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tain tribes about Pontus, Scythia, Transylvania, and Muscovy. Vair, de Incant. II. 9.
Wier, de praestig. II. 49.Again, Philostratus in his life of Apollonius mentions a certain Saturnius of Ephesus who, by his mere looking, killed all those at whom he looked. Further, we read that the witch Eriphile looked at a beast, and that soon afterwards some evil came to the beast. And the proverb which the Italians keep to this day, Di gratia non gli diate mal d’ochio, shows that the same practice was rife in Italy. Similarly there are animals which kill by their looking, such as the Basilisk, and the serpent Catoblepas which lives about the spring Nigris in Ethiopia, which many believe to be the source of the Nile. There are other animals which, by looking at a man, take away his speech; such as the wolf. Verg. Eclog.Moeris was first beheld by wolves. Notwithstanding this, I have never believed that witches had the power to cause injury by their looking. For whence should such power come to them? Either it must be born with them, or it must be acquired by art. Now the former alternative is impossible; for it cannot be that God, who created man to be a civilised animal, would have endowed him with a deadly power to kill those with whom he consorted. I could almost brand such a belief as a detestable impiety, seeing how strictly the Law of God punishes a murderer. Also it should be considered that, if witches were born with this power of killing, all indifferently at whom they looked would die; but this is not the case.

And if this power is acquired by art, I should like to be shown of what nature it is in witches; whether it consists in some poison emanating