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THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY
the devil can cure such diseases he hath not made, and some flatly deny it, howsoever common
experience confirms to our astonishment, that magicians can work such feats, and that the devil
without impediment can penetrate through all the parts of our bodies, and cure such maladies by
means to us unknown." Daneus in his tract de Sortiariis subscribes to this of Taurellus; Erastus
de lamiis, maintaineth as much, and so do most divines, out of their excellent knowledge and
long experience they can commit agentes cum patientibus, colligere semina rerum, eaque
materiæ applicare, as Austin infers de Civ. Dei et de Trinit. lib. 3. cap. 7. et 8. they can work
stupendous and admirable conclusions; we see the effects only, but not the causes of them.
Nothing so familiar as to hear of such cures. Sorcerers are too common; cunning men, wizards,
and white-witches, as they call them, in every village, which if they be sought unto, will help
almost all infirmities of body and mind, Servatores in Latin, and they have commonly St.
Catherine's wheel printed in the roof of their mouth, or in some other part about them, resistunt
incantatorum præstigiis ( Boissardus writes) morbos a sagis motos propulsant &c., that to doubt
of it any longer, "or not to believe, were to run into that other sceptical extreme of incredulity,"
saith Taurellus. Leo Suavius in his comment upon Paracelsus seems to make it an art, which
ought to be approved; Pistorius and others stiffly maintain the use of charms, words, characters,
&c. Ars vera est, sed pauci artifices reperiuntur; the art is true, but there be but a few that have
skill in it. Marcellius Donatus lib. 2. de hist, mir. cap. 1. proves out of Josephus' eight books of
antiquities, that "Solomon so cured all the diseases of the mind by spells, charms, and drove
away devils, and that Eleazer did as much before Vespasian." Langius in his med. epist. holds
Jupiter Menecrates, that did so many stupendous cures in his time, to have used this art, and that
he was no other than a magician. Many famous cures are daily done in this kind, the devil is an
expert physician, as Godelman calls him, lib. 1. cap. 18. and God permits oftentimes these
witches and magicians to produce such effects, as Lavater cap. 3. lib. 8. part. 3. cap. 1. Polid.
Virg. lib. 1. de prodigiis, Delrio and others admit. Such cures may be done, and as Paracels.
Tom. 4. de morb. ament. stiffly maintains, "they cannot otherwise be cured but by spells, seals,
and spiritual physic." Arnoldus, lib. de sigillis, sets down the making of them, so doth Rulandus
and many others.
Hoc posito, they can effect such cures, the main question is, whether it be lawful in a
desperate case to crave their help, or ask a wizard's advice. 'Tis a common practice of some men
to go first to a witch, and then to a physician, if one cannot the other shall, Flectere si nequeant
superos Acheronta movebunt. "It matters not," saith Paracelsus, "whether it be God or the devil,
angels, or unclean spirits cure him, so that he be eased." If a man fall into a ditch, as he
prosecutes it, what matter is it whether a friend or an enemy help him out? and if I be troubled
with such a malady, what care I whether the devil himself, or any of his ministers by God's
permission, redeem me? He calls a magician, God's minister and his vicar, applying that of vos
estis dii profanely to them, for which he is lashed by T. Erastus part. 1. fol. 45. And elsewhere he
encourageth his patients to have a good faith, "a strong imagination, and they shall find the
effects: let divines say to the contrary what they will." He proves and contends that many
diseases cannot otherwise be cured. Incantatione orti incantatione curari debent; if they be
caused by incantation, they must be cured by incantation. Constantinus lib. 4. approves of such
remedies: Bartolus the lawyer, Peter Aerodius rerum Judic. lib. 3. tit. 7. Salicetus Godefridus,
with others of that sect, allow of them; modo sint ad sanitatem quæ a magis fiunt, secus non, so
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