On Witches

The Hexameron; Irenaeus; Eusebius; Nicephorus, Ecclesiastical History, Book 2, Chapter 27; Fulgosus, Book 8, Chapter 11.

Of the same profession The author refers to the practitioners of magic, specifically following the mention of Simon Magus on the previous page. was the most famous sorcerer Cinops Also known as Kynops, a legendary sorcerer from the apocryphal Acts of John who challenged the Apostle on Patmos., who—by the command of the Emperor Domitian—was in controversy with John the Evangelist during his exile on the island of Patmos, which is one of the Sporades original: "Sparadibus," a group of Greek islands.. We read that at John’s prayer, the waves swallowed him up.

The decrees of all laws exterminate and curse this art of the magi. Its practitioners are forbidden and condemned by the most severe mandate of God in Leviticus, and also in Deuteronomy: Leviticus 19, 20; Deuteronomy 18. "Let there not be found among you anyone who makes their son or daughter pass through the fire, one who practices divination, an observer of days, one who divines from lots, one who casts spells or practices diabolical illusions, one who consults a spirit of divination original: "Pythonem," referencing the Python spirit of the Delphic oracle., or one who questions the dead: for everyone who does these things is an abomination to the Lord." 4 Kings 21; 2 Chronicles 33. Hence, among the sacrilegious crimes of King Manasseh by which he provoked God, it is recounted that he was a sorcerer, practiced magic, and consulted a divining spirit. Because these people were tolerated and listened to, Isaiah prophesied the fall and destruction of Babylon; the study of this most wicked art was the primary cause of its ruin when it was finally brought under the Persian Empire by King Cyrus. Thus the divine Prophet cries out: Isaiah 47. "These two things shall come to you suddenly in one day: barrenness and widowhood, because of the multitude of your sorceries and the great hardness of your enchantments. Stand now with your enchanters and the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, if perhaps they may profit you." It is as if he were saying: "Many magi or diviners will not free you with their various enchantments or predictions." Rightly, therefore, it was always a question among the ancients whether incantations had any power at all, since they are mere illusions.

Furthermore, regarding what should be decided about the magical books of these "curious arts" or illusions, there should not even be a question. They ought to be abolished, not only by the example of the Romans (who, although they were pagans, nevertheless wished for mathematicians and enchanters to be expelled from Italy by a decree of the Senate and for their books to be burned), 10 but also because we read of a memorable example here in the Acts of the Apostles, which all posterity should follow without controversy: through the preaching of the Apostle Paul at Ephesus, all the books of curses brought there were burned, valued at a price of fifty thousand pieces of silver. Likewise, the magus Hermogenes offered a great abundance of magical books 20 to the Apostle James to be burned. Athanasius, in On the Incarnation of the Word, relates that those who had admired magic burned their volumes. Also, the Emperors Honorius original: "Homerus," likely a printer's error for Emperor Honorius, who co-legislated with Theodosius. and Theodosius decreed that such books were to be burned in flames under the eyes of the bishops. The jurist Ulpian also disapproved of such collected books of darkness as damnable and of "forbidden reading," and he wished them to be utterly destroyed (Law caeterae, section 1, of the Digest familiae herciscundae). 30

Yet, we shall now further endeavor to demonstrate that those whom we call "Venefici" Poisoners or sorcerers who use physical substances. and "Lamiae" Often translated as witches or night-monsters. are quite foreign to this family of magi or enchanters.

CONCERNING THE VENEFICI Poisoners/Sorcerers

Chapter IV.

40 The Greeks call Venefici literally "poison-makers," from venenum (poison) and facio (to make)—or, if it were permitted, venenifici—by the names sorcerer original: "φαρμακὸς", potion-maker original: "φαρμακοποιὸς", female sorcerers original: "φαρμακίδas", and likewise male sorcerers original: "φαρμακεύτας", and female potion-makers original: "φαρμακευτρίας". These are people who are skilled in a most destructive art (which you may call "poisoning magic" if you wish). They act through drugs original: "pharmacis" or poisons made from any material, whether from metals or...