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