An Examen of Witches/Chapter 7
Chapter VII.
Of the Bodies of Spirits and Devils.
Françoise Secretain confessed in the second place that she had formerly given herself to the Devil, and that the Devil at that time had the appearance of a big black man. It is very certain that both good and bad spirits can make themselves a body from the elements; and this should not seem strange, if it is considered that the vapours which rise from the earth very often seem to us to take the form of men or animals. But these spirits, after the manner of a skilled painter, give whatever colour or form they please to the bodies which they make themselves. I Sam. 28.The spirit which foretold his defeat and death to Saul had the exact likeness of Samuel, who had been dead for some years. Ezekiel was transported to Azotus by an Angel who had the lips of a man,Ezek. 8. whose face was the colour of amber, and from the loins downward he had the appearance of fire. Tob. 5.The Angel who accompanied the young Tobias in his journey to Gabael had the form of a young man, Gen. 19.
II Macc. 3.as also had the two Angels who visited Lot. We read in the Book of Maccabees that, when Heliodorus was sent by his Prince to despoil the Temple of Jerusalem, there appeared unto him a horse with a terrible rider, together with two other young men excellent in beauty, who surrounded him and scourged him so that his friends were constrained to run to the High Priest, Onias, and to beg him to intercede for him. And when Joshua entered into the promised land, Josh. 5.he saw standing in a field an Angel in the form of a man, with his sword drawn, who told him that he had been sent to guide and conduct the army of the children of Israel. Augustus Cæsar, when he was about to proclaim himself Emperor and Lord of the whole world, saw a vision in the air of a Virgin holding a little child in her arms, and for this reason he abandoned his enterprise: similarly Attila, the King of the Huns, departed from Italy, which he had determined to ruin and lay entirely waste, because he saw standing on each side of Pope Leo I two old men with flaming swords who threatened him with death if he should advance any further: it is said that these two old men were St. Peter and St. Paul, who have always been the true Tutelary Saints of Rome and Italy.
II Cor. 2.But I am particularly concerned with Satan, who also adopts what shape he pleases, sometimes that of a man, sometimes that of a beast, and sometimes even he transforms himself into an Angel of Light. Spin. de Strigib. c. 15. Anon. tract. 3. de credul. Dæm. adhib. Thyr. de loc. infest. part 2. c. 26 num. 4. Dan. au 4. point. Richer au disc. des images. cap. 10. num. 1.
Plutarch, Brut.
Valer. Max. I. 55.When he tried to tempt Jesus Christ and carried Him to the pinnacle of the Temple and to the top of a high mountain, he had the appearance of a man. When he addressed himself to Françoise Secretain, Jacques Bocquet, Clauda Jamprost, and several others of whom we shall speak later, it was under the shape of a man that he gained them. Of the same form was the demon which appeared to Brutus when he was about to pass out of Asia, and that which appeared to Cassius after the defeat of Mark Antony’s army, which openly said that he was a devil. The devils which came out of the Idol of the Moon, which St. Jude broke in pieces, had the appearance of Ethiopians. Cynops, who cast himself into the sea at the prayers of St. John the Evangelist, was accompanied by three devils in the form of men newly raised from the dead. Satyrs, Fauns and Sylvans are nothing but devils bearing some resemblance to men.
Sometimes the Evil One takes the form of a woman, as we are taught in the stories of the lives of St. Anthony and St. Jerome, among others: Plutarch, Dion.
Plin. epist. 27. lib. 7.and the two demons which appeared to Dion were in the form of women, as also seems to have been that which Curtius Rufus saw as he was walking late one day along a gallery. Hector Boece. lib. 8.In Boethius also we have the story of a very beautiful young man who was burdened with a Succubus devil with a very fair face. What we know of Succubi is proof enough that the Devil often assumes the form of a woman, and that he chiefly does so at the Sabbat, as is evidenced by the words of Thievenne, of Jacquema Paget, and of several other witches.
We have said that the Devil sometimes assumes the shape of a beast; and this we learn from St. Athanasius, who tells us in his Life of St. Anthony that the demons appeared to that holy man in the shape of Bulls, Wolves, Vipers, Scorpions, Leopards, Bears and horrible Dragons. Rich. Discours des Images, c. 10. num. 8.Also George Gandillon confessed that, when the Devil appeared to them the first time, he had the form of a large horned Ram. At the Sabbat, too, he most often appears as a ram or a goat. Françoise Secretain confessed that he had lain with her four or five times, and that he was then in the form either of a dog or a cat or a fowl. Paul. Jovi. in Elog.Agrippa was followed by a black dog which was no other than a devil in disguise, as was clearly seen at his master’s death; for being taken ill at an inn at Lyons, and finding himself at the point of death, he took from the dog a collar which it was wearing, all covered with certain characters, saying: “Begone, evil beast which have brought me to perdition.” Upon this the dog threw itself into the Saône, and has never since been seen. Abdias, Bishop of Babylon.The Devil which St. Philip cast out of the Idol of Death was in the form of a Dragon: and the seven devils which so tormented the passers-by, and were made to vanish by St. Andrew, were transformed into dogs. Thevet, again, tells us that in America they have a demon whom they call Agnan, which, like Proteus, appears now in one shape and now in another. And why should we not believe that the Dove and the Bull of Mahomet were no more than devils in that shape, just as it was with Agrippa’s dog?
Nevertheless, although Satan may take what shape he pleases, when he wishes to entice anyone into his net he most often appears to him in the form of a man; and I suppose that he does this so that he may not frighten him whom he approaches, or cause him to be amazed, as he would if he were to speak to him in the shape of a ram or a goat or any other beast. And in this we may see how very busy is this mortal enemy of the human race. But whenever he assumes the form of a man, he is, however, always black, as all witches bear witness. And for my part I hold that there are two principal reasons for this; Ephes. 6.
Matth. 8.first, that he who is the Father and Ruler of darkness may not be able to disguise himself so well that he may not always be known for what he is; secondly, as a proof that his study is only to do evil; for evil, as Pythagoras said, is symbolised by black. This is what Tamburlaine the Great had in mind when, while he was besieging a town, he set up black tents on the third day as a sign that he would put all the inhabitants to fire and the sword if they did not surrender. Ovid, Fast. 5.And long before him, the Greeks regarded it as a bad omen if, in drawing lots, one of the lots were black.
Alexander ab Alexandro, Genial. III. 12.Furthermore, Satan does not always create for himself a body out of air, water or earth, but very often enters into a beast. Mark 5.We see this in St. Mark, where the Devil whose name was Legion prayed Jesus Christ to send him and his companions into the bodies of certain swine, and obtained his request. Lib. de Dæmonibus.And, if we may believe Psellus, there are even demons which live under the earth, and sometimes enter into the body of a swine or other beast, not in order to harm it, but because the cold underneath the earth is so extreme that they cannot endure it, and, being equally unable to endure the rays of the sun, they are compelled to seek shelter and lodging in the bodies of beasts.
The Devil has also sometimes borrowed the body of a man who has been hanged; and this he does chiefly when he wishes to associate with a witch. de subtil. lib. 20.It is for this reason, according to Cardan, that witches are usually ugly and stinking.