An Examen of Witches/Chapter 13
Chapter XIII.
Whether the Copulation of Satan with a
Witch can bring to Birth a Living Being.
It is a matter of far greater doubt whether a living being can be born from the coupling of the Devil with a witch. I remember that, when Antoine Tornier and Antoine Gandillon were asked whether they were not afraid of becoming pregnant by the Devil, one answered that she was too old, and the other that God would not permit it. I have read, too, that Satan has sometimes asked a witch whether she wished to become pregnant by him, and that the witch has said that she did not wish it. It seems then that it is possible for issue to come of this coupling; and also there are many examples of such an occurrence, besides the proof which may be drawn from the Book of Genesis, Genes. 6.where it is said that the Sons of God lay with the daughters of men, and that there sprang from them a race of giants, Antiqu. I. 3.a passage which Josephus understands literally. As for examples, we have the English Merlin, who was said to have been born from the union of a demon with a woman: Remy, Demonol., I. 6.
Raemond, Antichrist, c. 6. num. 1.the Huns and the men of Cyprus are also said to spring from certain witches who had intercourse with the Devil; it is also said that Luther was born from the coupling of the Devil with his mother Marguerite: passing over what has been written of Plato, Servius Tullius, and of Florine and Ermeline, we read of women who have lain down to Satan and given birth to hideous and terrible monsters, as did the woman mentioned by Bodin in his Demonomania.ib. 2. c. v. Wier, again, says that the Germans maintain that from this diabolical copulation are born children that are puny and yet heavier than other children, that they milk three nurses dry without growing fat, cry when they are touched, laugh when any misfortune overtakes the house, and never live beyond seven years.
If it be asked how such couplings can lead to procreation, I must refer to the opinion of St. Thomas Aquinas that Satan makes use of the male semen which he receives when acting as a Succubus; or that he so skilfully shoots it into the womb that, on meeting with the female ova, some result must necessarily follow; and even that this semen is kept in its original warmth by the Devil, who has but too many devices with which to harm and abuse the human race.
We know that there are many monsters born in the sea from the union of two fishes of different species; and that some even are found which resemble men, Paracel. in fragm. lib. de animalib.which are said by some naturalists and doctors to be procreated from the semen of a dead man; and therefore they advise us to bury the dead, whether men or women, so as to guard against such mischances. Then why should we think it strange that some issue should be born of the Devil and a witch, if their copulation is after the manner we have described? De confess. malef., conclus. 5.Binsfeld, Suffragan of Trèves, accepts the possibility of it, being in agreement with several learned authorities whom he quotes.
I may further add that it is the more easy to believe in such procreation, because even a virgin can conceive when the man’s semen has been merely spent round about the natural place, without any loss of her virginity: Navar. consil. 3. num. 23. de frigid. & mal. lib. 4.this is vouched for by Navarro as being the opinion of St. Thomas. I have read also that, being rubbed by the herb called Nepeta, the cat conceives, and that this herb can supply the lack of a male.
Nevertheless, although all these reasons have some weight, Agrippa.I prefer to follow the opinion of those who believe that no issue can result from such connexions. For everyone knows that the abounding vitality and heat of the whole body is the cause of procreation: I mean the natural heat of a man. It is therefore impossible that an accidental heat, or one that is acquired merely by artifice, can be competent to produce such a result. Now this natural vitality and heat is lacking in a demon, as is also the heart which is its source; and I shall never believe that the Devil, after having borrowed a man’s semen, can preserve its first heat, considering that it has to be carried to another place, and that semen becomes cold as soon as it is ejaculated from its ducts. Besides, all witches agree that the semen they receive from the Devil is as cold as ice. And further, can we think that God, who is jealous of His honour and is glorified in His works, would be willing to endow with life and a soul the fruit proceeding from so abominable a copulation?
I go even further, and maintain that nothing will be born if the witch has coupled with a ram, a cat, a dog, or any other animal, by reason of the disproportion between them: Bodin, Demonom. III. 6.that if the contrary were true, there would not only be the case of the two women burned, one at Toulouse and the other at Paris, who were brought to bed by the natural dogs which had connexion with them; but the world would, if this thing were possible, be filled with the fruits of such couplings. For it was not only yesterday that such things were practised: Levit. 18 & 20.the law of God long since punished with death the man and the beast who had sinned together. Therefore I conclude that if, because of the disproportion between man and a brute beast, no issue can come of any copulation between them, much less can there be any issue from the coupling of Satan with a witch, whether Satan take the body of a hanged man, or whether he make himself a body out of the elements.
This may seem to refute what we have said about sea monsters which are born from two fishes of different species; but there is great similarity between two such animals, in spite of the difference in their species; and there are parallel cases on land, where we know that a mule is born from an ass and a mare, and the Basilisk from a cock and a toad.
As for the Merman, it is difficult to believe that he is generated from the semen of a dead man, or that the corpse of a dead man is able to secrete semen competent for procreation. There can be no doubt that the Merman is generated of two fishes, and that Nature, which delights in variety, gives him the form of a man is the upper parts: in the same way on land she has brought forth animals which resemble man, such as the monkey, and the Brazilian beast called the sloth, which is about the size of a fox, Raemond, Antichrist, c. 32.and is like a woman about the face and hair, except for its much misshapen muzzle.
With the leave of such eminent men, for whom I have the very highest respect and honour, I shall contradict the opinion of St. Thomas and Navarro; for how can their opinion be maintained, when all philosophers and naturalists agree that no generation is possible without the conjunction of the male and female seed? This argument will hold equally for that which has been said about cats, and for the stories that are told about Spanish mares being caused to conceive simply by a breath of wind in a certain place.
With regard to the monstrosities to which women give birth, these may be said to proceed either from a superfluity and excess of generative matter; or possibly from the force of imagination, which operates as a sort of seal stamping the image of a mother’s fancy on the child she has conceived in her womb. Or perhaps we should rather believe that God, whose judgments are inscrutable, in this manner punishes mothers who abandon themselves to unnatural and abominable copulations. For we are not bound to believe the stories of Merlin, the Huns, the men of Cyprus, and others having sprung from demons: such stories are sometimes written by historians, but most often merely upon hearsay, and without corroboration of the truth.
It is said that Rhea, the mother of Romulus and Remus, was made pregnant by the God Mars; and Olympias, the mother of Alexander, by Jupiter in the form of a swan; but who is to believe that? Why should we not rather believe that these women used the Gods as a screen to cover their incests and adulteries? And therefore I maintain that the widow of whom Bodin speaks was made pregnant by a natural man, and not by a demon; and that God permitted her to give birth to a monster as a punishment for the unlawful and abominable fornication of which she was guilty in order to satisfy her wanton and unbridled appetite.
We have now but to explain the passage in Genesis where it says that “The sons of God lay with the daughters of men.” But why should we pause over this, seeing how many learned men have interpreted it? There is no doubt that the sons of God are those who find favour with the living God; for in another place they are even called Gods by the Royal Prophet, just as certain names which are given to God may be applied to men.
Finally, since carnal desire is necessary only to those who need to supply a successor to continue their kind, and since Angels and demons are not subject to death, it follows that spirits are immune from the flames of love, and that they are without those members in which sensual desire is generated, namely, the lower parts of mankind.