The Unfortunate Traveller and Other Works (16 page)

Of the original of us spirits the scripture most amply maketh mention; namely, that Lucifer, before his fall an archangel, was a clear body, compact of the purest and brightest of the air, but after his fall he was veiled with a grosser substance, and took a new form of dark and thick air, which he still retaineth. Neither did he only fall, when he strove with Michael, but drew a number of angels to his faction; who, joint partakers of his proud revolt, were likewise partakers of his punishment, and all thrust out of heaven together by one judgment: who ever since do nothing but wander about the earth, and tempt and enforce frail men to enterprise all wickedness that may be, and commit most horrible and abominable things against God.

Marvel not that I discover so much of our estate unto thee; for the scripture hath more than I mention, as St Peter, where he saith that “God spared not his angels that sinned,” and in another place, where he saith that “they are bound with the chains of darkness, and thrown headlong into hell”: which is not meant of any local place in the earth, or under the waters, for, as Austin
³³⁴
affirmeth, we do inhabit the region under the moon, and have the thick air assigned us as a prison, from whence we may with small labour cast our nets where we list. Yet are we not so at our disposition, but that we are still commanded by Lucifer, although we are in number infinite, who, retaining that
pride wherewith he arrogantly affected the majesty of God, hath still his ministering angels about him, whom he employs in several charges, to seduce and deceive as him seemeth best; as those spirits which the Latins call
lovios
and
Antemeridianos
, to speak out of oracles, and make the people worship them as gods, when they are nothing but deluding devils that covet to have a false deity ascribed unto them, and draw men unto their love by wonders and prodigies, that else would hate them deadly, if they knew their malevolence and envy. Such a monarchizing spirit it was that said to Christ, “If thou wilt fall down and worship me, I will give thee all the kingdoms of the earth.” And such a spirit it was that possessed the Lybian Sapho, and the Emperor Diocletian, who thought it the blessedest thing that might be, to be called God. For the one, being weary of human honour and inspired with a supernatural folly, taught little birds, that were capable of speech, to pronounce distinctly,
Magnus deus Sapho
;
³³⁵
that is to say, ‘A great god is Sapho,' which words, when they had learnt readily to carol and were perfect in their note, he let them fly at random, that so dispersing themselves everywhere, they might induce the people to count of him as a god. The other was so arrogant that he made his subjects fall prostrate on their faces, and lifting up their hands to him as to heaven, adore him as omnipotent.

The second kind of devils which he most employeth, are those northern
Marcii
, called the spirits of revenge, and the authors of massacres, and seedsmen of mischief; for they have commission to incense men to rapines, sacrilege, theft, murder, wrath, fury, and all manner of cruelties, and they command certain of the southern spirits, as slaves, to wait upon them, as also great Arioch, that is termed the spirit of revenge.

These know how to dissociate the love of brethren, and to break wedlock bands with such violence that they may not be united, and are predominant in many other domestical mutinies; of whom if thou list to hear more, read the
thirty ninth chapter of
Ecclesiasticus
. The prophet Esay
³³⁶
maketh mention of another spirit, sent by God to the Egyptians, to make them stray and wander out of the way, that is to say, the spirit of lying, which they call Bolychym. The spirits that entice men to gluttony and lust are certain watery spirits of the West, and certain southern spirits as Nefrach and Kelen, which for the most part prosecute unlawful loves and cherish all unnatural desires. They wander through lakes, fish-ponds, and fens, and overwhelm ships, cast boats upon anchors, and drown men that are swimming. Therefore are they counted the most pestilent, troublesome, and guileful spirits that are; for by the help of Alrynach, a spirit of the West, they will raise storms, cause earthquakes, whirlwinds, rain, hail, or snow in the clearest day that is; and if ever they appear to any man, they come in women's apparel. The spirits of the air will mix themselves with thunder and lightning, and so infect the clime where they raise any tempest, that suddenly great mortality shall ensue to the inhabitants from the infectious vapours which arise from their motions. Of such St John maketh mention in the ninth chapter of the
Apocalypse
. Their patron is Mereris, who beareth chief rule about the middle time of the day.

The spirits of the fire have their mansions under their regions of the moon, that whatsoever is committed to their charge they may there execute, as in their proper consistory,
³³⁷
from whence they cannot start. The spirits of the earth keep, for the most part, in forests and woods, and do hunters much noyance, and sometime in the broad fields, where they lead travellers out of the right way, or fright men with deformed apparitions, or make them run mad through excessive melancholy, like Ajax Telemonius,
³³⁸
and so prove hurtful to themselves, and dangerous to others. Of
this number the chief are Samaab and Achymael, spirits of the East, that have no power to do any great harm, by reason of the unconstancy of their affections. The under-earth spirits are such as lurk in dens and little caverns of the earth, and hollow crevices of mountains, that they may dive into the bowels of the earth at their pleasure. These dig metals and watch treasures, which they continually transport from place to place, that none should have use of them. They raise winds that vomit flames and shake the foundation of buildings; they dance in rounds in pleasant lawns and green meadows, with noises of music and minstrelsy, and vanish away when any comes near them. They will take upon them any similitude but of a woman, and terrify men in the likeness of dead men's ghosts in the night-time; and of this quality and condition the necromancers hold Gaziel, Fegor, and Anarazel, southern spirits, to be.

Besides, there are yet remaining certain lying spirits, who, although all be given to lie by nature, yet are they more prone to that vice than the rest, being named Pythonists, of whom Apollo comes to be called Pytheus. They have a prince as well as other spirits, of whom mention is made in the
Third Book of Kings
, when he saith he will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all Ahab's prophets; from which those spirits of iniquity do little differ, which are called the vessels of wrath, that assist Belial (whom they interpret a spirit without yoke or controller) in all damnable devices and inventions. Plato reports them to be such as first devised cards and dice, and I am in the mind that the monk was of the same order, that found out the use of gunpowder and the engines of war thereto belonging. Those that write of these matters call this Belial Chodar of the East, that hath all witches' and conjurers' spirits under his jurisdiction, and gives them leave to help jugglers in their tricks, and Simon Magus
³³⁹
to do miracles; always provided they bring a soul home to their master for his hire.

Yet are not these all, for there are spirits called spies and tale-carriers, obedient to Ascaroth, whom the Greeks call
daimona
, and St John,
the accuser of the brethren
: also tempters, who, for their interrupting us in all our good actions are called our evil angels. Above all things they hate the light and rejoice in darkness, disquieting men maliciously in the night and sometimes hurt them by pinching them or blasting them as they sleep. But they are not so much to be dreaded as other spirits, because if a man speak to them they flee away and will not abide. Such a spirit Plinius Secundus telleth of, that used to haunt a goodly house in Athens that Athenodorus hired. And such another Suetonius describeth to have long hovered in Lamianus' garden, where Caligula lay buried, who, for because he was only covered with a few clods and unreverently thrown amongst the weeds, he marvellously disturbed the owners of the garden, and would not let them rest in their beds, till by his sisters, returned from banishment, he was taken up and entombed solemnly.

Pausanias avoucheth, amongst other experiments, that a certain spirit called Zazilus doth feed upon dead men's corses, that are not deeply interred in the earth as they ought. Which to confirm, there is a wonderful accident set down in the Danish history of Asuitus and Asmundus, who, being two famous friends well known in those parts, vowed one to another, that which of them two outlived the other should be buried alive with his friend that first died. In short space Asuitus fell sick and yielded to nature; Asmundus, compelled by the oath of his friendship, took none but his horse and his dog with him, and transported the dead body into a vast cave under the earth, and there determined, having victualled himself for a long time, to finish his days in darkness and never depart from him that he loved so dearly.

Thus shut up and enclosed in the bowels of the earth, it happened Ericus, King of Sweveland, to pass that way with his army, not full two months after; who, coming to the tomb of Asuitus, and suspecting it a place where treasure was hidden, caused his pioneers with their spades and mattocks to dig it up. Whereupon was discovered the loathsome
body of Asmundus, all to-besmeared with dead men's filth, and his visage most ugly and fearful; which, imbrued
³⁴⁰
with congealed blood and eaten and torn like a raw ulcer, made him so ghastly to behold that all the beholders were affrighted. He, seeing himself restored to light, and so many amazed men stand about him, resolved their uncertain perplexity in these terms.

“Why stand you astonished at my unusual deformities, when no living man converseth with the dead but is thus disfigured? But other causes have effected this change in me; for I know not what audacious spirit, sent by Gorgon from the deep, hath not only most ravenously devoured my horse and my dog, but also hath laid his hungry paws upon me, and tearing down my cheeks, as you see, hath likewise rent away one of mine ears. Hence is it that my mangled shape seems so monstrous, and my human image obscured with gore in this wise. Yet scaped not this fell harpy from me unrevenged; for as he assailed me, I raught his head from his shoulders, and sheathed my sword in his body.”'

‘Have spirits their visible bodies,' said I, ‘that may be touched, wounded, or pierced? Believe me, I never heard that in my life before this.'

‘Why,' quoth he, ‘although in their proper essence they are creatures incorporal, yet can they take on them the induments
³⁴¹
of any living body whatsoever, and transform themselves into all kind of shapes, whereby they may more easily deceive our shallow wits and senses. So testifies Basilius, that they can put on a material form when they list. Socrates affirmeth that his
dæmon
did oftentimes talk with him, and that he saw him and felt him many times. But Marcus Cherronesius, a wonderful discoverer of devils, writeth that those bodies which they assume are distinguished by no difference of sex, because they are simple, and the discernance of sex belongs to bodies compound. Yet are they flexible, motive
³⁴²
and apt for any configuration;
but not all of them alike, for the spirits of the fire and air have this power above the rest. The spirits of the water have slow bodies resembling birds and women, of which kind the Naiads and Nereids
³⁴³
are much celebrated amongst poets. Nevertheless, however they are restrained to their several similitudes, it is certain that all of them desire no form or figure so much as the likeness of a man, and do think themselves in heaven when they are enfeoffed in that hue; wherefore I know no other reason but this, that man is the nearest representation to God, insomuch as the scripture saith, “He made man after his own likeness and image;” and they, affecting by reason of their pride to be as like God as they may, contend most seriously to shroud themselves under that habit.'

‘But, I pray, tell me this, whether are there (as Porphyrius holdeth) good spirits as well as evil?'

‘Nay, certainly,' quoth he, ‘we are all evil, let Porphyrius, Proclus, Apuleius, or the Platonists dispute to the contrary as long as they will; which I will confirm to thy capacity by the names that are everywhere given us in the scripture. For the devil, which is the
summum genus
³⁴⁴
to us all, is called
diabolus, quasi deorsum ruens
,
³⁴⁵
that is to say, falling downward, as he that, aspiring too high, was thrown from the top of felicity to the lowest pit of despair; and Satan, that is to say, an adversary, who, for the corruption of his malice, opposeth himself ever against God, who is the chiefest good; in
Job
, Behemoth and Leviathan; and in the ninth chapter of the
Apocalypse
, Apolyon, that is to say, a subverter, because the foundation of those virtues, which our high maker hath planted in our souls, he undermineth and subverteth; a serpent for his poisoning, a lion for his devouring, a furnace, for that by his malice the elect are tried, who are vessels of wrath and salvation; in
Esay
, a siren, a lamia, a screech-owl, an ostrich; in the
Psalms
, an adder, a basilisk, a dragon; and lastly in the gospel, Mammon, Prince
of this World, and the Governor of Darkness. So that, by the whole course of condemning names that are given us, and no one instance of any favourable title bestowed upon us, I positively set down that all spirits are evil. Now, whereas the divines attribute unto us these good and evil spirits, the good to guide us from evil, and the evil to draw us from goodness, they are not called spirits, but angels; of which sort was Raphael, the good angel of Tobias, who exiled the evil spirit Asmodeus into the desert of Egypt, that he might be the more secure from his temptation.'