At the expected time Agrippa came home, and to his great surprise
found a number of devils capering and playing strange antics about,
and on the roof of his house. By his art he caused them to desist from
their sport, and with authority demanded what was the cause of this
novel appearance. The chief of them answered. He told how they had
been invoked, and insulted, and what revenge they had taken. Agrippa
became exceedingly alarmed for the consequences to himself of this
unfortunate adventure. He ordered the demon without loss of time to
reanimate the body of his victim, then to go forth, and to walk the
boarder three or four times up and down the market-place in the sight
of the people. The infernal spirit did as he was ordered, shewed the
student publicly alive, and having done this, suffered the body to
fall down, the marks of conscious existence being plainly no more. For
a time it was thought that the student had been killed by a sudden
attack of disease. But, presently after, the marks of strangulation
were plainly discerned, and the truth came out. Agrippa was then
obliged suddenly to withdraw himself, and to take up his residence in
a distant province. [203]
Wierus in his well known book, _De Praestigiis Demonum_, informs
us that he had lived for years in daily attendance on Cornelius
Agrippa, and that the black dog respecting which such strange surmises
had been circulated, was a perfectly innocent animal that he had often
led in a string. He adds, that the sole foundation for the story lay
in the fact, that Agrippa had been much attached to the dog, which he
was accustomed to permit to eat off the table with its master, and
even to lie of nights in his bed. He further remarks, that Agrippa was
accustomed often not to go out of his room for a week together, and
that people accordingly wondered that he could have such accurate
information of what was going on in all parts of the world, and would
have it that his intelligence was communicated to him by his dog. He
subjoins however, that Agrippa had in fact correspondents in every
quarter of the globe, and received letters from them daily, and that
this was the real source of his extraordinary intelligence. [204]
Naudé, in his Apology for Great Men accused of Magic, mentions, that
Agrippa composed a book of the Rules and Precepts of the Art of Magic,
and that, if such a work could entitle a man to the character of a
magician, Agrippa indeed well deserved it. But he gives it as his
opinion that this was the only ground for fastening the imputation on
this illustrious character.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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