We shall not have much to say to these more moderate persons, seeing that we have already given the reason of it, _viz._ the covetousness of the Booksellers and Printers, who made use of the Authors name, for the better sale of their false Almanacks, therefore if _Jodelle_ the Poet grounded upon this opinion, made that Satyrical Distick. _~Nostra damus~ cum falsa damus, nam fallere nostrum est,_ _Et cum falsa damus, nil nisi ~Nostra damus~._ We answer him, _~Nostra damus~ cum verba damus quæ ~Nostradamus~ dat,_ _Nam quæcunque dedit nil nisi vera dedit._ Or thus _~Vera damus~ cum verba damus quæ ~Nostradamus~ dat,_ _Sed cum ~Nostra damus~, nil nisi falsa damus._ CHAP. IX. _Answer to the third Objection, which accuseth him of the Black Art, and of Negromancy._ The more doth Calumny lift up her self against this great man, the weaker are her arguments, like the smoke which is so much the easier dissipated, as it ascendeth higher. Her reason is impertinent in this distributive argument, he hath known those things (saith she) which he could not know by the Planets, and he had them not from God, therefore he had them from Satan. And we answer this argument in the same way, he hath known those things which he could not know by the Planets, nor by Satan, therefore he had them from God; this Argument is concluding, but that of calumny halteth, for it ought to have proved that he had not his knowledge from God, and that all those things he hath known may be known to Satan, which two things we have manifestly proved to be false, therefore if the Lord _Florimond de Raimond_ was alive, I believe he would correct what he hath written against him. CHAP. X. _Answer to the fourth Objection, of Calumny, which brandeth our Author with the title of Chief of the Seductors and Impostors._ The Weapons of this _Medusa_ are sharper in this point then in others, therefore our Buckler accordingly must be of the best mettle and temper. We cannot deny but _Nostradamus_ hath affected obscurity, himself acknowledgeth it in his two Epistles, in that to _Cæsar_ his son, he saith, he hath done it, not only because of the times wherein he lived, but also by reason of those that were to follow, in the times wherein he lived the Case was as it is now, _Veritas odium parit_, and this hatred in powerful men is prejudicial to those that speak the Truth, he was also cautious in that, by reason of the times following; for if he had plainly declared what he meant, the Wits would have laughed at it, and would not have believed those strange revolutions that came to pass, and which our Author had foretold. In his Epistle to _Henry_ the II he telleth him, that he doth purposely make use of obscure terms to express his mind, for the reasons before alledged.