, the vertues of all Herbs, the Philo&s;o|pher's &s;tone, things pa&s;t, pre&s;ent, and to come; with divers other &s;ecrets and experiments, and at la&s;t, the way to prolong life. All which may <NOTE PLACE="marg">De rer. va|riet. l. <HI>16.</HI></NOTE> be &s;een in <HI>Cardaen,</HI> who hath tran&s;crib'd it word for word, rather to laugh at, then out of any credit he gave tho&s;e ab&s;urdities; the relation whereof he concludes with his own judgment in the&s;e words, <HI>Quidnam &s;tultius excogitari pote&s;t ut quod Nero tanta impen&s;a, tot immolationibus deductis ex Arabia Magis impetrare non potuit, hic verbis &s;implicibus o&s;tendere promittaet.</HI> In like manner, one <HI>James Gohory,</HI> who would needs be call'd <HI>Leo Suavius,</HI> a great favourer and abetter of &s;uch ex|travagancies, had no way to di&s;gui&s;e the Magick of <HI>Artephius</HI> than to maske it with the terme of <HI>Chymicall morality,</HI> when, &s;peaking of it and
<PB N="173" REF="97">
his fair promi&s;es, he &s;aies, that, <HI>&s;i &s;criptum &s;e|quamur,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Comment. in c. <HI>7.</HI> l. <HI>1.</HI> Paracle&s;. de vita long<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>non &s;olum incredibilia videntur, &s;ed ridi|cula; rerum &s;i &s;cientiam parabolicam, non abhorre|re omnin&ograve; &agrave; fide &s;apientum.</HI> For my part, I think the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e were &s;ooner decided by &s;aying that that Treati&s;e was &s;ome man's who had a de&s;igne to abu&s;e the &s;trange credulity of a many Authors, or ground a practi&s;e of Magick upon the fooleries of his own braine and the &s;peculatious of <HI>Alchin|dus,</HI> who&s;e maximes he makes u&s;e of though he names him not.</P>
<P>Nor is it a le&s;&s;e ingratitude towards the me|mory of that famous A&s;trologer <HI>Thebit Ben-Corat</HI> (whom &s;ome would have a Jew or Spaniard by Nation; but, as <HI>Lelandus</HI> affirmes, he was an En|gli&s;h man) the fir&s;t finder out, according to <HI>Blan|canus,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><P>In prole|gom.</P>
<P>Mathemat.</P></NOTE> of the trepidation of the eighth Sphere, in the year 1270. to ranke him among&s;t the Magi|cians, and to &s;ay with the facecious Poet and pro|totype of <HI>Rabelais, Merlin Coccaius,</HI>
<Q><L>Ecce Magus Thebit, qui tempe&s;tate, venenis,</L>
<L>Grandinibus, quadam de&s;truxit imagine regnum.</L></Q></P>
<P>For if a man look narrowly into the rea&s;ons whence the &s;u&s;picion is deriv'd, he will find they have no other ground then certain Books attri|buted to him, treating of <HI>naturall Magick,</HI> the compo&s;ition of <HI>Annulets</HI> and <HI>Images,</HI> and the pro|perties of herbs, &s;tones, and the Planets, whence I doubt not but the Demonographers ea&s;ily pumpe out the &s;utle&s;t and ob&s;cure&s;t pa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">t of Ma|gick. But for my part, I can perceive nothing in it but the track of a &s;uper&s;titious A&s;trologie which in this time, was in greater reputation
<PB N="174" REF="98">
then any of the other Sciences, by rea&s;on of the particular inclination <HI>Alphon&s;us</HI> King of <HI>Spaine,</HI> had for the &s;tudy of it nor long before. Where|fore it is not much to beadmir'd, when, as <HI>Lactan|tius</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">De In&s;tit. c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> &s;aith, <HI>Mores ac vitia Regis imitari, genus ob&s;e|quii judicatur,</HI> if <HI>Thebit</HI> &amp; a many more endeavour'd &s;o much the propagation of it, that like a fat and fertile &s;oyle it brought forth abundance of weeds, and tares, among the good wheat, that is, that it was burthened with a many vaine and &s;u|per&s;titious things amid&s;t the fundamentall rules and the certain precepts which their daily ob&s;er|vations laboured out. But if the Book publi&s;h'd under this A&s;trologers name were a &s;ufficient te&s;ti|mony to convince him of the crime he is charg'd with, we mu&s;t in like manner conclude <HI>Ptolemy</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Intipal. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> an eminent Magician, becau&s;e <HI>Trithemius</HI> cites three Magicall Books as unju&s;tly attributed to him as the forementioned to <HI>Thebit.</HI> And that this is the misfortune of the latter, is &s;ufficiently <NOTE PLACE="marg">On c. <HI>14.</HI> l. <HI>3.</HI> of Pbi lo&s;tratus.</NOTE> evident by the account which <HI>Arthur Thomas</HI> gives of one of his Books treating of the vertue of herbs and the Starrs; which was, that <HI>Thebit</HI> explain'd in it the opinion of <HI>Marcilius Ficinus</HI> (who yet liv'd 250. years after him) concerning Planetary Annulets and images made under cer|tain Con&s;tellations. Whence it may be &s;afely concluded, that the&s;e &s;uper&s;titious treati&s;es are the meer forgeries of &s;ome Mountebanks and mo|derne Cheates; And con&s;equently, that it is a foule &s;hame to harbour any &s;uch calumny again&s;t <HI>Thebit,</HI> who hath furni&s;h'd us with &s;o many good Books of A&s;trology, that he can hardly be al|low'd time to mind the&s;e triviall fragments, and that moreover, as <HI>Jacobus Curio</HI> hath well ob|&s;erv'd,
<PB N="175" REF="98">
<HI>Qu&agrave;m in non vatis &s;eu inerrabilis &s;phaerae ve|&s;tigandis motibus gener<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> cum ob&s;curis &amp; prop<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> inexplicabilibus difficultatibus certaverit, eruditis non est incognitum.</HI></P>
<P>My next &s;tep &s;hould be to <HI>Raimundus Lullius,</HI> were I not obliged to &s;ay a word or two in the defence of one <HI>An&s;elm</HI> of <HI>Parma,</HI> who is celebra|ted by <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">In Ana|&s;ta&s;. Phy|&s;iolog.</NOTE> <HI>Bartholomew Cocles,</HI> as a great Philo&s;o|pher, and bla&s;ted by <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> de prae&s;tig. c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Wierus,</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1. <HI>cap.</HI> 3. <HI>quae&s;t.</HI> 4.</NOTE> <HI>Delrio,</HI> and the re&s;t of the Daemonographers, with the title of a Sorcerer and Magician; becau&s;e, &s;ay they, the <HI>Em&s;almi&s;ts,</HI> or tho&s;e who cure wounds by words, take their name from this <HI>An&s;elm.</HI> But there is more ground to beleeve, that the Profe&s;&s;ours of this kind of Medicine abu&s;e the name of St. <HI>An|&s;elm,</HI> from whom they pretend the derivation of this vertue, as the <HI>Salutators</HI> in Spain do that of St. <HI>Catharine;</HI> tho&s;e who heal the biting of Ser|pents in <HI>Italy,</HI> that of St. <HI>Paul;</HI> and &s;ome others in <HI>France,</HI> that of St. <HI>Hubert.</HI> Or it is more pro|bable <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apud Ema|nuel de Moura, prooem. opu&s;c. de En&s;almis.</NOTE> that the <HI>Em&s;almi&s;ts</HI> are, as <HI>Bravus</HI> and <HI>Car|valho</HI> affirm, &s;o called, becau&s;e they make frequent u&s;e of certain ver&s;es of the <HI>P&s;alms,</HI> which might properly be called <HI>Emp&s;almi,</HI> as he who practi&s;'d them to do &s;ome cure, <HI>Emp&s;almator,</HI> or <HI>Emp&s;al|mista.</HI></P>
<P>This being clear, and beyond all con&s;iderable contradiction, we come at la&s;t to the two Idols and tutelary Gods of the <HI>Alchymi&s;ts, Raimundus Lullius,</HI> and <HI>Arnoldus de Villa nova,</HI> though their allegations, who make them Magicians; are grounded rather on the cu&s;tom which Authours have taken to make them act all parts, than on the number or truth of the proofs which may be had of this &s;u&s;picion. For as to <HI>Raimundus Lui|lius,</HI>
<PB N="176" REF="99">
<NOTE PLACE="marg">De unius <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">egis veri|tate, l. <HI>5.</HI> c. <HI>53.</HI></NOTE> I find <HI>Peter Montuus</HI> laughing at the new Dialectick, which he would needs introduce, af|ter he had tran&s;crib'd it by open robbery out of the Arabian <HI>Abezebron,</HI> grounding his &s;o doing upon <HI>Lullius</HI>'s &s;aying him&s;elf, that it were very good in the time of <HI>Antichrist,</HI> to &s;atifie his de|mands in generall terms, <HI>Ut &s;i interrogaretur quid credis? in Deum; quare? quia placet mihi: cur placet tibi? quia Deus e&s;t; quid e&s;t Deus? cui pro|prie competit deificare; quare deificat? quia talis e&s;t</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">In vita R. Lullii.</NOTE> <HI>ejus natura.</HI> I find al&s;o that <HI>Charles Bovillius</HI> takes occa&s;ion from the impo&s;ture of certain miracles, to put him into the Catalogue of Ble&s;&s;ed; that <HI>Gregory</HI> the Ninth governing at <HI>Avignon,</HI> in the year 1371, condemn'd his Doctrine, becau&s;e a a certain Bi&s;hop had di&s;covered therein above five hundred errours. That the Chymi&s;ts attri|bute to him the knowledge of the Philo&s;ophers &s;tone, by a &s;imple Metamorpho&s;is of the Impo&s;t put by King <HI>Edward</HI> upon the wools, which were tran&s;ported out of <HI>England</HI> into <HI>Brabant,</HI> to the Sum of &s;ix millions of gold, which was be&s;tow'd on him by this Chymi&s;t, to make war again&s;t the Turk and the Infidels. And if we would &s;hew how far the vapours of the <HI>Mercury</HI> had di&s;turb'd his brains, we need onely quote the voyages he made, as <HI>Bovillius</HI> relates, as well to the Pope, as King <HI>Philip</HI> the Fair, to have the three Propo&s;iti|ons granted, which may be &s;een at the end of his Book, <HI>De natali pueri.</HI> Which were the&s;e, that all the Military Orders that were up in his time &s;hould be formed together into one body; That the works of the Philo&s;opher <HI>Averroes</HI> &s;hould be ab&s;olutely &s;uppre&s;&s;'d; and that Mona&s;teries &s;hould be built in all parts of the world to in|&s;truct
<PB N="177" REF="99">
in &s;trange languages&punc; &s;uch as &s;hould enter in|to vows for the conver&s;ion of Infidels. But I could never yet di&s;cover upon what rea&s;ons the greate&s;t part of the Daemonographers, and &s;ome Hi&s;torians, as <HI>Vigner,</HI> have pre&s;um'd to repre&s;ent <NOTE PLACE="marg">In his Ec|cle&s;ia&s;t. Hi|&s;tory, ann. <HI>1285.</HI></NOTE> him as a Magician.</P>
<P>To give them time to produce them, we &s;hall in the mean while &s;peak of <HI>Arnoldus de Villa nova,</HI> who was not an ignorant <HI>Friar</HI> or <HI>Beguin,</HI> as <HI>R. Lullius;</HI> or &s;ome wretched and wandering Chy|mi&s;t, as he is repre&s;ented to us. For, on the con|trary, it is certain, he was the learned&s;t Phy&s;ician of his time, equally acquainted with the Latine, Greek, and Arabian Tongues, and one who&s;e wri|tings &s;ufficiently witne&s;&s;e his abilities in the Ma|thematicks, Medicine, and Philo&s;ophy, the pra|ctice whereof gain'd him favour and employment about Pope <HI>Clement,</HI> and <HI>Frederick</HI> King of <HI>Sicily,</HI> who certainly would never have made u&s;e of him, if they had thought him a Conjurer or Magician, &s;uch as a many are per&s;waded he was.</P>
<P>Among the&s;e is <HI>Francis Pegna,</HI> who refers to Satanicall delu&s;ion the metallick tran&s;mutation, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Comment. <HI>36.</HI> in <HI>2.</HI> partem Di|rectorii Ey|merici q. <HI>11</HI></NOTE> which <HI>John Andreas,</HI> a famous Canoni&s;t, &s;ayes, he &s;aw him do at <HI>Rome.</HI> Adde to this the proof they draw from two little books publi&s;h'd under his name, one treating, <HI>De phy&s;icis ligaturis,</HI> the o|ther, <HI>De Sigillis</HI> 12 <HI>Signorum.</HI> But to &s;hew that he is as unju&s;tly charg'd with Magick by the&s;e Authors, as he is with the writing of the Book, <HI>De|tribus Impo&s;toribus,</HI> by <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. de Alcoran. &amp; Cenevange|li&s;tar. con|cordia, f. <HI>27</HI></NOTE> <HI>Postellus,</HI> or to have been the fir&s;t that tried the generation of a man in an Alembick, by &s;ome in <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>14.</HI> Rer. Hi&s;pa|nicar. c. <HI>9.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Mariana,</HI> we are fir&s;t to con&s;ider that <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 5. <HI>qu.</HI> 1. <HI>&s;ect.</HI> 4</NOTE> <HI>Delrio</HI> ab&s;olutely clears him of this accu&s;ation; affirming again&s;t the &s;aid <HI>Pegna,</HI>
<PB REF="100">
that it was injurious to the Clergie of <HI>Rome</HI> at that time, to imagin they &s;hould employ <HI>Arnoldus de Villa-nova,</HI> or permit him to practi&s;e &s;o freely in their City, if they could have di&s;cover'd in him the lea&s;t <HI>indicia</HI> of Magick. Nor is it a le&s;&s;e ma|nife&s;t abu&s;e to attribute to him the Book, <HI>De phy|&s;icis ligaturis,</HI> &s;ince it is evident he did only tran&s;|late it out of an Arabian, one <HI>Lucas Ben Co&s;ta.</HI> And for that, <HI>De Sigillis</HI> 12 <HI>Signorum,</HI> be&s;ides the que&s;tion it is, whether it be his, as being not com|pri&s;ed in the collection of his works, we may roundly an&s;wer, that it is like tho&s;e of <HI>Thebit, Chicus,</HI> and the re&s;t, and that all the prejudice it can do him, is to confirm the opinion of the vain and &s;uper&s; itious &s;peculations he was guilty of in A&s;trologie. But even of this no man will doubt, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>5.</HI> cont. A&s;trolog. c. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> that &s;hall ob&s;erve in <HI>Picus,</HI> how he laugh'd at the very Science, when he would a&s;&s;igne the birth of Antichri&s;t in the year 1345, and confirm and maintain all his other here&s;ies, which <HI>Vigner,</HI> in his Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Hi&s;tory, takes the more pains to particularize, by how much the more &s;ympa|thy and re&s;emblance there is between them, and tho&s;e of the Hereticks and new Religionaries of the&s;e time<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</P>
<P>But if the particular and over-curious &s;tudy of A&s;trologie, hath ever prov'd prejudiciall to tho&s;e <NOTE PLACE="marg">In the year <HI>1308.</HI></NOTE> who have practi&s;'d it, we may truly &s;ay, that the famous Phy&s;ician <HI>Peter d' Apono,</HI> hath felt the &s;tings of Calumny more than any of the prece|dent upon that account. For the common opi|nion of almo&s;t all Authours, is, that he was the greate&s;t Magician in his time, that he had ma&s;te|red the &s;even Liberall Sciences, by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of &s;even familiar Spirits, which he had con&s;tantly
<PB N="179" REF="100">
lodg'd in a Cry&s;tall; That he had the way, like an|other <HI>Pa&s;etes,</HI> to force back the money he had &s;pent into his pur&s;e again; and, to conclude with a proof as manife&s;t as undeniable, That it is cer|tain he was accu&s;'d of Magick, in the eightieth year of his age, &amp; that dying in the year 1305, be|fore &s;entence was pa&s;&s;'d upon him, he was never|thele&s;&s;e (as <HI>Ca&s;tellanus</HI> affirms) condemn'd to the fire, and it was ordered, that a bundle of Straw or O&s;ier, repre&s;enting him, &s;hould be burn'd in the publike place at <HI>Padua,</HI> purpo&s;ely by an example &s;o rigorous, and the fear of incurring the like pu|ni&s;hment, to prohibit the reading of three &s;uper|&s;titious and abominable books of his. Of the&s;e the fir&s;t was called <HI>Heptameron,</HI> now printed at the end of the fir&s;t Tome of <HI>Agrippa</HI>'s Works; the &s;econd, that which <HI>Trithemius</HI> cals, <HI>Elucidarium Necromanticum Petri de Albano;</HI> and the la&s;t, one, by the &s;ame Authour, call'd, <HI>Liber experi|mentorum mirabilium de annulis, &s;ecundum</HI> 28 <HI>man|&s;iones Lunae.</HI></P>
<P>All which proofs, as well of his practice and his books, as the Sentence thundered again&s;t him by the <HI>Inqui&s;ition,</HI> might indeed per&s;wade us that he was the mo&s;t deeply guilty of all that medled with tho&s;e magicall and &s;uper&s;titious ob&s;ervati|ons. But we are as well to con&s;ider the face, as the rever&s;e of his Medall, and take it out of the fal&s;e light, wherein his adver&s;aries have placed it, to view it in its proper &s;ituation, and ob&s;erve there|in the draught of a man that appear'd as a miracle amid&s;t the ignorance of his age. One he was, that be&s;ides the knowledge of the Tongues and Medicine, had &s;o &s;earch'd into that of the le&s;&s;e common Sciences, that having left, by his wri|tings
<PB N="180" REF="101">
of Phy&s;iognomy, Geomancie, and Chiro|mancie, enough to prove his abilities therein, he &s;hook hands with them all, and his own youth|full curio&s;ity, to apply him&s;elf wholly to Philo|&s;ophy, Phy&s;ick, and A&s;trologie. In the&s;e he pro|ved &s;o fortunate, that not to &s;ay any thing of the two former, whereby he in&s;inuated him&s;elf into the Care&s;&s;es of the Popes and Princes of his time, and gain'd that reputation wherein he now &s;hines among all the learned; it is evident he was excel|lently well skill'd in the la&s;t, as well by the A&s;tro|nomicall figures he cau&s;ed to be painted in the great Hall of the Palace at <HI>Padua,</HI> as his tran&s;lati|ons of the books of Rabbi <HI>Abraham Ben Ezra.</HI> To which we may adde tho&s;e he made him&s;elf of the <HI>Criticall dayes,</HI> and the illu&s;tration of <HI>A&s;tro|nomy,</HI> as al&s;o the &s;uffrage of the famous Mathe|matician <HI>Regiomontanus,</HI> who made an excellent Panegyrick to him, in the quality of an A&s;trolo|ger, in an Oration he pronounc'd publikely at <HI>Padua,</HI> when he was upon the explanation of the book of <HI>Alfraganus.</HI></P>
<P>From his &s;o great celebration of this Science, through all his works, e&s;pecially in the hundredth fifty &s;ixth Difference of his <HI>Conciliator,</HI> have &s;ome Authours taken occa&s;ion to maintain an opinion directly contrary to that of the precedent, to wit, that that Sentence pa&s;&s;ed upon him not for his Magick, but becau&s;e he would give an account of the miraculous effects that happen many times in Nature, by vertue of the Cele&s;tiall Bodies, with|out referring them either to Angels or Daemons. <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>3.</HI> Parte lib&punc; tribrat.</NOTE> This is clear by the collection which <HI>Symphoria|nus</HI> hath made of the pa&s;&s;ages of his <HI>Differences,</HI> as &s;uch as are not to be read without the precaution
<PB N="181" REF="101">
and peremptory authority of <HI>Franci&s;cus Picus<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">De praenot. l. <HI>7.</HI> c. <HI>7.</HI></NOTE> who&punc; &s;peaking of him, &s;ayes expre&s;&s;ely, <HI>Ab omni|bus ferm&egrave; creditus est Magus; ver<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">m con&s;tat qu&agrave;m oppo&s;itum dogma ei aliquando tributum &s;it, quem ettam Haere&s;ium inqui&s;itores vexaverunt, qua&s;i nul|los e&s;&s;e Daemones crediderit.</HI> To which may be ad|ded, that <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>1.</HI> de patientia, c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Baptista</HI> of <HI>Mantua,</HI> upon this &s;core, cals him, <HI>Virum magnae, &s;ed nimium audacis teme|rariae&abque; doctrinae;</HI> that <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Angelogr. part. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>21</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ca&s;mannus</HI> numbers him among tho&s;e who referr'd all miracles to nature; and that <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">De Spectr. qu. <HI>2.</HI> l. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>le Loyer</HI> affirms, that he laugh'd at <HI>Sorcerers</HI> and their <HI>Sabats.</HI> Whence it might be wonder'd at, that yet the &s;ame Authors, in divers other places, rank him among Conju|rers and Magicians, were it not ordinary with tho&s;e who write upon this Subject, &s;o to &s;well up their books, by copying out whatever they find in others, that they &s;eldom ob&s;erve the Poets advice,
<Q><L>Primo ne medium, medio ne di&s;crepet imum.</L></Q>
Nor can it but happen &s;o, when having gotten to the middle or end, they forget what they &s;aid at the beginning, and become like that <HI>Didymus,</HI> who having deni'd a thing in one of his books, an|other was produc'd wherein he affirm'd it.</P>
<P>But I &s;hould not have in&s;i&s;ted on all the&s;e proofs of the impiety of <HI>Peter d' Apono,</HI> &s;o to re|&s;cue him from the crime of Magick, by charging him with that of Athei&s;m, if I had not &s;omething to clear him of both. For this, I have not onely the te&s;timony of the mo&s;t illu&s;trious and religious <HI>Frederick</HI> Duke of <HI>Urbin,</HI> who, for his great de|&s;erts, erected a Statue to him, among tho&s;e of the
<PB N="182" REF="102">
mo&s;t eminent men that are to be &s;een in his Cit|tadel; but al&s;o the publick atte&s;tation of the City of <HI>Padua,</HI> cau&s;ing his Effigies to be &s;et up over the gate of their Palace between tho&s;e of <HI>Titu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Livius, Albertus Magnus,</HI> and <HI>Julius Paulus,</HI> with this in&s;cription upon the Ba&s;e.</P>
<Q>PETRUS APONUS PATAVINUS PHILOSOPHIAE MEDICINAEQUE SCIENTISSIMUS, OB IDQUE CONCILIATORIS NOMEN A|DEPTUS, ASTROLOGIAE VERO ADEO PERITUS, UT IN MAGIAE SUSPICIONEM INCIDERIT, FAL|SOQUE DE HAERESI POSTULA|TUS, ABSOLUTUS FUERIT.</Q>
<P>This me thinks were enough to &s;hew, that all the Objections formerly made to convince him of Magick are rather imaginary then reall. But to make an ab&s;olute di&s;covery of their fal&s;hood, we <NOTE PLACE="marg">Daemono|magiae. qu. <HI>16.</HI></NOTE> may an&s;wer what <HI>Ludwigius</HI> hath &s;aid of the &s;even &s;pirits who taught him the &s;even Liberal Sciences, that this fabulous relation proceeded from the <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Differentia</HI> 156.</NOTE> &s;aid <HI>Peter's</HI> affirming, after <HI>Albumazar,</HI> that the prayers made to God, when the Moon is in con|junction with <HI>Jupiter</HI> in the Dragon's head, are infallibly heard; and that for his own particular, he had no &s;ooner made his addre&s;&s;es, but, accor|ding to his own expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>Sapientiam &agrave; primo vi&s;us e&s;t &s;ibi in illa amplius proficere.</HI> Nor indeed could it but give diver&s;e Authours occa&s;ion to &s;mile at his indi&s;cretion in di&s;acknowledging his great Indu&s;try and Labours, to become oblig'd for his Learning to the &s;uper&s;tition of a certain
<PB N="183" REF="102">
prayer which mu&s;t needs be vain &amp; ineffectual ta|ken inwhat &s;en&s;e &s;oever. For if it be directed to the Stars, it were ab&s;olute be&s;tiality to think they could heare it; if to God, I would gladly know whe|ther he were deaf before that conjunction; whe|ther he would not receive our prayers without it, or whether that force did nece&s;&s;itate him to conde&s;cend to our de&s;ires. Hence was it, that <HI>Johannes Picus,</HI> &s;peaking of this new <HI>Salomon</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>4.</HI> adv. A&s;trolog. c. <HI>8.</HI></NOTE> had rea&s;on to &s;ay, <HI>Con&s;ulerem Petro i&s;ti ut totum quod profecit &s;uae potius industriae, ingenio&abque; accep|tum referret, qu&agrave;m Joviae illi &s;uae &s;upplicationi.</HI></P>
<P>In like manner, for the three Books divulg'd under his name, it may be &s;ayd, they are no le&s;&s;e unju&s;tly attributed to him than diver&s;e others to mo&s;t of the great Wits, be&s;ides that <HI>Trithemius</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Antipal. Lib. cap. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> will not acknowledge them to be legitimate, be|cau&s;e of the great number of fables therein fa|ther'd upon this Author; and what he had &s;aid before in his Catalogue of <HI>Eccele&s;iasticall</HI> Writers, that he thought nothing true of what was &s;aid of the Magick of <HI>Peter d' Apono,</HI> becau&s;e he could never under&s;tand he had writ any Book upon that &s;ubject. To which if we adde the generall &s;ilence of all Libraries, and the confirmation <HI>Sym|phorianus</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Tract <HI>4.</HI> Lib. de claris Me|dicinae Scriptori|bus.</NOTE> gives the Authority of <HI>Trithemius,</HI> af|firming he had never &s;een any of his Magicall Books, &s;ave a certain <HI>Difference</HI> where he treats of it by the way, I conceive there is nothing can hinder us from declaring him innocent, and con|cluding with the more rationall party, that the &s;u&s;picion men have had of his being a Magician proceeds, as its true originall, from the power he attributes to it in the Hundred fifty &s;ix differ|ence of his <HI>Conciliator,</HI> and his faculty of predicti|ons
<PB N="184" REF="103">
by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of A&s;trology, upon which, in proce&s;&s;e of time, all the&s;e fables and Chime|ra's crept in, according to the true &s;aying of <HI>Pro|pertius,</HI>
<Q><L>Omnia po&s;t obitum pingit major a Vetu&s;t as.</L></Q></P>
<P>La&s;tly for this Arch-heretick in Philo&s;ophy, Medicine, and Religion, <HI>Theophra&s;tus Paracel&s;us,</HI> who is now the Zenith, and ri&s;ing Sun of all the Alchymi&s;ts, me thinks tho&s;e who would re|&s;cue him from the crime of Magick, yet without abatement as to any other he &s;tands charg'd with, may with rea&s;on &s;ay much in his vindication. Among other things, that the novelty of his con|ceptions, the difficulty of his &s;tyle, and the ob|&s;curity of a many words frequent in his workes, &s;uch as, for in&s;tance, <HI>Ens Pagoicum, Cagastricum, Cherionium, Leffas, Je&s;adach, Trarames, Stannar, Perenda, Relloleum,</HI> and abundance of the like, make the reader &s;o doubtfull of his meaning, that he mu&s;t needs go feeling in the darkne&s;&s;e of &s;uch Maeanders, and knows not whether he &s;peakes of a Sheeps trackle or a pill, a &s;tone or bread, the Devil or Nature. Which if &s;o, there is much more ground to doubt, whether he makes u&s;e of Magick as of riddles (after the example of <HI>Tri|themius)</HI> to di&s;gui&s;e his precepts, and to conceale the vanity of his Art, which he thought &s;hould be the more admir'd, the le&s;&s;e it is under|&s;tood.</P>
<Q><PB N="185" REF="103">
<BIBL>Lucret. l. <HI>1.</HI></BIBL> <L>Omnia enim &s;tolidi magis admirantur, amant&abque;</L>
<L>Inver&s;is quae &s;ub verbis latitantia cernunt.</L></Q>
<P>But for my part, &s;ince I have not &s;tudied the Dictionary <HI>Rulandus</HI> hath compil'd of the Phra&s;es of this Author, &s;o far as to be able to judge of his workes and to under&s;tand them, I &s;hall, in this que&s;tion of his Magick be guided by the opi|nion of his chiefe&s;t Interpreters, <HI>Severinus</HI> the Dane, and <HI>Crollius.</HI> The&s;e make it only the vaile and vizard of his doctrine, witne&s;&s;e the latter, <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Epi&s;tol<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;crip. Pa|racel&s;o.</NOTE> page 77. of his preface, <HI>Paracel&s;um expertis &s;tylo magico &s;crip&s;i&s;&s;e, non vulgo, &s;ed &s;ibi &amp; intelligen|tibus in &s;chola magica educatis, &s;apientiae filiis, mysteria &s;ua &s;ub variis nominibus occulta&s;&s;e.</HI> And indeed it is certain, that the names of diver&s;e Spirits &s;catter'd frequently up and down his Books, &s;uch as might be taken for covies of Devils, are to be under&s;tood, according to the opinion <NOTE PLACE="marg">Comment. in l. <HI>4.</HI> Paracel&s;i, de vita lon|ga.</NOTE> of <HI>James Gohory,</HI> the fir&s;t favourer of <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> in <HI>France,</HI> of extractions and diver&s;e e&s;&s;ences&punc; of their properties and preparations, or la&s;tly of things minerall, vegetall and animate, &s;uch as he made u&s;e of in the compo&s;ition of his Remedies. With this agrees that of <HI>Johannes Oporinus;</HI> who <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apud Era|&s;tum. part. <HI>1</HI></NOTE> was his &s;ervant a long time, and having made the fir&s;t di&s;covery of what is now objected to him, makes no mention of his Magick, or his invocati|ons; and <HI>Wetterus,</HI> who having &s;tayd twenty &s;e|ven months with him, &s;ayes only, that, when he was drunk, he would threaten to bring in mil|lions of Devils, to &s;hew what power he had over them, not to take any notice of what a many &s;ay of the familiar Daemon which was lock'd up
<PB N="186" REF="104">
within the pommell of his &s;word. For, not to bring upon the &s;tage the opinion of the Alchy|mi&s;ts who maintaine, it was the &s;ecret of the Phi|lo&s;ophers &s;tone, it were more rationall to be|lieve, that, if there were any thing within it, it was certainly two or three do&s;es of his <HI>Laudanum,</HI> which he never went without, becau&s;e he did &s;trange things with it, and u&s;'d it as an univer&s;all medicine to cure all manner of di&s;ea&s;es.</P>
<P>It might here be &s;aid that it &s;ignifies not much to have glean'd up the&s;e proofs to &s;trike <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI>'s name out of the Catalogue of Magicians, when he him&s;elf, not content to have put Magick for one of the four pillars of Medicine, hath endea|vour'd further to acquaint us with the precepts and nature of it, and that, in all his Books and <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 4.</NOTE> particularly in that <HI>de Philo&s;ophi&acirc; &s;agaci,</HI> where he divides it into &s;ix &s;pecies and different parts. The fir&s;t treats of the &s;ignification of the &s;ignes happening be&s;ides the order of Nature, as the Starr that appear'd to the wi&s;e men. The &s;e|cond, of the Metamorpho&s;es and tran&s;mutation of Bodies; the third, of the vertue of words and &s;peech; the fourth, of Annulets; the fift, of en|chanted images; and the la&s;t, of the Cabal, which he &s;aid was to be u&s;'d to do all tho&s;e extraordina|ry actions which cannot be reduc'd to any of the other five parts. Such are the&s;e, to ripen fruits in an in&s;tant; to make one hor&s;e travell further in a day, then another &s;hall in a month; to di&s;|cour&s;e intelligibly with tho&s;e that are above 500. miles di&s;tance from us; and in a word, to do whatever &s;eems, and ever hath been thought im|po&s;&s;ible. But I extreamly wonder &s;ince he pre|tended to the ab&s;olute knowledg of all the&s;e kinds
<PB N="187" REF="104">
of Magick, why he never did any thing by the a&s;|&s;i&s;tance of them. For certainly it had been much more reputation to him, to confirme this new doctrine by &s;ome of his <HI>experiences,</HI> than to fol|low the ordinary track of <HI>Mountebanks,</HI> who break out into a torrent of common and popular eloquence to celebrate the miraculous power of their Druggs, and call them&s;elves <HI>Profe&s;&s;ors</HI> and <HI>Operators,</HI> as if they had the certain cure of all di&s;ea&s;es.</P>
<Q><L>At nu&s;quam, totos inter qui talia jactant,</L>
<L>Apparet qui&s;quam qui re miracula tanta</L>
<L>Comprobet.</L></Q>
<P>But, however it be, I &s;hall not quarrell with their opinion, who hold, that one of the princi|pall advantages which learned and indu&s;trious men have over the ignorant, is, that it is in their power to make new Sy&s;tems, and advance new Principles, nay change the order, precepts and method of the Sciences, &s;hortening or lengthen|ing them, like a Stirrop, as they plea&s;e. Of which number <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> being one thought he might as well invert the cour&s;e of Magick, as he had done that of Medicine and Philo&s;ophy, and boa&s;ted he could have done of Religion, threatning both the <HI>Pope</HI> and <HI>Luther</HI> to bring them both to his Maxims when he &s;hould think fit to do it. Though therefore he might ju&s;tly be condemn'd as an Arch-heretick for the depravedne&s;&s;e of his opinion in point of Religion, yet do I not think he &s;hould be charg'd with Magick. For this con|&s;i&s;ts not in the <HI>Speculations</HI> and <HI>Theory;</HI> which every one may explicate and amplify according
<PB N="188" REF="105">
to his fanta&s;ie, but in the practice of the <HI>Circle</HI> and <HI>Invocations,</HI> wherein, as we have already &s;hewn, not any one of the Authours, that have the great|e&s;t aver&s;ion for his Doctrine, would ever main|tain he employ'd him&s;elf.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="15" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XV.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of Cornelius Agrippa.</HEAD>
<P>VVEre there no more requi&s;ite to declare a man a Magician, than that he &s;hould give him&s;elf the title, or were it ju&s;t, that who &s;hould brag he could do thou&s;ands of tricks and invocations, were truly guilty of the practice thereof, that Impo&s;tor and Mountebank that wander'd up and down <HI>Germany</HI> in the time of <HI>Trithemius,</HI> &s;hould certainly be taken for the mo&s;t exqui&s;ite Conjurer of our la&s;t ages, &s;ince he was &s;o ambitious to be known, and called every where by the&s;e honourable titles, <HI>Magi&s;ter Geor|gius Sabellicus, Fau&s;tus junior, Fons Necromantico|rum, A&s;trologus, Magus, Chiromanticus, Agro|manticus, Pyromanticus, &amp; in Hydra arte nulli &s;e|cundus.</HI> With the &s;ame confidence of Truth may we affirm, that if the compo&s;ition of Magicall Books were a &s;ufficient proof to convince their Authours of this crime, no compurgation of Elo|quence could deliver <HI>Agrippa,</HI> &s;ince he is at &s;uch lo&s;&s;e of mode&s;ty, as to publi&s;h, by writings printed even in his life time, the rules and precepts there|of. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. ad Joan. Vir|dumguin.</NOTE> But as the &s;aid <HI>Trithemius</HI> tels us in his Epi|&s;tles, that this <HI>Sabellicus</HI> had no other ground for that fooli&s;h o&s;tentation, than the impudence and
<PB N="189" REF="105">
temerity he was guilty of, in promi&s;ing all things without effecting any; &s;o may it be &s;aid, that this Book of <HI>Agrippa</HI> di&s;covers him to be rather of their rank, who, to make a noi&s;e, and gain repu|tation, pretend to know many things beyond the ordinary reach of men, than of that of Conjurers and Magicians.</P>
<P>This I undertake to make good in this Chap|ter, not &s;o much out of oppo&s;ition to mo&s;t Au|thours, as to propo&s;e it as a probleme, for tho&s;e who de&s;ire to &s;ee the rea&s;ons of both &s;ides, as a Paradox in re&s;pect of the common opinion, and as a true re&s;olution to tho&s;e, who by my rea&s;ons &s;hall think it &s;uch. For I doubt not, but amid&s;t the great diver&s;ity of mens judgements, &s;uch an opinion mu&s;t needs fall under one of the&s;e three interpretations. Whereof as I &s;hall alwayes find favour from the two extreams, &s;o do I expect that tho&s;e who hold it new and paradoxall, &s;hould ex|cu&s;e me, if I endeavour to clear up the truth, be|cau&s;e, if it be not &s;uch, it is a charity to re&s;cue what is &s;o near it from &s;o dangerous a calumny, and to deliver the per&s;on, to avoid the cen&s;ure of <HI>Lactantius,</HI> who &s;ayes that, <HI>Non major est iniqui|tas</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">In&s;tit. l. <HI>5.</HI> c. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>probatam innocentiam damna&s;&s;e, qu&agrave;m inaudi|tam.</HI> But if it be &s;uch, a man is at liberty to main|tain it, and celebrate the prai&s;es of <HI>Agrippa,</HI> as <HI>I&s;ocrates</HI> &s;ome time did tho&s;e of <HI>Bu&s;iris,</HI> and <HI>Car|dan</HI> tho&s;e of <HI>Nero.</HI> With this caution by the way, that their opinion be ab&s;olutely di&s;carded, who hold that <HI>Agrippa</HI> cannot be repre&s;ented, but like an Owl in a Night-piece, becau&s;e of his magicall deformity; that he was a &s;uper&s;titious vagabond; that all his travels and peregrinations were but &s;o many flights and e&s;capes; and that he died in
<PB N="190" REF="106">
great nece&s;&s;ity, (as being for&s;aken by, becau&s;e abominable to, all the world) among Beggars and the Scurf of the City of <HI>Lyons.</HI> For to do other|wi&s;e, were, to &s;peak ingenuou&s;ly, to be guided by the ignorance or pa&s;&s;ion of <HI>Paulus Jovius,</HI> and the Daemonographers, rather than the truth of the Hi&s;tory, and thereby to pa&s;&s;e &s;uch a di&s;advanta|geous judgement on a man, who was not only a new <HI>Tri&s;megi&s;tus</HI> in the three &s;uperiour faculties, Theologie, the Civill Laws, and Medicine; but one, who by travelling thorow all parts of <HI>Eu|rope,</HI> would roll his mind into all Sciences and Di&s;ciplines, to be like that <HI>Argus,</HI> who,
<Q><L>Centum luminibus cinctum caput unus habebat.</L></Q></P>
<P>By this means, came he from one employment to another, at la&s;t to that <NOTE N="z" PLACE="marg"><P>Agripp. l. <HI>6.</HI> ep. <HI>18.</HI> Lib <HI>7.</HI> epi&s;t. <HI>21.</HI> Thevet in his life.</P>
<P>Agrippa <HI>2.</HI> tom. p. <HI>596.</HI> Idem l. <HI>3. &amp; 4.</HI> epi&s;t. Idem l. <HI>6. &amp; 7.</HI> Idem <HI>13.</HI> primis e|pi&s;t. l. <HI>1.</HI> Idem in Expo&s;tul. Catilin. fol. <HI>510, 511.</HI> Id. epi&s;t. <HI>47.</HI> l. <HI>7.</HI> Id. in de|fen&s;. propo|&s;it. &s;ol. <HI>596.</HI> Idem ep. <HI>38.</HI> lib. <HI>1.</HI> Idem <HI>76. &amp; 79.</HI> l. <HI>3.</HI> Idem <HI>84.</HI> l. <HI>5.</HI> Idem pa&s;&s;im n epi&s;t.</P></NOTE> of Secretary to the Emperour <HI>Maximilian;</HI> a Favourite of <HI>Antonins Delevus,</HI> and Captain in his Troops; Profe&s;&s;our of Divinity at <HI>Dole,</HI> and <HI>Pavia; Syndic,</HI> and <HI>Ad|vocate&punc;Generall</HI> of the City of <HI>Metz;</HI> Phy&s;ician to her Highne&s;&s;e the Dutche&s;&s;e of <HI>Anjou,</HI> Mother to King <HI>Francis</HI> the Fir&s;t; and la&s;tly, Concellour and Hi&s;toriographer to the Emperour <HI>Charles</HI> the Fifth. All the&s;e charges may well &s;ecure his re|putation among&s;t the greate&s;t per&s;ons, and there|fore we needed not to have ca&s;t into the balance, that he was employ'd at twenty years of age by &s;ome Gentlemen of <HI>France,</HI> to endeavour the tran&s;mutation of metals; that two years after he publikely explan'd that ob&s;cure and difficult book of <HI>Reuclin, De Verbo mirifico;</HI> that he under&s;tood eight &s;everall Languages; that he was cho&s;en by the Cardinall <HI>de Sainte Croix,</HI> to a&s;&s;i&s;t him in the
<PB N="191" REF="106">
Councell which was to be held at <HI>Pi&s;o.</HI> To this we may adde, That the Pope writ a Letter to him to exhort him, as he had begun, to continue in well-doing; That the Cardinall of <HI>Lorrain</HI> would needs be Godfather to one of his &s;ons in <HI>France;</HI> That a Marque&s;&s;e of <HI>Italy,</HI> a King of <HI>Eng|land,</HI> the Chancellour <HI>Mercurius Gatinaria,</HI> and <HI>Margaret</HI> Prince&s;&s;e of <HI>Au&s;tria,</HI> courted him into their &s;ervice at the &s;ame time: And la&s;tly, that he was &s;ingular friend to four Cardinals, five Bi&s;hops, and all the learned men of his time, &s;uch as <HI>Era&s;|mus, Faber Stapulen&s;is, Trithemius, Capito, Melan|cthon, Capellanus, Montius,</HI> and <HI>Cantiuncula.</HI></P>
<P>This granted, I cannot much wonder, that <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">In Elogiis lib. de My|&s;ter. nota|rum, Quae&s;t. <HI>16.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Paulus Jovius</HI> cals him, <HI>Portento&s;um ingenium;</HI> that <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Daemono|mag. p. <HI>209.</HI></NOTE> <HI>James Gohory</HI> places him, <HI>inter clari&s;&s;ima &s;ui &s;aeculi lumina;</HI> that <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Lib. de prae&s;tig. pa&s;&s;.</NOTE> <HI>Ludwigius</HI> cals him, <HI>Venerandum Dominum Agrippam, literarum lite|ratorum&abque; omnium miraculum, &amp; amorem bono|rum;</HI> that <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Lib. de vit. Medic. in e jus vita.</NOTE> <HI>Uvierus, Melchior Adam,</HI> and a many others, &s;peak of him very honourably, com|plaining that all the&s;e elogies, and te&s;timonies, the&s;e extraordinary perfections, the&s;e great em|ployments and dignities &s;hould not any way &s;hake the opinion men have to this day of his be|ing a Magician. Which indeed is the more deplo|rable, becau&s;e there are but two or three proofs to make him &s;uch, which &s;ince they are &s;o fal&s;e and forged, that it were madne&s;&s;e or malicious ignorance, to take them for authentick, I &s;hould rather beleeve that this opinion hath not crept into the imaginations of Authours &s;o much by any of the&s;e three wayes, as by the indi&s;cretion of the fir&s;t Advancer of it. For what he fir&s;t broach'd, the re&s;t took for good &s;ecurity, to de&s;cribe <HI>Agrippa</HI>
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as the Prince of Magicians, and bla&s;t his reputati|on with all the injuries imaginable, &s;o far as to cur&s;e him with Bell, Book, and Candle. Nor is this any thing extraordinary in them, it being their de&s;igne to prai&s;e or di&s;prai&s;e to the worlds end, right or wrong it matters not, and that with|out any heed or moderation, a many per&s;ons, of whom they neither have nor would know any thing, &s;ave that they have been condemn'd or ap|prov'd by &s;uch and &s;uch; and con&s;equently, that they cannot be mi&s;taken, if they pa&s;&s;e the &s;ame judgement on them;
<Q><BIBL>Horat.</BIBL> 
<L>O imitatores &s;ervum pecus! ut mihi &s;aep&egrave;</L>
<L>Bilem, &s;aep&egrave; jocum, vestri mov&ecirc;re tumultus!</L></Q></P>
<P>But haply I may be thought too har&s;h with the&s;e Authors, &s;ince that what was alledg'd before, may &s;omewhat clear <HI>Agrippa;</HI> yet is not &s;o preg|nant, as ab&s;olutly to acquit him from all &s;u&s;picion of Magick. I would therefore ask <HI>Delrio,</HI> one of his greate&s;t adver&s;aries, why the judgement of the <HI>Pope,</HI> the authority of &s;o many <HI>Cardinals &amp; Bi|&s;hops,</HI> the favour of two <HI>Emperours,</HI> and &s;o many <HI>Kings,</HI> are not as good and authentick proofs to clear his innocence, as that whereby he would ju|&s;tifie <HI>Arnoldus de Villa nova</HI> from being a Magici|an, <HI>becau&s;e the Clergie of</HI> Rome, <HI>among whom he liv'd a while, would not have employ'd him, if they had known him to be &s;uch.</HI> Be&s;ides, if this fir&s;t rea|&s;on, out of which it were not hard to deduce a many more, give them not full &s;atisfaction, I wi&s;h <NOTE PLACE="marg">From cap. <HI>41.</HI> to cap. <HI>48.</HI></NOTE> they would, for their better, con&s;ider what De|clamations the &s;aid <HI>Agrippa</HI> makes again&s;t Ma|gick, not only in his Book, <HI>Of the Vanity of the</HI>
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<HI>Sciences,</HI> but al&s;o in his treati&s;e <HI>of Originall Sin,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 555.</NOTE> in his Complaint again&s;t the School-men in the fourteenth Epi&s;tle of the fifth Book, wherein he was indeed a little elevated by a holy zeal, and &s;ome animo&s;ity again&s;t the French: and in Epi&s;t. 26. of the &s;ame Book, of which Epi&s;tle I &s;hall only give notice, that the title is tran&s;po<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">'d in the la&s;t edition; where it is <HI>Amicus ad Agrippam,</HI> in&s;tead of <HI>Agrippa ad Ami|cum,</HI> as it is printed with the three Books of his <HI>occult Philo&s;ophy,</HI> Anno 1533.</P>
<P>Adde to this, that being <HI>Syndic,</HI> and <HI>Advocat Generall</HI> of the City of <HI>Metz,</HI> he directly oppo&s;'d the proceedings of <HI>Nicolas Savini</HI> then <HI>Inqui&s;itor</HI> for the Faith in the &s;aid City, who would have puni&s;h'd a poor Country woman as a Witch; and &s;tickled &s;o much in the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e that he got her relea&s;'d, and the accu&s;ers and witne&s;&s;es well fi|ned; which &s;hews he was not &s;o &s;uper&s;titious as the greate&s;t part of tho&s;e who calumniate him.</P>
<P>To make his charge high enough, it is further urg'd that the Divines of <HI>Lovaine</HI> pa&s;&s;'d a &s;evere cen&s;ure upon his Declaration again&s;t the Sciences; that <HI>John Catilinet,</HI> a Franci&s;can declaim'd pub|likely again&s;t the explication he had made at <HI>Dola, de Verbo mirifico;</HI> that the Dominicans of the City of <HI>Metz</HI> writt again&s;t the propo&s;itions he had publi&s;h'd in defence of the opinion of <HI>Fa|ber Stapulen&s;is,</HI> concerning the Monogamy of St. <HI>Anne.</HI> And yet not one of the&s;e cen&s;urers could take occa&s;ion to make any remarkes upon the two fir&s;t Books of his <HI>occult Philo&s;ophy</HI> printed long before any of the&s;e pieces, at <HI>Paris, Antwerp,</HI> and other places, and every where with the Pri|viledge
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and approbation of tho&s;e who had the management of &s;uch affaires. But it may haply be conjectur'd that the Adver&s;aries will an&s;wer this la&s;t rea&s;on, by &s;aying, that there is indeed no danger in tho&s;e Books, it being <HI>Agrippa's</HI> de|&s;igne to make that advantage of the curious Phi|lo&s;ophy and Learning therein contained, as a gilt pill, to make the poi&s;on of the other to &s;lide down more ea&s;ily; imitating therein the &s;ubtlety of the Crocodile, which counterfeits the voice of a man, to devour him, or rather the &s;tratageme of Satan transforming him&s;elf into an Angell of Light, or of &s;ome beautifull Creature, the more ea&s;ily to deceive us. We &s;hall therefore take this occa&s;ion to di&s;cover, how much the avarice of Book&s;ellers, and the vanity of certain men&punc; who have no other employment then to make counterfeit ke<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> to all Books and treati&s;es that are ever &s;o litle dif|ficult and ob&s;cure, have injur'd the memory of this Author, fathering on him a fourth Book full of vain, Magical, &s;uper&s;titious, and abho|minable Ceremonies, and publi&s;hing it with the three of his Occult Philo&s;ophy, together with &s;ome other &s;hreds and fragments of <HI>Peter d' Apono, Arbatel, Pictorius, Trithemins,</HI> and commenta|ries upon the whole Hi&s;tory of <HI>Pliny</HI> by <HI>Stephanus Aqueus;</HI> the reading whereof we mu&s;t acknow|ledge much more dangerous to a mind carry'd through weakne&s;&s;e, away with &s;uch vanities, then that of <HI>Ovid</HI> to a debauch'd per&s;on, of <HI>Martiall</HI> to a Flatterer and detractor, of <HI>Lucian</HI> to a Scoffer, of <HI>Cicero</HI> to a proud man, and of <HI>Lucretius</HI> to an irreligious man and an Athei&s;t. But note by the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Deprae&s;tig. Lib. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> way, that the&s;e Books are as fal&s;ely father'd on them, as that fourth upon <HI>Agrippa,</HI> as <HI>Vuierus,</HI>
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in defence of the la&s;t, affirmes, that that Book was not publi&s;h'd till twenty &s;even years after his death, and that certainly he was not the Author of it. And for <HI>Agrippa,</HI> we may obiect, that he &s;ayes in his Epi&s;tles, that he had re&s;erv'd to him|&s;elf <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lih.</HI> 4. <HI>Ep.</HI> 56. <HI>Lib.</HI> 5. <HI>ep.</HI> 14.</NOTE> the key of the three Books he had publi&s;h'd. For be&s;ides that we may probably an&s;wer, that he mention'd &s;uch a Key meerly to be courted by the curious, upon which account, <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. de my&s;t not.</NOTE> <HI>James Gohory</HI> and <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Comment. in Paracel&s;. de vita lon|ga. f. <HI>61.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Vigenere</HI> affirme he boa&s;ted that he knew the &s;ecret of <HI>Pythagoras</HI>'s gla&s;&s;e, as al&s;o that of <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">In his Cyphers f. <HI>16. 27.</HI></NOTE> extracting the &s;pirit of Gold, to turn Sil|ver or Copper into perfect Gold, yet not for a greater quantity then the waight of the Body whence it was extracted amounted to. Be&s;ides this rea&s;on, I &s;ay, he clearly expre&s;&s;es what he meanes by &s;uch a key when he &s;aies in the 19. Epi&s;t. of the 5. Book. <HI>Haec e&s;t illa vera, &amp; mirabili|um operum occulti&s;&s;ima Philo&s;ophia. Clavis ejus Intellectus e&s;t, quanto enim altiora intelligimus, tant&oacute; &s;ublimiores induimus vir tutes, tanto&abque; &amp; ma|jora, &amp; facilius &amp; efficacius operamur.</HI> This I &s;uppo&s;e takes away all difficulty concerning this <HI>occult Philo&s;ophy</HI> unle&s;&s;e we would rai&s;e any out of the third Book printed with the other two, in in the year 1533. he being then a <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>7.</HI> Epi&s;t.</NOTE> Dome&s;tick of the Archbi&s;hop's of <HI>Cullen,</HI> who thought him|&s;elf much honour'd with the <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. de|dicat.</NOTE> dedication of them and <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">De occ. Phil. l. <HI>2&punc;</HI></NOTE> permitted him to publi&s;h them according to the Priviledge of the Emperour <HI>Charles, V.</HI> From which circum&s;tances may be inferr'd, that as the two fir&s;t were publi&s;h'd long before, without any prejudice to the Author's re|putation, &s;o is there not any thing in the third, that may give any &s;u&s;picion of Magick, unle&s;&s;e
<PB N="196" REF="109">
it be particularly to &s;uch, as, like fearfull travel|lers, take roots for folded Serpents, huts and bu&s;hes for Highway-men waiting for them, <HI>Et motae ad Lunam trepidant arundinis umbram.</HI> For he treats not of any thing, under the title of Divine and Ceremonious Magick, but of Religion, of God, and of his names and attributes, as al&s;o of Daemons and Angels, of Intelligences and Genius's, of &s;acrifices, of Man and his &s;everall operations. And all this according to the opi|nions of Divines, Philo&s;ophers and Cabali&s;ts, not advancing any thing, but what, as he acknow|ledges him&s;elf, he had taken out of the printed, much read, and much approved Books of <HI>H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">o Porphyrius, Proclus, Calcidus Syne&s;ius, Ammonius, P&s;ellus, Albertus magnus, Roger Bacon, William</HI> of <HI>Paris, Gatalinus, Johannes Picus, Reucli<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">s, Riccius,</HI> and &s;uch like; who are only &s;u&s;pected of Magick by tho&s;e that are frightned at any thing they are unacquainted with, and as <HI>Lncretius</HI> &s;ayes, fear,
<Q><L>&mdash;Nihilo quae &s;unt metuenda magis, qu&agrave;m</L>
<L>Quae pueri in tenebris pavitant fingunt&abque; futura.</L></Q></P>
<P>To this we may adde, that he hath, in his pre|face, cautiou&s;ly retracted what ever might have crept into his works contrary to the doctrine of the Church, &amp; does both <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>4.</HI> E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>56.</HI> l. <HI>5.</HI> E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>14.</HI> Dedic. l. <HI>3.</HI> Philo&s;oph.</NOTE> there and all thorow his workes, excu&s;e him&s;elf, &s;aying that, <HI>Minor qu&agrave;m adole&s;cens hoc compo&s;uit.</HI> It is then out of all controver&s;y that there will not hereafter be any &s;o barbarous &amp; inhumane as to glo&s;&s;e more di&s;ad|vantageou&s;ly upon the heats &amp; &s;allyes of his youth, then on tho&s;e of <HI>Picus, Albertus magnus, Aene|as</HI>
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<HI>Sylvius,</HI> and divers others, who may as well as <HI>Agrippa</HI> imitate the penitent King, where he &s;ayes, <HI>Remember not, O Lord the &s;ins and ignorances of my youth.</HI></P>
<P>Having thus defeated the &s;tronge&s;t and mo&s;t un&s;u&s;pected proof of the Adver&s;aries, and rendered it vain and of no con&s;equence, the re&s;t are ea&s;ily rooted, as &s;uch, as are fitter to fill up the Magi|call Romances of <HI>Merlin, Maugis</HI> and Dr. <HI>Fau|&s;tus,</HI> than that they &s;hould be found in the &s;eri|ous and con&s;iderate writings of Hi&s;torians and Daemonographers, at lea&s;t &s;uch as ought to be &s;uch. Among the&s;e, <HI>Delrio, Thevet,</HI> and <HI>Pau|lus Jovius</HI> are the mo&s;t con&s;iderable witne&s;&s;es that come in again&s;t the life, manners, and doctrine of <HI>Agrippa.</HI> The former was a man of &s;uch a va&s;t and prodigious reading that he hath omitted nothing that any way made for his <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the other two &s;eem to &s;peak of him with more candour and integrity, in as much as they prudently rank him among&s;t the mo&s;t illu&s;trious men, and liken him to that altar of <HI>Midas,</HI> which &s;eem'd &s;ometimes to be of Gold, but for the mo&s;t part of &s;tone. <NOTE PLACE="marg">In the lives of il|lu&s;trious men.</NOTE></P>
<P>To begin then with the depo&s;ition of <HI>Thevet,</HI> who having fir&s;t drawn him according to the Ori|ginall of <HI>Bohemians</HI> and <HI>Cingari&s;ts,</HI>
<Q><L>Quos aliena juvant, propriis habitare mole &s;tum,</L></Q>
very confidently gives you a rea&s;on for all his Travells, which was, that he could not &s;tay long in any place, before he had &s;hewn &s;ome trick of his Art, which being di&s;cover'd, and he thereby known to be an Enchanter and Necro|manner,
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all he could do was to fly from one Country to another like tho&s;e apes that leap from one tree to another, and from one bough to another, till at la&s;t they are taken by the Hun|ters. To make this te&s;timony the more authen|tick, <HI>Delrio</HI> makes oath that the Emperour <HI>Charles V.</HI> would never admit him to his &s;ight, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;it. l. <HI>2.</HI> qu. <HI>12.</HI></NOTE> after he had entertain'd him with &s;ome di&s;cour&s;es that he could find out and di&s;cover great trea|&s;ures by his Magick: as al&s;o that, being at <HI>Lo|vaine,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2. <HI>que&s;t.</HI> 39.</NOTE> when the Devil had murthered one of his Pen&s;ioners, he commanded him to enter into his body, and to walke &s;even or eight turnes in the publick place of the City before he quitted it, that &s;o he might not be troubled or &s;u&s;pected for his death, when the people &s;hould find him dead of a &s;udden and naturall one. To which adde that of the third witne&s;&s;e <HI>Paulus Jovius,</HI> who, in his Elogies, &s;ayes, that, di&s;carded by all the world, he dy'd very poor at <HI>Lyons,</HI> and that touch'd with &s;ome remor&s;e of con&s;cience, he di&s;mi&s;t a great black Dog that had follow'd him all his life, ta|king off his neck a Coller full of images and Ma|gicall figures, &s;aying to him with &s;ome exa&s;pera|tion, <HI>Abi perdita be&s;tia quae me totum perdidisti,</HI> whereupon the Dog went and ca&s;t him&s;elf into the <HI>Saone,</HI> and was never &s;een afterwards.</P>
<P>Though the ridiculou&s;ne&s;&s;e of the&s;e relations &s;ufficiently di&s;cover their fal&s;ity, yet to pluck them up by the roots, we are to reflect on that &s;aying of <HI>Machiavel,</HI> that if <HI>Ce&s;ar</HI> had been van|qui&s;h'd by <HI>Pompey,</HI> no que&s;tion, but he would have been de&s;crib'd to us, not &s;uch as he is now, but more extravagantly wicked then ever <HI>Catiline</HI> was. Thus the greate&s;t part of Mankind inter|preting
<PB N="199" REF="110">
the actions of others alwayes &s;uitably to their fortune, all the Vertues we now admire in him, would have been turn'd into &s;o many vices, nor could nature have afforded colours &s;ad enough to di&s;gui&s;e him &s;o as to plea&s;e &s;ome Writers. For we may inferre from this Maxim that we may da&s;h out of the Calumnies fa&s;ten'd upon <HI>Agrippa,</HI> the &s;tory of the pen&s;ioner of <HI>Lovaine,</HI> as &s;uch as we may more rationally de|ny with <HI>Ludwigius,</HI> than <HI>Delrio</HI> affirme it, &s;ince he hath taken it word for word out of a Book called <HI>The Theatre of Nature,</HI> publi&s;h'd in <HI>Italian</HI> and <HI>Latine</HI> under the name of <HI>Stroza Cicogna,</HI> and in <HI>French</HI> and <HI>Spani&s;h</HI> under that of <HI>Valderama.</HI> For the re&s;t, they are faign'd upon the reall actions of his life, which ever &s;ince he put out his Book <HI>of the vanity of Sciences,</HI> men endeavour'd to inter|pret in a contrary &s;en&s;e, and make them as de|formed and abhominable, as they would have been thought noble, vertuous, or at lea&s;t tolerable, if he had not committed that fault, which indeed prov'd the cau&s;e of all his misfortune. This it was al&s;o, and not his Magick, that incen&s;'d the Emperour <HI>Charles V.</HI> as he him&s;elf acknow|ledges in <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>2</HI> Tomi. &s;ol. <HI>251.</HI> Epi&s;t. dedi|cat. Apol. in buerel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> adver&s;. Schola&s;t. p&punc; <HI>447.</HI> In defen&s;i|on. prop. De Mono|gam. p. <HI>584.</HI> &amp; Epi&s;t. <HI>15&punc; 27.</HI> lib. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> &s;everall places of his works, and made him &s;light his &s;ervice; nay he would have gone further, if Cardinall <HI>Campege,</HI> and the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Liege</HI> had not appea&s;'d him. This di&s;grace gave his envyers, and emulators occa&s;ion to calum|niate him with <HI>Magick,</HI> grounding their malice on his publi&s;hing his three Books <HI>of occult Philo|&s;ophy.</HI> The two former&punc; as we have &s;hewn, were publi&s;h'd long before this tempe&s;t aro&s;e, and &s;tood out the &s;urges of detraction, but coming again into the pre&s;&s;e they underwent the &s;ame
<PB N="200" REF="111">
fate with the third, &s;o that there was no more mer|cy for them than the others as if all things had con|&s;pired both their and their Authors rui<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e. Thence it comes that <HI>Thevet</HI> attributes all his travells to a ba&s;e &s;hifting from place to place, and from Coun|try to Country by rea&s;on of his Magick. And yet there's nothing &s;o certain, as that all the voy|ages he undertook from the twenty &s;econd year of his age were upon the Negotiations of &s;ome Kings and Princes that employ'd him, in the quality of an Agent.</P>
<P>Thus his coming into <HI>England</HI> was, as <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg"><HI>Tom.</HI> 2. <HI>f.</HI> 596 <HI>l.</HI> 3. <HI>ep.</HI> 58. &amp; 60. <HI>l.</HI> 7. <HI>ep.</HI> 1. 21. 44. 26. <HI>and el&s;ewhere.</HI></NOTE> he him&s;elf affirmes, to manage an affaire of great con&s;equence; it was upon the account of <HI>Maxi|milian</HI> the Emperour that he follow'd the army he &s;ent into <HI>Italy;</HI> the Dutche&s;&s;e of <HI>Anjou</HI> &s;ent for him into <HI>France, Margaret</HI> of <HI>Austria</HI> into <HI>Antwerp;</HI> the Archbi&s;hop of <HI>Cullen</HI> into <HI>Germany.</HI> And upon &s;ome &s;uch other occa&s;ion he return'd again into <HI>France,</HI> where he dy'd, in the year 1535. not at <HI>Lyons,</HI> as <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">De prae|&s;tig. l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>5</HI></NOTE> <HI>Thevet</HI> and <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">In vitis illu&s;tr. me|di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">or.</NOTE> <HI>Paulus Jovius</HI> affirme; but, more truely, according to <HI>Wierus</HI> and <HI>Melchior Adam,</HI> in the City of <HI>Greno|ble,</HI> at the Receiver General's hou&s;e, of the pro|vince of <HI>Dalphine,</HI> who&s;e Son dy'd, &s;ome years &s;ince, fir&s;t Pre&s;ident of the &s;aid City.</P>
<P>La&s;tly for the &s;tory of the <HI>Dog,</HI> repre&s;ented to us with greater eloquence than truth by <HI>Paulus Jovius,</HI>
<Q><L>Venalis cui penna fuit, cui gloria flocci;</L></Q>
what &s;urer judgment can be pa&s;&s;'d on it, after &s;o evident a fal&s;ity, but that it is a pure Calumny forg'd by his emulators? For as men have &s;trange
<PB N="201" REF="111">
inclinations for certaine animals, as that of <HI>Alex|ander</HI> for his <HI>Hor&s;e,</HI> of <HI>Augustus</HI> for a <HI>Parrat,</HI> of <HI>Nero</HI> for a <HI>Starling,</HI> of <HI>Virgil</HI> for a <HI>butterfly,</HI> of <HI>Commodus</HI> for an <HI>ape,</HI> of <HI>Heliogabalus</HI> for a <HI>Spar|row,</HI> of <HI>Honorius</HI> for a <HI>Hen,</HI> and of others for others; &s;o <HI>Agrippa</HI> plac'd his affection on the mo&s;t ordinary, keeping con&s;tantly five or &s;ix Dogges in his hou&s;e, who&s;e names are often mention'd in five or &s;ix of his <NOTE N="n" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2. <HI>ep.</HI> 72. 74. 76. 77.</NOTE> Epi&s;tles, as al&s;o in the Epitaphs which &s;ome of his Friends made upon them. Though <NOTE N="o" PLACE="marg">De prae|&s;tig. l. <HI>2&punc;</HI> c. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Wierus,</HI> who was his &s;ervant &s;ayes he had but two, which were perpetually with him in his &s;tudy, whereof one was called <HI>Mon&s;ieur,</HI> and the other <HI>Mademoi&s;elle.</HI> But &s;ince the incertainty of the number of his Dogs, which he might daily change, makes nothing to his prejudice, I conceive it be&s;t concluding with the &s;aid <HI>Wierus,</HI> that they might indeed give his enemies occa&s;ion to rai&s;e the report that the Devill conver&s;'d with him un|der the forme of a great black Dog, as they had before heard that <HI>Simon Magus, Sylve&s;ter,</HI> Dr. <HI>Fau&s;tus,</HI> and the Bragadochio of <HI>Venice,</HI> had one perpetually at their heeles under the &s;hape of &s;uch a Creature.</P>
<P>Having thus faithfully layd down the rea&s;ons producible on both &s;ides, though I leave all per|&s;ons to incline to which they think it mo&s;t rati|onall, yet &s;hall I for my own particular conclude the Chapter with that &s;aying of <HI>Seneca,</HI> more true <NOTE PLACE="marg">De ira. lib. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> on this occa&s;ion then many others, <HI>Crede mihi levia &s;unt, propter quae non leviter excande&s;cimus.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="16" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="202" REF="112">
<HEAD>CHAP. XVI.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of Merlin, Savanorola, and No&s;tradamus.</HEAD>
<P>THere is a &s;tory, that among many birds that came not neer the Temple of <HI>Minerva,</HI> the Godde&s;&s;e of Sciences and Rea&s;on, the Crows dur&s;t not take their flight about it, much le&s;&s;e light upon it. If it be lawfull to give it any other &s;en&s;e than the literall, I think the mo&s;t probable were this; that that bird, &s;o con&s;iderable in the &s;uper&s;titious Augury of the Ancients, according to this ver&s;e of <HI>Virgil,</HI>
<Q><L>Saepe &s;inistra cava praedixit ab ilice cornix,</L></Q>
being the true Hieroglyphick of tho&s;e who &s;earch after things to come, it is to teach us, that all tho&s;e who are over-inqui&s;itive in &s;uch things, together with the Authours and Ob&s;ervers of I know not <NOTE PLACE="marg">Senec.</NOTE> what chimericall and fabulous prophecies, <HI>quae unicui&abque; pro ingenio finguntur, non ex vi Scientiae,</HI> &s;hould be eternally excluded the Temple of <HI>Mi|nerva,</HI> that is, the conver&s;ation of learned and prudent men. For indeed, it were more rationall <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> cont. Gent.</NOTE> to acknowledge with <HI>Arnobius, Quae nequeunt &s;ciri ne&s;cire nos confitemur, neque ea conquirere aut inve|&s;tigare curamus quae comprehendi liquidi&s;&s;imum est non po&s;&s;e, quamvis mille per corda &s;u&s;picio &s;e rigat at&abque; intendat humana,</HI> than to wa&s;te our &s;pirits in the pretended my&s;teries of the <HI>Cabala,</HI> the &s;uper|&s;titious invocations of Magick, the fruitle&s;&s;e &s;tudy of the Philo&s;ophers &s;tone, and the fanta&s;ticall pre|dictions
<PB N="203" REF="112">
of certain Figure-flingers, and Cunning|women, &s;ince they are extravagancies that find no entertainment, but in the imaginations of vulgar and reptile &s;ouls, ea&s;ily taken in &s;uch cob|webs, as a mind any thing ma&s;culine cannot be en&s;nar'd in, without an ab&s;olute lo&s;&s;e of reputa|tion and prudence.</P>
<P>For two rea&s;ons have I brought in <HI>Savanorola</HI> and <HI>Merlin</HI> into the number of the great per&s;ons, for whom I make this Apologie; one is, that they were the Prophets of their Countries, as they &s;ay <HI>No&s;tradamus</HI> was of <HI>France, Lolhardus</HI> of <HI>Germa|ny,</HI> and <HI>Tele&s;phorus</HI> and the Abbot <HI>Joachim</HI> of <HI>Ca|labria.</HI> The other, that it is a kind of ju&s;tice to make a true di&s;covery of them, &s;o to rai&s;e them from under tho&s;e heaps of calumnies, which co|ver both them, and what we &s;hould know of them. As to the famous <HI>Merlin,</HI> all Authours hitherto have thought him gotten by an <HI>Incubus,</HI> who was a little too familiar with a certain Kings daughter, then a Nun in a Mona&s;tery at <HI>Carmar|then.</HI> What credit can be expected for all the other &s;tories of his life, when we mu&s;t be le&s;&s;e prudent, and more credulous than <NOTE N="z" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>4.</HI> de origine &amp; ge&s;tis Bri|tannor.</NOTE> <HI>Godfrey</HI> of <HI>Monmouth,</HI> from whom we have them, to beleeve &s;uch a nativity as this any way po&s;&s;ible? Whence we may &s;afely infer, that the foundation of &s;uch a prodigious relation, being &s;o ill laid, it mu&s;t needs be ab&s;olutely fal&s;e and forg'd, as we &s;hall with|out any difficulty demon&s;trate. For if our Dae|monographers will not admit the generation of <HI>Merlin</HI> to have been by the ordinary way, they mu&s;t needs acknowledge, that whatever is &s;aid of him is nothing but pure fiction; and con&s;equent|ly, the &s;ure&s;t and &s;afe&s;t way to an&s;wer them is, to
<PB N="204" REF="113">
deny what they &s;ay, as confidently as they af|firm it.</P>
<P>I &s;hall not therefore at the pre&s;ent make it any que&s;tion, whether there are &s;uch Daemons as the <HI>Incubi</HI> and <HI>Succubae,</HI> but onely with <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> de prae&s;tig c. <HI>33.</HI> &amp; &s;e|quent.</NOTE> <HI>Wierus,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Decad. <HI>3.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI> qu. <HI>2.</HI> p. reg. qu.</NOTE> <HI>Sibilla,</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">De variet. c. <HI>8.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Cardan,</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Angelogr. part. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>21.</HI> qu. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ca&s;mannus,</HI> <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">Lib. de Phythoni&s;|&s;is.</NOTE> <HI>Ulric Molitor,</HI> <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">Di&s;c. of the prin|ciple of Generation.</NOTE> <HI>Guibelet,</HI> <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">De peren|ni philo|&s;op. l. <HI>6.</HI> c. <HI>23.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Eugubinus,</HI> <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Daemono|log. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Nicholas Remy, Maldonat,</HI> and divers others, deny that their copulations with mankind can produce any gene|ration, whether they do it by eluding the imagi|nation, or make u&s;e of humane bodies. Not be|cau&s;e, as <HI>Nicholas Remy</HI> would have it, man and the Devil differ <HI>in &s;pecie;</HI> for a Mule is engender|ed between a Hor&s;e and an A&s;&s;e; nor yet becau&s;e God will not co-operate with &s;uch an action, by the infu&s;ion of a &s;oul, for Adulterers, Fornicators, and ince&s;tuous per&s;ons, &s;hould never ingender for the &s;ame rea&s;on; but for that if they ingen|der, it is nece&s;&s;ary it &s;hould be of their own &s;eed, or a borrow'd. To think they have any of their own, were too palpable an ab&s;urdity, &s;ince that, as they are immateriall &s;ub&s;tances, they cannot po&s;&s;i|bly have that excrement, and (as it were) quin|te&s;&s;ence extracted out of abundance of nouri&s;h|ment, and con&s;i&s;ting of blood and &s;pirits. Be&s;ides that, if this were granted, their productions would be like them&s;elves, or rather &s;ome medi|ate &s;ub&s;tance between a man and a Daemon, than an ab&s;olute man&punc;</P>
<Q><L>Burdonem ut &s;onipes generat commixtus a&s;ellae,</L>
<L>Mulus ut Arcadicis ab equina matre creatur.</L>
<L>Tityrus ex ovibus oritur hirco&abque; parente.</L>
<L>Mu&s;inonem capra ex vervegno &s;emine gignit</L>
<L>Apris at&abque; &s;ue &s;eto&s;us na&s;citur ibris,</L>
<L>Ut lupus &amp; catula formant coeundo lici&s;cam.</L></Q>
<P><PB N="205" REF="113">
On the other &s;ide, to attribute to the Daemons a power to tran&s;port the &s;eed from one place to another, without dimini&s;hing the generative ver|tue, and the principle which it contains, is a te|nent hath no rea&s;on at all to &s;upport it, when even tho&s;e that have the in&s;trument of generati|on of an over-great length, are not &s;o able for the act, becau&s;e the conduit being &s;o long, the &s;eed cools, and the principle is weakened. And that it mu&s;t be much more thus in the &s;eed of the <HI>In|cubi,</HI> is not to be que&s;tion'd, &s;ince that <HI>Witches, &amp; cottidianae i&s;tae,</HI> as they are called in <HI>Lip&s;ius, genia|liam libidinum victimae, infelices mulierculae,</HI> do all unanimou&s;ly confe&s;&s;e in their depo&s;itions, that they find it extreamly cold, and receive it with|out either plea&s;ure or &s;atisfaction, as having not tho&s;e &s;pirits without which there cannot be any, nor indeed generation be effected. Further, as Gold being the mo&s;t perfect of Metals, is accor|dingly of the mo&s;t difficult production, &s;o mu&s;t it be thought, that man, the noble&s;t of all Creatures, hath by the &s;ame rea&s;on a more difficult, a more perfect, and a more accompli&s;h'd generation than any other. Adde to this, that the mo&s;t con&s;idera|ble authority, which may be brought again&s;t this negative, out of <HI>Gene&s;.</HI> 6. is no more advantageous to our Adver&s;aries, than the great number of ex|periences they endeavour to collect from <HI>Apollo|nius, Alexander, Romulus, Servius Tullius, Simon Magus, Geffrey</HI> Great-tooth, <HI>Balderus, Luther,</HI> the <HI>Huns,</HI> and <HI>Counts</HI> of <HI>Cleveland,</HI> or the <HI>Corocoton</HI> of new <HI>Spain,</HI> and the <HI>Nefe&s;oglians</HI> of the Turks. For that pa&s;&s;age of <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> where it is &s;aid, <HI>After the &s;ons of God went in to the daughters of men,</HI> &amp;c. is to be under&s;tood, according to <HI>Eugubinus,</HI> and
<PB N="206" REF="114">
<HI>Maldonat,</HI> of the &s;ons of <HI>Seth,</HI> who was a holy man, and e&s;teem'd by God, and the daughters of <HI>Cham,</HI> the mo&s;t corrupt man of his age; Or, as &s;ome interpret it, by the Sons of God are meant <HI>Judges,</HI> whom the Scripture often cals by the name of <HI>Elohim.</HI> And la&s;tly, for the &s;aid ex|periences, no doubt, but they are fabulous, and the meer fictions of &s;uch as thought to make tho&s;e per&s;ons more recommendable by &s;uch <HI>Ro|mances,</HI> which indeed, while the world was yet in &s;wadling clouts, were good to cover and conceal Adulteries, and to pre&s;erve the reputation of tho&s;e Ladies, who were more than ordinarily de&s;irous of their plea&s;ure. But now, that the world's grown up to yeers of di&s;cretion, and more than ever&punc; refin'd,
<Q><BIBL>Mart.</BIBL> <L>Et pueri na&s;um Rhinocerotis habent,</L></Q>
&s;uch inventions are thought as vain and triviall, as all the &s;tories of the <HI>Magicall Romances</HI> of <HI>Mau|gis d' Aigremont,</HI> Dr. <HI>Fau&s;tus,</HI> or our <HI>Merlin.</HI> Of this latter, all, I think, may be truly and ratio|nally &s;aid, is, that he was not the &s;on of one of <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Scripto|rib. Angliae.</NOTE> the&s;e <HI>Incubi,</HI> and that according to the de&s;cripti|on we have of him from <HI>Lelandus</HI> and <HI>Balaeus,</HI> he was the mo&s;t excellent <HI>Philo&s;opher</HI> and <HI>Mathema|tician</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">In centu|riis.</NOTE> of his time, Di&s;ciple to <HI>Tele&s;inus,</HI> and a great Favourite to four Kings of <HI>England,</HI> viz. <HI>Vorti|gern, Ambro&s;e, Utherpendragon,</HI> and <HI>Arthur,</HI> whom all <HI>Romancists</HI> make the fir&s;t In&s;titutor of the Knights of the <HI>Round Table,</HI> with whom agrees the Poet <HI>Annevillanus,</HI>
<Q><L>Arthurus teretis men&s;ae genitiva venu&s;t as.</L></Q>
But as to the re&s;t of his actions, what is not buried in the ruines of Time, is come to us darkened with &s;uch clouds of fables and lies, that <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">In prooem. libror. <HI>5.</HI> de reb. Anglic.</NOTE> <HI>Guli|elmus Neubrigen&s;is,</HI> and <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>1.</HI> hi|&s;toriae An|glicanae.</NOTE> <HI>Polydor d' Urbin</HI> do
<PB N="207" REF="114">
with rea&s;on laugh at this <HI>Godfrey</HI> of <HI>Monmouth,</HI> who hath tran&s;planted &s;ome of tho&s;e of <HI>Merlin</HI>'s Romance into his Hi&s;tory, and hath made a colle|ction <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>2.</HI> Part of his Library, an. <HI>536.</HI></NOTE> of certain Prophecies, as fal&s;ly attributed to him, as to that other <HI>Merlin,</HI> &s;irnam'd the <HI>Sa|vage</HI> or <HI>Caledonian,</HI> whom <HI>Ranulphus</HI> and <HI>Trevi&s;a,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Centur&punc; Script. An|glic.</NOTE> in <HI>Vigner</HI> and <HI>Balaeus</HI> would di&s;tingui&s;h from the former. Nor are their conjectures without &s;ome ground, who would maintain that there was but one <HI>Merlin</HI> under the&s;e two names, but in &s;eve|rall times and &s;ucce&s;&s;ively, <HI>Ambro&s;e</HI> and then the <HI>Caledonian,</HI> &s;ince they were both Contempora|ries, that they liv'd under the &s;ame Kings, and ex|cell'd in the &s;ame Science, and that, according to the vulgar errour, they both writ certain &s;hort Prophecies and predictions. Upon which when I find the Commentaries, of a large Volume, of <HI>Alanus,</HI> a man not ignorant in his age, I am for|ced to acknowledge with <HI>Cicero,</HI> that, <HI>Nihil tam</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">De divi|nat. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>ab&s;urd&egrave; dici potest quod non dicatur ab aliquo Phi|lo&s;ophorum,</HI> For I cannot think any thing at a greater di&s;tance with po&s;&s;ibility, than the accident on which <HI>Merlin</HI> took occa&s;ion to publi&s;h his ex|cellent Prophecies, which was this. King <HI>Vorti|gern</HI> was advi&s;ed by the Magicians, to build a <NOTE PLACE="marg">Galf. de orig. &amp; ge&s;t. Britann. l. <HI>4.</HI> c. ult. Adamus, initio com|mentar. f. <HI>8.</HI></NOTE> &s;trong Tower in &s;ome part of his Realm, where he might live &s;ecurely, not fearing the Saxons whom he had brought out of <HI>Germany.</HI> Coming to build, they had hardly laid the foundations, but the earth in one night &s;wallows up all, and leaves not &s;o much as the tracks of any Edifice. Upon that, the Magicians per&s;waded him, that to fa&s;ten the &s;tones well, they &s;hould be &s;princkled with the blood of a child born without a father, &s;uch as <HI>Merlin,</HI> after a long &s;earch, happened to be. Being
<PB N="208" REF="115">
accordingly brought to the King, he fir&s;t di&s;puted with his Magicians, and told them, that under the foundation of that Tower there was a great Lake, and under that Lake two great and terrible Dra|gons, one red, &s;ignifying the people of <HI>England,</HI> or <HI>Britain,</HI> the other white, repre&s;enting the <HI>Saxons.</HI> The&s;e Dragons were no &s;ooner disbur|then'd of the earth that lay upon them, but they begin a furious combat, whence <HI>Merlin</HI> takes <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2.</NOTE> occa&s;ion to bewail the condition of <HI>England</HI> in his Prophecies.</P>
<P>But for my part, I cannot imagine there is any thing equally fabulous with this &s;tory, unle&s;&s;e a man will &s;quander away &s;o much lei&s;ure, as to look into this <HI>Godfrey</HI> of <HI>Monmouth</HI>'s book, to ob|&s;erve <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 6. <HI>c.</HI> 2.</NOTE> the &s;ubtle invention, like that of <HI>Amphitruo</HI> in <HI>Plautus,</HI> whereby <HI>Merlin</HI> made <HI>Utherpendragon</HI> a&s;&s;ume the per&s;on of <HI>Gorlois,</HI> and by that means enjoy the fair <HI>Ingerna;</HI> as al&s;o that of the <HI>Dance of the Gyants,</HI> that is, great &s;tones and rocks, which he tran&s;ported out of <HI>Ireland</HI> into <HI>England,</HI> to erect a Trophy neer the City of <HI>Ambro&s;iopolis.</HI> But that one <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> de Scki&s;mate. c. <HI>19.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Gerva&s;e,</HI> Chancellour to the Em|perour <HI>Otho</HI> the Fourth; as <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Lib. de oriis impe|ratoriis.</NOTE> <HI>Theodoric a Niem</HI> relates, hath &s;o glo&s;&s;ed upon it, as not to be a&s;ha|med to affirm, that the&s;e great rocks and moun|tains turn'd perpetually in the air, and that not held up by any thing, I cannot &s;ufficiently ad|mire. Whereas <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg"><P>Iu Gene|thliaco Ed|vard. prin|cip. Cam|briae, in To|pograph.</P>
<P>Hiberniae.</P></NOTE> <HI>Lelandus,</HI> who hath made a more curious &s;earch into the Antiquities of <HI>Eng|land,</HI> laughs at the indi&s;cretion of the&s;e Authours, affirming this Dance of the Gyants to be nothing but diver&s;e heaps of great &s;tones, which <HI>Merlin</HI> cau&s;ed to be rai&s;'d like <HI>Pyramids</HI> or Trophies neer the &s;aid City, in imitation haply of tho&s;e,
<PB N="209" REF="115">
which <HI>Sylvester Girard</HI> &s;ayes were in <HI>Ireland</HI> up|on the mountain <HI>Cyllarus</HI> in the time of <HI>Henry</HI> the Second of <HI>England.</HI> Bythe&s;e patterns you may judge of the whole piece of the&s;e ridiculous ficti|ons, and &s;o, whether <HI>Badius A&s;cen&s;ius</HI> had not <NOTE PLACE="marg">In Epi&s;t ad Lectorem.</NOTE> &s;ome ground, &s;peaking of the nine books of this <HI>Godefrey</HI> printed by him, to &s;ay, <HI>In quibus &s;i dili|genter legeris, agno&s;ces, aut meram antiquitatis in|tegritatem, aut admirandam illius &s;aeculi, c&ugrave;m in no|minibus, tum ver&ograve; in temporibns &s;u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">putandis calli|ditatem.</HI></P>
<P>From this <HI>Merlin,</HI> &s;o highly favour'd by the Kings of <HI>England,</HI> we pa&s;&s;e to Brother <HI>Hierom Savanorola,</HI> born in the City of <HI>Ferrara,</HI> a Friar of the Order of St. <HI>Dominick.</HI> This man knew &s;o well how to husband his eloquence, and &s;o di&s;|cover the candor and integrity of his life, that having gain'd extraordinary reputation among the people of <HI>Florence</HI> by his preaching, which did not only charm the mo&s;t delicate ears of his Audi|ence with Rhetoricall expre&s;&s;ions and figures, but al&s;o rai&s;ed the hearts and affections of all &s;orts of per&s;ons, by his zeal and great devotion, he began by degrees to di&s;cover &s;ome &s;ymptoms of his &s;e|cret ambition. This happen'd, when in the year, 1484, as he acknowledges him&s;elf, in the book he hath made upon his Prophecies, he intruded into matters of Policie, and cau&s;ed him&s;elf to be called to the Councell then held at <HI>Florence</HI> for the &s;etling of a popular Government, wherein he &s;tirr'd up all the Citizens unanimou&s;ly to em|brace it, propo&s;ing to them four or five points of great con&s;equence much conducing thereunto, which he &s;aid had been reveal'd to him by Al|mighty God, &amp; which accordingly they mu&s;t pun|ctually
<PB N="210" REF="116">
ob&s;erve, to make their State the mo&s;t flou|ri&s;hing of tho&s;e of all <HI>Italy.</HI> Whereupon, though affairs were not carried on as he had imagin'd to him&s;elf, yet did he make it his bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to adde daily to the reputation he had gain'd among the people, teaching in his Sermons of the year 1489, upon explication of the <HI>Apocalyps,</HI> that the Church was threatened with an approaching re|formation, to &s;ucceed that of the little Kings and Tyrants of <HI>Italy,</HI> who were &s;oon after to feel the revenging &s;courge for all their iniquities. This he could do &s;o &s;trangely, by pa&s;&s;ages out of the Scripture, and the &s;ecurity he gave them of his own revelations, that after the roming of <HI>Charles</HI> the Eighth into <HI>Italy,</HI> foretold by him two years before, it was generally expected he &s;hould return again, upon no other ground than his affirmation of it. Nor indeed could they be convinc'd of the contrary, till the year 1498, wherein both <HI>Charles,</HI> and he who had favour'd him &s;o much in his predictions, exchanged this life for a better; the former by a &s;ickne&s;&s;e that took him at <HI>Amboi&s;e;</HI> and <HI>Savanorola</HI> by the pu|ni&s;hment of fire, which, in the commotion that happened in the City of <HI>Florence,</HI> upon the refu|&s;all to manife&s;t the truth of his Prophecies, he &s;uffered publikely, with two of his Brethren, en|tering into the fire with a <HI>Franci&s;can,</HI> who had offered to maintain the fal&s;ity of them, by &s;uch a demon&s;tration and triall.</P>
<P>But to this contributed not a little, the indig|nation, not onely of Pope <HI>Alexander</HI> the Sixth, and mo&s;t of the Clergie, again&s;t whom he ordina|rily rail'd in the Pulpit, but al&s;o of the principall Citizens of <HI>Florence,</HI> by rea&s;on of the execution,
<PB N="211" REF="116">
which, by his advice, was done upon &s;even or eight of the noble&s;tamongthem. So that having no other friends than the faction of <HI>Paul Anthony Soderin,</HI> who made his advantages of him, to keep up the popular State again&s;t <HI>Guy Anthony Ve&s;pu|tius,</HI> who would have &s;etled a kind of an Ari&s;to|cracie, they were not able to re&s;i&s;t the contrary party, which in the heat of the commotion for|ced open the gates of his Mona&s;tery to bring him to execution, &s;o to quiet the City by the death of a man who kept them at a di&s;tance with the Pope, by rea&s;on of the novelty of his Doctrine, and rai|&s;ed &s;uch factions and parties among&s;t them, as had they gone further, mu&s;t needs have buried them in the ruine of their State and Seigneury.</P>
<P>I am not ignorant that many Authours are of a direct contrary opinion to me, as who am inclin'd to a&s;&s;ent to <HI>Paulus Jovius, Machiavel,</HI> and <HI>Cardan,</HI> who rank this Authour, if not among the mo&s;t fortunate, yet among the mo&s;t eminent and famous Politicians, as being one of tho&s;e Monks St. <HI>Hierom</HI> &s;peaks of, <HI>Qui Daemonum contra &s;e pugnantium portenta fingunt, ut apud im|peritos, &amp; vulgi homines miraculum &s;ui faciant.</HI> For one half of the book he hath writ upon his Prophecies, contains nothing but the conferen|ces he had with the <HI>Devil,</HI> taking him for a <HI>Her|mit.</HI> But what indeed contributed much to his reputation, was the influence he had over two &s;orts of per&s;ons who favoured him very much. The former were certain Catholikes, as <HI>Johannes Picus,</HI> and <HI>Franci&s;cus</HI> of <HI>Mirandula, de Benivenius, Mar&s;ilius Ficinus, Flaminius,</HI> <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">In Peplo illu&s;t viror Italiae</NOTE> <HI>Marth<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">us To&s;ca|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">us,</HI> and divers others, who receiv'd his predicti|ons as cele&s;tiall and divine, and &s;peak not of his
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piety, Learning and good life, but witha certain admiration. In &s;o much that <HI>Benivenius</HI> a Floren|tine Prie&s;t put forth a Book of his <HI>miracles</HI> and <HI>Prophecyes;</HI> and <HI>Franci&s;cus Picus</HI> was &s;o pa&s;&s;ionate in his vindication, that he &s;tick'd not, though a man very religious and a &s;ound Catholick, to derogate much from the Authority and power of the Pope, to &s;hew that <HI>Alexander</HI> the Sixth had no rea&s;on to forbid him the Pulpit, and to ex|communicate him.</P>
<P>The other &s;ort of people that had a great ve|neration for him, were of a different religion from the former, that is, <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">In elogiis. in part <HI>3.</HI> of his hi&s;tor. Library, anno, <HI>1598.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Beza,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">In his Apolog. again&s;t Le&s;&s;iuis &amp; Cotten. c. <HI>52.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Vigner, Cap|pel, du</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">In his my|&s;tery of Ini|quity.</NOTE> <HI>Ple&s;&s;y, Mornay,</HI> and all the <HI>Lutherans</HI> of <HI>Germany,</HI> who ordinarily in their writings call him <HI>the faithful witne&s;&s;e of the Truth,</HI> the <HI>fore-run|ner of Evangelicall reformation,</HI> the <HI>&s;courge of great Babylon,</HI> the &s;worne enemy of the <HI>Romane Anti|chri&s;t,</HI> and in a word, to conclude with <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg"><P>In epi&s;t. Philo&s;oph.</P>
<P>Savanorolae praefixa.</P></NOTE> <HI>Je&s;|&s;enius, a Je&s;&s;en,</HI> the <HI>Italian Luther.</HI> Only it is to be wondr'd they call'd him not al&s;o the <HI>John Hus</HI> of that Country &s;ince they both &s;uffered the &s;ame puni&s;hment, that they were but Archhere|ticks, and are both written in Capitalls in the Catalogue of their <HI>Martyrs,</HI> as may be &s;een by the&s;e ver&s;es put under his effigies.</P>
<Q><L>En Monachus &s;olers, rerum &s;crutator acutus,</L>
<L>Martyrio ornatus, SAVONAROLA prius.</L></Q>
<P>But there is this maine difference between the&s;e two &s;orts of per&s;ons; that the former have &s;aid much good of Savonarola, becau&s;e, replying on the common opinion, they thought him a good man, not &s;earching any further then others
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into his internall di&s;&s;imulation, or rather becau&s;e mo&s;t of them were his intimate friends, as is ap|apparent, in that <HI>Johannes Picus,</HI> who di&s;po&s;'d, as he could, of <HI>Benivenius</HI> and <HI>Mar&s;ilius Ficinus,</HI> was re&s;olv'd a little before his death, to turn <HI>Dominican,</HI> upon the meer per&s;wa&s;ion of this Frier; as al&s;o in that <HI>Franci&s;cus Picus</HI> dedicated a <NOTE PLACE="marg">Fran. Pic. in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">us vi|ta.</NOTE> Book to him entituled, <HI>De morte Chri&s;ti &amp; propri&acirc; cogitand&acirc;.</HI> On the contrary the other &s;ort had no otner rea&s;on to celebrate him, but that his Doctrin was not perfectly Catholick, that he threatned the Eccle&s;ia&s;ticks with an approaching reformation; that he preach'd &s;candalou&s;ly again&s;t the manners of the Clergy &amp; Court of Rome&punc; and la<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tly, becau&s;e he derogated from the Authority of the Popes. For which, if my word may not be taken, take it from <HI>Beza,</HI> who &s;peaking of him in his Elo|gies, &s;ayes roundly and confidently, <HI>Homini tam perdit&ograve; &s;celerato qu&agrave;m fuit Alexander ille Borgia Pontifex hujus nominis &s;extus, u&s;&abque; adeo di&s;plicui&s;&s;e, ut non ni &s;i te indigni&s;&s;im&eacute; damnato, &amp; cremato quie&s;|cere potuerit, maximum e&s;&s;e videtur &s;ingularis tuae pietatis argumentum.</HI> Whence it is clear that all the prai&s;e hath been given him to this day is to be attributed either to the affection of his favo|rities and friends, or the &s;ubtlety of certain Hete|rodox per&s;ons, who would gladly make him more zealous then St. <HI>Paul,</HI> more eloquent then <HI>Chry&s;ostome,</HI> and more learned then St. <HI>Au|gustine,</HI> out of an imagination that it is &s;ome way advantageous to them.</P>
<P>But to make a more rationall and equitable judgment of him, we may &s;ay, fir&s;t, of the <HI>Pre|dictions</HI> which have made him &s;o famous, that they are &s;o far from being the effects of divine
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Magick, &s;uch as were tho&s;e of the Prophets, and divers other Saints and favorits of God, that on the contrary, they have prov'd almo&s;t all fal&s;e. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Comines. l. <HI>8.</HI> c. <HI>19.</HI></NOTE> For in&s;tance, the&s;e: his affirming that <HI>Charles</HI> VIII. would come a &s;econd time into <HI>Italy;</HI> that he &s;hould come to an unfortunate end, that endea|vour'd to rule in <HI>Florence;</HI> that <HI>Johannes Picus</HI> &s;hould recover of the &s;ickne&s;&s;e, whereof, two dayes after, he dy'd; and divers others of his pro|phe&s;ies, much more vaine than the&s;e, as they are at large cited and exemplify'd in a Book which <HI>Johannes Pogus</HI> hath purpo&s;ely written to di&s;cover the fal&s;ity of them. But if any have fallen out true, it is to be attributed either to Chance, or that he had notice of what &s;hould be done by &s;ome of tho&s;e many friends he had in the Coun&s;els of the <HI>Florentines,</HI> and the K. of <HI>France.</HI> And la&s;tly for the re&s;t of of his actions, they ea&s;ily di&s;|cover him a very great Politician, putt many times upon very honourable Employments, and endu'd with an Eloquence, &s;o ready and per&s;ua|&s;ive, that he may well be compar'd to tho&s;e an|cient Orators, who were as powerfull in popular and democraticall Governments as the winds are upon the Sea, entertaining them as they plea&s;'d both in the Calmes of peace and Storms of war, to&s;&s;ing them now, on one &s;ide, then on the other turning them up&s;ide down; and in a word, di&s;po|&s;ing them at their plea&s;ure by the Charmes of their di&s;cour&s;es. This may <HI>Savonarola</HI> pre&s;ume he did for the &s;pace of ten years at <HI>Florence,</HI> though he had withall the a&s;&s;i&s;tances of his revelations and a counterfeit &s;anctimony to keep up his credit for &s;o long a time; knowing well by the examples of <HI>Mahomet</HI> and <HI>Arrius</HI> that the re&s;pect we have
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for Religion hath an extraordinary influence upon us, and that when a man hath once the reputation of living holily, he per&s;wades the people to what he plea&s;es; e&s;pecially when he is endu'd with the grace of well &s;peaking, and a more then ordinary eloquence. To prove this, we may in&s;tance in the fortunate and temerarious enterpri&s;e of the Religious man <HI>Almohadi,</HI> who being excellent|ly learned and well ver&s;'din the <HI>Alcoran,</HI> under|took without any other a&s;&s;i&s;tance than that of an <HI>Astrologer</HI> that &s;econded him with his predi|ctions, and the great opinion men had of his life, to crowne, King of Africk, the Son of a Potter, a poor and nece&s;&s;itous man, called <HI>Abdel|mon.</HI> To effect which with more ea&s;e, he fir&s;t, got &s;ome followers by the introduction of a new Here&s;y, and then perceiving him&s;elf &s;ufficiently &s;econded &s;o far as to engage in the publick Affairs, and to reforme them at his plea&s;ure, he began to propo&s;e that <HI>Abdelmon,</HI> was a per&s;on rai<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">'d up by God, who through his meanes, would plant the holy <HI>Alphurcanistick</HI> Law through all the world. His next bu&s;ine&s;&s;e was to preach down the race of the <HI>Almoravides,</HI> calling them Tyrants and U&s;urpers, as &s;uch as had driven out the family of the <HI>Alabeci,</HI> and the blood of their Prophet <HI>Ma|homet.</HI> This done, he &s;et upon the per&s;on of the Caliph of <HI>Baldac,</HI> high Pri&s;t of their Law, and did &s;o well, by the force of his per&s;wa|&s;ions, that, having gottten this <HI>Abdelmon</HI> the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the greate&s;t part of the Nobility, there happened a great battle between them, wherein the King <HI>Albohaly Aben Tes&s;in</HI> being kill'd in the year 1147. this Noble Potter <HI>Abdelmon</HI> was made King and <HI>Miramomelin</HI> of Africk. From this &s;to|ry
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I leave men to judge, whether <HI>Savonarala</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">In elogiis&punc;</NOTE> might not governe at <HI>Florence, quando</HI> (as <HI>Paulus Jovius,</HI> &s;peaking of him, well ob&s;erves) <HI>nihil va|lidius e&s;&s;et ad per&s;uadendum &s;pec<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e ip&s;a pietatis, in qua etiam tuendae Libertatis &s;tudium emineret.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;hould have left <HI>Michael Nostradamus</HI> out of this Apology, were it not to adde &s;ome lu&s;tre to &s;o many excellent per&s;ons, by the temerarious ig|norance and little merit of this up&s;tart prophet, as the &s;parkling of a Diamond is heightned by a little foile. Or rather to imitate that great <HI>Julius</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Poetie. l. <HI>6.</HI> c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Cae&s;ar Scaliger,</HI> who having pa&s;&s;'d his judgment on the mo&s;t famous <HI>Poets,</HI> would needs give the &s;ame upon <HI>Rhodophilus</HI> and <HI>Dolet</HI> alledging by way of excu&s;e that it was in imitation of <HI>Ari|&s;totle,</HI> who in the &s;ame Book treats of living Crea|tures and their ordure and excrements. This may I much more apply to this Mon&s;ter of abu&s;es, who&s;e li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e I &s;hall not &s;et forth according to its principall circum&s;tances, &s;ince they are &s;o flat and pittifull that no Hi&s;torian hath yet med|led with them, but the Author of the <HI>French Janus,</HI> and the <HI>Pleiades,</HI> it being my bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, only to ob&s;erve the vanity of his De&s;ignes. For not content to have cheated us in his praedicti|ons, which he printed at the beginning of every year from 1550. till 1567. he further im<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">gin'd, that he might ea&s;ily bla&s;t the memory of <HI>Merlin, Tele&s;phorus, Cataldus, Lolhardus, Joa|chim Savonarola, Laurentio Miniati, Antonio Torquat&ouml;,</HI> and all tho&s;e that had dabled in predi|ctions, by the reputation he was in hope to gaine by publi&s;hing a Decad of <HI>Centuries,</HI> upon the future &s;tate of all things in the world. The&s;e were no &s;ooner abroad, but they immediately got
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him a quite contrary repute: &s;ome, as <HI>Ro<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ard</HI> and <HI>Monluc</HI> not knowing what to &s;ay to their <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>4.</HI> of his Com|menlaris.</NOTE> falling out true &s;ometimes; and others looking on them as lyes fooleries and impo&s;tures, and containing &s;uch a diver&s;ity of crafty ambiguities, that it were in a manner impo&s;&s;ible not to find &s;omething among &s;o many thou&s;ands of tetra&s;t|icks upon any occa&s;ion a man can propo&s;e to him|&s;elf: Accordingly did&punc; &s;ome take thence occa&s;ion to make &s;port with tho&s;e fal&s;ities, among whom the mo&s;t ingenious was he, who, without charg|ing him with contradictions, or calling him <HI>Mon&s;tre d' abus,</HI> and <HI>Monstra-damus&punc;</HI> as divers did, onely &s;ent him this Di&s;tick;
<Q><L>No&s;tra damus, cum verba damus, nam fallere no&s;trum e&s;t;</L>
<L>Et cum verba damus, nil ni&s;i no&s;tra damus.</L></Q></P>
<P>But as there is no Cau&s;e &s;o de&s;perate which, in time, meets not with &s;ome that will patroni&s;e it; &s;o much it be acknowledg'd, that there are a ma|ny hollow braines, and minds fit only to receive any thing that is extravagant, and that without any examination, who think their pockets em|pty without the&s;e <HI>Centuries,</HI> which they idoli&s;e as <HI>Humani&s;ts</HI> do <HI>Petronius,</HI> and Politicians <HI>Tacitus,</HI> looking on them as more infallible then the Go&s;|pell, and making it appear on all occa&s;ions that happen daily though ever &s;o triviall.</P>
<Q><BIBL>Virg. geor. <HI>4.</HI></BIBL>
<L>&mdash;Novit namque omnia vates!</L>
<L>Quae &s;int, fuerint, quae mox ventur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> trahantur.</L></Q>
<P>Yet does not this Idolatry hinder, but that among tho&s;e who admire them &s;o much, it is a
<PB N="218" REF="120">
controver&s;y by what meanes the Authour could arrive to &s;uch a certain knowledge of things to come. Some hold he got it by the practi&s;e of judiciall <HI>Astrology;</HI> others, that it was re|veal'd to him by the meanes of &s;ome familiar <HI>Daemon;</HI> and a third &s;ort, that he had no other a&s;&s;i&s;tance then that of the capacity of the humane Soul to foretell things to come. For, according <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. <HI>7.</HI> l. q. Metaph.</NOTE> to the opinion of <HI>Avicenna,</HI> when &s;he is di&s;engag'd from the government of the body, &s;he &s;uffers a certain paraly&s;is, and leaves it as it were buried in the ma&s;&s;e of its terre&s;triall Element, that &s;o &s;he may be free to con&s;ider what is at the greate&s;t di&s;tance from her. Then it is that &s;hee &s;ees things to come as pre&s;ent, which &s;he could not have done while the exigencies of the body divert her from this contemplation. And this happens for the mo&s;t part, when, being forc'd again&s;t her naturall motion by the violent agitation of Me|lancholly &s;he di&s;playes and di&s;covers what is mo&s;t hidden in her, that is her divine and cele&s;tiall forces and faculties; &s;o that there is nothing hin|ders her from exceeding her ordinary Limits, and arriving to the knowledge of things to come. Of this we have &s;ome experience in old men, who being in the utmo&s;t declination of their age, do often foretell what afterwards comes to pa&s;&s;e; as if the &s;oul, by a certain anticipation, were al|ready at Liberty. To &s;trengthen this la&s;t opini|on, they adde that were &s;ome rea&s;on to charge Nature with a certaine di&s;care of mankind if &s;he deny'd this perfection to man when we &s;ee the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apud&punc; Plut.</NOTE> birds call'd <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Me&s;&s;engers of the Gods, as <HI>Euripides</HI> terms them, and &s;everall other Creatures, foretel, by the di&s;po&s;ition of the Aire
<PB N="219" REF="120">
the changes of &s;ea&s;ons, wind, raine, fair weather, tempe&s;ts, and all this without any other in&s;tructi|on than that of their naturall in&s;tinct.</P>
<P>I have been more particular in this la&s;t cau&s;e, then in the other two, becau&s;e<HI> Nostradamus </HI>him|&s;elf confe&s;&s;es in his Epi&s;tle to the three Centuries dedicated to<HI> Henry </HI>the &s;econd of<HI> France, that he uttered his predictions rather through a naturall in|&s;tinct attended by a Poeticall fury, then by any a&s;&s;i&s;t|ance of the rules of Poe&s;y, though he had reconcil'd them to a&s;tronomicall Calculations.</HI></P>
<P>But &s;ince the truth &amp; reputation of that &s;o My|&s;terious book cannot &s;ub&s;i&s;t but by one of the&s;e three rea&s;ons, they certainly are to be blam'd for their over-credulity, who would ground the Au|thority of this Fortune-teller, upon cau&s;es, which if they had well examined them, they &s;hould have found more fal&s;e than any of his Centuries. And this it were the more ea&s;y to &s;hew, in that, of all predictions and Prophecyes that ever came to our knowledge, we have not met with any more particular then tho&s;e of No&s;tradamus, who preci&s;ely markes out all the accidents and &s;everall Circum&s;tances, even to occurrences of litle or no concernment. Whence in the fir&s;t place I in|ferre, that he could not compo&s;e tho&s;e predictions by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of <HI>A&s;trology,</HI> the Authors whereof having not left us any rules whereby we might attain the knowledge of tho&s;e particulars. For the&s;e are no more under the juridiction of that Art, by rea&s;on of the uncertain emergencies of their cau&s;es, then things purely free and con|tingent, &s;uch as are the actions that depend meer|ly on our will, and which in regard they have not any determinate truth or fal&s;hood cannot be ei|ther
<PB N="220" REF="121">
known or fore&s;een by the help of any hu|mane &s;cience, till &s;uch time as they are pre&s;ent. In the &s;econd place, I inferre, that he could not have done it by any revelation from <HI>Daemons,</HI> be|cau&s;e even they, con&s;ider'd in their nature, have not any knowledge of the&s;e actions which are free &amp; depend purely on our will, as being not able to fore&s;ee them either in their cau&s;es, or their effects. Not in the former, becau&s;e they are uncertaine while they remaine buried in the &s;everal motions of our mind, as being &s;uch as St. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;peaks of to the <HI>Corinthians, None knows the things of man but the &s;pirit of man that is in him:</HI> not in the lat|ter, as being &s;uch as cannot be known till they ap|pear. So that if we allow his prophecies any foundation, it mu&s;t be that of the third cau&s;e, grounded on the naturall capacity men &s;ometimes have to foretell things to come, which yet is per|tinently refuted by <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">De divi|nat l. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Cicero</HI> and the learned <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">De Sacra Philo&s;oph. c. <HI>30.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Vale&s;ius,</HI> who digg up the very corner &s;tones of this erroneous opinion.</P>
<P>To an&s;wer therefore, in few words, all tho&s;e rea&s;ons alledged to confirme it, we are indeed to acknowledge, that Melancholy may, by rea&s;on of its qualities, make men more de&s;irous and capable of Sciences, more earne&s;t in the di&s;|qui&s;ition of cau&s;es, and more per&s;everant in the deepe&s;t contemplations upon any &s;ubject; nay that it may cau&s;e certain motions in the &s;oul, where|by it makes &s;ooner di&s;coveries of the rea&s;on it would find out. But we mu&s;t deny that there can proceed from it this naturall Divination, where|of there is not in it either the cau&s;e, principles, or beginnings. Nor is it to be credited, that old men are more likely to foretel things then others,
<PB N="221" REF="121">
unle&s;&s;e it be by way of <HI>Revelation,</HI> as <HI>Jacob</HI> did, or the Pope <HI>Pius V.</HI> &amp; the Archbi&s;hop <HI>Angelo Cat|to.</HI> Of the&s;e two la&s;t, the former knew by reve|lation <NOTE PLACE="marg">Comines. l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> that the Chri&s;tians had gain'd the battel of <HI>Lepanto;</HI> the other acquainted <HI>Lewis</HI> the Sixth with the death of the Duke of <HI>Burgundy</HI> at the very hour it happened. And la&s;tly for the fore&s;ight of certaine Creatures, <HI>Leonard Vair</HI> will tell us, that the ge&s;ture of their bodies does not portend any thing to come, but only what is pre&s;ent, that is, the humid influx of the Aire, which, by a naturall in&s;tinct, they feel in their bodies, a&s;&s;oon as it gathers together in the Element. And as to the Birds which &s;hift Countries according to the &s;everall &s;ea&s;ons of the year, it is not &s;o much out of any fore&s;ight in them, of Spring, Winter, or Autume, as a certain knowledge of tho&s;e vi|ci&s;&s;itudes according to the naturall alteration of their bodies, proceeding meerly from heat and cold, or &s;ome other quality unknown to us.</P>
<P>This premi&s;'d, I leave tho&s;e to judge who are not over-ea&s;ily drawn in to embrace opinions without any rea&s;on or gronnd, what e&s;teem &s;hould be had of the&s;e fine Centuries, which are &s;o ambiguous, and contradictory, &s;o ob&s;cure and enigmaticall, that it were no miracle if among a thou&s;and tetra&s;ticks, whereof every one &s;peakes commonly of five or &s;ix &s;everall things, and par|ticularly &s;uch as ordinarily happen, there comes in a Hemi&s;tick mentioning the taking of a Town in <HI>France,</HI> or the death of a Grandee in <HI>Italy,</HI> a plague in <HI>Spaine,</HI> a Mon&s;ter, a great fire, a victory, or &s;omething of this nature, as if tho&s;e Emergen|cies were extraordinary, and happen'd not at one time or other. And yet this is the main motive
<PB N="222" REF="122">
of that little hope there is to &s;ee the&s;e prophecyes veryfi'd as being &s;uch as we cannot compare to any thing more fitly then to <HI>Therame<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">es</HI>'s &s;hooe, which fitted all feet; or that <HI>Lesbian</HI> rule, which being of Lead, bent it &s;elf to all figures, con|cave, oblique, round, and Cylindricall. So may we &s;ay of this Authour, that his maine de&s;igne was &s;o to write as to avoid a clear and intelligible &s;en&s;e, that Po&s;terity might interpret his predicti|ons as they plea&s;'d. For though <HI>John Aime Chavigni,</HI> one that, of all others, hath fooli&s;hly trifled away his paines upon all kinds of Prophe|cyes hath &s;hewn in his <HI>French Janus,</HI> that the greate&s;t part of <HI>Nostradamus</HI>'s predictions are ac|compli&s;h'd near thirty years &s;ince; yet are they &s;till brought upon the &s;tage when any thing remarkable falls out, as for In&s;tance, tho&s;e that are &s;catter'd abroad upon the death of the Mar&s;hall <HI>d' Ancre</HI> the great fortune of Mon&s;ieur <HI>de Luynes;</HI> and the firing of the Palace and the Bridges of <HI>Paris.</HI> And indeed, that there are not found &s;ome upon all occa&s;ions, is only becau&s;e men will not be at the paines to &s;earch them out, &s;ince they met with &s;omething about that imaginary mon&s;trous fi&s;h which &s;ome years &s;ince was &s;old up and down <HI>in effigie,</HI> and that the Author of a little book called&punc; The <HI>Chymi&s;t,</HI> or <HI>French Con&s;erver,</HI> &s;ayes very ingenuou&s;ly, pag. 15. that <HI>Nostradamus</HI> had &s;poken of him, above thirty four years be|fore he was born, quoting him by his <HI>name</HI> and <HI>Armes</HI> in the 31. tetra&s;tick of the 6th. <HI>Century,</HI>
<Q><PB N="223" REF="122">
<L>La Lune au plein de Nuict &s;ur le haut mont,</L>
<L>Le nouveau Sophe, d' un &s;eul cerveau l' a veu&euml;.</L></Q>
This he is &s;o confident of, that he affirmes it can|not po&s;&s;ibly be meant of any other then him|&s;elf, for certain rea&s;ons by him layd down in the &s;aid Book. But becau&s;e it may be objected that the Author of the <HI>French Janus,</HI> who tran&s;lated divers of the Centuries into Latine ver&s;e, does, by the explication he makes of them evince the truth at lea&s;t of &s;ome of tho&s;e tetra&s;ticks, &amp; con&s;e|quently that I ought not &s;o farre to di&s;credit them, e&s;pecially tho&s;e who&s;e events are yet uncertain; I &s;hall briefly an&s;wer, and withall conclude this Chapter with that excellent pa&s;&s;age of <HI>Seneca, Pa|tere etiam aliquando Mathematicos vera dicere, &amp; tot &s;agittas cum emittant, unam tangere,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Noct. Attic. t. <HI>14.</HI> c. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>aberrantibus caeteris.</HI> To which adde that of <HI>Phanorinus</HI> in <HI>Gellius,</HI> that, <HI>i&s;ta omnia quae aut temer&egrave; aut astut&egrave; vera dicunt, prae caeteris quae mentiuntur, pars ea non &s;it mille&s;ima.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="17" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="224" REF="123">
<HEAD>CHAP. XVII.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of St. Thomas, Roger Bacon, Bungey, Michael the Scot, Johannes Picus, and Trithemius.</HEAD>
<P>I Have &s;ometimes wondered there &s;hould be a|mong the <HI>Romans</HI> a Law &s;o barbarous, as &s;hould impower the <HI>Dictator</HI> to put to death any Citi|zen he plea&s;ed, without allowing him to make any defence for him&s;elf, and that without the lea&s;t fear of being call'd to any account for &s;o doing. But there is more rea&s;on to wonder now, when a man reflects on the temerity of tho&s;e Writers, who, though they have not the power of the ancient Dictators of <HI>Rome,</HI> do yet &s;o confidently con|demn <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>1.</HI> Po|licrat. c. <HI>27.</HI></NOTE> the mo&s;t eminent Authours, not as de&s;er|ving death, but as guilty of a crime, as <HI>Johannes Sarisberien&s;is</HI> affirms of it, <HI>morte digni &s;unt qui &agrave; morte conantur &s;cientiam mutuare,</HI> which de&s;erves nothing le&s;&s;e. Nay, &s;uch is their impudence, that they have no more re&s;pect for Religious men, Bi|&s;hops, and Popes, than they had before for Phi|lo&s;ophers, Phy&s;icians, and others of greate&s;t au|thority among the Learned. For if we look for any rea&s;on of this rigorous proceeding, there will be no other &s;ound than that they &s;trike at all, without any exception of per&s;ons, <HI>Tros Rutulu&s;ve fuat,</HI> out of an exce&s;&s;e of zeal to the truth, as they imagine; &s;o under the &s;hadow and conceit of their pretended integrity, to the prejudice of the accu|&s;ed innocent, to gain the greater credit to certain collections and gleanings of I know not what ridiculous and ill dige&s;ted relations, which would
<PB N="225" REF="123">
never find Readers, were there not more fools who are delighted to &s;ee extravagant pictures, than wi&s;e men that have the patience to contem|plate a &s;imple and naturall Beauty.</P>
<P>Since therefore it were indi&s;cretion in me to break off this Apologie, when I am come to that point for which principally I undertook it, I think it now time to &s;peak of <HI>Religious</HI> men, and to &s;hew what ingratitude it were in us to make &s;o &s;leight acknowledgement of the obligation we owe them for the pre&s;ervation of Letters, from the times of <HI>Boetius, Symmachus,</HI> and <HI>Ca&s;&s;iodorus,</HI> to the la&s;t taking of <HI>Con&s;tantinople.</HI> At which time Learning began to creep out of <HI>Mona&s;teries,</HI> which for all the time before, had been (as it were) publike Chri&s;tian Schools, where not only youth, but al&s;o &s;uch men as would apply them|&s;elves that way, were in&s;tructed in all manner of Di&s;ciplines, Sciences, &amp; Morality, and that to &s;uch a height, that not content with that &s;o famous <HI>Quadrivium</HI> of the <HI>Mathematieks,</HI> which, be&s;ides all that is now &s;hewn in Colledges, was then taught, <HI>Medicine,</HI> both as to Theory and Practice was &s;o well cultivated, that we need no more to convince us how expert they were therein, than the writings of <HI>Aegidius, Con&s;tantine,</HI> and <HI>Dama|&s;cene, Joannitius, Peter</HI> of <HI>Spain,</HI> and <HI>Turi&s;anus.</HI> So that it were ea&s;ie for me to an&s;wer tho&s;e who charge them with illiterature and ignorance, did I not think it more requi&s;ite to apply the remedy where there is mo&s;t need, and by culling out five or &s;ix among them,
<Q><L>&mdash;Qui ob facta ingentia po&s;&s;unt</L>
<L>Ver&egrave; homines, &amp; Semidei, Heroe&s;&abque; vocari,</L></Q>
<PB N="226" REF="124">
to re&s;cue them from the crime of this Magicall Idolatry, which were &s;o much the more horrid and abominable, practi&s;'d by them, by how much they are principally tho&s;e who &s;hould oppo&s;e it, and clean&s;e mens minds thereof, as well by the example of their good lives, as by the zeal and fervencie of their learned in&s;tructions.</P>
<P>We are then to con&s;ider, that the Authour of the Book entituled <HI>Ars notoria,</HI> publi&s;h'd by <HI>Giles Bourdin,</HI> layes this foundation for the reputation thereof, that the holy Gho&s;t had dictated it to <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>1.</HI> adver&s;. A&s;trolog.</NOTE> St. <HI>Hierom,</HI> which we mu&s;t allow upon ano|ther a&s;&s;urance of his, that he tran&s;lated the hi&s;tory of <HI>Judith</HI> in one night. To which adde, that <HI>Jo|hannes</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Franc. Pi|cus l. <HI>5.</HI> de praen. c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Picus</HI> affirms, he had &s;een a book of <HI>En|chantments,</HI> which diver&s;e weak judgements hold was interpreted by the &s;ame St. <HI>Hierom,</HI> though with as little rea&s;on, as <HI>Trithemius</HI> affirms, as &s;ome attribute certain conjurations of the four prin|cipall Devils to St. <HI>Cyprian</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Car|thage.</HI> This con&s;ideration premi&s;'d, I doubt not, but the evident fal&s;hood of the&s;e calumnies, will prove a certain light to the judgement we &s;hould pa&s;&s;e on tho&s;e books of <HI>Necromanticall Images,</HI> the <HI>Metallick Art,</HI> the <HI>Secrets of Alchymy,</HI> and that <HI>De e&s;&s;entiis e&s;&s;entiarum,</HI> divulg'd and vented daily under the name of St. <HI>Thomas Aquinas,</HI> ju&s;t|ly &s;irnam'd by <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Io. Picus l. <HI>1.</HI> adver&s;. A&s;trolog. Idem. in Heptaplo in Eccle&s;i|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;te, &amp; in lib. de The|alog. &s;tudio.</NOTE> <HI>Picus, Splendor Theologiae,</HI> by <HI>Era&s;mus, Vir non &s;ui &s;aeculi,</HI> by <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">De trad. Di&s;cipl l. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> Vives <HI>Scriptor de &s;chola omnium &s;ani&s;&s;imus,</HI> and by the con&s;ent of all Authours, with that of the Church, <HI>The faith|full Interpreter of</HI> Ari&s;totle <HI>and the holy</HI> Scripture, <HI>The ba&s;e and foundation of Schola&s;ticall Divinity,</HI> and in a word, the <HI>Angelicall Doctor.</HI> For I would know, what ground there were to imagine, that
<PB N="227" REF="124">
this great Intelligence, canoniz'd in the year 1322, and who&s;e doctrine was approv'd by a De|cree of the Univer&s;ity of <HI>Paris,</HI> in the year 133<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&punc; and by three Popes, <HI>Innocent</HI> V, <HI>Urban</HI> VI, and <HI>John</HI> XXII, &s;hould trouble him&s;elf with either <HI>Magick,</HI> or the extravagancies of the <HI>Alchymists,</HI> who might indeed have brought him over to their party, had they not forgot one thing, which is to da&s;h out and corrupt, as &s;ome Hereticks do, that pa&s;&s;age of his Commentaries, upon the &s;econd Book of the <HI>Master of Sentences,</HI> where he for|mally <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Di&s;tinct.</HI> 7. <HI>quae&s;t.</HI> 3. <HI>art.</HI> 1. <HI>ad</HI> 5.</NOTE> impugnes the po&s;&s;ibility of their tran&s;muta|tions of Metals. Whence, me thinks, they &s;hould take warning not to expo&s;e them&s;elves &s;o freely to the &s;corn of tho&s;e who di&s;tru&s;t whatever comes from them, &amp; who read the&s;e &s;uppo&s;ititious books out of no other de&s;igne, than to ob&s;erve their great indi&s;cretion therein, and the little judge|ment they have to carry on their &s;ubtle plots. We may in&s;tance, not to engage into an infinity of proofs, in their making this great Doctor &s;peak &s;o childi&s;hly in the Book <HI>De e&s;&s;entiis e&s;&s;entiarum,</HI> that he might very well be &s;aid to have no more ac|quaintance with his works, than the barbarous Inhabitants of <HI>Margajats</HI> and <HI>Topinamboux</HI> in <HI>Africk,</HI> who &s;hould beleeve that &s;uch low and reptile conceptions could fall from a mind &s;o high and &s;ublime; or that he ever dreamt of what they make him &s;ay in the &s;ame Treati&s;e of an <NOTE PLACE="marg">De e&s;&s;ent. e&s;&s;entiar. tr. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> A&s;trologicall Book, which <HI>Abel,</HI> &s;on of <HI>Adam,</HI> lodg'd within a &s;tone, found after the Deluge by <HI>Hermes,</HI> who took the book out of it, wherein was taught the Art of making Images under cer|tain Planets and Con&s;tellations. Be&s;ides the &s;tory concerning him&s;elf, that being di&s;turb'd in his &s;tu|dies,
<PB N="228" REF="125">
by the great noi&s;e of Hor&s;es pa&s;&s;ing by his door every day at watering time, he made the image of a Hor&s;e, according to the rules of the &s;aid Book, which being put in the &s;treet two or three foot under ground, the Grooms were thenceforward forc'd to find out another way, as being not able to make a Hor&s;e pa&s;&s;e that way,
<Q><L>Spectatum admi&s;&s;i ri&s;um teneatis amici?</L></Q>
For I think a man mu&s;t be more <HI>Agelastus</HI> than ever <HI>Cra&s;&s;us</HI> was, if he can refrain laughing at this pretty relation, &s;ince that, not to &s;ay any thing of the ab&s;urdity of its circum&s;tances, there could not po&s;&s;ibly be found out another more contrary <NOTE PLACE="marg">S cund. Secund. que&s;t. <HI>69.</HI> art. <HI>2.</HI> que&s;t. <HI>12.</HI> art <HI>14.</HI></NOTE> to the Doctrine of St. <HI>Thomas,</HI> who in all his works, and particularly in his <HI>Sum,</HI> in his <HI>Quod|libet Questions,</HI> and in his Treati&s;e of <HI>Secret Ver|tues and Properties,</HI> denies, that the&s;e images can receive any vertue from the Stars and Con&s;tella|tions under which they were made. This certain|ly were enough to &s;hew the impertinence and ab&s;urdity; it is, to charge this great per&s;on with contributing ought to the compo&s;ition of the&s;e books, though we &s;hould not pre&s;&s;e, that <HI>Trithe|mius</HI> in his Catalogue of <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall</HI> Authours, mentions not any one of them printed with the body of his works, collected into &s;eventeen Tomes; nor take any notice, that <HI>Johannes Picus</HI> laughs at that book of <HI>Necromanticall Images,</HI> and <HI>Franci&s;cus</HI> his nephew, though much a &s;ervant and favourer of the <HI>Alchimi&s;ts,</HI> makes it a great que&s;tion, whether tho&s;e Books of the <HI>Metallick Art,</HI> are not to be attributed rather to the Alchy|mi&s;ts then St. <HI>Thomas.</HI> To which I may adde,
<PB N="229" REF="125">
that, as <HI>Delrio</HI> affirmes, the Commentaries upon the Nativity of one <HI>Thomas</HI> an Engli&s;h man, have been publi&s;h'd under his name becau&s;e of the nearne&s;&s;e there is between the&s;e two Latine words, <HI>Anglicus</HI> and <HI>Angelicus;</HI> &s;o it may &s;afely be inferr'd, that &s;ince, according to all the Dae|monographers, there have been diver&s;e other per&s;ons of the &s;ame name that have writ &s;everall Books in Magick, it were more rationall to imagine that that of the Necromanticall images &s;hould be rather father'd on them then on St. <HI>Tho|mas</HI> of <HI>Aquin,</HI> of whom it &s;hall be &s;aid, in &s;pight of all Ignorance, and to the de&s;paire of the Au|thours of the&s;e calumnities,
<Q><L>&mdash;Et molliter o&s;&s;a quie&s;cent</L>
<L>Semper, &amp; in &s;ummo mens aurea vivet Olympo.</L></Q></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">In epi&s;t. de dicat. lib. propaedeu|mat. Apho|ri&s;ticor. de Naturae vi|ribus.</NOTE> Had we the Book, which <HI>John Dee,</HI> Cittizen of <HI>London</HI> a very great Philo&s;opher and Mathematiti|an &s;aies he had written in defence of <HI>Roger Bacon,</HI> where he &s;hews that whatever was &s;aid of his miraculous operations is rather to be attributed to the knowledg of nature, &amp; the Mathematicks than to any commerce or conver&s;ation he ever had with Daemons; I &s;hould have as litle to &s;ay of him as of <HI>Apuleius</HI> who clear'd him&s;elf from the like accu&s;ation in two Apologies. But &s;ince that Book (at lea&s;t that I know of) never yet came abroad, I mu&s;t imitate the gra&s;&s;ehopper in <HI>Aeli|an,</HI> and &s;upply the want of this broken &s;tring, with what is to be had, &s;o to re&s;cue the reputa|tion of this Engli&s;h <HI>Franci&s;can,</HI> who was a doctor of Divinity, and the greate&s;t <HI>Chymi&s;t, A&s;trologer</HI> and <HI>Mathematician</HI> of his time, from being con|demn'd
<PB N="230" REF="126">
and buried among the multitude of <HI>Con|jurers</HI> and <HI>Magicians.</HI> For, &s;o far was he from making one of their number, that a man can no way better ju&s;tify and defend him, then by pro|ducing his own declamations again&s;t Magick, un|lawfull Books, Characters and &s;pells, as you have them in the three fir&s;t Chapters of an Epi&s;tle he <NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;it. l. <HI>31.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI> que&s;t. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> writ <HI>of the Powor of Art and Nature.</HI> Adde to this that <HI>Delrio</HI> is content to ob&s;erve only that there were &s;ome &s;uper&s;titious propo&s;itions in his Workes, &s;uch as haply was that which <HI>Franci&s;cus</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> de praenotione c. <HI>1.</HI> &amp; l. <HI>7.</HI> c. <HI>7.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Picus</HI> &s;aies he had read in his Book <HI>Of the &s;ix Sci|ences,</HI> where he affirmes that a man may become a Prophet and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">oretel things to come by the meanes of the Cla&s;&s;e <HI>Almuchefi,</HI> compo&s;'d according to the rules of <HI>Per&s;pective,</HI> provided he made u&s;e of it under a good con&s;tellation, and had before hand <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> de Prae&s;tig. c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> made his body very even, and put it into a good temper by <HI>Chymistry.</HI> Nor&punc; indeed am I at all &s;atisfy'd, why <HI>Wierus</HI> and divers others Daemono|graphers &s;hould &s;o readily charge this Philo&s;o|pher with the exerci&s;e of <HI>Geotick</HI> or prohibited Magick, when he, whom they all &s;o much ac|knowledge, <HI>Johannes Picus</HI> of Mirandula, main|taines, that he &s;tudied only the <HI>Naturall.</HI> Where|to may be added the te&s;timonies of three famous Engli&s;h Authors, <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg"><P>In praefa. Apolog. lib. de Script.</P>
<P>Anglicis.</P></NOTE> <HI>Lelandus</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Lib. de Diis Syris Syntag. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Selden</HI> and <HI>Bayly;</HI> as al&s;o that of Dr. <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg"><HI>2.</HI> In po&s;teriori ed<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tione Cantab. c Lib. <HI>1.</HI> de <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ebus An|glicis.</NOTE> <HI>Pits,</HI> who laughs at their fooli&s;h credulity who give any credit to this popular Errour, e&s;pecially &s;ince, as <HI>Selden</HI> af|firmes, there's no Engli&s;h Hi&s;torian ever made mention of his <HI>Magicall</HI> operations or any <HI>bra&s;en</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>10.</HI> Symbolor. aureae men|ae pag. <HI>453.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Head,</HI> which the populace believe he made. Upon occa&s;ion whereof <HI>Majerus</HI> ob&s;erves that he is brought in as a great Magician in all <HI>Comedies</HI>
<PB N="231" REF="126">
and that the common report is, that he and his Fellow-Frier <HI>Thomas Bungey</HI> were &s;even years a|bout that <HI>Head,</HI> meerly to know of it whether there were not &s;ome meanes to compa&s;&s;e England with a wall or Rampart, whereto it gave an an|&s;wer which yet they could not under&s;tand, for, not expecting to receive it &s;o &s;oon, they were ta|ken up with &s;omething el&s;e than hearkening to that Oracle.</P>
<P>A very fine relation certainly and &s;uitable to the fal&s;e witne&s;&s;e from whom we have it, if ever there were any fal&s;e, that is, the multitude, as having alwayes been accounted &s;uch by all good Authors, e&s;pecially <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. de vita beata.</NOTE> <HI>Seneca</HI> and <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Divinar. in&s;tit. l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Lactantius.</HI> The former affirmes, you mu&s;t never appeall to it in any thing of Con&s;equence, <HI>Quaerendum non quod vulgo placet, pe&s;&s;imo veritatitis interpreti:</HI> and the other had rea&s;on to admoni&s;h us, that <HI>Vulgus indoctum pompis inanibus gaudet animi&s;&abque; puerilibus &s;pectat omnia, oblectatur frivolis, nec ponderare &s;e|cum unamquam&abque; rem potest.</HI> This were enough to &s;tifle that vulgar &s;tory, &s;hould I &s;ay nothing of all the impertinences that accompany it, &s;ince they &s;o evidently di&s;cover them&s;elves. I take it therefore to be enough for my purpo&s;e to note that the &s;tructure and compo&s;ition of this head was a thing ab&s;olutely impo&s;&s;ible for the rea&s;ons I &s;hall give for it in the next Chapter, and with|all that <HI>Roger Bacon</HI> never minded the making of it, the whole fable having no other ground then common and popular reports. For it being or|dinary old wives talk that Pope <HI>Sylve&s;ter, William</HI> of <HI>Paris, Robert</HI> of <HI>Lincolne,</HI> and <HI>Albertus Magnus</HI> had made &s;uch di&s;cour&s;ing Statues, it might ve|ry well be added that <HI>Rober Bacon</HI> had in like
<PB N="232" REF="127">
manner made one, &s;ince that, being a great Ma|thematician, as may be &s;een both by the Treati&s;es and in&s;truments of his invention he &s;ent to Pope <HI>Clement</HI> the fourth and his two Books, printed within the&s;e fifteen years, of <HI>Per&s;pective</HI> and <HI>Gla&s;&s;es,</HI> it is not unlikely he did many extraordina|ry things by the help of that Science; whereof the cau&s;e being not known to the vulgar, (which was much more rough-hewn, and barbarous than it is now) it could do no le&s;&s;e then attribute them to Magick. But for that he hath for compurgators all learned men, and particularly the <HI>Je&s;uits,</HI> who put into their Mathematicall <HI>The&s;es</HI> defended at <HI>Pont <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Mou&s;&s;on</HI> in the year 1622. on the day of the Cannonization of <HI>Ignatius,</HI> and <HI>Xavier,</HI> That it was <NOTE PLACE="marg">Propo&s;it. <HI>12.</HI> op<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ic.</NOTE> po&s;&s;ible for a man well ver&s;'d in <HI>Opticks</HI> and <HI>Cat|optricks</HI> (&s;uch as undoubtedly <HI>Bacon</HI> was) <HI>dato quolibet objecto, quodlibet repre&s;entare per &s;pecula, montem ex atomo, &s;uillum aut a&s;ininum caput ex hu|mano, Elephantem &agrave; capillo.</HI></P>
<P>What hath been &s;aid of <HI>Bacon,</HI> may be al&s;o ap|ply'd to <HI>Thomas Bungey,</HI> who, meerly becau&s;e he was his Colleague in &s;tudies lying under the &s;ame mi&s;pri&s;ion, mu&s;t be included in the &s;ame defence. And for this there is &s;o much the more rea&s;on, in that <HI>Delrio</HI> &s;ayes not any thing of the Book he <NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;it. l. <HI>1&punc;</HI> c. <HI>3</HI> qu. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> writ of <HI>Naturall Magick</HI> but that it containes certain &s;uper&s;titious propo&s;itions. Be&s;ides had he been in the lea&s;t thought guilty of this crime, they would have been more carefull then to make him <HI>Provinciall</HI> of the Order of St. <HI>Francis</HI> in En|gland, as Dr. <HI>Pits</HI> affirms he was; and withall that whatever is &s;aid concerning his Magick, proceeds only from his being an excellent <HI>Philo&s;opher</HI> and <HI>Mathematician.</HI></P>
<P><PB N="233" REF="127">
The like &s;olution may &s;erve to ju&s;tifie <HI>Michael</HI> the Scot, who was no Ignorant per&s;on as tho&s;e imagine who never &s;aw his name but in the books of Daemonographers, a people that would have nothing to &s;ay of him, were it not to rank him among the Magicians, in imitation haply of the Poet <HI>Merlin Coccaius,</HI> who took a plea&s;ure to di&s;|cribe his enchantments, and <HI>Dante</HI> the <HI>Florentine,</HI> who &s;peakes thus of him, at the end of the twen|tieth Canto of his <HI>Hell.</HI></P>
<Q><LG>
<L>Quell' altro, che ne' fianchi &eacute; cosi poco,</L>
<L>Michele Schotto fu, che veramente&punc;</L>
<L>Delle Magiche frode &s;eppe il gioco.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>&mdash;See you that trifling fellow there?</L>
<L>'Twas <HI>Michael the Scott,</HI> who knew his part&punc;</L>
<L>In all the roguing cheats of Magick Art.</L>
</LG></Q>
<P>For, be&s;ides that he is cited as a great divine by the mo&s;t learned of the <HI>Carmelites,</HI> and Prince of the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Part. &s;en|tent. di|&s;tinct. <HI>33.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Averroi&s;ts, Johannes Bacco,</HI> it is ea&s;ily judg'd, as well by the two Books we have of his, <HI>Of Phy|&s;iognomy,</HI> and <HI>Questions upon the Sphear of Sacro|bo&s;co,</HI> as by his <HI>Hi&s;tory of Animals</HI> and the te&s;ti|mony of <HI>Pits,</HI> that he was one of the mo&s;t excel|lent Philo&s;ophers, Mathematicians, and A&s;trolo|gers of his time; and upon that account much favour'd by the Emperour <HI>Frederic</HI> II. to whom he dedicated all his Books, and foretold him that he &s;hould die in a ca&s;tle called <HI>Fiorenzo|la,</HI> having al&s;o fore&s;een that him&s;elf &s;hould end his dayes in a Church. And indeed it came to pa&s;s, as <HI>de Granger</HI> in his Commentary upon <HI>Dante</HI> affirmes, when being on a certain day adoring the
<PB N="234" REF="128">
body and blood of <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> kneeling near the place, where a bell was then tolling, the rope drew down with it a &s;tone, which falling on his barehead, killed him in the place, where after|wards he was buried.</P>
<P>This lay'd down, I leave men to judge whether they who calumniate him without any proof, and that rather out of cu&s;tome then any knowledge <NOTE PLACE="marg">De reb. An|glicis.</NOTE> they had of him, are to be credited rather then the Authority of <HI>Pits,</HI> a divine and moderne Author, who &s;peaking of him, &s;aies expre&s;ly, that though he was look'd on as a Magician by the Vulgar, <HI>prudentium tamen et cordatorum hominum long&egrave; ali|ud fuit judicium qui potius per&s;picax ejus in &s;crutan|dis rebus abditis admirabantur ingenium, laudabant industriam, qu&agrave;m reprehendendam judicabant curi|o&s;itatem, in&s;piciebant&abque; hominis &s;cientiam, non &s;u&s;|picabantur culpam.</HI> And for the formall autho|rity of <HI>Dante</HI> and <HI>Coccaius,</HI> it cannot conclude any thing to our prejudice, &s;ince the&s;e two Poets might well derive &s;uch a narration from the vulgar, meerly to &s;weeten and embelli&s;h their Poems, and that <HI>Cicero</HI> ju&s;tly laughs at tho&s;e who take the Poets for good &s;ecurity for any thing they &s;ay, when there is &s;o great a difference between the conditions of a <HI>Poem</HI> and that of a <HI>History, quippe</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de Leg.</NOTE> <HI>c&ugrave;m in illa ad veritatem referantur omnia, in hoc ad delectationem plera&abque;.</HI></P>
<P>Since then it is ea&s;ily di&s;cover'd by what we have already &s;aid, that the ordinary judgment falling on learned men is to be charg'd with Ma|gick I conceive few will wonder, if he who was called by <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">In Cen|tur. mi&s;cel. proemi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>Scaliger, Mon&s;trum &s;ine vitio,</HI> and by <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. Polit. l. <HI>9.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">p. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Politian</HI> (with the &s;uffrages of the publick voice) <HI>the Phoenix of all the great Witts, Picus</HI> of
<PB N="235" REF="128">
<HI>Mirandula,</HI> could not give <HI>Hermolaus Barbarus</HI> &s;o &s;lender an account of his expence of Six whole years in the reading of Schola&s;ticall Au|thours, but that the lu&s;tre of his great learn|ing mu&s;t needs &s;o dazzle tho&s;e who mea&s;ur'd it with the fewne&s;&s;e of his years when he began to break forth, that &s;ome, as <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. de anatom. ingenior.</NOTE> <HI>Zara,</HI> look'd on it as a <HI>miracle,</HI> and others, in <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Oratione de Encyclo|paed. vol. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Tarquin Gallutius,</HI> are &s;o injurious to him, as not to be|lieve he could arive to that wi&s;dome and capa|city but by the meanes of <HI>Magick.</HI> Upon which if I may give my opinion, I conceive I may truly &s;ay, that tho&s;e who are &s;o much prejudic'd again&s;t the Learning of this great man, were per&s;ons certainly as ignorant as that Divine, who, as the &s;ame <HI>Picus</HI> affirmes in his <HI>Apologie,</HI> being ask'd what the word <HI>Cabala</HI> &s;ignify'd, an&s;wer'd, it was the name of a wicked man and an abomi|nable <HI>Heretick,</HI> who had written divers things again&s;t Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and that all his followers were called <HI>Cabalists.</HI> For though it may be &s;aid, haply more truely of him than any other,
<Q><L>&mdash;Primordia tantae</L>
<L>Vix pauci meruere &s;enes&mdash;</L></Q>
and that his Learning is to be admir'd as well in re&s;pect of his age as the time he liv'd in, where|in Letters did but as it were bud out of the thorns of Barbari&s;m; yet is it too great a mi|&s;tru&s;t and limitation of nature and her forces to think &s;he could not rai&s;e this man to &s;uch a &s;u|preme degree of perfection, as might be a marke for all tho&s;e that would be like him. Mankind is a large field wherein Nature exerci&s;es her &s;elf &s;everall wayes, &s;ometimes &s;porting her &s;elf with
<PB N="236" REF="129">
an <HI>Amphi&s;tides,</HI> who could not tell as far as four, a <HI>Ther&s;ites,</HI> a <HI>Meletides</HI> or a <HI>Cecilian;</HI> and &s;ome|times priding it in an <HI>Alexander,</HI> a <HI>Cae&s;ar,</HI> a St. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> or a <HI>Picus</HI> of <HI>Mirandula;</HI> u&s;ing, ac|cording to the opinion of <HI>Tri&s;megi&s;tus,</HI> gold, &s;il|ver, and lead in their Compo&s;ition. It was a &s;aying of <HI>Neocles</HI> in commendation of his Brother <HI>Epicurus,</HI> that Nature, in his generation, had a&s;&s;embled together all the Atomes of prudence in|to his Mother's Belly. And why may we not, with the &s;ame flouri&s;h, affirm that &s;he may have uni|ted all the externall cau&s;es of Aire, climate, Stars, diet, towards the compo&s;ition of a body, &s;o to produce a Mind that &s;hould be the paragon of others, and as it were the mold by which o|thers might be made. In this was ca&s;t that of <HI>Paulus de la Scale,</HI> who, in the year 1553. main|tained, at <HI>Boulougne</HI> 1543 <HI>Conclu&s;ions</HI> upon &s;eve|rall &s;ubjects of all kinds, and that before he was 22. years of age. That of the young man <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de Virg. Culice et Terentii fabulis</NOTE> mention'd by Cardinall <HI>Bembus,</HI> who propo&s;'d 4500. at <HI>Rome.</HI> That of <HI>Po&s;tellus</HI> who mode|rated in the Schooles at 13. years of age. That of <HI>Ge&s;ner</HI> and <HI>Era&s;mus,</HI> who were more learned at twenty, then others ordinarily are at fifty. That of <HI>Agrippa,</HI> who at twenty two interpreted the Pymander of <HI>Tri&s;megi&s;tus,</HI> and the Book <HI>De ver|bo mirifico.</HI> That of <HI>Maldonat,</HI> who was ad|mir'd for his reading of Divinity at twenty &s;even. And la&s;tly that of <HI>Edward du Monim,</HI> who may be &s;aid to have been made up all of fire and &s;pi|rit, &s;ince that, ere he was ariv'd to the twenty &s;ixth year of his age, wherein he was kill'd, he was &s;o great a Ma&s;ter of the Italian, Spani&s;h, La|tine, Greek and Hebrew Tongues, as al&s;o of
<PB N="237" REF="129">
Philo&s;ophy, Phy&s;ick, Mathematicks and The|ology, and had withall &s;o fluent a vein of poe&s;y in all tho&s;e Languages, that he tran&s;lated into Latine ver&s;e, and that in le&s;&s;e then fifty dayes, <HI>Du Bartas</HI>'s work of the Creation, and &s;aw printed before his death, five or &s;ix large Volumes of his Poetry highly celebrated by the greate&s;t witts of the la&s;t age, <HI>Fumaeus, du Perron, Goulu, Daurat, Morel, Baif,</HI> and <HI>du Bartas.</HI> Since therefore Pliny <HI>tells</HI> us, that <HI>Naturae rerum vis at&abque; maje&s;tas in omnibus fide caret, &s;i quis modo partes ejus ac non totum animo complectatur,</HI> and that we can exem|plify in &s;o many that came &s;o near this <HI>Picus</HI> of Mirandula, were it not more rationall to admire the extraordinary effects of <HI>Nature</HI> by judging of the one by the other, then ba&s;ely to &s;ubject it to <HI>Spirits</HI> and <HI>Daemons,</HI> e&s;pecially in things wherein there is not ought beyond the reach of her power and performance?</P>
<P>La&s;tly, for the Abbot <HI>Trithemius,</HI> who is call'd by <HI>Thevet</HI> in his life, a <HI>&s;ubtle Philo&s;opher, an in|genious Mathematician, a famous Poet, an accom|pli&s;h'd Hi&s;torian, a very eloquent Orator, and emi|nent divine;</HI> I find that tho&s;e who would make him a Magician, may in the fir&s;t place, ground their &s;o doing on a little Book of three or four &s;heets printed under his name in the year 1612. intituled, <HI>Veterum Sophorum Sigilla &amp; imagines Magicae, &s;ive Sculpturae Lapidum aut Gemmarum ex nomine Tetragrammaton cum &s;ignatura planeta|rum, Authoribus Zoroastre, Salomone, Raphaele, Chaele, Hermete, Thelete, ex Joan Trithemii ma|nu&s;cripto erutae.</HI> Another ground may be his own &s;peaking &s;o pertinently of Magick, and his giving him&s;elf the title of Magician in &s;ome of his Epi|&s;tles.
<PB N="238" REF="130">
And a third and la&s;t, his writing the Book of <HI>Steganography,</HI> a treati&s;e &s;tuff'd with the names of <HI>Devils,</HI> and full of invocations, and, as very pernicious, condemn'd chiefly by <HI>Charles Boville</HI> a learned and eminent Divine, who makes it wor&s;e <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de in|tellectu &s;en&s;u. &amp;c. p. <HI>73.</HI></NOTE> then that of <HI>Agrippa</HI> or any other Authour, in the Epi&s;tle he &s;ent to <HI>Germain Ganay</HI> Coun&s;ellor to the King, and &s;ince Bi&s;hop of <HI>Orleans,</HI> four years after he had &s;een and read it in the very &s;tudy and Abbey of the &s;aid <HI>Trithemius.</HI> This was Au|thority enough for <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> de prae&s;tig. c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Wierus,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">In the lives of il|lu&s;trious men.</NOTE> <HI>Thevet,</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Di&s;quis. l. <HI>2.</HI> q. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Del|rir,</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Lib. de Magis &amp; venefic.</NOTE> <HI>Godelman</HI> and mo&s;t of the Daemonogra|phers to be of the &s;ame opinion.</P>
<P>But for my part, I am of another, as concei|ving that tho&s;e, who would judge with more truth than pa&s;&s;ion as well of this la&s;t as the two former proofs, will beware how they bla&s;t with eternall infamy the memory of any man e&s;pecially an Eccle&s;ia&s;tick, upon &s;uch poor grounds as the&s;e light&punc; conjectures, which are ab&s;olutely vaine, fal&s;e, and forg'd. For be&s;ides the rea&s;ons layd down in our 6. Chap. that Pamphlet of making images and Characters upon Stones under certain Con&s;tellations is a pure impo&s;ture and cheat of <HI>Booksellers,</HI> who thought fit to print it as newly retriv'd out of <HI>Trithemius</HI>'s &s;tudy, whereas, above 120. years before <HI>Camillus Lienard</HI> made it the third Book of his <HI>Mirrour of precious Stones,</HI> be|&s;ides that it was publi&s;h'd by <HI>Ludovicus Dulcis</HI> in a treati&s;e on the &s;ame &s;ubject, as al&s;o by <HI>Rodulphus Goclinus</HI> in above four or five &s;everall impre&s;&s;ions <NOTE PLACE="marg">De gener. &amp; corrupt.</NOTE> of his Book <HI>De Unguento Armario;</HI> &s;o true is that axiome of <HI>Aristotle,</HI> that, <HI>Ad pauca re&s;picientes de facili enuntiant.</HI> But be it &s;uppo&s;'d that that little treati&s;e had been tran&s;crib'd out of <HI>Trithe|mius</HI>'s,
<PB N="239" REF="130">
who would thence inferre that a Book of &s;uper&s;titious A&s;trologie were a &s;ufficient te&s;timo|ny to condemne tho&s;e of Magick who have it in their po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, e&s;pecially &s;ince there cannot the lea&s;t <HI>indicium</HI> be drawn from five or &s;ix Epi&s;tles printed at the end of <HI>Trithemius</HI>'s Polygraphy, to confirme that opinion to his prejudice, nay they rather ju&s;tifie him, as may appear by the reading thereof and by <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">In clavi philo&s;oph. Chymicae, &s;ub finem.</NOTE> <HI>Gerard Dorne</HI> and <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Lib. de my&s;teriis <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">otar &amp; l. <HI>1.</HI> Comment. in Paracel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> de vita lon ga in Epi&s;t ad Joan|nem We&s;ten burg.</NOTE> <HI>James Go|hory,</HI> who &s;hew from their enigmaticall &s;en&s;e that they cannot be interpreted of any thing but Chy|mi&s;try. So that it may be truely &s;aid that all the &s;u&s;picion there is of his being a Magician, as he him&s;elf confe&s;&s;eth, proceeds only from the publi|cation of a Letter he &s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">t to a Carmelite of <HI>Gaunt</HI> named <HI>Arnoldus Bostius,</HI> wherein he &s;pecifi'd many miraculous and extraordinary effects, whereof yet he di&s;cover'd the wayes of perfor|mance in his treati&s;e of <HI>Steganographie.</HI> For the judgment thereof of <HI>Charles Boville</HI> being pub|li&s;h'd about the &s;ame time, people were pre&s;ent|ly per&s;waded that &s;uch things could not be taught in any but a Magick Book, and that <HI>Trithemius</HI> mu&s;t needs be excellently well ver&s;'d in Conju|ring and Invocations.</P>
<P>Now the fir&s;t that oppo&s;'d this calumny, after he, who was mo&s;t concern'd in it, had clear'd him&s;elf, as well by the key to that book, and diver&s;e pa&s;&s;ages of his Works, was <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Praefat. Comment. in Paracel. de vita lon|ga.</NOTE> <HI>James Gohory,</HI> who writt a &s;hort vindication of this <HI>Ste|ganography,</HI> again&s;t the calumnies of <HI>Wierus Bovil|le</HI> and <HI>Cardan.</HI> In which de&s;igne he was &s;econd|ed by <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Pag. <HI>12.</HI> of his Cy|phers.</NOTE> <HI>Vigenere,</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">De divi|nat. cap. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Boi&s;&s;ardus</HI> and <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Hi&s;tory of Tongues. c. <HI>14.</HI> fol. <HI>152. 159.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Duretus,</HI> who have &s;hewn that <HI>Trithemius</HI> had no other de|&s;igne in that book then to di&s;cover a new, and
<PB N="240" REF="131">
much &s;urer way then that of his <HI>Polygraphie,</HI> to write and communicate freely one to another whatever were more &s;ecret, by the meanes of an invention which could never be &s;u&s;pected to have any other then the right &s;en&s;e, nor di&s;-cypher'd by any but him that had the key of it. This is fur|ther confirm'd by one <HI>Sigi&s;mond</HI> an Abbot of the order of St. <HI>Benedict,</HI> who writt a Book, called, <HI>Trithemius &s;ui ip&s;ius vindex;</HI> and by the divine <HI>Adam Tamerus,</HI> in an Oration printed by him on that &s;ubject at <HI>Ingolstadt.</HI> But more remarkably then any, and &s;o as to &s;ilence all difficulty, is it done by <HI>Gustavus Selenus</HI> who hath lately given us an explication of this <HI>Steganography</HI> in the third book of nine, that he hath publi&s;h'd con|cerning <HI>Cryptographie.</HI> For he fir&s;t &s;hews why <HI>Trithemius</HI> would make it &s;o difficult; why he would make u&s;e of that maske of &s;pirits and invocations; and then he explaines them and gives &s;uch overtures, as whence we may ea&s;ily judge how far they di&s;parage their own judgment, who with &s;o little con&s;ideration blame things they under&s;tand not, and withall, that ordinary &s;aying is true&punc; that the mo&s;t <HI>learned</HI> are not alwayes the mo&s;t <HI>di&s;creet.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="18" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="241" REF="131">
<HEAD>CHAP. XVIII.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of Robert of Lincolne, and Albertus Magnus.</HEAD>
<P>IF it be true that the Authority of a many makes errour the le&s;&s;e cen&s;urable, and that the num|ber of tho&s;e that erre with us makes our faults &s;eem the more excu&s;able, gives our opinions &s;ome ground, and hides the defects of our per|&s;wa&s;ion; I doubt not but tho&s;e may ea&s;ily make &s;uch an excu&s;e their &s;anctuary, who &s;eem to write out of no other de&s;ign than to revive, in their workes, all tho&s;e calumnies which have been hi|therto maintain'd by vulgar ignorance to the pre|judice of the happy memory of <HI>Albertus Magnus,</HI> &s;ince that according to the Satyri&s;t,
<Q><L>&mdash;Faciu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">t hi plura, &s;ed illos</L>
<L>Defendit numerus, junctae&abque; umbone phalanges.</L></Q></P>
<P>But if the number of the&s;e Authors were not yet le&s;s con&s;iderable than the proo&s;s they bring, I &s;hould ingenuou&s;ly confe&s;s, that it were in me no le&s;&s;e temerity to take a cour&s;e contrary to them, than it was anciently in Travellers not to ca&s;t a &s;tone at tho&s;e Pillars and <HI>Mercuries</HI> in the high|waies, to give others notice of them. And &s;ince it is not always, according to the &s;aying of <HI>Pythago|ras&punc;</HI> the &s;ure&s;t way to follow the mo&s;t beaten track, &amp; that the mo&s;t common opinions are ordinarily the mo&s;t fal&s;e, as being &s;uch as are rather applau|ded than examined; I &s;hall &s;tand upon the &s;ame liberty, which I have taken from the fir&s;t Chapter of this <HI>Apology,</HI> to pa&s;&s;e from the vindication of
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<HI>Religious</HI> men to that of <HI>Bi&s;hops,</HI> and &s;hew, that if ever great Learning and the ignorance of a bar|barous age prejudic'd any man, <HI>Robert Great-head,</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Lincolne,</HI> or, as others, of <HI>Lanca&s;ter;</HI> and <HI>Albertus Magnus</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Ratisbonne</HI> have ju&s;t cau&s;e to complain.</P>
<P>As to the fir&s;t, if we only except certain Demo|nographers, <NOTE PLACE="marg">In confe&s;&s;i|one Aman|tis apud <HI>Selden.</HI></NOTE> who, upon the account of a <HI>Brazen Head</HI> that &s;poke, which <HI>John Gower</HI> an Engli&s;h Poet, &s;aid he had endeavoured to make, to &s;erve him in&s;tead of an Oracle, rank him among the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Vol. <HI>1.</HI> de r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">b Angli|cis.</NOTE> Magicians; all Authors agree with <HI>Pits,</HI> that he was one of the mo&s;t learned men of his time, a &s;ubtile Philo&s;opher, an excellent Divine, a man equally acquainted with the &s;even liberal Scien|ces, and the Latine, Greek, and Hebrew Tongues, one that writ a great number of Books, whereof there are &s;ome remaining in Philo&s;ophy. Be|&s;ides all which, he was of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o holy and exemplary a life, that (not to prove it by the Fable, &s;o well <NOTE PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;. l. c. <HI>4.</HI> qu. <HI>4.</HI> Sect. <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> refuted by <HI>Delrio,</HI> concerning his death, and that of Pope <HI>Innocent</HI> fourth) <HI>Matthew Paris</HI> writes in his Chronicles, that he was in &s;o much reputation among the Engli&s;h, that they called him, <HI>the holy Prelate, the King's faithful Coun&s;ellour, the Refor|mer of the Monks, the Director of Prie&s;ts, the In|&s;tructor of the Clergy, the Nur&s;ing-father of Schol|lars and Students, the Preacher of the People, and the Scourge of Vices.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">In elogiis <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ror doc|torum.</NOTE> And for <HI>Albertus,</HI> I am very much oblig'd to <HI>Paulus Jovius,</HI> that he had not honour'd him with his Elogy, but upon the Title of <HI>Great,</HI> which was <NOTE PLACE="marg">Livre du gouverne|ment d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">at.</NOTE> given him even while he liv'd by the univer&s;al con&s;ent of all Schools. For if we con&s;ider with <HI>Botero,</HI> on what per&s;ons, and upon what occa&s;ions
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that title hath been be&s;tow'd, I believe there will be &s;ome miracle in it, to &s;ee a &s;imple <HI>Fryar</HI> of the Order of St. <HI>Dominick</HI> have an Epithet given him, not &s;o ordinary with <HI>Popes, Emperours,</HI> and Sove|raign <HI>Princes,</HI> had not his works di&s;cover'd his de&s;ert to be &s;o great, and his Learning &s;o extraor|dinary, that &s;uch a recompence might &s;eem in|con&s;iderable, if <HI>Tri&s;megi&s;tus</HI> had not &s;o re&s;ervd the title of <HI>thrice great</HI> to him&s;elf, that it hath not been &s;ince communicated to any. Nor &s;hall I <NOTE PLACE="marg">In catalog. Script. Ec|cle&s;ia&s;t.</NOTE> need to &s;ay with <HI>Trithemius,</HI> that <HI>Non &s;urrexit po&s;t eum vir &s;imilis ei qui in omnibus literis, &s;cientiis et rebus tam doctus, eruditus, et expertus fuerit.</HI> Nor yet with <HI>Thevet,</HI> that he was &s;o curious in the di&s;|qui&s;ition <NOTE PLACE="marg">Vit. vir. illu&s;tr.</NOTE> of the Secrets of Nature, that it might be &s;aid, one part of his &s;oul was tran&s;ported into the Heavens, another into the aire, the third un|der the earth, and a fourth upon the waters, and that he had by &s;ome extraordinary cour&s;e, &s;o uni|ted and contracted together his whole &s;oul, that nothing that this world comprehends could e&s;cape it. For all tho&s;e Elogies, added to what is commonly &s;aid of him,
<Q><L>Inclytus Albertus docti&s;&s;imus at&abque; di&s;ertus,</L>
<L>Quadrivium docuit, ac totum &s;cibile &s;civit,</L></Q>
cannot &s;o well help us to judge of his Learning as the reading of his own works which would make almo&s;t as many volums as tho&s;e of his Di&s;ciple <HI>Aquinas,</HI> if they were as well reprinted. It is not therefore to be admir'd, if &s;o many things may be &s;aid of him upon the account of his know|ledge, which being &s;o great and extraordinary, &s;ome may very well be extreamly doubtful,
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others, ab&s;olutely fal&s;e and fictious. To confirm this we have <HI>John Matthew de Luna,</HI> who living <NOTE PLACE="marg">L. de Rer. inventor. c. <HI>12.</HI></NOTE> about 120 years &s;ince, held, though contrary to the opinion of <HI>Polydor Virgil, Magius, Mayerus, Pancirollus, Florence, Rivault, Zezoldus,</HI> and all Au|thors that writ of the invention of Fire-workes, that <HI>Albertus Magnus</HI> fir&s;t found out the u&s;e of Canon, Arquebu&s;e and Pi&s;tol; For I could never find in the&s;e Authors any thing that came near this opinion &s;ave that &s;uch inventions were put in practi&s;e in his time, and that by a Germane <HI>Monk</HI> call'd <HI>Berthold Schwartz,</HI> or by a certain <HI>Chymi&s;t,</HI> who, as <HI>Cornazanus,</HI> an Author ancient enough, conceives, liv'd in the City of <HI>Cullen,</HI> where it is certain that <HI>Albertus Magnus</HI> liv'd, ever after he had taken the habit of a <HI>Dominican.</HI></P>
<P>And this makes me not a litle wonder that the Alchymi&s;ts &s;hould never bethink them of holding this opinion, &s;ince they might have done it with much more rea&s;on, than attribute to him the knowledge of the Philo&s;ophers &s;tone, as hath late|ly done their great favourer and a better <HI>Majerus,</HI> who is not a&s;ham'd, in his <HI>Symbols upon the golden table</HI> of the 12 Nations, to affirm, that St. <HI>Domi|nick</HI> had it fir&s;t, and that tho&s;e to whom he had left it, communicated it to <HI>Albertus Magnus,</HI> who by the advantages he made of it, di&s;charg'd in le&s;&s;e then three years, all the debts of his Bi|&s;hoprick of <HI>Ratisbonne,</HI> and afterwards taught it St. <HI>Thomas Aquinas,</HI> while he was his di&s;ciple. To give this the greater Authority, he highly ce|lebrates three Books of <HI>Chymi&s;try,</HI> which he at|tributes to him, whereof &s;ince there is not any of them either among the collection of his works, or &s;pecified in the Catalogue made of them by
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<HI>Trithemius,</HI> we are only to take notice of that <NOTE PLACE="marg">L. <HI>3.</HI> de auro.</NOTE> which <HI>Fran. Picus</HI> &s;aies he writ, <HI>Of Quinte&s;&s;ence,</HI> to &s;hew by the forgery of that, what account &s;hould be made of the others, it being certain that <HI>Albertus Magnus</HI> never contributed a thought towards it. This may be prov'd, not only from his laughing at the Alchymi&s;ts and their preten|ded Tran&s;mutations in his third Book <HI>of</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg"><HI>Tract.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 9.</NOTE> <HI>Mi|nerals,</HI> as <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>3.</HI> Phy&s;ic. c. <HI>13.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Velcurion,</HI> and <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Al<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hym. impugnalae&punc; l <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>7.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Guybert</HI> endea|vour to &s;hew, &s;ince he there maintains a quite contrary opinion; but becau&s;e the Author of that Book calls him&s;elf therein, a Friar of the Order of St. <HI>Francis,</HI> and &s;aies he writ it in pri&s;on. The&s;e two circum&s;tances, which mu&s;t infallibly relate to <HI>John de Rupe&s;ci&s;s&acirc;,</HI> ea&s;ily evince, that &s;ome Impo&s;tor made it his bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to play the Plagiary, and &s;teal it out of a Book he had written on that &s;ubject, to divulge and gain it reputati|on under the name of <HI>Albertus Magnus,</HI> accor|ding to the ordinary cheat of all Alchymi&s;ts, who make this their common &s;leight to inveigle peo|ple into a belief of their promi&s;es, and by that means,
<Q><L>Noctem peccatis, et fraudibus addere nubem.</L></Q></P>
<P>To come then to what is mo&s;t e&s;&s;ential in this Chapter, and to what lies in our power to de|liver this eminent per&s;on out of the Quagmire of the <HI>Magicians,</HI> as we have already drawn him out of that of the <HI>Alchymi&s;ts.</HI> This were &s;oon done if we would but appeal to the judgement of <HI>An|thony de Sienes,</HI> and Father <HI>Ju&s;tinian,</HI> who writ his Life, or to take witne&s;&s;es di&s;engag'd from all in|tere&s;t or pa&s;&s;ion, <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">In Cato|log. Script. Eccle&s;ia&s;t. et Antipal. l. <HI>1.</HI> c <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Trithemius,</HI> and <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Apolog. art. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> J. <HI>Picus</HI> of <HI>Mirandula,</HI> who ab&s;olutely clear him from
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this calumny. Adding withal, that when it is &s;aid that <HI>Albertus Magnus</HI> was addicted to Ma|gick, it mu&s;t be under&s;tood of the <HI>Natural,</HI> for fear le&s;t the fal&s;e opinion of the contrary, might give many occa&s;ion to imagine that it were un|lawful for us to do what he hath done.</P>
<P>But &s;ince all the&s;e Authorities conclude no|thing if &s;ome an&s;wer be not made to the proofs ordinarily produc'd to bla&s;t his innocence (not to mention that even from his youth, he had &s;uch a particular devotion to the B. Virgin, that &s;he wrought &s;uch an alteration in his mind, that of an unrefin'd and unpoli&s;h'd one, &s;he made it ca|pable of comprehending all things) we are to <NOTE PLACE="marg">Bzovius de &s;ign. Eccle&s;. tom. <HI>1.</HI> l. <HI>9.</HI> c. <HI>11.</HI> &s;ig. <HI>36.</HI></NOTE> con&s;ider, that the&s;e proofs have no other ground than that of two Books fal&s;ly publi&s;h'd under his name, and that <HI>Androides,</HI> which hath given occa&s;ion to thou&s;ands of Fables and impertinen|cies frequent in Authors.</P>
<P>For the two Books <HI>Franci&s;cus</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">De prae|not. l. <HI>7.</HI> c. <HI>7.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Picus,</HI> and <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Di&s;quis. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Delrio</HI> agree in this, that it were an extraordi|nary injury to think this holy per&s;on Author of that <HI>de Mirabilibus,</HI> and in the&s;e words clear him of it, <HI>Alberto Magno tributus Liber</HI> de Mirabi|libus, <HI>vanitate et &s;uperstitione repertus est, &s;ed mag|no Doctori partus &s;uppo&s;ititius.</HI> To which <HI>F. Picus</HI> addes, that it is fal&s;ly attributed to him, as many others were, as, among the re&s;t, that <HI>de &s;ecretis Mulierum,</HI> &s;ince <HI>Albertus</HI> is not &s;o much as nam'd at the beginning of it, as he who hath writ a Comment upon it would per&s;wade us; be&s;ides that it is ea&s;ily perceav'd, that the Author of it, who ever he was, liv'd &s;ome time after him, be|cau&s;e he often cites his Authority. So that all the quarrel now lies again&s;t that intituled, the
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<HI>Mirrour of Astrology,</HI> where is treated of the approved and forbidden Authors that have writ|ten of that Art. This is condemn'd by <HI>Ger&s;on</HI> and <HI>Agrippa</HI> as extreamly &s;uper&s;titious, and by <HI>F. Picus</HI> and divers others, becau&s;e the Author of it maintains a very erroneous opinion in favour of Magical Books, which, with &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to better advice, he holds, &s;hould be carefully pre&s;erv'd, becau&s;e the time then drew near, that, for cer|tain rea&s;ons, not &s;pecify'd, men would have occa|&s;ion to read and make u&s;e of them.</P>
<P>To clear <HI>Albertus</HI> from all &s;u&s;picion of Magick upon the account of this Book, I can produce no better te&s;timony than that of J. <HI>Picus,</HI> a per&s;on more fit to judge of this difficulty than any other, who in his fir&s;t Book again&s;t <HI>A&s;trologers</HI> main|tains that the Treati&s;e <HI>De Libris licitis et illicitis,</HI> was infallibly writ by <HI>R. Bacon,</HI> who&s;e cu&s;tome it was to cite and produce &s;uch Authors in all his Books, which cannot be ob&s;erv'd in <HI>Albertus Magnus.</HI> Be&s;ides the &s;aid <HI>R. Bacon</HI> was &s;o &s;trange|ly addicted to judicial A&s;trology, that <HI>Henry d'A&s;&s;ia, William</HI> of <HI>Paris,</HI> and <HI>Nicholas Ore&s;mus,</HI> all very eminent Doctors, thought them&s;elves ob|lig'd to inveigh again&s;t his works, and all the va|nities of A&s;trologers. But be it imagin'd this Book was writ by <HI>Albertus,</HI> I &s;ee not why his affirming that <HI>Magical</HI> Books &s;hould be pre&s;erv'd by <HI>Inqui&s;itors,</HI> and per&s;ons of like Authority &s;hould make &s;o much noi&s;e, &s;ince that about 100 years &s;ince, it was the advice of <HI>Revelin</HI> not to burn tho&s;e of the <HI>Jewes.</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Antipal. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Trithemins</HI> is of the &s;ame opinion, &amp; <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">1. <HI>part. q.</HI> 2. <HI>art.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>di&s;p.</HI> 20. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. 4.</NOTE> <HI>Va&s;quez</HI> &s;aies peremptorily, that Magical Books are nece&s;&s;ary, and Magicians permitted by God for the greater conviction of
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Libertines and Athie&s;ts, who by this means might be drawn to acknowledge there are other &s;ub|&s;tances than what we judge of by the finger and the eye: <HI>Quo admi&s;&s;o,</HI> &s;aies he, <HI>facilius in eam &s;en|tentiam adducantur ut numen aliquod fateantur&punc; et magis ab Athei&s;mo deterreantur, quo avidi&ugrave;s Ma|gicis artibus &s;tudent, quod ni&s;i inter Haereticos De|us permi&s;i&s;&s;et, poen&egrave; omnes in Athei&s;mo ver&s;arentur.</HI> To which concurs al&s;o <HI>Lactantius,</HI> when he &s;aies, that <HI>Democritus, Epicurus,</HI> ct <HI>Dicaearchus</HI> would not have &s;o confidently deny'd the immortality of the Soul, <HI>Mago aliquo prae&s;ente, qui &s;ciret certis car|minibus cieri ab inferis animas, et ade&s;&s;e, et praebere &s;e humanis oculis videndas, et loqui et futur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|dicere.</HI></P>
<P>If after all this <HI>Albertus</HI> be charg'd with any thing of Magick, it mu&s;t be on &s;ome other pre|tence then that of the&s;e two books; &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nce it is clear from what hath been &s;aid, that he never had any hand in them. All therefore we have now to do, is to refute their errour who are per&s;waded that <HI>bra|&s;en heads</HI> made under certain Con&s;tellations may give an&s;wers, and be as it were guides and Coun|&s;ellors, upon all occa&s;ions, to tho&s;e that had them in their po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion. Among the&s;e is one <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Apud E|man. de M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ra, Sect. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>17.</HI> a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">t. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ye<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">es,</HI> who affirms that <HI>Henry de Villeine</HI> made &s;uch a one at <HI>Madrid,</HI> broken to pieces afterward by the order of <HI>John</HI> 2. King of <HI>Ca&s;tile.</HI> The &s;ame thing is affirm'd by <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg"><HI>3.</HI> Decad. Per<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">gr. que&s;t. c. <HI>2</HI> qu <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Bartholomew Sibillus,</HI> and the Author of the <HI>Image of the world,</HI> of <HI>Virgil;</HI> by <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">De g<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;tis R g. An|glor. l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE> <HI>William</HI> of <HI>Malmsbury,</HI> of <HI>Sylve&s;ter;</HI> by <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Apud. S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ld a. de D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">s Syris Syntag. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>John Gower,</HI> of <HI>Robert</HI> of <HI>Lincoln;</HI> by the common people of <HI>England&punc;</HI> of <HI>Roger Bacon;</HI> and by <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">In Exod.</NOTE> <HI>To&s;tatus</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Avilla</HI> <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">me<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>3.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">om. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> <HI>George</HI> of Venice, <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>4&punc;</HI></NOTE> <HI>Delrio, Sibillus,</HI> <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> Epi&s;t. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">p. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ragu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eus,</HI> <NOTE N="i" PLACE="marg">De incon. &s;tant l. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Delancre</HI>
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and others, too many to mention, of <HI>Albertus Magnus;</HI> who, as the mo&s;t expert, had made an entire man of the &s;ame metal, and had &s;pent 30 years without any interruption in forming him under &s;everal A&s;pects and Con&s;tellations. For example; he made the <HI>eyes,</HI> according to the &s;aid <HI>To&s;tatus,</HI> in his Commentaries upon <HI>Exodus,</HI> when the Sun was in a Sign of the Zodiack corre|&s;pondent to that part, ca&s;ting them out of diver&s;e Metals mixt together, and mark'd with the Cha|racters of the &s;ame Signs and Planets, and their &s;everal and nece&s;&s;ary A&s;pects. The &s;ame method he ob&s;erv'd in the Head, Neck, Shoulders, Thighs and Leggs, all which were fa&s;hioned at &s;everal times, and being put and fa&s;tened together in the form of a Man, had the faculty to reveale to the &s;aid <HI>Albertus</HI> the &s;olutions of all his princi|pal difficulties. To which they add (that nothing be lo&s;t of the &s;tory of the Statue) that it was bat|ter'd to pieces by St. <HI>Thomas,</HI> meerely becau&s;e he could not endure its exce&s;&s;e of prating.</P>
<P>But to give a more rational account of this <HI>Androides</HI> of <HI>Albertus,</HI> as al&s;o of all the&s;e mira|culous heads, I conceive the original of this Fable may well be deduc'd from the <HI>Teraph</HI> of the <HI>He|brews,</HI> by which as Mr. <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">De diis Syris, Synt. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Selden</HI> affirms, many are of opinion, that we mu&s;t under&s;tand what is &s;aid in <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg"><HI>c.</HI> 31.</NOTE> <HI>Gene&s;is</HI> concerning <HI>Laba<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI>'s Gods, and in the fir&s;t book of <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg"><HI>c.</HI> 19.</NOTE> <HI>Kings</HI> concerning the Image which <HI>Michol</HI> put into the bed in <HI>David's</HI> place. For <HI>R. Eleazar</HI> holds that it was made of the head of a male child, the fir&s;t born, and that dead-born, under who&s;e tongue they apply|ed a Lamen of Gold, whereon were engrav'd the Characters and In&s;criptions of certain Planets,
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which the Jews &s;uper&s;titiou&s;ly wandred up and down with, in&s;tead of the <HI>Urim</HI> and <HI>Thummim,</HI> or the <HI>Ephod</HI> of the high Prie&s;t. And that this Ori|ginal is true and well deduc'd, there is a manife&s;t <NOTE PLACE="marg">Pergr. qu. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">cad. <HI>3.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI> q. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>indicium,</HI> in that <HI>Henry d' A&s;&s;ia</HI> and <HI>Bartholomaeus Sibillus</HI> affirm, that the <HI>Androides</HI> of <HI>Albertus,</HI> and the Head made by <HI>Virgil,</HI> were compos'd of fle&s;h and bone, yet not by Nature but by Art. But this being judged impo&s;&s;ible by modern Au|thors, and the vertue of <HI>Images, Annulets,</HI> and Planetary <HI>Sigills</HI> being in great reputation, men have thought ever &s;ince (taking their opinion from <HI>Tri&s;megi&s;tus</HI> affirming in his <HI>A&s;clepion,</HI> that, of the Gods, &s;ome were made by the Soveraign God, and others by men, who, by &s;ome Art, had <NOTE PLACE="marg">De civit. dei. l. <HI>8.</HI> c&punc; <HI>23.</HI></NOTE> the power to unite the invi&s;ible Spirits to things vi&s;ible and corporeal, as he is explain'd at large by by St. <HI>Augu&s;tine)</HI> that &s;uch Figures were made of Copper or &s;ome other Mettal, whereon men had wrought under &s;ome favourable A&s;pects of Heaven and the Planets. Which opinion, &s;ince it is the more common, it is fit we earne&s;t|ly buckle with, and &s;hew that it was not without rea&s;on refuted by St. <HI>Thomas, William</HI> of <HI>Paris &amp; Niphus,</HI> as fal&s;e, ab&s;urd, and erronious. To prove this the more ea&s;ily we are to pre&s;uppo&s;e, that &s;peech is the action of &s;ome thing that is li|ving, and is not perform'd but by the voice which is defin'd by St. <HI>Thomas,</HI> after <HI>Ari&s;totle, Sonus ab ore animalis prolatus.</HI> For it mu&s;t needs be granted, that, if the&s;e Heads &s;poke, it was ei|ther becau&s;e they were living and animate, or that the Daemons &s;pake in them. If the former, the Soul whereby they did it, mu&s;t be vegetative, &s;en&s;itive, or rational. It could not be <HI>vegeta|tive,</HI>
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becau&s;e, according to the faculties of the &s;aid Soul; &s;uch bodies &s;hould be ranked among <HI>Plants,</HI> be nouri&s;h'd, increa&s;e and produce their like. It could not be <HI>&s;en&s;itive,</HI> for that, be&s;ides the faculties of the vegetative Soul, it pre&s;uppo|&s;es two more, which are particular to it, and ne|ver granted to tho&s;e Statues. Much le&s;&s;e then can it be <HI>rational,</HI> unle&s;&s;e we grant withal, that they could apprehend the Species of things, di&s;|cour&s;e, remember them, and, in a word, be like us.</P>
<P>Moreover, if the&s;e Heads and Statues were re|ally &s;uch, that is, living and animate, it was ei|ther by an <HI>accidental</HI> form or a <HI>&s;ub&s;tantiall;</HI> not the fir&s;t, at lea&s;t according to the opinion of all Philo&s;ophers, who will never grant, that to di&s;cour&s;e, to &s;peak, to teach, to fore&s;ee what is to come; and &s;uch effects can depend on an ac|cident, and not on a Sub&s;tance. The latter is le&s;&s;e po&s;&s;ible, becau&s;e &s;uch Statues could not re|ceive that &s;ub&s;tantial form till they had been de|ve&s;ted of what they had before; which there is no colour to imagine they &s;hould have done by a &s;imple tran&s;mutation of figure, &s;ince the form of the copper and of their matter was &s;till &s;uch as it was wont to be. Further, I would gladly know, where was their <HI>motion,</HI> the fir&s;t <HI>indicium</HI> of life; where their <HI>&s;en&s;es,</HI> the &s;luces of all knowledge; and, in a word, (not to ravel our &s;elves into thou&s;ands of difficulties, ari&s;ing from the original and operation of that Soul) where were the Parts and <HI>Organs</HI> nece&s;&s;ary for their di&s;cour&s;e and ratiocination.</P>
<P><PB N="252" REF="137">
Nor does it availe any thing, to grant that the <HI>Daemons</HI> have &s;poken in them; for it mu&s;t be done either as the Soul does in our Body, by the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of its Organs, or as one &s;hould do that an&s;wers in a Che&s;t, or &s;ome broken pot. The former way is impo&s;&s;ible &s;uch Statues being not furni&s;h'd with <HI>Mu&s;cles, Lungs,</HI> an <HI>Epiglottis,</HI> and what is requi&s;ite to a perfect articulation of the Voice. The latter is as ridiculous, for, if it be true, why &s;hould tho&s;e men take &s;uch pains to make a Man rather than a Trumpet, or a Head ra|ther than a Bottle, &s;ince the Devil might as well an&s;wer by the one as the other, and that if he hath heretofore uttered his Oracles in <HI>Statues,</HI> it was to engage men to adore them, to the con|tempt of their Creator, whereas there is not the lea&s;t mention of any Idolatry, in the Stories of this <HI>Androides,</HI> and the&s;e fine <HI>Heads.</HI> So that we may well conclude with the Royal Prophet, <HI>The Idols of the Gentiles are Silver and Gold, they have mouths and &s;peak not, nor is there any breath in their no&s;trils;</HI> all we have to do (the rea&s;ons of <NOTE PLACE="marg">L. <HI>2.</HI> de Daemonibus c. <HI>12. 13.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Tri&s;megi&s;tus</HI> being fully refuted by <HI>Niphus)</HI> be|ing to &s;atisfy the Authority of <HI>To&s;tatus,</HI> one of the mo&s;t ancient and mo&s;t authentick Patrons of <HI>Al|bertus</HI>'s <HI>Androides,</HI> that &s;o we may at length give a final &s;entence again&s;t the vanity of all the&s;e Fa|bles and pernicious fal&s;ities.</P>
<P>I mu&s;t indeed confe&s;&s;e, that <HI>Tostatus</HI> was the mo&s;t learned, nay the miracle, if I may &s;o expre&s;&s;e my &s;elf, of the learned men of his age; &s;ince that, being <HI>Coun&s;ellour</HI> to the King, great <HI>Referendary</HI> of <HI>Spain,</HI> and <HI>Profe&s;&s;our,</HI> in <HI>Salamanca,</HI> of Philo|&s;ophy, Divinity, Civil and Canon Law, and all at the &s;ame time, he hath neverthele&s;&s;e written
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&s;uch large and laborious Commentaries, that were we not certain he dy'd at forty, they were enough to per&s;wade us he had liv'd an entire age. But when I find him affirming therein many things ju&s;tly accounted fabulous by the World, as for in&s;tance, what is &s;aid concerning the birth of the Prophet <HI>Merlin,</HI> the Magick of <HI>Virgil,</HI> a <HI>bra|&s;en head</HI> that di&s;cover'd the Jewes in <HI>Spain,</HI> a cer|tain <HI>earth</HI> in Hebron that was good to eat, the <HI>Androides</HI> of <HI>Albertus Magnus,</HI> and abundance of the like, I cannot but look on them as &s;o ma|ny black patches of his humanity; nay, if we ap|peal to <HI>Scaliger,</HI> we mu&s;t ingenuou&s;ly acknow|ledge, <NOTE PLACE="marg">L. <HI>1.</HI> de Plantis <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n Theoph.</NOTE> that <HI>hoc o&s;tentationis vitium fuit magnis viris, ut globatim congererent omnia, non ut nihil reli|qui&s;&s;e&punc; &s;ed ut nihil ne&s;civi&s;&s;e viderentur:</HI> To re-inforce which Argument, if any &s;hall with <HI>Aristotle</HI> in&s;i&s;t, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Ethic. l. <HI>7&punc;</HI></NOTE> that common report cannot be ab&s;olutely fal&s;e, and con&s;equently, that &s;o many Authors would not have &s;poken of the <HI>Androides</HI> of <HI>Albertus,</HI> if &s;omething had not been in the wind, I &s;hall final|ly an&s;wer, That my de&s;ign is only to &s;hew that he could not by the help of &s;uper&s;titious Magick, make a Statue that &s;hould give him an&s;wers in an intelligible and articulate voice, upon all the doubts and difficulties he propos'd thereto, as well of things pre&s;ent as to come; and not ab&s;o|lutely to deny that he might compo&s;e &s;ome Head or Statue of man, like that of <HI>Memnon,</HI> from which proceeded a &s;mall &s;ound, and plea&s;ant noi&s;e, when the ri&s;ing Sun came, by his heat, to rarify and force out, by certain &s;mall Condu|its, the aire which in the cold of the night was condens'd within it. Or haply they might be like tho&s;e Statues of <HI>Boetius,</HI> whereof <HI>Ca&s;&s;iodorus</HI>
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<NOTE PLACE="marg">L. <HI>1.</HI> Vari|ar. epi&s;t. <HI>45.</HI></NOTE> &s;peaking &s;aid, <HI>Metalla mugiunt, Diomedis in are grues buccinant, aeneus anguis in&s;ibilat, aves &s;imu|latae fritinniunt, et quae propriam vocem ne&s;ciunt, ab aere dulcedinem probantur emittere cantilenae;</HI> for &s;uch I doubt not but may be made by the help of that part of <HI>Natural</HI> Magick which depends on the <HI>Mathematicks.</HI> It were therefore much more rational thus to interpret whatever hath been &s;aid of this <HI>Androides,</HI> than to pro&s;titute the re|putation of <HI>Albertus Magnus, Robert</HI> of <HI>Lincoln,</HI> and &s;o many other per&s;ons of con&s;iderable quali|ty to the judgment of certain Authors, who are &s;o ea&s;ily carryed away with the &s;lender a&s;&s;urance of a common opinion,
<Q><BIBL>Ovid. Met. <HI>6.</HI></BIBL>
<L>&mdash;Quae veris addere fal&s;a</L>
<L>Gaudet, et &egrave; minimo &s;ua per mendacia cre&s;cit.</L></Q></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="19" TYPE="chapter">
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<HEAD>CHAP. XIX.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of the Popes, Sylvester <HI>II.</HI> and Gregory <HI>VII.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AS it was not lawful for every one in the old Te&s;tament to lend a &s;houlder to uphold the Ark of the Covenant, even though it were ready to fall, &s;o there are a many that think it were not convenient, that all kinds of Writers undertook the defence of him whom <HI>Christ Je&s;us</HI> hath left as Head and Vicegerent of his militant Church. The rea&s;on is, that being per&s;ecuted by the ene|my of mankind, who hath taken into his &s;ervice all the modern Hereticks, the better to oppo&s;e him, and &s;o to &s;trike at the foundation of &s;piritual Monarchy, He &s;hould employ no other than &s;uch Chri&s;tian and Catholick <HI>Hercules</HI>'s, as were <HI>Bellarmine, Baronius,</HI> and the ornament of Ga&s;co|ny <HI>Florimundus Remundus,</HI> to whom it properly belongs to vindicate the injuries done to the Suc|ce&s;&s;ors of St. <HI>Peter,</HI> to purge their <HI>Annals</HI> of er|rours, and to heal their blindne&s;&s;e who are im|prudently carryed away with the forgeries &amp; ca|lumnies of Hereticks. And yet &s;ince, as <HI>Tertulli|an</HI> &s;aies, every one may be a Soldier in what con|cerns the defence of Religion; and that God was pleas'd to make u&s;e of the &s;ling of a poor Shepherd to abate the pride of the <HI>Phili&s;tins,</HI> we may pre&s;ume (yet without &s;earching into the &s;e|crets of his will to find out the cau&s;e of <HI>Uzzah's</HI> death, for endeavouring to uphold the Arke) that, as he permits the Devil to &s;et upon the Church by the means of the mo&s;t incon&s;iderable Heretick, &s;o is he not di&s;pleas'd that any one
<PB N="256" REF="139">
&s;hould defend her. And this I think it my duty to do, as to what concerns the crime of <HI>Magick,</HI> wherewith the &s;implicity of &s;ome ancient Au|thors and the malice of modern Hereticks, would bla&s;t the reputation of tho&s;e who have &s;at at the helm thereof in the quality of Popes. Not that I am &s;o unadvi&s;ed as to think their innocence &s;tands in any need of my pen, &s;ince it is &s;trong enough to re&s;cue it &s;elf, with the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the holy Spirit who never for&s;akes it, from &s;uch an accu&s;ation, and to overcome all the tempe&s;tu|ous hurricans of &s;uch calumnies,
<Q><L>Illi&s;os fluct us rupes ut va&s;t a retundit,</L>
<L>Et varias &s;ecum latrantes di&s;&s;ipat undas</L>
<L>Mole &s;u&acirc;.&mdash;</L></Q></P>
<P>But being both by the relation of a Catholick, &amp; the title of this Apology oblig'd to this duty, I might well be laugh'd at, if pre&s;uming to vindi|cate all the eminent per&s;ons, I &s;hould forget my &s;elf &s;o far, as not to &s;ay &s;ome thing of tho&s;e, who, by rea&s;on of their dignity, are the mo&s;t highly con&s;iderable. And this the rather, &s;ince I withal pretend to draw from this Chapter the &s;tronge&s;t Argument that may be, to ju&s;tifie all the others mentioned in this Book, whom no man will here|after wonder to find charg'd with Magick, when even tho&s;e who command us as Livetenants of God, and whom we re&s;pect as the high Prie&s;ts &amp; Prelates of our Religion could not avoid that reproach. Yet as God never permits errour &s;o to in&s;inuate into any thing of importance, but there is light enough to di&s;cover it, if a man will look but narrowly thereto; &s;o in this ca&s;e, &s;o ma|ny ju&s;tifying circum&s;tances offer them&s;elves, and there are &s;o many proofs to undermine the
<PB N="257" REF="139">
very ground-work of the&s;e accu&s;ations that men mu&s;t needs be either &s;trangely pa&s;&s;ionate or igno|rant, if, having ever &s;o little rea&s;on or judgment they do not perceive, that all tho&s;e things which concern the Magick of the <HI>Popes,</HI> are nothing but <HI>Dreames, Ca&s;tles in the Aire, Chimaera's &amp; Fables.</HI></P>
<P>For to begin with tho&s;e that are le&s;&s;e &s;u&s;pected, and by con&s;equence may the mo&s;t ea&s;ily be vindi|cated, I conceive the fir&s;t charg'd though but &s;lightly, with this crime, was <HI>Leo</HI> the III. to whom is attributed a little Book called, <HI>Enchi|ridion Leonis Papae, contra omnia mundi pericula,</HI> containing abundance of <HI>Cro&s;&s;es,</HI> a many names of God, and the Cabala, abundance of my&s;ti|call and unintelligible words. Whence it haply comes, that <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">De &s;pectr. l. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Le Loyer</HI> and <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;. l. <HI>2.</HI> quae&s;t. <HI>21.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Delrio</HI> do, with rea|&s;on, laugh at tho&s;e who think that Book was &s;ent by this Pope to the Emperour <HI>Charlemagne,</HI> &s;ince it containes only a certaine <HI>Theurgy</HI> very flat and ill manag'd which yet &s;ome have &s;ince endea|vour'd to di&s;gui&s;e in <HI>Italy</HI> under the name of St. <HI>Ubald</HI> Bi&s;hop and Confe&s;&s;our. But as for that &s;ending, theres no more likelihood in it then in what is related by <HI>Emanuel De Moura,</HI> who &s;ayes, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|&s;al&s;ect. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI> art. <HI>1. &amp; 2.</HI></NOTE> that there being a certain Scholler in the Citty of <HI>Conimbra,</HI> who heal'd wounds by vertue of cer|taine words and prayers, the common report was, that they had been fir&s;t &s;ent by Pope <HI>Sixtus</HI> V. to <HI>John</HI> of <HI>Au&s;tria,</HI> then in war again&s;t the <HI>Turk,</HI> to be u&s;'d in order to the curing of his wounded men. For as the &s;aid <HI>de Moura</HI> affirms, the Scholler gave him another rea&s;on of the ver|tue of tho&s;e prayers, &s;uch as had no coherence with that of the Common opinion.</P>
<P>Next to <HI>Leo</HI> III. may be put that Mon&s;ter,
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or rather Chimera, <HI>John</HI> the eighth, otherwi&s;e called <HI>Pope Joan,</HI> a very knowing per&s;on and one that had writt a Book in Magick, as <HI>Balaeus</HI> and the <HI>Centuriators</HI> affirme, if that <HI>Achilles</HI> of the holy &s;ee, and the Patrone of Papall honour, <HI>Florimundus Remnndus,</HI> had not undeceived us as to that fable, di&s;covering the popular Errour which had kept it in vogue, and &s;natching it out of the Trophey which Hereticks had rai&s;'d thereby a|gain&s;t the Popes, &s;o to turn it to their own &s;hame and confu&s;ion, there being not now any among them &s;o unadvi&s;ed as to pre&s;ume to revive it in his books, unle&s;&s;e he expects to be immediately declar'd a malicious per&s;on in the &s;uperlative de|gree, or one very eminent for his ignorance and want of Judgment. Having not therefore any thing to adde to what that learned Coun&s;ellour of the City of <HI>Bourdeaux</HI> hath &s;aid of him, I &s;hall pa&s;&s;e to <HI>Martin</HI> II. whom I &s;hall not acknowledg ju&s;tly charg'd with magick though <HI>Platinus</HI> &s;aid of him, that <HI>malis artibus Pontificatum adeptus e&s;t.</HI> For we are to con&s;ider it meerly as a reproach of his enemies, and that that manner of expre&s;&s;ion, frequent in <HI>Platinus,</HI> even in the lives of divers other Popes who were not Magicians, mu&s;t be under&s;tood of the <HI>favour, violence, corruption, Simony,</HI> and a many other unju&s;tifiable wayes, whereby &s;uch as endeavour the &s;atisfaction of their ambition more than the tranquillity of their Con&s;cience and the well fare of the univer&s;all Church, may happly attain, though not without abundance of trouble, that &s;upreme dignity of Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Monarchy.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">De prae&s;tig. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> To that Catalogue, if we credit <HI>Wierus,</HI> we
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mu&s;t adde all tho&s;e inclu&s;ively who had the Chaire from <HI>Sylvester</HI> II. to <HI>Gregory</HI> VII. that is about fifteene or &s;ixteene. But &s;ince <HI>Benno,</HI> a &s;chi&s;maticall Cardinall, who made a Catalogue of the Popes that we<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e Magicians, reckons but four or five, that really were &s;uch, viz. <HI>Sylve&s;ter</HI> II. <HI>Benedict</HI> IX. <HI>John</HI> XX. and XXII. and <HI>Gre|gory</HI> VII. three whereof had never been &s;u&s;|pected but by occa&s;ion of the other two, I think I need do no more then &s;hew what this <HI>Benno</HI> was, and endeavour the particular vindication of <HI>Syl|vester</HI> and <HI>Gregory</HI> &s;o to clear them all together of that calumny, and di&s;cover how little rea&s;on men have had to be corrupted &s;o long by the Leaven of this erroneous opinion. For when I reflect on the fir&s;t and mo&s;t ancient Authors from whom this kind of injurie hath been deriv'd again&s;t the &s;ucce&s;&s;ors of St. <HI>Peter,</HI> I cannot but &s;ay with <HI>Apu|leius, perinjurium est ei fidem in pejoribus habere, cui in melioribus non haberes,</HI> and con&s;equently, fall into a double admiration; Fir&s;t, at the &s;im|plicity of a many of our <HI>Demonographers</HI> and mo|derne <HI>Hi&s;torians,</HI> who fill their Books with &s;uch triviall &s;tories and fables taken out of tho&s;e Au|thours without any di&s;cretion. Secondly, at the inveterate malice of <HI>Hereticks</HI> who, to &s;atisfie the envy and hatred they bare the holy See, (who&s;e ruine they have as much con&s;pir'd as ever <HI>Hannibal</HI> did that of Rome) make it &s;till their bu|&s;ine&s;&s;e to &s;eek out tho&s;e calumnies and reproaches which good Authours cannot furni&s;h them with, in the &s;epulchers and common &s;hores of Schi&s;ma|ticks, and, as the Civilian <HI>Michael Riccius</HI> hath <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apolog. <HI>2.</HI> Lib. de fide Gallica.</NOTE> well ob&s;erv'd, <HI>Antiquos &amp; manu&s;criptos libros in latebro&s;is lucis laborio&s; eevolvunt et ex foetido pulvere</HI>
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<HI>autores quo&s;vis excitant, quos licentio&s;&eacute; in ip&s;os Pon|tifices &s;crip&s;i&s;&s;e deprehendunt.</HI> Whether this be &s;o, I appeal to that Collection which <HI>Matthias Flac|cius Illyricus</HI> hath made in that great Volume entituled, <HI>Catalogus te&s;tium veritatis,</HI> which I cannot more fitly compare to any thing then to that <HI>Poneropolis</HI> of <HI>Philip</HI> of Macedon. For as that City was inhabited only by Exiles, Rogues, Cutpur&s;es, pillory'd per&s;ons, and all the dregges and offalls of the Country; So may it be truely &s;aid, that (the depraved pa&s;&s;ages out of the Fa|thers and Councels only excepted) all that &s;o va&s;t Catalogue is only a heap of their &s;hreds and frag|ments who had before either kick'd again&s;t the Church; or been cutt off from it as rotten and gangren'd Members, &s;uch as, among a million of others, was the pretended Cardinall <HI>Benno,</HI> who made it his bu&s;ines to give us the repre&s;entation of a bad Pope in <HI>Gregory</HI> VII. as <HI>Xenophon</HI> did that of a Vertuous and accompli&s;h'd Prince under the per&s;on of <HI>Cyrus.</HI> For I can hardly believe that a man could &s;ay &s;uch &s;trange things of the wickede&s;t per|&s;on in the world, as what this Author &s;aies of &s;uch a Pope, and upon his account of <HI>Sylve&s;ter</HI> II. <HI>John</HI> XX. XXI. and <HI>Benedict</HI> IX. who, if we may believe him, did by his Magick, force women to run after him through Woods and over Moun|taines, and gave infallible predictions of things to come. And yet the&s;e fables are nothing in compari&s;on of what he addes concerning the Arch|bi&s;h <HI>Laurence,</HI> who perfectly under&s;tood the &s;inging of Birds, and <HI>Gregory</HI> VII. who ca&s;t the holy Ho&s;t into the fire, con&s;pir'd the Emperours death, poi&s;on'd &s;ix Popes, by the help of his
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friend and Confident <HI>Gerard Brazutus,</HI> and had &s;o well Learn'd Magick of <HI>Theophylact</HI> and <HI>Laurence Sylve&s;ter's</HI> di&s;ciples, that he &s;catter'd fire when he &s;hook his armes, and &s;ent out thunder-cracks out of his &s;leeve. But this Authour &s;peakes too li|berally to be believ'd, and &s;ince it was his de&s;igne to traduce the Popes, he &s;hould have done it with more mode&s;ty and judgment, and &s;o not have given <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;. l. <HI>2.</HI> qu. <HI>9.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Delrio</HI> and <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Of Anti|chri&s;t cap. <HI>17.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Florimundus Remun|dus</HI> occa&s;ion to Imagine his Book &s;uppo&s;ititious and forg'd, at the eruption of <HI>Lutherani&s;me,</HI> or rather that he might have avoided the di&s;ta&s;te of the more re&s;erv'd and con&s;cientious among tho&s;e of the <HI>Reformation,</HI> and particularly <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Biblioth. Hi&s;tor. part. <HI>2.</HI> p. <HI>650.</HI> where he &s;peakes of the death of Sylve&s;ter at the end of the year <HI>1003.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Vigner,</HI> who hath the&s;e words of him, <HI>Cardinall Benno &s;peakes after a &s;trange manner of the Popes of the&s;e times, as al&s;o of the meanes whereby they ar|riv'd to that height, I know not whether he be an Authour that may be credited, or no.</HI> Adde to that the Cen&s;ure given of him by <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 4.</NOTE> <HI>Papyrius Ma&s;&s;on,</HI> in the Hi&s;tory he hath written with too much liberty of Con&s;cience of the Bi&s;hops that have govern'd the Church of <HI>Rome;</HI> for &s;peaking of <HI>Sylve&s;ter</HI> and the injury done him by accounting him a Magi|cian, he &s;ayes, <HI>Atque hujus fabulae inventorem &s;u&s;|picor Bennonem presbyterum Cardinalem: is enim odio Hildebrandi multa quoque de praedece&s;&s;oribus ejus fingit, quos ob mathematicas di&s;ciplinas velut Ma|leficos damnat, et hanc de Sylvestro narrat fabulam.</HI> Whence may ea&s;ily be inferr'd that <HI>Bibliander</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Tabula</HI> 13.</NOTE> hath a mind maliciou&s;ly to deceive us, when he affirmes, in his Chronicle, that this <HI>Benno</HI> was created Cardinall by <HI>Hildebrand,</HI> with whom he was in great friend&s;hip, whereas it is evident that that dignity was conferr'd on him by the Anti-Pope
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<HI>Clement</HI> III. and that he ever follow'd the party of the Emperour <HI>Henry</HI> IV. a Schi&s;matick and excommunicated per&s;on. To which may be added, for confirmation, his Letter found at the Councell conven'd by the Cardinalls who &s;ided with <HI>Henry</HI> and his Antipope, again&s;t <HI>Urban</HI> II. and tho&s;e whom they call'd favourers and fol|lowers of the Here&s;ies invented by Pope <HI>Hilde|brand;</HI> to di&s;grace whom, <HI>Ultramus</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Noremberg</HI> and all the Parti&s;ans of the Emperour &s;catter'd abroad abundance of Challenges and Li|bells, as it is ordinary with Princes to be ever well furni&s;h'd with &s;uch Advocates and defenders of their Cau&s;es, be they good or bad.</P>
<P>But as this pretended Cardinall <HI>Benno,</HI> a per&s;on equally di&s;carded both by Prote&s;tants and Catho|licks, &s;eems to have done all he did out of a &s;et de&s;igne and purpo&s;e, to calumniate <HI>Gregory</HI> VII. &s;o mu&s;t it be acknowledg'd, that <HI>Platinus,</HI> an eminent writer of the lives of Popes, hath too credulou&s;ly embraced what was &s;aid before him by <HI>Martin de Citeaux</HI> and <HI>Godefrey</HI> of <HI>Mon|mouth,</HI> in his Additions upon <HI>Sigebert,</HI> concer|ning Pope <HI>Sylve&s;ter,</HI> to repre&s;ent him to us as a famous Conjurer and Magician. It were much better to &s;earch the truth of this &s;tory to the bot|tome, and not to tru&s;t either this <HI>Martin,</HI> who had been already deceiv'd in the life of <HI>Pope Joan,</HI> or <HI>Godefrey,</HI> who entertaines us with the fine Ro|mance of <HI>Arthur</HI> and his Prophet <HI>Merlin.</HI> For had he per&s;u'd his de&s;igne, with as much integrity as he was oblig'd to have done, tho&s;e ridiculous fables, &s;o frequent in his Writings, would not give us at this day occa&s;ion to think him not well affected towards the Popes, becau&s;e of <HI>Paul</HI> II.
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who deve&s;ted him of all honours and dignities af|ter <NOTE PLACE="marg">Paul. Jov. in Elogiis.</NOTE> he had put him to the Torture. Or haply he made his advantage of whatever came to his hands taking all for current mony, &s;o by tho&s;e fegaries, to humour the Readers, and &s;hew he was not ig|norant of what others had &s;aid before him, than not that he gave them any credit him&s;elf.</P>
<P>The &s;ame judgment may we pa&s;&s;e upon <HI>Marti|nus Polonus</HI> who publi&s;h'd &s;uch another &s;tory of <HI>Sylvester</HI> in the year 1320. for it is clear that he hath tran&s;lated all he &s;ayes of him, in his <HI>Chrono|logicall Supputations,</HI> out of this <HI>Godefrey</HI> who liv'd about the year 1150. and one <HI>Gerva&s;e</HI> an Orator of the City of <HI>Arles</HI> and Chancellour to the Em|perour <HI>Ottho</HI> III. but withall the mo&s;t confi|dent forger of Fables and the mo&s;t egregious Ly|er that ever took pen in hand. To prove which, there needs no more than the reading of his own Book, <HI>De ociis Imperatoris,</HI> where all he &s;ayes is &s;o extravagant, and at &s;uch a di&s;tance with rea&s;on and both ordinary and extraordi|nary po&s;&s;ibility, that the Fables of <HI>Ae&s;op,</HI> and the &s;tories of <HI>Amadis</HI> are a hundred times more credible. Be&s;ides, not to make any diffi|culty about the diver&s;ity of Coppies, and the Additions made to this <HI>Martinus Polonus,</HI> it were more prudence to conclude, that this authority cannot any way prejudice <HI>Sylve&s;ter,</HI> not only for the foregoing rea&s;on, but al&s;o becau&s;e he tires us with &s;uch abundance of fabulous things in his <HI>Supputations,</HI> that it were no le&s;&s;e lightne&s;&s;e of per&s;wa&s;ion than want of judgement to credit any thing he &s;ayes of <HI>Sylve&s;ter.</HI> I produce for te&s;ti|mony the tales he hath &s;tollen out of the Book
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<HI>de Infantia Salvatoris,</HI> and tho&s;e he makes upon the hi&s;tory of <HI>Pilate,</HI> of the Greeks, who would &s;teal the bodies of St. <HI>Peter</HI> and St. <HI>Paul;</HI> of <HI>Syl|vester's</HI> Dragon, which de&s;troy'd every day &s;ix thou&s;and per&s;ons, and that of another that was of &s;uch va&s;t bulk that eight yoke of Oxen were not able to draw him to the place where he was to be burnt. To which may be added tho&s;e of <HI>Ar|thur</HI> of Britain, of the Prophet <HI>Merlin,</HI> of <HI>Pope Joan,</HI> of the <HI>Golden Letters</HI> of a hundred pound weight a peice, which <HI>Charlemaigne</HI> be&s;tow'd on twenty three Mona&s;teries he had founded, &amp; abun|dance of the &s;ame &s;tuffe good fornothing but, with the help of a cradle, to rock little Children a&s;leep.</P>
<P>And la&s;tly, for <HI>Vincent d' Beauvais,</HI> and <HI>An|tonine de Florence</HI> who may have let fall &s;omewhat of the Magick of the&s;e Popes, I &s;hall&punc; with <HI>Mel|chior</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Chap. <HI>22.</HI> of his Popular Errours.</NOTE> <HI>Canus,</HI> and <HI>Florimundus Remundus,</HI> confi|dently affirme, that though they were creditable per&s;ons, yet in regard they have not been at the paines to con&s;ider well the places whence they have taken their Stories, nor weigh'd the things they have left behind them, they are of little or no Authority among &s;uch as cannot brook it, to &s;ee the Noble name of <HI>History</HI> upon the Portalls of the&s;e mon&s;trous Edifices built of Materialls &s;o confus'd and different, &s;o far from being &s;olid and well cemented. I have been the more large in an&s;wering the&s;e ancient Authors, becau&s;e, the&s;e foundations once undermi'd, there's nothing &s;o ea&s;y as to pull down the &s;uper&s;tructure; &s;uch as are, the Authorities of <HI>Nauclerus, Funccius, Goldast, Gualterus, du Ple&s;&s;is, Balaeus,</HI> the <HI>Centu|riators,</HI> and a whole Ant-hill of <HI>Lutherans&punc;</HI> and <HI>Calvini&s;ts</HI> who have with much curio&s;ity, not
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only tran&s;crib'd out of tho&s;e Ancients, but made on &s;mall aditions to the&s;e plau&s;ible relations. Not that they were &s;o &s;imple &amp; &s;tupid as to take them for true, but becau&s;e they imagin'd all makes for them that hurts their adver&s;aries, and thought this kind of battery would prove very effectual, by the delinquency of 2. or 3. Popes, to make a Breach in the veneration due to all the re&s;t, and to reproach the whole body with the imperfection of &s;ome one of its members; <HI>Est enim,</HI> as <HI>Sidonius</HI> &s;aith, <HI>haec quaedam vis malis moribus, ut innocentiam multitu|dinis</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 9. <HI>Epi&s;t.</HI> 9.</NOTE> <HI>devenu&s;tent &s;celera paucorum.</HI></P>
<P>To levell, therefore, this Tower of confu&s;ion, which, in &s;ome of our Hi&s;torians &amp; Demonogra|phers, want of judgment; in Hereticks, envy hatred and malice, have engag'd them to build up to the di&s;honour of the Monarch of the Church, upon the too &s;imple and ea&s;y credulity of tho&s;e ancient Authors, we mu&s;t begin with this <HI>Ger|bert,</HI> or <HI>Sylve&s;ter</HI> II. He, they &s;ay, was Ma&s;ter in Magick to four or five of his &s;ucce&s;&s;ors, where|as there is more ground to acknowledge that he was the mo&s;t vertuous per&s;on, and greate&s;t Light as to all manner of Sciences, of the age he liv'd in, it being much more ea&s;y for us to give an ac|count of his learning then the place of his ex|traction and manner of life, till he arriv'd to the Archbi&s;hoprick of <HI>Rheims.</HI> For &s;ome, accord|ing to the common opinion, affirme, that he was fir&s;t a Religious man at <HI>Fleury,</HI> or St. <HI>Bennet's</HI> upon the <HI>Loire.</HI> Others there are that hold the contrary, grounding their opinion upon what he &s;aith him&s;elf in one of his Epi&s;tles to the Emperour <HI>Otho</HI> III. wherein he openly tells him, that he had, from his Childhood, &s;erv'd
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his Father and Grandfather <HI>Otho</HI> the Great, be|fore he was entertain'd into the &s;ervice of <HI>Adal|bero</HI> Archbi&s;hop of <HI>Rheims.</HI> But the true &s;tory is, that being cho&s;en by <HI>Hugh Capet,</HI> to be Tutor to his Son <HI>Robert&punc;</HI> he conferr'd on him that Arch|bi&s;hoprick, whereof being deve&s;ted by <HI>John</HI> XVII. he retir'd into Germany, to <HI>Otho</HI> II. who committed to this charge <HI>Otho</HI> III. and gave him, by way of recompence the Archbi&s;hoprick of <HI>Ravenna,</HI> which he peaceably enjoy'd, till that, his Di&s;ciple coming to the Empire, he was by him ordained <HI>Pope</HI> and maintained again&s;t the <HI>Romans</HI> in the dignity of &s;upreame Bi&s;hop.</P>
<P>The&s;e things well con&s;ider'd, I &s;ee not upon what ground <HI>Martinus Polonus</HI> and <HI>Platinus</HI> mi&s;|repre&s;ent him as a Magician. For I pray, what likelihood is there he &s;hould quit his Frier's frock to go and learne Magick at <HI>Toledo, Salamanca,</HI> or <HI>Sevill,</HI> the Metropolis of <HI>Andaluzia</HI> in Spain, when he never &s;tirr'd out of the Abbey of <HI>Fleury,</HI> till he was taken thence by <HI>Hugh Capet,</HI> or as he &s;aith him&s;elf, &s;pent his youth in the &s;ervice of <HI>Otho</HI> I. and II? And is it not more probable he &s;hould arrive to all the&s;e Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Dig|nities by the favour of two <HI>Kings</HI> of <HI>France</HI> and three <HI>Emperours,</HI> to whom he had done great and con&s;iderable &s;ervices, rather then by any a&s;&s;i&s;tance or indu&s;try of the Devill, who never yet was &s;o good a Ma&s;ter as to be&s;tow a half-peny on all the Magicians, notwith&s;tanding their mo&s;t remark|able beggery, as <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;. l. <HI>2.</HI> qu. <HI>12.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Delrio,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Daemo|nom. l <HI>3.</HI> c. <HI>3</HI></NOTE> <HI>Bodin,</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>1.</HI> de|monolat. c. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Majole, Remy,</HI> and all Authours knowledge? And this they &s;ay proceeds from the &s;peciall providence of God, who hath re&s;erv'd in his own hands the power to enrich men and to di&s;tribute his favours
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and rewards according to the P&s;alr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;t, <HI>The earth is the Lords and the fulne&s;&s;e thereof; he openeth his hand, and filleth every living thing with ble&s;&s;ing, he giveth unto every one, and upbraideth not; in his left hand are riches and glory.</HI></P>
<P>Nor is there any more marrow in what is added, that, having been an&s;wer'd by the Devil, that he &s;hould not dy till &s;uch time as he had &s;aid Ma&s;s in <HI>Hieru&s;alem,</HI> he was extreamly &s;urpriz'd upon war|ning given him that he was near his death, when, not minding any thing he &s;aid it in the Church of the <HI>Holy Cro&s;&s;e in Hieru&s;alem,</HI> which is in <HI>Rome.</HI> As if he &s;hould be ignorant there was a Temple in the place of his con&s;tant re&s;idence called by that name, or &s;hould not have reflected on the ambiguity of <HI>Oracles,</HI> and would have celebrated Ma&s;&s;e in a place unknown to him. But what is &s;aid of his <HI>end</HI> is much more flat and ridiculous, at lea&s;t, if we could but be per&s;waded, that, as <HI>Martinus Polonus</HI> and <HI>Platinus</HI> affirm, he made a publick acknowledgment of his fault, and that after he had given a&s;&s;ured expre&s;&s;ions of a &s;incere and perfect repentance, he committed a thing extreamly &s;uper&s;titious, ordering that his body &s;hould, after his death, be put in a Chariot to be drawn by Oxen, without any body to guide them, that it might be buried in the place where they &s;hould &s;top. That happened before the Church of St. <HI>John Lateran,</HI> where the fore&s;aid Authors with divers others, affirm that his Sepulchre gives a certain pre&s;age of the death of Popes both by a &s;hock and cra&s;hing of the bones that are within, and by a great &s;weat and moi&s;tne&s;&s;e of the &s;tone without, as is ob&s;ervable, according to <HI>Pla|tinus</HI> in the <HI>Epitaph</HI> &s;et upon it.</P>
<P><PB N="268" REF="145">
But this is all pure cheat and impo&s;ture, not only as to experience, never any &s;uch thing ha|ving been ob&s;erv'd by any one to this day; but al&s;o as to the In&s;cription of this Sepulchre com|pos'd by <HI>Sergius</HI> IV. which is &s;o far from making any mention of all the&s;e fables and extravagances, that, on the contrary, it is one of the mo&s;t con&s;i|derable te&s;timonies we can have of the good life and integrity of this <HI>Sylve&s;ter.</HI> And indeed it is no &s;mall &s;hame, that many Catholicks &s;hould &s;o much countenance this calumny, when <HI>Maria|nus Scotus, Glaber, Ditmare, Hilgaudus, Lambert,</HI> and <HI>Herman Contract,</HI> who were his Contempo|raries, make not the lea&s;t mention of it. Not to urge, that it is refuted evenby &s;ome di&s;-pa&s;&s;ionate Hereticks, as <HI>Vigner</HI> in his <HI>Bibliotheca,</HI> and <HI>Papy|rius Ma&s;&s;on</HI> in his <HI>Hi&s;tory of the Bi&s;hops of Rome,</HI> where &s;peaking of <HI>Sylve&s;ter,</HI> he &s;aies, <HI>Plurim&ugrave;m miramur confictam de eo fabulam mortalium aures ita penetr&acirc;&s;&s;e, ut nunc quo&abque; evelli ex plurimorum mentibus non po&s;&s;it;</HI> and &s;o concludes that all this Tragedy came from Cardinal <HI>Benno's</HI> invention. Of which opinion is al&s;o <HI>Baronius,</HI> who &s;peaking of him, &s;aies, <HI>Is fuit primus fingendae fabulae archi|tectus, cujus authorem nomin&acirc;&s;&s;e &s;ol&ugrave;m, &s;it refu|t&acirc;&s;&s;e.</HI> But it is withal <HI>Vigner's</HI> judgment, that it may be very likely the <HI>Romans,</HI> haply not &s;atis|fy'd with <HI>Sylve&s;ter,</HI> as well for that he was a &s;tranger, as becau&s;e the Emperour had made him Pope without their Election, and that he expre&s;s'd more earne&s;tne&s;s and affection for his &s;ervice than their incon&s;tancy would permit, added &s;ome|what to the &s;u&s;picion, in that, he being well vers'd and excellent in the <HI>Mathematicks,</HI> they out of their ignorance therein, look'd on them
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as di&s;allow'd and damnable Sciences. And this indeed I am the more enclin'd with <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">In vitis Poncific.</NOTE> <HI>Ciaconus,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Lib. Chro|log. ad ann. <HI>1002.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Genebrard,</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">In his book of An|tichri&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>Florimundus Remundus,</HI> and <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Di&s;qui&s;. l. <HI>2.</HI> quae&s;t. <HI>19.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Delrio,</HI> to a&s;&s;ign for the true cau&s;e of this &s;u&s;pi|cion, in that we are certain of two things which may confirm us very much. One is, that he flou|ri&s;h'd in the 9<HI>th</HI> age after Chri&s;t, which was incredibly rude, barbarous, and ignorant. The other, that he was certainly the mo&s;t eminent, or one of the mo&s;t eminent per&s;ons of his time, as well for matters of State, as for Learning and the knowledge of things divine, humane, and liberal. Of this we have pregnant proofs in his own <HI>Epi|&s;tles,</HI> and the Decads of <HI>Blondus;</HI> be&s;ides his in|timate <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Decad.</HI> 2. <HI>l.</HI> 3.</NOTE> acquaintance with the <HI>Mathematicks,</HI> which was &s;uch that he could di&s;cover and di&s;cern better than any other as <HI>Apuleius</HI> &s;ayes, <HI>tempo|rum</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>4.</HI> Flo|ridorum.</NOTE> <HI>ambitus, ventorum flatus, et Stellarum meatus, tonitruum &s;onora miracula, &s;yderum obliqua curri|cula, Solis annua reverticula,</HI> and with the help of the <HI>Mechanicks,</HI> make many rare and &s;ubtil in|&s;truments. Of that kind were tho&s;e <HI>Hydraulick</HI> Machines which <HI>William</HI> of <HI>Malmsbury</HI> &s;ayes, he <NOTE PLACE="marg">L. <HI>2.</HI> de ge&s;tis Reg. Aug. c. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE> made with &s;uch indu&s;try at <HI>Rheims,</HI> that by force of the water they made a &s;weet harmony; or that <HI>Clock,</HI> which as <HI>Ditmare</HI> relates, he made in &s;uch manner, that it di&s;cover'd the Pole-Star; and that <HI>Bra&s;en head,</HI> which was done with &s;uch ingenious artifice, that the &s;aid <HI>William</HI> of <HI>Malmesbury</HI> was <NOTE PLACE="marg">In his ad|ditions up|on Plati|nus.</NOTE> him&s;elf deceiv'd in it, when he attributed it to <HI>Magick.</HI> Adde to this what <HI>Onuphrius</HI> &s;aies, <HI>viz.</HI> that he had &s;een in the Library of the <HI>Farne&s;es,</HI> a learned Book of <HI>Geometry</HI> written by this <HI>Ger|bert.</HI> And for my part (not to meddle with the opinion of <HI>Erfordi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n&s;is,</HI> and &s;ome others who
<PB N="270" REF="146">
make him Author of <HI>Clocks</HI> and the <HI>Arithmetick</HI> now among us) I think the&s;e proofs &s;ufficient to evince, that tho&s;e, who never had heard of <HI>Cubes, Parallelograms, Dodecaedra's, Almicanthara's, Val&s;agora's, Almagripa's, Cathal&s;em's,</HI> and other terms, frequent among <HI>Mathematicians,</HI> might well imagine they were certain &s;pirits that he in|vocated, and that &s;o many extraordinary things could not proceed but from a man that had &s;ome|thing in him extraordinary, and con&s;equently, that he was a Magician.</P>
<P>Having been &s;o large in the vindication of this <HI>Gerbert,</HI> or <HI>Sylvester</HI> II. 'tis fit &s;omething be &s;aid for his Schollers and particularly the Archbi&s;hop <HI>Laurence,</HI> who is traduc'd by the &s;aid <HI>Benno,</HI> as ha|ving learnt Magick of <HI>Sylve&s;ter,</HI> and taught it <HI>Hildebrand</HI> or <HI>Gregory</HI> VII. This he does with|out alledging any other proof than that he was very intimately acquainted with both, and un|der&s;tood very well, and could interpret the &s;ing|ing of Birds, as, for experience &s;ake, he one day did at <HI>Rome,</HI> before certain Prelates upon an accidental meeting with a Sparrow, that by his chirping acquainted his companions of a Cart full of Wheat overturn'd at the Gate called <HI>Major,</HI> and that it was much for their advantage. But the que&s;tion is whether be the more cen&s;urable, <HI>Benno,</HI> who forg'd the &s;tory upon &s;uch another <NOTE PLACE="marg">L. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>1.</HI> de vita Apollonii.</NOTE> done by <HI>Apollonius</HI> in <HI>Philo&s;tratus,</HI> or <HI>du Ple&s;&s;y Mornay,</HI> who was &s;o blinded by pa&s;&s;ion as to quote it as true and Authentick with all the fore|mentioned of <HI>Gregory</HI> VII. le&s;t he &s;hould leave out any thing that might &s;well up his <HI>My&s;tery of Iniquity.</HI> And yet this pretended Cardinal is forc'd to acknowledge in the &s;ame place, that
<PB N="271" REF="146">
Pope <HI>Benedict</HI> IV. (whom he hath as little favour for, as any of the re&s;t) and this Arch|bi&s;hop <HI>Laurence</HI> were very well skill'd in the <HI>Mathematicks.</HI> And <HI>Baronius</HI> &s;hews, by the rela|tion <NOTE PLACE="marg">Annal. To&punc; <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> of <HI>Petrus Damianus,</HI> that this Archbi&s;hop was &s;o far from having any hand in Magick, that, on the contrary, he was a man of a very holy life, and, upon the account of his good works, after his death, put into the number of the Ble&s;&s;ed Saints. Which thing, were there nought el&s;e, were enough to an&s;wer that &s;candalous Libel, di|vulg'd by <HI>Benno</HI> or the Lutherans to bla&s;t the me|mory and reputation of Pope <HI>Hildebrand,</HI> who could expect no le&s;&s;e then to be be&s;patter'd with the detractions of that mercenary Author, when he had before felt the indignation of his Per&s;ecu|tor the Emperour <HI>Henry</HI> IV. For this implaca|ble enemy of his in two &s;everal A&s;&s;emblies of Bi|&s;hops in Germany held at <HI>Majance</HI> and <HI>B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">exina,</HI> becau&s;e <HI>Hildebrand</HI> had twice excommunicated him as a Schi&s;matick, and deve&s;ted him of all his Lands and Dignities, caus'd him to be declar'd a <HI>perjur'd man,</HI> a <HI>Murtherer,</HI> a <HI>Necromancer</HI> and a <HI>Heretick,</HI> &s;etting up again&s;t him, as Anti-Pope, <HI>Clement</HI> III. &s;ometime Bi&s;hop of <HI>Ravenna,</HI> not omitting any thing he imagined would be preju|dicial to him. This proceeding of the Emperour was that encourag'd the modern Hereticks to be &s;o outragious again&s;t this Pope, as may appear by the writings and bitter Satyres of <HI>Goldast, Gaultier, Balaeus, du Ple&s;&s;is,</HI> and the <HI>Centuriators,</HI> who call him <HI>Sorcerer, Adulterer, Sodomite,</HI> and by a &s;imple clinch, <HI>Brand-of-Hell,</HI> and all, becau&s;e he was one of the greate&s;t pillars that ever were of the Church, and, to &s;peak of him &s;incerely and
<PB N="272" REF="147">
without pa&s;&s;ion, he it was that fir&s;t put her into po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of her priviledges, and re&s;cu'd the Pa|pacy from the &s;lavery it was in, to the Emperors. Not to note that he is &s;o highly celebrated in <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">L. <HI>3.</HI> Chro|nol. ad an Chri&s;ti <HI>1075.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Genebrard,</HI> by a great number of Authors, that, &s;ince <HI>Marianus Scotus</HI> and St. <HI>An&s;elme,</HI> who were his contemporaries, &s;ay nothing of his Magick, no more than <HI>Martinus Polonus, Otho Fri&s;ingen&s;is, Hugh</HI> of <HI>Cluny, Lanfranc, Bernard</HI> of <HI>Mar&s;eille, Platinus, Nauclerus, Ma&s;&s;on,</HI> and many more, who would not have been &s;ilent had they di&s;co|ver'd any &s;uch thing, it were ab&s;olute barbari&s;me, in us to credit what this <HI>Benno</HI> &s;aies of him in par|ticular. Upon his text have the <HI>Lutherans</HI> and <HI>Calvini&s;ts</HI> written their Comments never &s;peak|ing of this man, but in the burning feaver of in|dignation, and ever dipping the pen wherewith they draw him, in the gall of their own pa&s;&s;ions, purpo&s;ely to make him, the mo&s;t filthy and hor|rid mon&s;ter that ever was clad with humane na|ture, never con&s;idering that their attempts are da&s;h'd to pieces again&s;t that Corner-&s;tone on which J. Chri&s;t is pleas'd to build his Church, and that they gain nothing by all the&s;e calumnies, but &s;hame and confu&s;ion to them&s;elves, &s;ince that, as <HI>Tertullian</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Telum aliquod in Petram con&s;tanti&s;&s;imae duritiei libratum, repercu&s;&s;o in eum qui emi&s;it reciproco impetu &s;aevit.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="20" TYPE="chapter">
<PB N="273" REF="147">
<HEAD>CHAP. XX.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of Jo&s;eph, Salomon, and the Wi&s;e men.</HEAD>
<P>VVEre we to judg of a many Authors with a <HI>rigour</HI> &s;utable to the <HI>liberty</HI> they take to condemn even the mo&s;t eminent men; or be &s;o &s;evere as to accu&s;e &amp; convict them of their im|pudence by the te&s;timonies of their own forg'd calumnies: I conceive we might well rely on what <HI>Plato</HI> &s;ayes in his Lawes, that it is a temera|rious liberty to pronounce of what is known and unknown with a like confidence, whereof he who hath once exceeded the limits, will never afterwards be confined thereby. For if we reflect on the precedent chapters of this Apology, it is ea&s;ily ob&s;ervable, how that divers <HI>Historians</HI> and <HI>Demonographers</HI> have taken &s;uch a &s;trange free|dom to charge all &s;orts of men with Magick, that, not content to have impeach'd <HI>Philo&s;ophers, Phy|&s;icians, A&s;trologers</HI> and others, they have pa&s;s'd to <HI>Monkes, Bi&s;hops,</HI> and <HI>Popes,</HI> nay &s;pare not tho&s;e for who&s;e good life and integrity we have the &s;ecuri|ty of the <HI>Scripture,</HI> never con&s;idering the dange|rous con&s;equences of &s;uch an impeachment, as well in regard of the di&s;order and &s;candal it would occa&s;ion to &s;uch as are devout and truly Chri&s;tian, as of the ill example which per&s;ons of loo&s;e lives might thence take, according to the &s;aying of <HI>Sarisberien&s;is, Forti&ugrave;s et <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">iti&ugrave;s nos corrumpunt ex|empla</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">L. <HI>1.</HI> de m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|gis curial. c. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>magnis c&ugrave;m &s;ubeunt animos Authoribus.</HI> But &s;ince I have not hitherto charg'd them with im|pudence, I &s;hall forbear al&s;o in this Chapter,
<PB N="274" REF="148">
where they are the more excu&s;able, for that what they &s;ay of the Magick of <HI>Jo&s;eph, Salomon,</HI> and the <HI>Wi&s;e men,</HI> &s;eems to be deriv'd from the authority of certain Catholick Authors and Doctors, whom yet we &s;hould not too rigorou&s;ly tax with the lit|tle rea&s;on they had to teach any &s;uch thing, by rea&s;on of their candor, and the &s;incerity of their doctrine otherwi&s;e.</P>
<P>Not to determine therefore the&s;e three Que&s;ti|ons but with a mode&s;ty &s;uitable thereto, I think, that if the collection I have been forc'd to make of &s;o many fooleries and evident extravagancies, hath bred &s;ome little choller in me, the be&s;t way were to di&s;charge it on the ordinary madne&s;s and impiety of our Alembick-Idolaters and Alchy|mi&s;ts. The&s;e are a &s;ort of people &s;o &s;trangely be|&s;otted with the Philo&s;opher's &s;tone, that, having found out the &s;ecret My&s;teries thereof under the <HI>Metamorpho&s;es,</HI> the <HI>Aeneid,</HI> the <HI>Odi&s;&s;ey,</HI> the love of <HI>Theagenes &amp; Chariclea, Epitaphs, Pictures, Sculpture, Antick,</HI> and <HI>Fantastick</HI> repre&s;entations, and there being nothing but the <HI>Scriptures</HI> to make any fur|ther &s;earch in, they have been &s;o prophane as to take the &s;acrifice of the <HI>Ma&s;&s;e,</HI> and the miracle of <NOTE PLACE="marg">Vid. Maje|rus, Sandi|v<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ius, Conrad &amp; other Al|chymi&s;ts.</NOTE> the <HI>Incarnation</HI> for Emblems and figures of what they found to be literally expre&s;s'd in <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> the la&s;t chapters of the Prophet <HI>E&s;dras,</HI> the <HI>Canticles,</HI> &amp; the <HI>Apocalyp&s;e,</HI> concerning that Soveraign tran&s;|mutation. That, they &s;ay, was a thing infallibly known to the good man, <HI>Job,</HI> who by the a&s;&s;i|&s;tance of it multiply'd his wealth &s;evenfold; to <HI>Abraham,</HI> who wag'd wars again&s;t 4 Kings; to <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> who of a &s;udden became &s;o powerful; to <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> who turned the molten Calf into a&s;hes, to <HI>Gideon&punc;</HI> who repre&s;ented it under a fleece, though
<PB N="275" REF="148">
not a golden one as that of the <HI>Argonauts;</HI> to <HI>Sa|lomon,</HI> who made no more account of Gold than of peble-&s;tones; to St. <HI>John,</HI> of whom it is &s;aid in his <HI>Hymne,</HI></P>
<Q><L>Inexhau&s;tum fert the&s;aurum,</L>
<L>Qui de virgis fecit aurum,</L>
<L>Gemmas de Lapidibus:</L></Q>
<P>and la&s;tly to St. <HI>Dominick,</HI> who taught it two of the mo&s;t learned men of his Order, <HI>Albertus Magnus,</HI> and St. <HI>Thomas.</HI> All which extrava|gancies con&s;ider'd, it may well be &s;aid,
<Q><BIBL>Ovid. Met. <HI>6.</HI></BIBL> <L>Proh &s;uperi, quantum mortalia <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ectora caecae</L>
<L>Noctis habent!&mdash;</L></Q>
and admir'd, how &s;uch impertinencies and bla&s;|phemies &s;hould be harbour'd in the hollow brains of the&s;e melancholy per&s;ons, who, for re|compence of their ra&s;hne&s;s or ignorance, de&s;erve no le&s;&s;e than to forfeit the name of <HI>men,</HI> &s;ince they have lo&s;t that which denominates him &s;uch, <HI>judgement</HI> and <HI>rea&s;on.</HI></P>
<P>This premis'd, we come to explicate that pa&s;|&s;age of <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> which hath given divers occa&s;ion <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Chap.</HI> 44.</NOTE> to imagine, that <HI>Jo&s;eph,</HI> &s;on of <HI>Jacob,</HI> and one highly commended by <HI>David</HI> as the Image and <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P&s;al.</HI> 104.</NOTE> my&s;tical repre&s;entation of <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> was addicted to all kinds of &s;uper&s;titious divinations, then in vogue among the <HI>Aegyptians.</HI> For, from what he caus'd his Steward to &s;ay to his Brethren who were come to buy corn in <HI>Aegypt,</HI> &s;peaking of the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. c. <HI>44.</HI> v. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> Cup, <HI>Is not this it in which my Lord drinketh?</HI> and what he &s;ays him&s;elf when they were brought
<PB N="276" REF="149">
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>v.</HI> 15.</NOTE> before him, <HI>Wot ye not that &s;uch a man as I am can certainly divine?</HI> Some have imagin'd that he pro|fe&s;s'd Divination, which he perform'd by a certain kind of Hydromancy, doing it either &s;imply by the cup, as is ordinarily done by &s;ome Chry&s;tal ve&s;&s;el, looking-gla&s;&s;e or any thing that is clear and &s;mooth, or by the means of the water that was in it, as <HI>Julian</HI> the Apo&s;tate did, and tho&s;e who at this day (though it be ill and &s;uper&s;titi|ou&s;ly done by them) di&s;cover the thief &amp; things lo&s;t, in a Viol or Bottle. Or la&s;tly, he did it by the in&s;pection of certain precious &s;tones which were fa&s;tned within it. But certainly it were no hard matter to deliver this great Favorite of God from &s;o dangerous a &s;u&s;picion, if we will but fol|low the common opinion of all the Doctors of the Church, who, in <HI>Pererius</HI> would only finde out a way whereby he might be excus'd from ha|ving addicted him&s;elf to the practi&s;e of that Di|vination, whereto he indeed had not &s;o much as contributed a thought. Nor need we &s;earch for any other explication than that of <HI>Petrus Burgen|&s;is,</HI> if it be true, as he affirms, that in&s;tead of what we have in the vulgar tran&s;lation, <HI>An ignoratis quod non &s;it &s;imilis me&icirc; in augurandi &s;cientia?</HI> The Hebrew Text will bear this, <HI>Know you not that it is ea&s;y for great Lords and Princes, &s;uch as I am, to con&s;ult South&s;ayers and Diviners?</HI> wherewith Aegypt was at that time well furni&s;h'd. But &s;ince this explication hath not been yet acknowledg'd, and that the vulgar ver&s;ion, authorized by the Councel of <HI>Trent,</HI> admits the words before reci|ted, we may, in the fir&s;t place with <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Quae&s;t. <HI>104.</HI> in Ge|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;in.</NOTE> <HI>Theodoret,</HI> St. <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg"><HI>Quae&s;t.</HI> 5<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>in Gen.</HI> 2. 2.</NOTE> <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> St. <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Quae&s;t. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">5.</HI> art. <HI>7.</HI> in re&s;p. ad <HI>1.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Thomas,</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">In <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">cum.</NOTE> <HI>To&s;tatus</HI> and <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">L. <HI>1.</HI> de Magia di|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> intatr. <HI>20.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Torreblanca,</HI> affirm, That <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> &s;poke
<PB N="277" REF="149">
this ironically, alluding to the common opinion then current over all Aegypt, nay even in &s;trange Countries, that he had been advanc'd to that dignity by the happy events of his Predictions; or to daunt his Brethren and make them the more guilty, as having taken away that bowle or cup, whereon depended the continuance as well as the original of his great fortune, and that he foretold things that &s;hould certainly come to pa&s;&s;e by the means thereof.</P>
<P>This explication may be thought the more probable, in that when he commanded his Stew|ard to put that ve&s;&s;el into the &s;ack of the young|e&s;t, he only &s;aid to him, <HI>Put my cup, the &s;ilver cup,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Gen.</HI> 44. <HI>v.</HI> 2.</NOTE> <HI>in the &s;ack's mouth of the younge&s;t, and his Corn|money,</HI> not mentioning it to be that whereby he was wont to pre&s;age and divine. Whereas when he commands him to pur&s;ue them and to bring them back, he gave him &s;trict in&s;tructions what he &s;hould do and &s;ay, <HI>Up, follow after the men, and having overtaken them, &s;ay unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Is not this the Cup in which my Lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth; ye have done evil in &s;o doing.</HI> Whence it is clear, that the addition of the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e words, <HI>and whereby indeed he divineth, et in quo augurari &s;olet,</HI> was only put in the, more to frighten them, as that one of them &s;hould take that ve&s;&s;el, whereby <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> had attain'd &s;o high a fortune beyond the ordinary &s;ort of people. But if, notwith&s;tanding this rea&s;on, the words of <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> and his &s;ervant are to be under&s;tood without any ambages or fiction, we mu&s;t con&s;ider what <HI>Rupertus</HI> &s;aies of it, who ob&s;erves that the word <HI>augurari</HI> is not <NOTE PLACE="marg">L. <HI>9.</HI> in Gene&s;.</NOTE> in that place taken preci&s;ely to &s;ignifie or gue&s;&s;e
<PB N="278" REF="150">
at &s;omething, whether by the ob&s;ervation of birds or &s;ome other &s;uper&s;titious way, but in its general acception to fore&s;ee or foretell things to come by any way what&s;oever. Thus did <HI>Pliny</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;tol. l. <HI>4.</HI></NOTE> the younger, u&s;e it writing, to <HI>Tacitus, Auguror (nec fallit augurium) Hi&s;torias tuas immortales fu|turas;</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Quae&s;t. <HI>2.</HI> in c. <HI>44.</HI> Gen.</NOTE> in which &s;en&s;e <HI>Rupertus</HI> and <HI>Pererius</HI> affirm, that the &s;peech of <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> may be taken, without quitting the litteral, in that by rea&s;on of the gift he had of Prophecy, he might make u&s;e of the word <HI>augurari,</HI> and know future events. Which that he did, there needs no further proof than that of the interpretation of the dreams of <HI>Pha|raoh</HI> and his Officers. To which may be added his detention of his Brethren for three daies in <HI>Aegypt,</HI> and then cau&s;ing them to be pur&s;ued by his <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ervants at their departure, which might be to intimate that the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> &s;hould &s;ojourn there for the &s;pace of three Generations, and that when they were to leave it, they &s;hould be pur|&s;u'd by all that multitude which was afterwards overwhelmed in the Red Sea.</P>
<P>Whence I leave men to judge of the probabi|lity there may be that he &s;hould have written the Book entituled <HI>Speculum Jo&s;eph,</HI> mentioned by <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Antipal. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Trithemius,</HI> or that we may believe <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>36.</HI> hi&s;tor.</NOTE> <HI>Ju|&s;tine,</HI> who &s;peaking of the Jewes, &s;aies that <HI>Jo|&s;eph</HI> envy'd by his Brethren, was &s;old by them to certain Marchants who carry'd him into <HI>Aegypt,</HI> where in a &s;hort time he learnt the magical Arts, and grew the be&s;t of any for the interpretation of dreams and prodigies, being not ignorant of any thing that could be known, in &s;o much that he foretold the great dearth which happened in that Countrey, and, for that rea&s;on was much fa|vour'd
<PB N="279" REF="150">
by <HI>Pharaoh.</HI> From which &s;tory all that may be drawn, is, that he, <HI>Tacitus,</HI> and others ei|ther &s;peak at random, or give a pa&s;&s;ionate account of that people, and that God, who is pleas'd to give us a true hi&s;tory of them by his faithful Secre|tary <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> would not have us to &s;tand in need of the Authority of tho&s;e prophane Authors, as to any thing they might &s;ay con&s;onant to what he hath left in his admirable Books of the <HI>Penta|teuch,</HI></P>
<P>I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">, from what is &s;aid of <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> in the 44. chap. of <HI>Gene&s;is,</HI> he hath been reproach'd with Magick, I think there is much more ground to imagine the &s;ame thing of King <HI>Solomon,</HI> becau&s;e of his great and prodigious Idolatry, con&s;idering the Wi&s;dom he was ma&s;ter of before. For as there is nothing &s;o certain as that he never practis'd any thing that were &s;uper&s;titious, while he con|tinued in the grace of God, and a right admini|&s;tration of the favours he had received of him; So we mu&s;t needs acknowledge (to avoid <HI>Lactantius</HI>'s <NOTE PLACE="marg">In&s;tit. l. <HI>5.</HI> c. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> cen&s;ure, who &s;aies, that, <HI>eadem caecitas e&s;t, et de vero fal&s;itatis, et mendacio nomen veritatis impo|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ere)</HI> that po&s;&s;ibly, for&s;aken of God for his lux|ury and Idolatry, he might fell him&s;elf over to all manner of vices and abhominations, and par|ticularly as <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. Di&s;. qui&s;it. c. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Delrio,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">To. <HI>1.</HI> Sect. <HI>9.</HI> probl. <HI>487.</HI> et tom. <HI>5.</HI> Sect. <HI>1.</HI> prob. <HI>81.</HI></NOTE> <HI>George</HI> of <HI>Venice,</HI> and <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">L. <HI>7.</HI> de reb. Salom. c. <HI>13.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Pineda</HI> affirm, to that of Magick, there being thou&s;ands of examples whence may be drawn this conclu&s;ion to his prejudice, that Luxury, Idolatry, and the vanity of Divinati|ons,
<Q><PB N="280" REF="151">
<L>Et bene conveniunt, &amp; in una &s;ede morantur.</L></Q>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Galat.</HI> 5. 2 <HI>Kings</HI> 21. 3.</NOTE> For which we have the te&s;timony of St. <HI>Paul,</HI> and what is &s;aid of King <HI>Mana&s;&s;es,</HI> in the Old Te&s;ta|ment, that <HI>he reared up Altars for Baal,</HI> and a <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ver&s;e</HI> 6.</NOTE> little after, <HI>he ob&s;erved times and u&s;ed inchant|ments and dealt with familiar &s;pirits and Wizzards.</HI> And &s;ince women are more adicted to Magick then men, as is learnedly &s;hewn by the Civilian <HI>Tiraqueau</HI> in his <HI>Conjugall Lawes</HI> by the authori|ties of <HI>Cicero, Livy, Quintilian, Diodorus,</HI> and <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de reb. Salom. c. <HI>13.</HI></NOTE> diver&s;e other good Authors, I make no que&s;tion, with <HI>Pineda,</HI> but the 700. wives and the 300. Concubines which <HI>Salomon</HI> had might ea&s;ily en|&s;nare him in a Labyrinth of Charmes, divinations, drinks, and other &s;uper&s;titious practi&s;es, which, if we credit <HI>Lucan,</HI> (di&s;prov'd indeed by <HI>Ovid)</HI> have a greater influence on that pa&s;&s;ion then any other, &s;ince that he &s;ayes,
<Q><L>&mdash;Quas non concordia mixti</L>
<L>Allig at ulla thori, blandae&abque; potentia form<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">,</L>
<L>Traxerunt torti Magic&acirc; vertigine fili.</L></Q></P>
<P>But though we &s;hould allow this might hap|pen to <HI>Salomon</HI> that we have &s;aid, yet are we to beware how we exceed much further, and too ea&s;ily be per&s;waded, that he &s;hould &s;teal &s;o much time from his plea&s;ures and enjoyments, as it would require to write &s;o great a number of Magicall Books as there are at this day publi&s;h'd under his name. This indeed is &s;o great, that to prove they are fal&s;e attributed to him, we need no more then ma <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e a Catalogue of &s;uch only as
<PB N="281" REF="151">
have been &s;een and cited by divers Authors. For though <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>1.</HI> Choronolog. ad annum diluvii. <HI>1460&punc;</HI></NOTE> <HI>Genebrard</HI> make mention but of three, and <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>3.</HI> de reb. Salo|mon. c. <HI>29.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Pineda</HI> but of 4. or 5. yet is it ea&s;ily &s;hewn that there are a many more; for <HI>Albertus Magnus</HI> in his Book of the <HI>Mirrour of A&s;trology</HI> quotes five: the fir&s;t dated <HI>Liber Almadal,</HI> the &s;e|cond, <HI>Liber</HI> 4&punc; <HI>Annulorum,</HI> the third <HI>Liber de novem candariis;</HI> the fourth, <HI>de tribus figuris Spi|rituum,</HI> and the fifth <HI>de Sigillis ad Daemoniacos.</HI> To the&s;e we may adde four mentioned by <HI>Trithe|mius,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>1.</HI> An|tipal. c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> intituled, the fir&s;t, <HI>Clavicula Salomonis ad filium Roboam,</HI> the &s;econd <HI>Liber Lamene,</HI> the third <HI>Liber Pentaculorum,</HI> and the fourth <HI>de Officiis &s;piri|tuum.</HI> Whereto if we adde the&s;e three, <HI>viz.</HI> that of <HI>Raziel</HI> cited by <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>10.</HI> de arte ca|bali&s;tic&acirc;.</NOTE> <HI>Reuclin, de umbris Idaearum,</HI> mentioned by <HI>Chicus</HI> upon the Sphere of <HI>Sacrobo&s;co; de Hydromantia ad filium Roboam,</HI> which <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>1.</HI> de more prohi|bendi malos libros. c. <HI>10.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Gret&s;erus</HI> &s;aith, he &s;aw in&punc;Greek in the Duke of <HI>Bavaria's</HI> Library. And la&s;tly that <HI>Te&s;tamentum Salomonis,</HI> out of which M. <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">In notis ad P&s;ellum.</NOTE> <HI>Gaumin</HI> cites, many pa&s;&s;ages written in the &s;ame Language, we finde that without compri&s;ing that called by <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">In fine <HI>4</HI> Annal.</NOTE> <HI>Nicetas, Liber Salomonius,</HI> here are thirteen different ones, and yet withall Au|thentick. Which number, might well engage us to make the &s;ame judgment of them, as did &s;ometime <HI>Roger Bacon,</HI> who&s;e reflection there|upon I &s;hall the rather quote, becau&s;e it makes &s;omething for all tho&s;e for whom I make this <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. <HI>2.</HI> de &s;ecretis operibus ar|tis &amp; natu|rae&punc;</NOTE> Apology. <HI>Quicun&abque;,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>a&s;&s;erunt qu&oacute;d Sa|lomon compo&s;uit hoc vel illud, aut alii &s;apientes&punc; ne|gandum est; quia non recipiuntur eju&s;modi libri auctoritate Eccle&s;iae, nec &agrave; &s;apientibus &s;ed &agrave; &s;eductori|bus qui mundum decipiunt; etiam &amp; ip&s;i novos libros componunt, &amp; novas adinventiones multiplicant, &s;icut</HI>
<PB N="282" REF="152">
<HI>&s;cimus per experientiam, &amp; ut vehementius homi|nes alliciant, titulos praeponunt famo&s;os &s;uis operi|bus; &amp; ea magnis authoribus impudenter a&s;cribunt.</HI></P>
<P>This granted takes away all the difficulty may ari&s;e about the Books of <HI>Salomon,</HI> unle&s;&s;e it be <NOTE PLACE="marg">De reb. Sa|lom. l. <HI>3.</HI> c. <HI>29.</HI></NOTE> about that of <HI>Exorci&s;ms,</HI> which <HI>Pineda</HI> affirmes, either not to have been written by <HI>Salomon,</HI> or that he did it in the time of his Idolatry. And yet me thinks it were more rationall, with <HI>Jan|&s;enius, Salmeron, Genebrard</HI> and <HI>Delrio,</HI> to grant, that, during the time that by his wi&s;dome he knew all things, and was fill'd with good affecti|on by rea&s;on of his &s;anctity, he might pre&s;cribe certain forms to cha&s;e away Devills, and to ex|erci&s;e people po&s;&s;e&s;'d by them; &s;uch as were tho&s;e <NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. <HI>11.</HI> Math. <HI>12.</HI> Acts&punc; <HI>19.</HI> Antiq. Ju|daic. l. <HI>8.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> practi&s;ed by the Jews, in St. <HI>Luke,</HI> St. <HI>Mathew,</HI> and the <HI>Acts.</HI> Such were al&s;o tho&s;e, as <HI>Jo&s;ephus</HI> affirmes, practis'd &s;ince by <HI>Eleazar,</HI> who ca&s;t a Devill out of the body of a po&s;&s;e&s;&s;'d per&s;on, in the pre&s;ence of the Emperour <HI>Vespa&s;ian,</HI> not by the vertue of a root, which could naturally have no power over Daemons and Creatures purely &s;pi|rituall, but by the force of his exorci&s;ms, which only had that power, as <HI>Delrio,</HI> <NOTE N="x" PLACE="marg">Angelo|graph. part. <HI>2.</HI> c. <HI>17.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ca&s;|mannus</HI> and divers others explaine it.</P>
<P>From the&s;e two pa&s;&s;ages of the Old Te&s;tament, we come now to that of the new, which is in the &s;econd of <HI>Math.</HI> where mention is made of the <HI>wi&s;e men</HI> who came from the Ea&s;t to adore <HI>Je&s;us Christ.</HI> I have no de&s;igne to repeat in this place a number of Fables, &s;uch as <HI>Vipertus,</HI> a Dr. of Divinity and the Canon-Law hath taken &s;uch paines to gather together, in the Hi&s;tory he hath written&punc; of them, it being enough to my purpo&s;e to take out of the writings of <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">ad ann. <HI>1.</HI> Chri&s;ti.</NOTE> <HI>Baronius</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Exercitat <HI>2.</HI> num. <HI>19.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ca|&s;aubon</HI>
<PB N="283" REF="152">
<NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">In cap. <HI>2.</HI> Math.</NOTE> <HI>Maldonat,</HI> <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Eclogae ad Arnob. c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Bullenger</HI> &amp; many other, who have written at large on this &s;ubject, what is fit not to be omitted in this Chapter, and in few words, to di&s;cover what the&s;e <HI>wi&s;e men</HI> or <HI>Magi</HI> were, and by what means they had notice to come and adore Je&s;us Chri&s;t in <HI>Bethleem.</HI> For the fir&s;t, the difficulty lyes in the &s;ignification of the word <HI>Magi,</HI> being either ambiguous and equivocall, that is, &s;uch as many be under&s;tood of enchanters &amp; &s;ocerers; &s;uch as &s;ignify'd a certain people among the <HI>Medes;</HI> who are &s;o called in <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t. l. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Herodotus,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Geogr. l. <HI>5.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Strabo,</HI> and <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">In Epitom. fidei Catho|licae.</NOTE> <HI>Epiphanius;</HI> and la&s;tly might be &s;aid of the Sages of <HI>Per&s;ia.</HI> The&s;e three &s;everall in|terpretations have all had their patrons and fa|vourers; <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Lib. de Idololatria.</NOTE> <HI>Tertullian</HI> under&s;tanding that pa&s;&s;age of the fir&s;t, <HI>Epiphanus</HI> and <HI>Panigarolus</HI> of the &s;e|cond, and <HI>Maldonat</HI> with <HI>Ca&s;aubon,</HI> of the la&s;t, that is for <HI>Mages,</HI> that is, the mo&s;t vertuous and mo&s;t venerable per&s;ons among the <HI>Per&s;ians,</HI> &s;uch as were in the &s;ame reputation in their Country, as the <HI>Brachamans</HI> were among the <HI>Indians,</HI> and the <HI>Druids</HI> among the <HI>Gaules.</HI> Which la&s;t opini|on &s;eems to be the more rationall, in that the word <HI>Magi</HI> is <HI>Per&s;ian,</HI> that it is the cu&s;tome of the <HI>Per&s;ians</HI> not to acco&s;t Kings without <HI>Pre&s;ents,</HI> that the <HI>Evangeli&s;t</HI> &s;peaks of them as per&s;ons of great quality and reputation; in a word, the Scrip|ture it &s;elf lights as it were to the truth, when it &s;ayes, that the&s;e wi&s;e men came from the Ea&s;t, there being no Author that ever held there were any other <HI>Magi</HI> that way than tho&s;e of <HI>Per&s;ia.</HI> Yet is there no nece&s;&s;ity to have any recour&s;e to the &s;otti&s;h imagination of <HI>Paracel&s;us,</HI> who would have <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de vita long&acirc;. Cap. <HI>9.</HI></NOTE> them ride po&s;t upon enchanted Hor&s;es, &s;o to bring them in le&s;&s;e then thirteen dayes out of &s;o re|mote
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a Country, &s;ince there's nothing to con|vince us they might not &s;pend more time in their <NOTE PLACE="marg">Homil. <HI>7.</HI> in Math.</NOTE> journey, as St. <HI>Chry&s;ostome</HI> would have it, or were not of the neare&s;t parts of that Country; be|&s;ides that Hi&s;tory affords us many in&s;tances of greater expedition and diligence, and that the&s;e wi&s;e men rid on <HI>Camells,</HI> which go with ea&s;e after the rate of at lea&s;t 100. miles a day.</P>
<P>This difficulty taken away, we are now only to find out the meanes whereby the wi&s;e men might be adverti&s;ed of the Nativity of <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> In which &s;earch, we &s;hall not with the <HI>Pri&s;cilliani&s;ts,</HI> affirme they it knew naturally by the meer in&s;pection of the Star, le&s;t we incurre, with them&punc; the cen&s;ure of St. <HI>Augustine</HI> and <HI>Chry|&s;ostome.</HI> And there being as little ground with <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>1.</HI> cont. Cel|&s;um.</NOTE> <HI>Origene</HI> and St. <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">In cap. <HI>19</HI> I&s;aiae.</NOTE> <HI>Hierome</HI> to think it was revealed to them by <HI>Daemons,</HI> as it had been to the Shepherds by <HI>Angels&punc;</HI> becau&s;e this were to make them <HI>Magicians,</HI> contrary to the truth before maintained, our &s;afe&s;t cour&s;e is to conclude with <NOTE PLACE="marg">In cap. <HI>2.</HI> Math.</NOTE> <HI>Maldonat,</HI> that they had learn'd it from the pro|phecy of <HI>Balaam,</HI> that a new Star &s;hould appear at the birth of the Saviour of the world, accor|ding to what is &s;aid, <HI>Orietur &s;tella ex Jacob,</HI> and in effect, they &s;hewed no le&s;&s;e when they peremp|torily &s;aid, <HI>Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have &s;een his Star,</HI> &s;peaking of that Starr, as a thing they thought well known among the <HI>Jews</HI> &s;ince it was &s;o much among the <HI>Gentiles</HI> and <HI>Idolaters.</HI> But the &s;ubject of this Chapter is not &s;o much my bu&s;ine&s;&s;e as that of Divines, yet have I a confidence they will not take it ill that I have done what I have, and there|in follow'd the doctrine and re&s;olutions of the
<PB N="285" REF="153">
mo&s;t eminent among them, &s;o the better to clear up the difficulties ari&s;ing out of this Chapter&punc;</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="21" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XXI.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Of the Poet Virgil.</HEAD>
<P>WHen I &s;eriou&s;ly reflect on the Condition of tho&s;e learned men, who flouri&s;h'd four or five ages before the re&s;tauration of Sciences and di&s;ciplines in <HI>Europe,</HI> nothing &s;eemes more miraculous to me then that the mo&s;t learned and be&s;t grounded among our Au|thors have appear'd amid&s;t that Barbari&s;m like Ro&s;es among thorns, or Diamonds on the de|&s;ert Mountaines. And this &s;o much the rather, in that at this day when we are encompa&s;&s;'d with &s;o great light as &s;hould make us judge of things with more caution, tho&s;e who &s;hould make great|e&s;t u&s;e thereof are &s;o dazzl'd therewith that they revive many opinions who&s;e fir&s;t Authors we daily declame again&s;t, either for their want of judgment or ignorance. Whereof though the precedent Chapters of this Apology afford &s;uffi|cient in&s;tances, yet have I re&s;erv'd for this that which we have upon the authority of <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Daem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|nom. l. <HI>2.</HI> c&punc; <HI>2</HI></NOTE> <HI>Bodin</HI> and <HI>de</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Trait&egrave; de la me&s;cre|ance dis &s;or|tilege co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|vainc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. pag. <HI>281.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Lancre</HI> concerning the Magick of <HI>Vir|gil,</HI> as one of the mo&s;t pregnant proofs may be given of it, if we in the fir&s;t place con&s;ider the re|putation of the&s;e two per&s;ons, (the former being one of the mo&s;t e&s;teem'd men of his age) and then, the litle ground they had to draw that errour, out of the workes of certaine Authors, that are but che dirt and dreggs of the mo&s;t Barbarous Wri|ters, and who by the impertinences of their rela|tions
<PB N="286" REF="154">
teach us that the great Chancellour of <HI>England, Verulam,</HI> had rea&s;on to tell us, that <NOTE PLACE="marg">De aug|ment. Sci|ent.</NOTE> <HI>hoc habet ingenium humanum, ut cum ad &s;olida non &s;uffecerit in &s;upervacaneis &amp; futilibus &s;e atterat.</HI> For can there be any thing imagind that were more fanta&s;tick, and di&s;con&s;onant to common &s;en&s;e and rea&s;on, then to &s;ee the Phoenix of Latine Poe&s;y impeach'd not of that Poeticall Magick, and fury, which, by the perfection of his workes, hath charm'd the greate&s;t wits into an imitation of him, &s;uch as <HI>Statius, Sylvius,</HI> and the <HI>Floren|tine</HI> Poet; and gain'd him the Title of mo&s;t ex|cellent Orator with <HI>Quintilian,</HI> St. <HI>Hierome,</HI> and <HI>Seneca;</HI> Father of Eloquence with St. <HI>Augu&s;tine,</HI> and to be the only man worthy the name of <HI>Poet,</HI> with J. C. <HI>Scaliger;</HI> but of the <HI>Geotick,</HI> &s;uper&s;titious, and unlawfull. Which certainly had never been layd to the charge of this Ornament of <HI>Parna&s;&s;us,</HI> had it not been for a &s;ort of wretched Fabuli&s;ts who by the excre|&s;cencies of their pittifull writings have traduc'd him, which yet I know not, whether I ought rather to quarrell with, than the&s;e two moderne Authors and &s;ome others, <HI>quos fama ob&s;cura re|condit</HI> who are &s;o light of belief, as to take &s;uch impo&s;tors for lawfull proofs of a calumny that turnes much more to their prejudice than that of <HI>Virgil.</HI> For his life is &s;o well known, and whatever he did that were any thing remark|able, &s;o faithfully pre&s;erv'd by a many Authors, that we may well be a&s;toni&s;h'd at tho&s;e, who, at this day, would make u&s;e of the forgeries and fabu|lous inventions of 7. or 8. Barbarian &s;laves, and the opinions of the populace, to augment the Ca|talogue of Magicians with the name of this Poet,
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and to entertain us with thou&s;ands of little &s;tories and fooleries, which, were they true, could do no le&s;&s;e then make him be reputed one of the mo&s;t expert that ever was in the Art. But &s;ince, on the contrary, they are fal&s;e and ridiculous, they de&s;troy them&s;elves, there needing no more for their refutation, then to draw them up all to|gether to find, (it being pre&s;uppo&s;ed that they are all equally to be credited) that Dr. <HI>Fau&s;tus, Zede|chias, Trois-e&s;chelles</HI> and the mo&s;t famous Conju|rers that ever were, have not done any thing com|parable to what they &s;ay <HI>Virgil</HI> hath, and con&s;e|quently that they are not to be believ'd unle&s;&s;e by &s;uch as will al&s;o grant, that
<Q><L>Omnia jam fient, fieri quae po&s;&s;e negantur,</L>
<L>Et nihil est de quo non &s;it habenda fides.</L></Q></P>
<P>But having &s;aid in the fir&s;t Chapter of this Apo|logy that we are endebted to the Monk <HI>Helinan|dus</HI> for all the&s;e fables, as finding (according to <HI>Ge&s;nar,</HI> who makes him flouri&s;h in the year 1069.) no Author more ancient then he that made any mention thereof, and meeting &s;ince with the Col|lection of the Lives of the <HI>White Friers,</HI> who&s;e Authour cites <HI>Vincent de Beauvais</HI> affirming in his <HI>mirrour of Hictory</HI> that the &s;aid Monk liv'd about the year 1209. I am forc'd ingenuou&s;ly to con|fe&s;&s;e I was mi&s;taken, and that the fir&s;t Author of all the&s;e extravagances, is, in my judgment no other than that <HI>Gerva&s;e,</HI> who, <HI>Theodoric &agrave; Niem</HI> &s;ayes, was Chancellour to the Emperour <HI>Otho</HI> III. to whom he pre&s;ented his Book entituled <HI>Ocia Imperatoris.</HI> This is a piece fraught with <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> de &s;chi&s;mate c. <HI>19. &amp; 20</HI></NOTE> things &s;o ab&s;ur'd, fabulous &amp; impo&s;&s;ible, as I have already ob&s;erved that&punc; I can hardly believe the
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man was in his wits when he writt it; and that I wrong him not, I appeal to the Reader. He &s;aies then (not to meldle with any thing but what is to our pre&s;ent purpo&s;e) that the wi&s;e <HI>Virgi</HI> &s;et up a <HI>Bra&s;en Fly</HI> on one of the gates of <HI>Naples,</HI> which, for the &s;pace of 8. years, that it remain'd there, permitted not a fly to enter the &s;aid City, That in the &s;ame place he cau&s;'d a <HI>Shambles</HI> to be made, wherein meat never &s;melt or was the lea&s;t tainted; that he placed on one of the gates of the &s;ame City two great images of Stone, one whereof was &s;aid to be <HI>hand&s;ome</HI> and <HI>merry,</HI> the other <HI>&s;ad</HI> and <HI>de|formed,</HI> having this power, that if any one came in on the &s;ide of the former all his affairs pro&s;per|ed according to his own de&s;ires, as he who came on the other, was unfortunate and di&s;appointed in all things; that he &s;et up, on a high mountain near <HI>Nap'es,</HI> a <HI>brazen Statue,</HI> having in its mouth a Trumpet which &s;ounded &s;o loud when the North wind blew, that the fire and &s;moke i&s;&s;uing out of tho&s;e forges of <HI>Vulcan,</HI> which are at this day &s;een near the City of <HI>Pou&s;&s;ola,</HI> were forc'd back towards the Sea, without doing any hurt or injury to the Inhabitants. That it was he made the baths of <HI>Calatura di petra bagno &amp; adju|to di l' homo,</HI> with fair in&s;criptions in Letters of Gold, defac'd &s;ince by the Phy&s;itians of <HI>Salerna</HI> who were ttoubled that men &s;hould thereby know what di&s;ea&s;es every bath could cure. That the &s;ame <HI>Virgil</HI> took &s;uch a cour&s;e that no man could be hurt in that miraculous <HI>Vault</HI> cut through the mountaine of <HI>Pau&s;ilippo,</HI> to go to <HI>Naples;</HI> and la&s;tly that he made a <HI>publick fire,</HI> whereat every one might freely warme him&s;elf, near which he had place'd a <HI>bra&s;en Archer</HI> with his
<PB N="289" REF="155">
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">rrow drawne out, and &s;uch an in&s;cription, <HI>If any one &s;trike me, I will &s;hoot off my arrow.</HI> Which a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> length happened, when a certaine foole &s;triking the &s;aid Archer, he immediatly &s;hot him with his arrow, and &s;ent him into the fire, which was pre|&s;ently extingui&s;hed.</P>
<P>The&s;e impertinences were fir&s;t tran&s;cribed out of this Author by <HI>Helinandus</HI> the Monk into his <HI>Univer&s;all Chronicle,</HI> and then by an Engli&s;h man <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 16.</NOTE> one <HI>Alexander Neckam</HI> a <HI>Benedictine</HI> Monk, who relates <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ome of the precedent in his book <HI>Of the Nature and property of things.</HI> To which he addes, that <HI>Naples</HI> being troubled with an infinite num|ber of infectious <HI>Leaches,</HI> it was deliver'd, a&s;&s;oon as <HI>Virgil</HI> had cau&s;'d a <HI>golden</HI> one to be ca&s;t into a well: that he compa&s;&s;'d his dwelling hou&s;e and garden (where it never rain'd) with an <HI>im|moveable &s;treame of aire,</HI> which was in&s;tead of a <HI>Wall,</HI> and had built in it a <HI>bra&s;en bridge,</HI> by meanes whereof he went whither he plea&s;'d. That he had made al&s;o a <HI>Steeple</HI> with &s;uch miraculous ar|tifice, that the <HI>Tower</HI> wherein it was though, of &s;tone, mov'd in the &s;ame manner as a certain bell, that was in it, did, and that both had the &s;ame &s;haking and motion. Be&s;ides all which, he had made tho&s;e Statues call'd the <HI>Pre&s;ervers of Rome,</HI> which were watch'd night and day by Prie&s;ts, for that a&s;&s;oon as any Nation entertain'd any thought of revolting and taking armes again&s;t the Romane Empire, immediately the Statue repre&s;enting that Nation, and adored by it, moved; a bell, it had about the neck rung, and with its finger it pointed at that rebellious nation, in &s;o much that the name of it might it be perceiv'd in wri|ting, which the Prie&s;t carrying to the Emperour,
<PB N="290" REF="156">
he immediately rai&s;'d an Army to reduce and qui|et it.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cap.</HI> 103.</NOTE> Nor could this be mi&s;&s;'d by a certaine Anony|mous Author, who, about 120. years &s;ince, un|dertook to make a collection of the <HI>lives of Phi|lo&s;ophers and Poets.</HI> For coming to &s;peak of <HI>Vir|gil,</HI> he confidently &s;ayes, <HI>Hic Philo&s;ophi&acirc; natu|rali praeditus etiam Necromanticus fuit &amp; mira quadam arte haec feci&s;&s;e narratur.</HI> Which premi&s;'d, he brings in the forementioned &s;tories, which have been &s;ince coppy'd out <HI>verbaim</HI> out of the Latine Book of that <HI>Anonymus,</HI> by <HI>Symphorianus</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de cla|ris Medi|cinae Scrip|tor. tract. <HI>2.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Champier,</HI> and <HI>Albertus de Elib,</HI> who hath been &s;o indi&s;creet and &s;imple, as to put them into the &s;econd part of his <HI>Poeticall Margarite,</HI> under the Title of <HI>Sentences and Authorities taken out of La|ertius.</HI> Nay not content with that, he hath add|ed thereto the &s;tory of a <HI>Roman Curtezan,</HI> who having hang'd up <HI>Virgil</HI> in a basket, half way down a great Tower, he, to be reveng'd of her, put out of all the fire that was in <HI>Rome,</HI> making it withall impo&s;&s;ible to light it again unle&s;&s;e they took it out of the privy parts of that abu&s;ive wo|man, which yet &s;o taken could not be communi|cated one to another, &s;o that the whole City was oblig'd to come and vi&s;it her. Add yet this like|ly &s;tory was no &s;ooner abroad but one <HI>Gratian du Pont</HI> thought it worth the in&s;erting into his Con|trover&s;ies of the two Sexes male and female, printed at <HI>Thoulou&s;e</HI> 1534. as a demon&s;tration of the malice and wickedne&s;&s;e of women.</P>
<P>The&s;e fables I thought fit to faggot up together, and that according to the order of tho&s;e that have maintain'd them, to &s;hew what credit we &s;hold give the great number of Authors affirming the &s;ame
<PB N="291" REF="156">
thing, without examining the &s;ufficiency and in|tegrity of him that fir&s;t advainc'd it. But it would take up abundance of time to &s;earch narrowly into the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of the <HI>Fly</HI> and <HI>Leach;</HI> and it were as much vaine glory as importunity to rake together all that may be &s;aid upon A&s;trologicall &s;tamps and Sculptures, which the Greeks called <HI>Stoecheiodes</HI> and the Arabians <HI>Tali&s;manicks.</HI> Such as were tho&s;e of <HI>Constantinople</HI> and diver&s;e other &s;uch gra|ven Stones, on which <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">In notis ad Vopi&s;|cum.</NOTE> <HI>Ca&s;aubon,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">In a letter he writ to <HI>Mr.</HI> Vazet.</NOTE> <HI>Scaliger,</HI> and <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Tom. <HI>1.</HI> des Medit. Hi&s;toric. l. <HI>3.</HI> c. <HI>20.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Camerarius</HI> have already made many ex|cellent and curious ob&s;ervations, either to exa|mine and refute, as well according to the rules of Polymathy, as Phy&s;ick and Metaphy&s;ick, all the above-recited Stories, which need no other &s;olu|tion then a good confident Negative. And that the rather, for that <HI>Ari&s;totle</HI> &s;ayes very well, <HI>de fabulo&s;&egrave; &s;ophisticantibus non est dignum cum &s;tudio</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Metaphy.</HI> 3.</NOTE> <HI>intendere;</HI> and in the fir&s;t of his Ethicks, A man &s;hould not &s;pend his time &s;o trivially as to refute all &s;orts of opinions, but only &s;uch as have &s;ome probability and appearance of rea&s;on. Since therefore the relations of the&s;e Authors are fitter to entertaine <HI>Old wives, Thracians,</HI> and <HI>Abderties,</HI> then to &s;atisfy tho&s;e who can judge and di&s;tin|gui&s;h <HI>quid &s;olidum crepet,</HI> we will di&s;mi&s;&s;e this crue of Barbarians, &s;uch as are rather to be pitti|ed than cen&s;ur'd, to &s;atisfie the Authorities of cer|taine writers of greater rea&s;on, and con&s;equent|ly &s;uch as ought to be treated with more re&s;pect then the precedent.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e who read the life of this Poet, thought to be written by <HI>Tiberius Donatus,</HI> Ma&s;ter to St. <HI>Hierome,</HI> might haply be &s;omewhat &s;urpri&s;ed, and be guilty of &s;ome litle inclination to believe this
<PB N="292" REF="157">
&s;u&s;picion may be true, in that &s;peaking of <HI>Virgil's</HI> father, he &s;ayes, <HI>Hunc quidam opificem figulum, plures Magi cuju&s;dam viatoris initio mercenarium, mox ob indu&s;triam generum tradiderunt.</HI> But it <NOTE PLACE="marg">Comment. vol. <HI>1.</HI> traict<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> des eloges.</NOTE> were more &s;afe to follow the judgment of <HI>Delrio</HI> agreeing with that of <HI>Lacerda,</HI> who will not al|low that Life, &s;uch as we have it now, to have been written by that ancient <HI>Donatus.</HI> For &s;ince he gives not any rea&s;on of that criticall cen&s;ure, I think, were there no other, this very line e|nough to make us account the whole piece coun|terfeit and that <HI>Donatus</HI> would never have com|mitted <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>3.</HI> de poet. Lat. c. <HI>37.</HI></NOTE> an errour, which <HI>Crinitus,</HI> and others treating of the &s;ame &s;ubject have avoided. Nor can I imagine that <HI>Johannes Sarisberien&s;is</HI> would have mention'd this <HI>bra&s;en fly</HI> that forc'd away all others from <HI>Naples,</HI> had it not been, from this &s;tory, though fabulous, to draw an excellent morall in&s;cription, and to teach us by the exam|ple of <HI>Augu&s;tus,</HI> which he hath in the four Chap|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">er of his Book <HI>de nugis curialium,</HI> that the pub|lick benefit is to be preferr'd before any private man's advantage and &s;atisfaction. Be&s;ides, we are not more oblig'd to believe what he &s;ayes by the way and under the caution of a hear&s;ay, concerning this fly, than what divers Authors have &s;aid of &s;o many other places, whence the&s;e litle in&s;ects were bani&s;h'd, that their number might well make us doubt whether they ever were from any. For if we credit the <HI>Rabbins,</HI> there was not one to be &s;een in the <HI>Slaughter-hou&s;e</HI> where the Bea&s;ts were kill'd and prepar'd for &s;acrifice, though the place was perpetually full of blood and raw hides. If <HI>Caelius Rhodiginus,</HI> there was not one in the place where the <HI>Olympick</HI> games were celebra|ted;
<PB N="293" REF="157">
nor yet in the City of <HI>Leucade</HI> in <HI>Acarnania.</HI> If <HI>Pliny,</HI> the Oxe-market at <HI>Rome;</HI> if <HI>Solinus, Hercules</HI>'s, Temple; if <HI>Cardan,</HI> a certain hou&s;e at <HI>Venice;</HI> if Dr. <HI>Gervais,</HI> the <HI>Refectory</HI> of the Abbey of <HI>Maillerais</HI> in <HI>Poictou,</HI> were never troubled with any. And la&s;tly, if we credit <HI>Fu&s;il,</HI> there is but one to be &s;een all the year long in the Shambles of <HI>Toledo</HI> in <HI>Spaine.</HI> And for my part, I think <HI>Scaliger</HI> did very well to laugh at one of <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Exercit.</HI> 246. <HI>nu.</HI> 3&punc;</NOTE> the&s;e Fly-drivers who having made a little plate grav'd with diver&s;e figures and Characters, and that under a certain con&s;tellation, had no &s;oon|er plac'd it on a window to try the experience, but one fly more confident than the re&s;t, came and han&s;ell'd it with her ordure.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Comment in Epi&s;t. D. Hieron. ad Paulinum.</NOTE> The third who&s;e authority is &s;omewhat con&s;i|derable is <HI>To&s;tatus</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Avila,</HI> who rankes <HI>Virgil</HI> among tho&s;e that practis'd <HI>Necromancy,</HI> and that becau&s;e, as he &s;ayes him&s;elf, he had read in the 16. Book of <HI>Helinandus</HI>'s Chronolo|gie, concerning the <HI>Fly</HI> and <HI>Shambles</HI> he had made at <HI>Naples.</HI> To which, not to di&s;cour&s;e of the &s;everall wayes there are to pre&s;erve diver&s;e things for a long time, and &s;omewhat to excu&s;e this great per&s;on, who &s;hould have examin'd the&s;e two &s;tories before he had believ'd them, I &s;hould rather affirme, that all the blame is to be laid on this <HI>Helinandus,</HI> who hath &s;o faithfully tran|&s;crib'd and &s;tollen all the&s;e fal&s;ities, lyes, and Impo&s;tures out of Dr. <HI>Gerva&s;e</HI> into his <HI>Chronicle,</HI> that he hath made it very much like <HI>Euolio's</HI> hou&s;e in <HI>Plautus, quae inaniis oppleta est at&abque; ara|neis.</HI> Nay I can&punc; without pa&s;&s;ion, affirme, that I never found him cited by any Author, but upon the account of &s;ome ridiculous fables; of which citations I could ea&s;ily produce &s;uch a number,
<PB N="294" REF="158">
as would more then ju&s;tifie the truth of what I &s;ay, were it as ea&s;y to lay them down in few words as it were requi&s;ite it &s;hould be done.</P>
<P>But &s;ince the Authors who have made menti|on of the Magick of <HI>Virgil</HI> are &s;o many that they cannot be examin'd one after another without lo&s;&s;e of much time and abundance of repetitions, we mu&s;t imitate the <HI>Civilians,</HI> who take Autho|rities <HI>per &s;aturam,</HI> and &s;o dige&s;ting all that re|maine into one Article, &s;hew, That, <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">De &s;pectr. l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Le Loy|er</HI> mades mention of his <HI>Eccho,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg"><HI>1.</HI> Tom. oper. tract. de imagini|bus c. <HI>11.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Paracel&s;us</HI> of his <HI>Magicall images and figures,</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>4.</HI> Hi&s;tor. Sla|vor. c. <HI>19.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Helmoldus</HI> of his repre&s;entation of the City of <HI>Naples</HI> &s;hut up in a gla&s;&s;e bottle, <NOTE N="d" PLACE="marg">Peregr. quae&s;t. de cad. <HI>3.</HI> c. <HI>2.</HI> quae&s;tione. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Sibyllus,</HI> and the Authour of the Book entituled <HI>the Image of the World,</HI> of the <HI>head</HI> he made to know things to come by; <NOTE N="e" PLACE="marg">In Itine|rario.</NOTE> <HI>Petrarch,</HI> and <NOTE N="f" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>3.</HI> de &s;chi&s;mal. c. <HI>19.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Theodoric &agrave; Niem,</HI> of the <HI>Vault</HI> he made at <HI>Naples,</HI> at the reque&s;t of <HI>Augu&s;tus;</HI> <NOTE N="g" PLACE="marg">Cap. <HI>19.</HI> pag. <HI>330&punc;</HI> of his Cyphers.</NOTE> <HI>Vigenere,</HI> of his <HI>Alphabet;</HI> <NOTE N="h" PLACE="marg">Antipal. l. <HI>4.</HI> c. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Trithemius</HI> of his Book of <HI>Tables</HI> and <HI>Calculations</HI> whereby to find out the <HI>Genius</HI>'s of all per&s;ons; and la&s;tly of tho&s;e who have &s;een the Cabinet of the Duke of <HI>Florence,</HI> of an extraordinary great <HI>Looking|gla&s;&s;e</HI> which they affirme to be that in which this Poet exerci&s;'d <HI>Catoptromancy.</HI> To all which there needs no other an&s;wer, than that all the&s;e Au|thorities are too young, ab&s;ur'd, and ill ground|ed, and con&s;equently too light to outweigh the Generall &s;ilence of all Authors that flouri&s;h'd during the &s;pace of ten Ages, and who certain|ly were extreamly to blame not to have left us the lea&s;t ob&s;ervation of all the&s;e miracles, if there had been any &s;uch thing, &s;ince they have given us a faithfull account of a ma|ny other particularities of le&s;&s;e con&s;equence.
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For what ground is there to imagine that the Emperour <HI>Caligula,</HI> who did all that lay in his power to &s;uppre&s;&s;e the works of this Latine <HI>Ho|mer,</HI> and &s;o many other <HI>Zoilus</HI>'s who have found &s;omething to quarrel at, even in the mo&s;t incon&s;i|derable actions of his life, would not have laid hold on a bu&s;ine&s;&s;e which might have afforded &s;o much fuell to their detraction? Or that the Emperour <HI>Augu&s;tus,</HI> who caus'd all Magicall Books to be burnt, &s;hould &s;o far forget and con|tradict him&s;elf as to receive him, being a Magici|an and Necromancer, into the number of his mo&s;t intimate friends and favorites? There were certainly as much rea&s;on to believe that all <HI>Sodo|mitts</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Apud Em. de Moura l. de En&s;al. Sect. <HI>3.</HI> c. <HI>4.</HI> num. <HI>12.</HI></NOTE> tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> were in the world dy'd the night of our Saviours birth, and that as the famous Civilian <HI>Salicetus</HI> affirms, <HI>Virgil</HI> was one of that number.</P>
<P>And yet for what concerns the precedent Au|thorities, it is not to be imagin'd that <HI>Pe|trarch, Theodoric &agrave; Niem, Vigenere,</HI> and <HI>Trithemi|us</HI> have been &s;o indi&s;creet as thus ba&s;ely to pro|&s;titute their reputation to the cen&s;ures and &s;atyrs of tho&s;e who are not &s;o ea&s;ily laid a&s;leep with the&s;e Fables. For it is certain that whatever they &s;ay thereof, hath been only to refute them, and to let us know that they were not &s;o credu|lous as tho&s;e others who have furni&s;h'd us with the re&s;t of tho&s;e Authorities, as &s;uch as can no way expiate the fault they have committed in be|ing &s;o mi&s;erably en&s;nar'd in the cobwebs of Hear|&s;aies, vagrant reports, and the common opini|on of the inhabitants of <HI>Naples</HI> and places ad|jacent; who have alwaies attributed to the con|jurations of <HI>Virgil</HI> whatever &s;eem'd to them ever &s;o little extraordinary &amp; miraculous, and where|of
<PB N="296" REF="159">
they could find out no other beginning. This may be exemplify'd in that admirable cave or grott made in the mountain of <HI>Pau&s;ilippo</HI> near the City of <HI>Naples,</HI> whereof though <HI>Strabo</HI> (who liv'd in the time of <HI>Scipio,</HI> and the taking of <HI>Car|thage,</HI> according to <HI>Athenaeus,</HI> or of <HI>Augustus</HI> and <HI>Tiberius,</HI> according to <HI>Patricius)</HI> make mention as of a thing very ancient; yet the Countrey peo|ple thereabouts will not be per&s;waded but that it was made by <HI>Virgil,</HI> at the importunity of the Emperour <HI>Augustus,</HI> becau&s;e the top of the mountrin under which it is cut was &s;o pe&s;tred with Serpents and Dragons, that there was not any man &s;o confident as would pre&s;ume to travel over it. So that the main &s;tre&s;s of the bu&s;ine&s;s con|&s;i&s;ts now in knowing what gave the fir&s;t occa&s;ion of this &s;u&s;picion, which certainly can be nothing el&s;e but the knowledge of the <HI>Mathematicks,</HI> wherein <HI>Virgil</HI> was &s;o excellent, according to the relation of <HI>Macrobius, Donatus, Lacerda,</HI> and the common con&s;ent of all Authors, that, be&s;ides his being an eminent Philo&s;opher and well experi|enc'd in Medicine, it may neverthele&s;&s;e be affir|m'd, that the chiefe&s;t of his perfections, next to <HI>Poe&s;y,</HI> was his acquaintance with <HI>Astronomy,</HI> and other parts of the <HI>Mathematicks.</HI> And the&s;e, having ever been more &s;ubject to be charg'd with Magick than any of the other Sciences, have given &s;ome occa&s;ion to the&s;e un&s;ettled minds to be con|firm'd in that erroneous opinion they had before entertain'd of him, by rea&s;on of his <HI>Pharmaceu|tria,</HI> or eighth <HI>Eclogue</HI> where he hath &s;o learned|ly repre&s;ented&punc; as <HI>Apuleius</HI> affirms, <HI>vittas molles, et verbenas pingues, et thura ma&s;cula et <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">icia di&s;co|lora,</HI> and whatever relates to Magick, that it
<PB N="297" REF="159">
would have been very much if he had avoided the &s;u&s;picion of the practi&s;e thereof, e&s;pecially from tho&s;e, whom ignorance and the barbari&s;m of the Ages they liv'd in, would not &s;uffer to know that he had tran&s;lated it word for word out of <HI>Theocritus.</HI> To which number we may adde &s;ome others who are &s;o &s;tupid as not to know what advantages a great Wit can make of the&s;e fictions and embeli&s;hments, which certain|ly &s;hould no more prejudice <HI>Virgil,</HI> than the &s;or|ceries of <HI>Circe</HI> have done <HI>Homer;</HI> of <HI>Medea, Se|neca;</HI> of <HI>Canidia, Horace;</HI> of <HI>Ericthon, Lucan;</HI> of <HI>Tire&s;ias, Statius;</HI> of the <HI>The&s;&s;alian women, Lucian,</HI> and <HI>Apuleius;</HI> of the old <HI>Witch, Heliodo|rus;</HI> of <HI>Maeffalina, Coccaius;</HI> of <HI>Angelica, Ario&s;to;</HI> of <HI>Armida, Ta&s;&s;o;</HI> or la&s;tly <HI>Mandraca,</HI> the Au|thor of <HI>A&s;trea.</HI> Whence it is evident to any one, that, from this Chapter, may be drawn a mo&s;t favourable conclu&s;ion for all tho&s;e great per|&s;ons for whom we have made this Apology; and that if &s;o many fables, frivolous &s;u&s;picions and &s;leight per&s;wa&s;ions have found entertainment in the &s;tragling imaginations of tho&s;e who will needs quarrel with common &s;en&s;e and the opini|on of all the world, to make <HI>Virgil</HI> a Magician, what I have produc'd before, as al&s;o all that hath been &s;aid again&s;t <HI>Zoroa&s;tes, Pythagoras, Numa Pompilius, Democritus, Albertus Magnus,</HI> and the re&s;t that have been brought upon the &s;tage and vindicated, &s;hould no way derogate from their reputation, nor give any other impre&s;&s;ion of their learning and deportment than &s;uch as we ought to have of &s;uch as have been
<Q><L>Magnanimi Heroes, nati melioribus annis,</L></Q>
<PB N="298" REF="160">
and indeed &s;o innocent as to the&s;e &s;uper&s;titions and fooleries, that their memory ought to be freed from the lea&s;t &s;u&s;picion of their ever having any hand therein.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="22" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. XXII.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">By what means all the&s;e erroneous opinions are main|tain'd, and what may be expected from them, if not &s;uppre&s;s'd.</HEAD>
<P>HAving through all the precedent Chapters, both by general and particular rea&s;ons, &s;hewn how it might come to pa&s;&s;e that &s;o emi|nent and extraordinary per&s;ons have been charg'd with Magick, and con&s;equently deduc'd all I thought requi&s;ite for their vindication; I think there cannot any thing be now expected from me, &s;ave that, by way of conclu&s;ion to this Apo|logy, I &s;hould &s;pecifie the true cau&s;es and &s;everal occa&s;ions whereby the&s;e calumnies are enter|tain'd and gain reputation daily, and what preju|dice and inconvenience (if &s;ome cour&s;e be not taken) they will do as well the Authors, who maintain them, as what is to be truly believ'd concerning Magicians, and what order is to be taken for the puni&s;hment of tho&s;e whom their &s;orceries and mi&s;deeds di&s;cover and declare to be &s;uch. For the former, me thinks the &s;everal cau|&s;es of &s;uch a &s;u&s;picion may be reduc'd principally to three. The <HI>fir&s;t</HI> is, that all the world is per&s;wa|ded, and &s;atisfy'd, that the &s;tronge&s;t proof and
<PB N="299" REF="160">
greate&s;t a&s;&s;urance that can be had of Truth, de|pends on a general con&s;ent and univer&s;al appro|bation, which, as <HI>Aristotle</HI> in the &s;eventh of his Ethicks, affirms, cannot be ab&s;olutely fal&s;e and fained; be&s;ides that it is a thing very plau&s;ible, &amp; hath a great &s;hew of goodne&s;s &amp; ju&s;tice to follow the track that's approved by all. Hence it comes to pa&s;&s;e, that the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">a&s;t that come to the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of writing and books, as well other Authors, as Daemonographers, grounding what they do on this Maxime, never mind the examination of what they find believ'd, and allow'd for true by their Predece&s;&s;ors, and tho&s;e who have written before them upon the &s;ame &s;ubject. So that what was fal&s;e in them, &s;preads by this contagious ap|probation and applau&s;e, though not proceeding from judgement and the knowledge of the cau&s;e, but meerly to &s;econd him that fir&s;t led the dance, without ever con&s;idering that he who would be a wi&s;e and di&s;creet Judge, ought very much to &s;u&s;pect what ever the people, that <HI>pe&s;&s;imus veri|tatis interpres,</HI> is mo&s;t taken with, and is appro|ved <NOTE PLACE="marg">Sen. de vi|ta beata.</NOTE> by the greate&s;t number, taking good heed that he be not carried away with the current of common &amp; popular opinions. Nay&punc; he is to be the more circum&s;pect in this point, becau&s;e the great|e&s;t part is commonly the wor&s;t, the number of Fools infinite, infection mo&s;t dangerous, and mo&s;t to be fear'd in a throng, the mo&s;t beaten way the mo&s;t ea&s;ily deceives a man, that the wi&s;e man &s;aies, <HI>qui cit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> credit levis e&s;t corde;</HI> and that <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Chap.</HI> 19.</NOTE> it is mo&s;t certain, that when we are &s;way'd by ex|ample and cu&s;tome, without con&s;ulting rea&s;on, de&s;ert, and truth, we &s;lip and fall one upon ano|ther,
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forfeit our reputation, run into precipices, and, in a word <HI>alienis perimus exemplis.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>&s;econd</HI> general Cau&s;e is, that the greate&s;t part of tho&s;e who employ them&s;elves in the com|po&s;ition and evulgation of &s;ome piece, &s;uch as they are able to work out, do commonly flatter them&s;elves into a per&s;wa&s;ion of &s;uch things, that they may do their bu&s;ine&s;s with greate&s;t ea&s;e. And as they write not &s;o much for any benefit to the publick, to oblige it by an exact anatomy of Truth, as out of &s;ome motive of vanity or ambi|tion or to comply with that nece&s;&s;ity which for|ces them to &s;atisfie <HI>famem non famam,</HI> as <HI>Thuanus</HI> &s;aies; &s;o is it their cu&s;tome to go to work as &s;lightly and as cheap as po&s;&s;ibly they can, not troubling them&s;elves with a long and difficult evolution of the fir&s;t Authors, or &s;earching into the occa&s;ions they had to &s;catter all the&s;e fables &amp; calumnies; nor racking their judgement with the con&s;ideration of tho&s;e circum&s;tances which &s;hould oblige them to ruminate, recollect, and re|flect on things, &s;o as to bring them to the grand Te&s;t of Rea&s;on, and thence draw &s;olid and certain re&s;olutions. And here certainly they much di&s;|cover their weakne&s;&s;e, and, becau&s;e the advanta|ges they derive from Nature are very &s;lender, &s;hew, how they are led away by example, groping after things by hear-&s;aies and conjectures, with|out ever &s;ifting or examining them as they ought, e&s;pecially in this Age, which is more fit to refine and &s;harpen mens judgements, then all the pre|cedent put together were, by rea&s;on of the great revolutions that now happen, through the di&s;co|very of a new world, the di&s;turbances occa&s;ion'd
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by Religion, the re&s;tauration of Letters, the de|clination of Sects and ancient opinions and &s;o many &s;trange inventions and artifices; in&s;omuch that <HI>Salomon</HI> might now, more truly than ever, &s;ay, <HI>Doth not wi&s;dom cry? and understanding</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pro.</HI> 8.</NOTE> <HI>put forth her voice? She &s;tandeth on the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She cryeth at the Gates, at the entring of the City, at the com|ming in at the Doors.</HI> Whence it may be inferrd, that there never was a more favourable conjun|cture than that of the pre&s;ent, to rai&s;e mens minds out of the Lethargy they are in, and enli|ven them to a retractation, and &s;o to a contempt of abundance of fal&s;e and ab&s;urd opinions; were they not, for the rea&s;ons before mentioned, in|different as to the eternizing their memories by the <HI>quality</HI> of their writings, out of a conceit that they gain reputation enough by the <HI>quantity,</HI> thereof, which they can &s;well up as they plea&s;e, without much trouble or difficulty, with the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of a <HI>Method,</HI> devoutly ob&s;erv'd of tran|&s;cribing word for word&punc; whatever hath been &s;aid a hundred and a hundred times over by others.</P>
<P>And to do this, they are much oblig'd to the <HI>third</HI> and la&s;t cau&s;e of the propagation of all the&s;e fal&s;ities, which is a Cu&s;tome lately introduc'd, of making o&s;tentation of <HI>Polymathy</HI> or great rea|ding, &s;peaking on any &s;ub<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ect of all things, and upon any occa&s;ion of all &s;ubjects, as if there were no other de&s;ign in writing than to collect and faggot together <HI>all,</HI> that may be &s;aid, and with all what hath <HI>ever</HI> been &s;aid on the &s;ubject then to be treated of; it being not the que&s;tion who hits
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the mark, but who makes mo&s;t &s;hots. So that it is not to be admir'd if tho&s;e who exactly ob&s;erve &s;uch a method, are, like Marchants that take up all, burthen'd with many things of no value, and &s;uch as only corrupt and di&s;parage others, which would be much more in reque&s;t and reputation, were they cull'd out of the Chaos and confu&s;ion of tho&s;e great Volums. It is certainly a &s;trange thing, that <HI>Delrio, Le Loyer, Bodin, de Lancre, Go|delman,</HI> who have been, nay yet are, per&s;ons of credit and de&s;ert &s;hould write &s;o pa&s;&s;ionately up|on the &s;ubject of <HI>Daemons, Sorcerers</HI> and <HI>Magici|ans,</HI> as never to reject any Story, though ever &s;o fabulous and ridiculous, of all tho&s;e fal&s;e and ab|&s;urd ones, which they have without any di&s;cre|tion &s;hufled in among the true and legitimate. Nay had they no more than what we have refu|ted, it were enough to prejudice and di&s;credit the truth of the re&s;t, &s;ince that, as St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">De Civ. dei. l. <HI>7.</HI> cap. <HI>35.</HI></NOTE> well ob&s;erves <HI>Solent res ge&s;tae a&s;per&s;ione mendaci|orum in fabulas verti,</HI> and as St <HI>Hierome,</HI> Lyers are not believ'd when they &s;peak truth: witne&s;&s;e <HI>Ae&s;ops</HI> herd-boy, who had &s;o often call'd for help again&s;t the Wolf when there was no need, that he was neither believ'd nor a&s;&s;i&s;ted by any when afterwards he playd the Tyrant in his Flock.</P>
<P>So that if we obey the precept of <HI>Ca&s;&s;iodorus</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Epi&s;t. <HI>44.</HI> l. <HI>6.</HI> vari|ar.</NOTE> who &s;aies, that <HI>in&s;tructus redditur animus in futu|ris, quando&punc; praeteritorum commovetur exemplis,</HI> we may, to re&s;olve the &s;econd point propos'd, ve|ry probably inferr that all the ridiculous &s;tories, fables and manife&s;t untruths, which the&s;e Au|thors &s;uffer &s;o ea&s;ily to &s;lip into their writings, will infallibly turn to their prejudice, and, which
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is wor&s;e, to a mi&s;tru&s;t of the truth of the &s;ubject they treat of, whenever &s;ome more free and un|confin'd wit, &s;hall be pleas'd to examine things with much more diligence and circum&s;pection than the Demonographers do. Thus have tho&s;e of the <HI>Reformation</HI> within the la&s;t Century, made u&s;e of the Catholicks armes again&s;t them&s;elves, by bringing upon the &s;tage the &s;tories of the <HI>Gol|den Legend,</HI> the <HI>Apparitions of Tyndal, the Sermons of Maillart, Menot, &amp; Barlette,</HI> &amp; &s;uch other pieces written with no le&s;&s;e &s;uper&s;tition than &s;implicity, to confirm them&s;elves in the opinion they hold of the nullity and fal&s;ity of their <HI>Miracles.</HI> Thus hath the learned and judicious <HI>Ludovicus</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Lib. <HI>2.</HI> de tradend. di&s;cipl. et lib. adver|&s;us P&s;eudo-Dialecticos.</NOTE> <HI>Vives,</HI> and after him <HI>Ramus,</HI> and the moderne Philo&s;ophers, took no other cour&s;e to ruine and level that Labyrinth of frivolous difficulties, comprehended under the title of <HI>Parva Logica|lia,</HI> than to make a full di&s;covery of the imperti|nencies, flatne&s;s, and extravagance of all tho&s;e fooleries of <HI>Suppo&s;itions, Ampliations, Re&s;tricti|ons, Sophi&s;ms, Obligations, Appellations,</HI> and other &s;ubtilties much more trivial and ridicu|lous. And yet the&s;e were in &s;uch reputation for the &s;pace of 400 years, that they found work enough for tho&s;e who were accounted the great|e&s;t Sophi&s;ts and Philo&s;ophers in the world, &s;uch as, in compari&s;on of whom, <HI>Ca&s;&s;iodorus</HI> and St. <HI>Augustine</HI> under&s;tood nothing, as many are per|&s;waded, of Dialectick, becau&s;e they have not, in the precepts they have left us thereof, made any mention of the <HI>Chimaera, Antichri&s;t, Sortes, Buridan's A&s;&s;e, Nullus et Nemo.</HI> But the&s;e, toge|ther with all tho&s;e frivolous rubricks and &s;ophi|&s;tications
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have been &s;o fortunately levell'd with the ground, by the fore&s;aid <HI>Vives,</HI> that they are bani&s;h'd both out of the Schools and the memo|ry of men, with as much confu&s;ion and contempt, as they had bin introduc'd &amp; maintain'd with ap-<HI>Spain,</HI> who the time of <HI>Lombard,</HI> and <HI>Peter of</HI> plau&s;e, from were the two fir&s;t Authors and Pro|moters of this excellent kind of <HI>Dialectick.</HI></P>
<P>The re&s;ult of all this, then, will be, that tho&s;e who can make better advantages of what they read and learn than the &s;laves of <HI>Pedanti&s;m</HI> do, and who are &s;o indu&s;trious as to judge of things to come, by a con&s;ideration of what are pa&s;t, may by the&s;e examples ea&s;ily fore-&s;ee, That the writings of <HI>Demonographers,</HI> hydropical|ly blown up with &s;o many fables as almo&s;t &s;tiflle the truth, are threatned with the accompli&s;h|ment in them&punc; of <HI>Paterculus</HI>'s &s;aying, <HI>Naturali<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">er quod procedere non potest, recidit;</HI> and will prove like that great <HI>Colo&s;&s;us</HI> of <HI>Rhodes,</HI> which was ru|in'd only by its own va&s;t and prodigious height, or tho&s;e great Edifices, which make the very found<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">tions crack by the weight of their &s;uper|&s;tructures. And indeed experience teaches us that there is nothing more dangerous than to &s;huffle old wives tales, and relations that are doubtful, if not apparently fal&s;e, among things of con&s;equence: for the more circum&s;pect part of mankind not able to credit, nay not to admit them, it often happens, that the vulgar, who hath not the ability to judge of things by them|&s;elves, is lead away by the opinion of tho&s;e whom it e&s;teems the mo&s;t prudent, and, is per&s;waded, under&s;tand them much better. So that being by
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their example once arriv'd to &s;o much confi|dence as to &s;leight and carp at any one of tho&s;e &s;tories and opinions it had &s;ometimes held for true, it pre&s;ently jumps into an equall uncer|tainty and contempt of all tho&s;e others for which it had not greater authority and better grounds than they had for tho&s;e that were di&s;|carded,
<Q><L>Nam <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">upid&egrave; conculcatur nimis ant<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> metutum.</L></Q></P>
<P>It were therefore much to be wi&s;h'd, as well for the reputation of our Demonographers, as the maintenance &amp; explanation of the truth of the Subject they treat of, that they would be hence forward more cautious than to advance any Hi&s;to|ry or Authority before they have diligently exa|mined all circum&s;tances, and would afford all things their true worth and weight. So doing &s;hall they not be led into a di&s;advantageous opi|nion of any one but upon good ground, nor with|out rea&s;on advance the&s;e frivolous accu&s;ations, fraught with nought but wind and forgery, &s;ince that when they come to be narrowly examin'd, and the truth thereof di&s;cu&s;s'd, it commonly happens that they prove meer <HI>Calumnies,</HI> weakly-grounded &s;u&s;picions, and indeed but vaine, light and incon&s;iderate words&punc; which the Devill doth in&s;en&s;ibly im|po&s;e on the good names of the innocent, to the end they may one day prove occa&s;ions that
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that men &s;hall not be able to di&s;cern and puni&s;h the guilty.</P>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL>Lucret. l. <HI>1.</HI></BIBL> <L>Ver&ugrave;m animo &s;atis haec ve&s;tigia parva &s;agaci</L>
<L>Sunt&punc; per quae po&s;&s;is cogno&s;cere caetera tut&egrave;.</L></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
