M. I, 1, c. 4), he usually asks the

woman if she wishes to become preg- nant; and if she does, he provides true semen from another source, as I have described.
The fourth argument was that it is incredible that God should allow such a thing to be done, or would endow with a living soul anything born of such a union, for this would be adding the final touch to the devil’s work. The answer to this is that, as far as natural operation is concerned, the devil is only the instrument which applies the principal agent, namely, true human semen; and therefore God concurs in the final disposition of an organic body born from human semen, al- though it is abnormal; and the sin lies entirely at the door of the witch and the devil’s malice. God, the author of nature, delights in all things natural: but if this argument held good, since He is not the author or abettor of sin, no issue could be born of fornication or adultery or unclean- ness or incest. It is further objected
32 that the root of all procreation is the heart, and that when the necessary cordial heat and virtue are wanting there can be no procreation. The answer is that, whether its source is the heart or the brain, the vital fer- tilising germ is contained in the semen in the actual ejaculation of that semen from the human body; and that the devil can preserve that germ in its necessary warmth.
We shall set down certain instances of the activities of Succubus devils, as well as some more of Incubus devils.
w
Examples.
Fifteen years ago, at Bamberg, a certain Peter Stumpf was sentenced to death because he had sinned with a Succubus devil for more than twenty- eight years. This devil had given him a girdle which he had only to put on, and it appeared both to himself and others that he was changed into a wolf. He tried to devour two of his daughters-in-law. He lived with his own daughter and her godmother as his wives. This is all vouched for in the Court records, and is memorised in pictures carved in brass which are for sale.
Remy tells an example which he heard from a trustworthy man named Melchiore Errico, taken from the most closely guarded secrets of the Most Serene Duke of Lorraine. “ There was at Hemingen,”’ says this man, ‘“‘while I was watching my Lord’s interests in that place, a certain warlock who, when he was asked by the Judge how he had first been led into such wicked- ness and, especially, by what wiles the devil had seduced him, freely and openly declared as follows: ‘I was a common herdsman, and at dawn of day was gathering my herds from their several houses, when of all the girls who let the cattle out of the stables one especially fired my soul with love, and I began to think more
COMPENDIUM
BK. I. CH. XI.
and more of her by night and by day. At last as I was burning with desire for her at my solitary pasturage, there appeared to me one like her coyly hid- ing behind a bush. I ran to my longed- for prize, wooed her and at last em- braced her although against her will; but after some repulses, she consented to make me free of her on condition that I acknowledged her as my Mis- tress and behaved to her as if she were God Himself. I accepted the con- dition, and possessed her; but she also so possessed me that from that time I have been unhappily subject to no will but hers.’ ”
Hector Boece (De rebus Scoticis, liber 8) tells that in the coasts around Moray Firth a highly born girl of great beauty refused several noblemen in marriage and fell into an abomin- able familiarity with an Incubus devil. When her parents commanded her to tell whether this were true, and to discover her paramour, she said that a marvellously beautiful youth had frequent intercourse with her by night, and sometimes by day, but that she did not know whence he came or whither he went. Her parents did not entirely believe the girl, and formed a plan by which they should learn more exactly who it was who had stormed the fortress of their daughter’s virgin- ity; and when, three days later, they were informed by a serving maid that the paramour was present, they bolted the house doors and, lighting many torches, went into the bedroom, where they saw in their daughter’s arms a horrible monster whose appearance was terrible beyond human imagina- tion. Others quickly ran up to see the foul sight, among them a priest of most holy life not unlearned in rituals and exorcism, who, while the rest were run- ning away in terror or stood rooted to the ground with horror, began to recite the Gospel of S. John ; and when he had come to “‘ The Word was made flesh,’ the evil demon gave a terrible cry, set fire to all the furniture, and departed, carrying with him the roof
BK. I. CH. XII.
of the bed chamber. The girl, having escaped from this danger, gave birth to a monster of utterly loathsome appearance, such as had never before been seen, as it was said; and lest it should be seen and bring disgraceupon her family, the midwives lit a huge fire and quickly burned it.
A little earlier the same author tells of a Succubus devil as follows. In the district of Gareotha in a village not fourteen miles from Aberdeen, a young man of great beauty openly com- plained before the Bishop of Aberdeen that for many months he had been tormented by a Succubus devil, as they say, more beautiful than any woman that he had ever seen. He said thatshecame | to him by nightthrough locked doors, coaxed and forced him | into her em- braces, and | went away @ as the dawn began to break, with scarcely any sound; and that he could by no means, though he had tried many, be delivered from so great and foul a madness. The excellent Bishop at once ordered the young man to re- move himself to another place, and to app his mind more than usual to the Christian Religion, with more devout fasting and prayer; and so, following the advice of the venerable Bishop, the young man was after a few days delivered from the Succubus devil. Elsewhere I shall describe other examples.
%
MALEFIGCARUM 33