PREFACE.

immediately acknowledged to have been transcribed word for word from the latest book that Mr. de Lancre Pierre de Lancre (1553–1631), a French judge and demonologist famous for his brutal witch trials in Labourd. had printed against the disbelief in Sorcery Sortilege: the practice of magic or divination, specifically associated with witchcraft. From this, reflecting upon what I had read, and remembering that not only Virgil The Roman poet Virgil was often reimagined in medieval and Renaissance folklore as a powerful sorcerer. but almost all great personages were similarly suspected of Magic, I immediately began to doubt that this was done rightly or with reason. Having cleared up many difficulties for myself which prevented me from reaching a full understanding of this truth, I did not wish to be so little devoted to the public good, and to the memory of all these famous personages, as to deny the communication of these proofs justifying their innocence to those who do not, and perhaps will not soon have, the time or convenience to research them with as much care and diligence as I have forced myself to do in this Apology Apologie: a formal written defense of one's opinions or conduct. This work presents to you at the very outset the assured means and necessary conditions for judging Authors, and principally Historians and Demonographers Writers who specialized in the study of demons and the occult, who are the two primary architects of this labyrinth of false opinions, from which it would be great-