The Magical-Astrological-Diviner Posed and Puzzled, Treatise · Chapter 27 · Section 30
30. Of God, and the Starres, and men, blaſphemed, accuſed, calumniated, defamed, by, or by the means of Magicians, and Aſtrologers.
ALexander, in a diſtempered mood, having ſlaine Clytus his plaine, but truſty friend▪ afterwards aſhamed of ſo foule a fact; and having no other way to excuſe ſo vile and diſhonourable an action, he urged his eligion. ſp ellers to try their fatidicall arts, and to enquire whether it was not the ire of the Gods, that had neceſſitated him ſo to doe? and in concluſion (after much calculating, inſpecting, conſulting) the Gods are made to bear the blame, in fatally enforcing ſo foule an act.
A certaine fatidicall Philoſopher beating his ſervant for a fault, the ſervant cried out of his maſters injuſtice, for puniſhing him, for doing a thing that was not in his own will, or power. Seeing he himſelfe had taught, that men are fatally neceſſitated to doe either well or ill.
St. Auguſtine reports of a Mathematician in his time, who was wont to ſay, It was not men that luſted, but Ʋenus; not men that killed, but Mars; not men that ſtole, but Mercury; It was not God that helpt, or favoured, but Iupiter, &c.
Iuſtin Martyr, Marullus, Symeon, Athanaſius, Euſebius Emiſſenus, were calumniated and ſlandered by Magicians and Aſtrologers; as if they had been the worſt of them themſelves.
Kunegunde (they ſay was defamed for a whore, by a diabolicall wizzard; So was Turbula.
In the time of Frederick the ſecond, there was a German ſorcerer, that did uſe to defame men by reproaching them publikly with their moſt ſecret ſinnes.
Blanch wife to Peter of Caſtile, had preſented her husband with a rich Girdle, unwitting that it was enchanted by a certain Iew; ſo that ſtill when the King put it on, it appeared like a ſnake: Maria de Padilla (the Kings Concubine, and the Iews Proſelyte) having herſelfe a chiefe hand in it, moſt calumniouſly charged the vertuous Queen with her own ſorcerous act, inſtigated thereunto by the envious Iew, or Magician: becauſe the Queen had juſtly wrought the whole ſect of them out of power, and favour at Court. But now the King being ſo imbittered by the prodigious apparition, and other magicall predictions, the Concubine was ſo imboldned, that ſhe proſecuted the poore innocent Queen to her death. And after that, ſo bewitched the King, that ſhe got into her place.
Elianor wife to Humphrey Duke of Gloceſter, was impeached of ſorcery by one Bolingbrooke an Aſtronomer, who being himſelfe apprehended, accuſed her as acceſſary: when as her greateſt guilt in that art, was her ſuperſtition in conſulting, not practiſing of it.
The prefect of Galatia miſſing his ſonne, certain ſervants of his were accuſed by the falſe divination of a pſeudomantiſt, as if they had ſlain him: but no ſooner were they executed, but the young man returned ſafe home again.
Alexander being admoniſhed by the divining lots, that he ſhould command him to be killed that firſt met him as he went out of the gate; by chance an Aſſe-herd met him, and he commanded it to be done accordingly. But the poore man complaining of the injuſtice, that he ſhould (being innocent) be adjudged to ſuch capitall puniſhment; anſwer was made, that muſt be imputed to the gods, who had adviſed the King to ſlay the firſt that met him. If it be ſo (quoth the Aſſe-herd) the lot means another, and not me (for my Aſſe which I drave before me) met the King before I. The King delighted with this anſwer, the Aſſe was executed; and ſo the Gods, the King, and the Aſſe-herd were all excuſed by wit, more then by Lot.
…hea Sylvi…, the daughter of Numitor, a veſtall, being compreſſed and found with child: both ſhe and her parents agreed to excuſe it, ſaying, that ſhe had ſuffered force not from a man, but ſome God, or Genius; he that had done the deed, had like-wiſe predicted that ſhe ſhould bring forth twins: which, though it ſo fell out, yet by the ſentence of the Councell, the Law in that caſe was to be uſed againſt her.
A concention ariſing betwixt Cleomenes and Demaratus, about the Kingdome of Lacedaemonia; Cleomenes accuſed Demaratus as not the ſonne of Ariſton, and therefore ought not to ſucceed. The Lacedaemonians to be reſolved in the buſineſſe, conſulted the Delphian Oracle; which (Petiatis the Prieſt thereof being corrupted by Cleomenes) gave anſwer that the party enquired upon, was not Ariſtotis ſonne: Whereupon Demaratus conju…ed his mother from the infernals to anſwer for him: who replied, that it was a God, or an Heroe that deluded her, and begat him. And thus they accuſed one another.
Tertullian, Iuſtin Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, Atbenagoras, Arnobius, Minutius Foelix, Lactantius, Auguſtine; and ſo many as have written againſt the Idolatrous and magicall immolations of the Heathens, have had much to doe to apologize for the Chriſtians, againſt all thoſe falſe calumnies wherewith they impudently burdened them. In ſimulating the Chriſtians to be given to chuſe wickedneſſe, which they themſelves were guilty of: and to be the cauſe of thoſe judgements which their own impieties had provoked. Iulian, and Maximinus were not onelyonly ſatisfied to have them thus defamed, and ſlandered, but took occaſion to determine their perſecution, and extermination.
During the Popedome of Benedict the third, in the City of Mentz a Daemoniacall Familiar that lay lurking under a Sacrificuliſts Pall, as he was ſprinkling of holy water, accuſed him publiquely, that he had that night layn with his Proctors wife.
A certain Praetor or Judge, having ſentenced divers malefactors to death, at the accuſation of an Arioliſt or Pythian vaticinator: at length he took upon him to tell him of one more, if he would not take it ill: the Judge earneſt to know who it was, he inſimulated his own wife, and prefixt an houre wherein he would ſhew him her in the convent of other Witches. But he (knowing his own wives integrity, and miſtruſting the others calumny) at the time appointed had invited (unknown to the Arioliſt) a many of his kindred and friends to ſuppe with his wife and him. And as they ſate at ſupper, he took an occaſion to riſe, and goe with the Arioliſt to the place, where he ſhewed him (in a ſpectrous apparition) his own wife in the company of other Lamian hagges. Enough to have deluded him, had he not returned, and found his wife at the table where he left her, with the teſtimony of all thoſe at the table, that ſhe had never ſtirred thence. Whereupon he cauſed the Arioliſt himſelfe to be executed.