Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/401

 INCUBI AND SUCCUBI. 335 would be maintained with the utmost fidelity on both sides for thirty or forty years ; and the connection thus established was proof against all the ordinary arts of the exorciser. Alvaro Pelayo relates that in a nunnery under his direction it prevailed among the nuns, and he was utterly powerless to put a stop to it. In fact, it was peculiarly frequent in such pious establishments. As a special crime it grew to have a special name, and was known among canonists and casuists as Demoniality ; and Sprenger, whose authority in such matters is supreme, assures us that to its at- tractiveness was due the alarming development of witchcraft in the fifteenth century. The few who, like Ulric Molitoris, while admitting the existence of Incubi, denied to them the power of procreation, were silenced by the authority of Thomas Aquinas, who explained how, by acting alternately as Succubus and Incu- bus, the demon could accomplish the object, and by the indubitable facts that the Huns were sprung from demons, and that an island in Egypt, or, as some said, Cyprus, was peopled wholly by descend- ants of Incubi, to say nothing of the popular legend which attrib- uted such paternity to the prophet and enchanter, Merlin. Into the physiological speculations by which these possibilities were proved, it is not worth our while to enter. There is nothing fouler in all literature than the stories and illustrative examples by which these theories were supported.* As Satan's principal object in his warfare with God was to seduce human souls from their divine allegiance, he was ever ready with whatever temptation seemed most likely to effect his purpose. Some were to be won by physical indulgence such as that just alluded to ; others by conferring on them powers enabling them apparently to forecast the future, to discover hidden things, to gratify enmity, and to acquire wealth, whether through forbidden Cantimpratens. Bonum universale, Lib. II. c. 55. — Alvar. Pelag. de Planet, Eccles. Lib. 11. Art. xlv. No. 102. — Prieriatis de Strigimagar. 11. iii., xi.— Sinistrari de Daemonialitate No. 1-3.— Mall. Maleficar. P. 11. Q. i. c. 4-8; P. 11. Q. ii. c. 1.— Ulric. Molitor. Dial, de Python. Mnlieribus Conclus. v. — Th. Aquin. Summ. 1. Ii. Art. iii. No. 6. — Nider Formicar. Lib. v. c. ix., x.— Guill. Arvern. Episc. Paris, de Universo (Wright, Proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler, Camden Soc. p. xxxviii.). — Villemarqug, Myrdhinn, ou TEnchanteur Merlin, p. 11. — Alonso de Spina, Fortalicium Fidei, Ed. 1494, foL 282. III.— 25
 * Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola, La Strega, Milano, 1864, p. 80. — Thomae