WILLIAM OF AUVERGNE
The man and his writings--His respect for science--And
for experimentation--Influenced by Christian
doctrine--Importance of his account of magic--Its
main points summarized--Demons and magic--Magic and
idolatry--Magic illusions--Natural magic--Is not concerned
with demons--Some instances of natural magic--“The
sense of nature”--Magic’s too extreme pretensions--Wax
images--Factitious gods--Characters and figures--Power of
words denied--Use of divine names--Christian magic--Magic
of sex and generation--William’s contribution to
the bibliography of magic--Plan of the rest of this
chapter--Theory of spiritual substances--Spirits in
the heavens--Will hell be big enough?--Astrological
necromancy--False accounts of fallen angels--Different kinds
of spirits--Limited demon control of nature--Can demons be
imprisoned or enter bodies?--Susceptibility of demons to
the four elements and to natural objects--Stock examples
of natural marvels--The hazel rod story--Occult virtues of
herbs and animals--Virtues of gems--A medley of marvelous
virtues--Divination not an art but revelation--Divination
by inspection of lucid surfaces--Other instances of
divination, ancient and modern--His treatment of
astrology--The philosophers on the nature of the heavens
and stars--William’s own opinion and attitude--Objection
to stars as cause of evil--Virtues of the stars--Extent of
their influence upon nature and man--Against nativities,
interrogations, and images--Astrology and religion and
history--Comets and the star of Bethlehem.
[Sidenote: The man and his writings.]
We now come upon a Christian theologian whose works present an
unexpectedly detailed picture of the magic and superstition of the
time.[1102] He is well acquainted with both the occult literature
and the natural philosophy of the day, and has much to say of
magic, demons, occult virtue, divination and astrology. Finally,
he also gives considerable information concerning what we may call
the school of natural magic and of experiment. This theologian is
William of Auvergne, bishop of Paris from 1228 to his death in 1249,
and previously a canon of that city and a master of theology in its
university. Judging from his age when he received this degree Valois
estimates that he was born about 1180. He was made a bishop at Rome by
the pope, where he had come as a simple deacon to pursue his appeal in
the recent disputed election.[1103] He granted the Dominicans their
first chair of theology at Paris during a quarrel of the university in
1228 with Queen Blanche of Castile and the dispersion of the faculties
to Angers and Rheims.[1104] He took a prominent part in the Parisian
attack upon the Talmud and was perhaps the first Christian doctor of
the Latin west to display an intimate acquaintance with the works
attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.[1105] These facts suggest the extent
of his reading in occult lore. We shall consider his views as expressed
in his various writings, “On Sins and Vices,” “Of Laws” (or Religions),
in the frequent medieval use of the word, _lex_, “Of Morals,” “Of
Faith,” but especially in his voluminous work on “The Universe” which
deals more with the world of nature than do his other theological
treatises. Indeed, in the sixteenth century edition of his works he is
called “a most perfect mathematician” and “a distinguished philosopher”
as well as “a most eminent theologian.”
[Sidenote: His respect for science.]
William at any rate has respect for natural philosophy and favors
scientific investigation of nature. Like his namesake of Conches in
the preceding century he has no sympathy with those who, when they
are ignorant of the causes of natural phenomena and have no idea how
to investigate them, have recourse to the Creator’s omnipotent virtue
and call everything of this sort a miracle, or evade the necessity of
any natural explanation by affirming that God’s will is the sole cause
of it. This seems to William an intolerable error, in the first place
because they have thus only one answer for all questions, and secondly
because they are satisfied with the most remote cause instead of the
most immediate one. There is no excuse for thus neglecting so many
varied and noble sciences.[1106]
In another passage William apologizes to the person to whom the _De
universo_ is addressed for the summary and inadequate discussion of
the stars in which he has just been indulging.[1107] He knows that
certitude in this subject calls for a most thorough investigation and
requires a separate treatise. Moreover, his remarks have been in the
nature of a digression and have little direct bearing on the question
under discussion. But he has introduced them in order that his reader
might see something of the depth and truth of philosophical discussion
and not think that it can be despised as some fools do, who will accept
nothing unless it is armed with proofs and adorned with flowers of
rhetoric and who still more insanely regard as erroneous whatever they
do not understand.
[Sidenote: And for experimentation.]
Thus we see the scientific standards of William of Conches in the
twelfth century still influential and probably more universally
prevalent in the thirteenth. Like his namesake of Conches again,
William of Auvergne states that our common fire is not the pure
element, since it is largely made up of burning coal or wood or other
consumed objects.[1108] He also states that “innumerable experiences”
have proven that moles do not live on earth but hunt worms in
it.[1109] William is aware that many sailors and navigators have found
by experience that certain seas open into others, and as another
indication that all seas are really only one connected sea, he adduces
hidden subterranean channels, and mentions the report that Sicily is
supported on four or five mountains as if by so many columns. Such
are some illustrations of the bits of scientific information and the
trust in natural experiment to be found in William’s work. It is indeed
surprising the number of times he alludes to “experimenters” and to
“books of experiments.”
[Sidenote: Influenced by Christian doctrine.]
On the other hand William, of course, maintains such doctrines as
that of creation against the Peripatetic theory of the eternity of
the universe. He also does not confuse the world soul with the Holy
Spirit as William of Conches and Theodoric of Chartres had done.[1110]
More important than these particular points is the general hypothesis
running through and underlying much of William’s thought that the
Creator can interfere again in the course of nature at any time and
in any way He wills.[1111] The atmosphere of the miraculous and the
spiritual is almost constantly felt in William’s account of the
universe. To a certain extent, however, he evades the difficulties
between science and religion by holding that one thing is true in
philosophy and quite another in theology. Thus he affirms that one
who says that the stars and lights of the sky do not receive addition
or improvement, speaks the truth if the matter is regarded from the
standpoint of natural science, for nature cannot add anything to their
natural perfection. “Yet you ought to know that learned Christian
doctors teach ... and the prophets seem to say expressly that they will
undergo improvement.”[1112] It is, then, as we said to begin with, the
account of magic, demons, occult virtue, divination, astrology and
experimental science, of a theologian not ignorant of nor unsympathetic
with science that we have now to consider.
[Sidenote: Importance of his account of magic.]
William’s account of magic is a remarkable and illuminating one. Most
of it occurs in the closing chapters of the _De universo_. William
himself there states that nothing has come down from previous writers
on the things of which he has just been speaking.[1113] He admits
that his remarks are incomplete but he has at least made a beginning
which will prove welcome to the reader. Probably, however, he is
indebted to previous Christian writers; at any rate we recognize some
of his statements as familiar. But he also has a wide acquaintance
with the literature of magic itself--in his youth he examined the
books of judicial astronomy and the books of the magicians and
sorcerers[1114]--and he combines the results of his reading in a sane
manner. We feel that his view is both comprehensive, including all
the essential factors, and marked by insight into the heart of the
situation. For his time at least he sees remarkably clearly what magic
is, what it cannot do, and how it is related to the science of that age.
[Sidenote: Its main points summarized.]
The chief characteristics of magic as it is depicted by William may
first be briefly summarized, and then illustrated in more detail. He
constantly assumes that its great aim is to work marvels. He holds that
often the ends are sought by the help of demons and methods which are
idolatrous. Evil ends are often sought by magicians. On the other hand
the apparent marvels are often worked by mere human sleight-of-hand
or other tricks and deceptions of the magicians themselves. But the
marvel may be neither human deceit nor the work of an evil spirit. It
may be produced by the wonderful occult virtues resident in certain
objects of nature. To marvels wrought in this manner William applies
the name “natural magic,” and has no doubt of its truth. But he denies
the validity of many methods and devices in which magicians trust,
and contends that marvels cannot be so worked unless demons are
responsible. William furthermore constantly cites books of experiments
and narrates the feats of “experimenters” in discussing magic, and he
often implies a close connection of it with astronomy or astrology.
Here again as in the case of natural magic we see an intimate
connection between the development of magic and of natural science.
Finally, these various characteristics and varieties of magic are not
always kept distinct by William, but often overlap or join. The demons
avail themselves of the forces of nature in working their marvels and
their marvels too are often only passing illusions and empty shams. The
experimenters and operators of natural magic also deal in momentary
effects and deceptive appearances as well as in more solid results.
[Sidenote: Demons and magic.]
William holds then that much of magic is performed by the aid of demons
and involves the worship of them or other forms of idolatry.[1115] One
reason why magic feats are so seldom performed in Christian lands and
William’s own time is that the power of the evil spirits has been so
repressed by Christianity. But the books of the magicians and of the
sorcerers assume the existence of armies of spirits in the sky.[1116]
In the necromantic operation called “The Major Circle” four kings
of demons from the four quarters of the earth appear with numerous
attendants according to the statements of those who are skilled
in works of this sort.[1117] William has also read in the books of
experiments that water can be made to appear where there really is none
by use of a bow of a particular kind of wood, an arrow of another kind
of wood, and a bow-string made of a particular sort of cord.[1118] As
far as an arrow is shot from this bow so far one is supposed to behold
an expanse of water. But William does not believe that the bow and
arrow possess any such virtues, and hence concludes that the mirage is
an illusion produced by the demons and that the ceremony performed by
the magician is a service to the evil spirits. Another writer in his
book of necromancy bids one to take as an oblation such and such a wood
or stone or liquor on such a day at such an hour. Here too, perhaps
because of what he regards as superstitious observance of times and
seasons, William holds that the word “oblation” covers some diabolical
servitude or cult, which has been concealed by the writers of such
experiments. He also states that sorcerers and idolaters often go off
into deserts to have dealings with the demons who dwell there.[1119] He
cites “a certain magician in his book on magic arts” who says that in
order to philosophize he went to places destitute of any inhabitant and
there lived for thirty years with those who dwelt in light and learned
from them what he has written in his book.
[Sidenote: Magic and idolatry.]
In his treatise _De legibus_ William, like Maimonides, endeavors to
explain some of the questionable provisions and prohibitions in the
Mosaic law as measures to guard against idolatry and magic.[1120]
Under the head of idolatry he groups not only the worship of idols
proper and of demons, but also superstitious observance of the stars,
the elements, images, figures, words and names, times and seasons,
beginnings of actions and finding objects.[1121] In another passage
he adds the observance of dreams, auguries, constellations, sneezes,
meetings, days and hours, figures, marks, characters and images.[1122]
Also incantation is not without idolatry. Thus many features of the
magic arts are condemned by him.
[Sidenote: Magic illusions.]
We come next to those magic works which are “mockeries of men or
of demons.”[1123] First there are those transpositions which are
accomplished by agility and hability of the hands and are popularly
called _tractationes_ or _traiectationes_. They are a source of great
wonderment until men learn how they are done. A second variety are
mere apparitions which have no truth. Under this head fall certain
magic candles. One made of wax and sulphurated snakeskin, burned in a
dark place filled with sticks or rushes makes the house seem full of
writhing serpents. William’s explanation of this is that the powdered
snakeskin as it burns makes the rushes appear similar in color to
serpents, while the flickering of the flame gives the illusion that
they are moving. Possibly, however, this may be a defective recipe
for some firework like the modern “snake’s nest.” William is more
sceptical whether in the light of a candle made of wax and the tears
or _semen_ of an ass men would look like donkeys. He doubts whether
wet tears would mix with wax or burn if they did, and whether these
internal fluids possess any of the substance, figure, and color of an
ass’s external appearance. He concedes nevertheless that the _semen_
has great virtue and that the sight is of all senses the most easily
deceived. At any rate “experimenters” (_experimentatores_) have said
things of this sort, and you may read in the books of experiments a
trick by which anyone’s hand is made to appear an ass’s foot, so that
he blushes to draw it from his bosom.[1124]
The work of necromancy called “The Major Circle” is also in the nature
of a delusive appearance. The four demon kings from the four quarters
of the earth seem to be accompanied by vast hosts of phantom horsemen,
jugglers, and musicians, but no prints of horses’ hoofs are visible
afterwards. Moreover, if real horsemen appeared, they would be seen by
everyone, not merely by those within the magic circle. Another common
apparition, produced by “these sorcerers and deceivers” by means of
sacrifices and other evil observances which William will not reveal, is
a wonderful castle with gates, towers, walls, and citadel all complete.
But it is seen only during the magic operation and when it vanishes
leaves no trace behind. William compares such illusions to some
fantastic dream which leaves behind nothing but horror on the faces of
the participants. He argues that if corporeal things outside us make
the strong impression on our senses that they do, it is no wonder if
spiritual substances like demons who are full of forms can impress our
minds potently. It will, of course, occur to the modern reader that
such illusions, like certain marvels of India, were perhaps produced by
hypnotic or other suggestion. William notes that illusions of this sort
are shown only to the gullible and “those ignorant of natural science,”
and that necromancers dare not produce or suggest such phantasms in the
presence of learned and rational men.
[Sidenote: Natural magic.]
There are, nevertheless, occult forces and powers in nature and
those men who are acquainted with them work many marvels and would
work much more wonderful ones, if they had an abundant supply of the
necessary materials.[1125] This is “that part of natural science which
is called natural magic.”[1126] “Philosophers call it necromancy or
_philosophica_, perhaps quite improperly, and it is the eleventh part
of all natural science.” This rather strange association of necromancy
with natural science for which William seems to apologize, we shall
meet again in Albertus Magnus and we have already met with it in
Gundissalinus, Daniel of Morley, and Al-Farabi. With them, however,
necromancy was one of only eight parts of natural science or astrology.
In a third passage William omits mention of necromancy, but again
asserts that certain marvels are natural operations and that knowledge
of them is one of the eleven parts of natural science.[1127] It is with
it that the books of experiments are especially concerned.[1128] From
them and from “the books of natural narrations” you can learn “the
causes and reasons of certain magic works, especially those which are
by the art of natural magic.” The materials possessed of the marvelous
virtues essential for this art are very rare in Europe, but in India
and lands near it they abound, and hence natural magic flourishes
vigorously there, and there are many experimenters there who work
marvels by their skill.[1129]
[Sidenote: Natural magic is not concerned with demons.]
Between this natural magic and that due to demons William makes a
decided distinction.[1130] In natural magic nothing is done by the
aid of demons. The workers of the one are called _magi_ because they
do great things (_magna agentes_) although some may have evilly
interpreted the word as meaning evil-doers (_male agentes_).[1131] And
these others who perform such works by the aid of demons are to be
regarded as evil-doers. William indeed perhaps uses the word _malefici_
(sorcerers) more often than _magi_ for workers of evil magic, but he
cannot be said to observe any such distinction uniformly. He does,
however, express his intention of setting forth “the causes and ways
and methods” by which even the phantasies and illusions of magic are
produced naturally, but of “perditious methods such as nefarious
sacrifices and oblations and sacrilegious observances” he intends to
reveal nothing.[1132] In natural magic William seems to see no harm
whatever, unless it is employed for evil ends. He grants, however,
that some of its works are so marvelous that they seem to the ignorant
to be the works of gods or demons, and that this has been one cause
of idolatry in times past.[1133] So in order that Christianity might
prevail, it was ordered that anyone performing such works should be
considered evil and a sorcerer (_malus et maleficus_), and that
works of this sort should be regarded as performed not by the virtue
of any natural object but rather by the aid and power of demons.
But specialists in such matters are not “surprised at these feats
but glorify the Creator alone in them, knowing that nature alone in
accordance with His omnipotent will operates both in the customary
manner known to men and contrary to custom not only in new ways but new
things.” In another context William again affirms that natural magic
involves no offense or injury to the Creator unless one works evil or
too curiously by that art.[1134]
[Sidenote: Some instances of natural magic.]
One example of the marvels worked by means of natural magic is the
sudden generation of such animals as frogs and worms. Here the natural
processes of generation are hastened by applying certain aids, and
William does not doubt the assertion of Emuth that by mixing seeds new
animals can be bred.[1135] Other phenomena belonging under natural
magic are the marvels worked outside its own body by the soul of the
basilisk and certain other animals and certain human souls--a hint that
the power of fascination is natural magic.[1136] In short, all use of
occult virtue in nature may be classed as natural magic.
[Sidenote: “The sense of nature.”]
Of William’s statements concerning occult virtue we shall hear more
under that head. But we may note here what he says of “the sense of
nature,”[1137] which he calls “one of the roots of natural magic,”
which he often mentions, and which in his opinion accounts for a number
of wonderful things.[1138] It is “a sublimer sense than any human
apprehension and nobler and more akin to prophecy.” By it one senses
the presence in the house of a burglar or harlot who is otherwise
unperceived by any of the ordinary senses. By it some dogs can detect
a thief in a crowd.[1139] It is the mysterious power by which vultures
foresee the coming battle, sheep detect the approach of the wolf, and
the spider that of the fly. William tells of a woman who could feel
the presence of the man she loved when he was two miles distant[1140]
and of another woman who so abhorred her husband that she fell into
an epileptic fit whenever he entered the house.[1141] In the main,
this sense of nature seems about the same as what other writers call
the power of natural divination. William, however, in several cases
accounts for it by the strong sympathy or antipathy existing between
the two persons or animals concerned.
[Sidenote: Magic’s too extreme pretensions.]
While William accepts such marvels and strange forces, there are many
claims of magic which he refuses to grant.[1142] As we shall see later
he sets limits even to the powers of demons. Much less will he allow
the extreme powers asserted of human magicians. In the books of the
magicians appear subversions of nature of every sort. They would bind
fire so that it cannot burn, robbers that they may not steal in a
certain region, a well or spring so that no water may be drawn from
it, and so with merchants and ships. They would even stop water from
flowing down hill. William contends that such works are possible only
by divine miracle, and that if the Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Arabs
could really accomplish the lies in their books, they would have
conquered the world long ago. Nay, the world would be at the mercy of
any single magician or sorcerer (_magi seu malefici_). William then
raises the objection that if two magicians tried to gain the same
object at once, the magic of one or the other would prove a failure or
they would both share an imperfect and half-way success, and in either
case the promises of their art would prove a failure. The same logic
might be applied to the advice how to succeed given to young men by
some of our “self-made” millionaires (are they _magi_ or _malefici_?)
who have exploited natural resources. William, however, goes on to
explain that the books of magic say that not all artificers are equally
skilful or born under a lucky star. He points out the limitations of
Pharaoh’s magicians in much the usual manner.[1143]
[Sidenote: Wax images.]
William not only denies that magic can attain some extreme results,
but also denies that some of the methods employed in magic are
suited or adequate to the ends aimed at. He especially attacks the
employment of images and characters, words, names, and incantations.
The use of wax images in magic to harm the person or thing of whom the
image is made seems to him a futile proceeding. He will not believe
that Nectanebo--the magician of the Pseudo-Callisthenes, it will be
remembered--could sink the ships of the enemy by submerging wax images
of them.[1144] Such magic images possess neither intelligence nor will,
nor can they act by bodily virtue, since that requires contact either
direct or indirect to be effective.[1145] If someone suggests that
they act by sense of nature, he should know that inanimate objects are
incapable of this.[1146] The only way in which the occasional seemingly
successful employment of such images can be accounted for is that
when the magician does anything to the image, demons inflict the same
sufferings upon the person against whom the image is used, and thus
deceive men into thinking that the virtue of the image accomplishes
this result.[1147]
[Sidenote: Factitious gods.]
Hermes Trismegistus speaks to Asclepius in the _Liber de hellera_ or
_De deo deorum_ of terrestrial gods, associated each with some material
substance, such as stones and aromatics which have the natural force
of divinity in them.[1148] Hermes, however, distinguished from natural
gods “factitious gods,” or statues, idols, and images made by man,
into which “the splendor of deity and virtue of divinity” is poured or
impressed by celestial spirits or the heavens and stars, “and this with
observation of the hours and constellations when the image is cast or
engraved or fabricated.” William regrets to say that traces of this
error still prevail “among many old women, and Christians at that.”
And they say that sixty years after their manufacture these images lose
their virtue. William does not believe that there is divinity in stones
or herbs or aromatics, or that men can make gods of any sort.[1149]
Minds and souls cannot be put into statues,[1150] and William concludes
that Trismegistus “erred shamefully” and “was marvelously deceived by
the evil spirits themselves.”[1151] He also calls impossible “what is
so celebrated among the astrologers (_astronomos_), and written in so
many of the books, namely, that a statue will speak like a man if one
casts it of bronze in the rising of Saturn.”[1152]
[Sidenote: Characters and figures.]
William likewise holds that characters or figures or impressions or
astrological images have no force unless they are tokens by which the
evil spirits may recognize their worshipers.[1153] There is no divinity
in the angles of Solomon’s pentagon. William states that some are led
into this error from their theories concerning the stars, and that
the idolatrous cult of the stars distinguishes four kinds of figures:
seals, rings, characters, and images.[1154] Such are the rings and
seal of Solomon with their “execrable consecrations and detestable
invocations.” Even more unspeakable is that image called _idea
Salomonis et entocta_, and the figure known as _mandel_ or _amandel_.
So excessive are the virtues attributed to such images that they belong
only to God, so that it is evident that God has been shorn of His glory
which has been transferred to such figures. Artesius in his book on the
virtue of words and characters asserts that by a certain magic figure
he bound a mill so that the wheels could not turn.[1155] But William is
incredulous as to such powers in characters. He thinks that one might
as well say that virtue of the figure would run the mill without water
or mill-wheels. If the mill did stop, it must have been the work of
demons. Nor can William see any sense in writing the day and hour when
thunder was heard in that locality on the walls of houses in order to
protect them from lightning.[1156] It seems to him an attribution of
the strongest force to the weakest sort of an incidental occurrence.
[Sidenote: Power of words denied.]
William indeed denies that there is magic power in mere words or
incantations. Mere words cannot kill men or animals as sorcerers
claim.[1157] William argues scholastically that if spoken words
possessed any such virtue they must derive it either from the material
of which they are composed, air, or from their form, sound; or from
what they signify. Air cannot kill unless it is poisoned by a plague,
dragon, or toad. Sound to kill must be deafening. If what is signified
by the word is the cause, then images, which are more exact likenesses,
would be more powerful than words. William’s opinion is that when
sorcerers employ magic words and incantations they are simply calling
upon the demons for aid, just as the worshipers of God sometimes induce
Him to work wonders by calling upon His name.
[Sidenote: Use of divine names.]
This brings William to the delicate question of divine names. He
censures the use of the name of God by “magicians and astronomers”
in “working their diabolical marvels.”[1158] He also notes that they
employ a barbaric name and not one of the four Hebrew names of God.
They forbid anyone who is not pure and clad in pure vestments to
presume to touch the book in which this name is written, but they
try to gain evil ends by it and so blaspheme against their Creator.
William, however, seems to feel that the names of God have a virtue not
found in ordinary words and he states that not only servants of God
but even wicked men sometimes cast out demons by making use of holy
exorcisms.
[Sidenote: Christian magic.]
In short, incantations possess no efficacy, but exorcisms do. This
is an indication, not merely of William’s logical inconsistency, but
also of the existence of a Christian or ecclesiastical variety of
magic in his day. He will not believe in Nectanebo’s wax images, but
he believes that the forms of wax which have the likeness of lambs
receive through the benediction of the pope the virtue of warding off
thunderbolts.[1159] He denied that magic words had efficacy through
their sound but he affirms that consecrated bells prevent storms within
the sound of their ringing, and that salt and water which have been
blessed obtain the power of expelling demons. William, however, takes
refuge in God’s omnipotent virtue to explain the efficacy of these
Christian charms.
[Sidenote: Magic of sex and generation.]
Magic appears to have always devoted considerable attention to matters
of sex and generation, and William’s works give one or two instances of
this. He states that sorcerers investigate the cohabiting of certain
animals, thinking that if they kill them at that hour they will obtain
from their carcasses potent love-charms and aids to fecundity.[1160]
We are also told that men have tried to produce, and thought that they
succeeded in producing human life in other ways than by the usual
generative process.[1161] “And in the books of experiments may be found
mockeries of women similar to those which the demons called _incubi_
work and which certain sorcerers have attempted and left in writing for
posterity.” They have recorded a delusive experiment by which women who
have been known only once or twice think that this has occurred fifty
or sixty times.
[Sidenote: William’s contribution to the bibliography of magic.]
As has been already incidentally suggested, William offers considerable
information as to the bibliography of magic in his day. Besides his
many general allusions to works of magic, writings of sorcerers and
prestidigitateurs and astrologers and books of experiments, he mentions
several particular works ascribed to Aristotle and Avicenbros, to
Hermes Trismegistus and Solomon, the “cursed book” of Cocogrecus on
“Stations to the cult of Venus” and, what is perhaps the same, of Thot
grecus on “The cult of Venus.”[1162] An Artesius or Arthesius, whom
in one passage he calls a magician and cites concerning divination
by water and whom in another passage he calls both a magician and
a philosopher who had written a book on the virtue of words and
characters,[1163] is probably the same Artesius who is cited concerning
divination by the rays of the sun or moon in liquids or mirrors in a
work of alchemy in a twelfth century manuscript,[1164] and further
identical with the Artephius who Roger Bacon says lived for one
thousand and twenty-five years,[1165] to whom a treatise is ascribed in
the _Theatrum Chymicum_[1166] and a Sloane manuscript,[1167] and who
seems to have been the same as Altughra’i, a poet and alchemist who
died in 1128.[1168] There also are a number of magic books of which
William does not give the author’s name or the title, but of which
he gives descriptions or from which he makes citations which would
be sufficiently definite to identify the works should one meet with
them elsewhere. In our chapters on pseudo-literature and experimental
literature we treat of many of these works.
[Sidenote: Plan of the rest of this chapter.]
From our survey of magic proper as delineated in William’s works we now
turn to what he represents as the two chief forces in magic, namely,
the demons and the occult virtues in nature, and to two subjects which
he closely connects with magic, namely, divination and astrology. These
four topics will be taken up separately in the order stated.
[Sidenote: The theory of spiritual substances.]
Since William attributes so much of magic to demons, it is important
to note what he has to say concerning these “spiritual substances.” He
proposes to follow as his sources on the subject “authentic accounts”
(_sermones authentici_): first of all the statements of the divinely
inspired prophets, and after that the opinions of the philosophers
and also of the magicians. He observes elsewhere, however, that
there is a lack of literature on the subject; the sages have only
dipped into it and not yet plumbed it to its depths: in fact, only
the treatise of Avicenbros has come to his hands, and while that
authority has said and written many sublime things, far removed from
popular comprehension, still he has made only a beginning in this
field.[1169] William also utilizes, however, the works of Hermes
Trismegistus[1170] and other books of necromancy and magic--among them
Thot Graecus[1171]--the testimony of medical men[1172] and “innumerable
experiences” of men at large.[1173]
William professes himself open to conviction and new light on the
question of the assumption of bodies by good and bad spirits.[1174]
And it must be said that his whole treatment of spirits is full of
inconsistencies and difficulties. Part of the time he draws a hard
and fast line between spiritual substances and physical creation, but
only part of the time. He also essays the difficult task of explaining
how and to what extent these spiritual substances are able to disturb
physical creation, and how far they in turn are affected by it.
[Sidenote: Spirits in the heavens.]
To begin with, William takes up the difficult position--or rather
he makes it difficult for himself--but the usual one with medieval
theologians, that angels occupy physical space and are located in their
own heaven as the stars are in theirs.[1175] Some modern believers
in spiritualism hold a very similar position.[1176] He also declares
that the tenth and last or empyrean heaven will be the eternal abode
of men whose souls are saved, although the resurrected bodies of the
saved would presumably still be corporal substances.[1177] This raises
the further difficulty that apparently the empyrean heaven cannot
be the abode of the angels, as some theologians and saintly doctors
have held (for a corporal place cannot be filled except with corporal
substances), for those superficial persons who mock the authentic
divine revelation of scripture will say that “if that heaven is a
corporal place it cannot be filled except by corporal substances.”
[Sidenote: Will hell be big enough?]
Another point which puzzles William is whether there will be room in
hell for all the evil spirits and resurrected bodies of the damned
destined to make it their ultimate abode. The infernal regions,
located in the interior of our terrestrial globe, seem very small to
him compared with the vast expanse of the empyrean heaven which is
even greater than that of the fixed stars. And our earth is a mere dot
compared to the sphere of the fixed stars. If then that entire empyrean
heaven is to be filled with glorified men, how shall the infernal
regions hold all the damned?[1178] It will be seen that Dante’s later
cosmology is very similar to William’s.
[Sidenote: Astrological necromancy.]
William will not agree, however,[1179] with the books of magic and
the masters of images and illusions that the starry heavens and even
single planets are inhabited by spirits so that the circle of the moon
has fifty ministering spirits and that there are also angels in the
twelve signs of the zodiac. On the other hand, in an earlier chapter
he makes the statement that he has never heard anywhere even in magic
books of demons with power over celestial bodies.[1180] William is of
the opinion that Aristotle was deceived by an evil spirit into boasting
that a spirit had descended to him from the circle of Venus.[1181]
William argues that the starry heavens are _rational_ and able to
regulate themselves and do not require any ministering angels; and on
the other hand that the nobler spirits would not debase themselves by
ministering to mere celestial _bodies_.[1182] William’s own theory is
that demons dwell in the air about the earth and not in the planetary
heavens. He also speaks in one passage of their especially frequenting
deserts.[1183]
[Sidenote: False accounts of fallen angels.]
William also rejects[1184] some non-Christian assertions concerning
fallen angels. One is the statement of the author of a book of sorcery,
who claimed to have communed with spirits thirty years, to the effect
that new spirits are created daily, and that there are twelve orders
of them, and that every day a multitude of them fall and that they
fall into different regions of the earth and there rule--some in
deserts, some in woods, some in fountains and rivers, some in herbs and
trees, some in gems and stones, which thus derive their marvel-working
qualities from them. The other account rejected by William is a
pretty story from Hermes to this effect.[1185] When two angels were
criticizing mankind harshly for its sinfulness God incarnated them to
see how much better they would do. Both promptly fell in love with a
beautiful woman who would return their love only on condition that they
renounce God. When they had done even this, God called them to heaven,
reproved them for not having justified their criticism of sinful
mankind, and told them to choose now their place of punishment. They
selected the air, but later through the prayers of a prophet in Babylon
were shut up in a cave to await their final punishment at the last
judgment.
[Sidenote: Different kinds of spirits.]
William of course makes the usual sharp Christian distinction between
good spirits or angels and bad spirits or demons. It is the latter
alone, rather than spiritual substances in general, whom he connects
with magic, although naturally the magicians themselves often claim to
employ good spirits. William is in doubt whether fauns and pygmies
and some other monsters are demons or animals or men.[1186] He also
lists satyrs, _joculatores_, incubi, succubi, nymphs, Lares, Penates
and other old Latin names such as _cloacina_, _Lucina_, _limitanus_,
_priapus_, _genius_, _hymenus_.[1187] He regards as a delusion the
belief fostered by old-wives in demons who injure infants.[1188]
Despite his mention of incubi and succubi and despite the verses of
Scripture about the sons of God and the daughters of men and that woman
ought to veil her head on account of the angels, he regards demons as
incapable of sexual intercourse with human beings, but he thinks it
possible that they may juggle with nature so as to produce the effects
of sexual intercourse.[1189] He mentions the belief in a demon who
comes to cellars at night in women’s clothing and bestows abundance and
prosperity where food and drink is left uncovered for it to partake
of, which it does without diminishing the quantity. “And they call her
_satia_ from satiety.”
[Sidenote: Limited demon control of nature.]
What is the extent of the control over matter exercised by the demons
in performing marvels? In discussing what demons can and cannot perform
in the ways of marvels, William’s decisions seem rather arbitrary and
capricious.[1190] He grants them superhuman powers of divination and
says that it has been repeatedly proved that they know when invocations
and sacrifices are made to them.[1191] But the apparitions which they
produce are neither real objects nor images in the air but thoughts
and pictures in the mind of the beholder.[1192] The armies of horsemen
produced by necromancers leave no prints of hoofs behind them and their
elaborate castles with gates, towers, walls, and citadel completely
vanish without leaving a trace.[1193] This explains how enchanters and
magicians can apparently cut horses in two, although William grants
it not unlikely that there may be other ways of doing this for those
“who know the marvellous occult virtues of many things.” William also
discusses how demons can toss sticks and stones about, throw persons
out of bed, and transport men or huge rocks for great distances when
they have neither necks nor shoulders to carry them on.[1194] This is
no more strange, he says, than the magnet’s ability to draw iron.[1195]
He believes that the virtue of spiritual substances can overcome weight
which holds bodies at rest and produce lightness which makes motion
easy. It was thus that an angel transported one of the Hebrew prophets
to Babylon by a lock of his hair. It is doubtful, however, if this last
could have been accomplished save by divine aid. He doubts furthermore
if horses could be generated as the frogs were by the Egyptian
magicians of Pharaoh. The generation of frogs is a much easier and more
rapid process. Also the wax lights which mysteriously appear in stables
on the horses’ manes and tails would be easy for demons to make.[1196]
But William disbelieves in such magic transformations as werwolves. His
explanation is that the devil first made the man imagine himself a wolf
and then caused a real wolf to appear and frighten people.[1197] Demons
cannot make idols or images speak, but when the bodies of human beings
are possessed by demons, they form voices after a fashion, although, as
exorcists have assured him, in a raucous tone unlike the usual human
voice, probably because the vocal chords respond but indifferently to
demoniacal abuse of them.[1198]
[Sidenote: Can demons be imprisoned or enter bodies?]
William is sure that demons cannot be imprisoned against their will in
material bodies, whether rings, gems, mirrors, or glass phials such as
Solomon is said to have shut them up in.[1199] William argues that if
a man died in a huge corked bottle his soul would be able to get out.
William, however, believes his Bible when it tells him of demons shut
up in men whom “they vex with innumerable tortures,” or in swine or
in lakes,[1200] although he declares that he does not adduce the case
of demons in swine because it is recorded in the Bible but because
it is attested by the experience of many. And he declares that even
to his day demons give most certain indication of their presence in
lakes when stones are thrown in or they are provoked by some other
movement or sound.[1201] He states, however, that many medical men deny
that human beings are possessed by demons and attribute the seizures
and agitations to fumes and vapors.[1202] Many skilled doctors also
dispute the existence of the nocturnal demon called _ephialtes_ and
attribute the oppressive feeling to action of the heart and not to the
weight of a demon. In this instance William is inclined to agree with
the physicians.[1203] William holds that it is useless to strike at
demons when they appear before you, for you merely beat the air, as
many experiments have shown.[1204] But he believes that demons can be
punished not only by material hell fire but by contact with the other
three elements, air, earth and water.
[Sidenote: Susceptibility of demons to the four elements and to natural
objects.]
Demons feel any affront offered or indignity done them very keenly so
that saints have often routed them by a volley of spit. William is also
inclined to accept the “ancient opinion among the Romans” that human
urine dissolves works of magic.[1205] Furthermore there are several
natural objects which have the occult virtue of driving away demons,
a peony suspended from the neck--Galen’s old remedy for the epileptic
boy--or the top of the heart of a certain fish placed on the coals. If
it is asked how it is that these proud spiritual substances are thus
subject to the virtues of physical bodies, William can only answer that
it is probably in consequence of their fall, which also subjected them
to hell fire. William’s logic simply reduces to this, that God can do
anything He pleases with demons while men can do nothing with them
against the demons’ wills and without imperiling their own souls.
[Sidenote: Stock examples of natural marvels.]
William is as credulous concerning the marvelous powers attributed
to herbs, gems and animals, and as anxious to find some plausible
explanation of their validity, as he was sceptical in regard to images,
characters and words. We encounter once more in his pages many of the
stock examples of natural marvels which we have met again and again
in previous writers and shall find in many writers after him. He
rhapsodizes concerning the power of the magnet and mentions its three
species according to Hermes (Mercurius).[1206] He tells of the phoenix,
of the masculine and feminine palms, and of theriac.[1207] Indeed, the
magnet, the palms, and the story of the hazel rod told below are all
introduced while William is supposedly discussing divine providence.
In more than one passage he tells--perhaps directly from Pliny--of
the stupefaction produced by the _torpedo_ in persons who touch it
only with a long stick, of the little _echinus_ or _remora_ which
stops great ships, or of the powers of lion and basilisk, and of the
gem heliotrope which aided by the virtue of the herb of the same name
renders one invisible.[1208] For this assertion concerning heliotrope,
however, which Pliny stigmatized as an example of the magicians’
impudence,[1209] William cites the writings of experimenters.
[Sidenote: The hazel rod story.]
On the other hand, a passage in William’s work concerning the property
of a hazel rod was repeated within a few years by at least three
writers: Albertus Magnus, John of St. Amand, and Roger Bacon. William
relates that men say that if the rod is split in two lengthwise
the halves will approach one another again of their own accord and
reunite.[1210] Deceivers attribute this to the virtue of certain words
which they utter, but it is by virtue and sense of nature.
[Sidenote: Occult virtues of herbs and animals.]
William regards the occult virtue of things on this earth as so certain
that he uses it to argue that the stars too must possess great
powers.[1211] This is attested “from the operations of the virtues of
other things, both animals and parts of them, also herbs, medicines,
and stones.”[1212] Of medicines he especially recommends the _empirica_
to the reader’s consideration.[1213] The virtues of herbs have been
proved to be very numerous and very marvelous.[1214] As for animals,
after describing the virtues of the basilisk, William adds, “and when
you have heard similar and maybe greater things concerning the occult
virtues of other animals, you will not marvel at these.” Among many
medicines which prolong life he believes that the flesh of snakes has
great renovating virtue,[1215] and among medicines supposed to produce
visions and revelations he names the eye of an Indian tortoise and
the heart of the hoopoe,[1216] which are thought to clear the soul of
noxious vapors in sleep and pave the way for illuminations. William
suggests that these substances may horrify one so as to shock the soul
free from the body. He even mentions a medicine the smoke from which
in the room in which one is sleeping will free the soul from the body
so that it emerges into the region of light and the luminosity of the
Creator.[1217] And in the case of the little fish which binds ships
so that they cannot move, he holds it indubitable that this cannot
possibly be done by any bodily virtue which it possesses and must be by
some spiritual virtue which exists in its soul.[1218] This reminds him
of the power of the human imagination as shown in the case of the man
who cast down a camel by merely imagining its fall.[1219]
[Sidenote: Virtues of gems.]
To the virtues of gems William alludes a number of times. He recounts
how the sapphire of its own motion springs into a diseased human eye
and cleanses it of its noxious humors.[1220] He also finds it asserted
that the emerald attracts riches to its owner and that the topaz
checks the passions of avarice, cupidity, luxury, and evil desire. He
endeavors to explain how it may be possible for the stone heliotrope to
render one invisible; as the power of the stone turns the brightness
of the sunlight to a ruby shade, so it may be that the potency of its
color prevents the spectators from discerning at all the color of the
man who wears it, just as it is said that a musical instrument strung
with snake-skin drowns the sound of all other instruments.[1221]
[Sidenote: A medley of marvelous virtues.]
Some of the virtues ascribed to natural objects William finds
almost too marvelous for belief, but then strengthens his faith by
recollecting some others which are more marvelous still, as the
following passage will illustrate.[1222] The experimenters have put in
their books the marvelous statement that the presence of a serpent or
of a reed containing some quicksilver affects sorcerers and magicians
so that their juggleries and incantations are of no avail. William, who
it will be recalled had elsewhere denied the ability of a magic figure
to stop a mill-wheel, is also inclined to question whether serpents
or quicksilver have any power over evil spirits and incantations. But
then he remembers that the experimenters also assert that a crab hung
in mid-air keeps moles who move underground out of the field and that
the herb peony drives devils out of demoniacs. Since the peony has many
virtues necessary for men and demons hate men, William thinks it likely
that they hate the herb too, and flee from it, when it is suspended
about one’s neck. And in one of the books of the Hebrews it is
expressly stated that one of the holy angels said that the top of the
heart of a certain fish placed on live coals would drive any kind of
demon out of men or women. This book is received as authentic by both
Hebrews and Christians, and William also regards an archangel as a good
authority. This being established, he sees no reason why a snake may
not have power over demons too. He recalls too the ancient belief among
the Romans that human urine dissolves all works of magic; the manifest
fact that jasper drives away snakes and that eagles place it in their
nests for this reason; and that the gem achates or agate taken powdered
in drink causes the unchaste to vomit. In Great Britain they test the
morals of boys and girls by this experiment. This property of the agate
causes William to marvel much, for he sees no connection between stones
and virginity. However, if the agate is incompatible with unchastity,
what wonder if quicksilver will not tolerate the working of magic in
its presence?
It has been made evident that William accepts very extreme powers in
natural objects and that with such resources the possibilities of his
natural magic should be well-nigh unlimited. If he does not quite
believe in all these marvels, he does not definitely deny them, and
evidently enjoys repeating them.
[Sidenote: Divination not an art but revelation.]
William states that the proper meaning of divination is imitation
of the deity, but that the term is usually not applied to the
revelations made by good spirits and prophets but to the revelation
of hidden things, especially the future, by evil spirits.[1223] For
he also affirms that divination is not a human art but a matter of
revelation. The medical prognostications of physicians, although they
may seem occult to other men, are based on experience of their art and
astronomers are not called diviners but men of learning. While William
may deny that the diviner is an _artifex_, he has to admit that some
diviners use tools or materials and so give their predictions the
appearance of being based upon some art.
[Sidenote: Divination by inspection of lucid surfaces.]
Of this type is the practice of predicting the future by gazing upon
polished and reflecting surfaces which are rubbed with oil to increase
their lucidity.[1224] Among the substances employed are mirrors,
two-edged swords, children’s finger-nails, egg shells, and ivory
handles. Usually a boy or a virgin is employed to gaze thereupon,
and sometimes exorcisms, adjurations, and observance of times are
added. William affirms that many experiences have demonstrated that
only one boy out of seven or ten sees anything therein, and he is of
the opinion that the whole apparatus simply conceals “the impiety of
diabolical sacrifices.” Some ancient sages, nevertheless, notably
Plato, have thought that the soul of the gazer is thrown back upon
itself by the luminosity of the object seen and then exercises its
latent powers of natural divination. We sometimes see such revelations
by the irradiation of spiritual light in the insane, the very ill,
dreamers, and those in whom because of great fright or care the mind
is abstracted from the body.[1225] William therefore finally concludes
that the theory of the philosophers as to divination by inspection of
lucid bodies “is undoubtedly possible,” but he still maintains that
demons are often involved.
[Sidenote: Other instances of divination, ancient and modern.]
William also tells us of an ancient Latin magician who believed that
the soul of an immaculate boy who had been slain by violence would have
knowledge of past, present and future.[1226] He therefore murdered a
boy, and then went insane himself and imagined that he heard responses
from the boy’s soul. This was surely the work of demons. Other ancient
philosophers blinded boys or themselves in order to increase the power
of the soul in divination.[1227] William further mentions the old-wives
of his own time who still persisted in divination and interpreting
dreams and could not be made to desist even by beatings.[1228] He
states that these old women still cherished the superstition of the
augurs that if you find a bird’s nest with the mother bird and little
ones or the eggs, and preserve it intact, all will go well with you,
while if you harm it or separate any bird or egg from it you will
encounter ill fortune.[1229]
[Sidenote: His treatment of astrology.]
William has much to say in his various works of the heavens and the
stars, and he rarely overlooks an opportunity to have a tilt with
the astrologers. Most of his statements and arguments had been often
employed before, however, and he also repeats himself a great deal, and
his long-drawn scholastic listing and rebutting of supposed reasons
pro and con at times becomes insufferably tedious. We shall therefore
compress his treatment to a very small space compared to that which it
occupies in his own works and words.
[Sidenote: The philosophers on the nature of the heavens and stars.]
William states that Plato and Aristotle, Boethius, Hermes Trismegistus,
and Avicenna, all believed the stars to be divine animals whose souls
were as superior to ours, as their celestial bodies are.[1230] Since
these philosophers regarded the stars as nobler, wiser, and more
powerful than mortals, they made them guardians and guides of humanity,
and distributed all earthly objects under their rule. Such doctrines
William recalls examining when he was young in the books of judicial
astrology and the volumes of magicians and sorcerers, from whom he
would appear to distinguish the above-named philosophers none too
carefully. He indeed explicitly classes “Plato and Aristotle and their
followers” with “those who believe in judgments of the stars.”[1231]
He also tells us that Plato regarded the entire universe as one divine
animal, and that his followers regarded the tides as the breathing of
this world animal; but that Aristotle and his school included only what
is above the moon or even only the heaven of the fixed stars.[1232]
Avicenna, too, called the heaven an animal obedient to God.
[Sidenote: William’s own opinion and attitude.]
William himself is inclined to think that the divisions and diversities
of the nine spheres militate against their being animated by a single
soul; and he rejects the theory that the world soul is composed of
number and musical consonance.[1233] But he leaves Christians free,
if they will, to believe with the Aristotelians and many Italian
philosophers that the superior world is either one or many animals,
that the heavens are either animated or rational.[1234] In this he
sees no peril to the Faith; but hitherto Hebrew and Christian doctrine
has not explored such matters, and Christians have been too absorbed
in saving men’s souls to note whether the heavens had souls or no.
It would indeed be strange if William denied the starry heavens some
sort of soul or souls when he has attributed one to a sea-fish like
the echinus.[1235] But he declares that “it is manifest that human
souls are nobler than those which they put in heavenly bodies.” And
he warns against the wicked error of identifying the Holy Spirit with
the world soul. We have noted elsewhere his hostility to the theory
of astrological necromancy that the heavens and stars are full of
ministering spirits. He also contraverts the Aristotelian doctrines
that there are as many intelligences moving the heavenly bodies
as there are celestial motions and that the heavens love superior
intelligences and strive to become assimilated to these.[1236]
[Sidenote: Objection to stars as cause of evil.]
Like most Christian apologists William adopts the argument that
the stars, if rational, would not cause evils and misfortunes such
as astrologers predict, and seems to think that all the evil in
the world can be charged to the account of human perversity or the
imperfections inherent in the matter of our inferior world, and that
for these two sources of ill neither God nor the stars should be held
responsible.[1237] He recognizes, it is true, that someone may argue
that these evils exist by the will of the Creator, whose will is
nevertheless always good, but he does not seem to see that the same
reasoning may be applied to the rule of the stars. He seems to regard
as a new discovery of his own and a point hitherto unrecognized by
astrologers, the argument that ineptitude on the part of inferior
matter receiving the force of the stars may account for many effects
apparently due to the heavens. But in thinking this argument novel he
is much mistaken. Really his only point here against astrologers is
that some of them are careless in their phraseology and speak of the
stars as causing evil, which he regards as blasphemy of Him who created
the stars. “And all blasphemy against the Creator,” continues William
in a truculent and intolerant tone which reveals the spirit of the
medieval inquisition, “is an impiety to be exterminated with fire and
sword.”
[Sidenote: Virtues of the stars.]
William raises certain difficulties in regard to astrological technique
only to answer them himself. And he grants that fixed stars which
seem close together may really be separated by vast distances and so
have very different virtue. And he cannot deny “many marvelous and
occult virtues” in celestial bodies, when he admits “so many and so
great occult virtues” in terrestrial bodies. Indeed all philosophers
agree that the virtues of the stars far surpass even those of precious
stones. The variations in the heat of the sun, while its course
continues constant, seem to William a sure indication that the other
planets and fixed stars participate in influencing our world.
[Sidenote: Extent of their influence upon nature and man.]
While William was not unwilling to concede souls or reason to the
stars, he believes that it is perilous for Christians to regard the
souls of the heavens as “governors of inferior things and especially
of human affairs.”[1238] Those who hold that man’s actions are caused
of necessity by the motion of the sky and the positions of the stars,
ruin, in his opinion, the foundations of law and morality.[1239]
“Against that error, one ought not so much to dispute with arguments
as fight with fire and sword.” Some have argued that because stars
and lights were created before vegetation, animal life, and human
beings, they are causes of these others, both generating and regulating
them.[1240] In favor of this contention so much has been written that
it can scarcely be read, says William, and the stars do give much
aid in generation and in conservation of generated things, but not
so much as the astrologers think.[1241] They should not be consulted
even as signs--rather than causes--in human concerns.[1242] In our
sublunar world their power extends only to the four elements and
four humors and only to such animals composed of these as lack free
will and obey natural necessity. Thus William really excludes only
human free will and intellect from sidereal control,[1243] and he
admits that “the multitude and populace from want of intelligence and
other evil dispositions lives almost after the manner of brutes,”
following natural impulse to a great extent, so that astrologers may
predict popular agitations and mob uprisings with a fair degree of
accuracy, but should not predict concerning individuals. Even in the
case of individuals, however, he does not deny that natural virtues
and vices are attributable to the stars, such vices, for instance, as
irascibility, levity, and lubricity, which medical authorities ascribe
not to moral fault but physical constitution.[1244] William would limit
the influence of the stars not only by individual freedom of the will
but by the power of prayer.[1245] He does not believe the decrees of
fate so fixed and the laws of nature so unchangeable that God’s wrath
may not be placated by prayer, and freedom from any threatening evil
obtained from His goodness. Belief in the power of the stars and belief
in the power of prayers: which is the more superstitious, which the
more nearly scientific? Or which belief has led to progress in science?
[Sidenote: Against nativities, interrogations, and images.]
William complains that “Ptolemy and Haly and other astronomers” have
attributed original sin and all its consequences to the constellations
and hours of nativity, in that they have presumed to write books
of horoscopes and nativities.[1246] He feels it “necessary to say
something against that insanity” because of the great reputation such
famous writers have among the “simple and stupid multitude” which
regards them as profound sages and sublime prophets. Into William’s
particular arguments against the art of casting nativities, which much
resemble the arguments of Augustine and John of Salisbury, we will not
go. Elsewhere he also attacks the practice of interrogations.[1247]
He also strongly objects to the books which he says astrologers have
written on discovering men’s secret thoughts through the significations
of the stars.[1248]
William has much to say against astrological images, but his attitude
has already been partially indicated in stating his attitude towards
images, figures, and characters in general. He declares that belief
in astrological images “derogates more from the honor and glory of
the Creator than the error which attributes such virtue to the stars
and luminaries themselves.” It seems to him “a strange and quite
intolerable error to think that stars which cannot help themselves
can bestow such gifts as invincibility, social graces, temperance or
chastity.”[1249] Yet elsewhere we have heard him mention with seeming
complaisance the bestowal of riches and checking of evil passions
by emeralds and topazes. His best argument as against figures and
characters in general is that such lifeless bodies cannot produce
intellectual and moral effects in living human beings, especially when
the engraved gems are, as is usual, hidden away somewhere, or buried
underground.
[Sidenote: Astrology and religion and history.]
William condemns as error the association of the world’s leading
religions with the planets, as Judaism with Saturn, Islam with
Venus, and Christianity with the sun.[1250] The stars, he declares,
are subject to religion, not religion to the stars, and Joshua made
even the sun and moon stand still. William is candid enough to
recognize that the seven-branched candlestick in the Jewish tabernacle
designated the seven planets, but elsewhere states that the Mosaic
Law forbade observation of the stars.[1251] William also considers
the doctrine of the _magnus annus_ or Platonic year, that after
36,000 solar years history will repeat itself down to the minutest
detail owing to the recurrence of the former series of positions of
the constellations.[1252] Since this has the support of men of great
reputation, he lists various arguments advanced in its favor and rebuts
them in detail.
[Sidenote: Comets and the star of Bethlehem.]
William believes that comets appear in the sky and in the air “as signs
of slaughters and other great events in the world.” He mentions “the
universal belief” that they foretell the deaths of kings and political
changes.[1253] But he asserts that the star announcing Christ’s
birth was not of this sort and that the darkness at the time of the
Crucifixion was not due to an ordinary eclipse.
FOOTNOTES:
[1102] _Gulielmi Alverni episcopi Parisiensis mathematici perfectissimi
eximii philosophi ac theologi praestantissimi Opera omnia per
Joannem Dominicum Traianum Neapolitanum Venetiis ex officina Damiani
Zenari_, 1591. The _De universo_ occupies nearly half of the volume,
pp. 561-1012. My references will be to this edition and to the _De
universo_ unless some other title is specified. In it--and in such
other editions of William’s works as I have seen--the chapter headings
are often very poor guides to the contents, especially if the chapter
is of any length. There are at Paris thirteenth century MSS of the _De
fide_ and _De legibus_ (BN 15755) and _De universo_ (BN 15756).
The chief secondary work on William of Auvergne is Noel Valois,
_Guillaume d’Auvergne_, Paris, 1880. One chapter is devoted to his
attitude to the superstitions of his age, and goes to the other extreme
from Daunou, HL XVIII, 375, whom Valois criticizes for calling William
extremely credulous. The inadequacy of Valois’ chapter, at least from
our standpoint, may be inferred from his total omission of William’s
conception of “natural magic.” Valois has no treatment of William’s
attitude to natural science but contents himself with a discussion
of his philosophy and psychology. (See also M. Baumgartner, _Die
Erkenntnislehre des Wilhelm von Auvergne_, Münster, 1893.) The chapter
on William’s attitude to superstition is largely given over to examples
of popular superstitions in the thirteenth century, supplementing
legends of Brittany and other stories told by William with similar
anecdotes from the pages of Stephen of Bourbon, Caesar of Heisterbach,
and Gervaise of Tilbury. Valois’ citations of William’s works are from
an edition in which the pages were numbered differently from those in
the one I used.
[1103] Valois (1880), pp. 9-11.
[1104] Valois (1880), p. 53.
[1105] HL 18, 357.
[1106] II-iii-20, (pp. 994-95). Yet in another connection (I-i-46, pp.
625-26) William inconsistently makes the assertion that everything
depends absolutely upon God’s will alone as an argument against
employing magic images to gain one’s ends. He tells a story of a man
who, when a magician offered to secure him some great dignity in
his city, asked him if he could get it against God’s will. When the
magician admitted that he could not, the man asked if he could prevent
securing it if God willed it and the magician again answered “No.” The
man then said that he would commit it all to God. William does not seem
to see that this attitude is the same as that of ignorant persons who
leave scientific investigation to God or of hungry people who expect
God to feed them.
[1107] I-i-44, (p. 613).
[1108] I-i-42, (p. 608).
[1109] _Ibid._, (p. 606).
[1110] See I-iii-31, (p. 759). See also Valois, 304 and M. K. Werner,
_Wilhelms von Auvergne Verhältniss z. d. Platonikern des XII. Jhts_, in
_Vienna Sitzb._, vol. 74 (1873), p. 119 _et seq._
[1111] See I-ii-30, (p. 694) for an expression of this view.
[1112] I-ii-31, (p. 695).
[1113] II-iii-23, (pp. 1003-4).
[1114] _De legibus_, Cap. 25, (p. 75).
[1115] I-ii-21, (p. 680): II-iii-7, (p. 973).
[1116] II-iii-23, p. (1003): _De legibus_, Cap. 24, (p. 73): II-ii-29,
(p. 820).
[1117] II-iii-7, (p. 971).
[1118] II-iii-22, (p. 998).
[1119] _De legibus_, Cap. 9, (pp. 38-39).
[1120] See Cap. 13 (p. 43) and before
[1121] Cap. 23, (p. 65).
[1122] Cap. 14, (pp. 44-45).
[1123] II-iii-22, (p. 998) ... opera huiusmodi quae opera magica et
ludificationes vel hominum vel daemonum nuncupantur.
[1124] II-iii-7, (p. 971): II-iii-12, (pp. 977-79).
[1125] II-iii-21, (pp. 997-998) naturarum vires et potentias occultas,
etc.
[1126] I-i-43, (p. 612): _De legibus_, Cap. 24, (p. 67).
[1127] _De legibus_, Cap. 14 (p. 44).
[1128] II-iii-22, (p. 999).
[1129] II-iii-23, (p. 1003).
[1130] _De legibus_, Cap. 14, (p. 46).
[1131] II-iii-21, (p. 998).
[1132] II-iii-12, (p. 979).
[1133] _De legibus_, Cap. 24, (pp. 67-68).
[1134] I-i-46, (p. 627).
[1135] _De legibus_, Cap. 24, (pp. 67-68).
[1136] I-i-43, (p. 612).
[1137] “Sensus naturae,” _De legibus_, Cap. 27, (p. 88).
[1138] See pp. 875, 876 and 983 as well as the following reference.
I-i-46, (p. 624).
[1139] II-ii-70, (p. 870).
[1140] II-ii-69, (p. 869).
[1141] II-ii-70, (p. 870).
[1142] I-i-46, (p. 625).
[1143] II-iii-22, (p. 1000).
[1144] I-i-46, (p. 625).
[1145] I-i-46, (p. 626).
[1146] I-i-46, (p. 624).
[1147] I-i-46, (p. 627).
[1148] _De legibus_, Cap. 23, (p. 64): II-iii-22, (p. 999).
[1149] _De legibus_, Cap. 26, (p. 82).
[1150] _Ibid._, Cap. 27, (pp. 84 ff.).
[1151] II-iii-22, (p. 999).
[1152] _De legibus_, Cap. 26, (p. 84).
[1153] _Ibid._, Cap. 27, (pp. 86-87).
[1154] _Ibid._, Cap. 23, (p. 65).
[1155] II-iii-23, (p. 1003).
[1156] _De legibus_, Cap. 27, (p. 89).
[1157] _Ibid._, (pp. 87-88).
[1158] _Ibid._, (p. 89).
[1159] _De legibus_, Cap. 27, (p. 84).
[1160] _Ibid._, Cap. 4, (p. 34).
[1161] II-iii-25, (p. 1010).
[1162] II-ii-96, (p. 895).
[1163] _De universo_, pp. 996-7, also 1003; _De legibus_, cap. 27 (p.
89).
[1164] Berlin 956, 12th century, fol. 21, Hic incipit alchamia....
[1165] Bridges, II, 212.
[1166] _Theatrum Chymicum_, Strasburg, 1613, IV, 221.
[1167] Sloane 1118, 15th century, #28. Arthephii capitulum ex opere
solis extractum.
[1168] Gildemeister in _Zeitsch. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Ges._ XXXIII,
534: cited by Lippmann (1919), 408.
[1169] _De legibus_, Cap. 26, (pp. 81-82): I-i-44, (p. 613).
[1170] _De universo_ II-ii-37, (p. 831): II-ii-100 (p. 898).
[1171] _Ibid._, II-ii-96, (p. 895).
[1172] _Ibid._, II-iii-13, (p. 982): II-iii-24, (p. 1007).
[1173] _Ibid._, II-ii-63, (p. 860): II-ii-70, (p. 871): II-iii-6, (p.
968): II-iii-17, (p. 988).
[1174] _Ibid._, II-iii-24, (p. 1007).
[1175] _Ibid._, II-ii-84 and 85, (pp. 885-6).
[1176] Among errors condemned at Paris in 1240 by William as bishop the
seventh was “that neither glorified souls nor glorious or glorified
bodies will be in the empyrean heaven with the angels but in the watery
or crystalline (heaven) which is above the firmament. Which they even
presume to say of the blessed virgin. On the contrary it should be
believed that there is the same place for holy angels and souls of the
blest, namely, the empyrean heaven,” etc.
The eighth error was “that an angel can in the same instant be in
different places and is everywhere if he wishes to be everywhere.”
These errors and various other sets of errors condemned at Paris and
Oxford are printed in an incunabulum numbered IA.4778 in the British
Museum.
[1177] _De universo_ I-i-34, (p. 595 ff). Also Cap. 43 (pp. 609 to 611).
[1178] Who William believes will exceed the saved in numbers: “De
multitudine vero damnandorum omnis lex determinatum habet apud se quod
multo maior futura sit multitudine glorificandorum.” The passage has
already been quoted in HL XVIII, 371-2.
[1179] _De legibus_, Cap. 24, (p. 73.) _De universo_ II-ii-96, (p. 895).
[1180] _Ibid._, II-ii-70, (p. 871).
[1181] _Ibid._, II-ii-39 and 98, (pp. 833 and 897) and II-iii-6, (p.
967): also II-ii-96, (p. 895).
[1182] _De universo_, II-ii-97, (p. 896).
[1183] _De legibus_, Cap. 9, (pp. 38-39).
[1184] _De universo_, II-ii-29, (p. 820) and II-iii-6 to 8, (pp. 966 to
973).
[1185] _Ibid._, II-ii-37, (p. 831): II-ii-100, (p. 898).
[1186] _De universo_, II-iii-7, (p. 970).
[1187] _Ibid._, II-iii-12, (pp. 976-7).
[1188] _Ibid._, II-iii-24, (p. 1004).
[1189] _Ibid._, II-iii-25, (pp. 1009-10).
[1190] _Ibid._, II-iii-23, (p. 1000).
[1191] _De legibus_, Cap. 24, (p. 67).
[1192] _De universo_, I-ii-21, (p. 680), and II-ii-63, (p. 860).
[1193] _Ibid._, II-iii-12, (p. 979).
[1194] _De universo_, II-ii-70, (p. 871).
[1195] _Ibid._ (p. 1001).
[1196] _Ibid._ (pp. 1003-1004).
[1197] _Ibid._, II-iii-13, (p. 983).
[1198] _De legibus_, Cap. 26, (p. 83-4).
[1199] _De legibus_, Cap. 26, (p. 81).
[1200] _De universo_, II-iii-6, (p. 968).
[1201] _Ibid._, II-iii-17, (p. 987).
[1202] _Ibid._, II-iii-13, (p. 982).
[1203] _Ibid._, II-iii-24, (p. 1007).
[1204] _Ibid._, II-iii-17, (p. 988).
[1205] _Ibid._, II-iii-22, (p. 999).
[1206] I-iii-11, (p. 731: also pp. 756-57).
[1207] I-ii-16, (p. 668): II-iii-22 (p. 999).
[1208] II-ii-73, (p. 873): II-iii-22, (p. 998): II-iii-16, (p. 986):
I-i-46, (p. 621).
[1209] NH 37, 60.
[1210] I-iii-11, (p. 731).
[1211] I-i-46, (p. 621).
[1212] The influence of this passage is seen in a MS at Paris which
was once the property of the humanist Budé: BN nouv. acq. 433, anno
1486, fol. 1: Excerpta from William of Auvergne, “et primo ex capitulo
de virtutibus occultis quorundam animalium herbarum et lapidum
relatorum ad consideracionem astronomicam et astronomorum, ut plurimum,
errancium.”
[1213] II-ii-76 (p. 876), necnon et exemplis occultarum operationum et
mirabilium quaeque nonnulli medicorum et etiam quidam philosophorum
naturalium empirica vocant.
[1214] II-iii-22, (p. 999).
[1215] I-i-59, (p. 639).
[1216] II-iii-21, (p. 997).
[1217] II-iii-20, (p. 995).
[1218] II-iii-16, (p. 986).
[1219] This illustration is also used by Peter of Abano, _Conciliator_,
Diff. 135; and is found in the 219 opinions of Siger de Brabant and
others condemned at Paris in 1277 (see below, Chapter 62).
[1220] I-i-46, (p. 621).
[1221] II-iii-22, (p. 998).
[1222] II-iii-22, (p. 999).
[1223] II-iii-18, (p. 989).
[1224] _Ibid._ and _De legibus_, Cap. 24, (p. 68).
[1225] II-iii-20, (p. 993).
[1226] II-iii-19, (p. 990).
[1227] II-iii-20, (p. 994).
[1228] I-iii-27, (pp. 750-51).
[1229] _De legibus_, Cap. 2, (p. 31).
[1230] _De legibus_, cap. 25 (p. 75). _De universo_, I-iii-27, (p. 751).
[1231] I-iii-28, (p. 753).
[1232] I-iii-27, (pp. 751-2).
[1233] I-iii-30, (p. 757).
[1234] I-iii-31, (p. 759).
[1235] I-ii-29, (p. 693).
[1236] I-ii-5, (p. 650): II-i-45, (p. 794): II-i-4, (p. 763).
[1237] I-i-46, (pp. 618-23).
[1238] I-iii-28, (pp. 753-4).
[1239] I-iii-20, (p. 740).
[1240] I-i-42, (pp. 606-7).
[1241] I-i-46, (pp. 627-8).
[1242] I-iii-31, (p. 759).
[1243] I-i-46, (pp. 628-9).
[1244] _Ibid._, (p. 620).
[1245] _Ibid._, (p. 626).
[1246] _De vitiis et peccatis_, cap. 6, (p. 264).
[1247] _De legibus_, cap. 20, (p. 55).
[1248] I-i-46, (p. 628).
[1249] _De universo_, I-i-46, (pp. 622 ff). _De legibus_, cap. 23, (p.
65).
[1250] _Ibid._, cap. 20, (p. 53).
[1251] _Ibid._, cap. 2, (p. 31): I-i-46, (p. 628).
[1252] I-ii-16 and 17, (pp. 667-9).
[1253] I-i-46, (p. 629).