_The Demon to the Sorcerer_.
"Wretch! long lost in wickedness,
Thou shalt ne'er have happiness;
Though to distant lands thou'lt flee,
Still my shadow thou shalt see,
And I will revenged be.
"Solitude thou ne'er shalt know,
Where thou goest my shade shall go,
And wherever thou mayst fly
Still the shadow will be by--
Ne'er alone at any hour,
And for ever in my power.
"By my spell thou ne'er shalt know
Peace or joy on earth below,
At my charm a deadly fear
Shall seize on all men standing near;
Thou shalt tremble in thy home,
Or if thou abroad shouldst roam,
Shivering with fear thou'lt be,
And the earth shall shake with thee.
"At my bidding thou must stir,
And hasten as the vilest cur
Must hasten when his master calls,
And leave his straw amid the stalls;
And if thou wouldst gaze on me,
Still my form thou shalt not see;
Thou shalt feel when I am here,
Feel me in thy deadly fear,
Yet only see thy shadow near.
"Thou art vile and wicked too,
Thou art poisoned through and through;
In thy heart and in thy soul,
Cursedness is in the whole,
In thy soul and in thy heart,
Poison steeped in every part.
Cursed ever! now, depart!
Yet wherever thou shalt flee
I will ever follow thee!
"Then this man will be in terror, and he will ever see the shadow before
him by day and by night, and thus he will have no peace, and yet this is
all the time the spirit of Intialo.
"Now, when he is thus tormented for some past misdeed, and he feels
himself haunted, as it were, by the shadow of the one whom he has
wronged, when he finds at last that he is not pursued, indeed, by it, but
by Intialo, then he shall repeat the Exorcism:
_Scongiurazione di Intialo_.
"Intialo! Intialo! che quando
Una persona ai preso,
O per seguitare le ingombri
Le ingombri sempre la cammina.
"Intialo! Intialo! se libero
Il passo mi lascerai meglio
Per te sara, se non mi verrai
Lasciare ti faccio sapere
Tu sarai sempre in mio potere.
"Intialo! Intialo! ti faccio sapere,
Se metto in opera
La mia scongiurazione,
Non ti lasciero piu bene avere,
E ogni mi a chiamata
Ti faro correre
Come chane al pagliaio.
"Intialo! Intialo!
Ti faccio sapere
Che tu pensi a fare
Il tuo dovere,
Se ancora mi viene a tormentare
Muso di porco tu possa diventare.
"Intialo! Intialo!
Tu siei furbo e maligno,
Ma io me ne infischio,
Perche io sono di te,
Molto piu maligno.
"Intialo! Intialo! ti prego
Di non mi piu tormentare
Se vuoi aver bene,
Se no ti acquisterai
Delle pene--e questo sara
Il tuo guadagno.
"Intialo! Intialo!
Con tutta la tua furberia,
Non sai ancora
Che io son protetto
Da una bella stregha
Che mi adora.
"Intialo! Intialo!
Se piu ne vuoi sapere
Vieni sta sera,
Vieni a mezza notte,
Viene di dove sei,
Te lo faro vedere,
Vieno sotto 'quel noce
E tu lo vedrai.
"Intialo! Intialo!
La mezza notte in punto,
Noi l'abbiamo,
E ti vedo (vedro) appogiato
Al noce che credi di vedere,
Vedere l'ombra mia,
E vedi l'ombra tua stessa!
"Intialo! Intialo!
Dentro al mio seno
Quattro cose tengo,
Che mi fanno vedere,
E non son veduto,
Ellera, pane,
Sale e ruta,
E la mia buona fortuna.
"Intialo! Intialo!
Non ti voglio dire,
Perche io voglio
Andare a dormire;
Ma solo ti ho fatto
Ti ho fatto vedere
Che non son' in poter tuo,
Ma tu siei in mio potere."
_The Exorcism of Intialo_.
"Intialo! it is known
When thou followest any one,
Be the victim whom he may,
Thou art ever in his way.
"Intialo--hear! if free
Thou wilt leave the road to me,
Better for thee shall it be;
If thou wilt not, from this hour
I will hold thee in _my_ power.
"Intialo! thou shalt learn
That I'm wizard in my turn;
All the power of sorcery
So about thee I will throw--
All around, above, below--
That thou shalt accursed be,
Held in fear and agony,
And as a dog shalt follow me.
"Intialo! thou shalt know
What thou art ere thou canst go;
If thou comest here again
To torment or give me pain,
As thou'dst make a dog of me,
I will make a swine of thee.
"Intialo! sorry cheat,
Filled with hate from head to feet,
Be malignant if you will,
I am more malignant still.
"Intialo! for thy sake
I pray thee no more trouble take
To torment me, for thy gain
Will only be thy greater pain,
For so cursed thou shalt be
That I needs must pity thee.
"Intialo! now, confess
That with all thy craftiness
Thou didst not know what now I tell,
That I am protected well
By a lovely witch, and she
Is mightier far, O fiend! than thee.
"Intialo! ere we go,
If thou more of me wouldst know,
Come at midnight--I shall be
'Neath the witches' walnut tree,
And what I shall make thee see
I trow will be enough for thee.
"Intialo! in that hour
Thou shalt truly feel my power,
And when thou at last shalt ween
That on the witches' tree I lean,
Then to thee it shall be known
That my shadow is thine own.
"Intialo! everywhere
With me magic charms I bear,
Ivy, bread and salt and rue,
And with them my fortune too.
"Intialo! hence away,
Unto thee no more I'll say;
Now I fain would go to sleep,
See that thou this warning keep.
I am not in power of thine,
But thou truly art in mine."
I had the belief, derived from several writers, that _Hinthial_ in
Etruscan meant simply a ghost or _revenant_--the apparition of some one
dead. But on mentioning my discovery of this legend to Professor Milani,
the Director of the Archaeological Museum in Florence, and the first of
Etruscan scholars, he astonished me by declaring that he believed the
word signified a _shadow_, and that its real meaning in its full
significance had apparently been marvellously preserved in this
witch-tradition. Too little is known as yet of the old Etruscan language
to decide with certainty as to anything in it, but should this opinion of
Professor Milani be sustained, it will appear that at least one word of
the mysterious tongue has existed till now in popular tradition.
There will be very few of my readers who will not be struck, as I was,
with the remarkable resemblance of the terrible curse uttered by Intialo
to the invocation in Byron's tragedy of "Manfred." It is like it in
form, spirit, and, in many places, even in the very words. That there
was, however, no knowledge of the English poem by the Italian witch-poet,
and therefore no imitation, is plain from intrinsic evidence. As the
question is interesting, I will here give the Incantation from "Manfred":