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CORNELIUS AGRIPPA,
CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
THE LIPE
HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA
VON NETTESHEIM,
DOCTOR AND KNIGHT,
(Commonly fenoton as a Jttagitfon.
BY HENKY MOELEY,
AUTHOR OP " PALISSY THE POTTER," " JEBOMB CABDAN," &C.
E. OLORrOR ELTVTVS
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY.
MDCCCLVL
{The right of Translation is reserved.']
CONTENTS TO VOL. II.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
UP THE HILL OF LIFE 1
CHAPTER II.
ADVOCATE AND ORATOR AT METZ 15
CHAPTER HI.
RELATES A GREAT DISPUTE WITH THE DOMINICANS OF METZ :
TELLS ALSO HOW AGRIPPA SAVED A VILLAGE GlRL ACCUSED OP
WITCHCRAFT FROM THE CLUTCHES OF THE CHIEF INQUISITOR,
AND LOST HIS OFFICE OF TOWN ADVOCATE AND ORATOR . . 36
CHAPTER IY.
EROM METZ TO COLOGNE 66
CHAPTER Y.
CORNELIUS PRACTITIONER OF MEDICINE IN SWITZERLAND QUES
TIONS OF MARRIAGE AND OF CHURCH REFORM . . . .84
CHAPTER VI.
ACCEPTING OFFERS FROM THE ROYAL EAMILY OF ERANCE, COR-
NELIUS REMOVES TO LYONS As A COURT PHYSICIAN HE GROWS
RICH IN PROMISES Ill
CHAPTER VIE.
LABOUR AND SORROW 133
I
VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII. PAGE
DESCRIBING ONE HALF OP AGBIPPA'S BOOK UPON THE " VANITY
OP SCIENCES AND ARTS" 151
CHAPTER IX.
IN WHICH IS COMPLETED THE DESCRIPTION OP AGRIPPA's BOOK
UPON THE " VANITY op SCIENCES AND ARTS" . . . . 174
CHAPTER X.
ACCOUNTS POR THE REST OF THE TIME SPENT BY CORNELIUS AT
LYONS 210
CHAPTER XI.
FROM LYONS TO ANTWERP 230
CHAPTER XII.
A YEAR AT ANTWERP, AND ITS CHANGES 249
CHAPTER XHI.
IN GAOL AT BRUSSELS 260
CHAPTER XIV.
OF MARRIAGE AND OF MAGIC 277
CHAPTER XV.
THE LAST FIGHT WITH THE MONKS . . . . . .292
CHAPTER XVI.
EXILE AND DEATH .... .312
Sniei .321
EEEATA.
VOL. I. P. 24, lines 2, 3, in the note, for " in his lifetime" read " soon after
his death," and omit the -words " in or about the year 1532."
P. 257, line 1, for " 1811" read " 1511."
CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
CHAPTER I.
UP THE HILL OF LIFE.
THE scene of the labours of Cornelius Agrippa for two
or three years before and after the date (1516) which we
have now reached, varies only within the limits of Geneva,
Burgundy, Piedmont, Savoy, and Lorraine a region in-
tersected by the Alps everywhere, either within or about
the borders of the German Empire, Italy and France.
Friends made at Dole, at Geneva, and while he was
attached to the Italian camp, furnished him with new
friends from among their own connexions ; thus, therefore,
it happened that the district above specified had come to
be the ground on which Agrippa had the greatest chance
of prospering.
The Marquises of Monferrat were bound by various
relations, all of them friendly with the neighbouring
ducal house of Savoy. The two families intermarried
more than once. The Monferrats owned Turin before
2 VOL. II. B
2 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
the Dukes of Savoy had it for their capital, and when the
line of Palseologus failed, not very long after this date, the
Duke of Savoy was among the candidates for a succession
to the Marquisate.
To the Duke of Savoy, Cornelius Agrippa seems to
have been successfully commended by his patron when,
prompt to hope, he wrote a few lines to his friend Rosati 1 ,
saying that, " Never man could have been rescued for
better fortune from the utmost peril." There were friends
in sundry places, knowing both his merit and his need,
who were exerting themselves to procure for him another
start in life, but the first offer was that from Savoy. It
had a double promise in it. Not only was there the ducal
favour, but there was a proposal made by a reverend dig-
nitary of the Church at Vercelli, not Augustine Ferrerius
the bishop, but a most illustrious Hannibal, who must have
held high rank in the town, to take Cornelius into his
service, giving him a pension of two hundred ducats and
a house of his own choosing 2 . He made this offer, after
having seen the little treatise upon " Knowledge of God,"
and made many inquiries about its author. He desired
also that the fact of his having proposed anything should
be kept as secret as possible, and Agrippa's friend at Ver-
celli, when writing to state his offer, was to add that any
arrangement consequent upon acceptance of it could not
take effect immediately. He would say in a few days
when Agrippa was to come. Agrippa's friend, however,
told him that if he found it most convenient to come at
1 Ep. 53, Lib. i. p. 719. * Ep. 64, Lib. i. pp. 719, 720.
AN OFFER OF HELP FEOM VERCELLI. 3
once, he had much better do so and leave him to procure
a due arrangement with the reverend lord. The proposed
patron saying nothing more upon the subject for a week,
the friendly scholar who took charge of Agrippa's in-
terests considered it imprudent to be troublesome ; but
in the mean time he advised Cornelius to come, himself
offering a home until every arrangement was perfected
and a house was ready. There was also Lodovico Cer-
nole 1 , a nobleman in Vercelli, offering to place his palace
at the disposal of Cornelius Agrippa and his family. So
stood the matter on the 4th of March, 1516. On the 8th
of March, Agrippa's friend, bound to Vercelli by his
duties as a preacher, was glad at the prospect of a visit
from Casale 2 . From Casale to Vercelli is a distance of not
more than about thirteen miles. Vercelli is a populous
town which belonged sometimes to Savoy, sometimes to
Milan, and was used by the Dukes of Savoy when they
had it as they had at this time as a place of occasional
residence.
Cornelius spent a few days with his friend, who there-
after urged his prompt return; he had promised to be in
Vercelli again before the end of the month, as Father
Chrysostom was witness 3 , and they were desiring him as
harts desire the water brooks. In every one of these
letters Agrippa's wife is mentioned with the kindliest re-
membrance, as indeed she was by nearly all his corre-
spondents.
1 Ep. 55, Lib. i. p. 720. 2 Ep. 56, Lib. i. p. 720.
Ep. 57, Lib. i. pp. 720, 721.
B2
4 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
In the mean time the Lord Hannibal had made up his
mind; he had been showing the treatises on Man and on
the Three Ways of Knowing God to a great Theologian
of the Dominicans, and the Theologian had spoken with
such extreme prais_e of these works, that the illustrious
and reverend Lord Hannibal desired to have Cornelius
for client a hundred times more than before 1 . Agrippa's
friends were looking out a house for him in Vercelli, but
had not found anything suitable, therefore it was urged
that he should accept Lodovico Cernole's liberal offer of
his palace till the house was found, unless he preferred
profiting by the hospitality of a noble widow, friend of
Agrippa's correspondent, who would be glad to spare, for
a few days, part of her house to the philosopher, his wife,
and children. This was on the twenty-second of March.
But the illustrious and reverend Lord Hannibal was
lukewarm in the business. He might be stimulated now
and then to energy, but he does not seem to have carried
out his offer in the spirit that alone cou]^ make it accept-
able. On the second of June 2 , Agrippa's friend, the monk
at Vercelli, hindered by his preachings, and the patron's
not having come to the city, had not quite arrived at
a right understanding with the magnate, but intended
speaking to him when he saw him next. The end of the
matter was, that for that year, Cornelius, who had
brought his family about him at Casale, stayed there
under shelter of Monferrat's friendship. He had made
1 Ep. 58, Lib. L p. 721. Ep. 59, Lib. i. p. 722.
THE FRIENDSHIP OF LANDULPH. 5
also a warm friend at Rivolta in the senior preceptor
of St. Antony's Monastery, John Laurentin, native of
Lyons 1 . In September, too, there was Landulph, after a
vain ramble in search of better fortune, bringing his wife
Penthesilea back to Rosati's house at Lavizaro, and thence
writing to tell his friend that there he was, and that he
was there waiting to see what he could do for him with
Monferrat 3 .
There is something pleasant to consider in the friend-
ship of these two men, tossing helplessly with wives and
families about an adverse world, and looking faithfully
for help to one another. If the one who has the stronger
mind, takes, as is usual in such cases, the leader's tone, we
do not see that practically Landulph either seeks or gets
help that he does not give. At Dole, he loyally pre-
pared the way before his friend, and we throughout find
him not less prompt to be helpful than be helped. So it
is pleasant to consider such a friendship formed in early
years, acquiring strength through trouble ; to read letters
from the man to the man not less affectionate than those
which the youth wrote to the youth. Landulph begins his
note, just mentioned as having been sent from Lavizaro
to Casale, with the words, "My Agrippa, who art as a
dearest brother," and it ends, " Farewell, with your be-
loved wife." Let us add this, too, to the incidents of life
most surely testifying to the true worth of Cornelius : he
1 Ep. 3, Lib. ii. p. 723. Oratio iv. p. 2092. In Art. Brev. Lullii Com-
mentarii. The Dedication.
z Ep. 60, the last in the first Book.
6 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
maintained, through good and ill report, not only the com-
plete love of his wife, but also the unbroken attachment
of a faithful friend.
Early in the next year (1517), the unlucky philosopher
was still labouring to find a new position by help of Mon-
ferrat, and was labouring to help, not himself only, but
several of his associates and friends. Succeeding letters in
his correspondence 1 represent the fate of scholars broken
in their fortunes by the war, labouring on behalf of them-
selves and of each other, looking up to Monferrat, and
expecting some aid through Agrippa, who enjoyed the
best share of the great man's favour. There is nothing,
in such letters, of abject beseeching. Each writes as if
mutual assistance were a duty recognised among them,
either as common members of the republic of letters, or as
equal friends.
One of these friends dates from Turin, the Duke of
Savoy's capital. Landulph, who settled down eventually
as a professor at Pa via, joined the soldiers for a little while,
and wrote to his " Dearest Henry " on the fourth of May,
from the camp at La Rochette 2 , a small town of Savoy,
near the banks of the Isere. By the third of August in
the same year, the position of the two friends was much
altered. Cornelius Agrippa had joined formally the Ducal
Court, and was, probably as a physician, in the pay of
Charles III. of Savoy, called the Gentle, half-brother and
successor to that Philibert whose death had left Margaret
of Austria in truth a widow. He was still, therefore, mo-
Ep. 1, 2, 3, 4, Lib. ii. pp. 722, 723. Ep. 5, Lib. ii. p. 724.
i
WITH THE DUKE OF SAVOY. 7
rally within the strictest limits of his old allegiance. Lan-
dulph, on the other hand, was by that date at Lyons 1 ,
where he had revived old friendships, found patronage,
and whence he was summoned to the court of Francis.
An Italian by birth, it would have been hard for him to
name the prince to whom he owed a natural allegiance.
He was as ready to be helped in France as he would have
been willing to take help in Germany ; and he would go
to Paris, he said to Cornelius, as his precursor. There
was peace then between France and Germany. Maxi-
milian had, in the preceding year, made an abortive ef-
fort to avenge the capture of Milan ; had brought an
army into Italy, lost time in taking little towns, and finally
retreated from before Milan itself, distrustful of the Swiss
in his own ranks. He had deserted his army and gone
home to Germany, leaving the troops to become dis-
organised, and to disband themselves at their discretion.
King Ferdinand died ; and among subsequent arrange-
ments was a pacification, of which one of the terms was
Maximilian's abandonment of his claim to Verona. The
Venetians were left as they had been before the league of
Cambray was devised to crush and plunder them. Dur-
ing the years 1517 and 1518, there was a cessation of
hostilities ; Agrippa might, therefore, have gone to Paris.
Of his situation at the ducal court, Landulph spoke
slightingly : " I do not praise it," he said ; " you will be
offered little pay, and get it at the day of judgment. I
have sent repeated letters to the governor of Grenoble, by
1 Ep. 6, Lib. ii. p. 724, 725.
8 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
the hands of his own nephew, and am hoping soon to get
an answer ; after which, if you permit me, I will arrange
and settle everything. In the mean time, so manage with
the Duke of Savoy as not to close your way to richer
fortune."
While Landulph was expecting to find for his friend an
opening at Grenoble, on the Isere (distant about a hundred
miles from Turin), Cornelius prepared to act as doctor of
medicine, lawyer, or divine, and really acting perhaps as a
physician, had been inquiring of a friend the composition
of a plaister 1 . Either by physic or by law, he was, and
had been since the overthrow of his fortunes by the entry
of the French into Pavia, winning a slender income upon
which he and his family contrived to live. By labour in
either faculty, and sometimes by repaying with work of the
brain the liberality of any patron, he could earn all that
he ate 3 . At Cologne, it had been long settled that he was
killed in the Italian wars 3 . He sent home for no money ;
he made himself chargeable on no one ; and was even am-
bitious to enjoy the more completely his domestic hap-
piness, by living as a private man, no longer at the beck
of any prince. Nevertheless, his friends seek for him any-
thing that they can find.
In three weeks Landulph wants him at Lyons 4 ; he is still
only expecting a reply from Grenoble ; but is, personally,
on such good terms with the governor that he has no mis-
givings. He commends himself warmly to the dear wife
1 Ep. 7, Lib. ii. p. 725. 2 Orationes, iv. pp. 2091, 2092.
Ep. 18, Lib. ii. p. 734. * Ep. 8, Lib. ii. p. 725.
PROSPECTS AT GRENOBLE, AVIGNON, AND METZ. 9
of Cornelius, and his only son : " I will bring you good
fortune," he adds ; " I cannot rest till I have paid you the
service I so much desire." This design, however, led to
no results. The reverend preceptor of St. Antony's, at
Rivolta, through the influence of a brother-in-law 1 resi-
ding there, had, in the mean time, opened a new prospect
of official employment in the town of Metz ; and, two
months afterwards, Landulph wrote 2 , "Most renowned
Agrippa, your fame, I am told, has reached even to Avig-
non :" for he had to tell him of an offer from the Pope's
legate at Avignon, to receive him into service, and allow
an ample stipend. There were some clerical friends from
Italy at Lyons, who agreed with Landulph that this open-
ing was to be preferred to that concerning which nego-
tiations were in progress with the magistrates of Metz :
"Do you, therefore, follow our advice. Having consi-
dered everything, write back to me all you desire, and I
will not be wanting, whom you shall find always a faith-
ful man and special friend. Commend me to your dear
wife and son. Lyons, October 20."
By the sixteenth of November 3 , a question of settlement
in Geneva has been added to all these discussions ; and the
necessity of coming to some final decision has been made
apparent. The Duke of Savoy has made an offer of pay,
by which the poor scholar has felt humiliated. With the
pride of a gentleman, he has refused, therefore, to receive
a single ducat at the great man's hands. A friend at
1 Orationes, iv. p. 2092. 2 Ep. 9, Lib. ii. p. 725.
3 Ep. 10, Lib. ii. pp. 726, 727.
10 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
Geneva writes to him in a consolatory strain, and " does
not think that he did quite wisely in refusing to accept
the pay offered him by that ungrateful man, especially con-
sidering his own very straitened fortunes. It seemed to
him an absurd revenge which gave reward to the com-
mitter of a wrong, and inflicted damage upon the laborious
. and deserving. It would have been more prudent, laying
aside pride, to have claimed that money, little as it was,
which the hand of injustice at last offered." Such wise
friends have we all to help us keep our souls in due sub-
jection. But the concern on behalf of Agrippa and his
family was laudable, and this Geneva correspondent was
most honestly rejoiced at the chance of having as a towns-
man and a neighbour one so noble and so learned as
Agrippa. He was ready to assist Eustochius Chappuys, the
chief friend of Cornelius in the town, in looking for a
house, and making other preparations, if that able doctor
should adhere to his proposal of a settlement in his wife's
native city.
Probably the disrespect suffered at the hands of the
Duke of Savoy had caused Cornelius in his resentment to
regard even the slenderest tie between patron and client
as a state of bondage. He and his little family had
already been for some time living on the insufficient pro-
duce of his industry and talent. Instead of depending
again upon service to one man for a more ample sub-
sistence, might he not find it more consistent with the
liberty he cherished to obtain a wider field for private
practice, whether of law or medicine, in a community
A PROSPECT AT GENEVA. 11
that would respect his independence. His wife Louisa
may have had faith in her own town of Geneva, fancied
an opening there, and pleased herself with the idea of re-
visiting the old familiar ground after so many turmoils
and sharp trials upon foreign soil, loyally borne. Agrippa
would be influenced directly by a wish of hers, as she was
prompt to second any wish of his.
" Where there is a true and whole love," the young
husband had preached, on the excuse of Plato, to the
learned men of Pisa 1 , "there is all modesty, all justice;
there is no scorn, there is perpetual peace. The love of
peace is God ; peace is by lovers venerated. Where
there is true love, there is security, there is concord, there
is happiness, and there are all things common. Against
it there is no force in danger, wiles, dissension, misery;
in strife, theft, homicide, or battle. Moreover, what laws
almost numberless and the whole scope of moral philoso-
phy are striving to effect, and scarcely compass after all,
love alone, in the shortest time, secures. Love is enough
to turn you from the evil and the base, to set you on the
track of what is good and just. Without love, justice is
a cause of war, fortitude is not free from anger, prudence
from malice, temperance from impatience. Where love
is present, all the virtues are brought into concord
Love 2 itself is the moderator of celestial movements and
influxes, the ruler of the elements, and the preserver of
all creatures. This is the root of life, the promoter of
1 H. C. A. in Prcelectionem Convivii Platonis, Amoris laudem continens.
Orationes, i. Op. Tom. i. p. 1066.
4 Ibid. p. 1068.
12 CORNELIUS GRIPPA.
safety; it extinguishes indolence, revives the perishing,
illuminates the wise, instructs the ignorant, leads back the
wanderers, soothes the angry, humbles the proud, consoles
the oppressed, helps forward the destitute Let
us all love, therefore 1 ; let us love, first, God; next to God,
let the love of a wife stand before all things. Let us love
our country, for which always the wisest and holiest men
have willingly and with alacrity met death itself. Let us
love the prince who is the author of justice; let us love
parents, relations, benefactors. Let us love each other, for
before all things this Christ teaches in the Gospel, saying,
This is my commandment, that ye love one another.
Let us love, a.11 of us, the most noble female sex
But of the pre-eminence and nobility of woman I am un-
willing to speak largely, as I am about to issue a small
book upon this special theme." (Some years have elapsed,
however, and it still remains unpublished.) " The woman's
lover labours to do well that he may please her. One man
is trained in arms by love, another trained in letters ;
every one labours to act that he may be praised before the
face of her who loves him."
In this spirit Cornelius is just now toiling up a very
steep bit of the hill of life, and very naturally, when he
seems to have the world before him, turns his eyes, for his
wife's sake, in the direction of Geneva. A more certain
prospect of a livelihood, that promised not less indepen-
dence, being elsewhere offered, we find, on the sixteenth
of January, that Agrippa's friend at Geneva writes in some-
1 Ibid. p. 1071.
AGREES TO GO TO METZ. 13
what ludicrous despair, because that man whose wisdom
and whose "inborn goodness 1 /' and whose oratory are so
precious to him, has announced his acceptance of the post
of advocate and orator to the free town of Metz.
Metz, in the duchy of Lorraine, claimed in those days
to be free, and knew how to maintain its freedom. In as
far as it paid any allegiance at all, it paid it to the Empe-
ror of Germany, but it would have nothing to do with the
German Diets, and not long before the arrival of Cornelius,
its magistrates had sent after a citizen who had set out for
Worms to get some private litigation settled, brought him
back, and fined him for proposing to acknowledge a strange
jurisdiction. As for the Dukes of Lorraine, they were
obliged to live at peace with the town that could afford to
hold its own upon their soil 3 . Some five-and- twenty
years before Agrippa went there, Re*ne, Duke of Lor-
raine, had declared war against it. The townspeople gave
to the Duke's herald half a dozen florins out of their own
mint, as tokens of their independence, and waged war for
three years so stoutly, that when peace was made they had
in the town sixteen or seventeen thousand of the Duke's
people as prisoners.
In Metz, Cornelius Agrippa found a town that was in
several main respects not very much unlike his own
Cologne. There was in spirit, though not quite in form,
1 Ep. 11, Lib. ii. p. 728.
3 Histoire Generate de Metz, par des Rdigieux Btnedictins de la Congrg-
gation de /St. Vannas. Metz, 1775. This history, in six thick quartos,
provides ample store from which I draw what little minute knowledge is
necessary to the narrative.
14 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
the same municipal supremacy, the same sort of* social
history, the same mastery of the religious power by the
civil, and withal the same glut of monks, making intole-
rant use of what authority they had.
Before assuming his new office, Cornelius went to his
parents in Cologne. They had been told of his death
among the Swiss in Pavia ; all his friends in Cologne also
believed that he had fallen. In his actual presence they
received the first assurance of his safety 1 . Of their mourn-
ing for his supposed loss he had not known. Having no
pleasant news to send, he had despatched to Cologne no
messenger. In the days of his poverty he had refrained
from pressing upon the resources of his parents ; but as
soon as the way of life seemed clear again, and he could
tell them good news of himself, he did not write, but
went himself to them, and turned their mourning into
jy-
1 Ep. 15, 18, and 19, Lib. ii.
METZ. 15
CHAPTER II.
ADVOCATE AND ORATOR AT METZ.
METZ is a very old town, standing between streams
where the Seille flows into the Moselle. It was entered
in Agrippa's time by many bridges, one to each of the old
gates. Within the walls it was overfilled with monasteries
and churches. As you entered by St. Thibault's gate on
the side furthest from that bordering the Moselle, you
soon came to the monastery of the Celestines, facing the
market space, which was adorned by the public gallows
and a scaffold 1 . Many a barbarous execution the Celes-
tines saw. Beyond the Celestines, other monks were pre-
dominant in every quarter. The large monastery of the
Dominicans was on the other side of the town, near the
Moselle, and not very far from the fine cathedral at which,
when Cornelius Agrippa went to Metz, the building works
were coming to an end. I mention only the religious
houses of the Celestines and Dominicans, because they
1 The pictorial plan of Metz, sketched not long after this time in Braun's
Urtoea Mundi, shows a man hanging on the gallows as a public ornament.
16 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
only concern us. One yielded to Cornelius a friend, and
one a foe.
Metz was a town, the capital of a district, even in the
old days of the Gauls, and a town, as I have said, able to
assert its independence. The Romans preserved its Gallic
constitution, giving to its magistrates, elected on the an-
cient system, the name of Decurion, and the name of
Decurion having been translated into Deacon, in Agrippa's
time the ancient form of independent government existed
still. Its Master Deacon was its mayor, or chief magistrate.
In the thirteenth century the Bishops of Metz had endea-
voured to assert civil supremacy, but they had, as at Co-
logne, been resisted violently, and there had been a season of
internal strife, resulting finally in the complete restriction
of the Church authority to matters of religious discipline.
The town would obey none but townsmen of its own ap-
pointment, and had for its first article of customary law
that "All are free; there is not one of servile condition."
The town was governed by a master deacon and a
council of the other deacons, aided by a body called the
Sworn Thirteen 1 . Soon after Agrippa's time there existed
a parliament formed of a body of ecclesiastics, nobles, and
deputies of the commons, called " People of the Three
Estates of the city." When it met it was not the bishop
but the master deacon who convoked it, and the master
deacon who presided over its discussions.
1 The constitution of the government of the town is fully detailed in the
Eistoire Gfntrale fa Metz, par des Religieux Btntdictins^ Tom. ii. pp.
318-393.
THE RULERS OF METZ. 17
The Master Deacon was elected annually by six persons,
namely, those who happened to be masters of the cathe-
dral and five specified abbeys. In order to maintain the
dignity of the town, it was incumbent upon its chief
magistrate to obtain a knighthood before Whitsuntide,
during his year of office. It was his function to treat with
the council of twelve ordinary deacons, and with the
Thirteen ; he was to provide for vacant offices and so
forth. The twelve other deacons were all chosen on the
nomination of the master deacon until the year 1600, and
the Deacons, with their Master, formed a sovereign court of
appeal from the sentences of the Sworn Thirteen, in civil
matters.
The Thirteen were said to be sworn because, having
tried offences, they made report on oath concerning the
offenders, and, when they did so, were believed against all
contradiction, their sentences of fine or other punishment
being considered final. In doubtful cases, however, they
reported their opinion only, not confirming it by oath, and
it was then liable to be outweighed by sworn testimony
on the part of witnesses for the accused. The Thirteen
were changed by a general election once in eight years,
conducted upon a peculiar system, which, however, ex-
cluded no citizen from participation in the suffrage. Such
details of municipal government as now fall commonly to
the lot of a town council were attended to by the Thir-
teen ; and as the municipal government was also im-
perial, they might be said also to resemble ministers
in various departments of the state. Three formed a
VOL. II. C
18 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
committee in charge of the gates ; three others were the
ministry of war ; one took the oversight of hospitals ;
another was lord of the treasury ; one presided over the
cleansing of the highways, and so forth. Then again six
of them formed also a court of arbitration for the hearing of
incipient causes, and the amicable settlement of matters in
dispute. The Thirteen assembled in chamber every Tues-
day and Wednesday in the morning, all the year through,
meeting at seven in the morning between Easter and the
first of October, and at eight between the first of October
and Easter, liable to fines against each member who was
late or absent.
It was by the Master Deacon that Cornelius Agrippa
was invited to accept the post of Town Advocate and Orator
at Metz 1 ; having accepted that office, he became subject
to the order of the Council of Deacons and the Thirteen,
but of no one else. He became also a citizen, and free
among the free.
But if Agrippa served only the civil government, his
way of life and thought concerned the ecclesiastical. We
must needs know also how that was constituted.
In the year 1484, successor to a bishop who was good and
zealous, and worked holy miracles, Henry II. of Lorraine
became bishop of Metz. He lived and died at a country
seat in Champagne, belonging to his brother Duke Re"ne,
and all that he did for his see was to govern it in the in-
terests of the house of Lorraine. This state of things led
to intrusions on the part of Rene, which the citizens of
1 Oratio iv. p. 2092.
THE CLERGY OF METZ. 19
Metz put down by force of arms ; it was then eight-and-
twenty years before Agrippa went to live among them
that they made the Duke's herald a present of some florins
out of their own mint. Not very long after the war ended,
in 1494, Henry of Lorraine proposed the appointment of
a coadjutor in his bishopric, and he thought at that time
of an able man, Raymond, cardinal of St. Agatha, legate
in Treves. His brother Rene approved of the choice, but
when afterwards a second son was born to himself he
changed his mind, and thought it well that if one son
inherited the dukedom, the other should possess the
wealthy bishopric of Metz. Therefore, although much
had been formally done to assure the coadjutorship of
Raymond, on the third of November, 1500, the chapter of
Metz agreed to accept a sucking bishop in the person of
the Duke's infant, Jean de Lorraine, though he was then
little more than two years old, and in those days it was com-
mon not so much as to wean a child before the age of three.
The Pope limited Jean's privileges by a bull. He was not
to enter actively upon the administration of affairs until he
reached the age of twenty, and he was to take full episco-
pal rank at the age of twenty-seven. While Bishop Henry
lived he was to do the necessary work ; and if he died
during the minority of his coadjutor, the episcopal ad-
ministration was to pass into the hands of the chapter.
The chapter, governing for the bishop, was to divide the
revenue into three parts, of which one only was to be the
portion of Prince Jean. Now Bishop Henry of Lorraine
died in 1505, when the coadjutor was but seven and a
C2
20 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
half years old. The chapter, therefore, occupied the
bishop's palace, and managed the ecclesiastical affairs of
Metz up to the time of Cornelius Agrippa's first arrival in
the city.
The chapter had been working very hard at the cathe-
dral. In the last years of Bishop Henry's life, after a
year of plague (and plague-years in Metz were frequent),
labour upon it had been actively resumed. The ancient
choir and chapel of St. Nicholas had been pulled down,
and to expedite the reconstruction, Henry, not many
months before his death, had granted remission of all sins
by excess, rapine, and usury, to those who gave subscrip-
tions to the building-fund. After the bishop's death,
when a large part of the ecclesiastical revenues became,
for a series of years, available for pious works, one of the
two thirds of his income withheld from the bishop was
devoted annually to the payment of costs on account of
the cathedral, which was finished very soon. At the time
when Cornelius first went to Metz, the young Bishop
Jean had just arrived at his majority, and the last touches
were being put to the cathedral, which, however, was not
open for public worship until 1522. The chapter had
also established a strict rule in matters of religion, even to
the appointment of a cruel Dominican as Chief Inquisitor,
though there had by no means been at all times inquisitors
in Metz, nor had there been at all times public orators.
It so happened, however, that not very long before the civil
power gave- to a fit man, Cornelius Agrippa, the post of
town advocate and orator, the ecclesiastical power had
IN" A NEW HOME. 21
entrusted to a fit man, Nicolas Savin, the office of inqui-
sitor 1 . No place was made so intolerable as Metz to the
Jews, and how heresies of the Christians fared there, we
ere long shall see.
Bidding farewell then once more to his parents at Co-
logne, one of them never to be seen again in this world, Cor-
nelius, in the year 1518, his age being thirty-two, travelled
to Metz with wife and son, and having arrived there,
founded what he hoped might prove a quiet and a settled
home. As soon as possible after his coming he presented
himself before the assembled magistrates to report his
arrival, thank them for the honour they had paid him,
and submit himself to their commands. His speech 2 was
brief, the first half an eulogium of the free town of Metz,
the last an explanation of his own position. He should
not waste their time with ornamented sentences. His
presence was a witness of his honesty, and if they needed
more assurances, his birthplace was not obscure, his race
was not ignoble, his family none to be ashamed of, his
home not sordid; no man had blamed his morals, and his
life was free from crime, his reputation was without spot
among the justest men, and he had aforetime not been
held unworthy to receive words of confidence and thanks
from the Supreme Pope, the Emperor, and many prelates
and religious men, who called him son and friend, who
had received him at their tables, who had honoured him
1 Histoire de Metz, Tom. ii. p. 720. Corn. Agr. Ep. 59, Lib. ii. p. 776.
* H. C. A. ad Metensium Dominos, dum in illorum advocatum, syndicum et
oratorem acceptaretur. Op. Tom. ii. pp. 1090-1092.
22 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
in private and in public letters, and whose witness to his
praise was dearer to his heart than money, of which he
never was an eager seeker, or an avaricious owner. But
after he had taken a wife, he went on to tell them, he
had proposed to abstain from a familiarity with princes
who were above his humble state, and in the seeking
of whose friendship there was more ambition than tran-
quillity, and thereafter, he adds, " I lived by my own
industry, and remaining content with my lot, and with
but narrow means, I bore with an unbroken mind various
twists of fortune, burdensome on no man. But after your
highness" (he speaks to the master deacon as chief of the
council) " had by sundry letters, and at last by the send-
ing of your secretary, required me for your Orator, and the
Lord Preceptor of Rivolta himself, and his brother the
Preceptor at Metz, together with the great baron their
father, to all of whom I owe much, had urged my consent
with many prayers, I thought it amiss to refuse the prayers
of so many men to whom I was indebted, and to contemn
your favour. Therefore, neglecting all other prospects,
and the great titles, of which some were at that time
offered me in Piedmont and Savoy, with fixed delibera-
tion I have devoted myself to you, trusting that I shall
so manage as not wholly to destroy the most excellent
opinion of me you now hold. But that I may not weary
you by a too long discourse, and occupy the time proper
for business of more moment, nothing remains except that
with all possible respect, devotion, and religious earnest-
ness, I promise and give you my assurance that I will fail
TOWN ADVOCATE AND ORATOR. 23
you in no matter, whether of counsel, fidelity, or secrecy,
or in the other debts and duties of this office, whatever
chance may hap. I will do now, therefore, what I ought :
accept what is your due. You have me here whom you
have for some time sought. I take the title of your Ad-
vocate and Orator. I acknowledge you to be my certain
and indubitable lords, I pay to you all reverence, obe-
dience, and faithful duty that an orator, admitted to par-
ticipation in the counsels of your republic is expected to
pay, and whatever course you instruct me to take on the
republic's behalf, I will with all pains pursue, examine,
labour in, affect, and perfect, nor will I ever be wanting
in faith, industry, or diligence. Behold I am in your
hands, knowledge, mind, and body. I have said these
things briefly, trusting that your prudence will perceive
much within the little, and entreat your pardon if I have
spoken thus extemporaneously not in a way suited to your
worth, but to my weakness and the worth of time."
We know enough, by this time, of Cornelius, to be as-
sured that in his promise of fidelity and diligence, he
spoke with a true heart to the Deacons of Metz and the
Thirteen, and that after having thus plighted his faith he
returned to his wife in their new home, determined to do
all that an honest man could do for the assurance of pro-
sperity and peace to the small household of which he was
the head. Metz had its social troubles. It was at that
time besieged by banditti under a Captain Francisco, who
made all the approaches insecure, ravaged outlying fields
and villages, and proved themselves a plague so fierce
24 COKNELIUS AGRIPPA.
and so indomitable, that the town was obliged to buy
them off 1 .
Of the kind of work done by Cornelius Agrippa for the
town of Metz, we have a trace in these orations that sur-
vive, clear, brief, and closely keeping to the point in hand.
One is a speech before the neighbouring Senate of Luxem-
bourg 3 , upon the subject of some new claims made against
the citizens of Metz by the farmers of the Luxembourg
tolls. The Senate of Luxembourg had, in consequence
of repeated representations by the aggrieved parties, given
counsel or command at various times to their farmers of
tolls which those persons resisted, and asserting the le-
gality of their proceedings, they had opposed an action
brought against them by the deacons of Metz in the
courts of their own town. The suit had been more than
a year in existence, and was undecided still, when Cor-
nelius Agrippa was sent to apologise to the Senate of Lux-
embourg for troubling them so often on the matter, and
to tell that body with all courtesy and high consideration,
that it would do well to expedite the movements of its
court of law, and bring the question of tolls to a settle-
ment, because, although the town of Metz had abstained
carefully from any retaliation, if the unusual demands
made against citizens of Metz were much longer persisted
in, Metz would begin to act in a corresponding spirit
of exaction towards citizens of Luxembourg. The other
1 Histoire Generate de Metz, par des Religieux Be"nedictins.
* E. C. A. Oratio ad Senatum Luceriburyiorum pro Dominis suis Metensibus
habita. Op. Tom. ii. pp. 1092-1094.
NEW DUTIES OLD STUDIES. 25
two orations are the formal greetings which the town
then offered, accompanying them with some substantial
gift, to every visitor of note who came within its gates.
One of these speeches is to a prince bishop 1 , and the other,
to some great lord 2 ; both are of commendable brevity,
Cornelius explaining in one of them that many words
belong rather to an insincere greeting, than an honest, in-
dependent welcome; that many words are only good to
cause more weariness to travellers, or worry to the man
of business. His compliments, it may be said, are not the
less well turned, as they must assuredly have been the
pleasanter, for being brief.
During the first quiet months of residence at Metz,
Agrippa found amusement in the writing of an uncer-
tain opinion on a disputable problem in Theology the
nature of Original Sin 3 . In the treatise on Man written
for Monferrat before that on the Triple Way of Knowing
God, he had argued that the race of man in a state of
innocence would have been maintained by immaculate
conception 4 . The whole theory is worked out in the essay
on Original Sin, of which he suggests, by many curious
and most ingenious arguments, his opinion that it came by
the fall, in this respect, from the quickening of the spirit
1 Oratio in salutatione cujusdam Principis et Episcopi, pro Metensibus
scripta, p. 1094.
2 Oratio in salutatione cvjusdam magnifici viri, pro Dominis Metensibus
scripta, p. 1095.
3 Henrici Cornelii Agrippas de Originali Peccato, disputabilis Opinionis
Dedamatio. Opuscula (ed. 1532, Mense Maio no pagination), fol. sig.
H vii.-I vii.
4 Ibid, ad Jin,
26 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
to the quickening of the flesh. " It is opinion," he says,
"not belief, not knowledge; so that if my opinion be
wrong, I am not parted by it from true belief and uncon-
taminated Christian wisdom. Upon such conditions I
may express opinion freely, and if (as I am a man of im-
mature age, and of small wit or learning) I do not justify
the sense I give by as many witnesses of Scripture as the
thing requires, some doctors may follow, not displeased
with this opinion of mine, and able to give vigour to it
with more valid reasoning." A copy of his " short and
compendious declamation" Agrippa sends to the old friend
of his family, Theodoric, Bishop of Cyrene 1 , who replies
from Bedbar 3 that he is glad to find his Cornelius alive,
contrary to the reports current for some years in Cologne,
glad that he has a good wife and children who may
inherit his own virtue and learning, glad that he has suc-
ceeded in escaping to so large an extent from subjection
to secular duties, and won time to devote to sacred letters.
As for the question of Original Sin, it is an old puzzle.
He will only say that all have been agreed that it cannot
exist were there is no rational soul. " But enough," he
adds, " of this. I wish we could be together who are now
parted by distance, and the fierce raging of perils (I speak
of epidemics) in which I wonder vehemently that you
offer, as you write, yourself, your wife, and your whole
family, to the help of your neighbours. You will reply,
perhaps, that you are not timid about this disease, and
perhaps some Apollo guards you with a special antidote,
1 Ep. 17, Lib. ii. p. 734. * Ep. 18, Lib. ii pp. 734, 735.
HIS OPINION CONCERNING ORIGINAL SIN. 27
or preservative. If you have any such thing, I beg you
not to hide it from your friend: or if any one has told
you of a prescription against plague, discovered by any
thinker, send it written to the physician in my house, that
it may reach my hands, so you will bind the tie of love
between us with a tenfold strength." The bishop ends
with a pleasant doubt lest a correspondent whom he knows
to be so pure in thought should find corruption in his
letter, and begs that, if so, it may be covered by his age,
his fatherly relation to his friend, and his capacity of
bishop. This letter was addressed to the noble and strenu-
ous Knight, Doctor of each Faculty and of Medicine,
Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Chief Counsel to the Senate of
the town of Metz, his most beloved son in Christ, by the
reverend Father in Christ, and Doctor in sacred Theology,
Theodoric, Bishop of Gyrene, Rural Dean at Cologne,
and elected President of the Chapter 1 .
Cornelius, when he replied to this letter, sent with his
reply, for the use of his venerable friend, a paper of in-
structions, detailing both the preventives and the remedies
against the plague, which he had compiled for his own
use, and that of others, from the best authorities. There
can be little doubt that his exposure of himself and family
to the infection for the benefit of his neighbours at Metz
arose out of the skill as a physician which it became him
in the time of need to exercise. He told Theodoric that
the best remedy was flight, and a return, not too speedy,
1 See letters prefixed to the paper Contra Pestem, Opuscula (ed. May,
1532), sig. fol. I vii. K.
28 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
after the cessation of the pestilence. For himself to leave
Metz was impossible, and as for the Securest Antidotes
against the Plague, he forwarded an account of them in a
little medical paper, so headed, which is to be found
among his published works 1 .
First, as to general regimen in time of pestilence, his
rules are to avoid as much as possible heat and heating
things, external or internal; to avoid violent exercises,
violent passions ; to avoid eating or drinking to repletion,
but to avoid also hunger and thirst ; not to sleep too much,
especially by day. With food, and especially with fresh
fish, such condiments as tormentilla, gentian, sandal-wood,
and roses should be taken ; also vinegar should be used,
especially vinegar of roses; and citron, orange, or lemon-
juice, sorrel -juice, and all vegetable things of that kind
which resist the poison of the plague. They may be tem-
pered with sugar, if too sharp taken alone. Pepper may
be eaten, coarsely pounded, and it is good also to take
such herbs as onion and chicory. The place of residence
and clothes should be purified with a blazing fire, of say
juniper or pine- wood ; they should also be sprinkled with
rose-water and vinegar ; sweet herbs and flowers should
also be scattered about, and used in fumigation. With
rose-water and vinegar, also, it is well to wash often during
the day both face and hands. When walking abroad, have
1 Opuscula (I give this title to the collection of small works beginning
with the De Nob. et Prcecell. Fcem. Sex. and all named on the title-page of the
first edition of them published at Cologne, in May, 1532), fol. K iii.-K^i.
Henrici Comelii Agrippa contra Pestem Antidota securissima.
HOW TO TREAT THE PLAGUE. 29
a little ditany root or aromatic confection in the mouth,
and a sweet apple in the hand at which to smell. It is
best, also, before leaving home, to burn rue, beaten in
vinegar, upon hot iron plates, and inhale the vapour, as
well as allow it to pass over the whole body and clothes.
This is the household regimen which, in seasons of pesti-
lence, Cornelius Agrippa enforced in his own family, and
used his influence to recommend.
Of preservative antidotes, the best, in his opinion, and
those which he himself used, were a draught in the morn-
ing, and at times during the day, chiefly composed of
vinegar of roses and white wine, or old malvoisie, with
citron-peel, bole armenian, and zodoary-root infused, and
a little saffron added, with perhaps some sugar and con-
serve of roses. There was a pill in common use, and called
a Pestilence Pill, which Agrippa would have to be taken
digested in honey -water. A medicine not less sublime is
this: Take of treacle two ounces, myrrh three drachms,
camphor two drachms, over which pour a pint of rose-
water. In two or three days distil in well-sealed glass
vessels, and take some of the distilled water every morn-
ing. The ancients prescribed also an electuary of walnuts,
rue, and salt, with other things, and there is an egg elec-
tuary made of saffron roasted Avithin a blown egg-shell,
and pounded afterwards with mustard. Many subsequent
additions to the egg electuary were made, and are de-
scribed to Theodoric. When used as a medicine, it must
be given within the first twelve hours of the disease. By
way of precaution, Pestilence Pills should be taken once or
30 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
twice a week, the aloes and myrrh in them being omitted,
and a little camphor substituted in hot weather ; but in
cold weather they are to be taken as usual. There are
other directions given for varying, according to season and
constitution, their aperient quality.
Whoever feels himself to be smitten with the plague, if
age and strength permit, should promptly be bled. Then
also within the first six hours, and while help and advice is
being sought, let there be prepared for him as a remedy six
white onions, with their hearts scooped out, and filled with
old treacle, in which has been put powder of ditany and
tormentilla-root ; cook them wrapped in moist paper under
ashes, and, when cooked to softness, use a part pounded as
poultice to the sores ; nothing is so able to draw out the
poison: mix the rest with an ounce of citron-juice and a
little vinegar, squeeze and strain. Let the sick person
have three ounces of the expressed juice, cover him up
warmly in bed, and let him remain to perspire for six
hours without food and drink. There may advantageously
be mixed with such a dose a little of the egg electuary.
A patient unable to bear bleeding should be purged ac-
cording to his strength. But of all remedies, the best is
Adam's earth, or the first matter of creation, whereof
Agrippa promises elsewhere to speak.
Such was considered the best treatment of plague in
days when plague was rife, and such was the advice sent
by his friend at Metz during a plague year to the Bishop
of Gyrene. At the same time (1518), a correspondence
LAW, PHYSIC, AND DIVINITY. 31
arose between Cornelius and a young lawyer at Basle 1 ,
who had heard of his rare powers, and wrote to him for
counsel. He gave the counsel that he had himself ob-
tained from Abbot John of Trittenheim, to embrace the
widest field of study, and to pay especial heed to the
divine writings. " He who studies law," said Agrippa,
" will build up his neighbour in the state, and he who
studies sacred letters will build up himself in God." He
repeated the proverb he had himself received from Trithe-
mius, about the heavy footfall of the wearied ox, and im-
proved to his own use a pleasant interchange of letters, by
requesting his new friend to make inquiry about the Com-
mentaries on Paul to the Romans, and the other papers
said to have been saved in battle for him by one of the
pupils he had taught at Pavia, Christopher Schilling, of
Lucerne. Recurring to this time, he expresses his old
admiration of the polished life of the Italians, who were
acknowledged chiefs of civilisation. " I exhort you, when
you have seen Germany and France, and all the rabble of
our barbarians, to go at last to Italy, which, if any one re-
gards with open eyes, he will see that any other fatherland
is base and vile compared with it. But all this, and what
else I have above written, take in good part." All his
Italian misfortunes have not changed his taste; still he
feels that he should have thought no business in life so
welcome as that of a professorship at Pavia. As for Schil-
ling, he is at Tubingen now, studying under Reuchlin;
1 Ep. 12-16, Lib. ii. pp. 728-734.
32 COKNELIUS AGRIPPA.
and Agrippa, reading Reuchlin's book on Accents, meets
with Schilling's name, and is rejoiced that so worthy a
disciple has found a preceptor of an excellence so rare.
A sudden journey from Metz to Cologne interrupts the
course of the town advocate's every-day life 1 . He has
not long returned before a despatch from Theodoric en-
closes for him a letter from his mother, to inform him of
his father's death 3 . His father's illness was most likely
the occasion of his journey. Either there was a limit to
his leave of absence, or there was sufficient hope of the
sick man's recovery; Cornelius did not remain to see his
father die. " I grieve," he says, " most vehemently, and
find but a single solace for this grief, that we must yield
to the divine ordinance ; for I know that God bestows
upon men gifts, not indeed always pleasant, very often
even of adversity, yet always useful to assist us here, or in
the heavenly fatherland. For God acts in accordance
with His own nature, His own essence, which is wholly
goodness ; therefore He ordains nothing but what is good
and salutary. Nevertheless, sucli is my human nature,
that I vehemently grieve, and the depths are stirred
within me."
They are his first tears for the dead. He is thirty -two
years old, and has seen many troubles, but this trouble
never until now, in a year of pestilence. He writes to
the Bishop Theodoric as to a loving father, whose kind
1 Ep. 15 and 16, Lib. ii. p. 733.
a Ep. 19, Lib. ii. p. 736, in which the letters are referred to, but they are
not themselves published.
DEATH OF HIS FATHER. 33
words temper his grief. What words, in the honest mo-
ther tongue, Agrippa's mother wrote to her pure-hearted
son, how he replied to her, these were the secrets of his
inmost life, and they form no part of the revelations of
the scholar.
In another part of the long letter to Theodoric, in which
he pours out many thoughts of his heart to a venerable
and well-trusted friend, Cornelius speaks of his new and
more complete devotion to a study of Theology. He had
aforetime especially delighted in researches into nature,
which Theodoric seems to have stigmatised as seductive
and diabolical; taught by the Speculum of Albertus
Magnus, he had made instruments and had experimented
upon nature, at much cost to himself, and with no gain
but the discredit of his sin. But after he had taken in
the usual way the cap and rings, as Doctor of each Faculty
and of Medicine (to satisfy the wish of his own family,
who thought more of the cap than of the brains 1 ), he had
devoted himself, though late in life, wholly to the pursuit
of sacred letters. In so doing, he was no doubt, by the
energy of youth, likely to be led astray into erroneous
theories, and he desired nothing better than that the good
and wise Theodoric should be his censor and adviser, who
would show him when he erred, fulfilling in that way a
bishop's office, and so keep him safe within the Church's
fold. At the close of this letter, though he has not been a
year at Metz, Agrippa looks forward with some longing to a
possible time when, in the home of his forefathers, he may
1 Ep. 19, Lib. ii. p. 737'" qui me doctorem malunt quam doctuni."
VOL. II. D
34 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
pursue, Theodoric for helper, the studies that are worthiest ;
and he commends himself affectionately to a liberal and
learned friend, of whom we shall hear more hereafter,
Hermann Count of Neuwied.
This Hermann was the son of William II. of Neuwied
and Walburgis Manderscheid. He was a canon of Co-
logne, and afterwards in higher dignity, had charge of the
cathedral, was in a later year archdeacon, and at last
chancellor of the University. Hermann V. of Wied, whose
sister was this Hermann's sister-in-law, had become, only in
1517, Archbishop of Cologne. The Hermann to whom
Agrippa sent affectionate remembrance was a priest but
twenty-seven years of age, a scholar, an author, and a
little prince. He was a man sought by all the learned
in his neighbourhood, who kept an open house and table
to all poets, historians, critics, and sophists 1 . Cornelius,
when at Cologne, enjoyed his hospitality and won his
friendship ; to him, therefore, he sends affectionate remem-
brance. It may be said here that this Hermann died at the
early age of thirty -nine, having written eleven books of
poetry, history, and medicine.
There was nobody at Metz with poets' tastes and a true
love for the society of learned men to exercise a splendid
hospitality. With a physician and counsellor of the town,
who wrote afterwards part of a treatise "Upon English
Sweat," John of Niederbriick Nidepontanus 2 and with
1 Bibliotheca Coloniensis, Hartzheim (4to, Colon. 1747), p. 137.
* See dedication to Def. Prop, de Monog. B. Anna.
HERMANN COUNT OF NEUWIED. 35
a pious Celestine friar, Claudius Deodatus 1 , with a few
more also like these, there were friendships formed ; but
otherwise outside the walls of his own home Cornelius
looked vainly for sympathy among his fellow-citizens.
Ere long, indeed, he was engaged in battle with a power-
ful and bitter enemy among them. War was declared
between Cornelius Agrippa, Public Orator and Advocate
of Metz, and Nicolas Savin, the Chief Inquisitor.
1 Ep. 20-25, 27-31, Lib. ii.
D2
36 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
CHAPTER III.
RELATES A CHEAT DISPUTE WITH THE DOMINICANS OF METZ : TELLS ALSO
HOW AGRIPPA SAVED A VILLAGE GIRL ACCUSED OF WITCHCRAFT FROM
THE CLUTCHES OF THE CHIEF INQUISITOR, AND LOST HIS OFFICE OF TOWK
ADVOCATE AND ORATOR.
DINING sometimes, in the year 1519, with his friend
Father Claudius Deodatus at the religious house of the
Celestines in the market-place, Cornelius Agrippa used
to discourse much at table on the state of man before the
fall, the fall of the angels, and other matters 1 . Except
Father Claudius and the prior and one studious youth,
none of the monks diverted their attention from their
dinners to take more heed of the earnest scholar than to
note that he often spoke with respect of theological in-
quirers who were not considered to be sound by the
stationary party in the Church 2 . They were critical
times in which Cornelius Agrippa had devoted himself to
the study of Theology. Luther's stand against corruption
-was then in the first years of its strength, and many
writers who abided by the Church were labouring to clear
1 Ep. 20, 21, Lib. ii. p. 740. The same ; also Ep. 24, p. 742.
FATHER CLAUDIUS DEODATUS. 37
it of its grosser errors. Cornelius was of one mind with
these. He had as yet read nothing of Luther's; no writing
of his had found its way to the strict town of Metz ; but
what the spiritual scholar heard about the undaunted Re-
former pleased him, and he was not afraid to say so
openly 1 , and to speak with contempt of the priests known as
Luther's foremost enemies. Cornelius had read also and
enjoyed all that he had met with of the writings of
Erasmus. He quoted Erasmus freely, and was also just
at this time seized with admiration of a venerable and
gentle theologian whose reforming tendencies had made
him hateful to his brethren of the Sorbonne, Jacques
Faber d'Etaples, better known as Faber Stapulensis.
Now Cornelius Agrippa, whatever dignity he had re-
ceived at Dole, never became, in the eye of the world, a
scholastic theologian. He was a layman and a husband.
At Metz he was an advocate and a physician. Father
Claudius was half won to love him, because he had con-
sulted the wise doctor, who helped souls and bodies equally,
upon his own physical infirmities. Claudius was troubled
with delusions of the sense and great failing of memory,
from which infirmities he was, to a very great extent,
released by following the counsels of Agrippa. Such being
the public life of the Town Orator and Advocate, his de-
votion of himself in particular to the study of Theology
was in itself a matter of suspicion. It implied a dangerous
tendency to the use of independent judgment. He spoke
with honour, when at dinner with the monks, about sus-
1 Def. Prop, de Monog. B. Anna, ad fin.
38 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
pected men, maintaining the opinions by which they
had been brought into suspicion. Matters appeared worse
in the eyes of the Celestines when the friendship between
Claudius and Cornelius strengthened, and it was a common
thing for Claudius to spend hours in Agrippa's house, his
guest and his disciple. It was to be feared that they
were studying heresies together; and after Father
Claudius had paid one day his usual visit, taking the
youth with him who had listened to Agrippa's talk with
earnest eyes, they forbade repetition of his visits. Cornelius
wrote to inquire the cause of his unwonted absence, fear-
ing that he had been affected by the malicious scandal of
those who had so loudly murmured against their frequent
intercourse together. Father Claudius returned a kind
reply, enclosing in his parcel certain works of Erasmus
and of Faber Stapulensis that Cornelius had lent him.
"These teachers," he said 1 , "together with yourself, I
have resolved to accept and follow, for I see them to be
walking in the sincere truth of Sacred Writ. Your
conclusions I have copied with ' my own hand in stolen
hours (for I am too much occupied, and get almost no
leisure), nor have I ventured to depute this task to any-
body, because our brothers are loutish and idiotic, per-
secuting enviously all who love good literature. They
decry not a little Master Jacques Faber, also you and me ;
so that some of them have attacked me with no trifling
insults. Therefore I have thought best to hide your
conclusions, lest their hatred become wilder. Only the
1 Ep. 24, Lib. ii. p. 742.
TWO BATTLES WITH THE MONKS. 39
father prior and that youth who was with me when last
at your house, congratulate you in the matter. The
madness of the other ignorant men condemns unread, even
unseen, that book of Master Faber, and all those who
believe in it or follow it. There is another reason why
many who are harsh and unlettered rise up against you,
because you have been sharply and firmly defending a
woman accused of heresy and witchcraft, and have taken
this prey away from the Inquisitor. But be you constant
still in the defence of what is true, and of strong heart
against the insane hate of the unlearned, that the truth
may shine."
Here are two battles, both of them perilous, fought at
one time, and in each case the man with whom our brave
Agrippa grapples is a dangerous Dominican. In one
case the antagonist is Claudius Salini 1 , prior of their mo-
nastery at Metz; in the other case, it is Nicolas Savin 2 ,
their master, a bloodthirsty man, who wields the powers
of the Inquisition as a scourge of heretics. Bitter expe-
rience has changed Agrippa's tone in dealing with this
sort of men. He thunders human wrath against them
now; they are to him as Pharisees.
The battle first commenced was that over the book of
Faber d'Etaples upon Three and One, in deprecation
and refutation of the common legend about St. Anne,
the mother of the Virgin Mary, which declared her to
have had three husbands in succession, and by each hus-
band a daughter, and each daughter a Mary. This legend
1 Ep. 25, Lib. ii. p. 743. 2 Ep. 40, Lib. ii. p. 755.
40 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
Faber declared to be founded upon no proper authority,
and to be one of the corruptions that had in course of
time been suffered to obscure the true beauty and purity
of the lives of the Saints. Agrippa thought the legend
an exceedingly unclean one, and adopted gladly Faber's
reasoning upon it 1 .
The venerable Jacques Faber, born at Staples, in
Picardy, was a man of the gentlest disposition, and at
that time eighty-three years old. He was very small in
stature, but endowed with a great wit. When in early
life he commenced studying in Paris, the example of his
industry, together with his kindliness, caused more than a
slight improvement in the habits of the other scholars;
after studying successfully Philosophy and Mathematics,
he had devoted himself to Theology, and became a doctor
of the Sorborme, but very soon fell into disfavour with the
Sorbonne for his free criticism of the theological writings
issued under its authority. In the year 1519 he was
known to be watching with a favourable interest the
efforts made by Luther. The character of his life cannot
be better expressed than by a glance forward toward its
end. Old as he was, he survived by two years the young
Cornelius Agrippa. For his well-speaking of Luther he
was ejected from Paris, and formally deprived of his
doctorate by the Sorbonne. He found shelter at Nerac,
and lived a quiet life, cherishing privately his own
opinions. At the age of a hundred he went to Strasburg
to talk with Bucer on religion, and he is said to have died
1 H. C. A. De B. Annas Monog. Propositions.
FABER STAPULENSIS. 41
at the age of one hundred and one, in the manner follow-
ing : When dining one day at the table of his friend and
protectress, Margaret of Navarre, it was observed that he
was weeping. He was asked the reason of his tears, and
replied that he was afraid to meet God at the judgment-
seat, because of his faint advocacy of the Gospel. He had
lived at ease instead of bearing witness to the persecuted
truth. Then he asked that, except his books, whatever
he possessed should, when he was dead, be given to the
poor, and presently retired. He went unnoticed to his
chamber, and to bed. There, turning his face to the wall,
God only being near, he yielded up his spirit. Against
this good man now no Christian will be disposed to echo
his last words of self-reproach. Faber d'Etaples bore such
witness as became his nature. He was averse from strife.
Enough for him that he did not flinch from following the
light he saw; that when tried, he was found true to his
convictions. Actively to assert them against error scarcely
was in his nature as a young man, and was hardly to be
asked of him in his old age, for it was in his old age only
that there came for Europe the necessity of a religious
struggle. Moreover, his books were not inoperative.
Here, for example, we find that, through them, he has
helped a worthy student, and has won the reverence of
the pure-hearted Agrippa.
Upon the subject of the monogamy of Anne, the mother
of the Virgin, Cornelius was led to dispute chiefly by the
violence of those who maintained an opposite opinion.
He had been expressing Faber's views upon the subject
42 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
to one of the Deacons of the town, Nicolas Roscius, in the
course of private conversation 1 . Roscius maintained the
popular opinion, and the two friendly controversialists
agreed to submit their argument to umpires. At about
the same time Agrippa's business carried him for a few
days away from Metz ; he may have been sent on a
mission by his chiefs, or have gone to Cologne to assist
at the family arrangements consequent upon his father's
death. When he returned, he found that at least three
priests had constituted themselves umpires in the discus-
sion between the Town Advocate and Deacon Roscius,
that they had denounced their fellow-townsman violently
from their pulpits, and had attacked also the venerable
and most gentle Faber with a fierce invective. First there
was 2 a brother of the convent of St. Francis of Observ-
ance, named Dominic Delphinus, second to none in viru-
lence and insolence of speech, who had reviled the modest
Faber Stapulensis as a fool, an insane blockhead, without
faith and ignorant of sacred letters, and had spoken of his
books as reprobated and condemned, erroneous in doc-
trine, hostile to faith and the Church, writings to be read
at peril of the soul, and proper only for the flames. Ni-
colas Orici, of the convent of the Minorite Friars or Cor-
deliers, was almost as vehement; but the most prominent
denouncer was Claudius Salini, prior of the Dominicans,
1 H. C. A. De Beatissime Annas Monogamia ac unico Puerperio, proposi-
tiones abbreviate et articulatce, juxta disceptationem Jacobi Fabri Stapulensis
in libra de Tribut et Una. Op. Tom. ii. p. 588.
* Ep. 25, Lib. ii. p. 743, for the following.
THE DISPUTE WITH SALINI. 43
who had lately been invested with the doctorate at Paris.
Few dared, few cared to resist the authority of these re-
verend fathers; thus it was then that when Cornelius
returned to Metz he found himself regarded almost as a
public criminal. He wished, he said, he could have been
upon the spot to rebuke these arrogant men to their faces.
As it was, however, he did what he could ; that is to say,
he drew up and promulgated a set of propositions 1 , flatly
contradicting all that had been said and done, and to
these he invited answer, promising a full reply upon the
argument against him.
There is no gentle spirit of expostulation here : it is all
hot denunciation with a quickened pulse and a flushed
cheek. These monks appear now to Agrippa the rude
clog upon all progress and the soil upon all purity. They
darken heaven for him with their sensual legends, and
they preach a gospel of foul passions. He glows with a
just anger against the wrong done to a virtuous old man,
whose worst fault is his love of peace; he resents, also,
what seems to him the lewdness put into the story of a
saint whom in that time many pious scholars honoured
for her purity, and in whose honour his old friend Trithe-
mius, among others, had written a special book 2 ; nor was
the private grief the least that stung him to a passionate
retaliation ; he had been a second time made by this
class of men the object of denunciation in the house of
God.
1 Their title ia cited in the last note but one ; they are on pages 588-693.
2 De Laudttiis Sanctistimai Matris Annce. Moguntini, 1494.
44 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
I do not mean by this class of men the monks, but a cer-
tain section of the monks. Everywhere in the monasteries
there were pious people, and there were many learned,
a few wise. If Agrippa found his enemies among the
monks, out of the same community he chose also the
greater number of his friends. His views upon monastic
life were not contemptuous; he honoured it above all
others, in ideal, and for that reason was the more incensed
at those by whom it was dishonoured. His opinions upon
this subject are fully stated in a declamation written by
him for an abbot 1 who was to address his brotherhood.
They are summed up in a contrast between an active and
a contemplative life, typified respectively by Martha and
Mary, Martha troubled about many things, but Mary
chooser of that better part. The true monk's life Corne-
lius regarded as a life of spiritual aspiration. His whole
training as a scholar led him to admire and reverence it;
but the true monk, according to his theory, was bound to
make it his whole business to become like-minded with
his heavenly Master, and there would be no true monk,
he said, who was not poor, and chaste, and humble. Men
who fed daily on rich meat, were lewd and arrogant, who
preached a gospel not of peace and mercy, seemed to him,
therefore, only the more hateful for the profession they
had made, as brethren vowed especially to Christ. How
widely the monastic system was corrupted in the days of
Luther I need not describe; it was not the system, it was
1 H. C. A. Sermo de Vita Monastica, per venerabikm Abbatem in Brouuiller
habitus. Opnscula (ed. 1533), sig. fol. K vii.-L v.
THE DOMINICANS. 45
only the corruption in it, that Cornelius denounced. It
did not enter into his philosophy to see how naturally one
had bred the other.
How the Dominicans or Preaching Friars by wild antics
worked upon the people, we have read elsewhere, and need
suspect little exaggeration when Cornelius relates 1 that
the Prior Claudius Salini had worried him from the
pulpit " with mad barkings and marvellous gesticulations,
with outstretched fingers, with hands cast forward and
suddenly snatched back again, with grinding of the teeth,
foaming, spitting, stamping, leaping, cuffing up and down,
with tearing at the scalp and gnawing at the nails." You
can only, he said, quell such men with invective; and
apologising for his own rude tone in a dedication of what
he had written in the controversy to his friend John Nide-
pontanus, he cites the old proverb, that you can only match
a mad dog with a wolf. To the reader he says, that the
recent martyrologies and professed legends of the Saints
are full of such prodigious lies, that they make Christianity
a laughing-stock in the eyes of the Jews, Turks, and
Infidels. The story of the Blessed Anne's three husbands
and three daughters Mary, is one of them. It is false,
says his first proposition. " Jacques Faber d'Etaples,
gymnosophist of Paris," says his second, " has written a
book called On the Three and the One, upon the single
marriage and the single childbirth of St. Anne. Who-
ever," adds the proposition following, " tells the people in
public assembly that this book ought to be burnt, and
1 In the prefatory letter to the Propositions* de S. Anna Monog.
46 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
wishes every copy of it in the fire, is a presumptuous man,
judging falsely, and an evil-spoken detractor, doing atro-
cious wrong to that book and its author, and all literature.
He who is offended by the book is unlearned and obsti-
nate in ignorance, because the book itself is lustrous with
the authority of Scripture and of reason. He who is
scandalised by the author, is a wicked hypocrite, because
that author is gentle and of humble heart. But if any
one ventures to come into the lists against that book armed
with Scripture and with reason, him I will judge to be a
brave and a strong man, worthy to be met in conflict (for
the sake of truth, not of vainglory) by some learned
champion. Whoever speaks against that book in other
fashion, is a slanderer and foe to truth."
Lies in his throat, in fact; for here we have a doughty
soldier challenging to argument in the true tournament
style, and his intention is to deal rough blows at his oppo-
nent. The precise opinion which he proclaims " scandal-
ous and impious," is that St. Anne first married Joachim
and gave birth though by immaculate conception to
the Virgin Mary. Then she married Cleophas and gave
birth to another Mary, that Mary marrying Alphseus
and becoming mother to James the Less, Joseph the Just,
and Simon Judas. Thirdly, St. Anne married Salome and
gave birth to another Mary, that Mary marrying Zebedee
and becoming mother to James and John the Evangelist.
This opinion, he asserts, is contrary to evidence of
Scripture, of the types, the prophecies, the Gospels-
contrary to ancient Eastern custom, contrary to the pos-
ON THE HUSBANDS OF ST. ANNE. 47
sibility of nature, contrary to all probability, and calculated
to bring into contempt the purity of her who was the
mother of the Virgin. It is unscriptural, unspiritual, and
tends to the debasement of believers, not to edifying.
The true doctrine is that St. Anne being past the age of
child-bearing, she was married to one man, and became the
immaculate mother of one daughter, the Virgin Mary.
Upon the statement of this case in eighteen Proposi-
tions, Salini the Dominican replied, and against his reply
Cornelius issued a not very short Defence of his Proposi-
tions 1 , arguing each of the eighteen points in detail, and
attacking in detail Salini's efforts to refute them. The
tone in which Agrippa carries through his refutation of
Salini, is precisely that which Milton used against Sal-
masius. He attacks him scornfully for everything, for his
spelling, and his grammar, and his Latin style, as well as
upon all points of his reasoning, and of course always for
his insolence. He attacks him as a Thomist, treats him
as a dog, and calls him dog. The Dominicans nearly all
of them belonged to the school of theology called Tho-
mist, after Thomas Aquinas, hotly opposed by the Scotists,
and afterwards by the Franciscans and Jesuits. The word
is much used as a reproach by Agrippa in this argument;
because it was. one part of Thomist doctrine that the
Virgin Mary was conceived and born in sin.
Of Salini's argument we may content ourselves with
1 H. C. A. Defensio Propositionum pranarratarum contra quendam JDomini-
castrum, illarum Impugnatorem, qui aanctissimam Deiparce Virginia matrem
Annam conatvr ostendere polygamam. Op. Tom. ii. pp. 694-663.
48 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
two short glimpses. He argues against the book of Jacques
Faber, and has lately been to Paris, yet he does not
rightly know the name of the Parisian doctor, and alludes
to him only as Peter Faber 1 . He counts up the advan-
tages supposed to be derived from St. Anne's two super-
numerary husbands, and says, " surely it is better for the
Church to have had John, the two Jameses, the Apos-
tles Simon and Jude, than the widowhood of Anne 2 ."
In Agrippa's argument there occur two declamatory pas-
sages which show distinctly the views taken by him of
the strife arising in the Church. In this one of his works
there occurs also a brief narrative of his career, given in
reply to Salini's assertion that he is unlettered one of those
useful little autobiographic fragments common in the
works of writers who belonged to that free-spoken time 3 .
And now, here is free speech to the Dominicans 4 : " I am
not ignorant that in the Gospel and in the administration
of the Church you are not set apart, but that you occupy
yourselves for the sake of lucre with the Pope's indulgences,
the business of preaching, the confessional, burial rites, and
other offices of the Church. If these assemblies and these
ministrations brought you poverty instead of property, I
know you would not thunder your hyperboles in church,
you would not bind the people with your power over
purgatory by so many prodigious fables, so many ghostly
portents, so many markets for indulgences, so many mo-
nopolies of alms, and financial laws. You would not scent
like vultures the corpses of the rich, and come so craftily
1 Ibid. p. 662. * Ibid. p. 626. Ibid. p. 596. * Ibid. p. 600.
DEFIES THE MONKS. 49
about them; you would not, through the secrets of those
who are admitted to the confessional, fleece a rude popu-
lation more than by the tyranny of Phalaris." Agrippa
dwells upon more extortions, and upon their playing upon
women's fears. " I speak," he says, " from knowledge and
experience, speaking not of all, but many who being
vowed to poverty are overcome by avarice and greed, and
convert alms into taxes, and seem to have given up their
own goods only that they may impudently beg the goods
of others. I may say this, too, that I can think of no
easier way, no more deceitful, cunning, secret way of col-
lecting cash, goods, worldly wealth, than by abuse of these
indulgences, joined to luxurious beggary."
Elsewhere he writes in the same work yet more empha-
tically as a man whose sympathy is with the Reformers.
He writes of those, who like Salini, " towards God false 1 ,
and towards man unjust, have slandered the truth, and
desired to bring hatred down on its promoters. So did
of old time Celsus against Christ, Julian the Apostate
against the Gospel, Diotrephes against John the Evan-
gelist, Apollophanes against Dionysius the Areopagite,
Ischyras against Athanasius, John of Antioch against
Cyril of Alexandria, Grapaldus and William of Ware
against Saint Bernard. The same has been done in our
times by some poor little bishop (whose crudities I once
read, though his name does not occur to me) against Gio-
vanni Pico, Count of Mirandola, and Jacob Hochstraten,
1 Ibid. pp. 660-661.
VOL. II. E
50 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
of the order of Dominicans, inquisitor at Cologne, against
an old teacher of mine, most learned in each faculty,
Peter of Ravenna. The same brotherkin, with Arnold de
Tungris and other sworn calumniators of Cologne, in-
sulted the most upright and learned man, Reuchlin of
Pfortzheim, and spread the most wicked lies about the
world to]their own everlasting infamy. So did Wigandus,
the beginning and the support of the Dominican heresy at
Berne; so did that Dominican brotherkin and Thomist
doctor against the illustrious doctor in each faculty, Sebas-
tian Brand, now chancellor and councillor at Zurich, as
well as against other famous doctors, being and speaking
evil. So did Sylvester Prierias, though master of the
palace to the Pope at Rome, brotherkin of the same order
of Dominicans and Thomist doctor, inveigh against that
most combative doctor, Martin Luther of Wittenberg, not
without giving proof of his own ignorance. Even John
Eckius, although an erudite man, and with scholastic
learning, battled against the same Luther, and against
Andrew Bodenstein of Carlstadt, with ill-success and to
his own mishap. Nor are there wanting envious and pes-
tilent detractors who join you, Salini, in calumny against
Erasmus of Rotterdam, and Jacques Faber d'Etaples,
whom certain theologists of Paris, because he denied that
crude translation of the New Testament, which you, and
sophist fellows like you, call Jerome's, to be Jerome's, and
proved by arguments that it was not Jerome's, have wished
to condemn as a heretic, blackening themselves eternally
and universally with their own ignorance and malice,
PERSECUTION AT METZ. 51
not -without also bringing ignominy on the whole Sor-
bonne."
Bold speech like this could only invite persecution, and
this, as we shall see presently, was not the only way in
which Cornelius was making himself odious in a town
noted for bigotry. Metz was most cruel to the Jews, and
met alike by cruelty and treachery the first efforts of
the Reformers to obtain hearing within its walls. The
German Lutherans desired much through Metz to intro-
duce the leaven of their bold opinions into France. At
first they were met by direct persecution, and years after-
wards, when it was politically requisite to promise them
a chapel, and they went out to worship on the faith of
such a promise, they were cruelly betrayed to slaughter.
Jean le Clerc, the first man who dared to preach the Re-
formed doctrine in Metz, not long after the date of
Agrippa's battling with the monks, was by the order of
Nicolas Savin, the Inquisitor, publicly whipped through
the streets on several successive days ; and in the year
following, before the convent of the Celestines, the inge-
nuity of Savin procured for him a cruel martyrdom : his
nose was first cut off, then his right hand, then a hot iron
crown was placed upon his head, after which he was burnt
alive 1 . From the hand of this Nicolas Savin, a burly,
ignorant, and vicious man, who years afterwards was ex-
pelled from Metz for civil crime, but returned and lived
1 Histoire Generate de Metz, par des Religieux Bene'dictins de la Congre-
gation de St. Vannes. Metz, 1775. Tom. iii. p. 8.
E2
52 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
in his monastery unmolested 1 , nothing remains but a
sermon preached on the occasion of his publicly degrading
brother Chatelain, an Austin friar, who preached Lutheran
discourses, and was burnt for them at about the time of
Le Clerc's martyrdom. The text of this Christian dis-
course was John xx. 27 " Be not faithless but believing 2 ."
Such were the ministers of Christ in whom Cornelius
did not believe, and against whom his soul was at last
rebelling fiercely. While he was struggling with Salini,
he had strength also, at the same time, bravely and
humanely to face the Inquisitor himself, and save a helpless
girl from butchery. He was destroying his own worldly
prospects, risking alike income and fair fame ; but he was
being true to his own soul, and to its Maker.
At about this time Father Claudius went to Paris upon
business connected with his monastery, and was glad to
think that he should there meet with Jacques Faber 3 .
Agrippa took the opportunity of forwarding a loving
letter to the Christian teacher by whose writings he had
been assisted, and enclosed a copy of the Propositions, in
which he had defended his fair fame against the monks, by
whom he had been slandered. The good doctor received
Claudius with pleasure 4 , and returned by him to Cornelius
Agrippa the first letter in a kindly correspondence 5 , sending
him also sundry books that had been written on the contro-
1 Letter to Nidepontanus, prefixed to the Prop, de B. A. Monog.
2 Eistoire Gtntrale de Metz. 3 Ep. 27, Lib. ii. p. 744.
* ^p. 29, Lib. ii. p. 745. Ep. 28, Lib. ii. p. 755.
CORRESPONDS WITH FABER. 53
versy provoked by his argument againt the three husbands
of St. Anne. But the gentle old man shook his head
with grave and kindly deprecation over the harsh tone of
his young advocate. This is his first letter : " Most honour-
able doctor, the venerable father Claudius Deodatus gave
me your letter, which I read with pleasure. Who would
not read gladly what he knows to have come from a candid
and well-wishing mind ? Do not, I beseech you, take it
ill that many oppose what I have written, either about
the Magdalene or about St. Anne. I think that, at
some future day, the truth of these things will become
clearer, about which I decide as an arguer only, not with
rash authority. Wherefore, I beg you, let your good-
will to no person be wounded through this matter. Error
has decay in itself, and will at last fall of itself, even
without being struck." In his second letter, and by
another opportunity, he says, " I would rather that the
affair about Anne were discussed without contention
among the learned ; but if, through the malignity of the
times, and the perversity of man's wit, this cannot be, and
you have a disposition to contend, see that you by no
means do it through zeal for my credit, but only for the
defence of truth, and out of devotion to the Mother of God
and the most blessed Anne In my opinion, he is
happier who does not contend than he who does. Act,
therefore, if possible, so prudently as neither to offend God
nor your neighbour." This letter was written on the day
after Trinity Sunday, in the year 1519, upon seeing the
54 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
Propositions only. In September or October, Cornelius
forwarded a copy of the defence of the Propositions 1 , re-
gretting that he had not time to copy them in duplicate,
because he was obliged to visit Germany, this probably
referring to another visit upon family affairs to Cologne,
where there lived his widowed mother on her little
patrimony. Faber, replying on the fourteenth of Novem-
ber 2 , regretted the hostility Agrippa was bringing down
upon himself; the most excellent and wise Reuchlin,
he said, had suffered much. If the dissertation of Cor-
nelius was to be printed, he advised careful revision, as
" the times yield wonderful critics." What Faber is said
at last to have deplored in his own character even these
letters show, gentle and kindly as they are.
We leave the subject of St. Anne to note another
indication of Agrippa's disposition at this time. A friend
and doctor of law, Claudius Cantiuncula, whose relation
to the Church is not on a safe footing, has found it requi-
site to quit Metz suddenly. Agrippa finds that he has
gone to Basle, and writes to him 3 , " I know, and do you
firmly believe, that it is well with you if you are safe and
free away from here. What else I wish you to know I
doubt whether I can commit safely to a letter. It remains
only that I beg you to send me the works of Martin Luther,
as well as the Short Law Cases in a portable volume that
were once printed at Basle, and anything truly theological
in which you know I take the most delight. Be diligent
1 Ep. 35, Lib. ii. p. 750. ' Ep. 36, Lib. ii. pp. 750, 751.
* Ep. 26, Lib. ii. p. 744.
CLAUDIUS CANTITJNCULA. 55
to recover for me, if you can, my Commentaries on St.
Paul, from Christopher Schilling of Lucerne, and set me
right with your true friends, as I flinch never from de-
fending you during your absence."
Claudius Cantiuncula he became afterwards a well
known jurisconsult, wrote law-books, and was Chancellor
of Einsilheim, in Upper Alsatia Claudius Cantiuncula re-
plies, about their life of struggle, in a spirit contrary to
Faber's 1 : " Virtue, without an energy, decays. Believe
me, my Agrippa, that up to this time I have searched all
Basle, and can procure nowhere the works of Luther ; they
have all been long since sold, but are, it is said, to be re-
printed at Zurich. The Short Cases you want, nobody has.
I give you, however, a Compendium of true Theology,
issued by Erasmus, a work, Henry, which if I do not mis-
take, will give you pleasure ; the Conclusions of Luther
and Eckius declaimed this year, and also some trifles about
the Emperor. Farewell. May 21, 1519."
The Emperor had died, aged sixty, on the eleventh of
the previous January. Maximilian's hereditary successor
was Charles V., and Agrippa's fealty as a German noble
thus became due to another master. The succession to
the empire was contended for between Charles and the
King of France. Agrippa might ere long be serving
Charles ; he could not tell. " I cleave to this town," he
wrote, on the second of June, from Metz 2 , "fastened by
I know not what nail : but so cleaving, that I cannot de-
termine how to go or stay. I never was in any place
1 Ep. 32, Lib. ii. p. 748. a Ep. 33, Lib. ii. p. 749.
56 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
from which I could depart more willingly than (with sub-
mission to you) from this city of Metz, the stepmother of
all good scholarship and virtue." He wrote to one of her
own sons, the young doctor of law, who had been forced
into voluntary exile from his native town and from his
parents.
" My Agrippa," Cantiuncula wrote back 1 , " soundest
of all friends, greeting : I received your two letters sent
by Sbrolius 2 " (a poet), " and thank you for commending
me to the friendship of so learned and humane a man. ...
Nothing new of Luther's has come out; if anything ap-
pears, it shall quickly be communicated to you. Farewell,
and love me as you are wont : remember me also to my
parents. Salute your incomparable, exemplary wife, and
your son, who is so full of promise. Sbrolius also sends
good wishes to these, though he has no love for your elder
famulus, an unkempt fellow, who deserves, he says, to be
turned out of your house, and drudge his sordid days out
at a handmill. Basle, August 27th, 1519."
Agrippa's son is in another letter called " Little Asca-
nius." His name was Aymon 3 . He was but six or seven
years old at this time, and was his only son, though not his
only child. I think } for a reason that will afterwards ap-
pear, a daughter may have died at Metz, a little one, very
dear to his wife Louisa, and that it was buried in the
church of St. Cross, at which they worshipped, by the
1 Ep. 34, Lib. ii. p. 749.
2 Richard Sbrolius, a scholar and court poet, had translated Maximilian's
Dewrdank into Latin verse. He taught in Swiss universities, and after-
wards served Charles V.
* Ep. 38, 49, 58, Lib. iii. pp. 804, 9, 17.
THE WITCH-TAKEES AT YTJOYPY. 57
good pastor, who was one of their best friends, John
Roger Brennon. Brennon was a man very like-minded
with Agrippa upon matters of honour and religion.
" When I am gone," Agrippa used to tell him, as they sat
together, ".when they have me no longer at Metz to worry,
they will worry you instead, my friend 1 ." There were
strong friendships formed by those who worked together
in the midst of strife, resisting ignorance and super-
stition.
At Vuoypy, a neighbouring village, to north-westward of
Metz, on the other side of the Moselle, there lived a young
woman, a poor man's wife, whose mother had been burnt
for a witch 2 . This source of endless horror and distress to
her, was also her own crime. As the mother had been,
so, it was said, the daughter must be ; and one night a
crowd of rustics, who had been drinking together, broke
into her house, dragged her with much ill-treatment from
her bed, and locked her in a prison of their own invention.
There, without any authority whatever, they detained her
until the chapter, moved by urgent representations, brought
her into the town for proper trial before the official of the
Court of Metz. The rustics were allowed a certain time
to decide whether they would accuse before the civil
power, or denounce the woman to the Inquisition. On the
appointed day eight scoundrels came forward as accusers ;
they were ordered to give prisoners as pledges of the good
faith of their suit against the woman, and demurring to
1 Ep. 44, Lib. ii. p. 759.
2 Ep. 40, Lib. ii. pp. 755, 756, for the main narrative, compared with
letters 38 and 39, covers all that follows on this subject.
38 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
this, were allowed two days' more reflection by advice of
Nicolas Savin, the Inquisitor, who sat with the Judge.
During those two days the Inquisitor received eggs,
butter, and cakes, the Judge gold pieces ; and when the
case was next heard, the miserable woman was sent to
Vuoypy, in the hands of her accusers, or of four of them,
the other four having been rejected as notorious ruffians.
This was done suddenly, without the cognisance of Corne-
lius Agrippa, who had come manfully forward to protect
the woman in her helplessness, and had argued publicly
as a jurisconsult, privately as a Christian, the illegality
and immorality of previous proceedings. Especially he
had opposed the right of the Dominican, Nicolas Savin, to
exercise his office of Inquisitor, or sit beside the Judge.
He had appeared in the court as advocate of the accused
on that occasion when the cause was postponed for two
days, had been reviled, he says, by " that brotherkin (I
err), that great, swollen, and fat brother, Nicolas Savin, of
the Dominican Convent, Inquisitor 1 ," and threatened with
a process against himself also, as favourer of heretics ;
he had been in that spirit turned out of court. On the
same evening he wrote a letter to the Judge, showing the
law in writing that he was not suffered to explain by
word of mouth. For his being called a favourer of he-
retics, " the rascally Inquisitor," he says, " as you may see
by these his words, condemns the simple woman as a
heretic, when the cause of action scarcely has been stated.
1 Ep. 38, Lib. ii. p. 752. This ia the letter, pp. 752-754, from which the
succeeding passages are quoted.
NICOLAS SAVIN, THE INQUISITOR. . 59
I seek fair hearing for her while she is untried and un-
condemned, and the vile scoffer calls me favourer of
heresy ! Have you admitted this man to sit on the
bench with you ? The lie is on his head, the infamous
calumniator, and he thinks to quell me with his threats ;
but, to the best of my calling, to the best of my constancy,
I will not desist from the defence of this innocent woman.
Let this brotherkin, priest, or Levite, turn his heart from
her. I will be pitiful with all my power, and call myself
Samaritan, that is to say not favourer of heretics, but a
disciple of him, who when it was said to him that he was
a Samaritan, and had a devil, denied that he had a devil,
but did not deny that he was a Samaritan." Presently
he tells how, on the evening before, Savin, though he
had never before visited the place, went to Vuoypy,
feasted with the girl's accusers, and took presents from
them. "But," he adds, "the hypocrite dissembles his
iniquity under the shadow of the Gospel !" He ends a
letter, touching upon sundry legal points, by urging that in
the case in hand there is no heresy at all, or none that
comes at any time under the control of an inquisitor.
For no inquisitor has cognisance or jurisdiction on matters
of suspicion. Heresy must be manifest before it can fall
under inquisitorial correction : therefore the monk must
be excluded. " I pray you," he says, " not to despise
what I have written, unless indeed, even from these pri-
vileges, the poor are excluded. If you are so persuaded,
laws help us in vain, and I have no need to discuss their
meaning. But I hope better things from your integrity,
60 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
and have little distrust concerning that bloodthirsty
monk. Farewell. From my study, with all speed. In
this city of Metz, 1519." He wrote to a corrupt judge,
as we have seen. The woman, given, on the next ap-
pointed day, into the power of her enemies, was dragged
back by them to Vuoypy, beaten and insulted on the way.
She was then thrown into a filthy place of durance
filthy it must have been to have been called in those days
" worse than penal" suffering under the injuries she had
received, and deprived of rest by night or day, while her
accusers were at liberty, drinking and playing with their
trenchers. After some days, John Leonard, the official of
the court at Metz, gave hearing to the case in the village
itself, which lay beyond the circle of his jurisdiction.
Then the unhappy creature was proceeded against con-
trary to the tenor of the law, by a double suit at once, by
civil action and by inquisition. Her advocate, Agrippa,
being absent, her husband not permitted access to the
place of trial, lest he should interpose objection or appeal,
" by the advice," says Cornelius, writing an account of
the case to his friend Cantiuncula, at Basle 1 "by the
advice of that great bloated and fat brute, the Inquisitor,
more cruel than the very executioner, the poor little
woman, by virtue of the before-named stupid book (the
1 Malleus Maleficarum'), was exposed to the question
under torture. But at last the civil magistrate himself,
and those who were appointed questioners and censors,
having gone away smitten with horror at the savage
1 The 38th letter of Book II. already cited.
A STRUGGLE WITH THE INQUISITOR. 61
spectacle, the woman was left in the hands of the execu-
tioner and that Inquisitor, only her accusers and enemies
being present, but the judge and censors absent, and
among these she was then racked with atrocious torments.
Carried back to her dungeon, at the hands of her enemies
she suffered more ill-treatment, and was iniquitously de-
prived of her appointed food and water. At length, the
iniquity becoming known, she was brought back to Metz,
by order of the chapter."
By a strange chance it happened that the unjust judge,
John Leonard, had fallen sick, and was haunted by the
tortured woman's agonies upon his death-bed. He ex-
pressed horror at Savin's cruelty, and sent a special mes-
senger to the chapter, pleading for the victim with the
eloquence of his remorse, and to the Inquisitor Savin he
sent, by the hands of a notary, his written judgment that
the woman was innocent, or, if suspected, that she was
purged of offence by her late sufferings, and by all means
to be set free. But she was not set free. Nicolas Savin
took the writing addressed to him by the dying judge,
as an admission of his jurisdiction, and demanded that
the miserable woman be delivered up to him to be exposed
to a more searching torture, and then burnt. Cornelius
was indefatigable, and Louisa had reason to love her
husband for the noble energy with which he spent his
days in working all the powers of the law, seeking out
witnesses, and by public and by private pleading, ever
active in a work of mercy, careless of the ruin it might
bring to his own worldly reputation.
62 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
To the successor of the deceased magistrate, as soon as
he was appointed, Cornelius sent this appeal 1 :
" You have seen lately, most honourable man, from the
acts themselves, those impious articles of a most iniquitous
information by virtue of which brother Nicolas Savin, of
the Dominican convent, Inquisitor of heretics, has frau-
dulently dragged into his slaughter-house this innocent
woman, in spite of God and justice, in spite of law and
equity, contrary to Christian conscience, brotherly kind-
ness, contrary to sacerdotal custom, the profession of his
rule, the form of laws and canons : and has also, as a wicked
man, wickedly and wrongfully exposed her to atrocious
and enormous torments : whereby he has earned for him-
self a name of cruelty that will not die, as the lord official
John Leonard, your predecessor now departed, himself
testified upon his death-bed : and the lords of the chapter
themselves know it with abhorrence. Among those ar-
ticles of accusation one and the first is, that the mother
of the said woman was burnt for witchcraft. I have ex-
cepted against this man as impertinent, intrusive, and in-
competent to exercise in this case the judicial function;
but lest you be led astray by false prophets who claim to
be Christ, and are Antichrist, I pray your reverence to
bear with a word of help, and only pay attention to a
conversation lately held with me upon the position of this
article, by the before-named bloodthirsty brother. For
he asserted superciliously that the fact was in the highest
degree- decisive, and enough to warrant torture; and not
1 Ep. 39, Lib. ii. pp. 754, 755.
AN APPEAL TO THE JUDGE. 63
unreasonably he asserted it according to the knowledge of
his sect, which he produced presently out of the depths of
the 'Malleus Maleficarum' and the principles of peripatetic
Theology, saying : ' It must be so, because it is the
custom with witches, from the very first, to sacrifice their
infants to the demons, and besides that' (he said), ' com-
monly, or often, their infants are the result of intercourse
with incubi. Thus it happens that in their offspring, as
with an hereditary taint, the evil sticks.' O egregious
sophism ! Is it thus that in these days we theologise? Do
figments like these move us to the torturing of harmless
women? Is there no grace in baptism, no efficacy in the
priests bidding : ( Depart, unclean spirit, and give place to
the Holy Ghost,' if, because an impious parent has been
sacrificed, the offspring must be given to the devil ? Let
any one who will, believe in this opinion, that incubi can
produce offspring in the flesh. What is the fruit of this
impossible position, if it be admitted, unless, according
to the heresy of the Faustinians and Donatists, we get a
greater evil as result ? But to speak as one of the faithful,
what matters it if one is the child of an incubus, what
hurt is it to have been devoted as an infant to the devil?
Are we not all from the nature of our humanity born one
mass of sin, malediction, and eternal perdition, children
of the devil, children of the Divine wrath, and heirs of
damnation, until by the grace of baptism Satan is cast out,
and we are made new creatures in Jesus Christ, from whom
none can be separated, except by his own offence. You
see now the worth of this position as a plea for judgment,
64 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
at enmity with law, perilous to receive, scandalous to pro-
pound. Farewell, and either avoid or banish this blas-
pheming brotherkin. Written this morning in the city of
Metz." Delivered doubtless as soon as the ink was dry.
Thus, both as lawyer and as theologian, Cornelius
Agrippa laboured, and he won his cause. He brought
the Inquisitor into discredit and made of him a by -word
for a little time. The chapter excluded him from juris-
diction in the case, the woman received absolution from
the vicar of the church at Metz, and her enemies were
fined a hundred francs 1 for unjust accusation of the in-
nocent.
That was nearly the last cause pleaded among the
citizens at Metz by their Town Advocate and Orator. He
had expended his own reputation on the work. To have
carried on simultaneously against the Dominicans two dis-
putes open to a perilous misinterpretation, was to have
made an enemy of the whole order, and of every corrupt
monk in the town. He had many good friends there:
Master Raynald, a physician; the family of the young
lawyer Cantiuncula, who had retired to Basle; Tyrius, a
clockmaker ; Jacopo, a bookseller; a notary of the ad-
joining township, Baccarat; James and Andrew Charbon;
and Pierre Michel, a learned canonist, native of Metz, who
was versed in many kinds of literature, was afterwards ho-
noured of princes, and became Abbot of St. Arnoul 2 . He
was in close friendship and correspondence with the monk
i 'Ep. 46, Lib. ii. p. 763. Ep. 43, Lib. ii. p. 759.
QUITS METZ. 65
Chatelain 1 , whom Nicolas Savin soon afterwards expelled
from his order and committed to the flames for preaching
Lutheran discourses. These were powerless against the
mass. Among his special enemies we should name Clau-
dius Drouvyn 2 , an athletic Dominican. His special friend
at Metz was John Roger Brennon, curate of St. Cross.
Preached against in the churches and avoided in the
streets, out of the narrow circle of his household friends
regarded with suspicion, the vocation of Cornelius was
gone at Metz ; it was not there that he could found a quiet
home. Directly after he had assured the success of all his
pleading against the Inquisitor, he accepted the conse-
quences of the course he had pursued, and asked permis-
sion of the deacons to resign his office and be gone. Leave
was granted readily, and after brief preparation, with his
fortunes for the third time wrecked, Cornelius Agrippa,
towards the close of January, 1520 s , journeyed with wife
and son through wintry weather to his mother at Cologne.
" He was hunted from this town," say the Benedictine
monks, who wrote a copious history of Metz 4 , " he was
hunted from this town in 1520."
1 Ep. 45 and 47, Lib. ii. 2 Ep. 44, Lib. ii. p. 761.
3 Compare dates of letters 42 and 43, Lib. ii.
4 Histoire de Metz, par des Senedictins, Tom. ii. p. 700. " II fut chasse'
de cette ville en 1520. II a passe* pendant sa vie pour un grand sorcier, et
est mort en reputation de fort mauvais Chretien." He is already " fort
mauvais Chretien," but the character for sorcery is not yet earned.
VOL. II.
66 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
CHAPTER IV.
FROM METZ TO COLOGNE.
LEAVE to quit Metz was obtained from the Deacons on
the twenty-fifth of January 1 , and a few days afterwards
Cornelius Agrippa set out with his family upon the journey
to Cologne, travelling in spite of heavy rains, not without
risk of being stopped by floods 2 . At Cologne he had a
mother and a sister 3 living on the little patrimony that
remained after his father's death. It would maintain
them all while he was seeking a new field of labour for
himself. What the perplexed scholar could earn he
earned as a physician, for it was as doctor of medicine
that he proposed to make his next attempt to climb the
hill of life*. He never had encouragement to settle in his
native town. As often as he returned thither, and truly
1 Ep. 42, Lib. ii. p. 758.
2 Ep. 44, Lib. ii. p. 759. " Condolui," says Brennon, " vices tua,, per-
timuique, ne tibi ccelo cadentes imbres Her intercluderent."
* Ep. 44, Lib. ii. p. 762.
* Ep. 15, Lib. Hi. p. 789.
RETIRES TO COLOGNE. 67
as he felt bound to it by the ties of home, the city of
Cologne, and even his relations out of his own actual
home, denied him honour 1 . The University of Cologne
had become known as the head-quarters of the men who
directed against Reuchlin, and those who were at all like-
minded with him, the attacks of all the blockheads in the
Church. For favourers of Luther there was in Cologne
no tolerance. It was in spirit another Metz, and by this
time, as will presently be evident, Cornelius Agrippa had
arrived at theological opinions and sympathies with which
the air of Geneva, his wife's birthplace, agreed better than
that of any city in which priests of the old school were
paramount.
We have seen, too, how he went to Cologne with his
spirit chafed by the bigotry and ignorance of people of
this class. They have taught him to speak bitter words 2 .
Henceforth he is against them, and they are against him.
For the first few months after his return to the paternal
walls, while he could do no more than associate himself
in friendship with the few liberal and learned men whom
his town tolerated, among whom Hermann Count of
Neuwied was the most conspicuous, with these friends it
was his chief pleasure to agree in adverse criticism on his
late antagonists 3 . The heat of the fierce conflict did not
1 Ep. 26, Lib. vii. p. 1041.
Ep. 43, Lib. ii. p. 759.
3 Ep. 50, Lib. ii. p. 768. " Ubi invicem cum doctissimis viris non absque
jucundissimo fructu laete convivemus qui jam Fratrum illorum Theosophis-
tajrum verbovomas linguas adeb excantavimus, ut amplius ne murire
audeant."
F2
63 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
instantly subside; his private labour was the preparing of
his disputation with Salini for the press, and he was pro-
posing to print with his own thesis the whole of Salini's
argument for the three husbands of St. Anne 1 . It was
in Cologne that he meant to reissue his denunciations of
a bigot ! At the same time, the most welcome news he
had at first, until the heat of controversy had abated, came
in the letters from his old pastor, Roger Brennon, of St.
Cross, who faithfully informed him of the further issue of
the strife in which he had been for a time so actively
engaged.
Brennon was seeing the fulfilment of Agrippa's pro-
phecy by falling into his friend's place among the contro-
versialists 2 . In his reports though he expresses distrust
of his Latin, and seems to wish it were consistent with his
station in society to write in the vernacular we get some
of the most graphic sketches of the sort of life that was then
being led at Metz among the scholars and the theologians.
At one time, Brennon has to tell of a council held by
the learned, in one of the town churches, to discuss
the topic upon which there had arisen bitter strife the
number of the husbands of St. Anne. There is a great
assembly of rustics, grandmothers, mothers, and children,
listening open-mouthed to the president, who begins the
discussion with a sermon three hours long, accompanied
with much throwing about of the arms and actor's gesture,
* Ep. 43, Lib. ii. p. 759.
-3 Ep. 44, Lib. ii. pp. 759-762, until tbe next reference, but the statement
in the next sentence rests on Ep. 49, Lib. ii. p. 766.
METZ GOSSIP THEOLOGIANS. 69
only at last to be stopped by the hand-clapping of the
other priests and scholars, who desire to help in the debate.
Then Master Reginald, a priest of influence, rises, and
argues against the blessedness of second nuptials, 7 out is of
opinion that St. Anne married three husbands for the sake
of building up the Church. Then follows Master Rey-
nald,the physician, one of Agrippa's friends, arguing against
the contamination of her who had once been immaculate,
and urging that if Anne was the mother of more Marys
than one, the birth of all was equally miraculous. To
this it is replied that the second and third Marys were
born in sin, but that the subsequent sin did not affect the
purity of the first Mary's conception, nor was it deroga-
tory to her honour, having been permitted. Then Bren-
non comes forward, warmly decrying all such reasoning as
rash and scandalous; and showing that it is not founded on
authority of Scripture. He urges that one Mary was the
wife of Cleophas, and not his daughter; it is replied that
so far may be true, but that there was another Cleophas
who was her father. " Did you never see," cries a monk,
"two asses in a market-place named Martin?" Brennon
replies : " I have seen two asses together, of which I am
one, and you the other; but I have never seen or read
that there were two men in Scripture with the name of
Cleophas." Hereupon there is great laughter in the crowd.
Brennon quotes the histories of Eusebius and Hegesippus.
It is replied that they are not to be believed ; they some-
times dreamed. The Dominicans quote Thomas Aquinas;
Brennon will not hear of him, nor of Augustine, Jerome,
70 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
Chrysostom, or anybody else ; they also are not to be be-
lieved, they sometimes dreamed, and the rustics enjoy
and applaud the retort, while the Augustinians and
Thomists become angry. Then Brennon suddenly re-
vokes all that he has said, and asserts that Saint Anne
had not three husbands, but four. They ask who was the
fourth, and he replies, Marcolphus. Dangerous jesting,
Master Roger Brennon! After he has withdrawn, a
herculean priest, Claudius Drouvyn, approaches him with
glowing eyes, and labours in vain to provoke him to an
open quarrel. Presently thrusting out head and lips
towards Brennon's ear, the Dominican whispers fiercely :
"I wish you were burnt for a heretic. I have some
fagots I would gladly spend upon you." Nobody being
by to hear his answer, Brennon replies, with a reference to
the Dominican Wigand, who some ten years before had
been burnt for feigned miracles at Berne : " Keep them ;
they will yet be wanted for yourself and your brother
Dominicans ; they have not cleared off all your heresies at
Berne." Drouvyn, not cooled by such a taunt, next
meets with Brennon the same evening in the public
square, and, going up to him furiously, as he stands con-
versing with some friends, shouts, " You are a fool, you
are an ass, you are an impudent fellow, who have calum-
niated the great Saint Augustine!" For such words,
publicly spoken, Drouvyn is liable to be brought to the
proof, and Brennon summons him to answer for himself
before the judges. The Dominican makes overtures for
reconcilement, and they are refused.
METZ GOSSIP WITCHES. 71
Brennon's conduct of course is not praiseworthy, but it
seems to be after the manner of the life of Metz. " I will
tell you," he says, in another letter 1 , " what has been done
during these last few days by Nicolas Savin, master of the
heretics. A certain decrepid old woman, suspected of
witchcraft, being exposed by Savin to dire tortures, con-
fessed herself, under excruciating pain, to be a witch, to
have denied Christ on the suggestion of an incubus, to
have flown through the air, to have raised storms, to have
inflicted damage and disease on men and cattle. But she
confessed also, that when a communicant at Easter, she took
away Our Lord's own body and mixed it with herbs and
ashes into a magical ointment in the presence of the demon,
who took part as his own share, and left her the rest for
wicked uses. More of these fables, such as commonly are
told of evil women, Savin himself extorted from the
before-mentioned crone, who, since it was her miserable
lot in her innocence to want a defender, was burnt to
ashes. Savin, boastful of his achievement, then vehe-
mently exaggerated in a wordy assembly every article of
accusation, chiefly that which I have just told you about
the Eucharist, and the whole population was incited to a
search for witches. There is a murmuring of the rough mob
against poor little women ; a detestable hatred springs up.
Here and there the peasantry confer together, and many
crippled old women are seized, but most run from the
danger. Savin rejoices, hoping that it may bring him
hereafter praise and profit if he can tyrannise in a like
1 Ep. 59, Lib. ii. pp. 776-778.
72 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
way over these poor bodies. Then I, indignant at our
citizens, and at the insolence of the surrounding country-
people, published my detestation of the senselessness of
Savin, who could so foolishly believe that the Sacrament
of the Eucharist could be meddled with by a demon,
changed into the form of a poisonous ointment, and in
part taken away by him; it was, I said, over bold to
preach this to a Christian people, when such a thing was
in no way credible by any Christian man. The obstinate
crowd runs down upon me; they put forward Savin, so
well skilled in sacred letters; he, the Inquisitor, he, the
pious father, is safe, they assert, even if the cowl can cover
error. I withstand them all, persist in giving reason for
so doing, bring forward the Scripture: at length my
words have weight with all, and reverence cools towards
Savin. But he, to consult his honour, and confirm his
influence, promises an assembly on the Sunday following.
Therein, to confirm his error, he deluded the people with
this trivial argument, that Christ was carried over a high
mountain, and to the pinnacle of the temple, by the Devil ;
therefore it was no marvel that Satan might lay a hand
upon the Eucharist. Again the unlearned masses would
have assented to him, had I not opposed him to his face,
upon the spot, saying: that at that time, when the Lord
was tempted in the desert, He was not known by the
Tempter; who had at last, when told that he should not
tempt the Lord his God, trembled suddenly and fled.
Before that Lord, become now the Redeemer of the
human race, he trembles, and takes flight eternally, so
THE INQUISITOR DISCOMFITED. 73
that by the mere name of Jesus, and the signature of the
cross, devils are cast out When I had said these,
and more such things, the friends of Savin left him ; he
was again laughed at; they scoffed at him, and by many
even he himself was called a heretic. At last all the poor
women who were imprisoned were set free, and those who
had fled returned in safety. Savin meanwhile sits in his
cell and gnaws his finger-nails for grief, not venturing to
show himself in open street." Of the great picture of the
Reformation in the Church, bred by the revival of letters
and awakening of independent thought, of the historical
scene of that grand controversy, much of the background
was, as it were, shaded in with little arguments like these.
Brennon reports to his friend more of this kind of life at
Metz, but enough has been said to show of what sort
were in that town the experiences of Cornelius Agrippa.
We must add, however, that the country-woman whom
Agrippa wrested from the clutch of the Inquisitor is re-
ported as having remembered Brennon for her benefactor's
friend, and bringing to him frequently thank-offerings of
eggs and butter 1 .
From Metz to Cologne had been, in respect to tolera-
tion, no change for the better. To a friend, John Csesar,
who had been wronged by the Cologne magistrates because
accused of heresy, Cornelius wrote 2 in that year, 1520,
1 Ep. 53, Lib. ii. p. 771. " Te salvere jubemus omnes, tuosque omnes,
precipufe vetulam de Vapeya, quse mibl frequenter ob tui familiarem con.-
suetidinem rustica munerula adfert."
z Ep. 60, Lib. ii. p. 778.
74 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
that he would not lament with or console him, but that
he offered his congratulations : " For what more brilliant
fortune could befal you than to receive the vituperation of
those who have hated none except the best and wisest men,
among whom it is no slight honour for you to be numbered ?
Who does not know that these are the masters who ex-
pelled from the schools John Campanus, a man noted for
his learning and his virtue ; who turned out bf the town
Peter of Ravenna, the most famous doctor of law ; who
were the backbiters with foulest calumny of the most
learned Hermann Count of Neuwied ; who have aspersed
with their foul thoughts Erasmus of Rotterdam, a man
superior to all by reason of his life and of his learning, and
Jacques Faber d'Etaples, the single restorer of peripatetic
philosophy, most skilled in mathematics and in literature,
human and divine? But against John Reuchlin of Pfortz-
heim,most illustrious jurisconsult, master of many mysteries
of literature and of languages, they fought with obstinacy
until all their learning, credit, fame, authority, fell into
one total and final wreck, when through the whole world
the infamy of their ignorance, ignominy, and perfidy
became a common talk. See, then, what glory has be-
fallen you in being attacked by such foes, and numbered
with so many illustrious heroes. See how you have sud-
denly acquired what was until now wanting to your
merit " And in this strain Agrippa runs on merrily
until he closes with triumphal song, fitting to words of ex-
ultation several bars of merry music. There is a heart-ache
under it, the bitterly defiant mirth is the cry not of con-
BIGOTRY AT COLOGNE. 75
tent, but disappointment; it is the voice not of strength,
but of weakness; there is too much in it of despair.
Nevertheless, Agrippa labours still on his own path,
honestly and boldly, though not^with the strength of men
who are before him in the race. Cantiuncula, at Basle,
sends word to him of any new thing published by theolo-
gians whom both admired. When an edition of the Let-
ters of Erasmus was on the point of being issued from the
press of Frobenius, Cantiuncula expressed his opinion that
it would be a work not to compare with Politian, but to
prefer to him, and conjectured that its price would be two
gold pieces 1 . Cantiuncula himself was retained at Basle by
a salary, and had in this year (1520) finished preparing a
collection of his lectures upon many legal topics for the
press, forming a book, written, as the author stated to the
public, neither for the most ignorant nor for the most
learned; but he trusted that, although "the omniscient
Henry Cornelius Agrippa, aristarch of polite letters," be-
longed to the latter class, he would take pleasure in the
work, and help the writer by free criticism 2 .
It had been understood when Cornelius left Metz in
January, that his friend Brennon was to visit him at the
succeeding Easter time 3 , with a learned acquaintance,
Marcus Damascenus, who had in manuscript three books
on the Nature of the Soul.
A few matters of business left unsettled at Metz, Bren-
non managed for his friend, among which was the receipt
1 Ep. 41, Lib. ii. p. 757. * Ep. 58, Lib. ii. p. 755. 3 Ep. 47.
76 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
on liis account of money due from Chatelain 1 , as we may
reasonably suppose for medical attendance. All references
to this Chatelain, who duly paid his debt, are in the
kindest spirit. No doubt it is the same who soon after-
wards was burnt at Metz upon the charge of heresy. At
Easter, Brennon was unable to join his friend, who was
already being troubled at Cologne by one person at least
with slanders, not against himself only, but also against
his wife, so frequent and public, so bitter and malicious,
that he called upon the Church as a reconciler of disputes
among communicants to reprehend and check them 2 .
Brennon, unable to travel to Cologne at Easter, promised
that he would go at Whitsuntide, if he was not despatched
to Rome. The Abbess of St. Glodesindis was dead, and
there was a contest of three candidates for the succession
to her office. The decision having been referred to Rome,
Brennon thought he might have to go thither upon that
business 3 . Cornelius replied that it would be imprudence
and folly to go to Rome when the weather was so hot
he wrote this on the fourth of May a visit to Cologne
would be much better for him. On a question of health,
Cornelius was sensitive just then, for he was in the first
days of recovery from an attack of tertian fever. Brennon
had better come to Cologne with all possible speed, and
with this invitation there went to their old pastor Louisa's
greeting, and the expression of her reverence as to a
parent 4 . The young couple Agrippa's present age is
'' Ep. 47 ; also Ep. 50, Lib. ii. ; and Ep. 57, Lib. ii.
Ep. 48, Lib. ii. p. 764. 3 Ep. 49, Lib. ii. p. 767.
4 Ep. 50,- Lib. ii. p. 768.
ROGER BRENNON. 77
thirty-four had brought away with them from Metz a
strong affection for the parish priest by whom so many of
their bold opinions had been shared. Many little gifts
were despatched to him by Louisa from Cologne, one of
which only, Cornelius fears, reached its destination; for
although the most trifling it was a piece of her needle-
work 1 it was the only one acknowledged (and that one
most lovingly), therefore they must put no more faith in
the messenger to whom the others were entrusted 3 .
The succession to the rule over the nuns of St. Glo-
desindis having been settled quietly without the interven-
tion of the Pope 3 , obstacles more serious arose to prevent
Brennon's fulfilment of his promise to Louisa and her
husband. At the beginning of June, or end of May (old
style), he was seized with an acute fever, which, because
it was characterised by great chill at the surface of the
body, and much inward heat, he treated for himself by-
roasting the outside of his body at a fire, and cooling his
inner man for two days with a diet composed wholly of
cherries. Astonishing the doctors of Metz by the result
of this very direct way of fighting with a case, Brennon
recovered speedily, and, while recovering, was summoned
to the funeral of his mother 4 , whom a month before lie
had been expecting to have with him at Metz, together
with a sister 5 . His mother's death gave Brennon much
private care and occupation. The visit to Cologne was
1 Ep. 55, Lib. ii. p. 774. 2 Ep. 61, Lib.-ii. p. 779.
3 Ep. 53, Lib. ii. p. 771. * Ep. 55, Lib. ii. p. 773.
5 Ep. 49, Lib. ii. p. 767, and for the next fact.
78 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
deferred, therefore, till Michaelmas 1 , when he and Corne-
lius would read together certain dogmas of Trithemius,
by this time dead, which had come by testament to the
hands of Agrippa. Meanwhile he sends transcribed a por-
tion of the work of their friend Damascenus, on the Va-
rious and Admirable Nature of the Human Soul 2 .
Of their acquaintance Tyrius, the clockmaker, Brennon
had to report that he was deep in alchemy, and believed
himself to be on the point of solving the great problem of
transmutation. The quick-witted priest told pleasantly
the story of a day's excursion he had made with Tyrius
and others, over surrounding hills and fields and through
the woods, all armed with swords and other weapons (be-
cause of the brigands), and so following a guide who was to
point out to them a little herb, supposed to be the one
thing requisite to render Tyrius the happiest and most
illustrious of men. All day long they sought in vain ; at
last, however, they found one herb in a field. This plant
Avas dug up and was carried home, as a wild boar might
be, in triumph by the hunters. On the way home the party
travelled through a wood wherein there was the same herb
growing in profusion; all, therefore, finally returned in
great excitement, loaded with it, and at the house of
Tyrius was held high festival that night. By this account
Cornelius is slightly interested, much amused 3 .
Over the first months of quiet at Cologne the bustle of
the past thus spreads its influence. There is only one
1 Ep. 61, Lib. ii. p. 779. a Ep. 53, Lib. ii. p. 771.
3 Ep. 52, Lib. ii. p. 770.
ALCHEMY LUTHERANS IN COLOGNE. 79
more of these references to old friends at which we have
to pause. Cantiuncula, visiting his parents, writes from
Metz to Agrippa, begging that his mother may be com-
forted with a few letters from him in the vulgar tongue.
He had won her confidence as a physician and a friend.
" I cannot tell you," her son writes, " how much the little
gift of a few words from you will comfort her. She
makes so much of you, of your advice, your words, and
all your opinions 1 ." In words like these we find another
little touch of life that indicates Agrippa's gentleness of
character. Brennon expresses some concern lest his friend
should not have improved his worldly fate by quitting
Metz, and overwhelmed by cares, may be lost altogether
to his friends. I can hold my course, Cornelius replies,
unhindered by fortune. I can remain myself, through all
changes of home and lot.
In a letter to his friend Brennon, written from Cologne
on the sixteenth of June, in this year 1520 3 , he tells
exultingly of the discomfiture of Hochstraten and his
tribe by Reuchlin and Sickingen, but with a stronger in-
terest and a much deeper concern of the " bold temerity"
of Hutten, who has been in Cologne together with some
other Lutherans, openly throwing off allegiance to Rome.
Are there not primates and bishops in Germany, they
said, that we must degrade ourselves even to the foot-
kissing of the Roman bishop? Let Germany part from
the Romans, and return to its own primates, bishops, and
pastors. Some princes and states, adds Agrippa, lend
1 Ep. 58, Lib. ii. p. 775. 2 Ep. 54, Lib. ii. p. 772.
80 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
their ears to this. I know not in what way will avail the
Emperor's authority (that of Charles V.); " for my part,
I have contemplated him as a man wholly saturnine, and
repose in him no hope of any good. I shall remain here
at Cologne during this twelvemonth. Next spring I shall
migrate again into Savoy."
For by the Duke of Savoy expectations had been raised
once more, and Cornelius was now at the beginning of a
two years' course of destructive hope. I may forestal the
narrative if it be to any reader of experience a fore-
stalling to say that this hope is one doomed to end in
disappointment. It means only the wasting of long days,
the purposeless halt in a difficult career, loss of time, loss
of peace, and loss of bread. Agrippa has the world
before him, and a prince inviting him back into his
service bids him make terms with his chancellor.
Charles V. visited Cologne and stayed there for several
days with many princes, but of him or of his court
Agrippa sought no favours 1 . He was content with his
experiences of service to the court of Austria, and he had
no desire at all to make part of a court in Spain. He
still, however, had his Austrian connexions, his rank as a
noble, and the family position in Cologne inherited from
his forefathers. Thus it is that we find him to have been
applied to by a friend to procure proper honour and har-
bour in Cologne for Paul Oberstayn, chief magistrate of
Vienna, when he was about to travel through that city 3 .
1 Ep. 61, Lib. ii. p. 780. * Ep. 62, Lib. ii. p. 780.
EXPECTATIONS FROM SAVOY. 81
Student still of the Cabala 1 , and known both at Metz
and Cologne as an investigator of the abstruse secrets of
natur 2 , \ve find Cornelius applied to once or twice for
help in magical and mathematical perplexities. The Count
Theodore of Manderscheydt who afterwards received pay
from the town of Metz as the commander of its mili-
tary force caused him to be applied to for the name of
the mathematician who constructed the Metz fortifications,
and for information of his own respecting them 3 . Early
in 1521, Brennon sends to him special tidings of a travel-
ling practitioner, who has a secret cure for the disease
spread so widely by the licence of the French camps, and
promises to find the secret out if possible 4 . In the begin-
ning of the year 1521, there is a famulus who had been
dismissed, the same no doubt of whom Sbrolius had
given so bad a character making his peace with his old
master and mistress, pardoned and on his way, with dogs
Cornelius has tenderness for dogs to join them. He
is to make haste, because they are not likely to remain
more than about another fortnight in Cologne; but the
floods detain him on the journey, and he is obliged to
borrow money on Agrippa's credit.
Agrippa's journey was to have been first to Metz. The
negotiation with the Duke of Savoy was still unsettled :
nothing was being earned, there was only the patrimony
to be spent under the roof of his mother at Cologne 5 .
Active steps of some kind were to be taken, and the first
1 Ep. 63, Lib. ii. p. 780. - Ep. 1, Lib. iii. p. 781. * Ibid.
4 Ep. 5. Lib. iii. p. 784. s Ep. 2, 3, 4, Lib. iii. pp. 781-783.
VOL. II. G
82 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
step out of Cologne was to have been to Brennon's house
at Met/, for a short sojourn 1 . Was to have been: and
the step truly was taken, but with how much unexpected
sorrow !
On the eve of departure from Cologne, not many days
before Palm-Sunday, Cornelius Agrippa wrote to his
friend Brennon, who had been spending at their house
some of the first weeks of the year, " From the very day
of St. Catherine, on which you left us, my dearest wife
began to sicken:" she had suffered severe pains from
visceral disease. " On Quadragesima Sunday she took to
her bed, to my great grief and loss ; but I would bear all
things most cheerfully if she would but recover, to which
end I strive with the most diligent help of physic and
physicians" (alas, for thee, Louisa !), " sparing no cost or
labour. And if it would please the most high God to
relieve us of our distress, or if my dearest wife, as we
hope, regained ever so little health, we would take boat at
once, and make the utmost haste to you with sail and oar.
About my delay or about my coming write by the first
messengers, and of what you wish me to know secretly in-
form me in our cipher My wife sends you endless
greetings, and beseeches that you will help her with your
holy prayers, that she may be restored as soon as possible
to her old state of health, and that we all come to you
together safe and sound."
Vain were all prayers. If Louisa died at Cologne, in
the arms of Agrippa and his mother, the bereaved hus-
1 Ep. 5, Lib. iii. p. 783.
DEATH OF LOUISA. 83
band re-entered Metz with his dead wife, carried for burial
by Brennon in their old Church of St. Cross. For this
reason I think she may have had her little daughter buried
there. But if it was not so, there was a brief recovery,
permitting the boat-journey on the Rhine and the Moselle,
and it was with a dying wife that Cornelius Agrippa passed
again under the gates of Metz, that were to him the gates
of sorrow. By Brennon, in the Church of St. Cross at
Metz, the faithful wife was buried. Agrippa supplied
money for a worthy tomb \ and ever afterwards took care
that a pious service was held annually in her memory,
and for her soul's repose 2 . When all was over, he and his
son quitted the inhospitable town. Even his friend Bren-
non knew not whither he was flying, in his poverty and
his despair 3 .
1 Ep. 8, Lib. iii. p. 785.
2 Ep. 19, Lib. iv. p. 846.
3 Ep. 8, Lib. iii. p. 785. " Ab eo quo a nobis discesseris," he says, when
he has found him, " nullus unquam fuit qui aut literas dederit, aut saltern
de te verbum ullum : id siquidem suspicione magna non carult, quse nos
mente cruciatos satis effecerit."
G2
84 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
CHAPTER V.
CORNELIUS PEACTITIOKEK OF MEDICINE IN SWITZERLAND QUESTIONS OF
MARRIAGE AND OF CHURCH REFORM.
GENEVA was the place to which Cornelius Agrippa
had retired with his son 1 , when his friend Brennon feared
that he might have acted desperately in the paroxysm of
a recent grief. That he should have gone to Geneva
was most natural. It was the only town in which 'he had
ever thought of establishing himself as a physician, to live
wholly by his own exertions, without help from any public
office, or engagement with a private patron. When
Louisa died, Agrippa was being still flattered with hope
of an establishment in life under the auspices of the Duke
of Savoy. The issue of his hope was doubtful ; and it
was well that he should, without forming firm ties in any
place, support himself until the issue of the pending treaty
with the Duke was known ; and that he should also prepare
the way for other means of livelihood, in case of its un-
1 Ep. 7, Lib. iii. p. 784.
REMOVES TO GENEVA. 85
favourable termination. Cornelius was thirty -five years old,
and could not afford to waste more of his lifetime in idle
waiting at Cologne. Then again, Geneva was the place
in which lived they who could speak to him with sym-
pathy of his departed wife; and there was an additional
consideration, of no slight importance, in the fact that this
was one of the Swiss towns, in which free thought upon
religious matters had asserted itself boldly, and in which
Cornelius could find most of that spiritual consolation
which the bruised heart seeks.
If there had before been any hesitation with him as to
his relations with the Church, none remained after the
death of Louisa. He did not secede from it, for he thought
of the reforms then afoot as coming from within; with
the spirit of reform, however, and with the Reformers, he
allied himself completely. Persecuted Protestant pastors
were his friends in Switzerland; Fabricius Capito 1 was
his companion ; Zuinglius 2 regarded him as an acknow-
ledged helper in the great war he was waging against
Church corruption. Although more earnest than Erasmus
in this war, Agrippa still followed the example of Erasmus
in avoiding open breach with the Church Universal not
erring in this matter through any personal cowardice, but
as one feeling how much easier it is to destroy than to
build up, as one timidly settled on the rock of Rome, and
labouring to make it fertile ; not quitting it, lest he might
suffer spiritual shipwreck in the open sea of strife, while
1 Ep. 18, Lib. iii. p. 791. - Ep. 82, Lib. iii. pp. 829, 830.
86 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
seeking a more fruitful soil that perhaps never would be
discovered. With a less contemplative mind Cornelius
would probably have done more' memorable service to the
cause he favoured, and he would certainly have taken a
position among Protestant reformers so well recognised as
to have baffled calumny. Let us know Luther as we
hitherto have known Agrippa, by the showing only of
his orthodox detractors, and of which of the two men
who sought righteousness Luther or Agrippa should
we have to believe most emphatically that he was a child
of Satan ? Luther, however " that most combative
monk," as Agrippa calls him laid about him lustily,
headed a host of conquerors, and left his fame entrusted
to the jealous care of thousands of his fellow- warriors.
Cornelius Agrippa dreamed, and reasoned, and aspired,
making his worth known but to a few dozen wise and
learned friends, who honoured him in private, while he
said and did enough to constitute a multitude of busy
priests his merciless detractors.
In what way Cornelius, after the first grievous shock,
bore the bereavement of his wife we shall understand best
when we know clearly his views upon the sacrament of
marriage. He has expressed them in a little treatise 1 , for
in his time the whole topic was laid open to discussion ;
and it was one part of the contest carried on by many of
the Reformers, to oppose what they assumed to be the
strictly scriptural view of marriage to opinions, both in
1 H. C: A. de Sacramento Matrimonii Declamatio. Opuscula (ed. Mense
Septemb. 1532), sig. pag. D v. E iy.
ON THE SACRAMEXT OF MARRIAGE. 87
the Church and in society, that seemed to them corrupt.
There was something of a protest against what they con-
sidered error, and a practical assertion against it of one
of the texts of St. Paul, when both Capito and Zuinglius
took young widows for wives. Their doctrine, and that
of Cornelius, was, that in heaven there is neither marrying
nor giving in marriage : that marriage is a human bond
of all such the most sacred designed for solace, for the
peopling of the world, and for the preservation of a chaste
life without violence to nature. They held marriage to
be the natural state of man in society, from which no
person could withdraw himself justly, except only by
reason of incompetence, or of a religious vow, in accord-
ance with the saying of St. Paul to the unmarried and
widows, " It is good for them to abide even as I." But
if nature is not to be curbed, then " let every man," says
St. Paul, " have his own wife, and every woman her own
husband. Art thou loosed from a wife ?" he adds, " seek
not a wife. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned."
So he says also of a wife, " if her husband be dead, she is
at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the
Lord." This doctrine of St. Paul many of the Reformers
were, in Agrippa's time, asserting against celibacies, that
were not righteous, but conventional, and tended to in-
crease of lust ; against widowhoods and widowerhoods,
that, in avoiding second marriage as discreditable, fell into
the snares out of which marriage was, among other of its
uses, ordained to keep men's souls. During the past three
centuries it has been one mark of the growth of civilisation
88 COKNELIUS AGEIPPA.
that more spiritual views of marriage have arisen, which
may not be truer than those here detailed, in as far as
they do more than include them, but which, nevertheless,
may bring their own fulfilment, and so make of the bond
between some husbands and wives a blessing for eternity.
Such views did not prevail in the sixteenth century;
scarcely had they found any one to express them, even
among poets. But Agrippa's view of marriage, as his
life thus far has shown, and as his writing testifies, is
high, and worthy of a Christian. " Man," he says 1 , " (since
he is of all animals the most sociable), then only fulfils
truly and rightly the duties of humanity, puts confidence
into his life, and safety into the course of it, when he has
entered into the stable and indissoluble contract of mar-
riage For what association between human beings
can be more sacred and pleasant what safer, more secure ?
what chaster than that between husband and wife ? When
one is as the other, two bodies are conformed to one mind
and a single will. Only they who are wedded envy not
each other, only they know the infinitude of love, when
each depends entirely on the other, and reposes on the
other : when they are one flesh, one mind, in one concord :
having the same sorrow, the same joy: when the worldly
increase of one is the increase of the other, they being
alike in wealth, alike in poverty, resting in one bed, re-
freshed at one table, companions night and day, not
quitting each other for sleep or for watchings; conjoined
through life in the same actions, labours, perils, in all
1 H. C. A. de Sacramento Matrimonii. D vi. vii.
ON THE SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE. 89
fortune, they do mutual service to each other while they
live. They accompany the one the other to the close
of life ; only by death are these companions parted ; and
one dead, scarcely can the other remain living." This
Agrippa felt when, after Louisa's death, Brennon was
trembling for him. " Whoever has taken to himself an
only wife," he says again, " let him cherish her with love
inviolate and constant mindfulness to the last moment of
life; let father, mother, children, brothers and sisters, give
place to her : let the whole concourse of friends give place
to the good- will established between man and wife. Truly,
so should they; for father, mother, children, brothers,
sisters, relatives, anc! friends, are gifts of nature and of
fortune; man and wife are a mystery of God, and the
husband had the wife, the wife the husband, before father,
mother, brother, children were Therefore, no law
prohibits the departure of children from their parents, or
of parents from their children ; sometimes necessity com-
pels it, expediency suggests it, reason urges it; often
children are emancipated, often claim for religion's sake
their liberty, often live as pilgrims absent from their
homes, or build up other homes elsewhere. But that a
wife should depart from her husband, or a husband from
his wife, no law permits, no necessity, no expediency, no
reason, no repudiation, no religious feeling, no license to
quit. One parted from the other lives a desolate and
solitary life, which must be most unhappy, because it is
led in contempt of the help and joy that God has given,
and that one has dared to spurn."
90 CORNELIUS AGR1PPA.
The little treatise upon marriage quoted here was written
three or four years after the date (1521) at which this
narrative now stands. It expresses faithfully, however,
one of the most constant features of its author's mind, and
I place here the few passages that have to be quoted from
it in this narrative, because it is in this place that they are
most helpful to the proper comprehension of one aspect
of Agrippa's life. These are his words again 1 : " They
sin heavily, whether they be parents, relations, tutors,
guardians, who (not looking to the lifelong good-will,
or to the prospect of children, or to the maintenance of
chastity, but through avarice and ambition, for the dig-
nity of lands, the power of nobility, wealth, or the like)
urge beyond their duty the divine rule of obedience to
parents (by a sort of tyranny), and fettering the free will
of their sons or daughters, force them into unwelcome
nuptials; prompted by no reason of age, kindness, con-
dition, manners, love, or any divine precept. Out of
such marriages are bred adultery, dissension, scorn, con-
tinual anger, perpetual scoldings, discords, hatreds, re-
pudiation, and other unending ills. Sometimes there follow
even poisonings, slaughterings, or sudden deaths, so that
not God, but Satan, appears to have joined those pairs
together. Add to this that in many places some princes
and lords of this world, under the name of Christians foes
to God, blasphemers of the Lord, overturners of the Church,
defilers of things sacred, arrogating to themselves divinity,
by their arbitration, sometimes even by their command
1 De Sacramento Matrimonll E, E iL
ON THE SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE. 91
as tyrants, compel the marriages of subjects, taking, more-
over, tithes of the dowries, not without most wicked sacri-
lege, for their private treasuries: thus, leaving adultery
untaxed, they punish marriage. There is, moreover, yet
another custom to condemn, which has grown up in many
nations, that second marriages are pursued everywhere
with I know not what contempt. Moreover, they levy
a fine of a certain sum on those who marry twice, and
give the money to be devoured by a certain fraternity of
theirs, making Joseph, the husband of the blessed Virgin
Mary, patron of this scorn of a divine mystery. Of this
fraternity the devil was the founder, and the wrath of
God delivers it to its own reprobate sense, which, applaud-
ing fornication, decries second nuptials; as if, destitute of
divine grace, mocking the sacrament, to which is due all
honour, reverence, and freedom." For having suppressed
this custom in his own dominions, Agrippa praised King
Francis as a Christian king.
"You, therefore" I am again quoting Cornelius "you,
therefore, who wish to take a wife, let love be your in-
ducement, not opinion: choose a wife, not a dress; marry
a wife, not a dowry. In this temper having prayed to
the omnipotent God, who alone gives a true wife to man,
having sought also the consent of her parents, and shown
to them a due obedience, putting away all avarice, am-
bition, envy, and fear : with mature self-communing, with
free consent, with fervent but yet chaste and reasonable
love, accept the wife given to you for a perpetual com-
panion, not for a slave, by the hand of God: let your
92 CORNELIUS AGKIPPA.
wisdom guide her with all gentleness and reverence. Do
not submit her, but admit her to your counsels ; let her
be in your house the mistress, in your family the mother."
Agrippa dwells upon the lessons of good order and go-
vernment in states that are best learnt in families, and
dwells on the unhappiness of all who, except when they
do so for the more exclusive contemplation of celestial
things, live solitary lives. Except death, he allows no
reason whatever for a severance of the marriage tie, beyond
the one asserted in the Gospel as the single cause for
which a man may innocently put away his wife. Finally,
it is urged upon all who are not by impediment of nature
less than men, or more than men by their angelic power
of maintaining an eternal purity, that they have a divine
law to fulfil, a duty to the state and to themselves to per-
form, by marrying, so filling up the round of their own
lives and educating children into righteousness. In passing
from this treatise, I should not omit to say, that in one
passage towards the close of it 1 , after speaking in un-
measured detestation of men who destroy or wrong their
wives, he points out indignantly, that, while for the lightest
theft men were sent to the gallows, wives might be killed
or wronged to the uttermost by their husbands almost
1 De Sacramento Matrimonii. E iv. " Dxoricidia etiam acerbiore morte
quam parricidia vindicantur : et merito, nam parentes natura facit, uxor
Dei mysterium est. Neque eum satis condigna poena affici posse arbitror, qui
datum sibi a Deo auxilium, et praebitam vitse consortem ausus fuerit inte-
rimere : sed nescio qua justitise, Deique negligentia uxoricidse,
atque adulteri, nunc fere omnem poenam evadunt, fures vel ob leve crimen
fune suspensi necantur, nisi qui traditi judices nostri in reprobum sensum."
INTEREST IN CHURCH REFORM. 93
with impunity. Such a blot has remained upon the
public justice of some nations even to the present day.
To Cornelius at Geneva, Brennon wrote word 1 that the
stone, carved most decently, as ordered by him, had been
placed over the grave of his dear wife. He sent news to
him, received from a friend lately in Cologne, of the well-
being of Agrippa's sister and mother, added also what he
had last heard about Luther, namely, that he had found
safe shelter in Bohemia, and that his labour was being
carried on by Hutten and Melancthon. He furnished
also some political intelligence, and an account of a
siege close at hand which he himself had witnessed.
The tidings about the Reformers were most interesting to
Agrippa ; by the death of his wife previous religious feel-
ings had been deepened, perhaps by the conversion of
some parts of his theology into religion. The influences
at Geneva were all favourable to the development of his
convictions, and their character becomes at this time of
his life more strongly marked. A monk whom he had
known at Metz, and with whom he had talked liberal
things, writes to him from Annecy 3 , that " four cowled
masters of tKe Dominican faction and (as I believe) perse-
cutors of our faith I meant to say inquisitors by some
chance entered my cell a few days since, and among their
discourse fell upon the memory of our most erudite
Erasmus, and after many things said in a sinister way of
him and Luther, they at last vomited out their poison,
babbling that there were now four Antichrists, doctors in
1 Ep. 8, Lib. iii. p. 785. 2 Ep. 9, Lib. iii. p. 786.
94 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
Christ's kingdom namely, Erasmus, Luther, Reuchlin,
and Faber Stapulensis. See what men are these syco-
phants who persecute good literature! But the bearer
of this is a man skilled in good literature, singularly
learned, who desires much to speak with you ; trust your-
self to him."
Soon afterwards this friend begs for a copy of Agrippa's
lucubration against Prior Salini, and wants specially to
know in what way his friend now regards Luther. " I
think," he says 1 , "you do not forget how you honoured
me, by showing me at Metz some Lutheran writings, and
that you extolled them with the highest praise." This
question of opinion was discussed verbally, for the friends
met soon afterwards 2 ; and to a subsequent scruple upon
the subject of obedience to the Church, Cornelius replies 3 :
" I think you know that a Christian is, of all men, the most
free, but at the same time the most dutiful of servants."
That answer would surely have been different had he been
greater and stronger than he was. He did not stifle con-
science, he was not a coward ; all his life long he had been
asserting his desire for independence, but asserting it in a
too speculative temper.
While practising medicine with little profit at Geneva,
where his late wife's relations and Eustochius Chappuys,
known for his learning throughout all Savoy 4 , were among
his most intimate friends, Cornelius was engaged, as to
worldly things, in much negotiation to secure that which
1 Ep.' 10, Lib. iii. p. 787. 2 Ep. 11, Lib. Hi. p. 788.
3 Ep. 12, Lib. Hi. p. 788. 4 Ep. 10, Lib. iii. p. 787.
HIS POSITION AMONG THE EEFORMEKS. 95
had been offered to him by the Duke of Savoy ; and as to
spiritual things, he was entirely occupied with the great
questions of Church reform. To an inquiry about the
Virgin Mary 1 , founded on an argument drawn from the
rubric, he replied 2 , that " the services of the Church are
of no authority in argument, because they contain many
uncertain things, many doubtful things, many things
empty, feigned or false, many even of which the direct
contrary is what the Church believes ; such services are
not to support the integrity of faith, and cannot exercise
the authority of the Church." He believed it not impos-
sible for the whole Church to become that which a part
of it became. Without any thought whatever of secession,
he was ready to show all the errors that he believed had
crept into its discipline. He was a Lutheran, but through-
out distinctly that which Luther and all his fellow-labour-
ers were at the outset of their course, a faithful member of
the Church in which he saw that so much change had
become necessary. He no more thought of avowing him-
self a heretic, than the citizen of a state, when he demands
some great political reform, thinks of proclaiming himself
alien or outlaw.
The reformer Capito wrote thus from the neighbour-
hood of Basle to Cornelius Agrippa at Geneva 8 . The
date of his letter is the twenty-third of April, 1522: "A
good man began speaking of you honourably to me on my
journey; he depicted to me a man more learned than any,
1 Ep. 13, Lib. iii. p. 788. - Ep. 14, Lib. iii. p. 788.
s Ep. 15, Lib. iii. pp. 789, 790.
96 .CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
by profession a physician, but of all knowledge at the same
time a cyclopaedia, chiefly, however, strong in disputation,
being able with a little finger to arrest the onsets of the
Sophists. I asked the name.
" l Agrippa,' he said, l native of Cologne, by education
an Italian, by experience a courtier ; that is to say, trained
at court, urbane and civil.'
" Almost disturbed by an unexpected pleasure, ( What P
I said, ' that physician has a tincture of the German
heresy. Does he repudiate Luther ? Does he think with
the most learned Parisians ?'
" Then said he, l Far from it. He can go beyond Luther,
but he cannot oppose him, as that Luther himself has
seen.' "
" Moved by this talk," Capito went on to relate, " I have
written this to you while refreshing myself at the tavern,
whereby you may understand how mindful is Capito of
the kindness you showed him when he was received by
you hospitably at Cologne. But there is matter in the
knowledge of which you are interested namely, the con-
dition of the Germans. The Lutherans at Wittenberg
have declared as follows : First, they taught that whatever
they thought they perceived of the truth of the Gospel,
they were to express with freedom of speech. I will tell
you a few of their expressions. Whoever, they say, does
not eat meat, eggs, and the like on Fridays, let him not
be called a Christian. Whoever does not take. the sacra-
ment of the Eucharist in his hands and finger it, let him
not be esteemed a Christian. Whoever confesses in Qua-
EXCESS OF ZEAL IN THE REFORMERS. 97
dragesima, let him not be a partaker of the mercy of God.
Whoever thinks good works are anything, closes for him-
self the way of salvation: and much of that character.
They excite the simple crowd, there is a mustering, the
houses of the priests are attacked, force is brought in by
the citizens; thus there is a reverse caused in the opinion
of the vulgar, so that the common cause of the faith, as it
is maintained by Luther and his friends, is brought into
public odium. Learned men wrote to Luther, urging
him to come forward openly to check this. He is now,
therefore, at Wittenberg, where assemblies are being held
daily. He finds fault with his followers, chides those who
have made rash innovations, not regarding the simplicity
of the populace, but at the same time does not omit to
assert what he before asserted. The people now flock
round him, and with patience persevere towards the
liberty of Christ. I wish the nobles understood how
swift and ready is the work of Christianity, and next,
how wide the difference between a seditious innovator
and a patient Christian Wherefore, most learned
man, I do not dissuade you from the Gospel, but I rejoice
that you are opposed to the unseasonable ventures of im-
prudent men. But do as you are doing, and carry with
you the gentleness of Christ, even into familiar talk, that
nobody may be able to calumniate your pious purposes.
If anything seem to require candid interpretation, do not
condemn with a malignant scorn. What bitterness did
ever Christ speak ? to what place, I ask, did he carry the
mind of a condemning judge ? O preposterous piety, so
VOL. II. H
98 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
morosely pious, that obliterates the very shape of piety,
never be urged to that ! Farewell, and write to me some-
times. At leisure I will write with more deliberation.
Dated in haste from the tavern. Farewell again. Ol-
tingen, near Basle, April 23, 1522."
Nothing could be clearer than the illustration here sup-
plied of the degree and nature of Cornelius Agrippa's
sympathy with the Reformers. The inferences it suggests
are all confirmed by the succeeding correspondence.
When Capito's letter was delivered at Geneva, Cornelius
was away from home, at the court of Savoy 1 , making
vain efforts to secure either a fulfilment or a retractation
of the great man's promise. When he returned, he wrote
to Capito that if he knew who it was that had spoken so
lovingly of him upon the road, he would send many, many
thanks to him for his good offices, and he wished he might
some day become all he had been painted. The bearer
of his letter he commended to the help of Capito as a
man needing help, who was just, and a diligent preacher
of the Word of God. In the same way we find by letters
from friends to Agrippa, that to him also travelling
"preachers of the Gospel of truth" were, from time to
time, commended as to a man ready to entertain them in
his house, and help them with his friendship 2 .
The letter from Wolfgang Fabricius Capito just quoted
was quite characteristic of its writer's gentleness of way
1 Ep. 18, Lib. iii. p. 791.
* Ep, 16, Lib. iii. p. 790. Ep. 34, Lib. iii. p. 801. Ep. 80, Lib. iii.
p. 829.
WOLFGANG FABRICIUS CAPITO. 99
and steadfastness of purpose. It was no mean tribute to
the piety and learning of Agrippa that they had the re-
spect of Capito. Capito was by eight years the senior of
Cornelius Agrippa. Born at Hagenau, in Alsatia, he had
studied medicine at Basle to please his father, but on the
death of his father, while he was still in his student years,
he turned to the study of theology to please himself, and
was in 1504 created doctor in that faculty at Basle. He
then went to Freyburg, in Brisgau, where he taught
scholastic theology, and in the four years next following
he studied jurisprudence under Zase, one of the most
famous jurisconsults of that age. Then, Jjy Philip Rosen-
berg, Bishop of Spire, the young Capito was called to
preach at Bruchsal, in his diocese. While there he be-
came the close friend of CEcolampadius, who was at Heidel-
berg. At the same time Capito learned Hebrew from a
converted Jew. Called from Bruchsal to Basle, there to
preach in the cathedral, he laid the foundation of the first
Protestant church in that town, and while there, as a
member of the theological faculty, he helped to make
CEcolampadius a doctor. From his friendship for CEcolam-
padius he never swerved ; and after his friend's death
became (in 1524) the husband of his widow: she was
Capito's first wife. Cardinal Albert of Brandenburg,
Archbishop of Mayence, had called Capito from Basle,
and had appointed him court preacher and chancellor in
the archbishopric. He became at about the same time
doctor of canon law, and on account of his varied know-
ledge and experience, his services were used in many
H2
100 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
weighty state affairs. For the same reason, not long
before the date of the letter to Agrippa lately quoted,
Emperor Charles V. had raised Capito and his entire
family into the order of nobility. His course was not
altered, and when he wrote that letter he had left Mayence,
because he could not introduce into the town any Re-
formed doctrines, and had joined Bucer at Strasburg.
He was a man remarkable for learning, although his
attainments were less varied than Agrippa's, and he was,
like Agrippa, moderate in his hopes and endeavours for
the reformation of the Church, but, unlike Agrippa, duly
mingling in the actions of his life determined power with
his softer qualities. " I heard at Basle," Cornelius writes
to another friend, " of the work of a certain brother, Jacob
Hochstraten, against Luther, also of another similar work,
issued under the name of the King of England. I should
like them to be sent to me, and any response, if any, of
which Luther may have thought them worthy; whatever
may be their price, I will pay promptly to their bearer.
Finally, I desire to know how the Lutheran matter
prospers with the Germans. If you have occasion to
write to Fabricius Capito, most excellent and true theo-
logian, commend me very greatly to him. I wrote to
him lately, and mean to write more at leisure. The bearer
of this, a man who studies theology and is a linguist most
eager to master Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldee, by nation
a Scotchman, by profession a Dominican, I commend to
you as. to myself. I beg that you will be so good a
helper to him as to show that ours is not a common
CORNELIUS AND THE DUKE'S CHANCELLOR. 101
friendship : as for me, I will never fail when I am able to
do anything for you and your friends. Farewell. From
Geneva, September 20, 1522."
While Agrippa was at Geneva he was corresponding
with his friend the lawyer Cantiuncula, at Basle 1 , and he
Was also continuing by letters to make interest with those
who might have power to stimulate the Duke of Savoy
and his advisers to increased activity. The Duke had him-
self reopened the protracted negotiations by inviting
Agrippa to him, but on the condition that it should be
left to his Chancellor to settle in what office and at what
salary the philosopher was to be connected with his court ;
he had also admonished Agrippa to. look after his own in-
terests, and take care that the Chancellor did not forget him.
But the Chancellor needed much admonition. On the six-
teenth of September, 1522, Cornelius wrote from Geneva
to remind him of these things 2 ; on the same day he wrote
also to a friend of his own residing near the minister, re-
questing that he would help, if possible, in pushing matters
forward, and also asking for his interest on behalf of the
petition of a certain widow 3 . The letter to the Chancellor
just mentioned went by the hand of the Abbot Bonmont,
of the monastery of Moutiers, the capital of a small prince-
dom in Savoy, the Tarentaise, and this good abbot, who
was appointed to high clerical office in Geneva, told Cor-
nelius on his return that the Duke had repeated to him his
desire that everything should be settled by the Chancellor,
1 Ep. 20 and 35, Lib. iii. pp. 792, 801.
2 Ep. 21, Lib. iii. pp. 792, 793. 3 Ep. 22, Lib. iii. p.' 793.
102 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
who would in a few days be coming to Chambery, which is
a town of Savoy, distant from Geneva some fifty or sixty
miles. To a friend, therefore, at Chambery, Agrippa
wrote, requesting him to urge his suit for him, he being
himself, short as the distance was, unable to bear the cost
of a journey to that town, and the stay there requisite
for the due help of his own cause 1 .
But in the midst of poverty and disappointment he was
unable to live alone. When he wrote that he could not
pay his way from Geneva to Chambery, he had been only
for a few months married to a second wife, a Swiss maiden,
aged nineteen, of a good Genevese family, whom one of his
friends heard to be rich ; but that friend must have been
greatly misinformed. Cornelius wrote of her, two years
afterwards, to his friend Brennon, as " a maid of noble
birth and of great beauty, who so adapts herself to my
ways that you could not tell that they had not been in the
first instance her own, or know whether either one of us
equals or excels the other in a readiness of love and
homage." Agrippa's first wife left him with Aymon, an
only son ; his second wife began at once a steady course
of child-bearing. Within the first two years and a half
she became mother to two sons and a daughter 3 , after
whom there came others in quick succession.
On the twenty-ninth of September he again ventured
to urge the Chancellor by letter, telling him that the matter
in hand was of less urgency to him than its distinct settle-
1 Ep v 24, Lib. iii. p. 794. 2 Ep. 60, Lib. iii. p. 818.
HIS SECOND MARRIAGE. 103
ment 1 . Four days later he wrote to his friend at Cham-
bery, urging the misery and waste of the continual delay 2 .
He had been kept two years in suspense, trusting to the
Duke's promise, spending his money, and receiving in
return only sweet words, letting birds escape while chasing
flies. In the middle of that September he had been offered
favours by the royal house of France ; but although free
to serve France, he looked to Savoy for more congenial
patronage. He did not wish to die of hope. The promises
of Savoy must be either fulfilled or retracted 3 . His friend
promptly replied that he had spoken earnestly to the
Chancellor, who appeared chilly in the matter, and less
friendly to Agrippa than his virtues merited 4 . He pro-
mised to make fresh endeavours, and to write again in
three or four days, advising Cornelius in the mean time
to urge the Chancellor again by letter.
In the next despatch to his friend, Agrippa writes that his
business is moving "asgris pedibus" and making good the
omen of his name, but that he trusts in help from others,
being, as he had before said, unable to go to Chamb^ry
himself, even if the whole issue of the case depended on
his presence 5 . A few weeks after this, salary and honour-
able consideration being offered to Cornelius as its
physician by the mountain town of Friburg, that offer
was accepted, and an end was made of the expectations
that the Duke of Savoy had excited 6 .
1 Ep. 25, Lib. iii. p. 795. - Ep. 26, Lib. iii. p. 795.
3 Ep. 24, Lib. iii. p. 794. Ep. 29, Lib. iii. p. 796.
5 Ep. 32, Lib. iii. p. 799. 6 Ep. 39 and 55, Lib. iii. pp. 805, 813.
104 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
The venerable Abbot Bonmont, from the monastery
at Moutiers, who had become at Geneva a high church
authority, was a warm friend to Agrippa and his family.
He had become godfather to one of his children, thus
taking a position which in those days gave him an artificial
tie of relationship to Agrippa's wife. The tie was so
distinct that matrimony was unlawful between man and
woman, one of whom had at a former time been sponsor
for the other's child. The good name and credit of this
abbot extended to Friburg, and helped to increase there
the cordiality of the reception given to Cornelius. The
same abbot retained also at Geneva his friend's first
son, Aymon, and took friendly charge for a time both of
his maintenance and of his education..
Bonmont had great faith both in the moral and in-
tellectual power of Agrippa. There is a letter extant,
written by Cornelius at his desire for the admonition and
help of a young student 1 , the gist of which is that the
pupil was to learn rightly from the righteous, because
time was lost in listening to the depraved ; that he could
not be learned without Greek, or eloquent without Latin ;
that he should cultivate a wide field, but since the whole
field of knowledge was more than a single man could
travel over, he should read especially two authors, Pliny
in Latin, and Plutarch in Greek. These, more than any
others, could be made sufficient to render a man learned
in all sorts of sciences and in each necessary language ;
only, above all things, he exhorted to the close study of
1 Ep. 31, Lib. iii. p. 797.
SON AYMON'S FRIEND. 105
sacred literature. We find also that Agrippa, poor as he
was, contrived in Switzerland to show himself not want-
ing in the observance so essential in those days of
hospitality 1 , and he was hospitable not only to the tra-
veller, but also glad when he could spend some hours in
joyous social intercourse with learned friends. His nature
was affectionate, and spent its kindness upon more than
men and women, also upon animals. He is said to have
been almost foolish in his good-will towards dogs.
Of course there came also to the dwelling of the poor
philosopher at Geneva and Friburg letters of compliment,
to tell him of the barren honours he had won. Claude
Blancherose, a French physician, who afterwards pub-
lished a book on the Epidemics of his time, wrote to
Cornelius Agrippa Latin letters full of euphuism, speckled
with verse of his own making, epigrams, tetrastiches, and
decastiches 2 . They are long letters, meaning well, and
labouring obviously to earn for their writer the respect and
good-will of a man noted for his learning. John Lau-
rentin of Lyons, preceptor of St. Antony's at Rivolta,
who had introduced Agrippa to the town of Metz, seems
to have introduced him also to Blancherose, who begs
leave to be Pylades to his Orestes, Hegesippus to his
Titus. One long letter this friend despatches, full of
laboured verse, dating it "from Amnaise, swifter than
light, more quickly than asparagus is cooked" an old
Augustan saying; in the next, which is to go swifter
1 Ep. 28, Lib. iii. p. 796, and the letters already referred to illustrative
of his hospitality towards travelling ministers of the Gospel.
2 Ep. 36 and 37, Lib. iii. pp. 801-804.
106 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
than wind, he lauds his Orestes as a man who has come
into the labyrinth of this world " not without the clue."
And yet he knows every friend of Agrippa knows
how in the labyrinth of the world he has been long
astray : he knows it well enough to see an opportunity of
quoting in this' letter the text, Yet have I never seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
The removal from Geneva to Friburg, in the beginning
of the year 1523, indicated some slight increase of pros-
perity. Friburg was but a small Swiss mountain fortress,
with a narrow-streeted town attached to it, and scarcely
could pay a high salary to its physician. We know how
slender was the payment made by small Italian towns to
the physician attached to their service 1 ; it was, indeed,
not greater than that which would be now offered in
England to a parish surgeon, and retained his services not
for the poor alone. It would be more correct to find a
parallel as to principle for these appointments of physicians
in the appointment, by communities, of men who were to
be their spiritual pastors. Agrippa was received in the
best spirit at Friburg, both by magistrates and people ;
they were a hardy, warrior race, but noted for kindness
and hospitality. Their treatment of Agrippa was not
only courteous, but, considering their means, munificent,
and in their town, as in Geneva always, in short, while
in Switzerland Cornelius, however little money he might
earn, had only kindness to acknowledge, and was held
1 Life of Jerome Cardan (1854), vol. ii. pp. 154, 155.
REMOVAL TO FRIBURG. 107
always in generous esteem 1 . At Metz and Cologne all
had been antagonism ; at Friburg and Geneva all was in
sympathy with his desire for freedom of opinion and
action. Twice, as we have seen, he connected himself by
marriage with the natives of Geneva. As a scholar, Italy
was the land of his desire ; but as a man, he was at home
in Switzerland, and never in his whole life was he so well
honoured by his neighbours as in these his days of a sore
poverty among the Swiss. His friend the Abbot Bon-
mont wrote to him from Geneva, soon after his change of
abode, " As for our little son Aymon, I wish you to be
under no anxiety about him, for he is to me as my own
son, and no help or labour of mine shall be wanting to
train the boy in the right way and make a man of him 2 ."
All thoughts of Savoy had been abandoned ; but there
was still temptation offered by the court of France that
might bring down from his spare diet and happiness in the
Swiss mountains a man conscious of the position that he
had a right to take among the most polished, and warned
also that he had the prospect of a large family of children
to support out of such worldly means as he could compass.
In one of his first letters, written after settlement at
Friburg it is to Christopher Schelling of Lucerne, who
still has, or is supposed to have, the manuscript of Com-
mentaries on St. Paul we find that Agrippa happens to
have gone to Berne, and has there met with an old
Parisian comrade of his student days, Godfrey Brullart,
1 Ep. 38, 39, and 55, Lib. iii. pp. 804, 805, 813.
* Ep. 39, Lib. iii. p. 805.
108 CORNELIUS AGRIFPA.
become a royal treasurer, who is staying at the house of
the General Nurbeck. He has offers to make to Schelling,
and no doubt has played the tempter to Agrippa too.
" My commencement of Commentaries on Paul, and other
things left with you, I trust, are safe," Agrippa says.
Afterwards, on the eighth of June, in this year, 1523, he
writes to Schelling of his wife's impending confinement,
and of his close occupation upon pressing and important
business by the magistrates of Friburg 1 , who would thus
seem to have made use of his skill, not only as a physician,
but to have availed themselves also in other ways of his
extensive knowledge. This tended, no doubt, to the im-
provement of his salary.
While falling into affectionate correspondence with his
friend at Lucerne, he attacks merrily his friend Cantiun-
cula, at Basle, for stinting him in letters. He has been
to Basle, and there, at supper with Cantiuncula, has met
Erasmus, and his talk over the supper-table has dwelt on
the mind of Erasmus pleasantly, so that he speaks after-
wards with admiration in his household of the rare gifts
of Agrippa. In the household of Erasmus is a youth who
had once courted Agrippa's good-will with some specimens
of Latin verse, and being admitted to his friendship a
thing not hard to acquire writes to him about these
things 2 .
Many good friends were made in Switzerland, and at
Friburg the physician had a cordial patron in a citizen,
1 Ep. 40, Lib. iii. p. 805. . 2 Ep. 44, Lib. iii. p. 806.
AT FRIBURG. 109
John Reiff, who loved all learned men ; occult studies, too,
were cheerfully resumed. Copies of the work on Magic had
been circulating among learned acquaintances; additions
were made to it, and it was further lent 1 . The use of the
printing-press being comparatively new, there still re-
mained in Europe much of the old plan of circulating
books in manuscript; and we must remember this while
noticing the reputation for great learning that Agrippa
had acquired by this time, although he had issued nothing
from the press. Much of his writing was known widely
as writing, and his familiarity with many languages and
many sciences, as well as his known habit of experiment-
ing, were sufficient to assure him very high respect.
He had not forgotten Roger Brennon, but after a long
time had ceased to send him letters, because answers never
were returned. It afterwards appeared that Brennon's
correspondence had been intercepted by the orthodox of
Metz, and that letters to and from Cantiuncula, when he
was with his family, had been also stopped 3 . To a friend
who had accepted office at Metz, and was proceeding thither
from Basle, he sent a letter by a preacher of the Gospel,
Thomas Gyrfalcus, whom he commended with the greatest
earnestness to his faithful protection. He sent to Brennon,
curate of St. Cross, his greetings, and announced writing
on the fifth of January, 1524 that the cloud had passed
over his fortunes, and that he was about to return into
1 Ep. 55 and 56, Lib. iii. pp. 812-814.
2 Ep. 45 (which is from Cantiuncula, and misplaced in the printed series),
Ep. 62, Lib. iii. p. 819.
110 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
France 1 . Many of his old friends in Paris and Lyons had
been helping him, and were desirous to have him among
them. He was offered court favour, and the honourable
position of physician to the queen-mother. Tempted,
then, by France, in March or April, 1524, he quitted
Friburg, leaving behind him none but persons who re-
spected him true friends and patrons, genuine, though
poor. Offers had been made to him also on behalf of the
Duke of Bourbon; these he had refused, and he had
also used successfully his influence to take with him into
the service he himself adopted certain young captains, his
relatives, who had a following of not less than four
thousand soldiers 2 . On the third of May he was at
Lyons with his family ; looking back lovingly to Fri-
burg, enjoying the good- will of his old French com-
rades who gathered round, possessed of a few gold
pieces from the treasury wherewith to pay the cost of
establishing his household, and in daily expectation of a
messenger who was to come to him with payment of his
first year's salary. So he wrote to the Abbot Bonmont,
his son's teacher and friend, and begged him to instruct a
person in charge of some tables of his to take care of
them, because in a short time he would send money to pay
for their conveyance into France 3 .
1 Ep. 52, Lib. iii. p. 810. Ep. 42, Lib. iv. p. 881.
3 Ep. 58, Lib. iii. p. 816.
EEMOVAL TO LYONS- 111
CHAPTER VI.
ACCEPTING OFFERS FROM THE KOYAL FAMILY OF FRANCE, CORNELIUS
REMOVES TO LYONS AS A COUKT PHYSICIAN HE GKOWS RICH IN
THE queen-mother was Louisa of Savoy it was still,
therefore, from the house of Savoy that Cornelius was re-
ceiving promises of favour. At the first glance, also, we
notice this unpromising condition of his case his pa-
troness was a strict Catholic, with a strong tendency to
persecution of Reformers.
During the period of Agrippa's separation from the
greater bustle of political events, a new complication had
been arising, which we shall find presently exerting an
important influence over his fortunes. The year 1520 had
been the year of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. In that
year war between Charles and Francis, the successful and
the unsuccessful candidate for the succession to the empire,
appeared probable. In the year following, the injustice of
the court at Paris, bred out of intrigues, created dis-
turbances in Italy. Slight was put upon the Constable de
Bourbon by his recal from Milan , war burst into life, and
112 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
the French were once more driven from Italian soil.
This might not have been the case if the avarice of the
queen-mother, Louisa of Savoy, Duchess of Angouleme,
had not led her to embezzle money destined for the army.
Four hundred thousand crowns, that should have been
sent as the pay of the Swiss, went to her private purse,
and Semblangay, the treasurer, who, in the year following,
confessed to whom the money had been paid, was followed
pertinaciously by Queen Louisa's hatred, until five years
afterwards it gained its end and brought him to the
gibbet. Pope Leo was dead, and his successor was Pope
Adrian, a friend to Charles V.
In the year 1523, that is to say, during the last year of
Agrippa's residence in Switzerland, Charles Duke of
Bourbon had been alienated finally from his allegiance to
the crown of France. The previous Duke had left a
daughter, named Suzanne, inheriting much land, and
Charles had joined her possessions to the dukedom by
contracting marriage with her. When she died, the
queen-mother, considering the Duke to be a handsome
man his age was only thirty-four and knowing that
his territories were desirable, proposed to marry him, as
plainly as queen can, and also claimed inheritance of so
much of his duchy as came to him from his deceased wife,
by right of her own descent in the female line from one
of the past dukes. The age of her majesty was forty-
seven. Charles of Bourbon would not marry her, and
had to bear therefore the anger of a slighted woman.
The queen-mother retaliated at once by a claim on the
PHYSICIAN TO THE QUEEX-MOTHEK. 113
whole Bourbonnais. Now the Duke knew that King
Francis loved him little, because he was cold and grave,
and soberly attached to business ; a man so little dis-
posed to bear frivolous jokes as to be called at court
the Prince of Small Endurance. He saw reason to fear
the queen-mother's influence over her son, and was thus
driven to seek help from counterplots. Charles the Fifth,
losing no time in the use of what he held to be his oppor-
tunity, promised Bourbon his own sister in marriage, with
various advantages, if he would attach himself to the
imperial cause, and originate in France civil dissension.
Bourbon hesitated, but stung by the progress of the court
intrigues, towards the close of the year he consented, and
but a very few months before Agrippa came to Lyons
he had fled from his own country with a single attendant,
leaving the Bourbonnais to be immediately confiscated,
and gone over to the enemies of Francis.
In the spring of the year 1524, when Cornelius came
to Lyons as physician to Louisa of Savoy, a campaign
was reopened in the Milanese, and Bourbon began in
concert with Italians to operate successfully against his
countrymen. It has been long remarked of this revolt of
Bourbon, that it affords the first modern example of a
strong opposition of the sentiment of patriotism to the
alliance of a great prince with the enemy of his king,
when such a king has done or is about to do him wrong.
Until with the revival of letters Greece and Rome in-
stilled into educated men their strict views of the duty
owing to one's country, and of the sacrifices that become
VOL. II. I
114 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
the patriot, certainly it was not in France that any ab-
stract sentiment existed to restrain princes and dukes
from forming what alliances they found most profitable
when at enmity with an offending sovereign. Bourbon's
revolt was the first of great note that occurred after the
change made by the revival of letters in the public feeling
of society. He found opinion everywhere against him ;
he was not received cordially even among his chosen
allies, and he lived in his camp as a morose soldier among
his troops, the only men who had a solid faith in him, a
rough but friendly master, who took care to find them
opportunities of plunder that should more than cover
their deficiencies of pay.
Of the state of affairs here described, Agrippa had, of
course, when he went to Lyons, only an imperfect and
one-sided view. It was not until several months afterwards
that the queen-mother, become regent during her son's
captivity in Spain, showed to the world the full strength
of her disposition to deal cruelly with the Reformers.
Had Agrippa known in what way Queen Louisa's pas-
sions were involved in the affront of Bourbon to the
crown, had he known only the shallowness of her religion
and the depth of her bigotry, he would have known the
step to be a false one that took him,*a German and an ad-
vocate of church reform, from the true fellowship and
favour of Swiss burgomasters to the service of Louisa of
Savoy. But as it was, he held it to be good advancement
in the. world to have become a queen's physician.
As a fortunate man he was congratulated by his friends,
ADORNED WITH COURT TITLES. 115
though one of them wrote that if, as one attached to the
French court, he exchanged doctor's cap for helmet, and
rode with his spear in the Italian wars, it was to be hoped
he would not ride against a Swiss friend ranged upon the
side of Bourbon 1 . Agrippa had no thought of taking
active part in war. Before anything was settled with the
queen-mother he received the titles of a man attached
directly to the court, as counsellor 3 , and took part at
Lyons in such public business as belonged to his position.
The communication with his old friend Brennon was re-
opened and secured. To him Cornelius had sent, in letter
after letter, confidential details on the subject of his
worldly efforts and achievements; none ever reached
their destination, or came back into the writer's hands 3 .
He had had death again in his house. Of the three
children born to him by his second wife, before the end
of August, 1524, two, both of them sons, survived ; the
other child, a daughter, died. Brennon replied 4 with
sympathy, and this piece of good news : " A woman here
died lately, who bequeathed to me a press and all things
necessary to the printer's art, at which I shall be able to
work as I get leisure." Cornelius 5 answered to this: "I
wish you had my little works, that you might print them ;
but I have no scribe, and possess no more than single
copies. I will get duplicates of some and send them you
to print, beginning with the Apology against that calum-
1 Ep. 59, Lib. iii. p. 817. 2 Ep. 68, Lib. iii. p. 823.
3 Ep. 60, Lib. iii. p. 818 ; and for the next facts.
4 Ep. 61, Lib. iii. p. 818, 819. 5 Ep. 62, Lib. iii. p. 819.
I 2
116 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
nious Dominican. The brute is in this town, but nearly
muzzled, and disliked by all his own companions. These
tumults of war are a great hindrance and damage to me.
. I depend wholly on their issue. If they end well for the
King, I am fortunate ; if ill, I am almost lost." In another
letter to the Abbot Bonmont, Agrippa wrote 1 , after
some warm recognition of his generosity to Aymon : " In
answer to your inquiry about my fortunes, certainly I am
rich in promises from the King himself and other princes ;
but these wars, for the most part, snatch away from me
the fruits of their munificence." He wrote this after he
had been living for six months at Lyons upon barren
honours.
At about the same time another glimpse was offered to
him of a way to get his books before the world. A friend
at Basle sent him a letter 2 , by the brother-in-law of the
great typographer, John Frobenius, with a message from-
Frobenius, requesting that he would explore the oldest
libraries in Lyons, and see whether they contained any
codices of Pliny's history, especially the later books. If
he found any he was to send them by the bearer, who
would find whatever surety was required for the safe
keeping of the manuscript. " I discussed with Frobe-
nius," the friend added, " about your work against the
Dominican Monk, as well as about the printing of your
complete works. He says that when they are sent to him
he will take care that no one of them shall be found to
meet with less consideration than is well and fairly due."
1 Ep. 63, Lib. iii. p. 820. 2 Ep. 64, Lib. iii. p. 821.
HIS LIFE AT LYONS. 117
Cornelius, at Lyons, belonged not only to the courtiers,
but also to a cheerful literary circle 1 ; he was pursuing a
variety of studies ; had been improving himself in astro-
logy 3 ; and among other sciences was studying the Cabala
still, and beginning to work at the books of Raymond
Lully 3 . He was courted by learned strangers ; young
scholars wrote to him soliciting his friendship 4 . Those
who had been in his household always turned to him
though they could anger him sometimes with confident
affection. We have found him just now telling Brennon
that he was without a scribe. The person who had been
serving him in that capacity had been taken ill upon a
journey, and was laid up with stone in the bladder.
Seeing no hope of speedy return to his duties, he peti-
tioned that his brother might be taken in his place 5 .
The renewed wars closed many an old channel of com-
munication, and the Abbot Bonmont being hostile to
France, and associating with the enemies of France,
although old friendship remained unabated, and Corne-
lius expressed constant reverence for his warm friend,
free interchange of thought by letters between them
ceased to be possible 6 . In June, 1525, Cornelius sent for
his son Aymon by a messenger, who was to bring him,
1 Ep. 65, Lib. iii. p. 821. A piece of good-humoured denunciation for
Agrippa's having promised ah Aristotle to the writer and not having made
his promise good.
Ep. 56 and Ep. 57, Lib. iii. pp. 813-816.
Ep. 67 and Ep. 75, Lib. iii. pp. 822 and 826.
As in Letters 73 and 77 of Book iii.
Ep. 66, Lib. iii. pp. 821, 822.
Ep. 68, Lib. iii. p. 823 ; and for the next facts.
118 CORNELIUS AGRIP.PA.
if the kind priest thought it well for him to rejoin his
father. He was then expecting daily to have his future
settled, and a home appointed for him by his mistress,
either at Tours, Orleans, or Paris. The Abbot replied 1 ,
that Ayraon should be sent home when the weather be-
came cooler ; but that he was of too tender age for a long
journey under summer heat. The same reply offered
congratulations on the subject of a second letter 2 from
Cornelius, written on the twenty-fourth of July, to an-
nounce that his wife had recently given birth to a third
son, so that he had now four children, all of them boys,
and that the infant had profited by his relation to the
court, in having the Cardinal de Lorraine for a godfather,
and for godmother the Dame de Saint Prie. The queen-
mother and her court were then at Lyons ; she was
Regent, and King Francis was a prisoner in Spain. In
the middle of the previous October siege had been laid to
Pavia. In January no progress had been made ; Bour-
bon, however, having raised an army on his own account,
had procured money from the Duke of Savoy, and
marched to relieve the besieged city early in the year.
On the twenty-third of February, King Francis, defeated
by Bourbon, was taken prisoner, and given to the keep-
ing of his rival at Madrid. Louisa, Duchess of Angou-
leme, became Regent of France during his absence. At
the beginning of August, soon after the birth of Agrippa's
infant, the queen-mother was leaving Lyons with her
1 Ep. 78, Lib. iii. p. 828.
Ep. 76, Lib. iii. p. 827 ; see also Ep. 79, Lib. iii. p. 828.
THE FOURTH SOX'S GODFATHER. 119
daughter to visit Spain, on behalf of the captive. In-
stead of carrying her new physician with her, she bade him
remain at Lyons, without settling there, until her return,
when she would be at leisure, she said, to determine
where his domestic establishment was to be fixed. It
was to be in some town of the interior of France, so that
he might be at hand for the performance of his duties 1 .
He was not the richer for having been flattered, while
the whole court was at Lyons, with a distinguished god-
father and godmother for his infant ; such things only
induced him and perhaps were by the Queen meant to
induce him to consent longer to exist, as his wits enabled
him, on the mere royal promise of a salary.
The queen-mother was avaricious ; war absorbed public
money, and Agrippa, there can be no doubt, suffered de-
lays and slights because there was a stain upon his cha-
racter. "Does he repudiate Luther? Does he think
with the most learned Parisians?" Capito's playful
doubt whether that physician was not tinctured with
the German heresy, echoed the saying of the ortho-
dox against Agrippa, and such questioning told heavily
upon his fortunes. Because of this, no doubt the
Duke of Savoy's chancellor had dallied with . his hopes,
and paid a cold attention to his claims ; because of this,
the queen-mother was hesitating about the fulfilment
of her promises, while his inquiries into occult science, and
his books of magic, that a few had seen, enabled the
priests already in a very slight degree to taint his name,
1 Ep. 9, Lib. ir. p. 838.
120 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
by attaching to it some of the disrepute connected with
forbidden studies.
But Cornelius was still in active sympathy with the
Reformers. There was a letter written to him in May>
1525, by a reformer in Lorraine 1 , a hot partisan in the
controversy upon the Eucharist. Luther believed that there
was something like real presence in the sacramental bread
and wine; Zuinglius taught what is now commonly be-
lieved by Protestants, and a fierce strife existed on this
subject. To the zealous partisan, Agrippa replied quietly 2 ,
stating what books he had himself been able to obtain
upon the subject, and expressing his desire to see all,
others, except such as had been written by the Sophists.
But the most perfect revelation of Agrippa's attitude
towards the orthodox Church, at a time when he was
awaiting at Lyons the fulfilment of the promises of the
queen-mother, is contained in the following letter ad-
dressed to him by Zuinglius or Bucer 3 : "Although most
busy, I have nevertheless wished to send you enough
writing to prevent you from believing that you are for-
gotten. Lately the most learned Papilio wrote to me
salutations in your name. The whole church of the
saints established here has rejoiced very vehemently at
hearing the fruit of the "Word among the courtiers, as
well as throughout nearly all France. We also glorify
the Lord for the constancy of Macrinus, servant of God.
I have written to many, concerning the glory of the Word
Ep. 69, Lib. iii. pp. 823, 824. Ep< 71} Lib> iiif pp . 8 24, 825.
3 Ep. 82, Lib. iii. pp. 829, 830.
DOCTRINE AMONG THE COURTIERS. 121
among you, letters which I doubt not have been commu-
nicated to you. I bless the Lord that you remain always
the same, namely, a lover of the truth ; by following in
that course we are happier than by all things else ; for
what is to compare with truth? I wish it were in my
power to come into France, that I might not be always
dumb. The Lord's will be done. I pine, I confess, at
being so long silent. I doubt not that you know of my
having taken a wife" (Zuinglius had married a noble
widow, Anne Richartin, in the year preceding, Bucer
had married a nun two years before), " and perhaps
you have seen my book on Marriage. Christ gave a son
to us on the twenty-ninth of November. My sister is
still expectant of a child. The boy, named Isaac, is well.
Pray that he may live to the glory of God, and that I may
teach him to separate himself to the utmost from anti-
christ and the vain fictions of men. We endure much
poverty, for all things are at the dearest, and I am weighed
down by many debts. The brethren at the court, and
you, perhaps, among them, sent me twenty gold ducats.
Help never came at better time. In all things blessed be
the name of the Lord who helps us, and is powerful to set
us free from poverty so urgent. I send thanks to all who
gave and helped me in my poverty. My little wife
salutes you, and we both of us salute your wife in the
Lord. I shall be glad if all things prosper with you.
Our whole church salutes you, through Christ, Capito
especially; and for you and all brethren we entreat happi-
ness from the Lord. Make men, as far as you are able,
122 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
well disposed towards me. Write what is done at Geneva,
that is to say, whether they love the Word; let there be
sometimes letters exchanged between us. Grace and
peace from our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Strasburg, the last day of December, 1525."
By an obvious mistake this letter has been printed in
Agrippa's works as one sent from Agrippa to a friend.
The tone of thought, the style, the facts contained in
it, all seem to me to declare Zuinglius the writer. Not
only had Zuinglius his marriage to announce, but the
tractate on Marriage to which he refers was, at the date
when this letter was written, the last thing published by
him. It had appeared earlier in the same year, and was
an address to the Swiss in reply to an outcry made against
himself for having joined a husbandman in wedlock to
a woman who stood to him in the relation of godmother
to one of his children ; this tie of commaternity, or com-
paternity, as it was called, having been held by the
Church, but being repudiated by Zuinglius, as a bar to
marriage 1 . Bucer was head of the Reformed Church at
Strasburg.
It was at this time that Cornelius wrote and dedicated
to the King's sister, Margaret of Valois, his tractate on
the Sacrament of Marriage 2 . She was clever, spiritual,
skilled in languages, favourably disposed towards the
cleverness of the Reformers, and a skilful inventor of tales,
then amusing, and not more immoral than some sermons
1 OperumD. Huldrichi Zuinglii, vigilantissimi Tiyurince Eccksice Antistitis,
Partes iii. &c. &c. Tiguri. Exc. C. Froschover, 1581. Pars Prima, foL
151-154.
2 Ep. 1, Lib. iv. p. 831.
THE COURT SHOCKED BY THE TRACT ON MARRIAGE. 123
of the time, but certainly remarkable to men of these
days for their looseness. She was then thirty-four years
old, and had become somewhat recently a widow by the
death of Charles Duke of Alencon. As a widow she had
been to comfort in his prison at Madrid King Francis, her
brother, to whom she was much attached; she had gone
charged by the queen-mother with plenary powers to
negotiate, and it had been hoped that she might, by her
fascinations, conquer the heart of a saturnine emperor.
That visit to Madrid had been paid in the previous year.
The journey to Bayonne with the queen-mother was for
the purpose of meeting the King on his liberation, and
conveying his two eldest sons as hostages to Spain. Mar-
garet of Valois was quite ready to marry again, and was,
indeed, in the year following, espoused to Henri d' Albret,
King of Navarre. To this princess, then, Agrippa felt
that he should do well to dedicate his treatise upon Mar-
riage, the substance of which has been in this narrative
already described. He sent it to a learned friend and
correspondent, one of the King's physicians, John Chape-
lain, to be presented to her highness. Chapelain very
soon found that it was a clumsy compliment. Let any
one compare the tone of Margaret's diverting tales with
the unbending morality of this discussion on the Sacra-
ment of Marriage, and it will be evident that, honest as
her life was, such a lecture as Cornelius wished to present
ran no little risk of being accepted as a rebuke against her
daily conversation.
" I will see to your pension," wrote Chapelain 1 , who
1 Ep. 2, Lib. iv. p. 832.
124 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
was a kindly man, clever enough to justify the printing
of the only work of his that came before the public, A
Medical Opinion on the Plague, in the same volume
with the Medical Opinions of a man so famous as Fernel 1 ,
" I will see to your pension ; but the matter is not likely
to be settled yet, for in such matters the Queen is apt to
be slow. However, we shall soon be coming to Paris,"
he wrote from Bordeaux on the second of April; "now,
if I understand rightly, we are to return to Lyons, be-
cause the most Christian King has to accomplish a vow
made while in Spain to the Holy Napkin at Chambery ;
in Paris I have no doubt your affair can be settled, in the
mean time I will do my part as a friend when opportunity
arises. Some who are nevertheless accounted Christians,
little approve of that work of yours upon Marriage on
account of certain passages contained in it, and they who
object are people who speak often with the Princess.
Therefore, fearing lest I might bring you more hurt
than honour, I have deferred the presentation. Never-
theless, if you bid me, I will give it."
The poor scholar made a manful answer 2 : " You write,
my dear friend Chapelain, that there are some persons
at court who are numbered among the wise, and who
speak often with the Princess, who little approve my de-
clamation upon Matrimony. Fearing, therefore, lest it
may bring me into more contention than commendation,
you have deferred offering that little treatise to their
highnesses until you had again consulted me. Hear now,
1 See Jerome Cardan (1854), vol. ii. pp. 100-104.
Ep. 3, Lib. iv. pp. 832, 833.
AGRIPPA'S MIND ABOUT THE COURT. 125
therefore, my opinion. Among the masters at court there
are some who write filthy and dirty jests, lewd comedies,
songs steeped in lust, and pestilent books that dishonour
the name of love. There are some, also, who translate such
writings into sundry languages. And books of this sort
are received without offence as gifts by ladies ; the tales of
Boccaccio, the jests of Poggio Bracciolini, the adultery of
Euryalus and Lucrece, the wars and loves of Tristan and
Lancelot, and the like, by reading of which women are
made familiar with wickedness, are greedily read even by
girls. Whoever is most deeply read in such works, can
quote fragments of them, and talk about them fluently
and often with her wooers, comes to be called a true lady
of the court. I wonder, then, that our discreet and very
witty censors, who make often so great a tragedy out of
a trifle, not merely suppress their objection to such
writings, but also read, translate, expound, and occupy
themselves about them, even though they may be bishops,
chief maintainers of religion, like that Bishop of Angou-
leme, who has turned Ovid's amatory letters into French.
Such priests of their mysteries have our court ladies, of
whom, since they have never learnt from good authors,
and have not a morsel of right training, how can I expect
that they will like such a work as this of mine, so utterly
at odds with their established ways? Nevertheless, boldly
offer to them these little books" (separate copies, it would
seem, one for the Princess, one for the queen-mother),
" nor think that your Agrippa, whose name some read
Mgns Pedibus, lame-footed, is so gouty that he cannot
126 COBNELIUS AGEIPPA.
place foot against foot in combat with those wise court
censors. I am not yet so destitute of the arms of honest
study, that I cannot both defend this writing and con-
found its adversaries. A most happy farewell to you.
From Lyons, May 1, 1526."
There is not a syllable too much of emphasis in this
letter, in the tone of which we find, not only the purity
of soul which marks the whole life of Agrippa, but a
little also of the voice of a man whose heart is with the
Swiss Reformers.
The treatise upon Marriage, written in Latin, had been
also translated into French 1 ; and during this month of
May we find its author very busy in dispersing copies of
it, and defending it among his friends. One is sent to a
friend Conrad at Chambery, with a request for Ptolemy's
Cosmography, which Conrad had been promising to lend
him. Martin the painter, however, had the Ptolemy 2 ,
had borrowed it eight months before, and there was a
question whether it would ever be returned. " I never
break my promises," says Conrad, " so I will get you a
new copy. In the mean time, rheumatism tortures me to
madness. Can you tell me of a remedy 3 ?" "By no
means get me a new Ptolemy," Cornelius replies; " I can
wait very well for Martin," And he sends an enclosure
of elaborate prescriptions, capping them with a secret and
sure remedy that must be told to no one else. And all
this time Cornelius is reduced even to bare want, by the
1 Ep. 4, Lib. iv. p. 833. 2 Ep. 5, Lib. iv. p. 834.
* Ep. 11, Lib. iv. pp. 839, 840.
SALARY UNPAID. 127
impossibility of getting the first instalment of his promised
salary from Martin of Troye?, the treasurer 1 . Since the
Queen left for the frontier, he tells Chapelain, every good
thing he had has flown out of his Pandora's box, except
his hope, and that has its wings almost full-grown. Cha-
pelain is attached to the Queen's suite, and he must see
what can be done ; " Go to her," says Agrippa, laughing
over his distress, "fasten upon her, '^seize her, ask her,
conjure her, compel her, torment her: add prayers, en-
treaties, complaints, sighs, tears, and whatever else there
is by which people are stirred." He himself writes a letter
to her by that messenger, and asks his friend to take care
that his letter, of which he sends a copy to him, is not left
unread. Above all, he wants treasurer Barguyn to be
made to send a letter to his subaltern, Martin of Troyes,
and command the payment of Agrippa's salary that he is
holding back. If not paid, he shall become one letter
more than medicus, which sorry joke being interpreted,
means that he must become mendicus, a beggar.
But still hope, fast as her wings were growing, kept
them folded. Cornelius maintained a cheerful spirit, and
was somewhat assisted in the effort by the small distrac-
tion that arose from the objections to his declamation upon
Marriage. To Michael d'Arandia 2 , the recently appointed
Bishop of St. Paul-Trois-Chateaux, in Dauphine, he sent
an explanation upon two points, chiefly urged against him
by the theological objectors to his essay. They were
1 Ep. 6, Lib. iv. pp. 834, 835 ; and for what follows.
2 Ep. 7, Lib. iv. pp. 835, 836.
128 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
trifling, and need not be dwelt upon. At about this time
also there seem to have been persons about the court
who wished to be amused or edified by his skill in occult
study, and had asked him for some astrological predictions.
He accordingly sent Chapelain a calculation of the stars
duly made out, with a double interpretation, so that he
might let the courtiers see how he could profit by their
folly. " Why," he asked in this letter 1 , " do we trouble
ourselves to know whether man's life and fortune depend
on the stars ? To God, who made them and the heavens,
and who cannot err, neither do wrong, may we not leave
these things, content, since we are men, to attain what
is within our compass, that is to say, human knowledge ?
But since we are also Christians and believe in Christ, let
us trust to God our Father hours and moments which are
in His hand. And if these things depend not on the
stars, astrologers, indeed, run a vain course. But the race
of man, so timorous, is readier to hear fables of ghosts and
believe in things that are not, than in things that are.
Therefore, too eager in their blindness, they hurry to learn
secrets of the future, and that which is least possible (as
the return of the deluge) they believe the most; so, also,
what is least likely they believe most readily of the astrolo-
gers, as that the destinies of things are to be changed by
planning from the judgments of astrology a faith that,
beyond doubt, serves to keep those practitioners from
hunger."
All this shows into what form Agrippa's mind has
1 Ep. 8, Lib. iv. pp. 837, 838.
SALARY UNPAID. 129
ripened. It was two years since King Francis, when he
went to relieve Marseilles, besieged by Bourbon at the
outset of the war, promised the pension, of which, except
a gift for travelling expenses, not a coin had been received.
The King went into captivity. The captain charged by
the King with the execution of his will was dead; but
there were others, as the Seneschal of Lyons (godfather
to one of Agrippa's children), witnesses to his command.
Attached to the queen-mother as physician, he was look-
ing in vain to her for his salary ; but she had destroyed
his means by charging him to stay at Lyons, without fix-
ing himself in a home there, until she was ready to deter-
mine on his future 1 . He and his household had begun to
look absolute hunger in the face, and still they were kept
quiet by promises. " Barguyn the treasurer," wrote Chape-
lain, on the seventeenth of May 3 , " has been absent till now,
and promises to make Martin of Troyes pay you your salary
in Lyons. Her highness does not deny that she will some
day do what you desire, but she is making a long matter
of it." Nine days afterwards he reports that he has given
to the Queen letters from Agrippa, but that he can get
no definite reply. "I know by my own experience,"
he adds 3 , " how difficult that is, for I have wanted one
thing from her for many years, and have not received it,
and almost despair of getting it, though I have had not
unfrequently her promise. We are treating about peace
with an uncertain issue. Thanks for the prognostications.
1 Ep. 9, Lib. iv. p. 838, for the preceding facts.
* Ep. 10, Lib. iv. p. 839. 3 Ep. 12, Lib. iv. p. 840.
VOL. II. K
130 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
I gave one to our friend Barguyn. To-morrow I depart
for Paris, and thence go to St. Germain." At length, with
the June weather, there came a letter that seemed to
report promises more definite than usual. It was from the
Bishop of St. Paul Trois-Chateaux, Michael d'Arandia 1 ,
reporting the issue of a conversation he had just been
having with the King, in which Agrippa's case was repre-
sented. Francis spoke of the unlucky scholar more kindly
than ever, promising that he should have the money due
to him and more to boot. Moreover, said the bishop,
"M. Chapelain has written by the order of the queen-
mother herself to the treasurer, who now is at Lyons,
commanding him to pay your salary/'
Hope flutters her wings and does not think of flying.
Dread of hunger vanishes, and the threadbare philosopher
can look with a new satisfaction on his wife, and on his
annually expanding family of children. What can he do
to express his thankfulness to the good bishop, who has
been so fortunate in intercession? He must send some
little gift; and, looking through the heap of his own
writings in his study, he selects a little paper proper to be
dedicated to a Christian priest, and sends it to him, with
some modest words, in a most grateful letter 3 .
The brief essay dedicated to the bishop was Agrippa's
" Dehortation from Gentile Theology." Brief as it is 3 ,
1 Ep. 14, Lib. iv. p. 841.
* Ep. 15, Lib. iv. p. 841.
3 H. C. A. Dehortatio <Gentilis Theologice, ad amicos allguos quondam pero-
rate. It occupies only nine pages (sig. foL H ii.-Hvi.) in the Opuscula,
ed. Mense Sept 1532.
DEHORTATION FROM GENTILE THEOLOGY. 131
there is a depth of meaning in it, for it marks distinctly
what had been the influence of recent lessons on its
author's life. A year or two before this time, probably
while he was at Cologne, before his settlement in Switzer-
land, some young friends of Agrippa who believed in him,
had asked him to give them a lecture on the subject
which they understood he had expounded with so much
success at Pisa, the " Pimander," or book on the divine
nature, of Hermes Trismegistus. Instead of complying
with their desire, he wrote for them and read to them this
Dehortation, against the mistake of looking for a know-
ledge of God to the wise heathens, when there were
the Scriptures to be searched. Out of the depth of his
desire for a revived study of the Gospel in its purity, he
urged them earnestly to betake themselves to faithful
study of the Scriptures. " Is it," he asked, " because
there is not a God in Israel, that ye send to inquire of
Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron ?" What virtue is there
and virtue there is in Hermes, Plato, Plotinus,
JEmilius, lamblichus, Proclus, that is not better taught
by the Apostles, the Evangelists, the Lord himself?
Why go to those worthies before we have gone to Him
who is the truth and the way? We need for the study of
divine things a pure, free mind, not infected by corrupt
doctrines, which root ignorance so firmly in the name of
knowledge, that it cannot be uprooted ; and we think we
know, and we declare that to be catholicity and truth,
which after all is heresy and error. " But when your mind
is once established in sound doctrine, then by the light of
K2
132 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
it you are free to wander safely through the gloom of
error, you may freely penetrate all depths of study. Then,
if you enter, like Ulysses, the cave of the Cyclops, and
descend even to hell, you return scathless ; if you drink
the cup of Circe you will not be changed : if you steer
your way by Scylla you will not be swallowed in the
gulf ; if you listen to the Sirens you will not be laid to
sleep, but will be as the Apostle declares, of all men judg-
ing, judged by none. The doctrines of the heathen then
will be of the greatest aid to you, and by their help you
may ascend to the loftiest theology." That is the whole
purport of this Dehortation, that young men should
go for wisdom to the Scriptures, search them with free
minds, and obey the teaching of the Gospel, as the only
basis of a sound philosophy.
STILL CHASING FLIES. 133
CHAPTER VII.
LABOUR AND SORROW.
CHAPELAIN had in many letters told Agrippa that
his cares were ended, that his salary was to be paid. The
Bishop of Bazas, in Guienne, had written that by his in-
tercession all was settled. The Seneschal of Lyons had
sent to his friend the same good news, and the Baron
Laurentin (godfather to another of the children) had sent
comfort also from the court. " By this hope," Agrippa
wrote, in the middle of June, " I have been highly de-
lighted, but to this moment not a speck of money has
been seen. Martin of Troyes says that nothing has been
written to him by Barguyn, so that my affair has not
come to my net, but is still in its web among the spiders.
I have let all my good birds escape, and am compelled
to chase the flies 1 ." Two more weeks passed over the
afflicted household of the scholar, not the only man whose
fine spirit was fretted with the knowledge of what hell it
is in suing long to bide : at the end of that time Cornelius
! Ep. 16, Lib. iv. p. 843.
134 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
again attacked Martin of Troyes, who told him then
that he had received orders from Barguyn for the pay-
ment of various moneys, but that there was no mention in
the letter of Cornelius Agrippa 1 . He wrote immediately
to the Bishop of Bazas, telling him how he was forced to
lose good days that might be better spent, and how, if his
salary was still withheld from him, penned up in Lyons,
now unable to stir through poverty, he must altogether
perish. Could the King procure for him a portion of his
promised income, anything with which to meet the pre-
sent need 2 ? A few days after this letter was written, a
brief note came to Cornelius from the King's doctor,
Chapelain, telling him that Treasurer Barguyn had
commissioned one Antony Bullion of Lyons to pay the
money that was owing 3 . To which note the reply is
very touching 4 :
11 Your letter, written on the twenty-ninth of June, my
dearest Chapelain, I received on the seventh of July, and
learn from it that our friend Barguyn has referred the pay-
ment of my salary to one Antony Bullion, of Lyons. If
Barguyn wished me well, as you write that he does, and de-
sired my money to be paid to me, he would not have re-
ferred me to that Antony whom he knew to be absent from
here, but either to Martin of Troyes, as was before arranged,
or to some other, either resident here or passing through
the town. On the day that I received your letter I went
with M. Aimar de Beaujolois, a judge, a polished man,
1 Ep. 20, Lib. iv. p. 846. Ep. 22, Lib. iv. p. 847.
Ep. 23, Lib. iv. p. 848. * Ep. 25, Lib. iv. pp. 848, 850.
AT THE DOORS OF THE TREASURERS. 135
and one of my best friends here, and had some trouble in
meeting with Thomas Bullion, the brother of that Antony ;
he did not altogether deny that he had orders to pay me,
but said he was ordered to pay in these words : if he found
that he could, if there remained any money with him.
At last he said he would refer again to his instructions,
and that I should have an answer from him the next
morning. On the next day, therefore, when we anxiously
called many times upon the man, he, hiding at home,
feigned absence, until at a late hour of the night we de-
parted, having made a very close acquaintance with his
door. On the next day, however, the before-mentioned
judge meets him, questions him on my behalf, and presses
him ; he replies that he will come over shortly to my
house and settle with me about the stipend; and, with
that falsehood, securing an escape, in the same hour he
mounted his horse and rode away, as it is said, to join the
court. You see how we are played with ! Think of
me, fought against on every side by sorrows by griefs,
indeed, greater and more incessant than I care to write.
There is no friend here to help me ; all comfort me with
empty words; and the court title, which should have
brought me honour and profit, aggravates my hurt, by
adding against me envy to contempt." He goes on to
repeat how he was led by false promises into his false
position at Lyons, and how he was taught to feed on
hope, to pine with fear and sorrow. " Held in suspense,"
he says, " by this continual hope, to this hour no mes-
senger has told me whether to remain at this place or quit
136 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
it: here, therefore, I live with my large family as a pil-
grim in a caravansary, and that in the most expensive of
all towns, under a load of charges, subject to no little loss.
You write that the Queen will some day comply with my
request; but that she is always slow slow also in your
affairs. What if in the mean time I perish? Truly, so
slow a fortune cannot save me, mighty goddess as she is.
Perhaps you will say I should propitiate her with some
sacrifice a ram, or a bull, and those of the fattest that
her wings may grow, and she may fly to me the faster;
but so extreme is my want of everything, that I could not
find her a cake or a pinch of frankincense." He entreats,
therefore, his friend at court to conquer for him those
obstacles with the Queen, that he, who has placed all his
hope in her, who has left all other means of living at her
bidding and the King's, may not be reduced to the last
limit of despair. " For believe me," he adds, " my affairs
and my temper so incline, that if you cannot win for me
a speedy help I shall be following some evil counsel,
since there is good fortune to be had out of ill doing."
In the middle of July this was written. Still the weary
days of cross and care followed each other; on the eighth
of August a new doubt arose. Martin of Troyes had pro-
fessed himself Agrippa's friend, and had himself written
in several letters to Barguyn for instructions on the subject
of the salary; with the answers to each of these letters
came a reply on every point contained in them but one :
the subject of Agrippa was passed over without a word.
The cry of his heart now is, " Would that I could be per-
FORTY YEARS OLD. 137
mitted to despair 1 !" Yet at this very time his services
are being used by the queen-mother, and he has been
putting aside at her command his private labours for a
most annoying task, out of the performance of which
added trouble is to come.
Forty years old is Agrippa now ; conscious of strength,
subservient to no man, but the centre of his own small
circle in the great community of scholars. He has reached
the age when commonly the form of a man's mind or of
his fortune becomes definite, and, roughly speaking, re-
presents the spirit of his whole career. With meaner
aspirations in his soul, he perhaps would have mounted
higher on the path to fame and honour which he had a
right to seek, and sought with honest industry. His mind
had grown in stature and in power, but it had grown to
knowledge that procured him enemies among the priests.
While Louisa of Savoy and her son Francis were becom-
ing known as persecutors, and obedient to such influence
as flowed from the Sorbonne, we cannot be surprised at
the neglect suffered by Cornelius Agrippa. His corre-
spondence with his friends at court was sometimes inter-
cepted 2 . His scorn of the corrupt dealings of the worldly
class of priests the class most able to thwart him in the
world was not concealed; it broke out in his books, his
letters, and his conversation.
Especial utterance it found in a book of ambitious size
and more ambitious aim, to the writing of which he had
betaken himself at the beginning of his cares in Lyons.
1 Ep. 30, Lib. iv. p. 854. - Ep. 30 and 31, Lib. ir. pp. 854-855.
138 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
While busy with the pen he could keep all his cares at
bay; and that he was so busied, and intensely busied, that
his brain was at work upon more labours than one, and
chiefly upon one, a book written in these his later days of
disappointment about which the second half of his life
appears to gather, as the first half of it gathered round the
cruder books of occult science, written in his early days of
hope it is proper here to indicate. He did not utterly
consume this portion of his life in beating at the doors of
obdurate sub-treasurers and treasurers. Out of his own
treasury of thought during all these miserable months
the coin flowed with more than customary freedom.
Even in the manner of his letters we see how the wit is
being spurred by trouble, how an active brain does its sad
battle with an aching heart.
Among Agrippa's correspondents, during the two months
of trouble among treasurers that have been last accounted
for, was a Dominican, Peter Lavindus, who had made his
acquaintance while delivering the Quadragesimal discourse
at Lyons, and after his return to his own monastery was
afflicted with some worldly trouble or perplexity, in which
he was most anxious to determine rightly on his future
course. Impressed by the reputation for occult knowledge
that Agrippa had, this friar sent a messenger with a mys-
terious letter, begging earnestly of Cornelius that he would
on his behalf consult the stars 1 . " Judicial astrology," he
was told in reply, " is nothing more than the fallacious
guess of superstitious men, who have founded a science on
1 Ep. 17, Lib. iv. p. 843.
HIS OPINION OF ASTROLOGY. 139
uncertain things and are deceived by it: so think nearly
all the wise ; as such it is ridiculed by some most noble
philosophers; Christian theologians reject it, and it is con-
demned by sacred councils of the Church. Yet you,
whose office it is to dissuade others from these vanities,
oppressed, or rather blinded by. I know not what distress
of mind, flee to this as to a sacred augur, and as if
there were no God in Israel, that you send to inquire
of the god of Ekron." Having thus spoken his mind
faithfully and privately, as " a Christian bound to support
his neighbour in the faith," he says, " Lest you think me
but denying you, and by a subterfuge avoiding trouble
for a friend, I will do all that you ask me, to the best of
my ability, having thus warned you first not to put more
faith in these judgments than befits a Christian 1 ."
Another of Agrippa's cares during this time was to
attend at the death -bed of a physician of Dijon who had
become his friend, to announce his loss in gentle words,
and take .thought for his widow and his children 2 .
Another incident in his life during these months was
his meeting in the streets of Lyons with an old friend,
Christopher, from Metz, and a glad rushing to him, in
the hope of a despatch from Brennon ; but the thought-
less Christopher had come away without asking for
1 Ep. 19, Lib. iv. pp. 844, 845.
2 Ep. 18, Lib. iv. p. 843. It is headed Amicus ad Agrippam, but should
be Agrippa ad Amicum. As it stands, it gives Cornelius charge, as nearest
friend, of the widow and children of a physician of Dijon, who fell sick
and died at Lyons after an illness of some days ; Agrippa knowing nothing
of it until all was over, and then being informed in a consolatory letter.
140 CORNELIUS AQRIPPA.
errands. The sight of him, however, soon produced a
letter from Agrippa to his friend, with whom he had for
two years been without means of communicating. By
diligent inquiry there was found a travelling trader whose
affairs carried him sometimes through Metz as well as
Lyons; through him, therefore, Cornelius told, hiding
his sorrows, what he was expecting; asked Brennon for
letters, which were to be addressed to the Baron Claudius
Laurentin, commended himself to his old friends by name,
and " to the ears of Jacob, the librarian, for I am told that
on account of Lutheranism, he has left nothing of himself
but them at Metz." The letter also contains this passage :
" I commend to you the funeral rites of my late dear wife,
buried in your church, that no duty relating to her be
omitted : but that as I disposed and founded, all be exe-
cuted and completely carried out ; and that I beseech of
you again and again, by the memory of all the hours you
spent with her and me, and as the sacred bond of our
perpetual friendship 1 ."
Brennon replies to this : " The obsequies of your wife,
on the anniversary of her death, we celebrate as you de-
sired ; that is to say, on the day before the anniversary,
the vigils for the dead, but on the next a solemn mass.
Also we announce on the preceding Sunday, that during
the week there will be these services." Of Metz gossip
he sends, of course, a fit supply, in two letters written
to his friend, on successive days 2 . The Steganography
of Trithemius and Agrippa's manuscript of his own
1 Ep. 20, Lib. iv. pp. 845, 846. * Ep. 26 and 27, Lib. iv. pp. 850-852.
THE OBSEQUIES OF HIS FIKST WIFE. 141
Geomancy, in an oblong book, Cornelius had not lost,
but left behind him in the hurry of his leaving Metz.
They shall be duly forwarded. Tyrius the clockmaker
(he who was seeking the philosopher's stone) is always
prepared for great things, but he is often drunk. Car-
boneus is going soon to Cologne, and will bring news
back of Agrippa's parents. Thus we find that his mother
was still living; and if the plural be no error of Brennon's,
she had married again, as was quite possible.
A young physician, now four-and-twenty years of age,
had been among the youths who heard Cornelius at Pavia,
and being in Metz, had recommended himself by praise of
Agrippa to the good priest Brennon. This youth, John
Paul, having the world before him, offered to walk to
Lyons, taking Brennon's letters and the books the Ste-
ganography and Geomancy ; at Lyons, since the town
was large, Cornelius a kindly man and a court physician,
he hoped, with Agrippa's influence, to begin rising in the
world, if not as a physician, yet perhaps by being recom-
mended to the post of tutor to a nobleman 1 . The young
doctor marched as long as money lasted, and broke down
at Langres, when he had achieved about a hundred and
twenty of the two hundred and sixty or seventy miles he
had proposed to walk. At Langres he contrived to live
in decent esteem upon the reputation of the brother, who
was a court physician, to whom he said he was travelling,
and who would send him some money, and he contrived
1 This incident is from Brennon's Letters and three others, 28, 33, and
38, of the Fourth Book.
142 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
to send, by a person travelling from Langres to Lyons,
a letter to Agrippa, telling his misfortunes, begging that
he would not injure him by repudiating the fraternity he
had been claiming, when at his wit's end, and asking for
the loan of two gold crowns to carry him on with the
books he made much talk about the books to Lyons.
Out of his wretched means, Cornelius squeezed the two
gold crowns, and sent them, through a druggist of
Langres, to whom he told his young friend that he
might apply for them if they were wanted, but he as-
sured him that it was not in the least worth his while
to travel any farther. He was quite as likely to make a
practice or to find friends at Langres as at Lyons ; he had
better, therefore, wait and try his fortune where he was.
As for the books, they could be sent quite safely through
the druggist. The young doctor replied that he had
never found so much use and comfort in his life from
thirty crowns as from those two, which he hoped he might
live to repay. That he would be advised and stay at
Langres, though he feared he wanted two main requisites
for success as a physician, age and pomposity.
Such incidents of life, and energetic progress with the
book to which allusion has been made, varied the days
and weeks and months of weary waiting upon princes'
favour, of sad watching of a wife's pale cheek, and anxious
thought about the future of a little family of children.
One noticeable topic more arose. The friend to whom
he had sent prescriptions for the gout, and who had
crossed the Alps before they reached him, had a neigh-
HIS PICTURE OF A MONK. 143
hour who had been changing his profession. He had left
the Law and gone into the Church. " I want to know,"
Agrippa wrote to his friend, during those anxious months
" I want to know about our Achilles, how he is fitted
with the cowl and wooden shoes, and all their family of
disguises ? whether, as before, he has admirably perfected
himself in the art of pleading, having the laws ready to
support every opinion ; able to cast, recast, bend and twist
them into the same shape with his own gloss, and even
contest oath against oath ? Is he as quick now in the
brother trade, or cowl trade, that is, the trade of syco-
phancy ? Is he skilled in feigned sanctimony and the
way of stealing by an impudent mendicity? With
rubbing of the forehead and importunate hypocrisy, can
he rake money in from every side, minding that he does
not take hold of it with naked hands ? Does he think
no gain disgraceful made in the market-place, the choir,
the church, the schools, courts, palaces, councils, festive
assemblies, taverns, barbers' shops, public and private ga-
therings, confessions and disputes; from the benches, the
chairs, the pulpits ; in scattering among the people, by an
impudent craft, trumpery indulgences, selling good actions,
measuring out ceremonies ; tearing from merchants, usurers,
and grasping nobles their ill-gotten prey ? Can he chouse
of their money the fat citizens, unlearned people, super-
stitious crones ; attract weak little women, and, after the
way of the Serpent, tempt them to the ruin of the men ?
Can he, in fine, meddle with everything? join in unlaw-
ful marriage, adjust quarrels, reform nuns, doing all for
144 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
his own profit ? If he has mastered all this, and much
more than can be written in a hurried letter, he will
never regret having been changed from an advocate into
a brother. If not, he had better go Kopa<as y or rather
to the galleys 1 ."
" Through the royal promises," Agrippa wrote again to
Chapelain, early in August, " I am turned like Ixion on a
wheel, haunted by all the furies. I am almost losing
human senses, and become good for nothing : wherefore
I am the apter perhaps for prophecy, which some think
comes best from mad people, as if the loss of human wit
meant the acquisition of divine, and what the wise man
cannot foresee, the fool can." Thus he wrote, under the
annoyance of a command from the queen-mother, that he
should consult the stars for her upon the future issue of the
contest with the Emperor and Bourbon. Having lost, as
he said, all but honour at Pavia, and been carried prisoner
to Madrid, King Francis had just obtained his freedom
by the force of vows and promises, which he was now
making up his mind to break. Having lost all but
honour, he was sacrificing that to regain everything else.
His mother, bigoted and superstitious, wished to know
the issue of their policy by help of the stars, and issued
orders for a horoscope to her servant Cornelius Agrippa.
i{ I am in the right way," he said, " to become a prophet,
and obey my mistress ; I wish I may predict her some-
thing pleasant, but what pleasant prophecies are you to
1 Ep.'32, Lib. iv. pp. 855, 856. See also De Incert. et Van. Scientiarum,
cap. Iv.
A HOROSCOPE FOR THE QUEEN-MOTHER. 145
get out of the furies and Hecate ? All the mad prophets
of antiquity foresaw nothing but murder, slaughter, war,
and havoc, and I know not how mad people can foresee
other than the works of madmen. I fear, then, that I
shall prophesy in this way, unless some good Apollo,
chasing off the furies, visit me with his light in beams of
gold. But I will mount the tripod, prophesy, or guess,
and send the result ere long to the Princess, using those
astrological superstitions by which the Queen shows her-
self so greedy to be helped using them, as you know,
unwillingly, and compelled by her violent prayers. I
have written, however, to the Seneschal that he should
admonish her no longer to abuse my talent by condemning
it to such unworthy craft, nor force me any more to
stumble through this idle work, when I am able to be
helpful to her with more profitable studies 1 ."
He did write that request to his well-meaning but
clumsy friend, the Seneschal of Lyons; and the good
Seneschal, instead of following the hint by dropping here
and there a fit remark to modify the lady's notion of the
sort of service for which her physician was most fit, placed
in her hands Agrippa's letter 2 .
On the twenty-fifth of August, Cornelius had found rea-
son to fear that other letters of his had been seen. Doctor
Chapelain had for some time sent him no replies, and it
appeared, at length, that he had been at Orleans, while his
letters were sent to the court. Of course there had been
a good deal of plain-speaking in them on the subject of
1 Ep. 29, Lib. iv. pp. 853, 854. Ep. 40, Lib. iv. p. 860.
VOL. II. L
146 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
Barguyn and Bullion, and it was to be hoped that they
had not fallen among thieves. At that date he wrote,
also 1 , " I have just completed those revolutions, according
to the superstition of astrology, which the Princess so
eagerly desired ; but as you are absent from the court, I
know not to whose hand to commit them, unless the
Princess herself name some person. I know not whether
she will. I have caused her to be admonished by our
Seneschal, if he receives my letters."
A few days afterwards Chapelain was at the court, and
found what mischief had been done. The queen-mother
herself sent for him, and told him that the Seneschal
of Lyons had shown her a letter from Agrippa, which
suggested that she made improper use of judicial as-
trology, and was led by a vain hope and superstitious
faith ; whereat she felt a little hurt. Agrippa was to be
told to set himself at rest about the astrological predic-
tions ; that she held him in high esteem without them 3 .
It was rumoured, Chapelain also wrote, that they were to
go to Lyons he hoped so, and that Cornelius would
have an opportunity of saying something about Chris-
tianity before the King. It was all right as to his salary.
Antony Bullion had promised to write to his brother that
it was to be paid directly. Two men, with views upon
Church matters like Agrippa' s, Nicolas Cop and the old
Faber Stapulensis, who were both then with Margaret of
Valois, desired to have Cornelius saluted in their name.
More days elapsed, and then there came two letters
1 Ep. 36, Lib. iy. p. 858. 2 Ep. 37, Lib. iv. p. 859.
RESENTS BEING USED AS AX ASTROLOGER. 147
from Chenonceaux; one short one from the Bishop of
Bazas 1 , simply exhorting the unhappy waiter upon royal
leisure to believe what Chapelain had written in the other.
Chapelain wrote 2 that he believed Barguyn and Bullion to
be Agrippa's friends ; that it was an unlucky mistake of
the Seneschal's to show Agrippa's letter to the Queen
Louisa, since it had compelled all his friends to be silent
before her. That he must by all means send his astrolo-
gical calculation to her highness, and without delay, act-
ing as if in entire ignorance of what had happened. That
to avoid suspicion, he had better direct it to be presented
by the Seneschal, and that the Queen having received it,
would communicate it to the court, upon which there
would arise occasion to assist the absent doctor with
legitimate apology.
Cornelius, to the most important clause in this letter,
could only reply 3 , " I repeat, that I am in a marvellous
way defrauded by that M. Bullion. You know that I
have not received the letters which you say you forwarded
to me through him, and that his brother denies ever having
letters or commissions from him. Unless you procure pay-
ment for me through Martin of Troyes, I am doomed to
receive nothing. Farewell, and be happy. From Lyons,
September 11, 1526. Greetings to you from my dearest
wife, who labours under a double tertian fever; and I
have some fear lest, through the distress of mind she
suffers, it may pass into a quartan. Of this most knavish
1 Ep. 39, Lib. iv. p. 860. 2 Ep. 40, Lib. iv. p. 860.
3 Ep. 41, Lib. iv. p. 861.
L2
148 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
sport those treasurers are authors: may all gods and
goddesses confound them ! But again and again I say,
may you be happy."
Four days afterwards, Thomas Bullion, met in the
street, went so far as to confess 1 that he had been in-
structed to pay to Cornelius what money he received;
but he denied the receipt of instructions from his brother
to make payment forthwith. Agrippa still begged that
he might get his salary through Martin of Troyes. " I
do not trust the Bullions, but if they pay me, I shall be
appeased : if not, I must still be importunate with letters,
whereof you perhaps are weary, and which they despise ;
I in the mean time shall hunger. Greet for me Cop,
and Faber. My wife greets you ; she continues ill."
It is hard to realise the weary misery of the position to
which learned and high-spirited men were reduced when
they were promised means of living by a prince not active
to see that the promise was fulfilled, and so were left to
haunt the doors of underlings, and to be treated with dis-
dain by knaves. But here we have the whole tale told.
On the sixteenth of September 2 , Agrippa had found that
his correspondence with the court was continually being
intercepted. " After the receipt of your last letter," he
wrote, "I persecuted that brother of Bullion for four
days, and got nothing but mystification. I am grieved
and vexed to batter your head daily with these most
annoying letters, and to give you so much trouble, while
those thievish treasurers do but laugh at us both : yet I
1 Ep. 42, Lib. iv. p. 861. 2 Ep. 43, Lib. iv. p. 862.
A SICK WIFE A BOOK. 149
hope that their iniquity will not have so much power as
to cloud with the smallest doubt our mutual good- will. . .
My wife greets you, but she is in a weakly state, being
with child: and truly had not fortune added it, this one
thing might have been wanting to the heap of my dis-
tresses."
In another letter, written on the same day 1 , he enclosed
the astrological prediction, and expressed delight at get-
ting rid of it. " As to your counsel, that I should say
something upon Christianity to the most Christian king,
that requires no little consideration, and must be pon-
dered maturely: whether it be better to translate other
men's works, or offer one's own thoughts, I am still un-
certain : it is most honest to fight with one's own
weapons, safer far to hide behind another person's shield ;
but safest to be silent. For at this day, as you perceive,
Christian truth can be cultivated in no more secure way
than by stupor and silence, lest by chance we be seized
by the inquisitors of heretic preachers, and by those men
of the Sorbonne, most learned Scribes and Pharisees, ac-
cording to the law, not of Moses, not of Christ either, but
of Aristotle : so we may be forced to recant through fear
of fagot. I have been Avriting in these last days a volume
of some size, which I have entitled ( On the Uncertainty
and Vanity of Sciences, and on the Excellence of the
"Word of God.' If ever you see it, I think you will
praise the plan, admire the treatment, and consider it not
unworthy of his majesty: but I do not mean to dedicate
1 Ep. 44, Lib. iv. pp. 862, 863.
150 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
it to that king, for the work has found one who is most
desirous to become its patron, and most worthy so to be.
But I am writing now on Pyromachy, and not so much
writing as experimenting, and I have now at my house
buildings and models of machines of war, invented by me,
and constructed at no little cost; they are both useful and
deadly, such as (I know) this age has not yet seen. . . .
And still you do not know all, my Chapelain, that lies
hidden under the cloak of your Agrippa."
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 151
CHAPTER VIII.
DESCRIBING ONE HALF OF AGRIPPA's BOOK UPON THE "VANITY OF
SCIENCES AND ARTS."
THE motto placed by Agrippa on the title-page of his
book upon the "Vanity of Sciences and Arts 1 " Nihil
scire felicissima vita : Ignorance is Bliss points out the
spirit of its satire. He dedicates the work to an Italian
1 Splendidce Nobilitatis Viri et armatas militice Equitis Aurati, ac utriusque
Juris Doctoris, Sacra Casaretz Majestatls a consiliis et archivis Inditiari,
Henrici Cornelii Agrippce ab Nettesheym, De Incertitudine et Vanitate Sden-
tiarum et Artium, atque Excelkntia Verbi Dei Declamatio. Nunc denuo re-
cognita : et Scholiis Marginariis illustrata. Nihil scire felicissima vita.
Anno MDXXXII. Mense Septembri, Colonise, 12mo, pp. 351. From this
copy, which is the third published edition and the most perfect, I take the
sketch in the text, and to it reference is made in the succeeding notes.
Subsequent reprints were mutilated by the censorship. In sketching the
contents of the volume I have had also before me one of the English trans-
lations, of which several were made in the same and the succeeding century,
and have made some use of the old translator's language. But as he was
by no means conscientious in behaviour to his text, and especially was apt
to put his own Protestantism into his author's mouth, he has needed much
correction. The view given in the text represents, I believe accurately,
from the biographer's point of view, the spirit of Agrippa's satire, and is
expressed very much in his own words ; typical sentences being so chosen
to stand for chapters as to present, to the best of the narrator's power,
not a long skeleton of the contents of the book, but a full representation
of its spirit and its meaning as a portion of its author's life.
152 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
friend, Augustine Furnario, citizen of Genoa, and in
his dedication calls it a cynical Declamation; says that
he writes as a dog; and that in his next book on fire-
weapons, pyrography, he shall appear as a dragon, after
which he will return to his old shape of philosopher.
If we bear in mind the disappointments and distresses
in the midst of which this bitter jest was written, and the
life also that prepared the author for his work, we shall
know perfectly well its meaning. The bigotry of school-
men who would test all knowledge, even all religion, by
what they could find in a few Latin and Greek books,
was a heavy drag upon all independent aspiration. It in-
fected the Church : it followed with its hue-and-cry every
one who sought to explore new regions of art and science.
There were brave and strong men in those days, who
battled with it, and broke loose from it. Cornelius
Agrippa, half emancipated, in this book turned fiercely
upon those who watched the prison door. You tie down
free inquiry, it is meant to say, you chain our spirits to
the ground ; you claim to have all wisdom when you
know what has been written about your sciences and
arts. But you are wrong. There is as much vanity as
sense in all your wisdom, and beyond it lies an undis-
covered world in God's Word and His works. Hear me
cry, Out upon your knowledge ! You who claim to be the
fountain-heads of wisdom, are not so wise as you account
yourselves. I can say more, you shall find, in praise of
an ass than of any one of you. The fountain-head of
wisdom is the Word of God, and it shall pour its fertilis-
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 153
ing stream over a philosophy less barren than yours.
" They will all run me down," he says, in a preface to the
reader, and conjures up a pleasant vision of himself, with
the followers of every art and science clamouring against
him, every pack with its own cry. " The obstinate
theosophists," he says, in his climax, " will cry me down
for heresy, or compel me to bow down to their own idols.
Our scornful magistrates will demand of me a recantation,
and I shall be proscribed under the great seals of the
world-supporting men of the Sorbonne; but I write this
because I see men puffed up with human knowledge con-
temning the study of the Scriptures, and giving more
heed to the maxims of philosophers than to the laws of
God. Moreover," he adds, "we find that a most de-
testable custom has invaded all or most schools of learn-
ing, to swear their disciples never to contradict Aristotle,
Boethius, Thomas Aquinas, or whoever else may be their
scholastic god, from whom, if there be any that differ so
much as a nail's breadth, him they proclaim a scandalous
heretic, a criminal against the holy sciences, fit only to be
consumed in fire and flames." He urges, accordingly, his
apology, if he should seem to speak too bitterly against
some sciences and their professors, " How impious a piece
of tyranny it is to make captive the wits of students to
fixed authors, and to deprive their disciples of the liberty
of searching after and following the truth ! "
The work contains no other subdivision than that into
chapters, of which there are one hundred and two. It
admits, however, of a not unnatural division into two
154 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
main parts : the first fifty-one chapters comprehend a re-
view of the Sciences ; the other fifty-one, having discussed
the nature of man, speak of his Arts, and lead up to the
desired conclusions. Dividing the book in this manner,
therefore, I describe it in two chapters of the present
narrative.
Of the Sciences in general 1 , Agrippa says that all of
them are evil as well as good, and that they bring us no
divine advantage, beyond that which was promised of
old by the Serpent, when he said, Ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil. They have nothing of good in
them or truth but what they borrow from the possessors
or inventors of them, for if they light upon any evil person
they are hurtful, and there is nothing more ominous than
art and science guarded with impiety. If they light upon
a person not so much evil as foolish, there is nothing so
insolent or dogmatical; but if good and just men be the
possessors of knowledge, then Arts and Sciences may be-
come useful to the commonwealth, though they make
their possessors none the happier. True happiness con-
sists not in the knowledge of good things, but in good
life ; not in understanding, but in living understandingly.
Neither is it great learning, but good- will that joins men
to God. Furthermore, all sciences are but the opinions
and decrees of private men, as well those that are of use
as those that are hurtful, being never perfect, but full of
error and uncertainty; and that this is evident we shall
1 De Incert. Van. Sci. et Art. Cap. i. pp. 1-8.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 155
make appear, by taking a survey and making a particular
inspection into every particular science.
He then begins his survey by entering at the wicket of
the Sciences, the first elements of Letters 1 , and shows how
there is no agreement among men as to their number or
form, and how they have gone through so many vicissi-
tudes that there is no language able to claim possession of
the alphabet as it was first given to man. Then he goes
on to the art of well speaking, called Grammar 2 , founded
upon rules that only are considered right because they
are established. But he asks, are they established ? How
many toil and labour day and night! scribbling con-
tinually all sorts of commentaries, forms of elegance, or
phrases, questions, annotations, animadversions, observa-
tions, castigations, centuries, miscellanies, antiquities,
paradoxes, collections, additions, lucubrations, editions
upon editions. And yet not one of them all, whether
Greek or Roman, has distinguished among parts of speech,
or settled the order to be observed in their construction;
or assured us whether there be fifteen pronouns, as Priscian
believes, or whether more, as Diomedes and Phocas will
have it; whether gerunds are nouns or verbs; why among
the Greeks nouns plural of the neuter gender are joined
with a verb of the singular number ; why many write such
Latin words as felix, questio, with a Greek diphthong,
others not; whether H be a letter or not, and many other
trifles of the same nature: so that not only as to words
1 Cap. ii. pp. 8-11. 2 Cap. iii. pp. 11-19.
156 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
and syllables, but also in the very elements and founda-
tions of grammar itself, no reason can be alleged to end
the continual warfare. The divines and holy friars, too,
mixing themselves with the tribe of grammarians, over-
turn the Scriptures for the grammar's sake; which puts
us in mind of the story of the priest who, having many
hosts at one elevation, for fear of committing himself in
his grammar, cried out, " These are my bodies !" More-
over, though it be apparent to the world that there is no
faith to be put in these grammarians, there never was an
author of so sublime a wit as to have escaped their mali-
cious slanders. Neither is there any man that ever wrote
in Latin whom Laurentius Valla, the most learned of all
the grammarians, hath spared in his anger; and yet him
hath Mancinelli most cruelly butchered.
But what of the Poets, who have preserved and pickled
up the bestialities of the gods in neat verse and metre,
communicating the same to posterity, as mad dogs venom ?
They weave their fictions with an art often destructive of
the truth of history. Rightly did Democritus call Poesy 1
not an Art but a Madness. Therefore Plato said, that he
never knocked at a poet's doors being in his wits. Yet,
in the midst of their trifles, poets, with a boldness like
that of the Lycian frogs, promise themselves, and others
through them, lasting remembrance in the world. No
very great fame or reward is that. Neither is it the office
of a poet, but of a historian, to prolong the life of reputa-
tion. .
1 Cap. iv. pp. 19-23.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 157
What then of History 1 ? Historians are at such vari-
ance among themselves, delivering several tales of the
same story, that it is impossible but that most of them
must be the greatest liars in the world. Agrippa fills a
pleasant chapter with accounts of the Uncertainties and
Vanities of the historians, in the number of whom Ephorus
is to be reckoned, who related that there was but one city
in Ireland; as also Stephen the Grecian, who said that the
Franks were a people of Italy, and that Vienna was a city
of Galilee. There are other historians more to be con-
demned for their untruth than this, "who having been
present at scenes, yet will, through favour or affection, in
flattery of their own party, deliver to posterity falsity for
truth, writing not what the thing is, but what they desire
it should have been. Many, again, write histories, not so
much for truth's sake as, like Xenophon in writing his
account of Cyrus, to delight the reader and set forth some
idea of a king which they have framed to their own
fancy.
In Rhetoric 2 great is the question even as to what its
purpose is, whether to persuade men or to teach good
utterance. There is a maze of theses, hypotheses, figures,
proems, insinuations, and so forth; yet it is denied that
among these the end of rhetoric is to be found. There
was Corax, a rhetorician among the Syracusans, a man of
shrewd wit, who taught his art for gain. To him came
Ctesias as a pupil, having no money, but promising double
pay as soon as he was perfect. When Corax had taught
1 Cap. v. pp. 24-30. 2 Cap. vi. pp. 30-36.
158 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
him, he asked, meaning to defraud his teacher, What is
Rhetoric? and was answered, It is effectual persuasion.
Then, said Ctesias, if I persuade myself I owe thee nothing
I am quit effectually of my debt. If I cannot persuade
myself, I shall then also owe thee nothing, because I have
not been perfected in my art. To which Corax replied,
Whatever I was to be paid, if I can persuade myself to
take it, I must have. If I cannot persuade myself to
take it, you should give it me, for having bred a scholar
that excels his master. When the Syracusans heard this
talk, they cried outj Bad crows lay bad eggs. JEschylus
writes that composed orations are the greatest evils in the
world. A confident eloquence defending bad causes pre-
vails over justice, therefore the Romans for a long time
would not receive rhetoricians in their town; and the
Spartans exiled Ctesiphon because he bragged that he
could talk a whole day upon any subject. There are
men so affected with the charms of eloquence, that, rather
than not be Ciceronian, they will turn Pagan ; but they
are vain babblers, who will have account to render of their
idle speech.
Dialectics 1 they call the art of Reasoning ; but, says
Agrippa, our dialecticians don't succeed in making things
so clear that they may not be asked why they should not
as well call Man a Man, as Animal Rationale, or Mortal
Rational Creature. Cornelius, having described some of
their niceties, says, these are the nets and these the hounds
with which they hunt the truth of all things, natural or
supernatural ; but, according to the proverb of Clodius
1 Cap. vii. pp. 36-39.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 159
and Varro, they never fall upon their game by reason of
the noise they make in brawling with each other.
But the late schools of sophistry 1 , Agrippa says in his
next chapter the eighth have produced worse, por-
tentous things : Infinites, Comparatives, Superlatives, In-
cipits and Definites, Formalities, Hsecceities, Instances,
Amplifications, Restrictions, Districtions, Intentions, Sup-
positions, Appellations, Obligations, Consequences, Indis-
solubles, Exponibles, Replications, Exclusives, Instances,
Cases, Particularisations, Supposits, Mediates, Immediates,
Completes, Incompletes, Complexes, Incomplexes, with
many more vain and intolerable barbarisms. In this study
our sophisters are so stupidly employed that their whole
business seems to be to learn to err. These are they who,
as Quintilian says, are extraordinarily subtle in disputing ;
but take them from their impertinent cavilling, and they
can no longer endure the blows of a right reason ; like
little bugs that, secure in chinks and crevices, easily are
trodden upon in the plain field. I deny not the use of
such science in scholastic exercises, but I cannot apprehend
how it may assist or uphold theological contemplation,
whose chief logic consists in prayer.
The art of Raymond Lully 2 is the subject of the next
chapter ; and as he has written, he says, a commentary on
it, he dismisses it with a few words, simply warning men
that its use is to display learning and wit, not to in-
crease it.
The Commentary here referred to has not yet been
1 Cap. viii. pp. 40-43. 2 Cap. ix. pp. 43, 44.
160 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
mentioned in the narrative, its exact place in it being un-
certain. It is included among Agrippa's works, and pre-
sents simply, at some length, a sketch of one of Lully's
works, the Ars Brevis 1 . This is a technical system for
the due fitting of knowledge to the memory, by a right
use in reference either to simple or complex objects of
study, of propositions, definitions, arguments, and exhaus-
tive questions ; the application, in fact, of a short and
good logical process to the art of study. A commentary
upon this system has, therefore, not much biographical sig-
nificance. Not a few clever men, including Faber Sta-
pulensis, were employing Lully's system in their studies.
Men who began their studies late, made, it was said, a
surprising progress by its help. Cornelius Agrippa was
among the learned men who used it. He had learnt it
from one of three young Germans, Andrew, Peter, and
James Canter, by whom it was taught in many lands ;
and, having digested it afresh in his own mind, he repro-
duced it in the shape of a Commentary, and dedicated
his work to the Reverend and Noble John Laurentin
of Lyons, Preceptor of St. Antony's at Rivolta. There
is no date to the dedication, and the friendship with
Laurentin, who had helped in sending him to Metz, and
who is now at Lyons, runs over so many years that his
name is no clue to the date of dedication. Enough that
1 H. C. A. In Artem Brevem Raymondi Lullii Commentaria. Opera,
Tom. ii. pp. 331-436. Lully was a man who lived a wise wild life in the
thirteenth century.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 161
a rather full account of this method of study was at this
time among the number of Agrippa's writings.
From his brief chapter on the Art of Lully, the satirist
passes, in the tenth chapter of his Vanity of Sciences, to
the Mnemonic Art 1 technical memory. This art, when
Simonides or somebody else offered it to Themistocles, he
refused, saying he had more need of forgetfulness than
memory ; for, said he, I remember what I would not, but
I cannot forget what I would. After all, a great memory
is but a childish thing to display, for it is shame and dis-
grace to make a show of great reading after the manner of
those who parade all their wares outside their doors, and
have an empty house within.
Of Mathematical Sciences 3 , which treat of figure, num-
ber, and motion (though there was never any figure yet
found perfectly round), the first is Arithmetic 3 , mother of
all the rest, and only valued among merchants for the mean
benefit of keeping their accounts. Geomancy 4 is a vain
branch of arithmetic, related to astrology. " I myself,"
Agrippa says, " have written a Geomancy" [a lost work,
to which we have had previous allusions], " far different
from the rest, though not less superstitious and fallacious,
or, if you will, I may say equally lying." Arithmetical
science has another offspring in the Art of Dicing 5 ,
whereof Chance is the father. This dicing is now-a-(
1 De Incert. el Van. Sri. et Art. Cap. x. pp. 44, 45.
2 Cap. xi. pp. 45, 46. 3 Cap. xii. p. 46. 4 Cap. xiii. p. 46.
5 Cap. xiv. p. 47.
VOL. II. M
162 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
a game in the utmost request, even among kings and
nobles. How do I say, a game ? Yea, the sole wisdom
of men Avickedly bred up to cheat and cozen. Then there
is, also, the Pythagorean Lot 1 , by which fortunes are told
from numbers got out of the letters of a name. But to
return to Arithmetic 2 : it yields such idle and uncertain
labour, that among arithmeticians has arisen that irrecon-
cilable dispute, Whether an even or odd number be
most to be preferred ; which is the most perfect number
between three, six, and ten ; and whether any number
may be properly said to be evenly even, in which matter
of great consequence they say that Euclid, the prince
of geometricians, very much erred. Some account the
numerical inventions of Pythagoras among the sacra-
ments, and the arithmeticians think themselves as gods
because they are adepts in numeration; but the musicians
regard harmony as more divine.
Of Music 3 , which Aristoxenes called the soul of men,
Agrippa then describes the scales and measures, of which
the Doric was preferred by the Tuscans, as being more
grave, honest, and every way modest, than the Phrygian
or Lydian. So Agamemnon, going to the Trojan war,
left behind him at home a Doric musician, to the end
that he might, by his grave spondaic songs, sustain the
virtue of his wife ; and thus it was impossible for Mgis-
thus to disturb the faithfulness of Clytemnestra, until he
had first murdered the said musician. Yet is .the com-
1 Cap. xv. pp. 47, 48. 2 Cap. xvi. pp. 48, 49.
3 Cap. xvii. pp. 49-54.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 163
mon opinion verified by much experience, that music is
an art professed only by men of ill-regulated dispositions,
who neither know when to begin nor when to leave off;
as is reported of Archabius the piper, to whom they were
wont to give more money to leave off than to continue
playing. Music hath been always a vagrant, wandering
up and down after its hire. Athanasius, by reason of its
vanity, exiles it from the Church. True it is that St.
Ambrose, delighting more in pomp and ceremony, in-
stituted the use of singing and playing in churches ; but
St. Augustine, in the mean between them both, makes a
great doubt of the lawfulness thereof in his Confessions.
Dancing 1 belongs also to the science of numbers, and,
were it not set off with music, would appear the greatest
vanity of vanities. Yet, as the worst things have their
extollers, some of the Greeks have deduced the origin of
dancing from the heavens themselves, comparing the steps
of dances to the motions of the stars, that seem in their
harmonious order to move by a kind of dance, which
they began as soon as the world was created. Others
say it was an invention of the Satyrs. Socrates, judged
by the Oracle to be wisest of the men then living, was
not ashamed to learn to dance when he was far stricken
in years ; and not only so, but highly extolled the same
art, reckoning it among the most serious parts of educa-
tion. Nevertheless, this art attends always upon im-
moderate feasts, and is a part of wantonness. Also, when
the children of Israel had erected themselves a calf in the
1 Cap. xviii. pp. 55-57.
M
164 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
wilderness, they sacrificed thereto, eating and drinking,
and afterwards, rising up to play, they fell to singing
and dancing. Infamous certainly is gladiatory dancing 1 ;
neither is pantomimic dancing 2 , which has been com-
pared with eloquence, worthy of honour, and indeed all
sorts of dancing are not only to be dispraised but utterly
abominated, seeing they teach nothing but a wonderful
mystery how to run mad. The similar art of Rhetorical
Gesticulation 3 is now, Agrippa says, quite laid aside, ex-
cept it be among some acting friars, whom you shall see
with a strange labour of the voice making a thousand
faces, looking with their eyes like men distracted, throw-
ing their arms about, dancing with their feet, lasciviously
shaking their loins, with a thousand several sorts of
writhings, wrestings, turnings this way and that way of
the whole body, proclaiming in their pulpits their frothy
declamations to the people.
Geometry 4 is the science next akin to Arithmetic, of
which such is the uncertainty, that no man could ever
find out the right squaring of the circle, or the line truly
equal to the side. Akin to this is the science of Optics,
or the Perspective Art 5 , by which we come to Painting 6 ,
which is mute poetry, as poetry is a speaking picture ; and
to Statuary and Engraving 7 , arts invented by those who
first introduced idolatry, the ministers of pride, and lust,
and superstition. "But that pictures and statues are
1 Cap. xix. pp. 57, 58. 2 Cap. xx. p. 58. 3 Cap. xxi. p. 59.
4 Cap. xxii. pp. 59-61. 5 Cap. xxiii. pp. 61-63.
Cap. xxiv. pp. 63, 64. 1 Cap. xxy. pp. 64-66
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 165
authorities not to be scorned I learned once upon a time
in Italy, for between the Austin friars and the regular
canons there arose a great debate before the Pope about
the dress of St. Augustine, that is to say, whether he
wore a black stole over a white tunic, or a white stole
over a black tunic, and finding nothing in Scripture that
gave light toward the determination of the question, the
Roman judges thought best to refer the matter to the
painters and sculptors, resolving to be guided by what
they should declare they had seen in ancient pictures and
statues. Encouraged by this example, I myself, labour-
ing with indefatigable diligence to trace the origin of the
monk's cowl, since I could find nothing about it in the
Scriptures, at length I betook myself to the painters,
seeking the truth of the matter in the porches of halls .
belonging to the brethren, where the histories of the Old
and New Testament are generally painted. But seeing
that I could not find in all the Old Testament any one of
the patriarchs, or of the priests or prophets, or of the
Levites, or Elijah himself, whom the Carmelites take for
their patron, wearing a cowl, I looked througJi the New
Testament pictures, when I saw Zacharias, Simeon, John
the Baptist, Joseph, our Lord, and his apostles and dis-
ciples; scribes, Pharisees, chief priests, Annas, Caiaphas,
Herod, Pilate, and many others, but never saw one cowl
among them all. Beginning again at the beginning, and
examining them all figure by figure, presently, in the
very front of a scene, I found the Devil himself with a
cowl on, as he stood tempting Christ in the wilderness.
166 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
I was very glad to have found among the pictures what
I had before failed to find in writing, namely, that the
devil was the first inventor of cowls, from whom I sup-
pose the other monks and brothers borrowed it, unless
perchance he may have bequeathed it to them as his
heirs."
Returning then to optics, or the use of Reflectors and
Perspective-glasses 1 (refractors), the experiments thereof,
he says, are daily seen in glasses of various kinds, hollow,
convex, plane, orbicular, angular, pyramidal, and so forth.
They have their impostures, representing things that are
below as being above us, or surrounding them with rain-
bow colours. I myself have learnt to make glasses wherein
while the sun shines you may discern for the distance of
three or four miles together, whatever places are en-
lightened or overspread with his beams. However, he
adds, they are vain and useless things, invented only for
ostentation and idle pleasure.
So may the toy of one age come to be the precious trea-
sure of another. The first telescope was not made till the
beginning of the seventeenth century. Cornelius was,
with other men, upon the traces of a great discovery, but
had probably advanced towards it no farther than many
of his learned neighbours.
Cosmimetry 3 is divided into cosmography and geo-
graphy : both measure the world ; one by a system drawn
from the heavenly bodies, the other by furlongs and miles ;
and by division into mountains, woods, rivers, towns,
1 Cap. xxvi. pp. 66, 67. 2 Cap. xxvii. pp. 67-70.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 167
nations, and so forth. But what authors shall instruct us
in this art? manifold being the contentions about bounda-
ries, distances, longitudes, latitudes, climates, characters
of countries! Neither are the masters of this science
agreed about the middle, or navel, of the earth, which
Ptolemy places under the equinoctial circle, and Strabo
believes to be the mountain Parnassus in Greece; with
whom Plutarch and Lactantius the grammarian agree,
and believe that in the time of the deluge it was the only
mark left between sky and water. Other theories Agrippa
gives, and then falls upon the disputes of geographers con-
cerning the Antipodes.
Architecture 1 is a good and honest art, except that it
so much seizes the minds of men, for there is scarcely one
to be found who, if his wealth will permit him, does not
wholly employ himself in rebuilding, or adding to that
which is done already well and decently. Vanity was the os-
tentatious architecture of the Labyrinth, the Pyramids, the
Sphynx. Vain was the architect who proposed out of Mount
Athos to cut an effigy of Alexander that should contain a
city of ten thousand inhabitants within the hollow of its
hand. " Vain," he says, " are the great churches erected
in our days, with most lofty towers and spires, vast heaps
of stone, rising to an incomparable and prodigious height;
together with innumerable steeples for bells, erected at a
vast expense of money, drained under the pretence of
charity and pious use, which had been better spent in the re-
lief of thousands of the poor, who, being the true temples of
1 Cap. xxviii. pp. 70-72.
168 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
God, fall through hunger, thirst, pain, sickness, want;
while they might, and should be, more properly erected
and supported by help of those sacred alms." Death, too,
is brought by this knowledge of architecture among men,
not only by means of the deadly engines it constructs on
land, but by means of the ships which it fits out to mul-
tiply the perils of the sea.
Mining 1 is allied to architecture. It were to be wished
that men would aspire as eagerly to heaven as they descend
into the bowels of the earth, allured by veins of riches that
will not content their souls.
We, turning our thoughts now heavenward, pass to the
science of Astronomy 3 , and find the men who talk about
the stars, as if they had conversed with them in heaven,
and were but newly come out of their company, having
among themselves the most dissentient opinions even con-
cerning those things by which they say all things are kept
up and subsist. Of course, the diversities of doctrine
among the astronomers find a long chapter for Cornelius,
though he will say little of such questions as the conten-
tion as to which is the right and which is the left side of
heaven. All the twelve signs, with the northern and
southern constellations, got into the sky by help of
fables, and by these fables the astrologers grow fat, while
the race of poets that invented them is left to die of
hunger. Judicial astrology 3 is next discussed and de-
nounced, as we have seen in his letters how Cornelius de-
1 -Cap. xxix. pp. 72-74. 2 Cap. xxx. pp. 74-80.
3 Cap. xxxi. pp. 80-90.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 169
nounces it. Yet, he says, these fortune-tellers do find
entertainment among princes and magistrates, from whom
they receive considerable salaries; whereas there is, indeed,
no sort of men more pernicious to a commonwealth. For
their skill, it lies in the fitting of ambiguous predictions to
events when they have happened; and so it is that a man
who lives by lying shall by one chance truth obtain more
credit than he loses by a hundred manifest delusions.
These men have attributed to Mars the cause and neces-
sity of the Lord's death ; yea, they do affirm that he made
choice of his hours to work his miracles, and spoke as an
astrologer in saying that his hour was not yet come; also,
that by knowledge of the stars he was enabled to ride into
Jerusalem at times when he knew that the Jews could
have no power to hurt him. In this chapter the thirty-
first of his work Agrippa cites the twelve books against
Astrologers, written by Giovanni Pico di Mirandola, and
declares his assent to all their arguments. In a like spirit
he denounces arts of Divination 1 , points out that there is
idleness in Physiognomy 2 , in Metoposcopy 3 , and Chei-
romancy 4 , foster-children of astrology. He turns again to
Geomancy 5 , to remark upon its astrological connexions;
declares Augury 6 to be a practice depending only on con-
jecture, grounded partly upon the influences of the stars,
partly taken from parabolical similitudes, than which there
is nothing more deceitful. Speculatory divination 7 he
1 Cap. xxxii. p. 90. 2 Cap. xxxiii. pp. 90, 91.
3 Cap. xxxiv. p. 91. " Cap. xxxv. pp. 91, 92. 5 Cap. xxxvi. p. 93.
6 Cap. xxxvii. pp. 93, 94. 7 Cap. xxxviii. p. 94.
170 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
dismisses in a line or two, as being notoriously false. The
treatises that have been written on the interpretation of
Dreams 1 are mere dreams concerning dreams. As for the
foreknowledge of the Mad 2 , it is not to be credited that
what the wise and waking know not, mad folks and
dreamers should see; as if God were nearer at hand to
them than to the vigilant, watchful, intelligent, and those
that are full of premeditation.
The circle of the sciences turns next to Magic 3 , which is
allied closely with astrology. Natural magic 4 is the force
above human reason which is the active principle in
nature, and the practice of it is the art of producing with
open act the hidden and concealed powers of nature, as if
any one should cause parsley to spring from the seed into
a perfect plant in a few hours. Mathematical magic 5 pro-
duces wonderful inventions by help of mathematical learn-
ing and celestial influences, such as the wooden dove of
Archytas, which flew. It produces contrivances neither
partaking of truth nor divinity, but certain imitations in
some way akin thereto.
Of the sort of natural magic which is called Witchcraft 6 ,
Cornelius speaks next, as one not doubting that the
browsing of Nebuchadnezzar, the incantations of the witch
of Endor, and the deeds of Pharaoh's magicians, were so
many scriptural authorities for a belief in the deeds said
to be done by witchcraft. " It is manifest, however," he
1 Cap. xxxix. pp. 94-96. 2 Cap. xl. pp. 96, 97.
- 3 Cap. xli. pp. 97, 98. Cap. xlii. pp. 98-100.
5 Cap. xliii. pp. 100, 101. 6 Cap. xliv. pp. 101-103.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 171
concludes, " that this natural magic, inclining toward con-
juring and necromancy, is often entangled in the snares
and delusions of bad spirits."
Of Conjuring and Necromancy 1 , which are to be ab-
horred as detestable arts, he teaches that, unless there were
something of reality in them, and that many mischievous
and wicked things were accomplished thereby, both
divine and human laws had not so strictly provided for
the punishment thereof, and ordered them to be extir-
pated from the earth. Among the practisers of wicked
arts are the necromancers, who gave to the ancient fathers
good cause to ordain that bodies of the dead should be
buried in consecrated ground, assisted with lights,
sprinkled with holy water, and prayed for so long as they
were aboveground. For the Serpent, prince of this
world, eats the dust, which is our carnal body, so long as
it remains unsanctified ; and something to this purpose, it
was thought, was the great dispute (which St. Jude men-
tions in his epistle) of Michael with Satan about the body
of Moses.
Theurgy 2 , or divine magic, is the search for communion
with good angels by the purification of the soul; it is not
evil, rightly understood ; but is a pernicious superstition to
the foolish.
In the next chapter, which is upon the Cabala 3 , Agrippa
shows that he has again outgrown the enthusiasm of his
youth, and that there died out a great part of one of his
1 Cap. xlv. pp. 103-106. 2 Cap. xlvi. pp. 106, 107.
s Cap. xlvii. pp. 107-112.
172 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
own favourite vanities, while there increased within him
the severe and simple faith of the Reformer. He does not
say that there is no Cabala, but discourages the search for
it. " As for my part," he writes, " I do not doubt but
that God revealed many things to Moses and the prophets
which were contained under covert of the words of the law,
and not to be communicated to the vulgar : so I own that
this art, of which the Jews boast their possession, and which
I at one time investigated with great labour and pains, is
a mere rhapsody of superstition, allied to theurgic magic.
For if, as the Jews contend, coming from God, it did in
any way conduce to perfection of life, the salvation of
men, true understanding, certainly that Spirit of Truth
which, having forsaken the synagogue, is now come to
teach us all, would not have concealed it from the Church,
to which there is no name given under heaven by which
man can be saved, but only the name of Jesus. Where-
fore the Jews, although most skilful in divine names, after
the coming of Christ, were unable to do what had been
done by their forefathers. The Cabala of the Jews, there-
fore, is now only a vain delusion, by which men extract
their vain inventions from the oracles of God, and, feed-
ing upon empty speculations, lose the Word of Truth.
Coming to the subject of Magical Illusions 1 in his next
chapter his forty-eighth Agrippa speaks of magic, and
says of another of his trains of youthful speculation, " It
is true that, being young, I wrote three books .of magic
1 Cap. xlviii. pp. 112-115.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 173
myself, in a considerable volume, which I entitled l Of
Occult Philosophy,' in which what errors soever I then
committed through the curiosity of youth now grown
more wary I do publicly recant; for I vainly wasted
much of my time and means upon these vanities. This
advantage I got, that I know now by what arguments to
exhort others against following the same way to ruin."
Natural Philosophy 1 staggers constantly upon unsound
and slippery opinions, and finds nothing at all fixed to
hold. As to the very Origin of Things 2 , Agrippa shows
how great is the uncertainty of knowledge, and in the next
shows how philosophers have argued opposite opinions
respecting the Plurality of Worlds, and the world's con-
tinuance 3 . Empedocles said there was one world, but that
it was a small particle only of the universe. Metrodorus, a
disciple of Democritus, and afterwards* Epicurus, said
that there were innumerable worlds, because the causes of
them were innumerable ; neither was it less absurd to
think that there should be one world in the universe,
than to imagine one ear of corn in a whole field.
1 Cap. xlix. pp. 115, 116. 2 Cap. 1. pp. 116, 117.
3 Cap. li. pp. 117, 118.
4 I correct here a trifling slip of Agrippa's memory. He calls Metro-
dorus a disciple of Democritus and Epicurus.
174 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
CHAPTER IX.
IN WHICH IS COMPLETED THE DESCRIPTION OF AGRIPPA's BOOK UPON THE
VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS.
HALF the number of chapters into which Agrippa's
satire is divided have been now described. They may be
summed up as having treated, first, of the means of know-
ledge, letters, language, and the arts of speech and study ;
then of the group of sciences dependent on the primary
idea of number, with some arts arising out of them ; next
of the science of Nature displayed in the heavens, with
the arts of astrology, augury, and the like therewith con-
nected ; and, lastly, of the science of Nature in the study
of the powers of things upon earth, and of the studies
therewith most immediately connected. Supplementary
to this view of the universe was the chapter upon the
Plurality of Worlds.
Cornelius now turns to man, and begins with the study
of his Soul 1 , showing at some length how vain and un-
certain are the opinions of the books concerning it. Thus
of its seat, he says, Hippocrates and Hierophilus place it
1 Cap. liL pp. 118-126.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 175
in the fibres or ventricles of the brain ; Democritus, in
the whole region of the temples ; Erasistratus, in the
cranial membrane ; Strabo, in the space between the eye-
brows ; Epicurus gives it room in the whole breast ;
Diogenes, in the arterial ventricle of the heart ; the Stoics,
with Chrysippus, in the whole heart, and in the spirits that
surround the heart ; Empedocles places it in the blood, to
which opinion Moses seems to incline ; Plato and Aristotle,
and the more noble sects of philosophers, place the soul in
the whole body ; Galen is of opinion that every part of
the body has its particular soul. As to its nature, as to
the fact or manner of its continuance, the mode of its
propagation, there are equal dissensions among the philo-
sophers, and through them it has come to pass that there
are so many absurd contests upon the origin of the soul
among our Christian divines. Some believe that soul
begets soul, as body, body; against whose heresy St.
Jerome fiercely combats. Others are of opinion that souls
are created daily by God, which opinion is that of Thomas
Aquinas. Moreover, concerning souls, some have ven-
tured to write many things about the apparitions of de-
parted souls, which often are repugnant to the doctrine of
the Gospel. " I do not absolutely deny that there are holy
apparitions, admonitions, revelations from the dead, but I
admonish caution, knowing how easy a thing it is for
Satan to transform himself into the semblance of an angel
of light. T^iere is nothing in any such visions of solid
truth or secret wisdom tending to the growth of the soul ;
they only persuade people to alms, pilgrimages, prayers, and
176 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
such works of piety, to which they are persuaded by the
Scriptures themselves with far better reason and authority."
As to the study of mind, or of things having no
visible existence, which study is Metaphysics 1 : this philo-
sophy is full of the vainest speculations, and by it is all
theology adulterated. Moral philosophy 3 is not taught
with more certainty by the philosophers ; for as it is the
discipline of manners, it is found to vary as the manners
of those with whom the lot of the philosopher is cast.
What was once called a vice is to be called now a virtue ;
what is here a virtue is a vice in the adjoining land. For
character is various as clime. "Who," says Agrippa,
" that beholds a man strutting like a cock, with the bear-
ing of a prize-fighter, an unruly look, an ox voice, austere
discourse, fierce behaviour, a dress unfastened or torn,
does not at once judge him to be a German ? Do we not
know the French by a well-ordered gait, mild gestures,
bland aspect, fair-sounding voice, facile discourse, modest
behaviour, and loose dress? We know Spaniards by
their holiday step and behaviour, the high lifting of the
countenance, the plaintive voice, the choice speech, and
the exquisite attire. But we see the Italians rather slow
of pace, in gesture grave, in countenance unsettled, low-
voiced, captious in talk, magnificent in behaviour, and
having a well-ordered attire. We know, also, that in sing-
ing the Italians bleat, the Spaniards howl, the Germans
hoot, and the French trill. In speech the Italians are
grave but crafty, the Spaniards polished but vain-glorious,
i Cap. liv. pp. 126-129. - Cap. liv. pp. 129-137.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 177
the French ready but proud, the Germans hard but
simple. In counsel the Italian is provident, the Spa-
niard astute, the Frenchman inconsiderate, the German
useful. Over food the Italian is clean, the Spaniard choice,
the Frenchman a free eater, the German clumsy. To-
wards strangers the Italians are obliging, Spaniards placid,
Frenchmen gentle, Germans boorish and inhospitable. In
dialogue Italians are prudent, Spaniards cautious, French-
men polished, Germans overbearing and intolerable. In
love Italians are jealous, Spaniards impatient, Frenchmen
fickle, Germans ambitious ; but in hate Italians are secret,
Spaniards are pertinacious, Frenchmen are threateners,
Germans avengers. In transacting business Italians are
circumspect, Germans laborious, Spaniards watchful,
Frenchmen anxious!; in war the Italians are stout but
cruel, the Spaniards subtle and thievish, the Germans
truculent and venal, the French high-spirited but rash.
The Italians are distinguished by their literature, the
Spaniards by their navigation, the French by their
courtesy, the Germans by their religion and mechanic
arts." Thus every nation has its way, and tends to its
own notions of a moral code. Agrippa cites some scanda-
lous things out of the morality of Aristotle, and abuses
Aristotle heartily ; for as he is showing the schoolmen the
bad side of their case, it is not improper to point out to
them how lustily their idol Aristotle may be battered
with abuse founded on plenty of authority. Then, again,
how have moralists contended with each other about plea-
sure and pain, and what is to be considered happiness I
VOL. II. N
178 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
St. Augustine puts us in mind of one hundred and eighty
opinions collected by Varro touching this one subject.
Agrippa turns, however, to the teaching of the Gospel,
and ends his chapter on Moral Philosophers by a com-
parison of some of their fine doctrines with those of Him
who preached the Sermon on the Mount.
From morality he turns to Politics 1 and shows how un-
certain and various are the speculations of the learned on
the comparative excellence of monarchies, aristocracies,
and democracies. In stating the case for each, he seems
to show decided preference for the last, but in stating the
case against each, it is of democracy that he shows most
emphatically all the ill. He is unmerciful in judgment
on the evil deeds of kings. Emperors, he says, in a pas-
sage that may be one of the many which he found too
well remembered by the great men with whom lay the
building or destroying of his worldly fortune, "empe-
rors, kings, and princes, that reign now-a-days, think them-
selves born and crowned not for the sake of the people,
not for good of their citizens and commonalty, not to
maintain justice, but to defend their own state and pre-
rogative, governing as if the estates of the people were
committed to them not for protection but as their own
spoil and prey. They use their subjects at their pleasure,
oppress their cities with borrowing, the common people
some with taxes, some with penal statutes, and grow rich
by fines and confiscations, for as the offences of delin-
quents are the strength of tyrants, so does the multitude
Cap. lv. pp. 137-143.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 179
of offences enrich princes. When I was in Italy I had
the honour of familiarity with a powerful prince, whom
when I once advised to suppress the factions of the
Guelphs and Ghibellines within his dominions, he con-
fessed to me ingenuously that, by means of those factions,
above twenty thousand ducats came every year into his
exchequer." Cornelius refers also to mixed governments,
but sums up all with the opinion that for good govern-
ment the essential things are integrity and ability in those
who rule ; for a single person may govern best, so may
a few, so may the people, provided that in each there be
the same intention of unity and justice ; but if the de-
signs of all be evil, then can none rule as they should.
The survey next extends to man's Religion 1 , a sense
rooted in him so deeply by nature, that it marks more
clearly than reason does the distinction between man and
beast. He shows how many antagonist faiths there are
in the world, a great part of it with its philosophers
worshipping Mahomet, while, he adds, among us Christians
various popes, various councils, various bishops, have
prescribed various forms of worship ; differing among
themselves, either touching the manner of the ceremonies,
meats lawful, fasts, vestments, public ornaments, or else
about clerical promotions and tithes. But one thing over-
comes the admiration of wonder itself, to see how these
ambitious men think to climb heaven by the same way
that Lucifer fell from it. In this chapter we learn that
among the matter declaimed by him in the schools of
1 Cap. Ivi. pp. 143-146.
N2
180 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
Cologne, after his return from England and Dean Colet,
the Pomps of the Church were discussed fully.
In this book upon Vanities of course they are not
spared. From the general topic of religion he passes to
an attack upon Images 1 and Image-worship. He who
desires to know God, cries Agrippa, let him search the
Scriptures. And they who cannot read, let them hear
the word of the same Scripture, where St. Paul pro-
nounces that Faith comes by hearing ; and what Christ
in another place saith, My sheep know my voice. He
attacks relic- worship. He does not deny that relics of
the saints are sacred, or that in the presence of them,
when they happen to be genuine, one may approach, as
by help of a sort of pledge, nearer to the saint who is in-
voked. But to avoid falling into idolatry and superstition,
it is better, he urges, to put no faith in things visible, but
seek the saints in spirit and in truth, imploring help from
them through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have no relic
so efficacious as the Sacrament, which is to be found in
every church. But a greedy sacerdotal race, hungry for
gain, not only of wood and stone, but also out of the bones
of the dead and relics of the saints, make instruments of
rapine and extortion. They show the sepulchres of the
saints ; they expose the relics of martyrs, which no man
must so much as touch or kiss except for money ; they
adorn their pictures, set out their festivals with great
pomp and state, advancing the fame of their miracles,
themselves utterly differing in their lives and conversa-
1 Cap. Ivii. pp. 146 151.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 181
tions from the lives and examples of those whom they
praise. These are the men of whom our Saviour spoke
when he cried out, Woe unto you that build the tombs
of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righte-
ous, being like to those that slew them. Then, like to
the heathen, they allot to every divinity its proper charge;
to one, with Neptune, they assign watch over the dangers
of the sea ; to another, they confide Jove's thunder ;
another, they give as a Lucina to the women. The
Temples 1 , too, they dedicate to their saints, as heathens
to their gods. But the Most High dwells not in houses
made with hands. Men themselves, pious and devout
towards God, are His most holy and most acceptable
temples : out Lord sent not his followers into the syna-
gogues to pray, but into their private closets; and he
himself went up into a mountain, where he spent the
night in prayer. Only because of sin, because men could
not worship together in their homes and in their fields
free from ungodly intrusion, places were appointed sepa-
rated from profane business, wherein the divine word
might be preached to the multitude, and the divine
sacraments decently administered. But these have now,
by endowment and enrichment, and by misdirected zeal,
increased so needlessly in number and in wealth, sums so
enormous have been spent upon their superb magnifi-
cence of architecture, that, as I said before, many of
Christ's poor, true temples and images of God, are forced
1 Cap. Iviii. pp. 151-153.
182 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
to suffer hunger, thirst, heat, pain, toil, weakness, want,
and downfal.
There is a vanity in the undue esteem of holidays, as if
it were lawful to be more religious or more ungodly at one
time than at another. To true and perfect Christians
there is no difference of days ; theirs is a continued festival
and rest in God. For the sake of the untrained, the
fathers instituted holy days, that they might obtain leisure
and liberty to hear the word of God, not meaning that the
Church should serve the days, but that the days should
serve the Church. For the sake of this convenient freedom,
rest from labour was enjoined; but after what lewd fashion
is this leisure spent, and what vain controversies have
arisen about sacred days and seasons 1 . Ceremonies 2 , too,
nave obtained undue reverence before a God who de-
mands not to be worshipped with corporal actions, but in
spirit and in truth. God requires of the Christian no in-
cense but that of praise and thanksgiving; the sacrifices
and ceremonies instituted for the Jews by Moses were
allowed to the hardness of their hearts, being the indul-
gence of a small error to recal them from things more
unlawful, directing sacrifice to God and not to devils.
Moses established those laws by the suffrages of the elders
and the people; they passed away, only the law of God
remains, and it was God who spoke by Jeremiah, To what
purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and cin-
namon from a far country? your burnt-offerings are not
acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. It is not to
1 Cap. lix. pp. 153-156. 2 Cap. Ix. pp. 156-159.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 183
be denied that the Apostles, Evangelists, and fathers
decked the Christian Church with decent rites, as a spouse
for the bridegroom; but later statutes and decrees have
added to these out of human weakness. The Christians
are now as much burdened with ceremony as were of old
the Jews; and, what is more to be deplored, although
these ceremonies are neither good nor bad in themselves,
the people puts more faith in them, and observes them
more strictly than the ordinance of God, our bishops
and priests, abbots and monks misleading men concerning
them, and consulting in that way the comfort of their
bellies.
The Magistrates of the Church 1 can possess no power of
ordaining what is right, except by the suggestion of the
Holy Spirit. " Whoever is not called by the spirit to the
great office of the ministry, enters not by the door which
is Christ ; he is a thief and an impostor if he be a minister
of the Most High through favour of men to his worldly
strength, or by the purchase of votes at an election. Yet
such customs now subvert the ancient constitution of the
Church, that many popes and apostles sit in the seat of
Christ, like to the Scribes and Pharisees who once sat in
the seat of Moses. They say and do not, they bind heavy
burdens on the shoulders of the people, and themselves
touch them not with a finger; they are hypocrites. Doing
all their works that they may be seen of men, displaying
their religion on the platforms, they desire first seats in
the choir, in the schools, in the synagogue, and every-
1 Cap. 120. pp. 169-165.
184 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
where in the market-place, and in the squares they look
to be called rabbi and doctor. They close the way to
heaven, and themselves, not entering, keep others out;
they devour widows' houses, making their long prayers;
compass sea and land, seduce and steal young children,
that having made one proselyte they may increase the
number of those lost, as they themselves are through vain
comment and tradition. They neglect souls and the altars
of the public, and with a covetous eye seek after only gold
and gifts; and, minding the more profitable and sinister
parts of the law, are very strict in their decrees touching
tithes, oblations, collections, and alms; tithing fruits,
cattle, money; not sparing, also, things of the smallest
price, as mint, anise, and cumin, for which, barking like
dogs, they contend with the people from the pulpit. Now
the Pope of Rome himself (as the holy Abbot Bernard of
Clairvaux complained) is the most intolerable and burden-
some of all whose pomp and pride never yet any of the
tyrants equalled." Agrippa then sketches some of the his-
torical misdeeds of popes, who feed on the sins of the people,
and are clad, and nourished, and luxuriate upon the same.
The comment is continued in the same vein, ^>ut arrives
at this conclusion, that as all powers that be are good,
being of God, who so provides as to turn all our evil
actions for the best, we ought to obey and not resist those
who are appointed rulers in the Church. It is infidelity
to doubt the Scriptures, and impiety to spurn the priests:
priests are good, a bishop is better, holiest of all is the
most high Pope, and chief of priests, into whose hand are
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS- 185
given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, to whose keep-
ing are committed the secrets of God. In God's name he is
a king, in Christ's name a priest, whom he who honours
God will honour, he who dishonours God will dishonour,
and he shall not escape vengeance. A sentence meant to
be a guard upon the author's life, and to a certain extent
perfectly sincere, but perhaps also by the exaggeration of
sincerity partly connected with the satire.
Of the Monastic Orders 1 we next find Agrippa speak-
ing, in a vein familiar to us, with no great respect for these
ecclesiastical establishments; he says and shows that there
is an abominable rout of sinners crept in among them, and
his honour for the fraternity is expressed by the fact, that
from considering them he passes in his next chapter ex-
pressly calling the transition natural to the arts of prosti-
tutes 2 and panders 3 , in which he speaks with a stern plain-
ness, and in the temper of a Huguenot tells rugged truth
not of monks only, but also of kings and courtiers.
The next chapter is on Beggary 4 . It is incumbent both
on Church and State to take thought for the poor. There-
fore, there are appointed public almshouses, whereof the en-
dowments daily increase through the alms of well-disposed
people. The chapter on beggary soon passes, by way of
impostors, to the mendicant friars, and denounces them
with vigour.
Economy 5 is the next subject, and a large one; economy
is private or public, regal, noble, commercial, and so forth.
1 Cap. Ixii. pp. 165-169. 2 Cap. Ixiii. pp. 169-179.
3 Cap. Ixiv. pp. 179-193. 4 Cap. Ixv. pp. 193-197.
Cap. Ixvi. pp. 198, 199.
186 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
It is not so much an art or science as a doctrine of opinion
and custom, and applies to every craft, even to that which
is most unhappy, the life of the mariner, who in his
perilous sea-prison, ill-faring among filth, is the most
wretched of men, and also the most wicked and desperate.
But of the mechanic arts, the most important are mer-
chandise, tillage, warfare, surgery, and the inferior parts
of law, on all which topics we shall treat in due suc-
cession.
To begin with the fundamental principle which is to be
found in private economy 1 , the chief strength of that con-
sists in matrimony. It is the only condition in which
man may be said to live happily. Therein, if there come
care and labour, as many times crosses will happen and
there is no man's life without misfortune, yet the very
burden becomes light, and the yoke easy. He closes his
eulogy with examples of unhappy marriages, but attri-
butes these in most cases more to the fault of the man
than of the woman. He speaks of trial that may come
through children, and heaps together, from Plautus,
Euripides, and Lucian, proverbs against servants, adding
of these, too, that we do not so often find them enemies
as make them so, while masters carry themselves proudly,
covetously, cruelly, and contumeliously, becoming lords
and tyrants at home, exercising a severity over them, not
as they ought, but as they please.
Economy of kings and courts 2 is then dissected with no
trembling hand. " A court," Agrippa writes, " is nothing
1 Cap. Ixvii. pp. 199-204. 2 Cap. Ixviii. pp. 204, 206.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 187
else than a college of giants, a convent of noble and
famous knaves, a theatre of the worst satellites, a school
of the most corrupt morals, and an asylum for execrable
sins. There pride, arrogance, haughtiness, extortion, lust,
gluttony, envy, malice, treachery, violence, impiety, and
cruelty, with whatever other vices and corruptions there
may be, dwell, rule, and reign. There rape, adultery, and
fornication are the sport of princes and of nobles, and
even kings' mothers are pimps to their sons. There virtue
suffers wreck unspeakable. There the just man is op-
pressed by the unjust, the man of simple mind becomes a
jest, boldness and impudence obtains promotion. There
none prosper but flatterers, whisperers, detractors, de-
nouncers, slanderers, sycophants, liars, reputation-killers,
authors of discord and outrage among the people. What-
ever there is worst in every beast, seems to be brought
together in the single flock of the court fold : there is the
ferocity of the lion, the cruelty of the tiger, the roughness
of the bear, the rashness of the boar, the pride of the
horse, the greed of the wolf, the obstinacy of the mule,
the fraud of the fox, the change fulness of the chameleon,
the dog's bite, the camel's vengefulness, the cowardice of
the hare, the petulance of the goat, the filthiness of the
hog, the fatuity of the ox, the stupidness of the ass, and
the ape's jabber." Agrippa's spirit was in arms, and he
could think only of what he felt while he was writing.
He made his denunciation more complete and stern than
this. " I know," he said, in illustration of one portion of
his argument, " a famous town of France so changed by
188 COKNELIUS AGRIPPA.
the arrival of the court in it, that when it left hardly had
one husband a modest wife hardly was it possible for
one young man to wed a virgin." Fearful, indeed, is
such a description of the French court in those times ; but
it is history, not rhetoric.
Then of the nobles of the court 1 Thrasos in gold,
purple, and plumage Agrippa tells the wicked arts. " As
a class, lecherous and gluttonous, men counting it no dis-
honour to be so prodigal at one meal as to be beholden to
other men's tables for a quarter of a year after, their com-
mon discourse is a mere trifling tittle-tattle of detraction,
giggling, half-truth, falsity, and brag. Some lie about
dogs and hunting, about forest bounds, ways through the
woods, and the result of hunts ; others about horses, or
about the wars and what valiant acts they themselves
performed there. If any one has a mind to thwart the
other, he begins a discourse equally idle, at cross purposes,
to put the other out; which the other not brooking,
proves to be lying, and laughs to scorn : thence the
whole festival is often broken up with quarrels and re-
criminations, and, as in the banquets of the Centaurs,
there is no end to the gifts of Bacchus but in blood.
But the chief art and business of these men is to observe
the times and humours of their prince, seeking their own
opportunities, and flattering whatever passions or desires
they find in him, thus often by their perfidy confirming
him in error. Such councillors," adds Cornelius, "has
at this day Francis the Bang of France, who freely urge
1 Cap. Ixix. pp. 207-209.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 189
him to all perfidy and tyranny against the Emperor, yet
are themselves all the while held to be excellent and
faithful." Here then is a distinct opinion on the memo-
rable act of perjury then under deliberation. While this
chapter was being written by Cornelius, the advisers of
King Francis were encouraging his wish to get rid of the
hard conditions upon which he had bought his escape
from durance at Madrid. His councillors abetted his
resolve to break the sacred oath wherewith his faith
was pledged, so putting out the light of his own
honour while he rekindled the flames of war. We see,
therefore, that while it existed in suggestion only, Cor-
nelius Agrippa spoke of their deed as an act of perfidy.
His detestation of it, had, as we shall find, some influence
upon his subsequent career.
The Commonalty of the Court 1 Agrippa next describes,
and chiefly in the chapter given to them shows by what
arts men of low birth and mean nature rise to wealth and
dignity. First they, for the sake of opportunities afforded,
and without receiving wages, enter as menials the service
of some nobleman, into whose confidence they know how
to insinuate themselves, by watching day and night,
ready at any time to run or ride. Thus they become
secretaries, and from step to step rise by like cunning,
trusting themselves only, loving themselves only, wise
only to themselves.
Neither are the Court Ladies 2 without their vices.
Their elegant forms, hung with jewels and decked out
1 Cap. Ixx. pp. 209-213. 2 Cap. btxi. pp. 213-215.
190 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
with raiment of purple and gold, are such as Lucian fitly
compares to Egyptian temples, beautiful structures painted
delicately, and adorned with costly stones, but if you look
for the god within you shall find there nothing but an
ape, a dog, a goat, or a cat. Of their morality, Cornelius
speaks his whole opinion : " And they have tongues," he
adds, " to which silence is a punishment, yet is their talk
most idle and impertinent, upon ways of arranging,
combing, dyeing their hair, upon the management of their
cheeks, the folds of their dresses, manners of walking,
getting up, and sitting down, what they shall wear, to
whom they must give precedence, how often to bow in
saluting, whom it is right or wrong to kiss, who may ride
on an ass, who on a horse, who on a saddle, who in a
coach, who in a litter, what gold ornaments, gems, corals,
neck-chains, earrings, bracelets, brooches they can wear, and
other idle points in the laws of Semiramis." Many worse
things than these are urged against these dames and damsels.
" Whoso would marry an honest woman," adds the satirist,
" let him not look for her at court. My tongue has spoken
out too freely, nevertheless I have said what it was im-
possible for me not to have said. But I will put my
hand upon my mouth, and say no more about the matter."
He quits the subject of the court, therefore, to speak of
Trade 1 .
The tricks of Trade were a large subject in those days,
and traders travelling from land to land, among the sub-
jects of contending princes, when communication was not
1 Cap. Ixxii. pp. 216-220.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 191
at all open, were to a great extent letter-carriers and
news -carriers, and had it in their power to earn money
as spies. For these causes, for their monopolies, and for
the luxury they stimulated, Agrippa finds that a bad
side of their calling can be shown also to the merchants,
and that they can have Church authority produced against
them, for St. Chrysostom says that a merchant cannot
please God ; and St. Augustine says that it is impossible
for soldiers and merchants truly to repent. Then come
to be discussed the arts of thievish Treasurers 1 , who live
by their fingers, whose fingers are so birdlimed and beset
with an infinity of hooks, that although money can fly
and is as quick at slipping through men's hands as an
eel or serpent, yet it sticks to them if once they touch it,
so that it can by no force be pulled away. These men
delay payments until they are bribed to make them,
counterfeit bonds, open and re-seal letters, and are often
in close league with the alchemists*, who help them to
substitute false money for true, some being also alche-
mists themselves.
Of Agriculture 2 worthy things are said, as of an art
worthy to have given names to noble families, the Beans
and Peas of Rome, the Fabii, the Lentuli, the Ciceros,
and Pisos. Pasturage 3 is named with equal honour,
as the first calling which mankind followed. Thus
Italy itself was named from Vitulus, a calf, which the
ancient Greeks called Italus, as men of reading know.
i Cap. Ixxiii. pp. 220, 221. 2 Cap. Ixxiv. pp. 221, 222.
3 Cap. Ixxv. pp. 222, 223.
192 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
Fishing 1 deserves less praise, for that fish are a hard
food, not grateful to the stomach, nor yet acceptable in
the sacrifices to the gods. Nobody ever heard of a fish
being immolated. Hunting and Fowling 2 , as pastimes,
are to be condemned for cruelty. " We read of no person
in the New Testament who was given to hunting, and
in the Old Testament the mighty hunters mentioned
were bad men. It is a fierce and cruel thing, when the
poor beast, overcome by dogs, has its blood shed, its
bowels torn out, to exult and count the end of pleasure
gained, except that the victim has to be cut up according
to the rules of a polite art of butchery. These exercises,
base and servile in themselves, are come to be so far
esteemed, that now the chief nobility, forsaking liberal
and noble studies, learn these only, and find in them no
small help to preferment. Now-a-days the whole life of
kings and princes, nay, which is a greater grief, the very
religion of bishops, abbots, and chief doctors and masters
of the Church, is consumed in hunting, wherein mainly
they have experience and show their goodness. And
those beasts which are by nature free, and by law belong
to those that can possess them, the tyranny of the nobles
has by its bold interdicts usurped ; husbandmen are driven
from their tillage, their farms and lands are taken from
the rustics, woods and meadows are closed against shep-
herds, that there may be more herbs for the wild game to
feed upon, more dainties for the nobles, by whom only
this game is eaten. If any villager or husbandman but
1 Cap. Ixxvi. p. 223. 2 Cap. Ixxvii. pp. 223-227.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 193
taste of it, lie becomes traitor, and, together with the
beasts, the hunters' prey."
Having spoken in a former chapter briefly and honour-
ably of workers on the soil, he adds now " the Rest about
Agriculture 1 ," namely, the ill that may be spoken of it. It
is the direct produce of the sin of Adam, the visible form
of a Divine curse, the symbol of our loss of happiness, from
which and its attendant arts we nourish our own pride
and luxury ; of which matter Pliny complaining, gives for
instance the seed of hemp, which, being but a little seed,
in a short time produces a large sail, that by the help of
the wind carries a ship all over the world, occasioning
men, as if they had not earth to perish in, to perish
likewise in the sea.
Since soldiers are chosen especially from husbandmen,
as the strong men who are most hardy for fight, we may
pass from agriculture to the Military Art 2 . War is
nothing but a general homicide and robbery by mutual
consent ; of all arts the most uncertain and vain. It is
exercised only to the ruin of many, causing the destruc-
tion of good manners, law, and piety. The rewards
thereof are glory got by the effusion of human blood,
enlargement of dominion, out of greed of rule, obtained
through the damnation of many souls. And truly the.
Italian wars, which in those days covered half Europe
with sin and sorrow, were to be, not only for argument's
sake, but fairly, so described.
1 Cap. Ixxviii. pp. 227-230. 2 Cap. Ixxix. pp. 230-234.
VOL. II.
194 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
War first begot Nobility 1 . To this subject Cornelius
devotes the longest chapter in his satire. It chiefly con-
tains an historical sketch, designed to show that nearly all
technical nobility in this world had a morally ignoble origin.
He feels so strongly on this subject, and thinks it so well
worth demonstrating for the abasement of vanity, that he
has even written a distinct book 2 (one of those which
have not come down to us in print, but, like his book on
Pyromachy, may exist somewhere in manuscript) to show
nobility in its true colours. He has shown, he says, that
there never was, and that there is not any kingdom in
the world, or any great principality, that did not begin
with acts of parricide, treason, perfidy, cruelty, massacre,
and other horrid crimes, arts of nobility. If any man
wishes to be ennobled, first let him be a hunter that is
the first element in the calling ; then a mercenary
soldier, ready to do homicide for pay that is the true
virtue of nobility, which reaches to its height of glory
for him, if he prove himself an able plunderer. Who-
ever cannot do these things, let him buy his patent of
nobility for money, for it is also to be had by paying for
it : or if he cannot do that, let him fasten himself as para-
site upon a king or grandee of the court, let him become
a pander to the palace, let him prostitute his wife or
daughter to his prince, marry a king's cast mistress, or
the daughter of his shame, and that leads to the highest
1 Cap. Ixxx. pp. 234-254.
2 Ego hanc rem, quam Mac summario conceptu tetigi, ampliore volumine
descripsi alibi. . . .Ibid. p. 250.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 195
of nobility, a mingling with the royal blood. These are
the roads, these are the ladders, these are the steps to
dignity.' Agrippa was a nobleman himself, and it was
noble, not ignoble blood, that over all such matters tingled
in his cheeks with scorn. Oppressed by the tyranny of
such men, he says, the Swiss destroyed them all, and
extirpated their whole race out of the country : by which
conspicuous action they earned a name famous for valour,
and with that their liberties, which they have happily
enjoyed now for four hundred years, hatred towards
those nobles still abiding with them. From ancient story
and from Scripture, Cornelius argues that there is a
tyrannicide just in the eyes of God and man. Nature,
he says, finally, bears witness against nobles. Our noble
birds are eagles and others, always birds of prey ; our
noble beasts are lions and tigers, dragons, serpents, things
cruel and venomous. Among plants, those reckoned
noble are not corn, not the fruit-trees, but trees yielding
no fruit, or fruit by which man is not nourished, as the
oak, the laurel. Among stones, we count not marble or
the grindstone noble, which serve men, but diamonds
and jewels, that are useless. Among metals we account
noble the pernicious gold, for which the peoples fight
together at so great a cost of blood.
Heraldry 1 is an art which supplies these noblemen with
fitting emblems. They may not wear on their coats an
ox, a calf, a sheep, a lamb, a capon, or a hen, or any
creature necessary to mankind; but they must all carry
1 De Incert. et Van. Sd. Cap. Ixxxi. pp. 254-259.
02
196 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
for the emblems of their nobility the resemblances of cruel
monsters and birds of prey. Some there are that bear
for their arms, swords, daggers, towers.
From war and nobility let us hasten to Physic 1 , which
is another art of homicide, mechanical, though claiming
the name of a philosophy. Cornelius describes the fac-
tions into which physicians were divided, and which,
although less numerous than those of the philosophers,
raised equal controversy. He shows also, by example,
the uncertainty of their opinions, how many things arc
said about the humours, or digestion ; Asclepiades and
his followers even believing that the meat is not at all
digested, but distributed raw into all parts of the body.
Practice of Physic 2 furnishes matter for a chapter of some
length ; and although Agrippa himself studies to live by
it, he is not for that reason the more merciful towards the
healing art. The pomps and vanities of the physicians, the
way that will bring practice to the man with velvet coat and
rings, with certain shows of religion, addicted to uncom-
promising self-assertion, or the use of Latin sentences and
authors' names, are fair matter for satire ; so too are the sa-
turnine gravity and martial confidence with which a popu-
lar physician sets about his trade. Then there is the way
of tickling solemnly with knick-nacks the palates of the
effeminate; there is the portentous majesty of deportment
towards the apothecary, and the affectation by the doctor
of sometimes ordering a medicine to be made up before
him ; pretending himself to be at the choice of the best
1 Cap. Ixxxii. pp. 259-263. 2 Cap. Ixxxiii. pp. 264-279.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 197
ingredients, when, for the most part, he knows not good
from bad, nay, hardly knows the things themselves when
he sees them. There is the commanding of unusual
things, and the prohibiting of things common. There is
the further advice, and the wrangling consultation by the
bedside; the hole picked by every one in the opinion or
treatment that seems best to any other, out of which a
proverb grew upon the differing of doctors. There is the
attributing of the patient's death to everything but the
doctor, and of the patient's recovery to nothing but the
doctor. There is the use of far-fetched and costly medi-
cines, that can rarely be got except in a most adulterated
state, as scammony ; or of which the remedial use depends
upon the time when it was gathered, as colocynth and
who can tell when it was gathered ? while the simples
of the country, which God caused to grow there as the
proper antidotes to the diseases of the country (this
opinion Agrippa held, with many others of his age),
which can be had pure and culled at right times, are
despised and rejected. Yet there have been philosophers,
he says, who have thought them worthy to be subjects of
famous volumes, as Chrysippus wrote one upon Colewort,
Pythagoras one upon the Squill, Marcion on the Radish,
Diocles on the Turnip, Phanias on Nettles. But it was
feared of old that, with their far-fetched drugs, physicians
who are worse than hangmen, inasmuch as they are
not content to put to death those only who have received
sentence of death from the judges would try vain ex-
periments upon the sick. Therefore the^Egyptians had
198 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
a law, that in the first three days the physician was to
cure a disease at the hazard of the patient's life, but, after
three days, at the peril of his own. The Apothecaries
are attacked next for their dealing in adulterated drugs 1 ,
and for the vanity which drives them to cause the sick
even to eat man's flesh spiced, which they call mummy.
Surgery 2 is a surer science, of an evil origin, for it is
bred of war. Anatomy 3 was practised once on living
criminals ; surely, Agrippa says, it is an abominable and
an impious spectacle to see it practised on the dead.
Here h'e expresses the universal feeling of society, against
which protests had been very few and faint. It was only
a few years afterwards that Andreas Vesalius began,
while a student of Paris, his career as the apostle of a
right of free inquiry into the anatomy of man. Vete-
rinary surgery 4 is discussed, briefly and kindly, as a useful
art, too proudly scorned by the physicians. Dieting 5 tends
to an undue quarrelling with the meats and drinks God
has created, as St. Bernard complains of the disputations
of the physicians, who assert that such a thing hurts the
eyes, this the head, and that the body ; pulse is windy,
cheese offends the stomach, milk affects the head, drink-
ing water is injurious to the lungs ; whence, St. Am-
brose says, it happens that in all the rivers, fields,
gardens, and markets, there is scarce to be found any-
thing fitting for a man to eat.
1 Cap. Ixxxiv. pp. 279-282. 2 Cap. Ixxxv. pp. 282, 283.
3 Cap. Ixxxvi p. 283. Cap. Ixxxvii. pp. 283, 284.
5 Cap. Ixxxviii. pp. 284-286.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 199
From Diet the survey of knowledge passes to the art
of Cookery 1 , useful, and not dishonest, when it passes not
bounds of discretion. Gluttony, however, has sought in
all regions for provocatives of appetite ; and as for those
who in the name of religion deny themselves no pleasure
of the gullet, but reviling a part of the food God created
for man's sustenance, abstain from meat, but are more
thirsty for wine than Epicureans themselves, and say
that they abstain and fast, when they fill themselves with
fish of every sort and choicest wines, to which they bring
their lips, tongues, teeth, and bellies, never their own
purses Enough of them ! Agrippa cries : I pass on to
the crucible of Alchemy 3 , which consumes not less trea-
sure than the flesh-pots. The alchemist may earn, a
scanty livelihood by the production of medicaments or
cosmetics whence, they say, every alchemist is either
physician or soap-boiler, or he may use his art, as very
many do, to carry on the business of a coiner. But the
true searcher after the stone which is to metamorphose all
base metal into gold, converts only farms, goods, and
patrimonies into ashes and smoke. When he expects
the reward of his labours, births of gold, youth, and
immortality, after all his time and expense, at length, old,
ragged, famished, with the continual use of quicksilver
paralytic, rich only in misery, and so miserable that he
will sell his soul for three farthings, he falls upon ill
courses, as counterfeiting of money. Many things Agrippa
declares that he could tell of this art (whereof he is no
i Cap. Ixxxix. pp. 286-290. - Cap. xc. pp. 290-295.
200 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
great enemy) were he not, as one initiated, sworn to
silence, but it is vain. The prophet says, Because thou
eatest by the labour of thy hands, therefore thou art
blessed, and it is well with thee; but these men, con-
temning the Divine promise of happiness, think to make
mountains of gold by child's play. I deny not, he adds,
that to this art many excellent inventions owe their
origin. Hence we have the discovery of azure, cinnabar,
minium, purple, that which is called musical gold, and
other colours. Hence we derive knowledge of brass, and
mixed metals, solders, tests, and precipitants. To it we
owe the formidable invention of the cannon, and the most
noble art of glass-making.
Of Law 1 the chief heads are now-a-days the Pope and
Emperor, who boast that they have all laws written in the
cabinets of their breasts ; whose will is reason, and whose
opinions govern science. The censorship claimed by the
Pope over matters of religion ; the Emperor claims over
philosophy, physic, and all the sciences. But the Law,
that claims to be the judge of knowledge, is itself infirm,
subject to change as princes change, and as time passes.
Its origin, too, is the sin of our first parents, which
brought divisions among men, Law having no other use
than to enable the good men to live among the bad.
Canon, or Pontifical Law 2 , shelters its precepts of avarice
and formulary robbery under a semblance of piety, though
it contains the fewest possible decrees that regard piety,
religion, the worship of God, and the sacramental rites.
1 Cap. xcl pp. 295-299. 2 Cap. xcii. pp. 300-304.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 201
Some of its laws are even repugnant to those of God ;
others are mere matters of contention, pomp, and gain.
New canons are being constantly established by the ambi-
tion and lust of the Roman pontiffs, whose arrogance has
grown to such a head that they address precepts to the
angels of heaven, presume to rob hell of its prey, and lay
hands upon dead men's souls ; while they also play the
tyrant over the Divine law with their own interpretations,
declarations, disputations, in order that there may be
nothing wanting to the fulness of their power. Did not
Pope Clement, in a bull, of which authentic copies are
kept at Vienna and elsewhere, command the angels of
heaven that the soul of a man dying on the way to Rome
for indulgences, should be loosed out of purgatory and
taken to perpetual bliss ; adding, It is our pleasure that
he suffer no more of the pains of Hell ! He granted also
to those signed with the cross, power, at their pleasure, to
take three or four souls out of bale. From these canons
and decrees AVC have learnt that the patrimony of Christ
is kingdoms, camps, endowments, foundations, wealth, and
large possessions; that the priesthood in Christ and the
Church is foremost rule and empire ; that temporal power
and jurisdiction is the Sword of Christ ; that the rock of
the Church is the Pope's person ; that bishops are not the
servants of the Church only, but its lords ; and that the
goods of the Church are not Gospel doctrine, zealous faith,
contempt of the world, but tribute, tithes, oblations, col-
lections, purple robes, mitres, gold, silver, jewels, plunder,
cash. The power of the most high Pope is to wage war, dis-
202 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
solve leagues, loosen oaths, absolve from obedience, and
make the house of prayer into a den of thieves. He may
condemn to hell no man asking him, Why do you this ?
a third part of the souls of the faithful. But from the
same laws we learn that the duty of bishops is not to
preach the Word of God, but on payment of fees to con-
firm youth, confer orders, dedicate temples, baptise bells,
consecrate altars and drinking-cups, bless clothes and
images : if any have a wit above these works he leaves
them to I know not what titular bishops, while he himself
becomes a king's ambassador or queen's companion, ex-
cused thus by a sufficiently great and high cause from
the service of God in His temple, because he is doing
homage to the king at court. In this spirit, and without
one sentence to modify his censure, Cornelius attacks that
Canon law, according to the prescriptions of which, he
says, men are compelled to live more strictly than accord-
ing to the rules of the Gospel.
In the next chapter he speaks of Advocates 1 , whose
calling is to pervert equity, and who entice people into
the meshes of the law. From these he turns to Notaries 2 ,
not one of whom can frame an instrument from whence
there may not be some cause of quarrel picked. The
Study of the Law 3 he calls the craft by which the world
is governed, and a way, if taken by wicked men, to
honour and great influence. Then he attacks the Inqui-
sition 4 , and his old foes the Dominicans, denouncing that
1 Cap. xciii. pp. 804, 305. * Cap. xciv. pp. 306, 306.
3 Cap. xcv. pp. 306, 308. 4 Cap. xcvi. pp. 308-313.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS* 203
new rule of the masters in the Church which puts fire and
fagot in the place of reason. Berengarius, he says, re-
volting to a most damnable heresy, was not only not put
to death, but continued in his archdeaconship. But now,
if a man slip into the least error, it is more than his life is
worth, and he shall be thrown into the fire. He de-
nounces also, as he has denounced before, the usurpation
of Inquisitors, who have, by their own law, no power
over suspected heresy, but only over heresy declared and
manifest, yet seize even the innocent and hurry them to
torture. Again, they may convert a punishment from
penal into pecuniary, and they do take annual stipends for
the term of their lives from persons whom they threaten on
default to torment. When I was in Italy, says Agrippa,
several Inquisitors in the Duchy of Milan persecuted
many honest matrons, even of the noble class, and extorted
great sums of money secretly out of those poor affrighted
women ; till, at length, their cheating being discovered,
they were severely handled by the gentry, hardly escaping
fire and sword. He refers also to the conduct of the
Cologne theologians, who were led by the Inquisitor
Hochstraten to signal defeat and the complete wreck of
their reputation, in the ten years' war against John
Reuchlin, about Hebrew studies. He recals also his ex-
perience of the witch-seeking priests at Metz.
In all this argument there is no timid assertion of
Agrippa's faith. He attacks boldly the undue pretension
of the Pope. He denounces the Inquisition, protests
against image-worship, exposes with a bold hand the
204 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
corruptions of the priesthood, decries the pomps and
vanities of formal worship, and urges that every man
should, for his instruction, have free access to the Word of
God.
In his next three chapters he treats of the three sorts of
Theology : scholastic, interpretative, and prophetic 1 . The
Scholastic is that taught at the Sorbonne, a combination
of Scripture texts with philosophical reasoning, a study of
the Centaur class ; it produces sophisms, glosses, questions,
problems a vain logomachy of a class of theologians, more
ready to discuss than to examine, who are called subtle
and angelical, and seraphic and divine doctors. Preaching
Christ through contention, these men produce labyrinths
of heresy. No man is now accounted a good doctor who
does not belong to some sect, and is not ready to bite and
devour on its behalf, and glory in its name, as Thomist,
Albertist, Scotist, Occamist. It is not enough for such
great men to be called simply Christians, when they have
to share that title with fishermen, wool-combers, cobblers,
tailors, and poor ignorant women. Some rise above the
Saviour and his apostles, and correct their erroneous
opinions ; others, who do not scale such heights, construct
stories of saints, adding some pious lies; supply relics, and
invent plausible or terrible tales, which they call warn-
ings ; count prayers, weigh merits, measure ceremonies ;
become hucksters of indulgences, distribute pardons, sell
their good deeds, and, as beggars, feed upon the people's
sins. . They substitute for the Gospels and the Word of
1 Caps. xcvii. xcviii. xcix. pp. 313-331.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 205
God trifles and human traditions, preaching a new gospel,
adulterating God's word, which they deliver, not for
mercy's, but for money's, sake. They are not fishers of
evil men to draw them to salvation, but hunters of good,
men into exile. Enough of them! Agrippa says; it is
not safe to tell about them freely: when angered they
conspire to drag their enemies before the Inquisition, or to
get rid of them by secret poison ; for they have this also
among their mysteries, that to avoid scandal they poison
any one of their own class, whose shame is threatened with
a public punishment.
Interpretative Theology is not to be attained by such
a path as this ; the Divine Word needs an interpreter,
but it has one interpreter alone, given by God to every
man in answer to his prayers. Governing all that he
says by this idea, Cornelius shows what are the six modes
of interpretation commonly in use ; and passes, next, to the
Prophetical Theology, which is the gift of God to those
who by a pure and holy aspiration strengthen their own
spiritual nature, and become like-minded with Him. He
speaks critically of the prophetical books of Scripture,
names those referred to in the Bible but now lost,
enforces the authority of Scripture, and thence passes to
his hundredth chapter on the Word of God 1 .
You have heard, he says, how vain and uncertain is
human learning, how hard it is for Truth to be found, even
in Theology. The only way to the attainment of it is by
following the Word of God; and he cites from Gregory a
1 Cap. c. pp. 331-340.
206 CORNELIUS AGRTPPA.
passage which expresses in one sentence the spirit of the
book he is concluding: "Whatever is not built upon
God's Word may be as easily condemned as approved."
.It needs no scholarship to find God in the Bible; the
people need not trouble themselves about its senses, moral,
mystical, cosmological, typical, analogical, tropological,
and allegorical ; we need to search the Scriptures not by
syllogism, but by faith in Jesus Christ, from God the
Father, poured down through the Holy Spirit into our
souls. As says Isaiah to the wise men of Chaldea, Ye
are deceived in your cunning, ye are wearied in the mul-
titude of your counsels : so is it with us. The grammarian,
watchful against barbarism in speech, lives filthily; the
poet would desire rather to halt in his life than in his
metre ; the dialectician would rather deny manifest truth
than yield to an adversary the most insignificant conclu-
sion. Musicians have their concord in their lyres alone.
Philosophers inquire into creation, but seek not for the
Creator. Theologians desire rather to understand God
than to love Him. But in the Scripture there is nothing
so difficult, so deep, so recondite, so sacred, that it shall
not belong to all faithful Christians, or that it shall be
entrusted to those sesquipedalian doctors, to be kept con-
cealed by them ; but all theology ought to be a common
possession to the entire body of the faithful, enjoyed by
each according to the measure of the gift of the Holy
Spirit. None of Christ's sheep should be defrauded of
their pasture.
In one more chapter, Agrippa, treating of the masters
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 207
of the Sciences and Arts 1 , compares the confusions of the
worldly wise with the fulness of the knowledge that has
been revealed in God's "Word to the simple. Human
learning had declined to its lowest level, he observes,
when Christianity ran pure from its source, and rapidly
spread. It is defiled now with the multitude of human
counsels. Then it was that our Lord chose for his apostles,
not rabbies, scribes, magistrates, priests, but rude men,
almost wholly destitute of learning, ignorant men and asses.
So the work ends, with a Digression in Praise of the
Ass 2 . Let no man, he asks, speak ill of him because he
has called the apostles asses ; let him first hear what are
the mysteries of the ass. With Hebrew doctors it was the
symbol of fortitude and strength, patience and clemency,
and its influence was said to descend on it from the
Sephiroth called Hochma, which is Wisdom. For the ass
lives, as all must live who would be wise, content with
scanty and poor fare, most tolerant of poverty, hunger,
toil, ill-treatment, neglect; most patient when persecuted,
most simple and poor in spirit, ignorant of the distinction
between lettuce and thistles; of a harmless and chaste life,
destitute of bile, at peace with all other creatures ; patiently
carrying all burdens on his back ; while his reward is, that
he is not troubled with lice, is seldom diseased, and works
longer than any other animal in harness. There is a great
deal more said in this vein. It is shown, too, how the
ass is throughout honoured in Scripture, how in Old
Testament law, when the first-born of all animals were
1 Cap. ci. pp. 340-343. * Cap. cii. pp. 343-347.
208 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
ordained for sacrifice, asses alone were exempt asses and
men. For a man a price might be paid, and a sheep sub-
stituted for an ass. The ass has of all animals the noblest
place in the New Testament, and many things go to con-
firm this saying of the people, The Ass carries Mysteries.
Let us, then, rather be asses than philosophers.
The peroration 1 urges, almost entirely in the words of
Scripture, that men should aspire to become like-minded
with God; and learning of Jesus, the true Master, be wise
unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.
This is the whole lesson of Cornelius Agrippa's book
upon the Uncertainty and Vanity of Sciences and Arts.
I have endeavoured accurately to represent its scope, its
spirit, and all that seems to a biographer especially signi-
ficant in its illustrative detail. The wide range of study
shown in the whole work it was not possible to represent
within the limits of this narrative. Agrippa had tried
nearly every art that he found wanting: a Courtier in
Austria, a Soldier in Italy, a Theologian at Dole, a Lawyer
at Metz, a Physician in Switzerland, an experimenter in
optics and mechanics, a deeper searcher than perhaps any
man of his age into the philosophy of the ancients ; student
of the Cabala, sworn possessor of the secrets of the alche-
mists, master of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages,
and, among modern tongues, not of his own German only,
but also of French, Italian, Spanish, and English. He
was not a reviler from without, but a satirist from within,
1 Cap. cii. pp. 347-351.
ON THE VANITY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS. 209
of the uncertainties and vanities of the imperfect art and
science of his day.
As has been seen, he used in this book all his knowledge
in the interests of that great struggle, begun in his time,
for the cleansing of filth out of the Old Church, and for
the free concession of the Gospel to the people. He felt,
too, as we cannot fail to see, that he was having his
revenge upon the savage men, who, with their flinty
bigotry, had pelted him and struck him on his upward
flight, Whose act it was that kept him fluttering among
the clods with broken wing, while eyes and heart strained
heavenward. Had but the way of his life led Agrippa to
the scaffold ! Had but the wing been stronger, the flight
higher, and the end a death-wound in mid-air !
VOL. II.
210 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
CHAPTER X.
ACCOUNTS FOB THE BEST OF THE TIME SPENT BY COBNELIUS AT LYONS.
HOSPITABLE in his poverty, hiding his sorrow from
acquaintances, revealing it with bitter jesting to his
friends, while loving none of them the less, because he
found much to complain of in the world about them, still
Agrippa lived and strove through many other months at
Lyons. One learned man who had been a guest sent him
a little gift, by help of which he could relieve his eyes,
dull of sight through his assiduity in studying by night
and day 1 . We find that he corresponded still with distant
friends, and grumbled at them pleasantly if they deprived
him of the solace of their gossip in return 2 ; that he
responded as a kind friend to the letters of the young
physician, John Paul, who had sent for the two gold
pieces when detained at Langres, and provided him
when he failed at Langres, and went into Lorraine with
letters of introduction to some of the most influential of
the'people, whom he had himself known in those parts 3 .
1 Ep. 45, Lib. iv. p. 864.
2 Ep. 57, Lib. iv. ; also Ep. 59, and Ep. 71.
3 Ep. 58, 67, 68, Lib. iv. pp. 878, 887.
SOCIABLE WAYS ILL-WILL OF THE QUEEN. 211
He troubled himself cheerfully to answer abstruse ques-
tions, sent from afar, on matters of scholarship 1 . His book
finished, he worked still at his inventions of machines of
war, and at his architectural ideas; while he bore in the
midst of his family the pinch of want, not without the
most indefatigable effort to remove it, or abate the pain it
gave.
Chiefly he looked for assistance to his friends at court,
Jean Chapelain, one of the King's physicians, and the
Bishop of Bazas. In the middle of September (1526),
somebody having told him of an office at Lyons,, in the
gift of the queen-mother, that would shortly become
vacant, the holder of it being on the point of death, Cor-
nelius, who again had to write word that he was trilled
with upon the subject of his salary, asked of both his
friends their interest with the Queen to procure for him
this other chance of a subsistence 2 . At the same time,
however, of Ohapelain, at court, spiteful inquiries were
made by the Queen about Agrippa, and to all the good
words of his helper she replied with so little kindness that
it became Chapelain's duty to report faithfully his doubt
whether, unless her temper changed, even the promise of
a salary from her would not be withheld for the future 3 .
Chapelain's advice still was that Agrippa should act as
in ignorance of all these doubts, and write to the Queen an
account of the machines of war he had invented, and was
1 Ep. 1, 2, 11, Lib. v. pp, 895-897, 902.
2 Ep. 46, 47, Lib. iv. pp. 864-865.
3 Ep. 48, Lib. iv. pp. 865, 866, and for what follows.
P2
212 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
ready to present to the most Christian King, if she com-
manded him to do so. He was also, if he would take
Chapelain's advice, to show that he had not been negli-
gent of her wishes in her absence, by sending her the de-
sired astrological judgments and calculations. He should
send them by no means through Chapelain himself, but
through the Bishop of Bazas. He was also to write to
the Queen, professing his continual promptitude to obey
all her commands, and say no more in condemnation of
astrology. At the same time Doctor Chapelain wanted
Agrippa's judgment upon the marvel of a great battle
among crows in Apulia; and also upon the marvel of an
army of locusts in Sicily, which had devoured everything
except the vines, and then either cast itself into the sea or
died because no food remained.
The judgment of Agrippa on the crows was that they
usually signified bad monks, being rapacious, greedy
scenters of corpses, and feeders upon the substance of dead
men ; being also black, ill-omened, and unclean. They
might mean, too, a rebellious people ; and the battle of
the crows might be a figure of the civil war in Italy round
about Naples, where priests, nobles, and people were
destroying one another. The locusts were, of course, the
Moors and Turks ; the abstinence of the locusts from the
vines indicating the abstinence of those devastators, as
being Mussulmans, from wine. These barbarians might be
destined to plague Europe, and part of them, might suc-
ceed 'in occupying Sicily, while part would be driven back
into the sea. He told another recent marvel in return for
OMENS PYROMACHY AND ARCHITECTURE. 213
these suggested ones, interpreting it very ingeniously ;
but we may pass it by 1 .
As for the salary from the queen-mother, he had not re-
ceived any part of it, and saw no hope whatever of re-
ceiving any. His book of Pyromachy, and the warlike
machines and architectural contrivances, he reserved, he
said, as a gift for King Francis, whenever he should come
to Lyons, always supposing he himself remained alive at
Lyons, or had not abandoned the place and the hope in it
before King Francis came. He had been invited else-
where when he entered the French service ; he had had
good offers from Bourbon. The unjust wrath of the
Queen, his own just grief, and the urgent need of a sub-
sistence, might bring him to he knew not what extremity.
To the Bishop of Bazas, Cornelius suggested that as he
had once by his influence made the Queen well-wishing
towards him, he should make her now well-doing ; and,
above all, if his salary was ordered to be paid, let the
payment come through Martin of Troyes, who could be
trusted, as the Bullions could not, to pass money through
their hands 3 .
The smallness of his offence the expression of a desire
that she would put his abilities to worthier use than the
practice of astrology as compared with the obstinacy of
the Queen's wrath, was a puzzle to Agrippa. " Let her
say what she means," he tells his friend ; " if I am in
fault, I am content to suffer. Perhaps there was some
dog of the court at hand to give malignant meaning to
1 Ep. 55, Lib. iv. pp. 873, 874. 2 Ep. 49, 50, Lib. ir. pp. 867, 868.
214 COENELIUS AGRIPPA.
the letter that was shown her. But I know how difficult
it is to make a dog's bed, because wherever he is going
to lie down he twists round and round, so that it is im-
possible to know where we should place his pillow. So
those court dogs, hounds that hunt down men of letters,
who frisk at the heels of princes, twist round and round
with their opinions, so that we do not know which way
they mean to settle ; surely, too, there is nothing so clean
that they cannot defile it." The sending of his prog-
nostics to the Queen, Agrippa thought, would only lead
to more occasion of offence, " for they contain matter that
she would be most pleased not to read ; and I, as you
know, am not able to flatter. Besides, on receipt of your
former letter, I desisted from the task and threw it aside,
rejoicing to be set free in any manner from these fortune-
telling follies 1 ."
A critical day came at last to the much troubled
philosopher 2 . On the morning of the seventh of October
he was walking in St. John's Church, when a man who was
a stranger, but had good-will in his face, stopped him, and
drawing him into a corner, asked him how matters stood
with him at court ; whether he had certain intelligence
of any sort. Cornelius told the stranger what he sup-
posed to be the state of his case, but the man then
answered, " I serve in the office of Barguyn the treasurer,
and as a friend I warn you not to be misled by any false
1 Ep. 51, Lib. iv. pp. 868, 869.
2 Ep. 52, Lib. iv. pp. 869, 872, for what follows until the next re-
ference.
NAME ERASED FROM THE PENSION-LIST. 215
suggestion, but to take thought for some better way of
prospering. A very little while ago I saw your name
struck off the pension-list."
Agrippa thanked his friendly counsellor, knew that he
must be saying what was true, and became, as he says,
after the event a prophet in his own affairs. He had not
only trusted princes, but put faith in woman. Why had
Chapelain never told him or did Chapelain not know
that he was labouring to reap the wind, when he aban-
doned solid opportunities of prospering to wait upon the
promise of his Queen, accepting certain loss for doubtful
gain ? " For my faith in your mistress," he writes to the
doctor at court, " I am repaid with perfidy ; not warned,
but discharged furtively. Had I been servant to a mer-
chant or a draper, or even to some peasant man or woman
of the meanest class, no such master or mistress would
have turned me off without a warning, even if I had
been guilty of offence. But from this court I am thrust
out secretly without blame and without fault, and in the
mean time, nursed on a vain hope, and, led to renounce every
good offer from elsewhere, am driven to the wreck of all
my fortunes. I am destroyed thus by my honesty and
the good faith I have kept with your Princess, and (may
it please the gods !) this is in her an act of authority which
would be called in any private person an act of perfidy
and betrayal. I will not say this of the Queen herself,
but of the court harpies who abuse her name and her
authority, who prosper only by detraction, fraud, and
sycophancy. This, my Chapelain, is the end of the
216 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
tragedy, that, being altogether destitute, I can sing with
empty wallet in the presence of the robber, and shall
henceforth dare to speak and write with increased bold-
ness The Queen has renounced her part of the con-
tract, and I am free of my oath of service, ready to accept
any good fortune that may offer, and offend her further,
if I must, by doing so."
It need hardly be said that the office in the Queen's
gift which had become vacant at Lyons was filled up
with another man 1 .
Cornelius sent letters to the Queen, expecting little
fruit from them; but he was not without hope that if the
Bishop of Bazas spoke to the King, Francis would be
found more friendly than his mother, while he felt that
he could really do good service to the crown, and, as a
first-fruit, said that he was ready to produce a plan,
thought out by his own wit, which would enable the
King to increase considerably his revenue, not only with-
out pressing upon his subjects, but even with advantage
to the nation, and the glad consent of all the people. But
if the King desired to have this information he must ask
for it. And still, for the increase of his own revenues, the
philosopher discovered no successful plan.
His bitterness against the courtiers he expressed of
course, in these days, even more emphatically than he had
expressed it in his book, written under the sting of their
contempt. " Hear what rules I have prescribed for myself,"
1 Ep. 53, Lib. iv. pp. 872, 873, and for what follows.
CHANCE OF FAVOUR WITH KING FRANCIS- 217
he wrote to Chapelain 1 , " if ever I am tempted to return to
the court service : to make myself a proper courtier, I will
flatter egregiously, be sparing of faith, profuse of speech,
ambiguous in counsel, like the oracles of old ; but I will
pursue gain, and prefer my own advantage above all things :
I will cultivate no friendship save for money's sake ; I will
be wise to myself, praise no man except through cunning,
decry any man you please. I will thrust forth whom I
can, that I may take what he is forced to leave, will place
myself on half a dozen seats, and despise every one who
offers me his hospitality but not his money, as a barren
tree. I will have faith in no man's word, in no man's
friendship ; I will take all things ill and brood on ven-
geance ; the Prince only I will watch and worship, but
him I will natter, I will agree with, I will infest, only
through fear or greed of my own gain. You may ad-
mire me for that I have become so good a courtier only
now, when I am liberated from the court. . . . The astro-
logical judgments, as I before told you, I have not
finished, and will not finish, until the Queen has replied
to my letter, and herself required them of me. . . . But I
should like you to tell me who my evil genius is by
whom the Queen's mind is possessed, to the obliteration
of her good- will, so recently expressed towards me : be-
cause I ought to cast him out by some religious exorcism,
or appease him by some magical sacrifice, or fortify my-
self against him with barbarous names of the gods and
1 Ep. 54, Lib. IT. pp. 873, 874.
218 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
cabalistic pentacles." Agrippa afterwards repeated some-
times his desire to know who was his enemy, but was
told only that he was a man whose name was not worth
" All hail ! my dearest Chapelain," Agrippa wrote, a
few days afterwards, mocking his own misfortunes.
" Blessed be the Lord, I am a rich man, if there be
truth in fable. A man of consideration, long my friend,
has brought me seeds of gold, and planted them over
my furnace, within long-necked flasks, putting under-
neath a little fire, as of the sun's heat ; and as hens brood
over eggs, we keep the warmth up night and day, ex-
pecting forthwith to produce enormous golden chicks.
If all be hatched we shall exceed Midas in wealth, or at
least in length of ears, and I shall say a long farewell to
those great Ninuses and Semiramises. A rich and pros-
perous farewell to you ! From Lyons, from your soon to
be long-pursed or long-eared Agrippa. Oct. 21, 1526 3 ."
There was as much faith to be put in the long-necked
flask as in the court of France. His letters were often
intercepted 3 , and he was still fed with promises, reported
from the lips of Thomas Bullion, on the subject of the
arrears of salary to which he was entitled 4 . He could
not feed his family on hope, he said 5 . Moreover, he had
penetrated to the bottom of a mystery 6 . The Queen's
1 Ep. 3, Lib. v. p. 898 ; Ep. 5, Lib. v. p. 899.
4 Ep. 56, Lib. iv. pp. 877, 87-8. 3 Ep. 57, Lib. iv. p. 878.
4 Ep. 60, Lib. iv. p. 879. 5 Ep. 61, Lib. iv. p. 879.
6 Ep.'62, Lib. iv. pp. 879-884, for what follows until the next refe-
rence.
THE CAUSE OF THE QUEEN'S ANGER. 219
anger always had appeared to him absurdly dispropor-
tioned to so simple an offence as the expression of an
honest, loyal wish that the best use might be made of his
services, and that he might not be compelled to waste
time on a science in which he had little faith. That zeal
on the part of a plain-spoken and faithful servant ought
not to have produced against him a malicious anger.
After pondering this matter one day, he dismissed it
wearily, and went for relief, as usual, to his Bible. Therein
he chanced to open on the history of Jezebel, at that
passage where Ahab says of Micaiah, " I hate him ; for
he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil 1 ."
The words spoke to him as an oracle, for suddenly, and
then for the first time, he recollected that in the letter
shown to the Queen by the Seneschal, he wrote that
Bourbon's nativity promised him again a year of victory
and the defeat of the French armies. Unlucky prophet !
he then said to himself; that is the beginning of this
grief. Know now that the Queen rages because you
touched her ulcer with that cautery. In that way you
threw the gate open by which all the flatterers, and slan-
derers, and time-servers could come in and abuse you.
So he himself describes his meditations. " I knew," he
adds, " that Bourbon was an enemy, but I did not think
he was so pestilent that one might even be poisoned by
uttering his name. I remember now how a good mathe-
matician and astrologer, Orontius of Paris, was vexed
with a long imprisonment for prophesying what was true.
1 1 Kings, xxil. 8.
220 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
Certainly, if I had sent the rest of my prognostication I
should have passed through the smoke into the fire.
Because, like Balaam, I could not curse Bourbon, I am
guilty already, marked as Bourbon's friend and the
court's enemy. How far I am so, many of that duke's
noble followers can testify, who, when I was leaving
Friburg, tried to divert me, both by prayers and large
promises, into his service. How I answered them and
what I did, there are some captains to testify, cousins of
mine, named von Eylens, who would have favoured Bour-
bon had I not caused them to come hither with the four
thousand foot-soldiers under their command. I induced
them to serve the King of France, and trusted my whole
fortunes on the faith which has been kept neither with
them nor me. Our men have been carried to slaughter:
one of my relatives is lost, another seriously wounded,
but neither pledges, promises, nor the usual public mili-
tary contract, have secured for us what is our due. Had
we served Bourbon we should have grown rich upon your
spoil, and I, a soldier and a knight, should never have been
basely used as the physician to your Queen. Your King in
absence has forgotten and neglected me ; your Queen, for
candid speech, impatient of the truth, immoderate in ven-
geance, has spurned, repulsed, expelled me." Proceeding to
pour out his heart to his friend, he speaks next of the flight
of the King's followers, leaving him captive in the Duke of
Bourbon's hands. They were braver men who followed
Bourbon than the people who denounced as Bourbonist
Cornelius Agrippa. These men had fled from their
AGRIPPA'S ANGER AT THE QUEEN. 221
King's enemies, and, their master being captive, the
queen-mother Regent, had found shelter for themselves
behind the woman's petticoats. From that post of ad-
vantage they had whispered scorn against Agrippa; and
her sex is mutable, ' and she was herself one of a race
that had already learnt to chastise merit, as there was
cruel evidence, and recent. He was not bound to live
under these adverse stars: trouble could sharpen wit, and
many men had found despair the step to better fortune.
" Hitherto I have fought in the ranks, now I will fight
alone; armed cap-a-pie, you shall see me act more boldly,
hear me speak more boldly. But you must forgive my
wrath, for there is no animal created so infirm as never to
break out into anger. I know your honesty, or I would
not have written t^prds like these. Be of good courage,
and say no more to the Queen in my behalf, make no
further attempt to appease her; our Seneschal may try
this if he pleases, since he gave occasion to her fury,
though, in truth, by no fault of his own. Take care never
to address to me again as Counsellor, or Queen's Phy-
sician. I detest this title. I condemn all hope it ever
raised in me. I renounce all fealty that I ever swore to
her. She never more shall be mistress of mine (for
already she has ceased to be so), but I have resolved to
think of her as some atrocious and perfidious Jezebel, if
she thus heeds rather dishonest words than honest deeds.
Salute for me Jacques Lefevre (Faber), Cop, and Bode,
patriarchs of literature and virtue, and all others who love
you and me. I wish them all peace and good fortune :
222 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
the rest of the courtiers, may the gods confound ! I now
hate princes and courts equally. Again farewell. Re-
membrance to you from my dearest wife, the most faith-
ful companion of my fortune. Lyons, Nov. 3, 1526."
With his wife and children hungering around him,
certainly Agrippa had fair reason to be angry. He would
have been, as he suggests, no animal at all, had he not
turned in wrath. A week afterwards he wrote a letter,
addressed both to Chapelain 'and the Bishop of Bazas,
telling them they had proved slow doctors in his case, and
bidding them good-by, with counsel to forget him 1 . At
about the same time he despatched a servant to one of his
military cousins with this message: "Now it is time,
and there is fit occasion to avenge ourselves upon the
perfidy of the Frenchmen, who have^ so shamefully de-
luded us. Do you, therefore, on sight of this, prepare at
once for travel, and come straight to me, accompanying
the bearer, for you must go with all speed to the Imperial
camp, and present yourself to Bourbon. You will be a
welcome messenger to him. The rest I will tell you
when you come. Infinite greetings, both in my name and
my wife's, to Captain Claudius, Otto, John and Francis
your brothers-in-law, and my cousins. From Montlai,
Lyons 2 ."
At the time when he had come to the determination
indicated by this letter, he was indebted to a woman's
way of doing business for the means of forcing from
between the fingers of the treasurer one sum of money
1 Ep. 64, Lib. iv. p. 885. 2 Ep. 65, Lib. iv. p. 885.
HE CORRESPONDS WITH BOURBON. 223
that was due to him. A quick-witted woman, Madame
Salle, who was a true friend to Agrippa and his family,
had called in a determined mood on Thomas Bullion, for
advice had been received that a donation had been sent
for Agrippa through the royal treasurers from certain
friends at court. Bullion dealt, as usual, in hopes and pos-
sibilities, fingering, at the same time incautious man !
with an official air, his paper of instructions. Madame
Salle pounced upon it suddenly, and was carrying it off
in triumph to her friend, when the enemy recovered from
his consternation. The precise instructions became known,
denial of them was impossible, and Bullion was required
imperatively to obey them to the letter. He called upon
Agrippa, angry at the woman's trick that had been
played him, asked for his official papers, and promised to
pay in a few days Agrippa's money. Promises not being
valued, he then added threats that he would never pay,
that he would take care not a sous came ever to Agrippa's
hands, if he did not at once restore the document. " You
have deceived me with so many falsehoods," said Agrippa,
" that I shall keep these papers as evidence of what you
have to pay, till I am paid. I can use it before a judge ;
and if I must, I will despatch it to the Queen, that she
may know where to look for a dishonest treasurer." After
a four-days' struggle the money was produced ; but there
was produced with it, under the name of receipt, a long
document supplied from the court, beset with legal traps,
to which Bullion desired Cornelius to sign his name before
two notaries. Cornelius not only refused, but carried
224 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
about with him the court scheme of a receipt, showing
it to lawyers and others, until Bullion was so much re-
sisted by the judgment of all men of his own class in
Lyons, that at a late hour of the night he withdrew his
unusual demand, and paid the money, taking no more
than the usual form of quittance in return. This hap-
pened on the fourteenth of November, and next day report
of it was made in a letter to the Bishop of Bazas 1 ; but
this was crossed by a very stiff note from the Bishop,
who had been offended by the tone of the letter in which
Agrippa had sent farewells to his Reverence and Doctor
Chapelain. Yet there was no quarrel, for Agrippa went
on worrying his friends in his own affectionate, impulsive
way, and attacked Chapelain, especially by confiding to
him, as a courtier, his disgust at courts. Chapelain had
not written for some days. " I have been reading in the
Gospel," said Agrippa, " about a certain rich man who
was in hell, and wanted to send messages to his friends ;
and it seems to me that you, being at court, must be in
hell, a place from which it is taught us that no messages
may come." Thus started, he proceeds in a letter of con-
siderable length to carry out minutely a comparison be-
tween the French court and the poet's Tartarus. His jest
ends with advice to his friend to come up and join him in
the upper regions, and for some time, when writing to a
friend at court, we find him in his poverty pleasantly
dating " from the upper air." " Do not contemn me,"
he pleads, at the end of the letter just described " do
1 Ep. 66, Lib. iv. p. 886.
THE BOOK ON PYROMACHY. 225
not contemn me for the vexed life that I lead. There
are gods at whose name the very gates of your Inferno
tremble, and by them I shall be vindicated. There are
friends unknown in your dark regions who will be my
helpers ; and I have strength besides of which the dwellers
in your world know nothing 1 ."
In the mean time, Agrippa had invented a machine for
propelling fire-balls swiftly and easily at a cheap cost 2 ,
and he had not abandoned the idea that King Francis
might be induced to behave towards him better than his
mother. He reserved, therefore, his book on Pyromachy
for the king, but when he heard from the Seneschal that,
as he expressed it, Pluto was only to be approached
through Proserpine, he wrote to Chapelain, " Promise
nothing as to that work, for I have changed all my
counsel."
The Bishop of Bazas, not having written for some
weeks, and the last letter from the Bishop having ex-
pressed annoyance, Cornelius teazed him again by telling
him that he was justifying his complaint by silence and
by touchiness. He told him again, that he wanted
nothing more of him and Chapelain but the debts pay-
able to friendship namely, letters ; and that if they were
not paid he thereby declared war against them both.
He had shown himself, indeed, but a bad fighter in their
hen-roost, but no French cock he was playing on the
Latin word for cocks and Frenchmen was his master.
If need were, he would pelt them both with letters till he
1 Ep. 72, Lib. iv. pp. 889-892. 2 Ep. 68, Lib. iv. p. 887.
VOL. II. Q
226' CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
buried them under the heap, and then they should be
made to sing for him at all hours of the day, or else he
would eat them on his plates and dishes. " You must
suffer me to joke," he adds, " for you know I have lost
all my bile by pouring it out over Tartarus 1 ."
Chapelain having suggested a new intercessor at court
in the Archbishop of Bourges, Agrippa said that he might
tell the case to him, and show all the letters if he pleased,
except the Tartarean one. If the Archbishop could help
him, it was well 2 . But Chapelain told Agrippa that it
would be better for him to write to the Archbishop him-
self than that he should show the letters, in all of which
there was a trace of bitterness. The King also, it was
said, would in a short time be at Lyons 3 .
Weeks elapsed, and by the fifth of February^ in the
next year, there was an end of all rumour of the King's
coming to Lyons 4 . The man of whom I wrote to you, he
tells his friend namely, the man who informed him in
St. John's Church that his name had been secretly erased
from the Queen's list of pensioners " lifted me out of
darkness into upper light. If you could at an earlier time
have made known to me what he disclosed, you would
have done me a great service." He means to assert him-
self boldly against the Queen. " Lest any one may sup-
pose me guilty of some secret crime," he says, " by which
I was made unworthy of your royal court, and by reason
1 ,Ep. 74, Lib. iv. pp. 892-893. 2 Ep. 75, Lib. iv. p. 893.
Ep. 76, Lib. iv. p. 894.
4 Ep. 3, Lib. v. pp. 897, 898, and for what follows.
THREATENS PUBLICATION OF HIS LETTERS. 227
of which I have been thus, while absent, clandestinely cast
off: for although no definite charge is made against me,
yet by the ejectment I seem to be accused and judged
before all men, and, as warns the proverb, what has not
been said is made the worst of: I myself intend to pub-
lish the whole matter. For while I hold it to be the
duty of a generous mind to refuse to endure calumny or
insult, and to make the innocence of its life manifest to
all, I see no better way of doing that in this instance than
by publishing those letters of mine, which will suffice to
represent this tragedy in every street and market square,
and cause that there shall be no place hereafter in which
its noble tale shall not be known. Let who will be dis-
pleased. I will incur the implacable wrath and endless
hate of all the courtiers and of your King and Princess
too, and will not care a straw when once the truth is
public. However the matter end, it is as dangerous for
me to keep silence as to speak. I am ready to bear any-
thing rather than throw down my fair fame, and take
upon myself a load of infamy. When, as I hope soon will
be the case, I have steered into another safer harbour, your
Semiramis shall know what manner of man she has re-
jected. I understand that certain long letters of mine
addressed to you and to the Bishop of Bazas have been in-
tercepted. Possibly there have been others which did not
reach you; but as the proverb says that certain animals
all at last come together in the tanpit, so perhaps these
will be found to come together in the press." From this
intention Chapelain gravely and kindly sought to turn his
Q2
228 CORNELIUS. AGRIPPA.
friend 1 . The letters, however, did, after a few years, come
together in the press, and in this narrative their tale is
told again.
At this time Cornelius was in communication with the
Duke of Bourbon, and the next letter he caused to be
published is one in which he addressed himself as a man
cheerfully at work on his behalf to that commander. It was
dated on the twenty -sixth of February, 1527. A month
later, on the thirtieth of March, Cornelius again wrote in
reply to letters brought him by a messenger from Bour-
bon. Bourbon promised him fairly, and desired help
from his counsel. In the last month of the preceding
year, King Francis had procured the support in France
of what was termed an Assembly of Notables, who justi-
fied their sovereign's desire to break the treaty to which
he had sworn, and which had been the price of his own
liberty. This act of perfidy renewed the war, and of
course helped to turn the current of Agrippa's sympathy
from France towards the Emperor and those who fought
with him. Against the Emperor there was a great league
formed. The first thought of Bourbon next year, was
both to strike a blow that should startle Europe, and to
find the richest plunder for the payment of his troops,
by an attack on the Pope in his own city. He proposed
to besiege and capture Rome. Upon this subject he had
asked from Agrippa counsel, and no doubt also prognos-
tications. " Do not be disturbed," replied Agrippa, " by
the power of those enemies who depend not upon their
1 Ep. 5, Lib. T. p. 899.
THE DEATH OF BOURBON. 229
own strength, but upon mutual support in their weak-
ness, for already fate declares their coming ruin. You
will soon see how those proud walls will fall together
almost at the first attack. Go forward, then, bold Prince,
whom the Fates make the leader to so great a victory.
Delay no more. Continue fearlessly in what you have
begun, and prosperously. Advance in strength, fight
steadfastly; you have armed bands of the best chosen
troops, favour of Heaven is on your side, God will favour
a just war ; fear nothing, for glorious is the triumph that
is near 1 ." I do not know whether a contrary advice
would have arrested or delayed the siege of Rome.
Certain it is that the counsel given in this letter describes
the course that was pursued. On the last day but one in
March, Cornelius wrote his answer to Bourbon, and de-
spatched it by the Duke's messenger from Lyons. On
the fifth of May, Rome was stormed and taken by the
Duke of Bourbon's troops, but one thing happened that
Cornelius had not foreseen the Duke himself was killed
in the assault. The pride of the Pope was humbled, the
French court was alarmed, but Agrippa lost again his
hope of better days, and it was at about that time
during Lent 2 that his wife made him the father of
another son.
1 Ep. 6, Lib. v. p. 900. 2 Ep. 7, Lib. v. p. 900.
230 COBNELIUS AGRIPPA.
CHAPTER XI.
FEOM LYONS TO ANTWERP.
ABANDONING all question about money due to him,
Agrippa became once more a petitioner through his court
friends. He desired but one more thing in France,
formal license to quit the queen-mother's service, with
letters of safe-conduct into another land 1 . That desire
granted, he should be as happy as, were the fable true,
Pope Gregory made Trajan, when he removed him out
of hell and gave him a seat among the angels. Such was
his prayer on the seventeenth of July, 1527. On the
twelfth of August he was still urging the same request 2 .
On the twenty -first of September it had not been granted.
Whither he was to go when he left France he did not
know certainly ; he only knew that he must leave. He
was then living with his family as a guest in the episco-
pal residence attached to the monastery of the Austin
Friars 3 . He was still finding occasion to complain that
letters addressed to him were intercepted 4 .
1 Ep: 9, Lib. v. p. 901.- 2 Ep. 10, Lib. v. p. 902.
3 Ep. 12, Lib. v. p. 903. Ep. 13, Lib. v. p. 903.
FATHER AURELIUS AND AUGUSTINE FURNARIO. 231
But at about this time, among the letters not lost on
the way, came one from an Italian monk of the order of
St. Augustine, resident at Antwerp, Father Aurelius of
Aquapendente, whom Cornelius appears to have known
in Italy, and who was now desirous of his closest friend-
ship. For Aurelius had amused himself with the study
of mysteries, and when by chance a written copy of
Agrippa's books upon Occult Philosophy came into his
hand, he regarded it as a masterpiece, and betook himself
immediately to the source whence they had sprung.
Those manuscripts of the Occult Philosophy which were
in circulation were in many respects defective, and of
the third book there was to be found in them only an
epitome 1 . Having learnt what was Agrippa's position at
the court of France, Aurelius invited him to Antwerp;
one of his friends there living testified to the welcome that
might safely be promised, and to the number of friends
he would find active to promote his interests 2 . There
was also at Antwerp another prosperous Italian, Augustine
Furnario, a citizen of Genoa, disposed cordially towards
Cornelius, and prompt in offer on behalf of Antwerp and
himself 3 .
These cordial offers, and the prospect of obtaining at
the age of forty-one the patroness whom he had sought
in his youth, Margaret of Austria, Regent in the Nether-
lands, caused Agrippa to determine as to the next step
1 Ep. 14, Lib. v. pp. 904, 905. 2 Ep. 15, Lib. v. p. 905.
* Ep. 15, Lib. v. p. 906.
232 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
he should take. At Christmas he would quit Lyons, to
which place he had so long been bound by the Queen's
perfidy, and proceed with his family and all his house-
hold goods to Paris, travelling by the Loire to Briare,
whence he understood that it was only a day's journey
to the other river that would carry him to Paris 1 . (It is
from Briare that a canal now departs which joins the
Loire and Seine.) He would travel, he told his Antwerp
friends, as fast as winter weather would permit, but the
road was difficult, the times were dangerous, his children
were young, and his means being exhausted, it was only
by the generosity of the Genoese citizen, Furnario, that
he was enabled to meet the expenses of the journey 3 .
Of his Occult Philosophy he was at this time writing
to Father Aurelius, in answer to inquiries, and the pur-
port of his information was that such philosophy con-
sisted in a study of God through his works, and that the
key to the Occult Philosophy was Intelligence, for the
understanding of high things gives power to man, when
he is lifted by it to nearer communion with God, and
dying to the flesh has his life hidden in Christ. So it
was with the apostle who, whether in the flesh or out of
the flesh he knew not, was caught up into Paradise, and
heard unspeakable words. It is a substantial faith in
that doctrine .of Aspiration which had guided him in
youth that abides by him in his maturity ; this, he informs
Aurelius, is the key to his philosophy. " But I warn
you," he adds, " not to be deceived herein concerning me,
1 Ep. 17, Lib. v. p. 907. 2 Ep. 18, Lib. v. p. 908.
CORNELIUS DEPARTS FOR ANTWERP. 233
or think that I myself have attained any divine heights.
I have been baptised a soldier in human blood, have
almost always been attached to courts, am now bound by
a tie of the flesh to a most dear wife, am exposed, an
unstable man, to all the blasts of fortune, am wholly
turned aside by the world, the flesh, and household cares,
and have not sought after those heavenly gifts. But I
wish to be accepted as a guide who, himself standing at
all times outside the gates, shows other men where they
should enter 1 ."
Busy throughout November with the packing and the
other preparations for departure, on the fourth of De-
cember Cornelius and his wife had everything ready.
His models and inventions, with a new scheme for a
bridge, he had sent to the citizen of Genoa by whose
friendly hand he was to be assisted out of France 3 .
He had also forwarded his whole library by way of
Lorraine, addressed to Furnario, for safe keeping until he
rejoined it 3 . On the sixth the pilgrimage began, license
having been obtained for the party of ten persons to pass
to Paris. The ten persons were Cornelius Agrippa him-
self, aged forty-one ; his wife, aged twenty-four, and
delicate in health she was always referred to by Chape-
lain, who liked her heartily, as a girl, and the quality in
her upon which he seemed to dwell most was her modest
bearing ; his boy Aymon, aged about fourteen ; three
boys, of whom the eldest was not four years old, the
1 Ep. 19, Lib. v. pp. 908-910. * Ep, 20, Lib. y. p. 910.
3 Ep. 24, Lib. Y. p. 912.
234 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
youngest a baby of eight months, his wife's maid, two
young servants, and a boy as runner. With these he
had to take his household goods in many packages 1 .
They had a clear sky and the mildest winter air to favour
them, so that they reached Paris in fifteen days 2 , that is
to say, on the twentieth of December 3 . They had landed
at Briare on the fifteenth, but as Agrippa did not find
there waiting a learned friend residing in those parts to
whom he had written, and whom he desired to meet, the
travellers went on to Gien, and slept there at the inn of
the Three Kings. On the day following they crossed to
Montargis for the other water way, and Agrippa wrote to
his friend that they would wait for him two or three
days in that town, at the Golden Winepress in the Rue
St. Martin, but that it would not be possible for them to
tarry longer 4 . So they reached Paris on the twentieth,
and put up at the sign of St. Barbara, in the street called
La Harpe 5 . He expected to be detained in Paris a few
He had his safe-conduct, or passport, out of France
to wait for. Very soon he obtained the distressing
knowledge that he was to be still further tortured by
delay. The little fund that was to take the family to
Antwerp, went to pay their lodgings at the Paris inn.
The desire of Agrippa to leave France excited a desire
in the queen-mother, or in those about her, to detain him.
His request for a safe-conduct into the Netherlands was
Ep. 43, Lib. v. p. 928. 2 Ep. 27, Lib. v. p. 918.
3 Ep. 24, Lib. v. p. 912. * Ep. 21, Lib. v. p. 910.
5 Ep. 43, Lib. v. p. 928. Ep. 24, Lib. v. p. 912.
IS DETAINED IN PARIS. 235
the request of leave to pass over to the public enemy.
The sack of Rome and capture of the Pope, who was
then held by the Emperor imprisoned in the Castle of St.
Angelo, had not alarmed Bang Francis only, it strengthened
the confederacy between France and England, and led to
the devising of a vigorous attack upon the Netherlands as
the most ready way of offering a check to the Emperor's
ambition. This counsel was changed. It was thought
better to press the war in Italy, and reasonable offers of
accommodation made by Charles having been rejected, in
the month of January, 1528, heralds, who had been
despatched at about the time when Agrippa brought his
family to Paris, made the declaration of war to the
Emperor. The field of the great struggle was, as usual,
Italy ; but active hostilities, on a small scale, broke out
between France and the Netherlands, and raised on
each side of the boundary-line between those coun-
tries a tumult of disorder. Between Paris and Ant-
werp much of the ground soon came to be overrun by
military bands and hordes of plunderers. The tra-
vellers, it was then found, required not only the usual
official passport, but also a military pass from the Duke of
Vendome, and letters of safe-conduct from Margaret at
Brussels.
Chapelain, who was at St. Germain, wrote to Agrippa,
ten days after his arrival in Paris, that he had been unable
to attend to his friend's affairs, the King and his mother
having both been out of health and needing his profes-
sional attendance. The Seneschal of Lyons and some other
236 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
friends would shortly be in town, and it appeared to him
that it would be most 'easy considering the value of
Agrippa's recondite inventions for them all to recover
the Queen's grace towards him. " Tell me," he said, " a
way of restoring obliterated writing, that I may see who is
the owner of that Greek book so necessary to physicians
which is in my keeping, and restore it to him." Agrippa
sent the desired recipe, and warmly repudiated any inten-
tion of humbling himself to beseeching more of the Queen
than license to depart out of her service and safe-conduct
to the Netherlands, with a reasonable sum, if she would
pay what it was her duty to pay, for travelling expenses.
So he wrote when he had been only eleven days at Paris,
and had spent already nearly twenty gold crowns on the
cost of maintaining his household at the Harp-street inn 1 .
Sixteen days later he was still detained, receiving no
letters of dimission, but in place of them new promises of
favour, by which he was not to be deceived 2 . On the
twenty-first of January letters of dimission having been
promised by the queen-mother's Chancellor, but not pro-
duced, Agrippa, with his little ones about him, was grown
painfully impatient of the expenses of the tavern. He
had written to the Queen, and had received no answer 3 .
While he was suffering under the displeasure of the
French court because he was no juggler, and was left
with salary unpaid, it did not soften his wrath to see that
a magician, who was said to have power over demons, was
1 Ep. 23, Lib. v. p. 911. 2 Ep. 24, Lib. v. p. 912.
3 Ep. 25, Lib. v. p. 913.
EXPECTING PASSPORTS. 237
being brought at considerable cost from Germany, that
as Jannes and Mambres resisted Moses he might resist
Caesar. " You see," he said, " where they put their faith who
seek to subject the elements, nature, Providence, God, to
the command of one magician, saying as Saul, when the
Lord answered him not, said to the witch, I pray thee
divine unto me by the familiar spirit. This is done by
the most Christian king and by his mother; bishops and
cardinals connive and suffer the counsels of the Father of
Lies to be rewarded from the sacred treasures of the
Church. What profit had the mighty ones of eld from
the diviners who deluded them with promises of happy
fortune ? Did they not all come to the dust, and perish
miserably in their sins ? Those impious follies lead to
ruin, and make none more miserable than the men who
trust them most. I'do not deny that there are arts, wise
thoughts, by which, without offence to God, injury to
faith or religion, kingdoms may be defended, counsel
tested, wealth increased, enemies overcome, the good-will
of mankind conciliated, sicknesses be combated, health pre-
served, life prolonged, the vigour of youth restored : there
are also holy intercessions, public supplications, private
prayers of good men, by which not only the Divine wrath
may be averted, but the Divine blessing obtained. But if
there is beyond this any art of prescience, or of working
miracles, certainly to these triflers and slaves to the de-
mons it remains unknown. By the grave counsels of
wise men, who have sought to be filled with the spirit of
God, states may be served, not by the follies which pro-
238 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
duced the ruin of the greatest empire in the world."
Agrippa showed how a verse of Jeremiah that expressed
this in Latin (Cecidit corona nostra, vse quia peccavimus),
yielded numerals that gave the date of the capture of
King Francis at the battle of Pavia. " In vain the watch-
man wakes, except the Lord be keeper of the city. There
is only one way of averting evil, by the change of perfidy
and malice into repentance and charity, then it may be
to any man against whom judgment has been decreed, as
it was with Ahab, when the Word of the Lord came,
saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before
me ? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not
bring the evil in his days." In that spirit Agrippa was
a prophet cast out by the court of France 1 . Not because
he was a magician, but because he was a magician in the
best instead of the worst sense philosopher, not charlatan
he was despised among the courtiers ; and here we see
how, as the philosopher was passing out of France, the
charlatan was passing in ; one largely persecuted, and the
other largely paid.
The court was at Paris when Cornelius arrived there
with his family ; he went immediately to his late mistress,
and might have had his letter of dimission with no more
than a few hours' delay. The Queen at first displayed
wrath at his wish to leave her, then flattered him with
verbal inducements to remain ; finally promised letters of
safe-conduct, but requested him to wait a little time.
Soon .afterwards she went to St. Germain, and for three
1 Ep. 26, Lib. v. pp. 913-917, for the preceding.
THREE MONTHS AT AN INN. 239
months the little family of travellers was compelled to
remain at the inn in Harp-street, while the means of
safe departure were withheld, and various attempts were
made to induce Cornelius to change his resolution. At
the end of the three months he was still uncertain when
he might be able to proceed, for he was then not only
without the necessary papers, but without the neces-
sary money for the journey. The innkeeper at Paris
had received the greater part of that which was to have
been spent upon the road between Paris and Antwerp ;
and although Agrippa, having marketable knowledge,
did, after a little time, find means to live upon it in the
French capital, yet his earnings sufficed only to pay the
tavern bill, and there was little or no prospect of his being
able to lay by a fund to meet the costs of travel 1 . In the
mean time, he was meeting with old friends, forming
new friendships, learning and seeing many things of
which he had been ignorant before ; that was the only
consolation he had in his impatience at the hindrance
offered to his attainment of the rest from care that Ant-
werp seemed to him to offer 3 . His mind during this time
of detention seems to have been possessed firmly with the
belief that he had only to reach Antwerp to be at peace.
In these perplexities Agrippa saw no way of leaving
Paris unless he could borrow, and no hope of borrowing
upon his own security. If any known merchant of
Antwerp would be answerable for repayment through
him of the loan and interest after Agrippa should have
1 Ep. 27, Lib. v. pp. 917, 918. 2 Ep. 28, Lib. v. p. 919.
240 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
reached that city, the money-lenders would enable him to
move. Father Aurelius was advised with, and requested
to procure for him, if possible, the desired guarantee. He
was also to obtain for him the passport from the Princess
Margaret, without which it would not be possible to
complete safely the journey of the father, the young
mother, and the little ones, among the drawn swords of
the soldiers, and through the tumult of a people eager to
shed blood. Margaret's safe-conduct was to be sent to a
friend at Cambray, from whom Agrippa could receive it
when he had reached Peronne 1 . The military safe-con-
duct requisite to be obtained in Paris, was an order from
the Duke of Vendome to the captains engaged in the
border war to furnish him with an escort of soldiers at his
own expense, and conduct him, together with his family
ten persons in all safely across the ground they occu-
pied 2 . Some of Agrippa's friends having obtained the
written form of the desired passport, and being in favour
with the Duke, offered to procure his signature. But he,
when he saw or heard Cornelius Agrippa's name, fell
into sudden wrath, and tore the paper across, saying
that he would never sign anything in favour of a for-
tune-teller. The Duke of Vendome had been the only
prince of the blood royal left in France after the battle
of Pavia, and he would have been made Regent by
the Parisians, to the exclusion of the queen-mother, if he
had not wisely supported her authority, and acted under
her only as President of the Council. Agrippa's own re-
1 Ep. 29, Lib. v. pp. 919, 920. * Ep. 43, Lib. v. p. 927.
FOUR MONTHS AT AN INN. 241
sentment at this check to his desire was lessened by his
contempt for a prince whom he regarded as preposterously
devout and dull of wit, with comprehension of but little
beyond cups and platters. He supposed Treasurer Bar-
guyn, or some unkind courtier, to have been at the
Prince's ear, but ascribed all in the first place to the
queen-mother, who, having abused his genius by desiring
him to waste it upon astrological inanities, added to all
the other loss she brought upon him for resisting her de-
sires, the decoration of him with these titles of conjurer
or fortune-teller 1 . When the military pass was thus re-
fused him on the thirtieth of March Agrippa was in
the fourth month of his durance at the tavern. He had
sent his baggage on already to Antwerp, and on the very
next day received from Aurelius at Antwerp a letter,
which was regarded favourably by the Paris money-
lenders. He was at that time entirely without money,
and was ready to give every personal security a lender
might require, whenever on the faith of Antwerp letters he
obtained the necessary loan. That at Antwerp he should
be unable to repay, seems never to have occurred to him
as possible. Antwerp had become to him and his wife
the haven towards which they strained all their desires ;
there they were at last to prosper and to be at rest 2 .
At this time of his sore distress, one of Agrippa's
friends who is not named deserted him, and was cast
out of his friendship in a letter written after the manner
of the form of excommunication with which an offender
i Ep. 30, Lib. v. p. 920. 2 Ep. 31, Lib. v. p. 921.
VOL. II. R
242 COEJfELIUS AGRIPPA.
is expelled out of the Church 1 . It is the only instance
known of such a quarrel in the whole course of Agrippa's
life. Friends that he made he kept ; if he teazed or
scolded them sometimes, if sometimes, when sorely
pinched, he became petulant, they understood and loved
him as he loved them ; no interruption of good- will was
the result Chapelain had a letter now and then that
must have worried him, but affectionate and gentle words
usually followed in the next. Agrippa had, in fact, two
qualities that go far to make friendship stable a great
tenderness of disposition, and a habit dangerous in some
other respects of giving free expression to his thoughts.
One difficulty in the position of Agrippa while de-
tained at Paris, arose from the fact that although he had
the solace of some learned friends, he was avoided on the
whole by the Parisians as a man known to be passing
over to the enemy. By the sixteenth of April he had
received the necessary papers from the Queen Louisa,
and waited only for such as were to be signed by the
Duke of Vendome, and for those of Margaret. He
waited also for the power of borrowing sufficient money 2 .
Wanting this, he became destitute and desperate 3 . A
letter, sent by him to the Duke of Vendome, was opened
by his private secretary and suppressed, because, it was
said, nobody dared aid in soliciting again that which
had been so angrily refused 4 . Chapelaiu came to the
rescue 5 , but in vain. The queen-mother complained that
\ Ep. 32, Lib. v. p. 92L " Ep. 33, Lib. T. p. 922.
a Ep. 34, Lib. v. p. 923. 4 Ep. 35, Lib. v. pp. 923, 924.
* Ep. 36, lib. v. p. 924.
FIVE MONTHS AT AN INN. 243
Cornelius had spoken imprudently about her. So much
he confessed ; but he wished her no ill, he said nothing
worse than long life, that would enable her to see who
were false friends, who agreed with her when present
and abused her when absent : what, after all, was the
difference in value between fraudulent dissimulation and
the free tongue of plain truth 1 .
When May began, Agrippa saw no hope of travelling
till May was at an end. To the other difficulties there
were added rumours of new risings in Flanders and
Brabant. His friends all warned him against the ex-
posure of his wife and his young family to the mercies
of plunderers, who cared little for royal passes. He was
admonished to wait for a lull in the quarrel, which was
then being expected ; there were even fresh endeavours
made to win him back to service in the court of France.
He explained his position to Furnario, and requested him
to send instructions, addressed to the care of Pierre
Billardy, merchant of Paris, living in Rue St. Denis,
near the church of the Innocents. His wife sent all good
wishes, and added the expression of her eagerness to see
their friend, and to migrate to Antwerp, where the Fates
promised a rest 3 .
Some members of Agrippa's family, who have not
yet been named, travelled with him from Lyons, and re-
sided with him at the inn in Harp-street: these were his
pet dogs. There was a young family attached to one of
them. A learned friend, who had access to an influential
1 Ep. 37, Lib. v. pp. 924, 925. 2 Ep. 38, Lib. v. pp. 925, 926.
R2
244 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
courtier, M. Nicolas, seems to have been bribed with a
pup: he wrote word, that without wishing to dictate, he
would prefer a male 1 ; and afterwards wrote that M.
Nicolas, who had intended to get the necessary signature
to a form of pass supplied by Cornelius, had dropped
the form and lost it, as he said : also, that it was quite wise
that the male pup should be allowed to stay a little
longer by its mother 3 . Soon afterwards, Agrippa was
invited to meet at a supper-party this important M.
Nicolas 3 , but excused himself because his heart turned
from the importunities by which he seemed to be now
doomed to support his household, as if they were made
the substitute for honest labour 4 . On the sixth of May,
Chapelain wrote to him that what he wanted was already
prepared. He positively had letters of safe-conduct, signed
even by the King, made out for ten persons, during
six months following the twenty-fifth of February. The
one document needed was the instruction to the military
captains from the Duke, and even these would of course
leave them, with what military escort they could afford
to maintain, to take their own chance against actual
banditti 5 .
Among the learned friends made by Agrippa while in
Paris, M. Fine, or Orontius, is not to be forgotten. He
was a mathematician, who, like Agrippa, had a great taste
for mechanical inventions. He also, in the course of
1 Ep. 39, Lib. v. p. 926. 2 Ep. 40, Lib. v. p. 926.
3 ' Ep. 41, Lib. v. p. 927. 4 Ep. 42, Lib. v. p. 927.
5 Ep. 43, Lib. v. pp. 927, 928.
SIX MONTHS AT AN INN. 245
his life, suffered imprisonment for having discovered bad
omens for France among the stars. He earned wide
fame as a geographer, was married and had a family,
with which Agrippa's wife made herself intimate. "We
find that when Agrippa writes to M. Fine, his wife sends
in the note kind greetings to Madame Fine and her
daughters 1 . Cornelius and his whole household re-
mained in good health, though he and his wife were
almost laid up with grief at their ruinous detention.
Much money was owing from the court, of which they
did not hope to receive a coin; whatever was earned, was
spent in payment of the tavern bill. " Armed with wit
and pen," Agrippa wrote, " I fight at the paper, and that
is my only solace here 2 ."
His trouble was not at the worst. In the middle of
June, when he had nearly completed his sixth month in
Paris, news came of his library that had been sent on
from Lyons to Antwerp, and of his other luggage that
had been more lately forwarded from Paris. All was
detained on the frontier. French property was pro-
scribed in Flanders, and unless Agrippa could prove that
he was detained in France against his will, and had left
the queen-mother's service before war broke out, his
books and household goods were to be confiscated. He
wrote to Chapelain on this, and added to his note, " My
lamenting wife salutes you, and prays that you will have
1 Ep. 44, Lib. v. p. 928. This is the Orontius who refused to meet
Cardan. Life of Jerome Cardan (1854), vol. ii. pp. 96-98.
2 Ep. 45, Lib. v. p. 929.
246 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
pity on our lot, and help us. From our tavern, June 14,
1528 1 ."
When Father Aurelius, at Antwerp, received news of
this climax of sorrow, he bestirred himself, and on the
second of July sent word 2 that he was seeking to provide
a travelling fund, and hoped that a remittance would
come to his friend's hand even sooner than the letter he
was writing. The case remained, however, nearly in the
same state for another fortnight. As for the Duke of
Vendome, he refused always to admit the scholar to his pre-
sence 3 ; and Agrippa then, entrusting to William Forbot,
his wife's relation, the protection of his family till he re-
turned, himself took horse and crossed the frontier, to
seek personally the help without which Antwerp never
could be reached by his wife and children.
He arrived there on the twenty-third of July 4 , to
find Father Aurelius absent, none knowing whither he
was gone 5 . During a whole month Cornelius searched
Antwerp for his friends. Both Aurelius and Augustine
Furnario were absent; other friends he found, none eager
on his behalf. At the end of a month news came from
Aurelius, not of the most cheering, although of a friendly
character 6 . On the same day, a letter arrived with tidings
from the feeble little household waiting and depending
on his efforts, in their desolate inn-lodging at Paris. The
mother had fallen sick, her kinsman wrote. " Alas ! " he
1 Ep. 46, Lib. v. pp. 929, 930. * Ep. 47, Lib. v. p. 930.
Ep. 50, Lib. v. p. 931. * Ep. 51, Lib. v. p. 932.
5 Ep. 53, Lib. v. p. 932. 6 Ep. 54, Lib. v. p. 933.
ESCAPES ALONE TO ANTWERP. 247
replied 1 , " what do you announce, my dearest cousin?
My dearest wife labouring undex so perilous a disease,
and she with child, and I absent, who had scarcely, been
able at great risk of my life to depart alone, that at last I
might find means to bring into safety her who is to me
my only soul, my spirit, my wit, my salvation, my life?
Ah me, how wretchedly this die has fallen ! I am here
now in wretched agony. iSy wife is at Paris, miserably
perishing, and I cannot come near her with any solace;
my children are in tears, the whole family mourn, and
this sword passes through her soul. Oh that I only could
bear the hurt and she be safe ! What shall I do? Whi-
ther shall I turn? Whom shall I implore? Except
yourself I have here no one. I know that she who is
present presses heavily upon you, and that I absent am
obliged to be burdensome to you in letters: but I ask
forgiveness, for I have none other to whom I may be
burdensome; in you alone is my whole hope, and you
will heed my prayers as I heed you and put faith in you.
Spare not cost, spare not attention; call any physicians,
so that they be the best, and let my wife recover. In
thus doing you will equally help me and bind us all to
you for ever. Farewell, and tell me everything without
delay. Written with haste, at Antwerp, August 24,
1528."
She did recover, gradually, and the fortunes of Cor-
nelius recovered with her. Augustine Furnario returned
in August to Antwerp, and was helpful 2 . The first fruit
1 Ep. 55, Lib. v. p. 933. 2 Ep. 56, Lib. T. p. 934.
248 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
of Agrippa's efforts to obtain money enough for the con-
veyance of his family from Paris had been eight crowns
and a half, forwarded to his kinsman by Michael de
Moneglia. In October, however, he was able to send
sixty crowns 1 , with a letter, begging that his friend would
at once add, from his own resources, what more money
was necessary, which he would repay in good faith, and
never ask again for a like favour. If he would do that,
they were saved, but without such aid, they must despair
again 3 . Forbot replied to Agrippa that his wife had re-
covered slowly, and was only now able to undertake the
difficulties of the journey; but that she was able now,
and therefore that they would set out 3 . It will be seen
that Agrippa set aside the difficulty raised by the Duke
of Vendome, by travelling alone, without his military
pass and at his own peril, across the disturbed frontier.
Afterwards, when the person asking leave to take an
escort for himself and his companions was not Cornelius
Agrippa but William Forbot, there was no obstacle to
conquer. In safety, therefore, on the fifth of November,
1528, Forbot arrived, with Agrippa's wife and children,
at Mechlin 4 . With all speed Cornelius joined them, and
the pleasant laughter of new friends over his joy 5 shows
how little he had been able to conceal his careful love
during their absence.
1 Ep. 58, Lib. v. pp. 934, 935. 2 Ep. 57, Lib. v. p. 934.
3 Ep. 58, Lib. v. p. 935. * Ep. 60, Lib. v. p. 935.
* Ep. 61, Lib. v. p. 936.
REUNITED WITH HIS FAMILY. 249
CHAPTER XII.
A TEAR AT ANTWERP, AND ITS CHANGES.
ANT WEEP friends, after the arrival of his wife and
family, began to multiply about Cornelius Agrippa.
Among the learned and the noble he found helpers and
companions. He was honoured in families. We find him,
in a very short time, pleading wisely the cause of a
father with a son who had fled from law studies attracted
by the glitter of the court, counselling in gentle language
wisdom to the young, forbearance to the old 1 . Practising
as a physician, he obtained quickly a credit that extended
beyond Antwerp to adjoining towns, and caused him to
be sought by wealthy patients 2 . He obtained credit at
court, and the winning ways of his wife commended him
and his household, not less than his own learning, to the
favour of Margaret of Austria 3 . He obtained by her ap-
pointment very soon a formal position at court as In-
diciary Councillor, or Councillor in the matter of the Ar-
1 Ep. 62-65, 67, Lib. v. pp. 936-939, 940. 2 Ep. 71, Lib. v. p. 942.
* Ep. 81, Lib. v. p. 948.
250 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
chives, and Historiographer to the Emperor. These titles
were given to him already in the January after his arrival
in the Netherlands, when, on the seventh of the month,
he obtained license to print and possess for six years the
copyright of his works 1 . The early work, written in
honour of Margaret, on the Nobility and Pre-eminence of
Woman, with some smaller writings, formed the first
publication. This must have been published at Antwerp
in the year 1529, or early in the year 1530 2 , though of this,
its first edition, beyond reference of his own to it, no trace
is at present extant. In addition to the successes thus
achieved, there occurred even a chance of Agrippa's
appointment as successor to the physician of the most Se-
rene Princess Margaret, who, with large offers, was being
tempted back to his own country. Interest was made on
behalf of Agrippa, but the vacancy did not arise. The
old physician's salary was raised, and he remained at
Mechlin. All went well, and on the thirteenth of March,
1529, a little more than five months after her arrival at
Antwerp, Agrippa's wife became the mother of another
son, born, as it seemed, to happy fortune 3 . His father's
fame was spreading. They talked of him at Ghent as a
man gifted with rare knowledge*. He was summoned in
June by one patient, a secretary's wife, who offered the
most liberal pay, from Antwerp to Louvain, and by
another patient, in July, to Mechlin 5 . Pupils sought his
1 A copy of the license is prefixed to all the early publications.
2 In December, 1530, he speaka of it as a known publication already
extant. Ep. 8, Lib. vi. p. 961. * Ep. 68, Lib. v. p. 941.
4 Ep. 70, Lib. v. p. 942. 5 Ep. 71, 73, Lib. v. pp. 942, 943.
PROSPERITY AGRIPPA'S DOGS. 251
instruction ; one of them was John Wier, son of a citizen
of Gravelines, who became an illustrious scholar and
physician. He was a boy of fourteen or fifteen when
in Agrippa's house ; and afterwards, when it was almost
heresy to say a good word for his early teacher, whose
memory the priests had befouled, he spoke of him lovingly,
and ventured to defend his reputation against the charge
of having had a familiar spirit in form of a dog, by telling
of the foolish fondness he had seen him show when at
Antwerp for his dogs, especially for two whom he had
brought from France, and used to call Monsieur and
Mademoiselle. Monsieur used often to lie on the table
by his master's papers when he wrote, and even slept
sometimes upon Agrippa's bed. That Monsieur was the
little black dog who was afterwards identified by the
Church with the Prince of Darkness 1 .
While Agrippa was away from home, attending on a
wealthy patient dangerously ill at Mechlin, his secretary-
wrote home-news to him. His little wife no rare thing
in those days could neither write nor read. The tone
of these letters in which even the scribe writes affec-
tionately shows how peacefully and pleasantly his home
was ordered. Let us dwell upon it ; for it is the last
glimpse of his happiness that we shall have. The wife
had been in weak health since her last confinement. u All
are safe at home," ran one of the reports ; u your wife be-
1 Wierus, De Prcustigiis Damonum, Lib. ii. cap. v. (Opera ed. Amst.
1660), p. 111. Wier appended this and like matter to the chapter cited,
only in later editions of his -work, when, he said, he could keep silence no
longer.
252 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
comes stronger and stronger every hour, the children are
happy, chirrup, laugh, and grow. Mary" (that was the
nurse, called in the household Mary the Greater; there
was another little maid, whom her master called Mary the
Less) " Mary sedulously watches over your wife's health.
Tarot, Franza, Musa, with the concubines" (these are his
dogs), " day and night make themselves heard, and
threaten torture against thieves; but they trot so con-
stantly about the lawn that I fear lest they be changed
from dogs to garden deities, or husbandmen, or, at any
rate, philosophers, that is to say, of the academic sort.
For the rest of the company here, the nurse nurses ;
Hercules" (a man-servant) " is herculean ; Aurelius works
in the laboratory. All, in fact, goes well. I set at rest
your notary, who came here in your name ; I wonder
that you did not give me any kind of hint about him.
Everything else I have done to the best of my ability.
Your wife bids me write this that you may address yourself
with an easier mind to the healing of your patient, and be
able to come back to her the sooner. She wishes you
fortune, health, and all the happiness you ask, and wishes
to be very much commended to you 1 ." Agrippa replied
in the same tone these letters were passing in the middle
of July especially inquired about the progress of a slow
distillation that he had left behind him to be watched
carefully in his laboratory, and, in a postscript, said that if
the young servant to be sent by the master of the Oratory
. Ep. 72, Lib. v. pp. 942, 943.
DOMESTIC HAPPINESS. 253
came, he was to be either received into the house, or sent
to him at Mechlin 1 .
" Your most ancient wife, Mary the Greater, and the
host of dogs salute you," said the answer. " We were on
the point of sitting down to dinner when your note was
brought ; how sweet it made the dinner of your little
wife it is beyond my speech to tell 3 ." The patient at
Mechlin was dying, and he and his friends pleaded with
Agrippa that he should not quit him until all was over.
A servant who brought one of the letters from Antwerp
told Agrippa that his wife was well, except feeling uneasy
in her stomach. On that account he was desirous to re-
turn to her, and expected that in two or three days either
his patient's death or a change in him for the better
would enable the physician to rejoin his family 3 . The
next household budget informed him that Father Aurelius
wished for his return, and that his wife was not only re-
stored in health, but that her whole aspect was changed.
While the letter was being written she was in the highest
spirits, but had not, up to that date, gone out of doors, for
she waited till the weather mended. (During this month
of July the rains were very heavy 4 .) " She greets you,"
said the scribe, " a thousand times, and grieves that she
cannot write so as to be able to make merry with you in
letters. She asks, also, that as soon as you can tear your-
self from that place, you run to us for the comfort of your
friends. This I write from her lips at eleven o'clock at
1 Ep. 73, Lib. v. p. 943. 2 Ep. 74, Lib. v. p. 943.
3 Ep. 75, Lib. v. p. 944. Ep. 80, Lib. v. p. 947. ,
254 COKXELIUS AGEIPPA.
night, after receipt of yours. Farewell, and take care of
your health. Tarot, Franza, Musa, Ciccone, Balassa are
well, salute you, and cry for your return. Mary the
Greater greets you; the Less, with Hercules and Mar-
garet, can bear your absence easily for some time longer.
Again, farewell 1 ."
This is the next happy letter, and, alas ! the very last.
" While I write to you, your wife stands at my right
hand and Mary at my left, both of them dictating, so
that if I write amiss, you must fojgive, for neither my
ears nor my hands are made of iron. First, your wife
had a letter from you to-day, which, because it was written
in French {write the next time in Latin, that I may in-
terpret, for I am a Roman, not a Gaul), I could not read
to her correctly. But of what can you complain? Your
wife is strong, her beauty is come back, she wants no-
thing on .earth but your constant presence, and for that
longs continually. But as she is not less prudent and
honest than she is fair, she weighs the gain and credit
you obtain by your long absence, if your patient will
begin to get a little better: therefore she bears bravely
these days of solitude. You must, therefore, study to
cure him, for his own sake and to please your wife.
Mary is well, and after you return -will have little to do.
The dogs trot about the lawn, now surround their mis-
tress, now sleep, bark, devour. The children are in the
best health. You have no cause at all for troubles, no
friend to distrust : while there is spirit in my body I shall
1 Ep. 76, Lib. v. p. 945.
THE WIFE KILLED BY THE PLAGUE. 255
love you wholly. Everything proceeds happily. I will
write more fully to-morrow ; just now the departure of
the messenger, the dogs, the dinner, everything brings
disturbance to my pen 1 ."
But the letter of the morrow said that the wife had
passed a wretched night, that there were signs of the return
of her old malady, that they were persuading her to send
for a doctor, but that she wished to have no one but her
husband 3 . He hurried to her instantly. Plague raged in
Antwerp, and Agrippa's wife was stricken.
She had been ailing since Easter. Skilled attendance,
nurses, medicines, the most anxious care, sparing no cost,
had been engaged on her behalf. Three times she had
recovered and relapsed. She had enjoyed an entire
month of health when she was seized by the plague. An
abscess opened in her groin; she suffered heats, pain,
change of expression, redness of the face, inflammation of
the jaws, wretched anxiety, and nervous spasms ; she spat
blood ; the exhalation from her body became horribly
foetid 3 ; great plague-spots broke out over her whole
body ; finally in her husband's arms she died, and so at
Antwerp did indeed come to her rest.
" I am lost," wrote Agrippa to Forbot, her kinsman 4 ,
u for I have lost her who was the only solace of my life,
the sweetest consolation in my labours, my most loved
wife. Ah, she is lost to me, and dead, but eternal glory
1 Ep. 77, Lib. T. p. 945. 2 Ep. 78, Lib. v. p. 946.
3 Agrippa describes in a letter the symptoms and treatment of the
plague raging this summer at Antwerp. Ep. 85, Lib. v. pp. 952-954.
* Ep. 81, Lib. v. pp. 947-949.
256 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
covers her. She had been well for nearly a whole month,
was in all things prosperous and joyous, fortune smiled on
us from all sides, and already we were engaged in furnish-
ing a new and larger house, against the new days that
were coming to us, when on the last St. Lawrence's-day
a violent pestilential fever attacked her, with abscess of
the groin: remedies of every suitable kind were instantly
applied ; nothing that could help us in the house, or out
of it, was overlooked; the most diligent watching and
attendance were added, and I did not withdraw one step
from her side by day or night ; nobody fled from her,
so much was she beloved by all: already on the fourth
day she appeared a little better ; but, woe is me, no reme-
dies availed, and on the seventh day, which was the
seventh of August, at about nine in the morning, with
great difficulty, but a clear intellect, a soul firm towards
God and an innocent conscience, while we stood round
she rendered up her spirit, the plague pouring itself
through the entire body in large blotches. Ah, she is
dead, to my greatest sorrow, to my greatest hurt, to the
greatest disadvantage of our children, to the greatest
grief of all who knew her. Within twenty- three days of
the age of twenty-six, she was known everywhere for her
goodness, and loved and reverenced for her rare modesty.
She lived with me, as you know, for eight years all but a
month, always in the utmost love and peace ; there never
was between us anger upon which the sun went down.
All my hard fortune, poverty, exile, flight, perils, she bore
with me in patience, and already all our troubles were
DESPAIR. 257
surmounted, and we were about to lead thenceforth a
cheerful, quiet life. The Princess Margaret was seeking
her because of the virtues that she heard ascribed to her
on every side, and there were several opportunities of
wealth and honour in our hands. She had been dead
only two hours when there came to our house fresh
tidings of prosperity. Nothing would have been wanting
to our happiness in this world had she but survived; but
woe is me, she has perished, and with her for me has
perished all. My spirit is beaten down, my mind pro-
strated, and my life still in danger from contagion ; there
remains for me no consolation. My house is left in the
hands of the nurse and Hercules, ill guarded. My sons,
with the little nursemaid Mary, taken to another house,
were, after a few days, through the sordid petulance of a
wicked girl, turned out and obliged to find a new asylum.
I am alone in some tavern with one servant, and he
sickening. I lie apart, day and night weeping for my
dearest wife, enduring torture. Augustine and Aurelius
visit me daily; they never deserted me and my dear wife,
in any affliction, any peril of contagion. Oh, that you had
been by, my Forbot, how much solace you would have
brought. Ah, how often did she speak of you when
dying how often sigh for you. She bade me speak to
you her last farewell, and write this, praying that you
will forgive her if she ever sinned against you, and de-
voutly pray for her to God. But in her former illnesses
she vowed a visit to St. Claudius ; this burden, in dying,
she imposed upon you, supplicating you, whenever you
VOL. n. S
258 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
return to the home country, or chance to travel near, that
you will turn for her sake to the threshold of that saint
and offer for her holy prayers and waxen images, that you
may free her from this vow. This I now beg of you in
her name, and I will myself do the same thing for her,
if I survive. And I beg you that the money which
you were to have spent in buying for her a gold chain,
you will now put to better use in alms or oblations for the
repose of her soul. Much remains, my dearest Forbot, of
which I must speak with you, about the disposal of the
residue of my life, and the provision for our unhappy little
ones. But these things require to be discussed by speech.
I have indeed good friends here, who advise me wisely in
this way and in that ; but in you my firmest trust is
placed for counsel: so my dearest, dying wife enjoined,
that I should look to you as to my friend and the pro-
tector of our children. Farewell, and pray to God for me
and for the salvation of my dearest wife, your kinswoman,
of whose salvation, however, I am so far from having
doubt, that I implore her constantly with pious prayers to
be my intercessor before Christ."
Hercules and the elder nurse Maria died, the younger
nurse and a servant also caught the plague, and with diffi-
culty were recovered 1 . Regular physicians had fled from
the town, and the most active and able man who remained
Was an unlicensed practitioner, to whom, when he was
persecuted afterwards by the brethren of the craft in
Antwerp, Agrippa gave a most emphatic testimonial of
1 E P . 84, Lib. v. p. 951.
SOUGHT BY THE GREAT. 259
praise 1 . Over Cornelius himself and all his children the
disease passed, leaving them untouched, nor was the
bereaved man suffered to remain long weeping " in some
tavern ;" his friend Augustine Furnario took him into his
house. And it was in this hour of affliction when she
was gone for whom he would have rejoiced to prosper
that there seemed to be no bound to his prospect of ad-
vancement in prosperity. Henry VIII. of England was
inviting him, and offering great things, which he did not
choose to accept. The chancellor of the Emperor Charles
V. wished to attach him to his master's court, and tempted
him with brilliant offers of advancement if he entered the
Imperial service. Furnario received letters from Italy, in
which a marquis, whom Cornelius had known Monferrat,
probably entreated him to come to Italy with all his
household, while, at the court of the Netherlands, Mar-
garet offered honourable conditions of service, with emo-
luments less tempting. " Which I shall choose," Agrippa
said 2 , " I know not. I would rather live free than go
into service. It becomes me, however, to consult not my
own pleasure, but the well-being of my children."
1 Ep. 7, Lib. vL p. 959. * Ep. 84, Lib. v. pp. 951, 952.
82
260 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
CHAPTER XIII.
IN GAOL AT BRUSSELS.
AGRIPPA, during a few months before and after the
death of his second wife, enjoyed at Antwerp high repute
as scholar and physician. Every man of letters visiting
the town made haste to call upon him, sometimes with,
sometimes without letters of recommendation from others
of the learned 1 . There are various indications in his cor-
respondence of this sort of life. A student of occult
knowledge asks help from him 3 . A stranger lodging in a
tavern rises with the light to hasten to Agrippa's house,
and being told by the old woman who has become house-
keeper in place of the deceased wife that he has slept
abroad, hurries back to his inn and asks the philosopher
to dinner 3 . To a friend impatient to be visited, and to be
shown Schepper's table of geomancy, he writes that he
will certainly come at the end of a week, but that he has
been detained by attendance on the death-bed of his own
physician 4 .
1 Ep. 2, Lib. vi. pp. 954, 955. 2 Ep. 5, Lib. vi. p. 958.
* Ep. 6, Lib. vi. p. 959. * Ep. 17, Lib. vi. p. 969.
IMPERIAL HISTOEIOGRAPHER. 261
When first established happily in Antwerp, Cornelius
had lost no time in setting about the fulfilment of a natural
desire to get his writings printed, but it was not until the
year (1530) following his wife's death that some of them
were published.
One of the first things that appeared was the Histo-
riette of the recent Double Coronation of the Emperor at
Bologna by Pope Clement VII. This was the beginning
of his labour in the office of Imperial historiographer and
keeper of the archives. It is a minute description of the
ceremonies observed, and other incidents of the coronation,
drawn up after the manner of old chroniclers, from the
details forwarded at the time out of Italy to Margaret,
and by her entrusted to the Imperial historiographer, for
prompt digestion and publication 1 . The event happened
at the close of February, in the year 1530, and the
finished history was presented in the same year, without
any loss of time, to the princess at Brussels. Wherefore,
Agrippa told her, in reading it, she would pardon him if
its language were not worthy of a pomp so famous, and
he promised at the same time that he never would be
wanting in faithfulness of narration, diligence of investi-
gation, or industry in the celebration of her honour and
that of her race, but that he would labour all his life to
make it certain that the place she had given to him was
1 H. C. A. Armatce milit'ue Equltis Aurati, Ccesarece Maiestatis a Consiliis
et Archivis Indiciarii, De Duplici Coronation*, Casaris apud Bononiam His-
toriola. Opera, Tom. ii. pp. 1121-1145.
262 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
not ill bestowed 1 . To her minister he wrote at the same
time, saying that he had fulfilled Margaret's commands,
and dedicated to her the first fruits of his new vocation,
the dignity of which he commended, and of which at the
same time he did not omit to hint that, among the Greeks
and Romans, historiographers who celebrated the great
deeds of kings lived with them as witnesses of their
acts, were treated with all honour, and paid also with
liberality 3 . There was much need for a suggestion of this
kind, because Cornelius had office given to him, and work
found for him, and salary promised to him in a formal
document, assured by the Imperial seal ; but he had not,
up to the time when he wrote thus, received a ducat.
This difficulty ceased to be a temporary one upon the
publication of the Vanity of Sciences and Arts. In De-
cember, 1530, Cornelius had a printed copy of this work,
which he could send to a friend, greatly deploring the in-
numerable printer's errors it contained. The treatise
upon the Nobility and Pre-eminence of Woman, at last
dedicated to Margaret, in fulfilment of the intention
cherished by its author in his youth, had been issued
a short time previously, in a little book, together with the
Essays upon Matrimony, upon Original Sin, upon the
Knowledge of God, the Avoidance of Gentile Theology,
the Expostulation with Catilinet, &c. 3 The little book of
Essays did no mischief, but the publication of the Vanity
1 Ep. 3, Lib. vi. p. 956. 2 Ep. 4, Lib. vi. P . 957.
3 Ep. 8, Lib. vi. p. 961. But of either of these early editions I do not
know where there is now a copy to be found.
PUBLISHES THE VANITY OF SCIENCES. 263
of Sciences effected finally the ruin of the author's for-
tunes.
What the book was, and under what circumstances it
was written, we have seen. The writing of it was, I have
no doubt, suggested by Erasmus, through his Moriae En-
comium, or Praise of Folly. In that pleasant satire we
find passages that seem to have supplied directly the idea
of Agrippa's volume. This, for example : " Ay, but (say
our patrons of wisdom) the knowledge of arts and sciences
is purposely attainable by men, that the defect of natural
parts may be supplied by the help of acquired ones. As if
it were probable that nature, which has been so exact and
curious in the mechanism of flowers, herbs, and flies,
should have bungled most in her masterpiece, and made
man as it were by halves, to be afterwards polished and
refined by his own industry, in the attainment of such
sciences as the Egyptians feigned were invented by their
god Theuth as a plague surely and punishment to man-
kind, for they are so far from augmenting happiness that
they do not answer that end for which they were first de-
signed, which was the improvement of memory, as Plato
in his Phasdrus cleverly observes." Erasmus also had
treated the callings of the lawyer, the physician, the
divine, in successive sketches, much upon the plan which
Agrippa seems to have expanded ; he had spoken also
precisely as Agrippa spoke of the scholastic theologians,
and was not more friendly than Agrippa in his satire on
the Pope and on the monks. But in the interval of
nearly twenty years that had elapsed between the publica-
264 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
tions of the Praise of Folly and the Vanity of Science,
the great struggle against church corruption had become
every year more earnest and momentous. Harder blows
were exchanged ; Agrippa, too, was not content to risk a
mortal combat with corruption in the church, he must
needs fight in earnest against vices of the court, and
therefore had more than the priests for enemies. The
mere attack on the deficiencies of art and science was no
dangerous proceeding. It expressed a feeling of the time
when many were becoming conscious that a great deal
of the wisdom of the day was made of words alone.
Agrippa's volume had not been long published when a
scholar at Comines sent to the author for inspection and
correction a work very similar in plan 1 .
At this period for him so critical, the patroness was lost
whose friendship had been sought so long, and for so short
a time enjoyed. Margaret died at the age of fifty- two,
and the second work of the historiographer also com-
plete before the close of the year 1530 was to narrate at
some length the story of her life in the form of a polished
funeral oration 2 . This panegyric is the last of Cornelius
Agrippa's published speeches. A short speech composed
for the son of Christiern, King of Denmark, to be deli-
vered by him in the presence of the Emperor, written at
Antwerp ; and another that had been written at Paris,
for use by a relative, on being admitted bachelor of
1 Ep. 9, Lib. vi. pp. 961-963.
2 Oratio, habita in funere divse Margaretae Austriacorum et Burgundorum
Principis seterna memoria dignissimae. Opera, Tom. ii. pp. 1098-1120.
DEATH OF THE PRINCESS MARGARET. 265
theology, are all his other writings of this kind that
have not been already mentioned. The funeral oration
was dedicated formally to Jean de Carondelet, Arch-
bishop of Palermo, lately Margaret's ecclesiastical coun-
cillor, who, upon her decease, had civil charge over the
provinces that she had ruled 1 . The letter to the Arch-
bishop was dated from Mechlin, in which town Cornelius
was staying, probably to look after his salary, in the last
days of the year 1530.
At the beginning of the next year he was at Antwerp
again, busy with his printer. On the thirteenth of
January he was sending to press the close of the first book
of Occult Philosophy. He had designed to print the whole,
but was checked by prudential suggestions. He complained
to his printer that the bookseller had sent him copies of
the Vanity of Sciences in loose sheets, and not bound as
he had promised ; asked for an account of copies sold, and
himself forwarded some money received for copies pur-
chased from himself, promising at the same time that he
would look money up from other sources 2 . It is to be
supposed, therefore, that he was publishing these books at
his own risk.
The printing of the first issue of Cornelius Agrippa's
Occult Philosophy, by John Graphaeus of Antwerp, was
completed in the month of February, 1531, after which
date the book was sold by him at the sign of the Lime
Tree, in the street called the Lombardenveste 3 . It is
1 Ep. 10, Lib. vi. p. 963. * Ep. 11, Lib. vi. p. 964.
1 Henrici Cor. Agrippce db Nettesheym, a Consiliis et Archivis Indidarii
266 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
elegantly printed, paged only by the numbering of the
sheets, from A to V ; is entitled Agrippa's Three Books
of Occult Philosophy, and sets out with an index, giving
heads of chapters to the entire work. But at the end of
the first book the publication closes with the following
announcement : " To THE READER. Candid reader, the
author of this most divine work intended to bring to light
also the second and third book, which are indeed pro-
mised to readers at the beginning of the work, but sud-
denly almost, and unexpectedly, the death of the sainted
Margaret, as well as other cares, changed his course, and
compelled him to desist from what he had begun. But
it is not to be doubted that when he has understood this
little book not to be scorned, and to be not wholly un-
welcome to the learned, he will edit also the other two.
At present receive this, and embrace with good will the
most occult mysteries and secrets of the divinest things
that are contained in it. Farewell."
Prefixed to the work is a copy of the Imperial privilege
to Agrippa, dated the seventh of January, 1529, granting
him six years' copyright of this and other writings,
namely, the Declamation on the Vanity of Sciences, the
Commentaries upon the Ars Brevis of Raymond Lully,
and the Collection of his Letters and Orations. Then
follows the author's address to the reader, in which he
does not doubt that a great number of persons will be
sacra Ccesarce Maiestatis. De Occulta Philosophia. Libri Tres. Antuerpiae,
Anno MDXXXI. The book is described from my own copy. It is very
PUBLISHES ONE BOOK OF OCCULT PHILOSOPHY. 267
attracted to his book by the rarity of the subject, of
whom many will read carelessly and misunderstand, many
will cry out against it even before they have quite read
the title, call him a wizard, a demoniac, a superstitious
man, and a magician. He reminds his readers that the
Eastern magi were the first who came with worship to the
Lord. He advises those who cannot overcome their
hatred of a name to leave his work unread, and asks
people of more equanimity to read with discretion, throw-
ing aside what they do not like as matter not commended
to them, but narrated only. " I confess," he says, " that
there are many very vain things and curious prodigies
taught for the sake of ostentation in books of magic ; cast
them aside as emptiness, but do not refuse to know their
causes." . . . Again he says, " where I err, or have too
freely spoken, pardon my youth, for I was less than a
youth when I composed this work, so that I might excuse
myself and say, When I was a child I spoke as a child, I
had knowledge as a child, but now that I am a man I
have put away from me childish things, and a great part
of what is in this book I have retracted in my book upon
the Vanity and Uncertainty of Sciences. But here again
you perhaps reply to me, by saying : If you wrote this
when a youth, and retracted it when older, why have you
now printed it?" He then explains how, when it was
first written, he had meant some day to mature and com-
plete it ; but after a time, corrupt, rough, and defective
copies began passing from hand to hand in Italy, France,
and Germany; "and some, I know not whether more
268 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
through impatience than through impudence, designed to
commit that crude work to the press. Mastered by this
evil, I thought it would be less dangerous to edit the work
myself, a little improved by my own correction, than to
let it get abroad in undigested fragments from the hands
of other people. Besides, I thought it no crime if I saved
a specimen of the toil of my youth from perishing. I
have added a few chapters, and have also inserted many
things which it would be incurious to have passed over,
these the critical reader can detect easily from the
inequality of composition ; for I did not wish to write the
entire work anew, and, as they say, to weave the entire
fabric afresh, but to correct a little, and infuse a little
brightness. Wherefore, again I ask you, candid reader,
not to judge the book according to the time when it is
published, but to pardon the curiosity of youth, if you find
in it anything displeasing."
He adds next his letter to Trithemius, written when
the book was written, twenty years previously, with the
abbot's answer ; then, finally, he dedicates his publication
to the Reverend Father in Christ, and most Illustrious
Prince Hermann, Count of Wied, Archbishop of Co-
logne.
Hermann, Archbishop of Cologne, was showing kind-
ness to Agrippa ; his other friend of the same family, the
literary Hermann, Count of Neuwied, had died suddenly
at the age of thirty-nine, in the preceding year. The good-
will of the Archbishop, Agrippa was, by predilection and
by policy, disposed to cultivate ; he had attachment to
THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 269
the family, and he was in need of clerical support. He
might be in need even of a patron, for since Margaret's
death his dependence on the favour of the Emperor had
been more uncertain than ever, and his Vanity of Sciences
having made enemies of courtiers, treasurers, and priests,
nothing could have better pleased those eager to ruin him
than that he should have immediately afterwards published
his book of Occult Science, which gave them their re-
venge in the opportunity of persecuting him as a ma-
gician.
The salary that had been promised him as historio-
grapher, and upon the credit of which he had been
obliged to incur debts, was never paid ; he was, more-
over, traduced to the Emperor, and libels of the most
malignant and absurd description, founded on his cha-
racter of wizard, began to be industriously set afloat.
His book of Occult Science was freely read ; and in the
same year that it was published at Antwerp there ap-
peared an edition of it in Paris also 1 . In this year, too,
the Vanity of Sciences, printed for the first time the year
before in quarto, at Antwerp, was reprinted, with cor-
rection of the many printer's errors, both at Antwerp and
Cologne ; and two editions more of the same work ap-
peared in the year following 2 . The books excited at once
very much attention and no little praise, whereby was in-
creased the virulence of the hostility they braved.
The financiers were glad of an excuse that covered
1 Ep. 26, Lib. vii. p. 1033.
z Jocher's Gelehrten Lexicon : Fortsetzung. Art. Agrippa.
270 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
their neglect in payment of Agrippa's salary. Certainly
Margaret had ordered them 1 to pay him what was just
when she appointed him historiographer ; and to his first
applications for some payment, made to Count Hoch-
straten, who was in charge of the finance, or to the Arch-
bishop of Palermo, chief of the council, the reply always
was encouragement to be at ease upon the subject, since he
would not fail to receive the remuneration proper to his
office. It was his misfortune to put faith in these fair
words, and by his trust in them at last to be reduced to
the most wretched state of debt and want. After the
death of Margaret, his only trust was in Charles V., to
whom he for months paid suit ; but the end of it was
only the stirring in the Emperor of extreme wrath against
him for the matter written in his book upon the Vanity of
Sciences, and he would even have been put to death had
not two reverend and learned cardinals pleaded his cause at
court, and actively assisted him at home : these friends being
Everard de la Mark, Bishop of Liege, and the Cardinal
Campegio. The steward of the Bishop of Cologne's house-
hold, who was a scholar, and Agrippa's friend, had pre-
sented the offending books to Hermann, who received
them favourably 2 . Cornelius was at that time towards
the end of January, 1531, in great want and had just
learnt how much peril he had escaped, from anger that
1 The groundwork of the succeeding narrative is taken from Agrippa's
statement of his case to the new Regent, Mary of Austria. Ep. 21, Lib.
vii. pp. 1020-1027. This is the reference, on money matters in Brabant,
when no other is cited.
2 Ep. U, Lib. vi. p. 968.
SALARY UNPAID CREDITORS PRESSING. 271
had been raised against him by the priests. They had
touched even the mind of the late Princess Margaret, so
that he might have perished if she had survived, while he
was actually then in peril from the Emperor, to whom
offence against the cowl had, through King Ferdinand,
been represented as offence against religion, " Emperor
Charles," he says, " is in great wrath, and denounces me
with I know not what blistering menaces, so that I know
not what to expect from my book on Vanity, except that
which I promised myself in the preface 1 ." At this time a
Reformer writes him, with grace and peace in the Lord,
encouragement to persevere in the free profession of the
glory of Christ, and asks him for a present of his works 2 .
Creditors were gathering about Cornelius. Nominally
he had an income, actually he had not wherewith to sup-
port his children ; and his liberty was threatened. For
more than a year and a half he had held the post of his-
toriographer, abandoning for the Imperial service opportu-
nities of private practice, betaking himself to court, living
with money borrowed from the usurers 3 , upon the credit
of court promises, the worth of which he should have
learnt at Lyons once for all. His best friend, the Genoese
citizen Furnario, was far away; Father Aurelius was also
absent; but the Cardinal Campegio befriended him, so
did Signor Luca, the Cardinal's secretary, and the venerable
Bernardo Paltrini, his steward. These friends obtained
from Everard, Bishop of Liege, promise of intercession
1 Ep. 15, Lib. vi. p. 969. 2 Ep. 16, Lib. vi. p. 969.
3 Ep. 21, Lib. vL p. 976.
272 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
with the Emperor. To Everard, Bishop of Liege, the
poor philosopher accordingly addressed himself; he was
a gentleman, he said, and told what were his antecedents ;
he was capable of efficient service, he said, and hinted at
his acknowledged powers ; promises had been made to
him, and they had not been kept ; he wished either to
have his appointment cancelled upon payment of his ser-
vices thus far, or to be maintained in it upon a fair and
honest footing 1 . He pleaded thus from Ghent upon the
twelfth of May, and but a few weeks afterwards he was
in gaol for debt at Brussels.
In vain, more weary of petitioning than any man
could be of reading his petitions, he had besieged with
his suit for common justice at its hands the privy council
of the Emperor. " While I follow the court," he said,
" absent from home, my family hungers, my sons weep,
creditors beset me, a mortal poverty increases to my hurt,
rny liberty is insecure." He asked either at once the
means of paying what he owed, or an order that time
should be granted him, during which his liberty should
be assured, while he sought elsewhere for the means of
paying 2 . The council washed its hands of him, referring
him to the Emperor himself; for seven months he had
followed the Emperor with his vain suit, living in inns,
to his great hurt and loss, while waiting on the court,
away from his unhappy little ones at Antwerp. The
Emperor had been made deaf to him, stood as a statue to
his supplication ; cared no more, he says, for his incessant
1 Ep. 18, Lib. vi. pp. 970, 971. 2 Ep. 21, Lib. vi. pp. 975-977.
CARRIED TO GAOL. 273
cry than for the croaking of a thirsty frog. What could
he do but appeal from Caesar in the interest of Caesar's
honour to his private councillors ? The Emperor, just at
that time, was not too fortunate.; he had no little need of
friends. Agrippa and Agrippa's family had served his
ancestors. Agrippa could serve him. He urged again
his offers and his claims, besought not so much for the
payment due to him as for protection of his person from
imprisonment, for the life of his little children, for dis-
missal, for rejection, for a definite permission to despair 1 .
Petition was not wholly fruitless. The most pressing
creditor, Alexis Falco, was restrained from seizure of
Agrippa's person during fifteen days ; but he defied the
order of the council, and together with John Plat took
constables of the town of Brussels, seized the philosopher,
and conducted him ignominiously through the open
streets to gaol. He wrote from his prison to Bernard,
the steward of Campegio, who might cause the council
to maintain its own decision, and to set him free from an
imprisonment incurred through no crime, no dishonesty,
but the injustice of the Emperor and the neglect of those
who served him 3 . Bernard was a prompt friend. He
applied at once on behalf of Agrippa, in the name of
Cardinal Campegio, to the Archbishop of Palermo, pre-
sident of the council : the Archbishop promised to in-
terfere. Bernard offered to return in an hour, to be told
the result of his interference. The Archbishop objected to
that offer, but sent word to Cornelius that he should take
1 Ep. 22, Lib. vi. pp. 977-980. 2 Ep. 23, Lib. vi. p. 980.
VOL. II. T
274 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
courage, and that a messenger would soon be sent to tell
him of his liberation 1 .
The result of intercession seems to have been a prompt
bringing of Agrippa's case before the judges, and the
same plain speaking which in the Vanity of Sciences had
made of the Emperor a mortal enemy, and had exposed
the author to the vengeance of offended, priests and cour-
tiers, was now used by him with a perilous boldness in
the presence of the judges also. "You would not," he
said 2 , " concede me time to pay my debts ; you would
not credit me with the pledge of the Emperor. Why am
I to implore of you clemency, when you deny me justice?
Do you account the Emperor one of those men who are
not bound by their promises? In harshness, avarice, in-
gratitude, open breach of his written word, what excellent
material you offer me for writing Caesar's praise. Tell
me whether it is fit that I should be bound by oath to the
Emperor for two years, as the keeper of his records, and,
my dues from him being withheld, my service to him be
compulsory? While I have been following him about
for the last year as a beggar, I might have died of hunger
had not the most reverend apostolic legate, Cardinal
Campegio, sustained me. Possibly you may say that I
share this evil with many others, that not I only live upon
other people's tables-, but that almost all the Emperor's
retainers, satellites, and doorkeepers, even those of his
chamber, do the same, whom we see going the round of
other- men's dinners, as seekers of table-talk, or parasites,
1 Ep. 24, Lil>. vi. p. 981. 2 Ep. 25, Lib. vi. pp. 981-983.
APPEALS TO HIS JUDGES- 275
to the no slight shame of the Emperor himself. Here let
me say I wish you sometimes heard what I hear very
often ; saw what I see. Certes, if you had at heart the
credit of the Emperor, you would advise him otherwise,
and would not let your eyes blink as they do at his
avarice, as if it were not base in him to let his pensioners
go ragged for lack of their pay, his nobles without salaries
do suit to others for their meat, to suffer me, his historio-
grapher, to be dragged into suits before you, and vexed
with the terrors of a gaol, while I have Ccesar for my
debtor, and he being passed over, you order me to beg
among my friends the means of paying what I owe.
What equity is this of yours what justice?" Has he
not, he asks, suffered enough contumely without being
ordered now to beg for charity? "Either," he cries,
" confess or deny that the Emperor is in my debt. If he
owes money to me, take his pledge, accept him as my
bail, unless you hold that he is unfit to be trusted. But
if he owes me nothing, free me from my oath of service to
him, and I will not only find wherewith to pay my
creditors, but will soon turn this calamity into a matter
of rejoicing." Just and bold speech, utterly unwise,
doubtless, but would to God all men disdained, as Agrippa
did, to cover honest feeling with false words. Such direct
language being added to the general strain in the Vanity
of Sciences and. Arts, we need not wonder that the Em-
peror hated Agrippa to the death ; and, as the Sieur
Clavigni of St. Honore relates 1 , would have brought him
1 tfse of Suspected Books, cited by Bayle.
T 2
276 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
to an end as tragical as that of Lucilius Vanini (who, for
his hard words against the Dominicans, on accusation of
magic and atheism, was a few years later burnt alive, his
tongue having been first cut out), had not the Cardinal
Campegio and the Bishop of Liege prevailed in inter-
cession.
In a judiciary protest Cornelius pleaded that Alexis
Falco had, by a violent and illegal seizure, taken from
him far more than the value of his debt namely, the fair
fame of his debtor; and, contenting himself with that,
ought to be allowed to claim no more 1 . To the Emperor
himself he sent a note, as a last effort, begging that if his
clemency would not permit him to pay what he owed, he
might have the benefit of his indignation in dismissal from
his post and freedom to depart; if there was no more
hope for him, he asked leave to despair 2 . Thus he was
plunged into the old perplexity; escaped, as he said,
from Tartarus at Lyons and restored to upper air, not
many months elapsed before he found himself at Brussels
fairly tumbled into Tartarus again.
1 Ep. 26, Lib. vi. pp. 983, 984. 2 Ep. 27, Lib. vi. p. 984.
ERASMUS AND AGRIPPA. 277
CHAPTER XIV.
OF MARRIAGE AND OF MAGIC.
EKASMUS at this time was saying to Agricola : " About
Cornelius Agrippa some learned friends have written to
me from Brabant, but in such terms that they seem not.
to approve of the man's violence, and to ascribe to him
more care in collection than judgment in selection. To
some it is not disagreeable that he has thus far happily
opposed the theologians and monks, and that, too, under
the shadow of the Emperor, whose councillor he professes
himself, and under the protection of the Cardinal Cam-
pegio. But I fear lest the man's courage bring great
ill-will on polite letters, provided all is true that my
friends write to me. I have not yet happened to see his
book, nor has he ever written to me 1 ."
Agrippa reverenced Erasmus ; when he did write to
him, it was in the tone of one who looked up to a higher
spirit, but he did not write until he had an opportunity
of doing so without appearance of intrusion. It arrived
1 Erasmi Epistola (ed. Lond. 1642), Lib. xxiv. Ep. 18, p. 1319.
278 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
a few months afterwards in this way : A young priest
named Andrew, pious and modest, had been engaged in
out-of-the-way studies, and having two questions in Magic
which he wished one of the wise men of the world to
answer, having also, as it would appear, leisure and
money, he set off to find Erasmus, who received him
kindly, but, having heard his questions, laughed at them,
and ridiculed magical study. Andrew, therefore, begged
an introduction to Cornelius Agrippa, which was readily
conceded, and so set on foot a correspondence between
Erasmus and Agrippa 1 : " Greeting to you, illustrious
man, your name here is in everybody's mouth, espe-
cially on account of the book you have issued on the
Vanity of Studies, concerning which many of the learned
have written to me I myself not yet having seen it that
it contains, in all conscience, liberty enough, though as to
other things opinions differ. I will take care to get it as
soon as I can, and devour the whole. This Andrew, a
priest, in my opinion modest and pious, has come hither
to see Erasmus; but having hoped for a treasure, has
found coals. Now he is hastening to you, expecting to
draw from your breast a greater flow of wisdom. He
seems to have a special love for your talent, and carries
your book on Occult Philosophy as his constant com-
panion on the way. I do not commend him to you, but
ask rather to be commended to you through him. When
I shall have read your book, I will write to you more
1 H. C. A., Ep. 31, Lib. vi. p. 993.
VISITED BY AN ENTHUSIAST. 279
fully. In the mean time, I pray for your prosperity.
From Friburg in Brisgau, Sept. 17, 1531."
The priest who took this letter was a true enthusiast.
Hearing that the Emperor was expected at Strasburg, he
went thither to await Agrippa, who would follow in his
train ; then he went with the same idea to Spire, and
waited there three weeks, at the end of which time he
learnt that the Emperor would not be at Spire before
Christmas, if he came at all that winter. Andrew, there-
fore, set off with his questions to Cologne and Brussels,
and having thus travelled in search of him, not without
toil and risk, more than two hundred leagues, he humbly
sought Agrippa's resolution of his doubts, asking it as
from a philosopher, who was as a prince out of whose pre-
sence nobody went empty away, on whom especially
the command was laid, Freely ye have received, freely
give 1 .
The letter brought by this man from Erasmus was re-
ceived gladly by Cornelius as an opportunity of expressing
his respect for that fine-witted scholar. He expressed a
sincere wish that Erasmus would condescend to read his
book with care, promising that in religion it expressed
nothing hostile to the Catholic Church. He expressed
also gently his ambition for the friendship of Erasmus;
and a couple of months afterwards, having received no
reply, though he had, indeed, been absent from Brabant
and might have missed a letter, he again wrote, ex-
1 Ep. 32, Lib. vi. pp. 995, 996.
280 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
pressing " love and reverence 1 /' and begged pardon for
his audacity in asking that, at leisure, a word might be
written back to him sometimes. Erasmus was good-
natured, but had not quite made up his mind as to.
Agrippa's character ; he wrote at intervals two notes that
were both short and kind, chiefly consisting of excuses
for their brevity ; a little more experience of Agrippa's
single-heartedness, and closer understanding of his courage,
at las"t conquered the reserve, and this was the letter 3 ,
written some months later : " I wrote to you at first in few
words, to the effect that the doctrine of your book on the
Vanity of Sciences had pleased some of the most learned
in these parts. I had not then read the book, but soon
afterwards, having obtained it, I bade a famulus read it
aloud at supper, for I had no other vacant time, and am
myself compelled to abstain after supper from all study.
I liked the 8(ivu>cris (courage) and the eloquence, nor do
I see why the _monks should have been so angry. As
you attack the bad, you praise the good, but they like
altogether to be praised. What I advised you before, I
would advise you now, that if you conveniently can, you
extricate yourself from this contention. Take Louis
Barguin for a warning, whom nothing ruined but his
simple freedom towards monks and theologians, he being
a man otherwise of unstained character. I often advised
him dexterously to disentangle himself from that business,
but the hope of victory misled him. But if you cannot
fly, and must hazard the fortune of war, see that you
1 Ep. 6, Lib. vii. p. 1003. * Ep 40, Lib. vii. p. 1056.
WARNED BY ERASMUS. 281
fight from a tower, and do not trust yourself into their
hands. Of this, before everything, take heed that you do
not mix me up with the matter: I am burdened with
more than enough ill-will, and this would trouble me,
while doing you more harm than good. I asked, the
same of Barguin, and he promised, but deceived me,
trusting more to his own courage than to my advice.
You see the end. There would not have been the
smallest danger had he yielded to my counsel. Many a
time I harped to him that monks and theologians are not
to be overcome, even if one had a better cause than St.
Paul had. Now, therefore, if I have any influence with
you, again and again I would warn you that the task you
have undertaken leads to perilous encounters, and may
cost you the power of advancing in your studies. At
present I have not leisure to say more, for I am writing
to several friends. Farewell. Friburg, April 21, 1533."
These letters from Erasmus are peculiarly characteristic.
Their warning was ere long fulfilled, but still to priest or
prince Cornelius spoke as his heart dictated. A faithful
servant they lost in him who resented his plain speech.
During some months before and after his imprisonment
at Brussels, an attempt was made to enlist Agrippa's
energies into the service of the Queen of England, Katha-
rine of Arragon, the question of whose divorce was then
before the Pope, and had been made matter of discus-
sion in the schools of Europe. Orator for the Emperor
Charles V. at the Court of Henry VIII. was Agrippa's
friend Eustochius Chappuys, the same by whom he had
282 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
been helped in Savoy and Switzerland. Chappuys had
all due faith in his friend's vigour and ability, and when
he found in the Vanity of Sciences a passage that implied
strong condemnation of the King of England's project of
divorce, it occurred to him to ask his friend to write
something in aid of the cause of Katharine. He wrote
accordingly from London, on the twenty-sixth of June,
153 1 1 , renewing old acquaintance with Agrippa, calling
his attention to the passage in his book, and asking him
to speak his thoughts more amply. Nobody, he said,
could state the case more faithfully and ably than Cor-
nelius could, if he chose. The passage to which Chap-
puys referred was in the sixty-third chapter, and said, " I
have heard in these days of a certain King who is per-
suaded that he has a right to put away a wife to whom
he has now been married more than twenty years, and
wed his mistress."
We have already seen what were Agrippa's views of
marriage. It was binding only for this world ; death
ended it, but nothing short of death justified separation
of a married pair, except the one reason which has-
been declared alone sufficient in the Gospel. The cause
of Queen Katharine was, indeed, naturally that of
Charles V., and Agrippa was a writer bound to the
Imperial service ; but Chappuys appealed to his con-
victions only, and by them he was impelled to take his
place among the supporters of the falling Queen.
But Agrippa's way of life was at that time beset with
sorrow. He was on the threshold of the prison, and in
1 Ep. 19, Lib. vi. pp. 972, 973.
INVITED TO DEFEND QUEEN KATHARINE. 283
peril of his life : Chappuys invited him to make an enemy
of one more king. There were others, he said, stronger
for the battle to which he was summoned. He cared
not, indeed, for the opinion of the Sorbonne; he knew the
arts of its fraternity, and would like to ask of it, by way
of problem for solution, What is the influence of gold
upon theology? The proposed task certainly tempted
him, but he was not at liberty to undertake it without
having asked the permission of the Emperor and of his
sister Mary, Margaret's successor in the Netherlands, but
of them he could get nothing but ill-will, because of his
recent book upon the Vanity of Arts. If Chappuys
meant himself to urge the matter, no time was to be lost,
because the Emperor would, in a few days, be leaving
Brussels. " As for me, I am uncertain where to remain,
whither to turn. There is no place here in which I can
prosper, unless I will bid farewell to truth and honesty."
Agrippa sent his friend a copy of the funeral oration on
the Princess Margaret, with his own manuscript correc-
tions of the printer's errors. Chappuys having sent several
of the books published on the subject of the King's di-
vorce, Cornelius asked for more of those which had been
written on the Queen's side, that of the Bishop of Ro-
chester, which he had received, having much pleased him.
He dated from " this inhospitable court at Brussels," on
the nineteenth of July, 1531, and begged that the reply
might be addressed to him under cover to the steward, at
the house of his sole Maecenas, Cardinal Campegio, his
defender from the wolves who ravened for him as their
284 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
prey. On the tenth of the following September, Eusto-
chius wrote a very long reply from London 1 , the purport
of which was praise and encouragement. The King of
England, he said, was not so much ill minded as ill
advised, and however bent on a divorce, yet liberally
disposed to stand aside and see his whole case discussed
fairly. Queen Katharine, he said, too, would herself in
a few days write to the Emperor and to the Regent
Mary, asking from them, on behalf of Cornelius, per-
mission to employ his powers in her cause. The Queen
was herself liberal, and Chappuys would take care that
she did not omit amply to reward her champion. To-
wards the close of November, Chappuys wrote again on
the same subject, sending more encouragement and more
material 2 , but at that time Agrippa's life had become
overgrown with other hopes and cares, therefore the
subject was pursued no further 3 .
He had been released from prison by the intervention
of his patrons, and assured the payment of a very humble
salary in a patent signed and countersigned by many
names, with Caesar's eagle in red wax to make assurance
perfect. Well content with this, and once more putting
trust in princes, the historiographer departed from the
court before which he had been disgraced by an imprison-
ment, and in which he met daily with insult. He retired to
1 Ep. 29, Lib. vi. pp. 986-993. 2 Ep. 33, Lib. vi. pp. 996, 997.
3 Bayle points out Burnet's error in stating in the History of the English
Reformation that Cornelius Agrippa was employed to advocate Henry
Vlll.'s.divorce from Katharine. It is hardly necessary to add, that as to
the discussions held by the Sorbonne and other points relating to this sub-
ject, abundant illustration of this passage in Agrippa's life is to be found in
Burnet's History.
AT MECHLIN HIS THIKD WIFE. 285
Mechlin, because here he could maintain a house at small
expense 1 , and very shortly afterwards took for his third
wife a native of the town 2 . Surely his heart must have
yearned for human solace and companionship; twice he
had found entire happiness in marriage, and now left help-
less with young children about him, he again looked to a
woman's tenderness for aid. This time he sought a bless-
ing and obtained a curse. He has himself told the world
not a syllable of his third wife. She was faithless ; if re-
port spoke truly, infamous. Rabelais, not many years
afterwards, scoffed at Agrippa because, while his eyes were
on the sky, he remained blind to his own shame 3 . He
did, indeed, look heavenward, though he was no believer
in astrology, for the last hope he had of gentle solace upon
earth was gone ; men saw his shame, God only was wit-
ness to his sorrow.
For the one reason that was valid in his eyes, three
years after this marriage, Cornelius Agrippa was divorced
from his third wife at Bonn, and there remained for him
then only to wander out alone into a hostile world and die*.
In what spirit the endeavour of this persecuted scholar
to maintain with narrow means a little home at Mechlin
was regarded by the court, a very trifling matter is suffi-
1 Ep. 21, Lib. vii. p. 1023. 2 Wierus, Opera (ed. Amst., 1660), p. 111.
3 Le Tiers Liure des faits et dits hero'igues du bon Pantagruel, chap. xxv.
" Bien S9ay-je que lay un jour parlant au grand Roy des choses celestes et
transcendentes, les laquais de cour .... Et il, voyant toutes choses
etheres et terrestres sans bezicles ne voyoit sa femme brimbalante et oncques
n'en sceut les nouvelles." It is stated by Wier that his master's third wife
was a Mechlin woman ; that being the case, it is natural to assume, not
from direct authority but inference, that the date of marriage is as here
given.
4 Wierus, De Prcestigiis Dcemonum, Lib. ii. cap. v.
286 COENELIUS AGEIPPA.
cient to disclose. He applied for exemption from the
beer-tax, a concession commonly allowed to every person
holding rank, however mean, under the seal of the Em-
peror. Trifling and common as the favour was, it was
refused. Midsummer-day came, and the first instalment
of the little salary was due. Agrippa's creditors presented
themselves, and he himself went to Michaud, the treasurer,
who said he should be paid immediately 1 , wrote a form
of receipt, which Agrippa signed, firmly intending that
the whole sum payable to him should be distributed
among his creditors. But as he meant to devote the
whole of his salary as historiographer to payment of his
debts, he left himself for. the support of his family, no in-
come at all, except what he could earn elsewhere. For
this reason, and to avoid the pressure of such creditors as
were disposed to put his liberty in peril without profit to
themselves, it became necessary to leave Mechlin. Rely-
ing, therefore, upon offers of assistance,, generous in every
sense, that had been made by the Archbishop of Cologne,
Cornelius passed into Germany with his whole household,
leaving at Mechlin a poor woman in charge of a small
house and of some furniture, which was to represent the
home he should revisit when his means alknyed. While
he owed money, he proposed, by exercising at Cologne
or Bonn the strictest parsimony, and by devoting to
his creditors the whole of his official salary, to pay his
debts if possible ; at any rate, to do his duty as an honest
man.
1 The preceding and succeeding details are from Agrippa's representation
of his case to f the Princess Mary, the new Regent, Ep. 21, Lib. vi. pp.
1020-1027.
HOPES CENTRED IN COLOGNE. 287
The Archbishop of Cologne was unquestionably pleased
at the manner in which the first book of Occult Philo-
sophy had been inscribed to him. On the second of
February, 1532, he wrote to Cornelius in cordial terms,
invited him to Poppelsdorf, where he was then residing,
promised the payment of all travelling expenses, and his
worldly help when he arrived 1 . Agrippa said that he
would be with him in Lent, and did then visit him 2 ; he
was, indeed, glad to be near Cologne, where he was just
then republishing his smaller works the Treatise on the
Pre-eminence of Woman, the Expostulation with Cati-
linet,. &c.; they were issued in that, town during the
month of May. A companion volume, uniformly printed,
of the Vanity of Sciences, dedicated to Augustine Furnario,
was issued in the following September; this, I believe, is
the most perfect edition extant of Agrippa's most im-
portant work. It is well to remark that the person who
commends it to the reader dates from the Sorbonne. To
the collection of his smaller works it should be observed,
also, that Agrippa did not omit to fulfil an old promise,
by appending certain of his letters, which made known
the treatment he had received, at the court of France, as
well as his correspondence subsequently with the Duke of
Bourbon. During this year there was in progress, also at
Cologne, the printing of the first complete edition the
one which was to contain all three books of the Occult
Philosophy.
In Brabant, the issue of Agrippa's writings was im-
1 Ep. 1, Lib. vii. p. 1001.
2 Ep. 4, 5, Lib. vii. pp. 1002, 1003 ; Ep. 10, Lib. vii. p. 1008.
288 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
peeled by the opposition of the theologians of Louvain.
Late in the preceding year his publisher had warned him 1
that he had intimation from reliable authority of the
design of the Count Hochstraten to publish an edict pro-
hibiting the sale or the reading of the book upon the
Vanity of Science. Cornelius, who was at that time at-
tempting to recover, through friends, books of his own
that he had lent or lost in Paris or elsewhere, and also to
obtain other volumes which it was desirable for him to
consult while his own works were passing through the
press 3 , immediately applied himself to the protection of
his literary interests. He prepared a dish for the men of
Louvain, as he said to a friend, not without use of salt and
vinegar, and even a little mustard, but without using a
drop of oil. He meant to publish his reply to them,
though very likely he would only thereby bring himself
into new troubles, as a new truth usually begets new
hatred. But he could not endure, he said, Egyptian
slavery, he must revolt against it 3 . His friend Bernard
Paltrini, of the household of the Cardinal Campegio
who was himself studying occult science, writing chrono-
logies and commentaries advised him to be quiet, praised
his satiric power, but exhorted him not to let impulse
conquer reason 4 . Agrippa was not to be turned from an
assault on sophists. He was accused, directly and by im-
plication, of impiety, of a capital crime, and the advice of
1 Ep. 30, Lib. vi. p. 993.
2 Ep. 34, Lib. vi. p. 997; Ep. 7, Lib. vii. pp. 1004-1006.
3 Ep. 3, Lib. vii. p. 1002.
4 Ep. 7, Lib. vii. pp. 1004, 1005; also Ep. 8, Lib. vii. p. 1006.
ATTACKED BY THE THEOLOGIANS OF LOUVAIN. 289
the Cardinal Campegio was, that he should defend him-
self; while by the Emperor it was demanded that he
should recant all the impeached opinions 1 . The terms of
the accusation made against him had been placed in his
hands on the fifteenth of December, 1531. He had set
to work upon them in the room of Bernard Paltrini in the
Cardinal's house, and before the end of January had de-
livered his Apology to the Head of the Senate at Mechlin,
with the understanding that it was not to be given to the
world until the case had been decided.
Ten months afterwards, Cornelius complained to his
friend the Cardinal, that the theologians had not responded
to his justification of himself, and that he had not been
declared clear of offence. As for the tone of his reply, it
was not, he thought, more vehement than slander should
provoke; he did not know how to speak mildly to such
men as those whose maledictions he rebutted. He had
no fear of their learning ; he did fear their violence, which
raged against him with impunity. Nevertheless, although
they had the ear of Caesar, he could meet them boldly,
trusting in his innocence, and asking for no more than a
just judge 2 . To the Cardinal, therefore, his Apology was
dedicated.
At about the same time on the seventeenth of Sep-
tember, 1532 Cornelius Agrippa, being at Frankfort-on-
Maine, looking after the interests of his new books in the
great literary mart, wrote thus in a letter to Melancthon :
1 Preface to the Apologia. Op. Tom. ii. p. 258.
2 Ep. 12, Lib. vii. pp. 1011-1013.
VOL. II. U
290 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
" Eternal war has arisen between me and the Louvain
theologists, into which war I have been led by the auda-
city of truth. But I have been compelled thus far to fight,
subject to the decisions of a judge who is the enemy of all
truth, and I lose courage, glory, substance, faith, under an
angry tyrant with whose obstinate ingratitude for all the
service I have done him these two years past I have
borne hitherto, and by patience and constancy I should
almost have subdued it, had not fresh truth incessantly
brought down on me fresh hatred. I hope either that
this Nebuchadnezzar may some day return from the shape
of a beast into that of a man, or that I may be enabled to
depart out of this Ur of the Chaldees. May God keep
you in safety and prosper you, according to the desire of
your Christian mind. Salute for me Martin Luther, that
unconquered heretic, who, as Saint Paul says in the Acts,
after the way which they call heresy worships the God of
his fathers 1 ."
No notice having been taken of Agrippa's Apology
against the Louvain theologians, which he dedicated to
the Cardinal Campegio, later in the year he added a
Complaint against the Calumnies of Theologians and
Monks, which he inscribed to his friend Eustochius Chap-
puys, and before November he had sent both of them to
press at Basle 2 . They were the last works of the ill-fated
scholar.
More than once in the course of his writings Cornelius
Agrippa speaks of himself as a knight-at-arms fighting
1 Ep. 13, Lib. vii. p. 1013. 2 Ep. 14, Lib. vii. p. 1014.
BATTLE DONE. 291
alone in a great battle. As a Reformer, that was truly his
position. A defect of judgment caused him to dread
greatly the separation of himself from the main body of
the Church calling itself orthodox. He claimed to be on
its side, and thus lost the support he might have had as
one of the main army of Reformers. Nevertheless, Luther
himself did not wage war more openly and honestly
against all Church corruption than the plain-spoken
Agrippa. Let it be owned, then, that he was very pro-
perly repudiated by the corrupt Church to whose skirts it
was the great misfortune of his life that he felt bound to
cling. All the neglect and contumely that he was con-
demned to bear while living, even all the power of the
calumny by which his memory has until this day been over-
whelmed, are traceable to the one cause, that in the mo-
mentous struggle of his age, he laboured very righteously
and very bravely, but alone. He was a solitary knight
in the great battle, and, unluckily, the side on which he
called himself a combatant was that against which he
dealt all his blows.
292 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
CHAPTER XV.
THE LAST FIGHT -WITH THE MONKS.
IT would seem to have been no hard task for an honest
and straightforward monk to show grave reason for com-
bating Agrippa's faith in his own orthodoxy, but they
were not the honest and straightforward monks who
laboured to condemn men of his stamp. The Louvain
theologians might have been formidable critics had they
been more used to reasoning than sophistry, but they were
notoriously mean of spirit, men who could feel a quibble
better than an argument, and therefore the best they
could do was to attack Agrippa's Vanity of Sciences with
trivial carpings that it cost no trouble whatever to expose
to scorn. Cornelius declined to obey the Emperor by
making public recantation of opinions that had been un-
fairly represented; he preferred to silence his antagonists,
" to appeal," as he said in the preface, to his published
answer, " from the judge asleep to the judge wakened, from
the half instructed to the perfectly informed. For the
Emperor cannot condemn one whom the law hath not
judged, lest (as the Apostle says in the Acts), judging me
according to the law, he command me to be persecuted
contrary to the law." He proposed, therefore, to prove
REPLYING TO THE LOUVAIN THEOLOGIANS. 293
to the Imperial parliament of Mechlin that he had said
nothing in contradiction to the teaching of the Holy
Catholic Church 1 . The articles of accusation formally
preferred against his book were forty-three in number;
the citation of a few will show the character of all, and
justify the brevity with which they will be here dis-
cussed.
The title of the book was truncated, no allusion was
made to its treating on the excellence of the Word of
God ; the scope of the whole declamation having been in
this way passed over, and the work, taken seriously, and
not as a declamation at all, but as an argument against the
Arts and Sciences, for the refutation of it there was
quoted the opinion of St. Augustine, that a good educa-
tion is of service to the theologian. As in the case of
the title of the work, so also throughout its whole sub-
stance, tortuous ways of attack were preferred; and the
Louvain theologians, although the book against which
they protested lay unusually open to direct assault,
seem to have been sophists utterly incapable of open
fighting. Disingenuous representations of the mean-
ing of a passage here and there, everywhere a stolid
inability to see the drift of words spoken in satire, or
to understand which points in a case are significant
and which are insignificant, ignorance of Greek and
i NobiKs Viri H. C. A., Armatas Militia; Equitis aurati, ac Utriusque Juris
Doctoris, Ccesareas Maiestatis a Consiliis et Archivis Indiciarii, Apologia ad-
versus Calumnias, propter Declamationem de Vanitate Scientiarum et de Excel-
lentia Verbi Dei, sibi per aliquos Lovanienses Tkeologistas intentatas. Opera,
Tom. ii. pp. 257-330. For this and for what follows, till the next citation.
294 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
want of skill to write Latin grammatically, or even to
spell, were the qualifications put most prominently for-
ward in this instance by Agrippa's enemies. In the
course of their articles of accusation against him, the
monks of Louvain misspelt even their word of condem-
nation ; they wrote dampnat for damnat, as if one should
write condempn. The word Idolatry they began with a
Y. The genitive of alius was in their grammar aliis
" aliis generis" of another kind. Their reasoning was
like their spelling and their grammar. They saw heresy
in Agrippa's statement, that an art is good or bad accord-
ing to the character of him who exercises it. They trans-
ferred to him as a heresy of his own, and aggravated by
misquotation, the opinion cited in jest from St. Augus-
tine, that " merchants and soldiers are incapable of true
repentance." They urged it as a heresy against Agrippa
that he declared no gloss, whether of men or angels, to be
of authority beyond the limit of God's Word; the know-
ledge of God's Word having been given to men by no
Sorbonne, no company of scholars, but only by God and
Christ. If they oppose me here, Agrippa writes in the
brief comment set by him opposite each article of censure,
if they oppose me here, plainly they are the heretics;
to add to the Scriptures, or subtract from them, is an
offence against the Holy Spirit. Upon other topics they
would quote with the same want of wit or tact fragments
of sentences. " Although," said they, " the Preacher de-
clares Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity, yet the wise man
ought to be understood as speaking now in his own cha-
REPLYING TO THE LOUVAIN THEOLOGIANS. 295
racter, now in the character of a man who admires with
astonishment the things that are in the world, sometimes
after the manner of fools, at other times after the manner
of the prudent." " And why," Cornelius inquires in the
margin of this paragraph, " am not I to be read with the
same intelligence, O ye malicious sycophants !"
Having printed the whole paper of indictment with
curt marginal notes opposite each article, he treats of each
head of the accusation in detail, so that in forty-three
little chapters he demolishes the forty-three assertions ' of
his heresy. The same University of Louvain had attacked
Erasmus, and had been instructed by that scholar as to
the licence proper in a Declamation, which form of com-
position may be enlivened by evasive arguments and by
cross reasoning employed either in mockery or jest. " I
have been commended by the learned," said Agrippa,
" for the Declamation now attacked, and from them never
heard that it was heretical, though they have indeed ob-
jected against it a too fearless use of liberty of speech. If
that be a vice in me, it is mine in company with many
great and holy men, and I would not have fallen into it
but for the example they had set. I am not afraid to
confess that it is an inbred vice which makes me unable
to flatter, and apt now and then to speak more freely
than is thought expedient for tender ears. I own that I
have offended many by true speech ; . . . I know, too,
that I am a man liable to err, but always of a sincere
mind, and I profess myself to be a Catholic, nor do I think
that I have pushed so far the licence of my Declamation
296 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
as to have separated myself from the orthodox faith, or
that I need fear to receive the admonition and correction
of superiors, who will themselves remember that they are
men capable of erring in their judgment." Certainly, he
had never gone so far as St. Thomas Aquinas, who, in a
quodlibetal disputation, asserted that the body of our
Lord in the Eucharist was better represented by beef than
by bread and wine, because thereby the original substance
was more nearly resembled. In this way, protected by
the form in which they appeared, the most absurd and
heretical positions had been taken, without fear of censure,
by grave theologians. But of the masters of the Church
in Cologne and Louvain, bent upon interfering where
they could not reason, What did it profit you, Cornelius
inquired, when you must needs combat John Reuchlin ?
Were you not then weighed and found wanting ? What
victory did you obtain over the noble Count Hermann of
Neuwied ? Had you not publicly to revoke your calum-
nies and to confess your falsehoods ? With your infamy
notorious, without a character for truth, what did you
gain in contest against Erasmus, Faber Stapulensis, Peter
of Ravenna ? " Certainly," he exclaimed, with a just in-
stinct of the truth, "your days are numbered and the
measure of them is completed by the Lord; your victories
shall cease, the voice shall die out of your schools, and the
splendour of your sophisms become obsolete ; you decline
now to your fall, it is quite clear that you are soon to
perish."
Again, he told them, that their brutal ignorance had
PROCLAIMS LUTHER UNCONQUERED. 297
raised the spark of the Lutheran evil into a vast confla-
gration, because there was nothing disturbed at the out-
set that might not have settled, had Luther been treated
with more civility, and had he not been opposed by the
dishonesty and avarice of certain monks, and by the
tyranny of certain prelates. The manner in which, in
this Apology, Cornelius Agrippa spoke of Luther to the
men who were denouncing him for heresy, is the one fea-
ture of it interesting to the student of his life. That he
swept with a strong hand through the webs of sophistry
in which the monks endeavoured to entangle him, we
may take easily for granted. But it was urged by the
sophists that in his book he had called Luther " the un-
conquered heretic." Upon this head, what would he
answer ? "I know not," he said, " whether by chance
there may not be some superstitious theologians who
would grudge Luther the name of heretic, as one shared
by him with the Apostle Paul, who, before Felix, pro-
fessed that he served God after the sect which the Jews
called heresy ; but I make no doubt that our masters of
Louvain approve of me for having called Luther a heretic,
only it offends them much that I have called him uncon-
quered whom they and their associates at Cologne were the
first men dogmatically to condemn. But I am not igno-
rant that Luther has been condemned for heresy, only
I do not see that he is vanquished, when to this day
he gains ground in his battle, and reigns in the mind of
the people which is won to him in spite of authority by
the dishonesty, ignorance, malice, and falsehood of many
298 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
of our priests, and monks, and masters. I speak of the
event, not of the doctrine, against which, though it has
been opposed in the best manner of the schools, judged
with all strictness and subjected to the most august con-
demnation, all efforts end unprosperously." He proceeds
to point out the defections to the side of Luther even
from among the chosen champions of the Church. If
Luther be conquered, he asks, why the cry for a general
council? Why so much effort on the part, not only of
priests, but of popes and great potentates ? I know, in-
deed, he says, that Luther is most stoutly fought against,
but I do not yet see that he is conquered. " First, there
descended into this arena Hochstraten and Eckius, so
fighting as to earn nothing but ridicule. Then succeeded
monks, vociferating among the common people rude abuse
of Luther ; what did they thereby but scatter among the
multitude those questions which before were discussed in
Latin by the learned, and confined within the limits of the
schools. So they impelled Luther to write in the ver-
nacular, and heresy was then sown broadcast. The schools
of Louvain, Cologne, and Paris afterwards came out with
their bare articles and dogmatical censures, which, while
they spread abroad the smoke and fire of books committed
to be burnt as if fire could put out fire made Luther's
works more to be sought after, more sold. At length
there appeared the terrific bull of Leo, which is so
much scorned by the Lutherans that they have not hesi-
tated openly to jest at it, with contemptuous scholise and
glosses. An Imperial decree was added, with no better
PROCLAIMS LUTHEK UNCONQUERED. 299
success. The slaughter-houses were next opened: what
else resulted but the cutting off heads from a hydra ? Is
this the conquest of Luther ? I speak of the event, not
of the doctrine, and I wish that Christ were not preached
as religiously by some of these heretics as by our teachers.
Was Arius conquered when his sect occupied more
churches than the orthodox? Is Mahomet conquered
when there are more men of his creed than Christians?
Again, I say, I speak of the event, not of the doctrine.
How have I sinned, then, if I have called Luther an un-
conquered heretic? Would that I lied, and that Luther
had been conquered as happily as he has been boldly pro-
voked to war. I wish he were not unconquered heretic,
and even, also, conqueror of heretics, to the great shame
of our teachers. For who conquered the Anabaptists?
Who has withstood the Sacramentarians? Was it not
Luther alone? Show me one writing out of your aca-
demies by which you have moved them so much as a
finger's breadth. Of what use are you in the Church, if
it be enough to say: We condemn, because so has the
Church decided? (And to decrees of the Church our
teachers fly whenever they are hardly pressed, and there
abide, unable to produce the Scripture that defends them.)
Certainly, rustics who have not learnt the alphabet, and
idiots, can profess as much. If that sufficed for the recon-
quest of heretics, oh, now would I welcome Martin Luther,
who, while our masters slept and snored, alone watched
for the Church, and alqne freed it from the strong and
violent heresies of Anabaptists and Sacramentarians, who
300 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
were getting possession of almost all Germany. But I
seem here to approve of Luther, and herein I do, indeed,
approve of him. But be not enraged; I approve of him as
of the serpent in theriaca, which though in itself deadly,
is in this form poisonous to poison." He ends by urging,
that if they would conquer Luther they must conquer by
arguments drawn from the Word of God; that if they
must needs argue with fire and sword, they will provoke
retort with fire and sword, and only make the storm
blacker around them. They must use, also, against
Luther better reasoning than they had brought against
Agrippa, who professed himself a Catholic and not a
Lutheran, and who, if he had fallen into human error,
was not obstinately bent on persevering in it, and who
had not fallen where he could not rise.
Together, with this Apology, when it was printed in
the course of the next year, Cornelius Agrippa published
and inscribed to Chappuys his Complaint against the
Calumny of the monks and schoolmen, whom he de-
nounced in his title to the complaint as being most wicked
sycophants, who had dishonestly and treacherously sought
to slander him before the Emperor 1 . In this essay he
does not so much rebut attack, as carry war into the
country of his enemy. He speaks of his own wrongs not
more in sorrow than in anger, yet with a strange tone of
philosophic melancholy sobering his wrath. It is the
1 H. C. A. ab Nettesheym Querela super Calumnia, ob editam
Declamationem, de V. S. atque excettentia Verbi Dei, sibi per aliquos scelera-
tissimos fycophantas, apud Ccesarem Majest. nefarie ac proditorie intentata.
COMPLAINS AGAINST THE MONKS. 301
last thing he ever wrote. Who would not think it better,
he exclaimed, ignorant of everything, to stretch out his
legs and sleep securely, with both ears locked up, than
labouring, and studying, and watching for the good of
others, to become surrounded by a net from which there
is no extrication. I attacked only the evil men who
brought religion and truth into discredit; and I am pas-
sionately denounced by classes that I sought to raise, by
men who could not see in me a benefactor. They have
stirred up against me the wrath of the Emperor, and
caused him to be deaf to my supplication. I am con-
demned unheard-of tyranny before defence is heard, and
to this tyranny the Emperor is provoked by superstitious
monks and sophists. I have carried my mind written on
my face, and wish the Emperor to know that I can sell him
neither smoke nor oil. But I have lived honestly, having
no reason to blush for my own deeds, and little to blame
in fortune, except that I was born into the service of un-
grateful kings. My folly and impiety have been, I own,
worthy of condemnation, in that, against the warning of
the Scriptures, I have put my trust in princes. I wished
to live as a philosopher in courts where art and literature
are unhonoured, unrewarded. If I am not wise, surely
it is herein that I am most foolish, that I have trusted my
well-being into the power of another, and, anxious and
uncertain of my future, rested hope on those whose deeds
I find unequal to their promises. Truly, I am ashamed
now of my lack of wisdom. I am denounced as a heretic
and a magician. As for my magic, I confess that I have
302 CORNELIUS AGRirPA.
done wonderful things, but none that offend God or hurt
religion ; many have been amazed at them, but they were
the unlearned, to whom it is not given to know the causes
of the things they see. Many things are done by the
powers of Nature, which ignorance or malice will attribute
to the demons rather than to Nature or to God. As for my
teaching, if I had planted thorny syllogisms, produced
docks and thistles in my writing, with such salad on their
lips the asses who have judged me would have found my
produce to their taste, and have devoured these books of
mine with pleasure. I have planted something higher
than their reach, and they become furious against me.
" I think, therefore, that in these days, my Eustochius,
there is no bliss greater than ignorance, nothing safer
than to teach men nothing, when almost nothing can be
written at which there shall not be some to take offence;
but they who teach and know nothing, or nothing but
the meanest and the basest things, are far removed from
this fear, from these dangers, for of little things large ruin
is impossible; and he who grovels cannot tumble far;
but he who seeks to climb the heights, seems to be seek-
ing his misfortune. As pleasant and with more safety,
as pleasant is the marsh to the frogs, the mire to the hogs,
the gloom to the bats, as 1 to the doves the housetop, or
the clear sun to the eagle. Therefore Pythagoras in
Lucian, having wandered through all shapes in his own
round of metamorphoses, confesses that he enjoyed life far
more when he was a frog than when he was a king and a
philosopher. Which persuasion seems to me so suited to
SALARY STILL WITHHELD. 303
the present time, that to know nothing and teach nothing,
and to differ, as one might say, in nothing from a beast,
is now the happiest and safest course; at the same time it
is that which makes a man the most acceptable to those
courtiers and satraps, who commonly bestow their favours
upon creatures having most resemblance to themselves."
So the Complaint ends, and with it ends Agrippa's lite-
rary life.
While the Apology and the Complaint -were being
prepared at Basle for the last Frankfort book-fair, in the
year 1532, the printer being Cratander, who was not to
omit sending one copy to Erasmus, a few copies to the
author, and three to the Cardinal Campegio 1 ; at Cologne,
the printers, Soter and Hetorpius were engaged on the
Occult Philosophy, which it was hoped would be ready
for publication against Christmas 2 . This was to be de-
dicated to the Archbishop of Cologne, and was not to
have appeared at all, had he refused the dedication 3 .
Agrippa had no other patron left. In Brabant the offi-
cials mocked him when he applied for his pension. A
new way of evasion had occurred to them; he had for-
feited his right to it by non-residence, and by not giving
the whole of his time to the duties of his office 4 . " But,"
he said, " I am not absent while I have a furnished lodg-
ing on the spot; moreover, I am historiographer, not to
the Duke of Brabant, not to the Count of Flanders or
1 Ep. 16, Lib. vii. p. 1015. 2 Ep. 14, Lib. vii. p. 1014.
3 Ep. 4, Lib. vii. p. 1002.
4 Ep. 21, Lib. vii. p. 1024, and for what follows.
304 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
Holland, but to the Emperor: neither am I absent while
I live within the empire, seeing that wherever I may be
I am able to perform my duty, by which I am not bound
to one spot like a sponge, but of which the vocation is to
see the world and take note of events and things. Did
not my predecessor in the office, Jean le Maire, dwell
now in Italy and now in France, everywhere enjoying his
due stipend? Neither was I tied by the Emperor to any
stated place of residence, but was inducted into a liberal
office, the privileges of which, and its duties, were to be
interpreted with liberality. Nor have I, although absent
from Brabant, neglected any of my duties, for I have
during this time planned a history of the French war,
waged for the Emperor by the Duke of Bourbon in Italy ;
and I have collected, with great care, the records of the
present Turkish expedition, sent from the camps them-
selves in Italy and Germany." Nevertheless, he was not
paid. When use was not made of the subterfuge, he was told
that the Turks swallowed up all public money. He never
received, or expected to receive, anything as a servant of the
Emperor; and had removed not only his family, but also
his library, to Bonn, where he lived, closely beset by the
legions of the sophists, and wrote to Erasmus that Louvain
was aided by Cologne and Paris, but that he would main-
tain his freedom. " You," he said, " will laugh, and
some will wonder : I, in the mean time, will overcome or
dieV
Not -to omit any just effort on his own behalf, Agrippa
1 Ep. 17, Lib. vii. p. 1016.
APPEALS TO THE NEW REGENT. 305
wrote to the new Regent of the Netherlands, Mary Queen
of Hungary, a detailed statement of his case as servant of
the crown. It abated not a word of the truth as he felt
it, and at its close he asked for pardon to his sorrow if,
unused to feel his way, he had chosen rather to attack
her highness with true warnings than mislead her with
blandishment and flattery. He added, " If you will some
day admit me into your society, you shall not be ashamed
of my homage, or repent the benefit you will confer 1 ."
This letter to the Regent, Cornelius sent through a liberal
and learned man, who was her private secretary and his
friend, John Khreutter, and he asked Khreutter so to de-
liver what he sent the Queen as to secure her actual read-
ing of his case, or, if possible, to contrive that he should
himself read the letter to her, and be watchful on his
behalf against the men by whom his words and acts were
constantly misrepresented. He sent to Khreutter, at the
same time, all the letters bearing on the case, and would
have liked the royal lady to have all of them read to her,
if possible 2 .
Surrounded closely by the monks, Agrippa had, not
only in Brabant, a desperate cause to maintain. The Do-
minicans of Cologne suddenly pounced upon his books of
Occult Science while they were yet passing through the
press. They were not issued at Christmas. Conrad
Colyn 7 of Ulm, a Dominican monk, who at Cologne held
office as Inquisitor, denounced the forthcoming volume to
the senate as in the highest degree open to suspicion. He
1 Ep. 21, Lib. vii. pp. 1020-1027. 2 Ep. 20, Lib. vii. pp. 1017-1019.
VOL. II. X
306 CORNELIUS AGEIPPA.
urged the senate to command that Agrippa's printer
should submit all the printed sheets to the Inquisitor, that
is, to himself, who would decide whether they were fit for
issue to the world. The press was stopped, and the
printers, Soter and Hetorp, applied to Agrippa, for the
sake of his own credit and their pockets, to defend his
cause 1 . This was not very difficult, because the Arch-
bishop of Cologne, Agrippa's friend, the patron to whom
these books of Occult Philosophy were dedicated, was not
without power to control the senate in a matter of Church
discipline. Moreover, as Cornelius could urge upon the
senate the book had received the assent of the Emperor's
whole council, and was to appear under Imperial privi-
lege, what right, therefore, had this black monk, out of
his great reverence for the Prince of Darkness, raving
under the title of Inquisitor, to arrogate to himself a
sceptre above Caesar's 2 ? The printer, when Cornelius
addressed his plea to the senate, had been compelled by
that body to submit what he had printed to the monk.
But, as for the author, he did not appear with his head
bowed before the senators; they were his own townsmen,
who by their way of interfering in religious matters, and
by misgoverning their University, had made the town
ridiculous among the learned, and he very plainly told
them they had done so. Looking down as from his own
height upon meaner men, he rained upon the heads of the
senators a torrent of unwelcome truths. They had banished
1 Ep. 24, 25, Lib. vii. pp. 1032-1033.
2 Ep. 26, Lib. vii. pp. 1033-1046.
CONFLICT WITH THE COLOGNE INQUISITOR. 307
liberal arts and all good literature from the city by their
imbecility as what he called after the Cologne monk
who had commenced the onset upon Reuchlin Pepper-
corn Christians. He proved to them, in their own way,
that their champion, Jacob Hochstraten, writing against
Luther's heresy, displayed himself as the most pestilent
of heretics, while as for Conrad of Ulm, now the Cologne
Inquisitor, he had promoted Luther's cause so well by
opposition, that there seemed to be not a man in the
whole town of Ulm and the adjacent county who had
not turned Lutheran, and he had even brought about the
overthrow of his own monastery, with the expulsion of
himself and all his brethren. Having defended his own
books of magic, in the next place Agrippa laid hands on
the University, exposed the immorality of certain rectors
and professors, the mismanagement which could allow the
degree of Master of Arts to be given, as it had been given
recently to one John Raym, who could not read and could
not sing, and knew only one mass by heart, who there-
fore, having been accepted as a brother teacher and or-
dained a priest by the Cologne theologians, was obliged
to go to a boys' school at Deventer and learn his gram-
mar. He reminded them of sundry other scandals of this
character, and called upon them to purify their University,
if they were not willing to let it utterly decay. It might
be said that all this was the affair of the rectors and
principals of the schools, and certainly, added Cornelius,
if you leave it to them you will always stick in the same
mire. The University is yours, mainly they are your
X2
308 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
sons who are instructed in it. The affair is yours. Why
do you not invite knowledge from without, and train
sons able to take knowledge abroad? Who ever sends
youth in these days to be educated at Cologne, whence
they have banished all good scholarship, where learning
and eloquence are under ban, and books that contain
novelty of research upon choice subjects may not be
printed, sold, read, or possessed? Nobody can
deny that your city and your citizens surpass in magni-
ficence all others in Germany; in literature only, which
alone gives life and perpetuity to all the rest, you are de-
ficient, and your glory, therefore, is but as that of a pic-
ture on a wall. I shall be glad if you will hear my
warning; if you will not, I have done my duty, and
shown good-will to my native place. As for his own
affair, he said he was prepared to serve Cologne by pub-
lishing his book there ; in other towns printers were ready
for it. Of heresy it contained nothing, but if their theo-
sophists wished to convict him as a heretic, a book of his
would very shortly be issued at Basle, written especially
to raise that issue, upon which they were at liberty to try
their strength, if they had any.
The lecture to the Cologne magistrates contained nothing
that was not very true. Cologne, chiefly on account of the
controversy set on foot by Pfefferkorn, really had fallen
into ridicule among the learned ; and, in spite of all the
wealth of the town, its University was really in the state
Cornelius described. He rightly pointed out the cause of
the hurt and its remedy, declaring himself censor of the
TO THE SENATE OF COLOGNE PLAIN SPEAKING. 309
men from whom he could not but disdain to receive cen-
sure. It was not to them that he intended to prefer any
petition. As the printer wrote to him upon the subject of
the prohibition, " the whole matter depends on the Arch-
bishop and his ordinary: nevertheless, I could wish you
had not written so sharply to the senate 1 ." It was in the
power of the Electoral Prince Hermann of Wied, Arch-
bishop of Cologne, to command his ordinary to remove
the veto set by him, according to the order of the senate,
on the issuing of Agrippa's volume. He had a good
ostensible right to declare that, as the book had been
examined and passed by the council of the Emperor, and
would appear with Imperial privilege, it was in defence of
the Imperial dignity that he felt bound to interfere.
Agrippa wrote three letters to him, claiming as a right,
more than as a favour, that he would put an end to the
short triumph of the sophists, who, at the date of his last
note, had hindered him for six weeks, and who then had
a fair prospect of inflicting serious damage on himself or
on his printer, by making it impossible for the work to be
brought out in time for the next Frankfort fair 3 . As for
the tumid and inflated sophists, whose brains were all in
their bellies, and whose wit was on their platters, at once
his accusers and his judges, how, he asked, could it be pos-
sible or right to endure them with unruffled mind? The
Archbishop chose this time for a distinct and very cour-
teous offer to Cornelius of employment under honourable
1 Ep. 32, Lib. vii. p. 1049.
2 Ep. 30, Lib. vii. p. 1048; also Ep. 27, 28, Lib. vii. pp. 1045, 1046.
310 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
conditions at his court, and promised that considerations
of his own convenience should dictate the arrangements
made. The offer was so worded as to be grateful to the
sensitive and chafed mind of the persecuted scholar ; and
it was accepted thankfully 1 . Very soon afterwards the
interdict upon the publishing of the Occult Philosophy
was removed ; before that happened, a letter from the
Inquisitor, Conrad of Ulm, had become public, in which
he replied to the vicar of the Carthusians, by whom he
had been addressed on behalf of Peter Quentel, a printer
of the town, who wished to issue at his own expense
Agrippa's work, but had first sought a theological opinion
on the copy. The letter got into the hands of Soter, and
ran thus: "Greeting and commendation, venerable father
Vicar. I do not wish to contend against it, since the book
is full of natural things, and does not extend to the
seduction of the simple. Suffer it to be printed, if they
wish 3 ."
The complete work on Occult Philosophy was pub-
lished, therefore, at Cologne, in the year 1533 3 , and dedi-
cated to its author's patron, the Archbishop. In the same
year also there was published, at Cologne, Agrippa's Com-
mentary on the Ars Brevis of Raymond Lully 4 ; and that
he might put forth all his strength against the sophists
and theosophists, he also published, with a dedication to
1 Ep. 29, Lib. vii. p. 1047; Ep. 46, Lib. vii. p. 1059.
2 Ep. 33, Lib. vii. p. 1050.
s It is the copy from which the second and third books have been sketched
in the first Volume of this narrative.
4 Jocher's Gelehrten Lexicon. I have not met with this edition.
HELP FROM ARCHBISHOP HERMANN. 311
his old friend Cantiuncula, his attack on the Dominicans
written at Metz, the Disputation touching the Mono-
gamy of Anne 1 . He also edited the publication at Nurem-
berg of some of the writings of a pious Cistercian monk,
Godoschalcus Moncordius, which he believed to be con-
ceived in the pure spirit of the Gospel, though not elegantly
worded 2 . The criticism on the Louvain theologians had
met at Basle with strong objections, and when partly
printed was returned upon the author's hands : a printer
in another town then undertook to publish it 3 . While
such occupation with the printers kept Cornelius amused,
he was relieved in some degree of worldly care by genial
intercourse with the Archbishop and his friends. In the
summer of the year 1533 he was with his patron, who
made holiday at Wisbaden. The Archbishop, who was
more than sixty years of age, was of a weak and gentle
disposition, easily led by advisers. In the preceding year
he had been showing at Paderborn great zeal against the
Lutherans, condemning not a few to death and then re-
mitting sentence. In the next place travelling towards a
belief in the necessity of some reform, he lived to act upon
it, and lived also to be excommunicated. Although no
scholar at all, he cultivated the society of learned men,
and by the friendly churchman's help, Agrippa, with a
little income that enabled him to feed his children, could
recover some of his old cheerfulness 4 .
1 Ep. 35, 36, Lib. vii. pp. 1051-1053. Ep. 37, Lib. vii. p. 1054.
Ep. 39, Lib. vii. p. 1054. * Ep. 44-48, Lib. vii. pp. 1058-1061.
312 CORNELIUS AGR1PPA.
CHAPTER XVI.
EXILE AND DEATH.
WHERE now is the Agrippa who began the world
averse from strife, and who, when at the outset of his
career as a scholar he was attacked by the monk Catilinet,
addressed his enemy with the soft voice of Christian ex-
postulation ? Alas for him, he is the same man still.
His violence in later years was but the struggling of a
spirit, pure and sensitive, against a torment urged beyond
its powers of endurance ; it is true in one sense that he
fought but as the deer fights when at bay. Young
motherless children were about him, who looked up to
him for sustenance. Because he was unable to abase his
soul below the level to which God enabled him to raise it,
he met danger upon all the paths he tried, and during
his whole life the men who brought him into peril were
especially the meaner classes of the monks. There was
a feminine element perceptible in his whole character,
the natural gentleness, the affectionate playfulness, the
quick, nervous perception, the unworldly aspiration, and
the want of tact in dealing with the world; the impulse
to seek happiness in a domestic life belonged to this part
of Agrippa's nature, and to the same part of it belonged
THE FAITHLESS WIFE. 313
his scolding of the monks and courtiers. There may
have been much of the man's vigour put into his way of
speech, but I think that Cornelius resented wrong and
cruelty much as a true woman might resent it, and that
the hard fighting to which he betook himself at last was
not that of a man by nature violent, but paradox as it
may seem to say so the inevitable issue to which he
was led by all that was most truly amiable in his nature.
In the last letter of his on record he is found inviting the
most leained Dryander to a supper, in the name of the
Archbishop of Cologne, and he writes his invitation while
beset by sore distresses, in a genial, airy tone, that speaks
to us of the man who, twice married, never let a sun set
on dispute with either wife ; who won entire love in his
home, clung to his friends, and fondled his dogs even
foolishly.
Very touching is his complete silence on the subject of
his last great sorrow. He was resident, in the year 1534,
at Bonn, feeding his boys on the salary he earned from
the Archbishop, and suffering the ruin of his whole am-
bition as a scholar from the wicked libels of the monks.
He was forty-eight years old, and to his own eyes it must
almost have seemed that he had lived in vain. To all
his miseries was added in that year the certainty that he
had taken to his heart a faithless wife 1 .
But let us look into Agrippa's house, and see it as the
monks were at that time describing it among the people.
1 Wierus, De Prcestigiius Damonum. Lib. ii. cap. v. Opera (ed. cit.) p. 111.
" Ubi conjugem Mechliniensem Bonnae repudiasset anno MDXXXV."
314 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
This we may do by help of a well-known story which is
told with all faith by Delrio, but Delrio copied it out of
a book that had been published in Latin, Italian, French,
and Spanish, known in French as the Theatre de la
Nature, in Italian as the Stroze Cicogna, and in Spanish
as Valderama 1 . Here it is, as it was issued from the mint 3 :
"This happened to Cornelius Agrippa at Louvain.
He had a boarder, who was too curious, and Agrippa
having once gone somewhere, had given the keys of his
museum to the wife whom he afterwards divorced, for-
bidding her to allow any one to enter. That thoughtless
youth did not omit, in season and out of season, to entreat
the woman to give him the means of entering, until he
gained his prayer. Having entered the museum, he fell
upon a book of conjurations read it. Hark ! there is
knocking at the door; he is disturbed; but he goes on
with his reading; some one knocks again; and the un-
mannerly youth answering nothing to this, a demon
enters, asks why is he called? What is it commanded
him to do? Fear stifles the youth's voice, the demon his
mouth, and so he pays the price of his unholy curiosity.
In the mean time the chief magician returns home, sees
the devils dancing over him, uses the accustomed arts,
they come when called, explain how the thing happened,
he orders the homicide spirit to enter the corpse, and to
walk now and then in the market-place (where other
students were accustomed frequently to meet), at length to
1 Apologie pour tons les grands Personnage$ qui ont este faussement soup-
gonnez de Magie. Par S. Naud, Paris (ed. La Haye, 1653), p. 423.
2 Delrio, in Disquisitionum Magicarum, Lib. ii. Quaest. xxix.: "An
Diabolus possit facere ut homo vere resurgat?" (ed. Colon. 1657), p. 356.
THE LIBELS OF THE MONKS. 315
quit the body. He walks three or four times, then falls;
the demon that had stirred the dead limbs taking flight.
It was long thought that this youth had been seized with
sudden death, but signs of suffocation first begot suspicion,
afterwards time divulged all."
Another writer, of the generation following that of
Agrippa, who gave license to much malicious wit by
getting credit or discredit as a writer on occult phi-
losophy, has indeed heard that Agrippa was no conjurer,
but thinks 1 " if it be true, as they relate, that he often de-
livered public lecture, when at Friburg, from nine until
ten o'clock, and immediately afterwards, namely, at ten
o'clock, began lecturing at Pont a Mousson, in Lorraine,
they must sweat a good deal who would rub out of him
the blot of magic."
At Paris, too, where it may be remembered he was de-
tained while labouring to get away from France, and
where he lived not on the best terms with the French
court, he used, it was said, a power that he had of reading
in the moon descriptions of what happened elsewhere, at
any even the greatest distance. " During the French war
in the Milanese, when Charles V. had entered Milan, not
once only what had been happening at Milan in the day
was told in the same night at Paris."
Other stories made him just as good a servant to the
Emperor Charles V., by virtue of his might as a ma-
gician. The Imperial army, they said, conquered some-
times by his help.
1 Natalis Comes. Mytholog. Lib. iii. cap. xvii. Quoted by Schelhorn in
his Amcenitates Literarice, Tom. ii. p. 589 (ed. Franc, et Lip. 1725). The
Same person is the narrator of the next story.
316 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
Nevertheless, the Emperor's wrath a'gainst Agrippa was
ascribed to his unholy power. He had proposed, it was
said, by magical means, to discover hidden treasures for
his master, and for that reason his self-denying master
caused him, with two other nobles implicated in the same
crime, to be banished from his empire 1 .
The truth seems to be that Cornelius was really banished
out of Germany, or under the necessity of flying for his
life. At the beginning of the year 1535 he had divorced
his wife at Bonn 2 , and at the same time the increasing
violence of enemies, whom he had irritated by his own
denunciation of their ignorance and malice, and to whom
he had given a weapon by the publication of his books of
Magic, had not failed of effect upon the Emperor. To
the Emperor, as before said, the book upon the Vanity
of Science was the real affront. The end of all seems to
be expressed in a sentence of Delrio, wherewith he illus-
trates the position that good princes most rarely pardon
wizards. " Emperor Charles V.," he says, " did not ex-
cuse Agrippa the penalty of death, but, when he had fled
into France, doomed him to exile, and in France he died 3 ."
He died at the age of forty-nine, having lived but a
few months as a 'wanderer. His purpose is said to have
been to have found his way to Lyons, there to publish
certain of his works 4 . Very soon after his death at Lyons
1 Delrio, Op. cit. Lib. ii. Quaest. xii. * Wierus, Op. cit. cap. v. p. 111.
3 Delrio, Lib. v. Qusest. ii. p. 749 : " Quomodo inquisitio in hoc critnine
instituenda ?"
4 Wierus and Melchior Adam (Dignorum laude Virorum. . . . Immorta~
litas, ed. Francof., 1705 ; in the Vitce Germanorum Medicorum, p. 8) are the
authorities for the succeeding account of Agrippa's death. See also Naud,
Op. cit. pp. 426, 427.
HIS EXILE AND DEATH. 317
his collected works were published, and although, in
deference to the priests, many of the things republished
were garbled, and the Vanity of Sciences and Arts suf-
fered especially 1 , although, too, in deference to the cupidity
of booksellers, a spurious and foolish fourth book of Occult
Philosophy was added, which Agrippa's pupil Wier, care-
ful for the honour of a master at whose hearth he had
sat, and whose memory he dared openly to cherish, de-
nounced as an imposture ; still there was in the Lyons
edition of Agrippa's works the matter that Agrippa must
have been most anxious to see fairly produced before the
world : there first appeared the complete set of letters
which afford the best help to a refutation of his slan-
derers.
It must have been a friendly hand that took these
papers from the chamber of the dead Agrippa. They
were sent on to their destination. The poor scholar died
hunted, exhausted, and almost utterly forsaken. He did
not live to reach Lyons. He had not long crossed the
French border before King Francis caused him to be
seized and thrown in prison for his publication of the
correspondence that discredited the queen-mother. His
few friends at court had influence enough to beg him
free. But when free he was penniless and homeless.
He could think only with anguish of the little children
he was forced to leave, a divorced wanton their only
shadow of a mother, and their father far away, hunted
1 A very full list of the passages omitted will be found in Schelhorn.
Amcenitates Liter arias (ed. cit), Tom. ii. pp. 518-525.
318 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
and dying. God only knew, perhaps God only cared,
what was the fate of these orphans; it is enough for us to
know that God does care for such as they. Cornelius
reached Grenoble and died there, as his persecutors said
with triumph, at a mean place, suffering from sordid
want. Yet the same men asserted, that when travelling
he had the skill to pay his way with what appeared to be
good money, but changed afterwards to bits of horn and
shell. The truth is, the sick man was received into
the house of a friendly gentleman, M. Vachon, Receiver-
General of the Province of Dauphine. The house is in
the Rue des Clercs, and afterwards belonged to the family
of Ferrand. There died Cornelius Agrippa, forty-nine
years old. If spirits walk when restless in their graves,
his may have done so, for they buried him within a con-
vent of Dominicans.
The people were instructed very shortly afterwards
with a minute account of the magician's death, which I
will give as it is to be found in the works of a contempo-
.rary. It was an unlucky coincidence, perhaps, that
Agrippa really had a little black dog, called Monsieur,
among his pets. Simon the Magician, Sylvester, Dr.
Faustus, Bragandin of Venice, all had dogs. Cornelius
Agrippa had one. He would remain for a whole week
together working in his study, having for companion the
pet dog, which he suffered to sit on his table, or run loose
among his papers. " Wierus," Delrio says, " denies its
having been a devil, as others more truly affirm." We '
have accepted one statement of the manner of Agrippa's
death ; let us now hear what is more truly affirmed by the
THE MONK'S CURSE ON HIS MEMORY. 319
grave priest and learned traveller, M. Thevet 1 : " At last,
having betaken himself to Lyons, very wretched, and de-
prived of his faculties, he tried all the means that he could
to live, waving, as dexterously as he could, the end of his
stick, and yet gained so little, that he died in a miserable
inn, disgraced and abhorred before all the world, which
detested him as an accursed and execrable magician, be-
cause he always carried about with him as his companion
a devil in the figure of a dog, from whose neck, when he
felt death approaching, he removed the collar, figured all
over with magic characters, and afterwards, being in a
half-mad state, he drove it from him with these words:
' Go, vile beast, by whom I am brought utterly to perdi-
tion.' And afterwards this dog, which had been so
familiar with him, and been his assiduous companion in
his travels, was no more seen; because, after the com-
mand Agrippa gave him, he began to run towards the
Saone, where he leapt in, and never came out thence, for
which reason it is judged that he was drowned there. In
perpetual testimony of his base and depraved life, there
has been composed over his tomb this epitaph."
The epitaph is in bad Latin hexameters and pentame-
ters, of which the following is, as to sense and grammar, an
exact translation. The words have been arranged in the
way now usual with compositions of this sort, instead of
being paraphrased in metre, and I leave untouched the
doubt there is as to where dog, man, cake, or spirit, is the
subject of the sentence.
1 Thevet, Portraits et Vies des Hommes lUustres (ed. Paris, 1584), Tom.
ii. p. 543.
320 CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
THIS TOMB
SCARCELY THE GRACES KEEP, BUT THE BLACK DAUGHTERS OF HELL ;
NOT THE MUSES, BUT THE FURIES WITH SNAKES SPREAD ABROAD.
COLLECTS THE ASHES, MIXES THEM WITH ACONITE,
AND GIVES THE WELCOME OFFERING TO BE DEVOURED BY
n Bog,
WHO NOW CRUELLY PURSUES THROUGH THE PATHS OF ORCUS,
AND SNATCHES AT
THAT OF WHICH WHEN ALIVE HE WAS THE COMPANION,
AND HE LEAPS UP AT HIM.
SALUTES THE FURIES BECAUSE HE HAD KNOWN THEM ALL,
AND HE ADDRESSES EACH BY HER OWN NAME.
O WRETCHED ARTS,
WHICH AFFORD ONLY THIS CONVENIENCE
THAT AS A KNOWN GUEST HE CAN APPROACH
THE STYGIAN "WATEES.
So like a Pagan spat the Monk upon the Christian's
grave !
INDEl
ABBACADABEA, i. 191
Adam and Eve.i. 103, 104
- Kadmon, i. 76
Adjuration of spirits, i. 198
Adulteration, ii. 198
Advocate and orator at Metz, Agrippa's
life as, ii. 13-65
Advocates, ii. 202
Aeromancy, i. 153
Agriculture, ii. 191, 193
Agrippa, meaning of the word, i. 1, 2
AGBIPPA, HJESBY COBNELIUS.
Leading Events of his Life.
VOL. I.
TEAn. AGE.
I486."!
Born at Cologne, 1, of noble
parentage, 12; character of
his education, 13, 14 ; sent
^ early in life to the court of
Maximilian the First, and
serves there as secretary,
1505.J 15.
1506. 20. At Paris, on secret service,
unites with some students,
members of an association of
theosophists, 25,
1507. 2L in an attempt to establish by
stratagem and force the au-
thority of Seuor de Gerona
in the neighbourhood of Tar-
ragon, 26-38,
1508. 22. is beset by the Catalonians,
3949, and narrowly escapes
with his life, 50, 51 ; quits
Spain and reaches Avignon,
w'aere
1509. 23. he Lvnmuuicates with his
associates in Prance, aban-
dons the scheme of vio-
lence, and returns with them
to the study of mysteries,
5463; assisted by them,
64, he expounds before the
University of Dole Reuch-
lin's book on the Miriflc
Word, 65-93, with such suc-
cess as to be made Doctor of
Divinity, 94 ; at the same
time seeking the patronage
VOL, II.
of Margaret of Austria, 95
97, he writes a treatise upon
the Nobility and Pre-emi-
nence of the Female Sex,
98 111 ; in the same year he
marries Jane Louisa Tyssie,
of Geneva, 111, 212, 213 ; and
also iu the same year, and in
the beginning of the next
year,
1510. 2-4. writes three books of Occult
Philosophy, 113 211, the
manuscript of which he
shows to Trithemius, 213
220, who approves but warns
him against publishing, 220
222. He has already been
denounced at Ghent for his
Hebrew studies by Catili-
net, a Franciscan monk, who
preached in this year the
Lent discourses before Mar-
garet and her court, and
who by his sermons pro-
voked Margaret to wrath
against Agrippa, 222223;
therefore he cannot offer to
her his essay upon the Pre-
eminence of Woman, 224,
and goes back into the
service of the emperor, 225,
by whom he is sent with an
embassy to the court of
Henry VIIL, at London, 226
229, where he lodges with
Dean Colet, 230240, and
whence he addresses to the
monk Catiliuet a Christian
expostulation, 240249. Re-
turns to Germany, and goes
home to Cologne, 250, where
1511. 25. he delivers Quodlibetal Lec-
tures on Divinity, 250252,
before rejoining the em-
peror, who sends him as a
soldier to the Italian war,
254257. Attached to the
Council of Pisa by the Car-
dinal of Santa Croce, 258
260, he lectures on Plato
in the University, 261, and
322
INDEX.
TEAB. AGE.
with other members of the
council is excommunicated
by Pope Julius II., 261, 262.
Returning to the army, 263
265,
1512. 26. he remains in Italy, 265304 ;
is taken prisoner at Pavia
by the Swiss, 266270, but
soon released, 271. He has
obtained a patron for his
scholarship in the Marquis of
Monferrat, 268, and is, at the
close of the year, settled in
his chief town of Casale, 275.
1513. 27. Reconciled to the head of the
Church, by Leo X., 276, en-
gaged by turns in war and
study, 277,
1514- 28. he is sent on a brief mis-
sion to Switzerland, 278, ia
knighted in battle, 288, ob-
tains good friends, 278280,
and
1515. 29. expounds before the Univer-
sity of Pavia the Pimander of
Hermes Trismegistus, 281
286. He is admitted by that
University as Doctor both of
Medicine and Law, 287, 288.
Francis I. invading Italy,
290, Agrippa fights in the
battle of Marignano, where
he loses manuscripts, 291,
292, and by the victory of
the French is reduced to
beggary, 292. Being helped
by the Marquis of Monferrat,
294, he writes and dedi-
cates to him two spiritual
treatises, one on Man, 295,
the other on the Triple Way
of Knowing God, 296304.
VOL. II.
1516. 30. Offers of patronage from sun-
dry persons, 16, and a
brief
1517. 31. connexion with the Duke of
Savoy, 710, end in accept-
ance of office as
1518. 32. advocate and orator to the
free town of Metz, 13-65,
where he labours as a phy-
sician among the plague-
smitten, 2630. Hears of
his father's death, 33.
1519. 33. Enters into a contest with
the monks who had reviled
Faber Stapulensis for his
denial of three husbands to
St. Anne, the mother of the
Virgin, 3650- Beards the
inquisitor, Nicolas Savin, 51,
and saves from his clutches
AQE.
a poor country girl accused
of witchcraft, 56 64. Having
incensed the monks, he is
34. hunted from Metz, and
journeys with his wife and
son through wintry weather
to Cologne, 65, where he
lives with his mother and
sister, 66, in a town as to
tolerance another Metz, 67
83,
35. expecting employment by the
Duke of Savoy, 80, until the
death of his wife Louisa, 82,
83, after which he retreats
to Geneva, still flattered
with promises from Savoy,
84, practises physic, and
becomes known as a friend
among the Reformed clergy
in Switzerland, 85101.
36. Marries again at Geneva, 102 ;
abandons hope in Savoy, and
37. accepts public office as phy-
sician and counsellor in the
Swiss town of Friburg, 103
109 ; is generously treated
by the Swiss, 104.
38. Tempted by dazzling offers,
and refusing invitations
from the Duke of Bourbon,
he accepts office in Franco
as physician to the queen-
mother, 110114, and re-
moves with his family by
her command, 119, to Lyons,
three more children having
been born to him, of which
one died before the end of
August in this year, 115.
39. To a fourth son, born at Lyons,
the Cardinal do Lorraine
and Dame de St. Prie are
godfather and gpdmother,
but no salary is paid ;
and Agrippa, attached to
the queen-mother's service,
learns
40. what hell it is in suing long to
bide, 119-150, 210-222. He
offends the queen by antici-
pating success to the arms
of Bourbon, 219, and by ex-
pressing his unwillingness
to be employed in a vain art
as an astrologer, 145147-
Thwarted in aspiration and
ambition by the monks and
courtiers, he consoles himself
with the writing' of his De-
clamation on the Vanity of
Sciences and Arts, and on
the Excellence of the Word
of God, 151209.
INDEX.
323
YEAR. AGE.
1527. 41. Slighted at Lyons, and left by
the queen-mother to starve,
he corresponds with the
Duke of Bourbon, 222, 228,
and is on the point of enter-
ing his service when the
duke is killed, 229. Labour-
ing next to find a living out
of France, 230, and invited
by admirers of his genius
who live at Antwerp to esta-
blish himself there, 230,
1528. 42. he sets out for that town by
way of Paris, 232, with an ail-
ing wife, four children, bag-
gage, and servants, 233 ; but
at Paris suffers ruinous de-
lay for six months at an inn,
through tho evasions of the
court and the Duke of Ven-
d6me's refusal of his pass-
ports, 235245. Crosses the
frontier alone without a pass,
246, leaving the family to be
brought on by a relation, 247,
1529. 43. At Antwerp he begins to
thrive, 249, is appointed by
the Regent Margaret His-
toriographer and Indiciary
Councillor to the Emperor
Charles V., and commences
at last the printing of his
works, 250. Another son is
born to him, 250 ; but when
his home is full of happiness,
his wife dies suddenly of
plague, 251255, to his in-
tense grief, 255. In the time
of his despair, 257, 258, he is
much sought by princes, 259,
but remains
1530. 44. at Antwerp as imperial histo-
riographer. He does the
work of his office, 261, but
does not get its pay, 262.
Margaret of Austria dying,
Agrippa writes her funeral
oration, 264 ; but in this year
he prints his Vanity of
Sciences and Arts, 262, which
contains enough truth about
courts to offend the ernperor,
and enough truth about
church corruption to offend
the monks, 263, 264.
1531. 45. A few months afterwards he
prints one book of his Occult
Philosophy, 265269, and
supplies the monks and
courtiers with _an easy me-
thod of traducing him by
calling him Magician, 269.
He duns the emperor in vain
I YEAR. AGE.
for salary, 270, himself beset
by creditors, in debt to
usurers, 271. He is invited
to write in defence of Queen
Katharine of England, 281
284. Cardinal Campegio
and the Bishop of Liege are
his friends, 271, 272 ; but he
is seized at Brussels and
thrown
1532. 40. into gaol for debt, 272, 273,
whence he makes his appeal
for justice, not for mercy, 273
276. Warned by Erasmus
that " monks and theologians
are not to be overcome, even
if one had a better cause
than St. Paul had," 280, 281,
but still faithful to his sense
of truth, 281, Agrippa, with
his salary again promised,
leaves the court, 284, takes a
small house at Mechlin, and
marries a third wife, who
proves unfaithful, 285. He
is publishing editions of
several of his works at
Cologne, where the arch-
bishop is friendly, 287; but
their sale in Brabant is op-
posed by the Louvain theo-
logians, 288, who have laid
informations against the
Vanity of Sciences before the
senate of Mechlin, 289, 292
295. Agrippa replies to them
with an Apology, 289, 292
300, and retorts with a Com-
Slaint, 300303. His salary
ue from the emperor is still
withheld, 303, 304, and he
retires to Bonn, 304, whence
he appeals to Mary of Austria,
the new regent in the
Netherlands, 305. His com-
plete work on Occult Philo-
sophy being in the press at
Cologne, an interdict is set
on it by the magistrates at
the desire of the inquisitor,
Conrad of Ulm, 305, 306.
1533. 47. Agrippa tells the magistrates
some bitter truths about
their university, 306 309; by
help of the friendly arch-
bishop, gets rid of the inter-
dict, and issues the work in
its complete state, 310. For
a time he lives under the
patronage of the Electoral
Count Hermann of Wied,
Archbishop of Cologne, 311
313, and so
153-1. 48. resides at Bonn, 313, until
324
INDEX.
TEAR. AGE.
1585. 49. the divorce from his unfaithful
wife, 285, 313, which takes
place in the same year, when,
threatened with death by
the emperor, he flies to
Prance, 316; is there im-
prisoned for the publishing
of letters on the subject of
the queen-mother's injustice
to himself, but soon set free
by intercession, 317, and
sinking under persecution,
exiled from his helpless
children, wanders until he
dies at Grenoble, and is
buried in a convent of Do-
minicans, 318. Lying monks
commit his memory to exe-
cration, 314320.
Ague, an occult cure for, i. 149
Air, i. 119
Alchemy, Agrippa's, i. 56, 57 (in note),
125 ; ii. 218 ; of a clockmaker at Metz,
78, 141 ; vanity of, 199, 200
Alligation and suspension, i. 147
Anatomy, ii. 198
Ancestors, Agrippa's, i. 3
Angels, how brought down, i. 140; their
nature, 194, 196
Anne, Saint, mother of the Virgin, the
dispute at Metz about her marriages,
ii. 39-50, 6870
Antwerp, invitation of Agrippa to, ii. 231;
Efforts to reach from Lyons, 232 248;
residence there, 249266
Apology against the Louvain theologians,
Agrippa's, ii. 289300
Appearance, personal, of Agrippa, i. 212
Dean Colet, i. 233, 236, 238
Faber Stapulensis, ii. 40
Dominicans in the pulpit, ii. 45
Nicolas Savin, the inquisitor, ii. 60
Appetites of man, the three, i. 155
Apprehension, the three sorts of, i. 156
Architecture, vanity of, ii. 167 ; Agrippa's
essays in, 213, 233
Archives, Agrippa keeper of the, in Bra-
bant, ii. 249, 261, 262
Aristotle, the study of, i. 91 ; vanity of,
ii. 177
Arithmancy, i. 173
Arithmetic, magical study of, i. 164 175;
vanity of, ii. 161
Asparagus, a belief concerning, i. 136
Aspiration, Agrippa's doctrine of, i. 139,
140, 186188, 190, 205; ii. 152, 153
Ass, praise of the, ii. 207, 208
Astrology, the root of magic, i. 184 ; de-
cried by Agrippa, ii. 128, 138, 139, 237,
238; commanded in Prance by the
queen-mother to practise it, 144; his
expression of annoyance, 145 ; and its
consequences, 146, 147, 214, 215, 219
221, 236238 ; vanity of, 169
Astronomy, Agrippa taught by his pa
rents, i. 250 ; vanity of, ii. 168
Auguries and auspices, i. 151, 152; vanity
of, ii. 169
Aurelius, Father, of Aquapendente, ii.
231, 232, 240, 246, 252, 257
Authun, Agrippa at, i. 64
Avignon, Agrippa at, i. 53, 61, 63; invited
to by an offer of patronage, ii. 9
Aymon, Agrippa's eldest son, ii. 56, 233
B.
Balearic Islands, Agrippa at the, i. 53
Banditti, ii. 23
Banishment of Agrippa, ii. 316
Barcelona, Agrippa at, i. 39, 53
Barguyn, a treasurer, ii. 129, 133, 134,
136, 214, 241
Basil, garden, a belief concerning, i. 136
Basle, Agrippa printing books at, ii. 290,
303, 311
Bazas, the Bishop of, ii. 133, 134, 211
Beer-tax, remission of, to public officers
in Germany, ii. 286
Beggary, ii. 185
Besanson, Antony I., Archbishop of, i. 65,
92
Bindings, magical, i. 141
Birth of Agrippa, i. 1 ; of children to
Agrippa, 289 ; ii. 102, 115, 118, 229, 250
Black Lake, the escape over the, i. 48, 50
Blancherose, Claude, physician, ii. 105
Bonmont, the Abbot, ii. 101 ; takes charge
of Agrippa's eldest son, 104, 116118
Bonn, Agrippa at, ii. 285, 286 ; divorces
his third wife there, 313
Book fair, the Frankfort, ii. 289, 303, 309
Bouelles, Charles de, student of theology,
i. 54
Bourbon, Charles, Duke of, Agrippa in-
vited to serve, ii. 110 ; his position, 112
114 ; relations of Agrippa with, 220,
222, 228, 229
Brain, the, how subdivided, i. 155
Brennon, John Roger, Pastor of St.
Cross, at Metz, ii. 56, 57, 65 ; continues
Agrippa's battle with the monks of
Metz, 68 73 ; subsequent intercourse
of, with Agrippa, 7580, 82, 83, 109,
115, 139141
Briare, Agrippa at, ii. 234
Brie, Germain de, student of theology, i.
54, 55, 64
Brussels, Agrippa at, ii. 261 ; in gaol at,
272
Bucer, ii. 120, 122
Bullion, Antony and Thomas, treasurers,
ii. 134-130, 147, 148, 218, 222-224
Cabala, the, i. 63, 6981 ; Agrippa student
of, 63, 91, 191-193, 196, 197, 243, 269,
298 ; ii. 81, 117; vanity of, 171173
Campanus, John, theologian, ii. 74
INDEX.
325
Campegio, Cardinal Laurence, ii. 270, 271,
273, 274, 276, 277, 289, 290, 303
Caudles, charmed, i. 149
Canon law, worldliness of the, ii. 200
202
Canter, Andrew, Peter and James, ii. 160
Cantiuncula, Claudius, jurisconsult, ii.
54, 55, 64, 75, 79, 108
Capito, Wolfgang Fabricius, Reformer, ii.
85, 87, 95101
Capnio, i. 60, 89. See also Reuchlin and
Mirific Word
Cards, what devil invented, i. 195
Carvajal, Bernardino, Cardinal of Santa
Croce, i. 259, 260, 261
Casale, Agrippa at, i. 293, 304
Catalonia, Agrippa's adventures in, i. 25
52
Cathedrals, censure of the outlay on
building, ii. 167, 168, 181
Catholicism, Agrippa's assertions of his,
i. 115, 116, 245, 303 ; ii. 59, 184, 185, 279,
300
Catilinet, Franciscan friar, i. 112, 213;
denounces Agrippa at Ghent, 222, 223 ;
Agrippa's expostulation with him, 240
Ceremonies of the Church, ii. 179, 180
Chalon-sur-Sa6ne, Agrippa at, i. 65
Champier, Symphorianus, knight and
physician, i. 64
Chapelain, Jean, physician to King
Francis the First, ii. 123, 124, 130, 133
136, 144-150, 211, 212, 215, 218, 222,
224227, 235, 244
Chappuys, Eustochius, orator for the
Emperor Charles V. in London, ii. 10,
94, 281-284, 290
Characters of nations, ii. 176, 177
formed by the intelligences of the
planets, i. 175 ; geomantical and other,
i. 183, 184, 197199
Charles V., emperor, ii. 55; Agrippa's
first impression of him, 80 ; subsequent
appointment as his historiographer, 250,
261, 262 ; and suit to him for justice,
270; he is incensed at Agrippa's
" Vanity of Sciences and Arts," 261 ;
his court, 272; Agrippa cannot get
from him any of the promised salary,
273276, 284286, 301; but is driven
by him out of Germany, 316
Charms, i. 146, 147, 175
Chatelain, Jean, Austin friar of Metz, ii.
52,65
Cheiromancy, i. 138 ; vanity of, ii. 169
Children of Agrippa, i. 289; ii. 56, 102,
104, 108, 115, 116119, 229, 232-234,
250, 254
Circles, magic, i. 175, 176
Civet cat, opinions concerning the, i, 130,
Clairchamps, M. de, student at Paris, i.
omps and vanities of the, ii. 179,
J-185
Cock, a belief concerning the, i. 145, 158
Codices sought by a printer, ii. 116
Colet, John, Dean of St. Paul's, receives
Agrippa, i. 230, 231; his influence upon
him, 233-239,303, 304
Colic, an occult cure for the, i. 130
Collyria, magical, i. 145
Cologne, Agrippa's native town, i. 1, 2, 4,
13; Agrippa at, 26-30, 250-253; ii.
14, 21, 32, 6581, 287, 303 ; attacked by
the inquisitor at, 306308
, University of, i. 9, 13 ; ii. 67, SOS-
SOS .
Colours in magic, i. 149
Common sense, i. 155
Compaternity, the tie of, ii. 122
Complaint against the calum'nies of theo-
logians and monks, Agrippa's, ii. 290
Compounds of the elements, the four
perfect, i. 120
Concords and discords in nature, i. 128,
129, 144, 145
Conjuration by names, i. 7880; by the
Psalms, 81 ; vanity of, ii. 171
Conrad Colyn, of Uhn, Cologne inquisitor,
ii.305 308, 310
Cookery, the art of, ii. 199
Cop, Nicolas, Reformer, ii. 146, 221
Copyright, ii. 250, 266
Coronation of Charles Y. at Bologna,
,'s Historiette of the, ii. 261,
Correspondence. See Letters
Cosmimetry, ii. 166]
Cough, an occult cure of a, i. 150
Counsellor and physician at the French
court, Agrippa, ii. 115
Courtiers criticised, ii. 124126,186190,
214, 217
Cowls, who invented, ii. 165, 166
Cratander, printer, ii. 303
Creditors, Agrippa beset by, ii. 271 ; im-
prisoned by, 272276
Cross, the figure of a, in magic, i. 176
Cuckoo, a belief concerning the, i. 148
Cucumbers, a belief concerning, i. 129
Cuspinian, imperial secretary, i. 17, 19,21
Damascenus on the soul, ii. 78
Dancing, the vanity of, ii. 163, 164
D'Arandia, Michael, Bishop, ii. 130
Dead, magical revival of the, i. 15S
Death, the soul after, i. 200, 201
of Agrippa's first wife, ii. 83 ; of his
second wife, 251 255 ; of one of his
children, 115; of Agrippa, 318; legend
of it, 319
Debt, Agrippa in gaol for, at Brussels, ii.
272
Dehortation from Gentile theology,
Agrippa's, ii. 130132
Demons, the three, attendant on a man,
i. 195, 106
Deodatus, Claudius, Celestine friar, ii.
35-38
326
INDEX.
Devils, the raising of, i. 141 ; their nature,
194196
Dialectics, i. 300, 301; vanity of, ii.158,
159
Dice, charmed, i. 184
Dicing, vanity of, ii. 161, 162
Dieting, vanity of, ii. 198
Dignitaries of the Church, their vanity,
ii. 183185
Divination by lot, i. 184; vanity of, ii. 169
Divorce, Agnppa's views upon, ii. 92 ; in-
vited to oppose that of Queen Katha-
rine, 281284 ; his own, from his third
wife, 285, 313
Doctor of divinity, Agrippa made, at
D61e, i. 94
of law" and physic, Agrippa made,
atPavia,ii.287,288
Dogs, Agrippa's liking for, ii. 81, 244, 252,
254, 318
Dole, i. 66; Agrippa at, 65; expounds in
its University Reuchlin on the Mirific
"Word, 67, 9193; made doctor there,
Dreams, divination by, i. 153, 154, 204,
205; vanity of, ii. 170; a vivid one, i.
156
Drouvyn, Claudius, a Dominican, ii. 65,
70
Drugs, ii. 197, 198
Drums, a belief concerning, i. 131
E.
Earth, i. 118, 119
Eekius, John, theologian, ii. 50
Economy, ii. 185 ; private, 186 ; of courts,
187-190
Education of women, i. 107, 109
Effusion, i. 155
Eight, occult powers of the number, i. 170
Eighteen, occult powers of the number,
i. 171172
Elements, the four, i. 117, 120, 121; pre-
sages drawn from the, 153 ; their musi-
cal harmonies, 177
Eleven, occult powers of the number, i.
171
Embassy of Agrippa to London, i. 229
250; to Switzerland, 278
Engraving, ii. 164.
Enmities and friendships among natural
things, i. 128, 144, 145
Enthusiast, an, in search of Agrippa, ii.
Envy, i. 155
Epistolse obscurorum virorum, i. 88
Epitaph of a monk upon Agrippa, ii. 320
Erasmus, i. 59, 60 ; ii. 50, 74, 108, 263, 277
281, 296, 304
Eve better than Adam, i. 100, 103, 104
Everard de la Mark, Bishop of Liege, ii.
270, 272, 276
Evil, the origin of, i. 199 ; ii. 25, 27
Excommunication of Agrippa, i. 261, 276
Exemplary world, the, 1. 121
Exile of Agrippa, ii. 316
Experience, the teaching of, i. 126
Expostulation with Catilinet, Agrippa's,
Eye-waters, magical, i. 145
Eyes, sore, an occult cure for, i. 150
P.
Faber Stapulensis, i. 01 ; ii. 3741 ;
Agrippa defends his book " Upon the
Three and One," 3949; other rela-
tions with him, 146, 221, 296
Faith in medicine, i. 157
, religious, and credulity, i. 189
Falco, Alexis, creditor, ii. 273, 276
Fancy, i. 155-157
Fasch, M., student, i. 54
Fascination, i. 146
Father, death of Agrippa's, ii. 32
Female sex, Agrippa on the nobility and
pre-eminence of the, i. 98 110
Fever, a way of treating, ii. 77
Ficinus, Marsilius, Greek scholar, i. 91
Figures, magical, i. 181-183
Filonardus, Ennius, bishop, i. 256, 257
Fine, M. (Orontius), mathematician, ii.
244,245
Fire, i. 118
Fishing, ii. 192
Five, occult powers of the number, i. 168
Fleas, a way of banning, i. 148
Forbot, William, Agrippa's cousin, ii. 246
248, 255258
Forty, occult powers of the number, i.
172
Foucard, Charles, student, i. 29
Four, occult powers of the number, i. 167
Francis I., king, and Agrippa, ii. 130,
213, 228, 244, 317
Frankfort book fair, ii. 289303, 309
Friburg, in Switzerland, Agrippa settles
at, as town physician, ii. 103, 104, 106,
110
Friendships and enmities, occult, i. 128,
129, 144, 145
Frobenius, John, printer, ii. 116
Fuerte Negro, the, at Tarragon, seizure
of, by Agrippa and his comrades, i. 38,
44,45
Furnario, Augustine, citizen of Genoa, ii.
150, 152, 231, 233, 246, 247, 257, 259, 271,
287
G.
Gaigny, M., student of theology, i. 29
Gain, now to procure, i. 183
Galbianus, courtier, i. 3136, 272
Gaol, Agrippa in, at Brussels, ii. 272 ; also
in France, ii. 317
Gemantria, i. 72
Geneva, Agrippa married to Jane Tyssie
of, i. Ill, 212 ; invited to settle in, ii.
10, 11 ; settles in, 84, 85 ; practises phy-
sic there, 94105
Genius, each man has his attendant, i.
195, 196
Geography, vanity of, ii. 167
INDEX.
327
Geomancy, i. 152; vanity of, ii. 161, 169
, Schepper's, ii. 260
Geometry, occult powers of, i. 175, 176
, vanity of.ii. 164
Germain, M., law student, i. 29
Gerona, Juanetin Bascara do, Spanish
noble, Agrippa enticed into a plot by,
i. 25, 26, 30, 31, 35, 39, 44, 45
Gestures of a magician, i. 172, 173
Ghent, Catilinet at, attacks Agrippa as a
Judaist, i. 112, 222, 223
Giddiness unknown among women, i. 101
Gien, Agrippa at, ii. 234
Godfathers and godmothers, ii. 118, 122,
129
Government, Agrippa on forms of, ii. 178,
Grammar, the uncertainty and vanity of,
ii. 155
Grangey, Agrippa at, i. 33
Grapes, to make a vision of, i. 149
Graphseus, printer, ii. 265
Greek, the study of, revived, i. 58, 59, 82,
86, 126, 210, 211, 234, 235, 237
Grenoble, an opening sought for Agrippa
at, ii. 8; he dies there, 318
H.
Harmonies in man's body and soul, i. 177
-179
Hebrew, the study of revived, i. 58, 59, 82,
84, 85, 87, 88
, magical use of, i. 160, 161, 192
Hell, Agrippa's views concerning, i. 201
Hellebore, a belief concerning, i. 150
Henry VIII., king, Agrippa at the court
of, 'i. 229, 231-233; sought by, ii. 259;
asked to defend the cause of Queen
Katharine against, ii. 281284
Heraldry, the vanity of, ii. 195, 196
Heresy of the Greek language, i. 59, 210,
211, 234, 235
Hermann of Wied, Archbishop of Co-
logne, ii. 34, 268, 270, 287303, 306, 309,
311
of Ncuwied, Count, ii. 34, 67,
Hermes Trismegistus, Agrippa expounds
his Pimander in the University of
Pavia, i. 281287
Hetorp, printer, ii. 303, 306
Historiographer, imperial, to Charles V.,
Agrippa's appointment as, ii. 250, 261,
262 ; salary unpaid, 269-276, 303, 304
History, vanity of, ii. 157
Hochstraten, the first Count, ii. 270, 288
, Jacob, inquisitor, at Cologne, ii. 49,
50, 79, 100
Horse, the, how tamed and made fleet by
magic arts, i. 142
Hours, the planetary, i. 180
Houses of the stars, i. 128
Hundred, one, occult powers of the
number, i. 172
Hunting and fowling, ii. 192, 193
Hutten, the Reformer, at Cologne, ii. 79
Hydromancy, i. 153
Ideas, the doctrine of superior, i. 123126,
161163
Idiosyncrasies, i. 129
Ignorance is bliss, ii. 151, 302, 303
Image worship, vanity of, ii. 180, 181
Images, occult power of celestial, i. 175,
181, 182 ; other charmed images, 183
Imagination, i. 155
Imitation, i. 156, 157
Impeachment of Agrippa's Vanity of
Sciences at Mechlin by the Louvain
theologians, ii. 289-303
Incantations, i. 201, 202
Incubi, ii. 63
Indiciary councillor and keeper of the
archives, Agrippa's place as, ii. 259, 261,
262
Inferiors and superiors, i. 115, 128, 140,
Influences of celestial bodies, i. 125, 131
136; how brought down, i. 139 140,
148, 158-160
of a man's passions upon other men.
i. 157
Inns, Agrippa at, ii. 234, 236246, 257
Inquisition, Agrippa battles agains
usurpations of the, ii. 5764, 203, 305
310
Instinct, i. 153
Intelligences, i. 115, 125
Interpretative Theology, ii. 205
Invocations, i. 159, 207
J.
Jovial things, i. 133, 134
Judges, Agrippa to his, at Brussels, ii.
Judicial Astrology, the use of, decried
by Agrippa, ii. 128, 138, 139, 144-147,
169
K.
Katharine, Queen of England, Agrippa
asked to write against the divorce of,
ii. 281-284
Khreutter, John, royal secretary, ii. 305
Kingdoms under the rule of planets, i.
135
King's evil, a cure for the, i. 165
Klippoth, the material spirits, i. 77
Knighthood, Agrippa's, i. 288
Ladies at court, ii. 189, 190
Landi, Alexander, of Piacenza, i. 278 280
295
Landulphus, Blasius Csesar, law student,
i. 2630, 39, 5257, 64, 65, 254, 255, 267
-273; ii. 5, 7-9; professor at Pavia,
ii. 6
Languages, Agrippa versed in many, i.
14, 288
Laurentin, Baron Claudius, ii. 22, 140
, John, of Lyons, Preceptor of St. An-
tony's at Rivolta, ii. 5, 22, 105, 160
Lavindus, Peter, Dominican, ii. 138, 139
INDEX.
Law, Agrippa doctor of, i. 288; prac-
titioner of, ii. 5864
- , vanity of civil and canon, ii. 200
203
Leclerc, Jean, Reformer, at Metz, ii. 51
Legends of the monks against Agrippa,
ii. 314-319
Leghorn, Agrippa at, i. 53
Le Maire, Jean, historiographer, ii. 304
Leo X., Pope, i. 61; his letter to Agrippa,
Leprosy, i. 49
Letters, magical value of, i. 160, 161
- in language, ii. 155
Letters, Agrippa's resolve to print cer-
tain of his, ii. 227,228 ; they are pub-
lished, 287, 316, 317
Letters :
Agrippa to Landulph, i. 28, 29
Laudulph to Agrippa, i. 30
Agrippa to Galbianus, i. 3133, 34
A friend to Agrippa, i. 97
Agrippa to Trithemius, i. 217 220
Trithemius to Agrippa, i. 220, 221
Agrippa to Catilinet, i. 240-249
Agrippa to a learned priest, i. 269
Landulph to Agrippa, i. 270, 271
Pope Leo X. to Agrippa, i. 276
A soldier to Agrippa, i. 293, 294
Agrippa to a learned friar, i. 294, 295
Claudius Deodatus to Agrippa, ii. 38,
39
Faber Stapulensis to Agrippa, ii. 53
Cantiuncula to Agrippa, ii. 56
Agrippa to a judge, ii. 62-64
Bren
non to Agrippa, ii. 71 73
Agrippa to John Caesar, ii. 74
Agrippa to Brennon, ii. 82
Capito to Agrippa, ii. 95-98
Zuinglius to Agrippa, ii. 120122
Agrippa to Doctor Chapelain, ii. 124
126, 134-136, 218
Agrippa to the Duke of Bourbon, ii.
228, 229
Agrippa to his kinsman, ii. 247
A Famulus to Agrippa, ii. 253, 254
Agrippa to his kinsman, ii. 255-258
Erasmus to Agricola, ii. 277
Erasmus to Agrippa, ii. 278, 280, 281
Agrippa to Melancthon, ii- 290
Library, the, of Trithemius, i. 215217
- of Agrippa, ii. 233, 245, 318
Liege, Everard, Bishop of, ii. 270, 272, 276
Light, i. 74, 75, 78, 149 ; in the mind of
man, 202, 203
Like to like, i. 127, 156
Lilith, i. 78
Limbs, occult relations of man's, i. 193
London, Agrippa in, i. 229250
Looking-glasses, an occult danger in the
use of, 1.128
Lorraine, Cardinal de, godfather to one of
Agrippa's boys, ii. 118
Louisa of Savoy, Queen-Mother of France,
Agrippa made physician to, ii. 110 ; her
character, 112, 114; hell found in her
service, 119, 127. 129, 134136, 144, 214,
222; negotiation with her for a pass-
port out of France, 236, 242
Louvain, Agrippa visits a patient at, 250
, the theologians of, attack Agrippa's
Vanity of Sciences, ii. 2S8 ; his answer
to them, 289303
Love, Agrippa's doctrine of, ii. 11, 12
charms, i. 127, 128
Lully, Raymond, Agrippa studies, ii. 117 :
his art, 159 ; Agrippa's Book of Com-
mentaries on it, 160, 310
Lunary things, i. 132, 133
Lunate, Lancelot, nobleman, i. 271
Luther, i. 59, 61 ; ii. 36, 37, 50, 54, 55, 8(5,
96, 97, 290, 297300
Lyons, Landulph at, i. 53, 62 ; Agrippa at,
63 ; lives unsettled there as physician
to the queen-mother, ii. 110 T 229
M.
Machines of war, Agrippa's inventions of,
ii. 150, 211, 213
Madness, prophetic, i. 154
Magic, Agrippa studios, i. 13, 63; ii. 267,
268
, defined by Agrippa, i. 116; how he
practised it, 116, 158, 207, 208
, sketch of Agrippa's three books of,
i. 113-208
Malleus Maleflcarum, the, ii. 60
Man, how constituted, i. 154158, 199
, Agrippa writes a treatise on, L 295 :
ii. 25
Manderscheydt, Count Theodore, ii. 81
Mansions of the moon, i. 180
Manuscripts lost in a battle, i. 191
, circulation of Agrippa's books as, ii.
109
Margaret of Austria, i. 6C; sought by
Agrippa as a patroness, 67 ; is made
hostile to him by the preaching of
Catilinet, 222, 223, 216, 217 ; his patro-
ness at last, ii.231, 249, 250; her death,
and Agrippa's funeral panegyric, 261,
265
of Valois, ii. 122-126, 146
Marignano, Agrippa in the battle of, loses
MSB., i. 129
Marriage of Agrippa, the first, i. Ill ; the
second, ii. 102; the third, 285
, Agrippa on the sacrament of, ii. 87
-93, 122-126
Martial things, i. 134
Marvels, i. 79, 80, 101, 102, 119, 127, 128
133, 136, 142-150, 165,182, 183, 191, 192,
284 ; ii. 314-319
Mary of Austria, Regent of the Nether-
lands, Agrippa's appeal to, ii. 304, 305
Mathematics, vanity of, ii. 161, 162
Maximilian the First, Emperor, Agrippa
at the court of, i. 15 ; his character as
a master, 1621 ; part taken by him in
the controversy about Hebrew litera-
ture, 252 ; his death, ii. 55
INDEX.
329
Mechlin, Agrippa with a patient at, ii.
250 ; removes to, 285 ; and leaves, 286 ;
his Vanity of Sciences impeached and
defended at, 292, 293
Medicine used by animals, i. 129 ; an oc-
cult guard against wrong medicines,
147 ; thp use of faith in medicine, 157
, Agrippa, doctor of, i. 288; practi-
tioner of, ii. 8, 2630, 84,85,96,106
150, 210-229, 249-260; the vanity of,
196-198
Melancholy, occult influence of, i. 154
Melancthon, i. 59 ; Agrippa to, ii. 290
Memory, i. 155
Mercurial things, i. 134
Meririm, the meridian devil, i. 195
Metaphysics, vanity of, ii. 176
Metatron, i. 77
Metoposcopy, vanity of, ii. 169
Metz, prospects of Agrippa in, ii. 9 ; be-
comes there the town orator and advo-
cate, 13 ; character of the place, 1520 ;
Agrippa's life there, 2165
Michaud, treasurer, ii. 286
Microcosm, man the, i. 178
Military art, vanity of the, ii. 193
service, Agrippa's, i. 254257, 264,
Mining, ii. 168
Miracles defined, i. 126
Mirific Word, the, i. 7880 ; Reuchlin's
book on the, 85, 8991 ; expounded at
D61e by Agrippa, 65, 9194, 243, 244
Mnemonic art, vanity of the, i. 161
Molinflor, M. de, student, i. 29
Moncordius, Godoschalcus, Agrippa edits
the works of, ii. 311
Money-lenders, ii. 239241
Monferrat, William Palaeologus, Marquis
of, i. 265, 266, 268, 273, 293296, 304 ; ii.
1, 2, 6, 259
Monks, defamation of Agrippa by, i. 68,
112, 213, 222, 223, 240, 259; ii. 42-45,
, Agrippa's criticism on bad, ii. 143,
144, 165, 166, 185, 280, 281, 295303, 313
books for Trithemius, i.
Monogamy of Saint Anne, the dispute
concerning the, ii. 3950, 6870
Montargis, Agrippa at, ii. 234
Moon, domains of the, i. 132, 133 ; power
of the, 180
Moral philosophy, vanity in, ii. 176178
Mother, Agrippa's, ii. 66, 141
Municipalities, i. 9-11 ; ii. 1618
Muses, occult powers of the nine, i. 204
Music, occult powers of, i. 176, 177;
vanity of, ii. 162, 163
Mysteries, the search into, i. 13, 58-63
Mystical interpretation of scripture, i.
70-74, 80, 81
Names, the occult power of, i. 7880,
193 ; numbers extracted from, 173
VOL. II.
Names of angels, how deduced from
sacred writ, i. 196, 197
Naples, Agrippa at, i. 53
National characteristics, ii. 176, 177
Necromancy, i. 153 ; ii. 171
Neideck, George, Bishop of Trent, i. 255
Neoplatonics, influence of the, i. 71i 76,
77, 161, 210
Nettesheim, i. 3
Neuwied, Hermann, Count of, ii. 34, 67,
74, 268, 296
Niederbriick, John of, physician, ii. 34
Nine, occult powers of the number, i. 170,
171
Nobility and Pre-eminence of the Female
Sex, Agrippa's treatise on the, i. 98
110; publication of it, ii. 250, 287
at court, ii. 188, 189
, the ignoble origin of, ii. 194, 195
Notaricon, i. 73
Notation by gestures, i. 172, 173
by letters, i. 173
Numbers, the occult power of, i. 164-
172 .
O.
Oberstayn, Paul, of Vienna, ii. 80
Oblectation, i. 155
Occult Philosophy, Agrippa's, the first
book of, i. 113163 ; the second, 164
187; third, 188208; publication of
the work, ii. 265, 266, 269, 287, 310 ; pre-
fatory matter, 266268 ; key to it, 232,
233
virtues, the nature of, i. 121 126
Ointments, magical use of, i. 146
One, occult powers of the number, i. 165,
166
Orations of Agrippa, i. 261, 288 ; ii. 21
25, 264, 265
Original sin, i. 199; Agrippa's treatise
on, ii. 25, 27
Orontius, mathematician, ii. 244, 245
Orphic names of spirits, i. 186
P.
Painting, ii. 164, 166
Palermo, the Archbishop of, ii. 270, 273
Paltrini, Bernard, steward, ii. 271, 289
Paris, Agrippa at the University of, i. 24
-26
Passions, the four, i. 155158
Passports, ii. 230, 234236, 239246
Patrimony, Agrippa's, ii. 66
Patronage, i. 95, 96, 98
Paul, John, physician, ii. 141, 142, 211
Pavia, Agrippa in, i. 265, 266; made pri-
soner of war at, 266, 271 ; lectures be-
fore the University on the Pimander
of Hermes Trismegistus, 281287 ; in-
stalled as doctor of medicine and law,
287, 288 ; in distress at, 294
Pentangle,the,i. 176
Perreal, John, royal chamberlain, i. 93
Perspective Art, the, ii. 164, 166
Peter of Ravenna, ii. 74, 296
330
INDEX.
Pfefferkora and Reuchlin, i. 251,252; ii.
307, 308
Philosopher's stone, the, i. 58
Physic, the vanity of, ii. 196198
Physician, practice of Agrippa as, with
the Duke of Savoy, ii. 8 ; at Metz, 26-
30; at. Geneva, 84, 85, 96; at Friburg,
in Switzerland, 106110 ; at Lyons as
physician to the queen-mother, 111
150, 210221; at Antwerp, 249260
Physiognomy, vanity of the study of, ii.
169
Pico di Mirandola, Giovanni, i. 89, 111 ;
ii. 169
Pimander, the, of Hermes Trismegistus,
Agrippa on, i. 285-287 ; ii. 131, 132
Pisa, the council of, Agrippa attached to,
i. 257261
, Agrippa lectures at, on Plato's ban-
quet, i. 261 ; ii. 11 ; and on the Piman-
der, i. 281
Places, occult power in, i. 148
Plague, Agrippa on antidotes to the, ii.
2830 ; death of his second wife by,
254-258
Planets, enmities and friendships of the,
i. 128: influences of the, 131136;
places proper to each of the, 148 ; per-
sons proper to each of the, 150, 151 ;
their association with the numbers
within names, 173 ; their own numbers,
tables, and characters, 174,175; their
musical harmonies, 177
Plat, John, creditor, ii. 273
Plates, use of engraved, in magic, i. 175
Plato, revived study and influence of, i.
91, 122, 123, 161-163, 172, 184, 185, 210
Plurality of worlds, ii. 173
Poetrv, the vanity of, ii. 156
Politics, the vanity of, ii. 178, 179
Pope, Agrippa opposed to the, i. 229, 2,"9
261; ii. 184, 228, 229
Praise of the ass, Agrippa's, ii. 207, 208
Prayer, i. 187, 206
Printing-press, a private bequest of a,
ii. 115
Prison, Agrippa carried to, in Brussels,
ii. 272 ; in Prance, 317
Prisoner of war, Agrippa, i. 266
Prophetic power, forms of, i. 203, 206
Prophetical theology, ii. 205
Psalms, use of the, in conjuration, i. 80,
81
Purification, i. 205, 206
Pyromachy, ii. 150, 213, 215
Pyromancy, i. 153
Pythagorean doctrine, i. 210
Q.
Quadragesimal discourses of Catilinet
at Ghent, i. 112 ; of Lavindus at Lyons,
Queen-mother, the, of France. See
Louisa of Savoy
Quintessence, the, i. 124
Quodlibetal discourses at Cologne, de-
livered by Agrippa, i. 250, 251
Raising of spirits, i. 140, 111, 198, 201, 202
Raym, John, master of arts, ii. 307
Raziel, the book of, i. 69, 70
Reformation, Agrippa's position in the
story of the, i. 5961, 239, 240 ; ii. 85
87, 93-98, 100, 120-122, 203 S 204, 290,
291, 296-300
Reiff, John, citizen of Friburg, ii. 109
Religion and superstition, i. 189; ii. 179,
180
Reuchlin, John, i. 59-61, 82-89; his
book on the Mirific Word, 89-91; ex-
pounded at D61e, by Agrippa, 65, 91
94; attacked by the Cologne monks,
251,252; ii. 50, 54, 67, 74, 296
Revolt, a Catalonian, Agrippa in, i. 39
Rhetoric, the vanity of, ii. 157, 158
Rings, magical use of, i. 12S, 147, 148
Ritius, Augustine, astronomer, i. 277
Rivolta, Oldrado Lampuguano, count of,
i. 277, 279
Rope, use of a charmed, i. 150
Rosati, Bartholomew, i. 267 ; ii. 5
Rosicrucians, i. 58
Ruling of planets, the, i. 123-126, 134, 135
S.
Sacrifice, i. 206
Saint Anne, dispute concerning the mo-
nogamy of, i. 3950, 6870
Saint Paul's Epistles, Agrippa's study of,
i. 231, 234, 291, 292
Salini, Claudius, prior of Dominicans, ii.
Salle, Madame, outwits a treasurer, ii.
223, 224
Sandalphon,i.77
Santa Croce, the cardinal of, i. 257260
Saracenus, Coinparatus, astrologer, i. 53
Saturnine things, i. 133
Savin, Nicolas, inquisitor of Metz, ii. 20,
21, 35, 39, 51, 52 ; Agrippa saves from
him a poor woman accused of witch-
craft, 57 64 ; Savin burns another,
71 ; Brennon attacks him, 71 73
Savoy, Charles the third Duko of,
Agrippa's patron, ii. 2, 3, 6; how he
paid him, 9, 10; again in negotiation,
80, 81, 84, 95, 98, 101, 103
Sbrolius, Richard, court poet, ii. 56
Schilling, Christopher, of Lucerne,
ii. 31, 32, 55, 107, H
. IDS
Scholastic theology, i. 293303 ; ii. 153,
204, 205
Science, ii. 154, 155
Sciences and Arts, Agrippa's book on
the Uncertainty and Vanity of, ii. 137,
138, 149-209 ; publication of, 262, 269,
287 ; defended against the theologians
of Louvain, 292-303
Scorpions, belief concerning, i. 136
Scripture, mystical interpretation of,i.
70-74, 80, 81
Seal, the, of man, i. 199200 ; a sacred, i.
191, 192
INDEX.
331
Seals of the stars, i. 137, 138
Secret service of the Austrian court,
Agrippa employed in the, i. 19, 21 23
Secretary to Emperor Maximilian,
Agrippa as, i. 15 22
Seneschal of Lyons, the, ii. 129, 133, 145
147, 225
Sc_nses, the five external, i. 155 ; the four
internal, ib.
Sentences, magical, i. 159, 160
Sepher Jezirah, the, i. 70
Sephiroth, the ten, i. 7476, 191
Sepia, a belief concerning, i. 149
Seven, occult powers of the number, i.
168-170
Seventh sons, a belief concerning, i. 165
Silence concerning mysteries, i. 188
Sion, the Cardinal of, i. 275, 290
Sister, Agrippa's, ii. 66
Six, occult powers of the number, i. 168
Snakes, opinions concerning, i. 129, 130 ;
omen from, i. 152
Sneezings, omen from, i. 152
Soldier, Agrippa as, in Spain, i. 38 51 ;
in Italy, 254257, 264, 288
Sophistry, the Vanity of, ii. 159
Sophists, attacked by Agrippa, i. 299,
303; ii. 153, 204, 205
Sorbonne, the, ii. 153, 204
Sorceries, i- 141, 149
Soter, printer, ii. 303, 306, 310
Soul, nature and power of the, i. 78, 202,
203 ; variety of opinions concerning, ii*
174-176
of the world, the, i. 124, 125, 185, 186
Spain, preparations of Agrippa for an
adventure in, i. 22 36 : how he fared
in Catalonia, 3752; Spain quitted,
53
Sparrows as omens, i. 152
Speech, first, in the morning, omen from,
i. 152
Spermaceti, a belief concerning, i. 144
Spirits of the dead, methods of raising,
i. 144, 145
Spitting, magical effects from, i. 150
Stars, fixed, occult influences of the, i.
136; how brought down, i. 139, 140.
See also Planets
Statuary art, the, ii. 164
Stepney, Agrippa with Dean Colet at, i.
230, 231, 233, 240
Suffumigations, magical, i. 143-145
Sun, domain of the, i. 131; power of the,
i. 179
Superiors and inferiors, i. 115, 123126,
128, 139,140
Supersax, George, i. 261
Superstition and religion, i. 189
Surgery, vanity of, ii. 198
Suspension, magical, i. 147
Swallows as omens, i. 152
Switzerland, Agrippa's mission to, i. 278 ;
residence in, ii. 84110
Sword, used in sorcery, i. 142 143
Symbolical cabala, the, i. 72, 73
Symphorianus Champ ier, i. 64
T.
Tables, sacred, of the planets, i. 174
Tarragon, i. 3752
Tartarus, Agrippa compares the French
court to, ii. 224-226
Telescopes, a foreshadowing of the dis-
covery of, i. 176
Temples, vain display in building, ii. 181,
182
Ten, occult powers of the number, i. 171
Tetractis, the, i 167
Themura, i. 73
Theodoric, Bishop of Gyrene, i. 63, 110 ;
ii. 26-28, 32-34
Theologians of Louvain, Agrippa's battle
with the, ii. 288303
Theology, Agrippa's devotion to the study
, scholastic, interpretative, and pro-
phetic, ii. 204206
, Dehortatiou from Gentile, Agrippa's
work entitled, ii. 130132
Theosophists, secret associations of, i. 25;
joined by Agrippa, 58, 59, 62, 63
Theurgy, ii. 171
Thousand, one, occult powers of the
number, i. 172
Three, occult powers of the number, i.
167
Tolls, i. 6; ii. 24
Toothache, an occult cure for, i. 130
Torture applied by an inquisitor, ii. 60,
66 ; denunciation of Agrippa, 62
Tower near Villarodona, Agrippa besieged
in a, i. 4148 ; his way of escape, 4951
Travel, dangers and difficulties of, i. 272;
ii. 66, 232-248
Trent, Agrippa at, i. 254
Trisnic-istus, Hermes, Agrippa expounds
his Pimander, i. 231-237 ; ii. 131, 132
Trithemius (John of Trittenheim), abbot,
i. 213221 ; ii. 78, 268
Troves. Martin of, treasurer, ii. 127, 129,
133, 134, 136, 147, 148
Twelve, twenty, twenty-eight, occult
power of the numbers, i. 171, 172
Two, occult power of the number, i. 166,
167
Tyrius, clockmaker at Metz, ii. 64; tippler
and alchemist, 78, 141
TJ.
Ulm, Conrad Colyn of, Cologne inquisitor,
ii. 303-308, 310
Uncertainty and Vanity of Sciences and
Arts, Agrippa's book on the, ii. 137, 138,
149-209, 262, 269, 287, 292303
Unity, the occult power of, i. 165, 166
University . See Paris, D61e, Pisa, Pavia,
Louvain, Cologne
Valentia, Agrippa at, i. 53
Vails, i. 38
Valois, Margaret of, ii. 122-126
Vanity of Sciences and Arts, Agrippa's
book on the, ii. 137, 138, 149-209 ; its
332
INDEX.
publication, 262, 269, 287 ; defended
against the theologians of Louvain, 292
303
Vaunting, i. 155
Vendome, the Duke of, ii. 240, 242, 246
Venus, influence of the planet, i. 134
Vercelli, Agrippa at, ii. 2-4
Vernet, Simou, chancellor of the Univer-
sity of D61e, i. 92
Veroli, Ennius, bishop of, i. 275, 276
Verona, Agrippa at, i. 254, 255
Veterinary surgery, ii. 198
Villarodona, Agrippa at, i. 3851
Von Eylens, Claudius, Otto, John, and
Francis, captains, ii. 220, 222
Vuoypy, the witch-takers at, ii. 57 ; suc-
cessful interference of Agrippa with, ii.
58-64
W.
Water, i. 119
Wier, John, Agrippa's pupil, ii. 251
"Wife of Agrippa, the first, i. Ill, 212, 213,
288, 289; ii. 66, 82, 83, 140; the second,
102, 229, 232 234, 240, 243, 245, 246-
258 ; the third, 285, 313
Wigandus, the Dominican, i. 55 ; ii. 70
Witchcraft, a poor woman accused of,
saved by Agrippa, ii. 5764; another
argument in a case of, 71 73 ; the
vanity of, 170, 171
Woman, the education of, i.109
Words, magical use of, i. 158, 159
Works of Agrippa:
On the Nobility and Pre-eminence
of the Female Sex, i. 98110
Three Books of Occult Philosophy, i.
113208
Expostulation with Catilinet, i. 240
249
On the Triple Way of Knowing God,
i. 296-303
Orations, i. 261, 288; ii. 2125, 264,
265
On Original Sin, ii. 25, 27
On the Securest Antidotes against
the Plague, ii. 28 30
On Monastic Life, ii. 40
Propositions and Defence of Propo-
sitions on the Dominican Doctrine
of the Husbands of St. Anne, ii
43, 4554, 68
On the Sacrament of Marriage, ii. 87
93, 122-126
Dehortation from Gentile Theology,
ii. 130-132
On the Uncertainty and Vanity of
Sciences and Arts, and on the Ex-
cellence of the Word of God, ii. 149
209
Commentary on the " Ars Brevis" of
Raymond Lully, ii. 159, 160
Historiette of the Double Coronation
of Charles V. at Bologna, ii. 261,
262
Funeral Oration on Margaret of
Austria, ii. 264, 265
Apology against the Louvain Theolo-
gians, ii. 292-300
Complaint against the Calumnies of
Theologians and llonks, ii. 300
303
Works, lost, of Agrippa
On Man, i. 295; ii.
25
Geomancy, ii. 141, 161
Pyromachy, ii. 150
Origin of Nobility, ii. 194
World, the threefold, i. 115; the soul of
the, 124, 125, 185, 186
Worlds, the four cabalistical, i. 77
- plurality of, ii. 173
Writing, the use of, in magic, i. 160
Wurtzburg, Agrippa at, i. 217
Xanthus , Antonius, i. 52, 64
Tdolatria, monks' Latin, ii. 294
Zacutus, astrologer, i. 53
Zadkiel, i. 170
Zaniiel, i. 77
Zodiac, influence of the signs of the, i.
136 ; mansions of the moon in the, i.
180
Zuinglius, ii. 85, 87, 120-122
THE END.
C. WHITING, BEAUFORT H00SE, STRAND.
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