[53] Man sagt: wenn ein Erbdieb, dem, wie den Ziguenern das Stehlen angeboren ist, oder dessen Mutter, als sie mit ihm schwanger ging, gestohlen, oder doch gross Gelüsten dazu gehabt--nach Einigen; auch ein Unschuldiger, welcher in der Tortur sich für einen Dieb bekennt--und der ein reiner Junggeselle ist, gehänkt wird, und das Wasser lässt, oder sein Same auf die Erde fällt, so wächst an solchem Ort der Alraun.--"Nork: Sitten und Gebräuche der Deutschen und ihrer Nachbarvölker." [54] So Propertius and Plinius. Virgil (eclog. VIII.) makes a shepherd sing: Has herbas, atque hæc Ponto mihi lecta venena, Ipse dedit Moeris: nascuntur plurima Ponto. _His ego sæpe lupum fieri, et se condere selvis Moerim_ ... vidi. [55] Melancthon, who firmly believed in the were-wolf, reasoned in the same way. [56] As late as 1804 a vagabond named Maréchal was accused by the peasants in Longueville as a sorcerer and were-wolf. At his trial the mysterious were-wolf excursions were resolved into thieving rambles, and Maréchal was condemned for burglary to the galleys. [57] During the restauration in 1815, when all the dead rose in their sepulchres, the famous _von Görres_ sought to revive the belief in vampirism. He has written about it a work of mighty learning, wherein he discourses profusely of the "vegetative" sources of the body, which he asserts continue their activity after death, and thus enable the soul of the deceased to reoccupy and for a while reoperate its old machinery. [58] Some of the popular forms of conjuration are in Latin, though corrupted so as to be almost beyond recognition. A couple of restored examples may be given. This is the formula against bloody-flux: Sanguis mane in venis Sicut Christus in poenis, Sanguis mane fixus Sicut Christus fuit crucifixus. Against fever: Deus vos solvet sambuco, panem et sal ego vobis adduco, febrem tertianam et quotidianam accipite vos, qui nolo eam. Against epilepsy: Melchior, Balthaser, portans hæc nomina Caspar, Solvitur e morbo Domini pietate caduco. Perpetret et ternas defunctis psallere missas. Barachun. Barachagim. Destrue. Subalgat. [59] Compare Virgil, Ecl. VIII: Terna tibi hæc primum triplici diversa colore Licia circumdo.... Necte tribus nodis ternos, Amarylli, colores: Necte, Amarylli, modo: et Veneris, dic, vincula necto. [60] Compare same eclogue: Limus ut hic durescit, et hæc ut cera liquescit Uno eodemque igni: sic nostro Daphnis amore. [61] The Faust-legend, formed during the time of the Reformation, sought at first to employ one of the heroes of the learned magic, Henricus Cornelius Agrippa, as its chief character; but a biography of him, published by his pupil, Wierus, having dispelled the fantastical halo enveloping his personality, the creative desire sought a more obscure object which it could transform according to its bizarre imaginations. Transcriber's Notes: Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.