Book IJ

Note, The day is divided into twelve equal parts, called Planetary Hours, reckoning from fun-rife to fun-fet, and, again, from the fetting to the rifing; and to find the planetary hour, you need but to divide the natural hours by twelve, and the quotient gives the length of the planetary hours and odd minuets, which fiiews you how long a fpirit bears rule in that day j as Michael governs the firfi: and the eighth hour on Sunday, as does the o. After you have the length of the firfi: hour, you have only to look in the Table, as if it be the fourth hour, on Sunday, you fee in the Table that the j and Gabriel rules ; and fo for the refi: it being fo plain and eafy you cannot err.
THE CONCLUSION OF THE MAGUS.
ADVERTISEMENT.
THE Author of this Work refpeltfully informs thofe who are curious in the Jludies of Art and Nature , efpt- cially of Natural and Occult Philofophy, Chemijlry, Ajlrology, (Sc. life. that , hawing been indefatigable in his refearches into thofe fublime Sciences , of which he has treated at large in this Book, that he gives private infiruftions and ledures upon any of the above-mentioned Sciences ; in the courfe of which he will dif cover many curious and rare experiments, Thofe who become Students will be initiated into the choicefe operations of Naiu- ral Philofophy , Natural Magic, the Cabala, Chemijlry , the Talifmanic Art, Hermetic Philofophy, Aferology , Phyfognomy, &c.&c. Likewife they will acquire the knowledge of the Rites, Myfteries, Ceremonies, and Principles of the ancient Philofophers, Magi, Cabalifs, Adepts, £sV. — The purpofe of this School ( which will conftft of no greater number than Twelve Students J being to invefeigate the hidden treafures of Nature s to bring the Mind to a contemplation of the Eternal Wifdom ; to promote the difcovery of whatever may conduce to the perfection of Man 1 the alleviating the miferies and calamities of this life, both in ref peri of ourfelves and others ; the fudy of morality and religion here, in order to fecure to ourfelves felicity hereafter ; and, finally, the promulgation of whatever may conduce to the getter al happinefs and welfare of mankind. ■ - Thofe who feel tbemfelves thoroughly difpofed to enter upon fuch a courfe of Jludies, as is above recited, with the fame principles of philanthropy with which the Author invites the lovers of philofophy and wifdom, to incor- porate themf elves in fo feledl, permanent , and deferable a fociety, may fpeak with the Author upon the fubjeri, at any time between the hours of Eleven and Two o'clock , at 99 Norton Street, MaTy-le-Bonne.
Letters ( pofe paid) upon any fubjeCl treated of in this Book, vjill be duly anfwered, with the necejfary in- formation.
ANTIQUA;
BIOGRAPHIA
O R,
AN ACCOUNT OF THE LIVES AND WRITINGS
OF THE ANCIENT AND MODERN
MAGI, CABALISTS, AND PHILOSOPHERS,
DISCOVERING THE
PRINCIPLES AND TENETS OF THE FIRST FOUNDERS
OF THE
MAGICAL AND OCCULT SCIENCES :
WHEREIN THE MYSTERIES OF THE PYTHAGOREANS, GYMNOSOPHISTS, EGYPTIANS, BRAGMANNI, BABYLONIANS, PERSIANS, ETHIOPIANS, CHALDEANS, ice. ARE DISCOVERED :
Including a particular and interefting Account of
ZOROASTER, THE SON OF OROMASIUS,
THE FIRST INSTITUTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY FIRE, AND MAGIC 5
t
LIKEWISE OF
HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, THE EGYPTIAN,
And other Philofophers , famous for their Learning , Piety, and Wifdom.
TO WHICH IS ADDED,
A SHORT ESSAY,
Proving that the Firft Chriftians were Magicians, who foretold, acknowleged, and worfhipped THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD,
AND
FIRST FOUNDER OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ,
\
5
ZOROASTER, THE SON OF OROMASIUS,
FIRST INSTITUTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY FIRE, AND MAGIC*
ORO ASTER, the fon of Oromafius, flourifhed in the reign of Darius, the fucceffor of Cambyfes. * All authors are full of variarions in their accounts of this famous perfon, fome making him of a much later date than others; however, we fhall give what we have collected from thofe who appear moft authentic, not omitting the traditional hiftory extant amongft the Magi, with which our readers may compare the feveral ftories of biographers, and accept that account which fhall feem to them the moft rational. Zo- roafter, king of the Badtrians, was vanquifhed by Ninus, and paffedfor the in- ventor of magic -f*. Eufebius places this vidlory of Ninus in the feventh year of
Abraham :
* The Author regrets, that, notwithftanding his laborious refearches to obtain an authentic and fatisfa&ory account of Zoroafter to prefent to his readers ; that a few generals, and -not particulars, can only be given : indeed, the moft ferious and refpetftable hiftorians differ fo widely in their accounts of him, that nothing certain can from thence be deduced : however, we have above recited feveral authorities to which we have annexed various notes and commentations.
-j- Faffed for the inventor of magic. — It is to be noted that he was the inventor of it, and the firft of the magi. Juftin informs us that this victory was the laft of Ninus ; that Zoroafter philofophized moft judicioufly upon the nature and influences of the ftars, and on the principles of the univerfe. Thomas Stanleius, Hift. of Philof. Orientalis, lib. I. cap. iii. informs us,_ that Zoroafter, according to Eufebius, was cotemporary with Semiramis ; but it is certain, according to Eufebius, that he wras vanquifhed by king Ninus. Arnobius, lib. i. pa. m. 5. fays, “ Anciently the Aflyrians and Badhians, r‘ the former under the conduct of Ninus, and the latter under Zoroafter, fought againft each other,
“ not only with men and weapons, but alfo by the help of magic, and the fecret difeipline of the “ Chaldeans.” Hermippus, who has wrote cautioufly on every thing relative to magic, and explained twenty thoufand - verfes compofed by Zoroafter, relates, that one AzonaceB initiated
hkm
BIOGRAPHIA ANTIQUA.
144
Abraham ; now feveral authors make Zoroafter appear much earlier. It has been reported that Zoroafter laughed on the fame day he was born,, and that
he
him into this art, and that he lived 5,000 years before the Trojan war. St. Auguftin and' Orofius have followed the tradition mentioned by Juftin. Apuleius, in his Catalogue of all the moft famous Magicians of Antiquity, with great juftice places Zoroafter in the firft rank, and. proves him the moft ancient of all : “ Magicarum artium fuijfe perbiieter inventor Zoroaftra." Auguftin, de Civitat. Dei, lib. 21. cap. xiv. Eudoxus, who efteemed the art of magic to be accounted the nobleft and moft; ufeful of all worldly knowledge, relates that Zoroafter lived fix thoufand years before the death of Plato. Note, that the fame thing is affirmed by Ariftotle. Agathias, who lived in the reign of Juftinian, informs us, that, accotding to the Perfians of that time, Zoroafter and Hyftafpes were cotemporary ; but they do not fay whether this Hyftafpes was father to Darius or any other. , Sir John Marftiam politively decides that he was the father of Darius ; and grounds his opinion on this, that one of the elogies engraven on the tomb makes him the inftruftor of the Magi ; and that the fame hiftorian who makes Hyftafpes excel in magic, calls him the father of Darius. Atnmianus Marcellinus, lib. 23, pag. m. 324. fays, “ After the time of Zoroafter, reigned Hyftafpes, a very prudent king, and the “ father of Darius. This prince, having boldly penetrated into the remoteft parts of the Upper India,
4‘ came at length to a folitary foreft, where there dwelt, in filent and awful tranquility, the Brachmans. *' In this peaceful folitude they inftrufted him in the knowledge of the earth’s motion, likewife of the “ liars ; and from them he learned the pure and facred rites of religion. Part of this knowledge he “ communicated to the Magi, which, together with the art of predicting future events, they delivered 41 down to pofterity, each in his own family. The great number of men who have defeended from “ thefe families, ever fince that age down to the prefent, have all been fet apart for cultivating the “ knowledge of the Gods.” But Ammian.us Mercellinus was wrong in faying, that this father of Da- rius was a king ; and no doubt he committed this blunder by having read in general that one king Hyftafpes was a great magician, and thought there was no other Hyftafpes than the father of Darius. But it is beyond difput.e, that one Hyftafpes, older than the foundation of Rome, and a great prophet. Is mentioned by authors. “ Hyftafpes alfo, the moft ancient king of the Medcs, and from whom the river “ Hyftafpes derives its name, is the moft admirable of them all ; for, under the interpretation of the pro* “ phecy of a boy, he informed pofterity that the Roman empire, nay, even the Roman name, Ihould be “ utterly deftroyed; and this he predicted a long time before the eftablifhment of that colony of Trojans,” Laftant. lib. VII. cap. xv. pag. m. 492. Juftin Martyr informs us, that he predifted the general con- flagration of all penftiable things, Juftin Apolog. ii. pag. 66. It is affirmed that Pythagoras was Zo- roafter’s difciple, under the reign of Cambyfes, the fon of Cyrus : the words of Apuleius inform us of the raft. Some fay that Pythagoras having been made a Have in Egypt, was tranfported into Perfia ; others will have him tranfported into Babylon, and there inftrufted by Zoroafter the Babylonian* whom they diftinguifh from the Perfian. We find no lefs than five Zoroafters mentioned in hiftory : to thefe five may be added a fixth, mentioned by Apuleius. This Zoroafter lived in Babylon at the time Py- thagoras was brought thither by Cambyfes. The fame writer calls him “ the chief interpreter of all divine myfteries,” and fay* that Pythagoras was chiefly inftrufted by him. He appears to be the fame
with
ZOROASTER, THE $ON OF OROMASIUS.
*45
lie was the only one to whom this happened, and that the palpitation of his brain was fo ftrong as to repulfe the hand, it being laid to his head, which they fey was a prefage of his future knowledge and wifdom. It is added, that he palled twenty years in the defer ts, and there eat nothing but a fort of cheefe which was never the worfe for age ; that the love of wifdom and juftice obliged him to retire from the World to a mountain, where he lived in folitude; but when he come down from thence there fell a celeftial fire upon it, which per- petually burned; that the king of Perfia, accompanied with the greateft lords of his court, approached it for the purpofe of putting up prayers to God ; that Zoroafter came out from thefe flames unhurt ; that he comforted and encouraged the Perfians, and offered facrifices for them to God ; that, afterwards, he did Hot live indifferently with all forts of men, but only thofe who were born for truth, and who were capable of the true knowledge of God, which kind of people are called among the Perfians, Magi ; that he defired his end might be this, viz. to be ftruck, with thunder, and con-fumed by celeftial fire ; and that he requefted the Perfians to colled: his allies, after he was confumed in this manner, and to preferve and venerate them as a pledge of the prefervation of their monarchy ; that they for a length of time paid great veneration to the relics of Zoroafter, but at length, negleding them, their monarchy fell to ruin and decay*. The Chronicle of Alexandria adds,, that having held this
difeourfe
with Zabratus, by whom Diogenes affirms Pythagoras was purged from all his former filth, and inftrudled in what is effentially neceffary for good men to know, viz. God, nature, and philofophy : he is alfo the fame with Nazaratus, the Aflyrian, whom Alexander, in his book of the Pythagorical fymbois, affirms to have taught Pythagoras. The fame perfon Suidas calls Zares, GyrHius, Zaranes, and Plutarch, Zarates.
* According to the tradition of the Magi, we fhall explain this fabulous and figurative defeription of Zoroalter’s. end. The truth is, he enjoined the Perfians rigidly to perfevere in the laws he had framed, and the do&rine he had been at the labour to eftablilh, which wa’s, to live in the pradfice of moral virtue, to avoid all fpecies of luxury, to promote the liberal fciences, to govern all their adtions with prudence and integrity, and to meet misfortune with refolution, and to encounter it with philofophy, and to endure the unavoidable calamities of life with fortitude : thefe, his difeiplines, he left as a- precious relic among them ; which while they ftridtly adhered to, they need be under no apprehenfion of tyranny and
U oppreffion %
146 BIOGRAPHI A ANTIQUA.
difcourle with them he invoked Orion, and was confuted by celeftia! £re„ Many will have it that Ham was the Zoroafler of the caflern nations, and the inventor of magic. Mr. Bochart refutes this falflty. Cedrenus obferves that Zoroafler, who became fo famous for wifdom among the Perfians, was defcended from Belus : this imports that he was defcended from Nimrod. Some authors have taken him for Nimrod ; others for Affur or Japhet. The ancient Perfians believe that Zoroafler was before Mofes Some maintain he was the prophet Ezekiel, and it cannot be denied that they ground their opinions on the agree- ment of numerous particulars which belong to the one, and are related of the other. George Hornius foolifhly imagines that he was the falfe prophet Balaam. Huetius fhews that he was the Mofes of the Jews, and mentions an infinite number of particulars in which the accounts we have of Mofes agree with the flories related of Zoroafler. — How near all or any of thefe come to the probability of truth will appear in the fequel, where we have given the mofl probable and rational account of him, as far as we have been able to trace, from the tradition of the Magi, which we prefer before the confufed and partial accounts vulgarly extant. They who believe that Zoroafler pro-
oppreflion : — thefe they colledled, and for fome (pace of time religioufly followed the precepts of this great philofopher: at length, human frailty and vice, corrupting their manners, caufed them to relax from their duties, upon which their empire fell into ruin and decay. The idolatry falfely imputed to this wife man, viz. his inftituting the worfhipping of fire, is thus to be interpreted. — Under the celeflial fymbol of fire was meant truth : — truth he afcribed purely as the great and wonderful attribute of the Godhead, which he acknowledged and worfliipped, to wit, one only God, the eternal fire of wifdom and everlafting truth, juftice, and mercy !— His magic was the fludy of the religious worfhip of that Eternal Being. After Zoroafler, there were four perfous chofen to educate the fucceffor of the king of Perfia. They chofe the wifeft, the mofl juft, the moft temperate, and the braveft man that could be found. The wifeft man {viz. one of the Magi), inftrudled him in Zoroafter’s magic, the juft in government, the brave in war, and the temperate in focial virtue and temperance. Now obferve, that Zoroafler is called the fon of Oromafius, and that Oromafius is the name given by Zoroafler and his diciples to the good God, and this title was really bellowed upon him by the Perfians ; therefore, according to Plato, this Perfian Magus, on account of his uncommon learning, religion, and wifdom, was, in an allegorical or figurative manner, called the fon of God, or the fon of wifdom, truth, isfc.
* Some Magi affirm that he is the fame with Abraham, and frequently call him Ibrahim Zerdafcht, which i», Abraham the friend of fire.
felTed
ZOROASTER, THE SON OF OROMASIUS.
I4JT
fefied and taught a diabolical magic * are certainly in the wrong; the magic he taught (of which we fhall fpeak more anon) was only the ftudy of the divine nature, and of religious worfhip. Some have prefumed that Zoroafter was the promulgator of a dodtrine of two principles -fv or two co-eternal caufes, one of
good
* The preceding note fully explains thoftr erroneous relations of the wifdom of the Magi. Thofe svho defire to fee a great many paflages which teftify that the magic of the Perfians, inftituted by Zoroafter, was the ftudy of religion, virtue, and wifdom, let them refer to Brijfonius Je Regno Perjarum, lib. ii .p. 178, fcq. edit.. Commel. 159; ; likewife Jul. Caefar, Bullengerus Eclog. ad Arnobium, p. 346,. fcf feq. Nor are we ignorant that Gabriel Naude hath moft learnedly and folidly juftified our Zoroafter againft the ignorant imputations of necromancy, black art,
+ It has been much contended by philofophers whether Zoroafter was the firft fuggefter of this do&rine of the two principles: the one called by the Magi, Oromafes the good, and Arimanius the evil principle. It is certain Zoroafter afferted the one, viz. that of the good, or an eflential uncreated felf - exiftent principle, the caufe cf all good, called by him Oromafus, meaning a good God, &c. In refpeft’ of the other principle, Arimanius, we muft, before we decide either for or againft Zoroafter, confider the nature of the thing in its moft impartial fenfe.
Thofe who ever read Mr. Bernard’s Journal {Nouve/lt s de la Republique Jes hettre's , Feb. 17OT, and March 1701, Art. Hi. 1. i.) needs not be informed that the Hiftoria Religionis veterum Perfarum, publillied by Dr. Hyde (profeflbr of the oriental languages in the univerfity of Oxford) at Oxford, in the year 1700^ 4to» is one of the moft excellent pieces that could poflibly be written on fuch a fubjed. The idea which the learned journalift hath given of this performance is fufficient to convince us that it contains a very curious erudition, and profound difeuflions, which difeover many rare and uncommonqjarticulars of a country which we fcarce knew any thing of before. But to come to the point : Dr. Hyde alfirms, that the ancient Perfians acknowledge no more than one uncreated principle, which was the good principle, or, in one word, God : and that they looked upon the evil principle as a created being. One of the names, or attributes, which they gave to God, was Hormizda ; and they called the evil principle, Ahariman ; and this is the original of the two Greek words, tyopArtic and Amipwios . 0ne of which was the name of the good, and the other of the evil, principle, as we have feen above, in a paffage of Plutarch. The Perfians affirmed that Abraham was the firft founder of their religion. Zoroafter afterwards made fome alterations in it ; but it is faid he made no manner of change with relation to the dotftrine of one foie uncreated principle, but that the only innovation in this particular was the giving the name of Light to the good principle, and that of Datknefs to the evil one-. ,
From a mifeonftruftion put upon the dodtrine of the Magi, fome confiderahlo mifreport3- of their tenets h^ve been propagated : I think none more curious than the following— “ That a war arofe betwixt the army of light and that of datknefs, which at laft ended in an accommodation, of- which the angels were mediators, and the conditions were that the inferior world (hould be wholly left to the government of Arimanius for the fpace of 7000 years, after which it fhould be reftored to light. Before the peace, Arimanius had exterminated all the inhabitants of the world. Light had called men to its affiftance while
\J 3 they
148 BIOGR APHIA ANTIQUA.
good, the other of evil things. Of this do&rine Plutarch takes notice : he fays,
** that Zoroafter the magician, who is faid to have lived five thoufand years “ before the Trojan war, called the good God, Oromazes, and the evil, Arima- “ nius, &c. &c.” See Plut. de Ifide & Ofiride, page 369.
Dr. Hyde, in his excellent treatife on the religion of the ancient Perfians, cites fome authors who clear him on this head. We fhall examine whether they deferve credit. It is affirmed that he was no idolater, either with refpedt to the worfhip of fire, or that of Mithra % What appears leafi: uncertain,
r amongft:
they were yet but fpirits ; which it did, either to draw them out of Arimanius’ territories, or in order to give them bodies to engage againft this enemy. They accepted the bodies and the fight, on condition they fhould be affilled by the light, and fhould at laft overcome Arimanius. The refurreftion fhall come when he fhall be vanquished. This they conclude was the caufe of the mixture, and fhall be the caufc of the deliverance. The Greeks were not ignorant that Zoroafter taught a future refurredtion.
* The ancient Perfian Magi never did divine honours to the fun or any of the ftars. They maintain they do not adore the fun, but diredt themfelves towards it when they pray to God. It has been found amongft Zoroaftcr’s fecret precepts, that we ought to falute the fun, but not that we fliould adore him with religious worfhip. He proves that their ceremonies might very juftly pafs for civil honours, and to this purpofe he makes fome exceeding curious obfervations. He applies to the fire what he fays of the fun. The bowings and proftrations of the Perfians before the holy fire were not a religious obfervation, but only a civil one. The fame thing muft be attributed to their reported worfhip of fire, which, as I have faid above, they kept in their Pyrea in imitation of the Jews. For though they paid a certain reve- rence to the fire, and that by proftration, yet this was not a religious, only a civil, worfhip ; as it is from the force of cuftom tisat the eaftern people proftrate themfelves before any great man ; (fo they might with as much propriety be faid to adore or worfhip him.) Believe me we ought to be the laft to cenfure the eaftern people with fuch grofs idolatry as has been reprefented. The Perfians, who have always been devoted to the higheft ftudy of wifdom, performed their duties in life for the honour of their God ; and, although unenlightened and Barbarians, lived as men, and not as irrational creatures: whereas we, who know our duty fo well, yet pra£life it fo ill : for I may tftily fay, that notwithftanding the great benefits we derive from the divine precepts of Chriftianity, yet I believe it will be found an incontro- vertible fa£l that man to man is a ferpent, a few individuals excepted. But to return to our fubjedt: It was the ancient cuftom to fall proftrate to nngels, as being the meffengers and reprefentatives of God. Befides, there are many examples of this kind of worfhip, not only in the Old, but New Teftamcnt, where the women who had been converted to the true faith, upon feeing the angels at the fepulchre of Chrift, fell with their faces to the ground and worfhipped. Yet they well knew that it was not God they faw, but his angels, as appears from their own confeffion— we have feen a vifion of angels.” Therefore they are wrongfully called Idolaters and worfhippers of fire, for Zoroafter was the inftrument of their continuation in the true faith. He was a man who had the knowledge of the true God, whom he
peculiarly
ZOROASTER, THE SON OF OROMASIUS.
m
amongft To many things that are related of him is, that he was the introducer of a new religion into Perlia, and that he did it about the reign of Darius the fuccefior of Cambyfes : he is ftill in great veneration among thofe Perfians who are not of the Mahometan religion, but ftill retain the ancient worfhip of their country. They call him Zardhuft, and feveral believe that he came from China, and relate many miraculous things on that head. Several authors affirm, that all the books publifhed hitherto under Zoroafter’s name, fome of which are yet extant, are fuppofititious. Dr. Hyde difients from this opinion. .Suidas affirms, that there were extant four books of Zoroafter : the firft, “ Of Nature,” a book of the Virtues of precious Stones, called de Gemmis j and five books of Aftrology and Aftronomy, “ Praedidliones ex Infpedtione Stellarum.” It is very likely that what Pliny relates, as quoted from Zoroafter, was taken from thofe books, Plin. lib. xviii, cap. 24. Eufebius recites a paflage which contains a magnificent defcription of God, and gives it as the very words of Zoroafter in his facred commentary on the Perfian rites. Clemens Alexandri- nus fays, that the followers of Prodicus boafted of having the feerets or fecret books of Zoroafter. But moft likely he meant that they boafted of having the fecret books of Pythagoras. They were printed, together with the verfes of the Syhils at Amfterdam, in the year 1689, according to Opfopasus’s edition, Oracula Magica Zoroaftris, cum Scholiis Plethonis & Pfelli.
peculiarly worfhippcd in a natural cave, in which he placed feveral fymbols reprefenting the world ; Mithra, reprefenting the fun, filled the mafter’s place. But it was not Mithra, but the true God, that he adored: and, laftly, as he was a true philofopher, a profound alchemift, greatly informed in all the arts of the mathematics, flridt and auflere in his religion, he ftruck the Perfians with an admiration of him, and by thefe means made them attentive to his do&rine. The fum of all is, that he lived in a cave, dedicated to the fervice of God, and the ftudy of all natural and fupernatural knowledge ; that he was divinely illuminated, knew the courfes of the ftars, and the occult and common properties of all com- pounded and earthly things ; that by fire and Geometry (/. e. by Chemiftry and the Mathematics) he inveftigated, proved, and demonftrated, the truth and purity, or elfe the fugac'ty and vilenefs, of all things knowable in this mortal ftate of humanity. So that the fame, fagacity, wifdom, and virtue of Zoroafter induced fome certain men wickedly and fraudulently to impofe upon the unwary fome falfe magical oracles, and diabolical inventions, written in Greek and Latin, fsV, as the genuine works of the divine and illuftrious Zoroafter.
HERMES,
BI06RAPHIA ANTIQUA.
^50
v
HERMES, SURNAMED TRISMEGISTUS,
OR THE
THRICE GREATEST INTELLIGENCER.
H ERMES Trifmegiftus, (who was the author of the divine Pymander and fome other books,) lived fome time before Mofes. He received the name of Trifmegiftus, or Mercurius ter Maximus, i. e. thrice greateft Intel- ligencer, becaufe he was the firft intelligencer who communicated celeftiai and divine knowledge to mankind by writing.
He was reported to have been king of Egypt : without doubt he was an Egyptian j nay, if you believe the Jews, even their Mofes ; and for the juf* tification of this they urge, ift. His being well lkilled in chemijlry ; nay, the firft who communicated that art to the fons of men ; 2dly, They urge the phtlofophic work , viz. of rendering gold medicinal, or, finally, of the art of making aurum potabile ; and, thirdly, of teaching the Cabalay which they lay was Ihewn him by God on Mount Sinai : for all this is confefied to be origi- nally written in Hebrew, which he would not have done had he not been an Hebrew, but rather in his vernacular tongue. But whether he was Mofes or not*, it is certain he was an Egyptian, even as Mofes himfelf alfo was; and therefore for the age he lived in, we lhall not fall fhort of the time if we conclude he flourished much about the time of Mofes ; and if he really was not the identical Mofes, affirmed to be fo by many, it is more than probable that he was king of Egypt ; for being chief philofopher, he was, according
* The Cabalifts of the Hebrews affirm that Mofes was this Hermes ; and although meek, yet was a man poffefled of the moft ferious giavity, and a profound fpeculator in chemiftry and divine magic ; that he, by divine infpiration on the mount, became acquainted with the knowledge of all the natural and fecret operations of nature j that be taught the tranfmutation of metals fer Cabala , i. t. by oral tradition, to the Jews.
to
HERMES TRISMEGISTUS. 15!
to the Egyptian cuftom, initiated into the myfteries of priefthood, and from thence to the chief governor or king.
He was called Ter Maximus, as having a perfect knowledge of all things contained in' the world ( as his Aureus , or Golden Tradlate. and his Divine
v
Pymander fhews,) which things he divided into three kingdoms, viz. animal, vegetable, and mineral ; in the knowledge and comprehenfion of which three he excelled and tranfmitted to pofterity, in enigmas and -fymbols , the profound fecrets of nature ; likewife a true defcription of the Philofopher s Quinteffence , or Univerfal Elixir , which he made as the receptacle of all celeftial and terreftrial virtues. The Great Secret of the philofophers he difcourfed on, which was found engraven upon a Smaragdine table, in the valley of Ebron.
Johannes Fundtius, in his Chronology fays, he lived in the time of Mofes, twenty-one years before the law was given in the wildernefs. Suidas feems to confirm it by faying, “ Credo Mercurium Trifmegiftum fapientem Egyp- “ tium fioruifie ante Pharaonem.” But this of Suidas may be applied to r
feveral ages, for that Pharaoh was the general name of their kings ; or pof- fibly it might be intended before the name of Pharaoh was given to their kings, which, if fo*, he makes Trifmegiftus to exift 400 years before Mofes, yea, before Abraham’s defcent into Egypt. There is no doubt but that he pofleifed the great fecret of the philofophic work ; and if God ever appeared in man, he appeared in him, as is evident both from his books and his Py. mander ; in which works he has communicated the fum of the abyfs, and the divine knowledge to all pofterity ; by winch he has demonftrated himfelf to have been not only an infpired divine, but alfo a deep philofopher, obtaining his wifdom from God and heavenly things, and not from man.
* According to the beft authorities to be taken, Hermes Trifmegiftus lived in the time of Pharaoh,
Ifrael’s tyrant and oppreffor, and was not the fame with Mofes who oppofed Jannes and Jambres.
APPOL-
1 5s
BIOGRAPHIA ANTIQUA.
APPOLLONIUS OF TYANA,
WITH SO MS ACCOUNT OF HIS
REMARKABLE MIRACLES, PROPHECIES, VISIONS, RELATIONS, &c. &e.
^^PPOLLONIUS Tyanaeus, was one of the moft extraordinary perfons , that ever appeared in the world. He was bom at Tyana in Cappado- cia, towards the beginning of the firft century. At fixteen years of age he became a rigid difciple of Pythagoras, renouncing wine, jlejh , and women, wearing no fhoes, and letting his hair and beard grow long, and cloathing himfelf only in linen : foon after he became a reformer, and fixed his abode in a temple of iEfculapius, where many fick perfons reforted to be cured by him. Being come to age, he gave part of his eftate to his eldeft brother, and diftributed another part to his poor relations, and kept back only a very fmall (hare to himfelf. He lived fix years without fpeaking a word, notwith- ftanding during this filence he quelled feveral feditions in Cecilia and Pam- philia ; that which he put a flop to at Afpenda was the moft difficult of all to appeafe, becaufe the bufinefs was to make thofe hearken to reafon whom famine had driven to revolt : the caufe of this commotion was, fome rich .men having monopolized all the corn^ occafioned an extraordinary fcarcity in the city } Appollonius flopped this popular commotion, without fpeaking a word to the enraged multitude : Appollonius had no occafion for words ; his Pythagoric filence did all that the fineft figures of oratory could efFedt. He travelled much, profefied himfelf a legiflator ; underflood all languages, without having learned them : he had the furprifing faculty of knowing what was tranfadled at an immenfe diftance, and at the time the Emperor Domitian was ftabbed, Appollonius being at a vaft diftance, and Handing in the market-place of the city, exclaimed, “ Strike ! ftrike !— 'tis done, the tyrant
is
APPOLLONIUS OF TYANA.
m,
is no more.” He underftood the language of birds ; he condemned dancing, and other diverfions of that fort; he recommended charity and piety; he travelled almoffc over all the countries of the world ; and he died at a very great age. His life has been fully related by Philoftratus ; but it contains fo many fabulous relations that we do not pretend to introduce them in this place. There are many who have very readily oppofed the miracles of this man to thofe of Chrift, and drew a parallel between them. It cannot be denied that this philofopher received very great honours, both during his life and after his death ; and that his reputation continued long after paganifm. He wrote four books of Judicial Aftrology, and a Treatife on Sacrifices, Ihewing what was to be offered to the Deity.
* We mufl not omit a circumftance which tends to the honour of this ve-
* nerable perfon. It is related that Aurelius had come to a refolution, and
* had publickly declared his intentions, to demolifh the city of Tyana ; but
* that Appollonius -of Tyana , an ancient philofopher, of great renown and au-
* thority, a true friend of the gods, and himfelf honoured as a deity, appear-
* ed to him in his ufual form as he retired into his tent, and addrelfed him
* thus : — “ Aurelian, if you defire to be victorious, think no more of the 4t deftruCtion of my fellow-citizens ! — Aurelian , if you defire to rule, abftain “ from the blood of the innocent ! — Aurelian , if you will conquer, be mer- “ ciful !” Aurelian being acquainted with the features of this ancient phi-
* lofopher, having feen his image in feveral temples, he vowed to ereCt a
* temple and flatues to him ; and therefore altered his refolution of facking
* Tyana. This account we have from men of credit, and have met with it 4 in books in the Olpian library ; and we are the more inclined to believe
* it on account of the dignity of Appollonius ; for was there ever any thing 4 among men more holy, venerable, noble, and divine than Appollonius ?
4 He reftored life to the dead ; he did and fpoke many things beyond hu-
* man reach ; which whoever would be informed of, may meet with many
* accounts of them in the Greek hiflories of his life.’ See Vopifcus in Au- relian, cap. 24.
X
Laftly,
1 54
biographia antiqua.
f
Laflly, the inhabitants of Tyana built a temple to their Appollonius after his death ; his flatue was eredted in feveral temples : the Emperor Adrian collected as many of his writings as he poffibly could, and kept them very feledf, in his fuperb palace at Antiumy with a rare but fmall book of this philofopher’s, concerning the Oracle of Trophonius. This little book was to be feen at Ant mm during the life of Philoftratus ; nor did any curiofity what- ever render this fmall town fo famous as did this rare and extraordinary book of Appollonius.
It is reported that a wife prince of the Indians, well {killed in magic, made feven rings of the feven planets, which he bellowed upon Appollonius, one of which he wore every day j by which he always maintained the health and vigour of his youth, and lived to a very advanced age. His life was tranf- lated from the Greek of Philofratus into French, by Blaife de Vignere^, with a very ample commentary by Artus Thomas, Lord of Embry, a Pa - rifian ; and fome time fince there has been made an Englifh tranflation of his life, which was condemned, prohibited, and anathematized without reafon.
PETRUS
[ 05 ]
PETRUS de ABANO, or PETER of APONA,
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY AND PHYSIC, feV. & C. &C.
p-ETRUS APONENSIS, or Aponus, one of the moft famous philofophers and phylicians of his time, was born A. D. 1250, in a village, fituated four miles from Padua. He ftudied a long time at Paris , where he was promoted to the degrees of Doctor in philofophy and phylic, in the practice of which he was very fuccefsful, but his fees remarkably high. Gabriel Naude , in his Antiquitate Scholce Medicce Parifienjis , gives the following account of him : ** Let us next produce Peter de Apona, or Peter de Abano, called the “ Reconciler, on account of the famous book which he published during “ his refidence in your univerfity — It is certain that phyfic lay buried in “ Italy, fcarce known to any one, uncultivated and unadorned, till its tutelar genius, a villager of Apona , deftined to free Italy from its barbarifm and “ ignorance, as Catnillus once freed Rome from the liege of the Gauls , made “ diligent enquiry in what part of the world polite literature was moll happily “ cultivated, philofophy moll fubtilly handled, and phylic taught with the “ greateft folidity and purity; and being allured that Paris alone laid claim to “ this honour, thither he prefently flies ; giving himfelf up wholly to her tutelage, ** tained a degree and the laurel in both ; and afterwards taught them both with “ great applaufe : and after a flay of many years, loaden with the wealth acquired “ among you, and, after having become the mo ft famous philofopher, aftrologer, phyfician, and mathematician of his time, returns to his own country, where,
* Naude fakes notice of this in a fpeech io which he extols the ancient glory of the univerfity of Paris. We have, above, recited his words at length, becaufe they incidentally inform us, that Peter de Abano compofed that great work at Paris which procured him the apellation of the Reconciler.
X 2.
in
BIOGR APHI A ANTJQUA.
“ in the opinion of the judicious Scardeon, he was the firft reflorer of true “ philofophy and phyfic. Gratitude, therefore, calls upon you to acknowledge “ your obligations due to Michcel Angelus Blondus, a phyfician of Rome , who- S£ in the laft century undertaking to publilh the Conciliationes Phyjio gnomic ce “ of your Aponenfian dotftor, and finding they had been compofed at Paris' , ( “ patronage, of your fociety.” ’Tis faid, that he was fufpedted of magic
and
* Naude, in his Apology for great Men accufed of Magic , fays, “ The general opinion of almoft all “ authors is, that he was the greateft magician of his time ; that by means of feven fpiiits, familiar, which ( “ the art of cauling the money he had made ufe of to return again into his pocket. He was accufed of ,4 magic in the eightieth year of his age, and that dying in the year *305, before his trial was over, he “ was condemned (as Cajlellan reports) to the fire ; and that a bundle of ft raw, or ofier, reprefenting his “ perfon, was publicly burnt at Padua ; that by fo rigorous an example, and by the fear of incurring a “ like penalty, they might fupprefs the reading of three books which he had compofed on this fubjedt r “ the firft of which is the noted Heptameron , or Magical Elements of Peter de Abano , Pbilofopber , now extant,. “ and printed at the end of Ag’ippa's works; the fecond, that which Trithemius calls Elucidarium “ Necromanticum Petri de Abano ; and a third, called, by the fame author. Liber experimentorum mirabilium “ de Annulis fecundem , 28 Manfiom Lunee Now it is to be noted, that Naude lays no ftrefs upon thefe feeming ftrong proofs ; he refutes them by immediately after affirming, that Peter of Apona was a man of prodigious penetration and learning, living in an age of darknefs which caufed every thing out of the vulgar track to be fufpedled as diabolical, efpecially as he was very much given to ftudy, and acquainted with the harmony of the celeftial bodies and the proportions of nature, and addicted to curious and divinatory fcience. “ He was one (fays he) who appeared as a prodigy of learning amidft “ the ignorance of that age, and who, befides his (kill in languages and phyfic, had carried his enquiries “ fo far into the occult fciences of abftrufe and hidden nature, that, after having given moil ample “ proofs, by his writings concerning phyfiognomy, geomancy, and chiromancy, what he was able to “ perform in each of thefe, he quitted them all together with his youthful cupofity to addidl himfelf “ wholly to the ftudy of philofophy, phyfic, and aftrology ; which ftudies proved fo advantageous to “ him, that, not to fpeak of the two firft, which introduced him to all the popes and fovereign pontiffs “ of his time, and acquired him the reputation which at prefent he enjoys among learned men, it 44 is certain that he was a great mafter in the latter, which appears, not only by the aftronomical figures “ which he caufed to be painted in the great hall of the palace at Padua, and the tranflations he made “ of the books of the moft learned Rabbi Abraham Aben Ezra, added to thofe which he himfelf compofed 41 on critical days, and the improvement of aftronomy, but by the teftimony of the renowned mathema- 41 tician Regio Montanus, who made a fine panegyric on him, in quality of an aftrologer, in the oration 44 which he delivered publicly at Padua when he explained there the book of Afraganus Now, many refpe&able authors are of opinion that it was not on the fcore of magic that the Inquifition fentenced
PETRUS DE ABANO.
W
and perfecuted otT that account by the Inquifition : and it is probable that, if he had lived to the end of his trial, he would have fuffer^d in perfon what he was fentenced to buffer in effigy after his death. His apologifts obferve, that his body, being privately taken out of his grave by his friends, efcaped the vigilance of the Inquifitors, who would have condemned it to be burnt. He was removed from place to place, and at laft depofited in St. Augujliri s Church , without Epitaph, or any other mark of honour. His accufers afcribed inconfiflent opinions to him;, they charged him with being a magician, and yet with denying the exigence of fpirits. He had fuch an antipathy to milk, that the very feeing any one take it made him vomit. He died in the
year 1316* in the fixty-fixth year of his age- One of his principal books was the Conciliator, already mentioned.
him to death, but becaufe he endeavoured to account for the wonderful effedls in nature by the influence t of the celeflial bodies , not attributing them to angels or daemons ; fo that herefy, inftead of magic, feems to have been the ground of his falling under the tyranny of the fage fathers of the Roman Cotholic faith, • as being one who oppofed the dodlrine of fpiritual beings.
* If this be true as we read in Tomaflni, in Elog. Vilor. llluflr. p. 22, Naude mu ft be miftakcn where he fays, that “ Peter Aponus being accufed at the age of 80 years, died A. D. 1305.” Freherus affirms the fame upon the authority of Bernardin Scardeon. Geflier is miftaken in making Peter Aponus flourifli in the year 1320. Konig has copied this error. But Father Rapin is much more grofsly miftaken than any of them when he places him in the fifteenth century, faying,. “ Peter of Apona, a phyfician of Padua , « who flouri (bed under Clement VII, debauched his imagination fo far by reading the Arabian philofo- ** phers, and by too much ftudying the aftrology of Alfraganus, that he was put into the Inquifitiom upon the fufpicion of magic, &c.” See Rapin Reflex. Jur la Pbilofophice, n. 28, p. 360. Fofflus has followed Gefntr, and makes an obfervation worthy to be conlidered. He fays, that Peter of Apona fent his book, De Medicina Qmmmoda, to pope J'>hn XXII, who was eledted in the year 1316, and held the Pontifical Chair feventeen years. By this we know the age of this phyfician. But if the year 1316 was that of his death, the conclufion is unjuft ; neither does it clear. Fofflus of an error.
APULEIUS,
BIOGR APHIA ANTI QU A*
APULEIUS,
THE PLATONIC PHILOSOPHER.
J UCIUS APULEIUS, a Platonic philofopher, publicly known by the fa- mous work of the Golden Afs , lived in the fecond century under the Anto- nines. He was a native of Madaura , a Roman colony in Africa’, his family was confiderable ; he had been well educated, and pofTeffed a graceful exterior j he had wit and learning ; but was fufpedted of magic. He ftudied firft at Carthage , then at Athens, and afterwards at Rome , where he acquired the Latin tongue without any abidance. An infatiable curiofity to know every thing induced him to make feveral voyages, and enter himfelf into feveral religious fraternities. He would fee the bottom of their myfteries. He fpent almod: all his eftate in travelling ; infomuch, that being returned to Rome, and having a defire to dedicate himfelf to the fervice of Ofiris , he lacked money to defray the expence of the ceremonies of his reception, he was obliged to make money of his clothes to complete the neceffary film : after this, he gained his living by pleading ; and, as he was eloquent and fubtle, he did not want caufes, fome of which were very confiderable. Put he improved his fortunes much more by a lucky marriage than by pleading. A widow, whofe name was Pudentilla, neither young nor fair, but who had a good eftate, thought him worth her notice. He was not coy, nor was he folicitous to keep his fine perfon, his wit, his neatnefs, and his eloquence, for fome young girl ; he married this rich widow chearfully (and with the moil becoming philofophy •overcame all turbulent pafiions, which might draw him into the fnares of beauty,) at a country houfe near Oea, a maritime town of Africa. This mar- riage drew upon him a troublefome law-fuit. The relations of this lady’s two fons urged that he had mtide ufe of art magic to poffefs himfelf of hen
APULEIUS.
1 59
pfon and money; they accufed him of being woffe than a magician, viz. a wizard, before Claudius Maximus , Proconful of Africa. He defended himfelf wdth great vigour*.. His apology, which he delivered before the judges,
fumifhes
Befides the accufarion of magic, they reproached him with his beauty, his fine hair, his teeth, and his looking-glafs. To the two firfl particulars he anfwered he was forry their accusation was fal “ How do I with,” replied he, “ that thefe heavy accufations of beauty, fine hair, See. were juft! I
flioxtld, without difficulty, reply, as Paris in Homer does to Hedtor,.
■ nor tbou defpife the charms
With which a lover golden V enus arms.
Soft moving fpeecb, and plea fin g outward Jbe-w,
No vjijh can gain them, but the Gods bejlow.
Pope.
“ Thus would T reply to the charge of beauty. Befides that, even phiiofophers are allowed to be of “ a liberal afpedt ; that Pythagoras , the fir ft of phiiofophers, was the handfomeft man of his time ; and w Zeno— but, as I obferved, I am far from pretending to this apology ; fines, befides that nature has “ beftowed but a very moderate degree of beauty on me, my continual application to ftiidy wears off “ every bodily grace, and impairs my conftitution; My hair, which I am falfely accufed of curling ** and dreffing by way of ornament, is, as you fee, far from being beautiful and delicate : on the contrary, “ it is perplexed and entangled like a bundle of flocks or tow, and fo knotty through long negledt of “ combing, and even of difentangling, as never to be reduced to order.” As to the third particular, He did not deny his having fent a very exquifite powder for the teeth to a friend, together with fome verfes, containing an exadf defeription of the effedfs of the powder. He alledged that all , but efpccially thofe wffio fpake in public, ought to be particularly careful to keep their mouths clean. This was a fine field for defence, and for turning his adverfary into ridicule ; though, in all probability, he had given occafion enough for cenfure by too great an affedlation of diftinguifhing himfelf from other learned men. Obferve with how much eafe fome caufes are defended, although the defendant be a little in the wrong. “ I obferved that fome could fcarce forbear laughing when our orator angrily accufed me of “ keeping my mouth clean, and pronounced the word tooth-powder with as much indignation as any one M ever pronounced the word poifon. But, furely, it is not beneath a philofopher to ftudy cleanlinefs, “ and to. let no part of the body be foul, or of an ill favour, efpeeially the mouth, the ufe of which is- “ the moft frequent and confpicuous, whether a man converfes with another, or fpeaks in public, or fays “ his prayers in a temple. For fpeech is previous to every, adtion of a man, and, as an excellent poet “ fays, proceeds from the Wall of the Teeth.”
We may make the fame obfervation upon the laft head of his accufation. It is no crime in a dodfor of what faculty foever, to have a looking-glafs ; but if he confults it too often in dreffing himfelf, he is juftly liable to cenfure. Morality in ^puleius's time was much-ftridler than at prefent as to external behaviour, for he durfl; not avow his making ufe of his looking-glafs. He maintains that he might do
it,.
i
l6o BIOGRAPHIA ANTIQUA*'
furnifhes us with examples of the moil fhameful artifices that the villainy of an impudent calumniator is capable of putting in practice*. Apuleius was extremely laborious, and compofed feveral books, fome in verfe and others in profe, of which but a fmall part has refilled the injuries of time. He delighted in making public fpeeches, in which he gained the applaufe of all his hearers. When they heard him at Oea, the audience cried out with one voice, that he
if, and proves it by feveral pliilofophical reafons, which, to fay the truth, are much more ingenious than judicioufly applied ; but he denies that he ever confulted his looking-glafs ; for he fays, alluding to this ludicrous accufation, “ Next follows the long and bitter harangue about the looking-glafs ; in which, “ fo heinous is the crime, that Pudetis almoft bu rll himfelf with bawling out — ‘ A philofopher to have “ a looking-glafs !’ — Suppofe I fliould confefs that I have, that you may not believe there is really fome- “ thing in your objection, if I fliould deny it ; it does not follow from hence that I muff necefTarily “ make a practice of dreffing myfelf at it. In many things I wrant the pofleffion but enjoy the ufe of “ them. Now, if neither to have a thing be a proof that it is made ufe of, nor the want of it of the “ contrary, and as I am not blamed for pofTerting, but for making ufe of, a looking-glafs, it is incum- “ bent upon him to prove farther at what time, and in what place, and in the prefence of whom, I made “ ufe of it ; fince you determine it to be a greater crime in a philofopher to fee a looking-glafs, than foT 4‘ the profane to behold the attire of Ceres?’
* I fliall inftance one to fliew that in all ages the fpirit of calumny has put men upon forging proofs by falfe extracts from what a perfon has faid or written. To convift Apuleius of pradlifmg magic, his accufers alledgc a letter which his wife had wrote during the time he paid his devoirs to her, and affirmed that fhe had confeffed, in this letter , that Apuleius was a wixard, and had adlually bewitched her. It was no hard matter to make the court believe that (he had written fo, for they only read a few words of her letter, detached from what preceded or followed, and no one prefled them to read the whole. At laft, Apuleius covered them with confufion by reciting the whole paflage from his wife’s letter. It appeared that far from complaining of Apuleius, flie juftified him, and artfully ridiculed his accufers. Thefe are his words : you will find that precifely the fame terms may either condemn or juflify Apuleius, according as they are taken with or without what precedes them. “ Being inclined to marry, for the 41 reafons which I have mentioned, you yourfelf perfuaded me to make choice of this man, being fond of " him, and being defirous, by my means, to make him one of the family. But now, at the inftigation of 41 wicked men, Apuleius mull be informed againft as a magician (or wizard), and I, forfooth, am enchanted “ by him. I certainly love him : come to me before my reafon fails me.” He aggravates this kind of fraud as it deferves ; his words deferve to be engraved in letters of gold, to deter (if poflible) all calumniators from pradfifing the like cheats. He fays, “ There are many things which, produced r‘ alone, may feem liable to calumny. Any difeourfe may furnifh matter of accufation, if what is con- “ nefled with foregoing words be robbed of its introdu&ion ; if fome things be fupprefled at pleafure, ,l and if what is fpoken by way of reproach to others, for inventing a calumny, be pronounced by the *• reader as an aflertion of the truth of it.”
ought
APULEIUS.
161
ought to be honoured with the freedom of the city. Thofe of Carthage heard him favourably, and eredted a ftatue in honour of him. Several other cities did him the fame honour. It is faid that his wife held the candle to him
v
whilft he ftudied ; but this is not to be taken literally ; it is rather a figure of Gallic eloquence in Sidonis Apollinaris, Legentibus meditantibufque candelas & candelabra tenuerunt . Several critics have published notes on Apuleius : witnefs Pbillipus Beraldus , who publifhed very large notes on the Golden Afs, at Venice , in folio, ann. 1 504, which were reprinted in 8vo, at Paris, and at feveral other places. Godefcalk Stewichius, Peter Colvius, John Wiewer , &c. have written on all the works of Apuleius. Precius publifhed the Golden Afsy and the Apology, feparately, with a great many obfervations. The annotations of Cafaubony and thofe of Scipio Gentilisy on the Apology, are very fcarce, and much valued: the firfl appeared in the year 1594, and * the latter in 1607. The Golden Afs may be confidered (as Bayle fays) as a continued fatire on the diforders which the pfeudo-magicians, priefls, pandars, and thieves filled the world with at that time. This obfervation occurs in Fleuri’s annotations. A perfon who would take the pains, and had the requifite qualifications, might draw up a very curious and inftrudtive com- mentary on this romance, and might inform the world of feveral things which the preceeding commentaries have never touched upon. There are fome very obfcene paffages in this book of Apuleius. It is generally believed that this author has inferted fome curious epifodes in it of his own invention ; and amongft others, that of Pfyche. Horum certe nojler itce imitator fuity ut e fuo penu enumerabilia protulerity atque inter ccetera venujlijjimum illud Pfychesy ’EwsktoiW. This epifode furnifhed Moliere with matter for an excellent Dramatic Piece, and M. de la Fontaine for a fine Romance.
Y
ARISTOTLE,
BIOGRAPHIA ANTIQO'Ao.
I 6 -2
A R I S T O T L E,.
THE PE1UPATETJC.
f^RISTOTLE, commonly called the Prince of Philofophers, or thePhilofo- pher, by way of excellence, was the founder of a fedt which furpafted, and at length even fwallowed up all the reft. Not but that it has had reverfe of fortune in its turn ; efpecially in the feventeenth century, in which it has been violently fhaken, though the Catholic divines on the one fide, and the Proteftant on the other, have run (as to the quenching of fire), to its relief, and fortified themfelves fo ftrongly, by the fecular arm, againft the New Philofophy, that it is not like to lofe its dominion. Mr.. Moreri met with fo many good materials in a work of father Rapin, that he has given a very large article of Ariftotle, enough to difpenfe with any aftiftance. Accordingly, I defagn not to enlarge upon it as far as the fubjedt might allow, but fhall content myfelf with obferving fome of the errors which I have collected concerning this philofopner. It is not certain that Ariftotle pradcifed pharmacy in Athens while he was a difciple of Plato , nor is it more certain that he did not. Very little credit ought to be given to a current tradition that he learnt feveral things of a Jew, and much iefs to a ftory of his pretended converfion to. judaifm , They who pretend that he was born a Jew? are much more grofsly miftaken : the wrong pointing of a certain paftage occafioned this miftake. They are deceived who fay that he was a difciple of Socrates for three years, for Socrates died 15 years before Ariftotle was born. Ariftotle’ $ behaviour tov/ards his mafter Plato is varioufly related : fome will have it that, through prodigious vanity and ingratitude, he fet up altar againft altar : that is, he eredled a fchool in Athens during Plato’s life, and in oppofition to him : others fay that he did not fet up for a profeftor till after his mailer’s death. We are
• told.
ARISTOTlE.
l®3
told Tome tilings concerning his amours which are not altogether to his advantage. It was pretended that his conjugal affedtion was idolatrous, and that, if he had not retired from Athens , the procefs for irreligion, which the priefts had commenced againft him, would have been attended with the fame confequences as that againft Socrates . Though he deferved very great praife, yet it is certain that moft of the errors concerning him are to be found in the extravagant commendations which have been heaped upon him : as, for exam- ple, is it not a downright falsehood to fay, that if Arijiotle /poke in his natural philofophy like a man , he fpoke in his moral philofophy like a 'God; and that it is a quejlion in his moral philofophy whether he partakes snore of the lawyer than of the prief ; more of the priefi than of the prophet ; more of the prophet than of the God 2 Cardinal Pallavicini fcrupled not in fome meafure to affirm that, if it had not been for Arijiotle , the church would have wanted fome of its articles of faith. The Chriftians are not the only people who have author- ized his philofophy ; the Mahometans are little lefs prejudiced in its favour $ and we are told, that to this day, notwitnftanding the ignorance which reigns among them, they have fchools for this fedt. It will be an everlafting fubjedt of wonder, to perfons who know what philofophy is, to find that Arijiotle1 s authority was fo much refpedled in the fchools, for feveral ages, that when a difputant quoted a paflage from this philofopher, he who maintained the thefs durft nor fay tranfeat , but muft either deny the paflage, or explain it in his own way. It is in this manner we treat the Holy Scriptures in the divinity fchools. The parliaments which have profcribed all other philofophy but that of Arijiotle , are more excufable than the dodtors i for whether the members of parliament were really perfuaded that this philofophy was the beft of any, or was not, the public good might induce them to prohibit new opinions, left the academical divifions fhould extend their malignant influence to the difturbance of the tranquillity of the ftate. What is moft aftonifhing to wife men is, that the profeflfors fhould be fo ftrongly prejudiced in favour of Arifotle' s philofophy. Had this prepofleffion been confined to his poetry and rhetoric, it had been lefs wonderful : but they were fond of the weakeft
Y 2 of
164 BIOGRAPHIA ANTIQU At
of his works j I mean his Logic, and Natural Philofophy *. This jufliee,, however, muft be done to the blinded of his followers, that they have deferted him where he clafhes with Chriftianity : and this he did in points of the greateft confequence, fince he maintained the eternity of the world, and did not believe that providence extended itfelf to fublunary beings. As to the immortality of the foul, it is not certainly known whether he acknowledged- it or not -fu In the year 1647, the famous capuchin. Valerian Magni , pub- lished a work concerning the Atheifm of Arijiotle . About one hundred and- thirty years before, Marc Anthony Venerius published a fyftem of philofophy,-, in which he difcovered feveral inconfiftencies between Ariftotle's dodtrine, and the truths of religion. Oampanella maintained the fame in his book de Re« dudlione ad Rcligionem, which was approved at Rome in the year 1630. It was- not long fince maintained in Holland, in the prefaces to fome books, that the. dodtrine of this philofopher differed but little from Spinoziftn. In the mean time, if fome Peripatetics may be believed, he was not ignorant of the myftery of the Trinity. Pie made a very good end, and enjoys eternal happinefs,. Pie compofed a great number of books; a great part of which is come down, to us. It is true fome critics raife a thoufand fcruples about them. He was. extremely honoured in his own city, and there were not wanting heretics who worshipped his image with that of Chrijl. There is extant, fome book which mentions, that, before the Reformation, there were- churches in Germany in
* To he convinced of the weaknefs of thefe works, we need only read GaJJendus in his Exercitationes . Paradoxicce adverfos Ari/loteleos. He fays enough there againft Arijiotle % philofophy in general, to con- vince every unprejudiced reader that it is very defective ; but he particularly ruins this p’nilofopherV Logic. He was preparing, likevvife, a cuticifm on his Natural Philofophy, his Metaphyfics, and Ethics, in the fame way ; when, being alarmed at the formidable indignation of the peripatetic party againft him, he chofe rather to drop his work, than expofe himfelf to their vexatious perfecutions. In Arijiotle' s Logic and Natural Philofophy, there are many things which difcover the elevation and profundity
of his genius. ...
•f Pcm/onatius and Nipbus had a great quarrel on this fubjeft. The firft maintained, that the immortality
of the foul was inconfiftent with Arijiotle' s principles : the latter undertook to defend the contrary. See the difcourfe of la Moths le Vaytr on the Immortality of the Soul, and Bodi-a, in page 15 of Pref.- to Damonomania%
which
ARISTOTLE.
which ' Arijlotle' % Ethics were read every Sunday morning to the people inRead of the Gofpel. There are but few in Ranges ,of zeal for religion which have not been (hewn for the Peripatetic philofophy, Paul de Foix , famous for his embaffies and his learning; would not fee Francis Patricias at Ferrara , beeaufe he was informed that that learned man taught a philofophy different from the Peripatetic This was treating the enemies of Arijlotle as zealots treat heretics. After all, it is no wonder that the Peripatetic philofophy, as it has been taught for feveral centuries, found fo many protestors ; or that the interefts of it are believed to be infeparable from thofe of theology : for it a ecu Roms the mind to acquiefce without evidence. This union of intereRs may be eReemed as a pledge to the Peripatetics of the immortality of their fedt, and an argument to abate the hopes of the new philofophers. — Confidering* withal, that there are fome doctrines of AriRotle which the moderns have rejected, , and which muR, fooner or later, be adopted again* The . Pro te Rant divines have very much altered their condudt, if it is true, as we are told, that the RrR reformers clamoured fo loud againR the Peripatetic philofophy. The kind of death, , which in fome refpedts does much honour to the memory of Arijlotle, is, that which fome have reported, viz. that his vexation at not being able to difeover the caufe of thejlux and reflux of the FuAppus occafioned the diRemper of which he died. Some fay, that being retired into the ifland of' Fubceay to avoid a procefs againR him for irreligion, he poifoned himfelf but why fhould he quit Athens to free himfelf from perfecution this way ? Hesychius affirms, not only that fentence of death was pronounced againR him for an hymn which he made in honour of his father-in-law, but alfo that he fwallowed aconite in execution of this fentence. If this were true, it would have been mentioned by more authors.
The number of ancient and modem writers who have exercifed their pens, on Arijlotle , either in commenting on, or tranflating, him, is endlefs. A cata- logue of them is to be met with in fome of the editions of his works, but not a complete one. See a treatife of father Labbe, entitled. Ariflotelis
Platonis Grcecorum Interpretum , typis haBenus editorum brevis confpeBus ; A fhort view of the Greek interpreters of AriRotle and Plato hitherto publijhedy
printed
v
1 66 B10GRAPHIA ANTIQUA,
printed at Paris in the year 1657 in 4to. Mr. Teiffier names four authors who have compofed the life of Arijlotle -y Ammonias y Guarini of Verona , fohn fames Beurerus , and Leonard Aretin. He forgot ferome Gemufceus , phyfician and profe/Tor of philofophy at Bazil , author of a book, De Vita AriJiotelisy et ejus Operum Cenfura v — The Life of Arijlotle , and a Critique on bis Works.
Peter Bayle.
ARTEMIDORUS of EPHESUS.
/
THE
SOMNABULIST, or DREAMER.
^^RTEMIDORUS (who wrote fo largely upon Dreams) was a native of Ephefus. He lived under Antonins Pius , as he informs us himfelf, where he fays, he knew an Athlete, who having dreamt that he had loft his fight, obtained the prize in the games which that Emperor ordered to be celebrated. No author has ever taken more pains upon fo ufeful a fubjedt than Artemi - dorus has done. He bought up all that had been written upon the fubjedt of dreams, which amounted to feveral volumes, but he fpent many years in travelling to colledt them, as well as the different opinions of all the learned who were then living. He kept a continual correfpondence with thofe in the towns and afiemblies of Greece, in Italy, and in the mo ft populous iftands; and he colledted^ every where all the dreams he could hear of, and the events they had. He defpifed the cenfure of thofe grave and fupercilious perfons, who treat all pretenders to predidtiens as fharpers, or impoftors, and without regarding the cenfures of thefe Catos , he frequented thofe diviners many years. In a wt©rd. he devoted all his time and thoughts to the fcience of dreams. He
thought
artemidorus.
thought that his great labour in making fo many collections, &c. had enabled him to warrant his interpretations by reafon and experience, but unfortunately he ever fixed upon the moft trifling and frivolous fubjedts, fuch as almofl: every one is dreaming of: there is no dream which Artemidorus has explained, but will bear a quite different interpretation, with the fame probability, and with at lead: as natural refemblances, as thofe on which that interpreter proceeds, I fay nothing' of the injury done to intelligences , to whofe direction we rnufh neceflarily impute our dreams if we expeCt to find in them any prefage of fu- turity Artemidorus took great pains to inftruCt his fon in the fame fcience, as appears by the two books which he dedicated to him. So eager a purfuit. after thefe ftudies is the lefs to be wondered at, when we confider that he be- lieved himfelf under the infpiration of Apollo. He dedicated his three firfl
* We find in Artemidorus fome of the moft trifling incidents in dreams noted by him to prefage very extraordinary things; fuch, as if any one dreams of his nofe, or his teeth, or fuch like trifling fubjetfts, fuch particular events they muft denote. — Now, as we cannot attribute a true and fignificant dream to any other caufe than the celeftial intelligences , or an evil damon, or etfe to the foul itfslf (which poffefles an inherent prophetic virtue, as we have fully treated of in our Second Book of Magic, where vse have fpoken of prophetic dreams)- I fay. from which of thefe caufes a dream proceeds, we muft afcribe but a very de- ficient portion of knowledge to either of them, if we do not allow them capable of giving better and plainer information refpedting any calamity or change of fortune or circumftances, than by dreaming of one’s nofe itching, or a tooth* falling out, and a hundred other toys like thefe. — I fhy, fuch modes of dictating to us a fore-knowledge of events to happen, cannot but be unworthy of their wifdom, fub- tilty, or power, and if they cannot inftruCl us by better figns, how great is their ignorance, and if they will not, how great is their malice ? therefore, all fuch trifling dreams are to be altogether rejected as vain and infignificant, for, we muft remember that “ a dream comes through the multitude of hufnefsf and often otherwife ; but fuch dreams as we are to notice, and draw predictions of future accidents and events, are thofe where the dream is altogether confident, not depending upon any prior difcourfe, accidents, or other like circumftances ; likewife, that the perfon who would with to dream true dreams, fhould fo difpofe himfelf as to become a fit recipient of the heavenly powers, but this is only to be done by a temperate and frugal diet, a mind bent on fublime contemplations, a religious defire of being in- formed of any misfortune, accident, or event, which might introduce mifery, poverty, or diflraftion of mind ; fo as when we know it, to deprecate the fame by prayer to the divine wifdom, that he would be pleafed to divert the evil impending, or to enable us to meet the fame with fortitude, and endure it with patience till the will of the Deity is accomplished. Thefe are the things which we ought to be defirous to receive information of by dream , vifion, or the like, and of which many are often truly fore- warned, and thereby foretell things to come, alfo prefage of the death of certain friends y all which I know by experience to be true and probable,
books
1 68
BIOGRAPHIA ANTIQUA.
books to one CaJJius Maximus, and the other two to his fon. — They were printed in Greek at Venice in the year 1518. In the year 1603 Rigaultius publifhed them at Paris in Greek and Latin , with notes. The Latin tranfla- tion he made ufe of was that publithed by John Cornarius at Bazil, in the year 1539. Artemidorus wrote a treatife of augury, and another upon chiro- mancy ; but we have no remains of them. Tertullian has not taken notice of him in that paflage, where he quotes feveral onirocritic authors ; but Lucian does not forget him, though he names but two writers of this clafs.
BABYLONIANS.
^JNDER this article of Babylonians we fhall juft give the reader a general ~ - {ketch of the antiquity of occult learning among the Chaldeans of Ba- bylon, fo famous for their fpeculations in aftrology. Diodorus Siculus informs us, that the inhabitants of Babylon aflert, that their city was very ancient ; for they counted four hundred and feventy-three thoufand years, from the firft obfervations of their aftrologers to the coming of Alexander. Others fay, that the Babylonians boafted of having preferved in their archives the obferva- tions which their aftrologers had made on nativities for the fpace of four hundred and feventy thoufand years ; from hence we ought to corred a paf- fage of Pliny, which fome authors make ufe of improperly, either to confute the antiquity of Babylon, or for other purpofes. Ariftotle knew without doubt that the Babylonians boafted of having a feries of aftronomical obfer- vations comprehending a prodigious number of centuries. He was defirous to inform himfelf of the truth of this by means of Calijlhenes, who was in Alexander’s retinue, but found a great miftake in the account for it is pre- tended, that Callijlhenes aflured him that the aftronomical obfervations he had
feen
BABYLONIANS.
169
feen in Babylon , comprehended no more than 1903 years. Simplicius reports this, and borrows it from Porphyry. If Calijihenes has computed right, it muft be agreed, that after the deluge men made very great hafte to become aftrologers ; for according to the Hebrew Bible there is but two thoufand years *' to be found from the flood to the death of Alexander. There is reafon to queftion what Simplicius reports, and it is remarkable that all the ancient authors, who have afcribed the building of Babylon to Semiramis , have no authority than that of Ctejias, whofe hiftories abounded in fables. And, therefore, we fee that Berojius blames the Greek writers for affirming, that Semiramis- built Babylon, and adorned it with the moft beautiful ftrudtures. The fupplement to Moreri quotes Quintus Curtius, in relation to the immo- defly of the Babylonian women -f-, who proftituted their bodies to ftrangers for money, under the idea of performing their devotions required by Venus. Gbferve, that thefe fums were afterwards applied to religious ufes.
* Epigenus tells us, that amongft the Babylonians there were celeftial obfervations for four hundred and feventy thoufand years, infcribed on pillars or tables of bricks. Berojius and C'itodemus, who make the leaft of it, fay four hundred and ninety years.
-j- This lafcivious ceremony was very ancient. Jeremiah' s letter inferted in the book of Baruch touches fomething on it, but in an obfcure manner, and wants a commentary taken out of Hens iotus. Jeremiah’s text runs thus : — “ The women alfo with cords about them fat in the ways — but if any of “ them, drawn by feme that pafieth by^ lie with him, fhe reproacheth her fellow, that {he was not “ thought as worthy as herfelf, nor her cord broken.”— Herodotus informs us, that there was a law in Babylon which obliged all the women of the country to feat themfelves near the temple of Venus , and there to wait an opportunity of copulating with a ftranger,
z
THE
BIOGRAPHI A ANTIQUA*
I^O
THE LIFE
OF
HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA, Knight,
DOCTOR OF BOTH LAWS, COUNSELLOR TO CHARLES V. EMPEROR OF GERMANY, AND JUDGE OF THE PREROGATIVE COURT.
J-JENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA, a very learned man and a magician*, flourished in the Sixteenth century. He was born at Cologne on the 14th of September, i486. He defcended from a noble and ancient family of Net- teSheim in Belgia defiring to walk in the Reps of his anceftors, who for many generations had been employed by the princes of the houfe of Anjlriay he entered early into the fervice of the Emperor Maximilian. He had at firft the employ of Secretary ; but as he was equally qualified for the fword as the pen , he afterwards turned foldier, and ferved the Emperor feven years in his Italian army. He Signalized himfelf on feveral occafions, and as a reward of his brave adtions he was created knight in the field. He wifhed to add the academical honours to the military, he therefore commenced dodtor of laws and phyfic. He was a man pofiefled of a very wonderful genius, and from his youth applied his mind to learning, and by his great natural talents he obtained great knowledge in almoft all arts and fciences. He was a diligent fearcher into the myfieries of nature, and was early in fearch of the philofo- pher’s fione ; and it appears that he had been recommended to fome princes
* As he himfelf aflcrts in his preface to his three books of Occult Philofophy and Magic, where he fays, “ who am indeed a magician,” applying the word magic to fublime and good fciences, not to pro- phane and de vilifh arts. Paul Jovius, Thevet, and Martin del Rio, accufe him not of magic , ( becau/e ■we cannot apply that to neaomantic arts) but the black art ; but we fhall fliew in fome of the following notes, their grounds on which this accufation of Agrippa is founded, and examine how far their infor- mation will juftify their calumny againlt this author.
as
N
HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
171
ss matter of the art of alchymy*, and very fit for the grand projedtion. He had a very extenfive knowledge of things in general, as likewife in the learned languages. He was pupil to Trithemius, who wrote upon the nature, mini- ftry, and offices of intelligences and fpirits- He was of an unfettled temper, and often changed his lituation, and was fo unfortunate as to draw upon himfelf the indignation of the Popifh clergy by his writings. We find by his letters that he had been in Franc? before the year 1507, that he travelled into Spain in the year ryo8, and was at Dole in the year 1509. He read public ledtures there, which engaged him in a con tell with the Cordelier Catilinet. The monks in thofe times fufpedted. whatever they did not underftand, of herefy and error ; how then could they fuffer Agrippa to explain the myfteri- ous works of Reuchlinus de Verbo Mirijico with impunity ? It was the fub- jedt of the ledtures which he read at Dole in 1509 with great reputation. To ingratiate himfelf the better with Margaret of Aufriat governefs of the Aufrian Netherlands , he compofed at that time a treatife on the excellency of women ; but the perfecution he ffiffered from the monks prevented him from publifhing it * he gave up the caufe, and came into England , where he wrote on St. Paul's Epiftles, although he had another very private affair upon his hands. Being returned to Cologne , he read public ledtures there on the queftions of the divinity, which are called Quodlibetales ; after which he went to the Emperor Maximilian s .army in Italy , and continued there till Cardinal de Sainte Croix fent for him to Pi fa. Agrippa would have difplayed his abilities there in quality of theologill of the council, if that affembly had continued. This would not have been the way to pleafe the Court of Rome , or to deferve the obliging letter he received from Leo X , and from whence we may conclude, that he altered his opinion. From that time he taught divinity publicly at Pavia , and at Turin. He likewife read ledtures on Mer- curius Trifmegifus at Pavia , in the year 1515. He had a wife who was
* We have no authority to fay, that ever he was in poffeffion of the great fecret of tranfmntation, neither can we gather any fuel- information from his writings ; the only circumftance relative to this is what himfelf fays in occult phiiolophy, that he had made gold , but no more than that out of which the foul was extrafted.
Z 2
handfome
BIOGRAPHXA ANTI QU A .
172
handfome and accomplifhed, by whom he had one fon ; he loft her in 1 521 ; he married again an accomplifhed lady at Geneva in the year 1522, of whom he gives a very good character ; by this wife he had three children, two fons and one daughter, who died. It appears by the fecond book of his letters, that his friends endeavoured in feveral places to procure him fome honourable fettlement, either at Grenoble, Geneva, Avignon, or Metz. He preferred the port which was of- fered him in this laft city; and I find that in the year 1518 he was chofen by the lords of Metz to be their advocate, fyndic, and orator. The perfecutions which the monks raifed againft him, as well on account of his having re- futed the common opinion concerning the three hufoands of St. Anne , as be- caufe he had protected a country-woman, who was accufed of withcraft, made him leave the city of Metz. The ftory is as follows : — A country-woman, who was accufed of withcraft, was propofed (by the Dominican, Nicholas Sa- vin/', Inquilitor of the Faith at Metz ) to be put to the torture, upon a mere prejudice, grounded on her being the daughter of a witch, who had been burnt. Agrippa immediately took up the cudgels, and did what he could to prevent fo irregular a proceeding, but could not prevent the woman from being put to the quejlion \ however, he was the inftrument of proving her innocence. Her accufers were condemned in a fine. The penalty was too mild, and far from a retaliation. This country-woman was of Vapey , a town fituated near the gates of Metz , and belonging to the chapter of the cathedral. There ap- peared in MeJJin, who was the principal accufer of this woman, fuch fordid paffions, and fuch a total ignorance of literature and philofophy, that Agrippa , in his letter of June 2, 1519, treats the town of Metz as— “ The Jlep - mother of learning and virtue This fatyrical reflexion of Agrippa’s might give rife to the proverb — “ Metz, the covetous, and ftep-mother of arts and fciences.” — What induced him to treat of the monogamy of St. Anne was his feeing, that fames Faber Stapulenfs , his friend, was pulled to pieces by the preachers of Metz, for having maintained that opinion. Agrippa retired to Cologne , his native city, in the year 1520, willingly forfaking a city, which the feditious inquifitors had made an enemy to learning and true merit. It is indeed the fate of all cities where Fuch perfons grow powerful of what- * ever
HENRY CORNELIUS A GRIP PA.
m
ioever religion they are of. He again left his own city in the year 1521, and went to Geneva, but his fortunes did not much improve there, for he com- plained that he was not rich enough to make a journey to Chamheri to folicit the penfion, which he was led to expeCt from the Duke of Savoy. This ex- pectation came to nothing, upon which Agrippa went from Geneva to Fri- bourg in Switzerland in the year 1523, to pradtife phyfic there as he had done at Geneva. The year following he went to Lyons, and obtained a penfion from Francis I. He was in the fervice of that prince’s mother in quality of her phylician, but made no great improvement of his fortune there -, neither did he follow that princefs when fhe departed from Lyons in the month of Augufl, 1525, to condudl her daughter to the frontiers of Spain. He danced attend- ance at Lyons for fome time to employ the intereft of his friends in vain, to obtain the payment of his penfion ; and before he received it he had the vexation to be informed, that he was ftruck out of the lift. The caufe of this difgrace was, that having received orders from his miftrefs to enquire by the rules of aftrology what turn the affairs of France would take, he expreffed his difapprobation too freely, that the princefs fhould employ him in fuch a vain curiofity, inftead of making ufe of his abilities in more important affairs. The lady took this leffon very ill, but fhe was highly incenfed when fhe heard that Agrippa had, by the Rules of AJlrology, the Cabala , or fome other art, predicted new triumphs to the conftable of Bourbon *. — Agrippa finding
himfelf
* See Agrippa’s words in his 29th Epift. lib. iv. p. 854, which are as follow : — “I wrote to the “ Fenecbal, defiring him to advife her not to mifapply my abilities any longer in fo unworthy an art ; “ that I might for the future avoid thefe follies, lince I had it in my power to be of fervice to her by “ much happier fludies.” But the greateft misfortune was, that “ this unworthy art," and “ thefe follies,” as he called them, predifted fuccefs to the oppofite party, as you may judge by his own words.— “ I re- “ member I told the Senefchal in a letter, that in cafting the conftable of Bourbon's nativity, I plainly “ difcovered that he would this year likewife gain the victory over your armies,” — They who are ac- quainted with the hiftory of thefe times, muft fee plainly that Agrippa could not pay his court worfe to Francis I. than bypromiling good fuccefs to the conftable. From that time Agrippa was looked upon as a Bourlonifl : to filence this reproach he reprefented the fervice he had done to France , by diffuading 4000 foot foldiers from following the Emperor’s party, and by engaging them in the fervice of Francis I. He alledged the refufal of the great advantages which were promifed him when he left Fribourg, if he would enter into the conftable’s fervice. It appears by the 4th and 6th Letter of Book V. that he held
a ftrid
BIOGRAPHIA ANTIQUA»
J7 4
himfelf difcarded, murmured, flormed, threatened, and wrote ; but, how- ever, he was obliged to look out for another fettlement. He call his eyes on the Netherlands , and having after long waiting obtained the neceffary palfes, he arrived at Antwerp in the month of July, 1528. One of the caufes of thefe delays was the rough proceeding of the Duke of Vendome , who inflead of figning the pafs for Agrippa tore it up, faying, that “ he would not fign any palfport for a conjuror.” In the year 1529 the King of 'England fent Agrippa a kind invitation to come into his territories, and at the fame time he was invited by the Emperor’s chancellor, by an Italian marquifs, and by Margaret of Aujlria , governefs of the Netherlands . He accepted the offers of the latter, and was made hilloriographer to the Emperor, a poll procured him by that princefs. He publilhed by way of prelude, The Hijlory of the Government of Charles V. and foon after he was obliged to compofe that princefs’s funeral oration, whofe death was in fome manner the life of our Agrippa ; for Ihe had been llrangely prejudiced againll him : the fame ill office was done him with his Imperial Majelly. His treatife of the Vanity of the Sciences, which he caufed to be printed in 1 530, terribly exafperated his enemies. That which he publilhed foon after at Antwerp, viz. of the Occult Philofophy, afforded them a Hill farther pretence to defame him. It was fortunate for him that Cardinal Campegius, the Pope’s legate, and Cardinal Be la Mark , Bilhop of Liege, were his advocates ; but, however, their good of- fices could not procure him his penfion as hilloriographer, nor prevent his being imprifoned at Bruffels, in the year 1531, but he was foon releafed. The following year he made a vilit to the Archbiffiop of Cologne, to whom he had dedicated his Occult Philofophy , and from whom he had received a very obliging letter. The fear of his creditors, with whom he was much embarraffed on account of his falary being flopped, made him flay longer in the country of Cologne than he defired. He flrenuoully oppofed the inquifitors, who had put a flop to the printing of his Occult Philofophy ,
a Arid correfpondence with that prince in 1527. He advifed and counfelled, yet refufed to go and join him, and promifed him vidory. He allured him that the walls of Rome would fall down upon the firft attack ; yet he omitted informing him of one point, and that was, that the conftabk would be killed there.
when
HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
175
when he was publishing' a new edition of it corredled, and augmented at Cologne.— See the xxvith, and the following Letters of the vnth Book. In fpite of them the imprefiion was finished, which is that of the year 1 533. He continued at Bonn till the year 1535, and was then defirous of returning to Lyons. He was imprifoned in France for fomething he had faid againd the mother of Francis I. but was releafed at the requeft of certain perfons, and went Grenoble , where ho died the fame year, 1535. Some fay, that he died in the hofpital (but this is mere malice, for his enemies reported every thing that envy could fugged: to depreciate his worth and character). He died at the houfe of the Receiver General of the province of Dauphiny, whofe fon was fird president of Grenoble. Mr. Allard at p. 4, of the BibliothequeofDauphine, fays, that Agrippa died at Grenoble , in the houfe which belonged to the family- of Ferrand in Clerk's Street , and was then in the pofj'efjion of the prefdent Vachon ; and that he was buried in the convent of the Dominicans. He lived always in the Roman com- munion, therefore it ought not to have been faid that he was a Lutheran Burnet in his hidory of the Reformation alferts, that Agrippa wrote in favour of the divorce of King Henry VIII. But if we look into Agrippa' s letters we ihall find that he was againd it, as well in them as likewife in his declamation on the vanity of the fciences, where he fays — “ I am informed there is a certain " king, at this time o’day, who thinks it lawful for him to divorce a wife to “ whom he has been married thefe twenty years, and to efpoufe an harlot.” In refped of the charge of magic diabolical being preferred againd him by Martin del Rio and others who confidently afierted, that Agrippa paid his way at inns, &c. with pieces of horn, cading an illufion over the fenfes, where- by thofe who received them took them for real money ; together with the dory of the boarder at Louvain , who, in Agrippa' s abfence, raifed the devil in his dud y, and thereby lod his life ; and Agrippa s coming home, and feeing the fpirits dancing at the top of the houfe, his commanding one of them into the dead body, and fending it to drop down at the market-place : all thefe dories, afierted
* -Agrippa, in his Apolog . cap . tq. fpeaks in lofty terms of Luther , and with fuch contempt of the sd- -verfaries of that reformer, that it is plain from hence Sixtus Zkntnfis affirmed that Agrippa was a Lu- theran.
by
BIOGRAPH IA ANT I QUA-,
I76
by Martin del Rio , are too ridiculous to be believed by men of fenfe or fcience, they being no way probable even if he had dealt in the Black Art.-— As to magic, in the fenfe it is underflood by us, there is no doubt of his being a proficient in it, witnefs his three books of Occult Philofophy ; to fay nothing here of the fourth, which we have good authority to fay was never wrote by Agrippa,- as we (hall fhew prefently, where we fhall treat of the hiflory of his Occult Philofophy. — In a word, to fum up the character of Agrippa we mufl do him the juflice to acknowledge, that notwithflanding his impetuous temper which occafioned him many broils, yet from the letters which he wrote to fe~ veral of his mofl intimate friends, without any apparent defign of printing, them, he was a man ufed to religious reflexions, and the practice of Chrifli- anity ; that he was well verfed in many of the chiefefl and mold fecret opera- tions of nature, viz. the fciences of natural and celeflial magic ; that he cer- tainly performed flrange things (in the vulgar eye) by the application of ac~ tives to pajjives, as which of us cannot ? that he was an expert ajlrologer , phyfician, and mathematician , by which, as well as by magic, he foretold many uncommon things, and performed many admirable operations, John JVierus9 who was his domeftic; has given feveral curious and interefling anecdotes, which throw great light upon the myflerious character of Agrippa, and ferve to free him from the fcandalous imputation of his being a profeffor of the black art. Now, becaufe Agrippa continued whole weeks in his fludy, and yet was acquainted with almoft every tranfadlion in feveral countries of the v/orld, many filly people gave out, that a black dog which Agrippa kept was an evil fpirit, by whofe means he had all this information, and which communicated the ene?nies’ pojls , number, defigns, &c. to his mailer ; this is Paul Jovius's account, by which you may fee on what fort of reports he founded his opinions of this great man. We wonder that Gabriel Naude had not the precaution to objedt to the accufers of Agrippa, the great number of hiftorical falfehoods of which they (his accufers) Hand convidled. Naude fup- pofes that the monks and others of the ecclefiaflical order did not think of crying down the Occult Philofophy till a long time after it was published ; he affirms that they exclaimed againft that work, only in revenge for the injuries
. Aey
HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
1 77
they believed they had received in that of the Vanity of the Sciences. ’Tis true, this latter book gave great offence to many. The monks, the members of the univerfities, the preachers, and the divines, faw themfelves drawn to the life in it. Agrippa was of too warm a complexion. “ The leaf tafle cf his book (of the Vanity of the Sciences) convinced me that he was an author of a fiery genius, extenfve reading, and great memory ; but fometimes more copious than choice in his fubjecl, and writing in a difiurbed, rather than in a compofed, Jiyle.” He laflies vice, and commends virtue, every where, and in every perfon : but there are fome with whom nothing but panegyric will go down. See Erasmi Epifl. lib. xxvii. p. 1083.
Let us now, in a few words, and for the conclufion of this article, defcribe the hiftory of the Occult Philofophy. Agrippa compofed this work in his younger days, and fhewed it to the Abbot Trithemius, whofe pupil he had been. Trithemius was charmed with it, as appears by the letter which he wrote to him on the 8th of April, 1510 ; but he advifes him to communicate it only to thofe whom he could confide in. However, feveral manufcript copies of it were difperfed almoft all over Europe. It is not necefiary to obferve that moft of them were faulty, which never fails to happen in the like cafes. They were preparing to print it from one of thefe bad copies ; which made the author refolve to publifh it himfelf, with the additions and alterations with which he had embellifhed it, after having fhewed it to the Abbot Trithemius. Melchior Adam was miftaken in afferting that Agrippa, in his more advanced years, having corredted and enlarged this work, fhewed it to the Abbot Trithemius. He had refuted his Occult Philofophy in his Vanity of the Sciences, and yet he published it to prevent others from printing a faulty and mutilated edition. He obtained the approbation of the dodtors of divinity, and fome other perfons, whom the Emperor’s council appointed to examine it.
“ This book has been lately examined and approved by' certain prelates of the “ and by commiffaries particularly deputed for that purpofe by G^esarV council: “ after which, it was admitted by the whole council, and licenfed by the authentic
A a diploma
BIOGRAPH I A ANTIQUA.
!7S
“ diploma of his Imperial Majefty , and the fiamp of the Cesarean Eagle in “ red wax ; and was afterwards publicly printed and fold at Antwerp, and ** then at Paris, without any oppofition .”
After the death of Agrippa a Fourth Book was added to it by another hand. Jo. Wierus de Magis , cap. 5. p. 108, fays, “ To thefe (books of Magic) “ may very jujtly be added , a work lately pub lifted, and afcribed to my late “ honoured bojl and preceptor , Henry Cornelius Agrippa, who has been “ dead more than forty years ; whence l conclude it is unjujlly infer ibed to his “ manes , under the title of The fourth book of the Occult Philosophy, “ or of Magical Ceremonies, which pretends likewife to be a Key to the “ three former books of the Occult Philosophy, and all kinds of Magical “ Operations .” Thus John Wierus exprefles himfelf. There is an edition in folio of the Occult Philofophy , in 1533, without the place where it was printed. The privilege of Charles V. is prefixed to it, dated from Mechlin, the 1 2th of "January , 1529. We have already mentioned the chief works of Agrippa. It will be fufficient to add, that he wrote A Commentary on the Art of Raimundus Lullius, and A Dijfertation on the Original of Sin, wherein he teaches that the fall of our firft parents proceeded from their unchafte love. He promifed a work againft the Dominicans, which would have pleafed many perfons both within and without the pale of the church of Rome*. He held fome uncommon opinions, and never any Proteftant fpoke more forcibly againft the impudence of the Legendaries, than he did. We mull: not forget the Key of his Occult Philofophy, which he kept only for his friends of the firft rank, and explained it in a manner, which differs but little from the fpeculations of our Quietifts. Now many fuppofe that the 4th book of the Occult Philofophy is the Key which Agrippa mentions in his letters to have referved to himfelf j but it may be anfwered, with great Ihew of probability, that he amufed the
* “ In the treatife I am compofing of the vices and erroneous opinions of the Dominicans, in which “ I fliall expofe to the whole world their vicious practices, fuch as the facrainent often infefled with u poifon — numberlefs pretended miracles— kings and princes taken off with poifon— cities and ftates “ betrayed — the populace feduced — herefies avowed — and the reft of the deeds of thefe heroes and their “ enormous crimes.” See Agrippa Optra, T. ii. p, 1037,
world
HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
I79
world with this Key to caufe himfelf to be courted by the curious, fames Gokory and Vigenere fay, that he pretended to be mafter of the Pradlice of the Mirror of Pythagoras, and the fecret of extracting the fpirit of gold from its body, in order to convert fiver and copper into fine gold. But he explains what he means by this Key, where he fays, in the Epift. 19. lib. v. “ Phis “ is that true and occult philofophy of the wonders of nature . The key thereof “ is the underfan ding : for the higher we carry our knowledge, the more fublime “ are our alt ahvnents in virtue, arid we perform the greate ft things with more eafe “ and efi'eCt.” Agrippa makes mention of this Key in two letters which he wrote to a religious who addicted himfelf to the ftudy of the Occult Sciences, viz. Aurelius de Aquapendente Aufin, friar, where he fays, “ What furprifng “ accounts we meet with, and how great writings there are made of the invincible “ power of the Magic Art, of the prodigious hnages of Aftrologers, of the amazing “ tranfmutations of Alchymifts, and of that blejfed fone by which, Midas -like, “ all metals are tranfmuted into gold: all which are found to be vain , fictitious, “ and falfe , as often as they are praCtifed literally .” Yet he fays, “ Such things “ are delivered and writ by great and grave philofophers, whofe traditions who “ dare fay are falfe ? Nay, it were impious to think them lies : only there is “ another meaning than what is writ with the bare letters. We mud not, he adds, “ look for the principle of thefe grand operations without ourfelves: it is an “ internal fpirit within us, which can very well perform whatfoever the K monftrous Mathematicians , the prodigious Magicians , the wonderful Al-
Nos habitat, tion tartara ; fed nec fidera coeli,
Spiritus in nobis qui viget, ilia facit.
See Agrippa Epift. Eat. Lyons, Sept. 24, 1727,
Note. Agrippa’s three books of Magic, with the fourth, were tranflated into English, and publifhed in London in the year 1651. But they are now become fo fcarce, as very rarely to be met with, and are fold at a very high price by the bookfellers.
A a 2
ALBERTUS
BIOGRAPHIA anti qua.
i2o
ALBERTUS MAGNUS.
^^LBERTUS MAGNUS, a Dominican, biShop of Rati/bon, and one of the moft famous doctors of the XIII century, was born at Lawingen, on the Danube , in Siiabia, in the year 1193, or 1205. Moreri’s di&ionary gives us an account of the feveral employs which were conferred upon him, and the fuccefs of his ledtures in feveral towns. It is likewife faid, that he pradtifed midwifery, and that he was in fearch of the Pbilofopher s Stone j that he was a famous Magician, and that he had formed a machine in the Shape of a man, which ferved him for an oracle, and explained all the difficulties which he propofed to it. I can eafily be induced to believe that, as he understood the mathematics, &c. he made a head, which, by the help of fome Spirits, might form certain articulate founds. Though he was well qualified to be the in-r ventor of artillery, there is reafon to believe, that they who afcribed the inven- tion of it to him are mistaken. It is faid that he had naturally a very dull wit, and that he was upon the point of leaving the cloiSter, becaufe he defpaired of attaining what his friar’s habit required of him, but that the Holy Virgin appeared to him, and afked him in which he would chufe to excel, in philo- fophy or divinity ; that he made choice of philofophy, and that the Holy Virgin told him he Should furpafs all men of his time in that Science, but that, as a punifhment for not chufing divinity, he Should, before his death, rclapfe into his former Stupidity. They add, that, after this apparition, he Shewed a prodigious deal of fenfe, and fo improved in all the Sciences, that he quickly furpaffed his preceptors ; but that, three years before his death, he forgot in an inftant all that he knew: and that, being at a Stand in the middle of a ledture on divinity at Cologne , and endeavouring in vain to recal his ideas, he
was
ALBERTUS MAGNUS.
■IS*
was fenfible that it was the accomplifhment of the prediflion. Whence aroffe the faying, that he was miraculoufly converted from an als into a philofopher, and, afterwards, from a philofopher into an afs. Our Albertus was a very little man *, and, after living eighty-feven years, died in the year of our redemp- tion, 1280, at Cologne , on the i^th of November; his body was laid in the middle quire of the convent of the Dominicans, and his entrails were carried to Ratijbon • his body was yet entire in the time of the Emperor Charles V '. and was taken up by his command, and afterwards replaced in its firll monu- ment. He wrote fuch a vaft number of books, that they amount to twenty- ne volumes in folio, in the e dition of Lyons, 1651.
ROGER BACON,
commonly called FRIAR BACON.
J^OGER BACON, an Englifhman, and a Francifcan friar, lived in the XIII century. He was a great Ajlrologer, Chymiji , Mathematician, and Magi- cian. There runs a tradition in English annals, that this friar made a brazen head, under the rifing of the planet Saturn, which fpake with a man’s voice, and gave refponfes to all his queftions. Francis Ficus fays, “ that he read “ in a book wrote by Bacon, that a man might foretel things to come by means l “ vided he made ufe of it under a good conftellation, and firft brought his body “ into an even and temperate ftate by chymiflry.” This is agreeable to what John Ficus has maintained, that Bacon gave himfelf only to the ftudy of Natu- ral Magic. This friar fent feveral inftruments of his own invention to pope Clement IV. Several of his books have been publilhed [but they are now very
* When he came before the Pope, after Handing fotne time in his prefence, his Holinefs defired him to rife, thinking he had been kneeling.
fcarce,)
1 82
BIO'GK APHi A ANTIQU'A.
fcarce,) viz. Specula Mathematka & PerfpeBiva, Speculum Alcbymice , De Mira - bill Potefate Artis & Naturae, , Epijlolcs. cum Notis , & c. In all probability he
did not perform any thing by any compact with devils, but has only afcribed to things a furprifing efficacy which they could not naturally have. He was well verfed in judicial aftrology. His Speculum Aftrologiae was condemned by Gerfon and Agrippa. Francis Picus and many others have condemned it only becaufe the author maintains in it, that , with Jubmijfion to better judgments, books of magic ought to be carefully preferved, becaufe the time draws near that, for certain caufes not there fpecifed , they muft necef drily be perufed and made ufe of on fome occafons. Maude adds, “ that Bacon was fo much addidted to judicial aftrology, that Henry de Ha fa, William of Pans, and Nicholas Orefmius, were obliged to inveigh fharply againft his writings.’' Bacon was fellow of Brazen-nofe college in Oxford in the year 12; 6. He was beyond all compeer the glory of the age he lived in, and may perhaps ftand in competition with the greatefl that have appeared fince. It is wonderful, confidering the age wherein he lived, how he came by fuch a depth of knowledge on all fubjedts. His treatifes are compofed with that elegancy, concifenefs, and flrength, and abound with fuch juft and exquifite obfervations on nature, that, among the whole line of chymifts, we do not know one that can pretend to contend with him. The reputation of his uncommon learning ftill furvives in England. His cell is (hewn at Oxford to this day ; and there is a tradition, that it will fall whenever a greater man than Bacon fhall enter within it. He wrote many treatifes ; amongft which, fuch as are yet extant have beauties enough to make us fenfible of the great lofs of the reft. What relates to chymiftry are two fmall pieces, wrote at Oxford , which are now in print, and the manu- fcripts to be feen in the public library at Leiden ; having been carried thither among Vojfus's manufcripts from England. In thefe treatifes he clearly fhews how imperfedt metals may be ripened into perfedt ones. He entirely adopts Geber s notion, that mercury is the common bafts of all metals, and fulphur the cement ; and fhews that it is by a gradual depuration of the mercurial matter by fublhr ation, and the acceffion of a fubile fulphur by fire, that nature makes her gold 3 and that, if during the procefs, any other third matter happen to
intervene,
ROGER BACON *
183
intervene, befides the mercury and fulphur, fome bafe metal arifes: fo that, if we by imitating her operations ripen lead, we might eafily change it into good gold.
Several of Bacon s operations have been compared with the experiments of Monf eur Homberg , made by that curious prince the duke of Orleans ; by which it has been found that Bacon has defcribed fome of the very things which Homberg publiflied as his own difcoveries. Fbr inftance, Bacon teaches exprefsly, that if a pure fulphur be united with mercury, it will commence gold: on which very principle, Monfieur Homberg has made various experiments for the production of gold, defcribed in the Memoires de l' Academ. Royale des Sciences. His other phyfical writings fhew no lefs genius and force of mind. In a treatife* Of the fecret Works of Nature, he thews that a perfon who was perfectly acquainted with the manner nature obferves in her operations, would not only be able to rival, but to furpafs nature herfelf.
This author’s works are printed in 8vo and 1 2tno, under the title of Frater Rogeritcs Baco de Secretis Artis & Nature c, but they are become very rare. From a repeated perufal of them we may perceive that Bacon was no flranger to many of the capital difcoveries of the prefent and pa ft ages. Gunpowder he certainly knew ; thunder and lightning, he tells us, may be produced by art ; and that fulphur, nitre, and charcoal, which when feparat'e have no fenfible effeCt, when mingled together in a due proportion, and clofely confined, yield a horrible crack. A more precife defeription of gunpowder cannot be given with words : and yet a Jefuit, Bart hoi. Schwartz , fome ages afterwards, has had the honour of the difeovery. He likewife mentions a fort of inextinguilh- able fire, prepared by art, which indicates he knew fomething of phofphorus. And that he had a notion of the rarefaction of the air, and the ftruCture of the air-pump, is paft contradiction. A chariot, he obferves, might be framed on the principles of mechanics, which, being fuftained on very large globes, fpeci- fically lighter than common air, would carry a man aloft through the atmofphere 5 this proves that he likewife had a competent idea of aeroftation.
* De Secretis Nature Operibus.
There
BI0GR A PHI A ANTIQUA.
I 84
There are many curious fpeculations in this noble author, which will raife the admiration of the reader : but none of them will affedt him with fo much wonder, as to fee a perfon of the moft fublime merit fall a facrifice to the wanton zeal of infatuated bigots. See Boerhaave’s Cbym. p. 18.
RAYMOND LULLY,
A FAMOUS ALCHYMIST.
jf^AYMOND LULLY, or Raymon Lull , comes the next in order. He was born in the ifland of Majorca , in the year 1225, of a family of the firft diftindtion, though he did not afliime his chymical character till towards the latter part of his life.
Upon his applying himfelf to chymiftry, he foon began to preach another fort of dodtrine ; infomuch that, fpeaking of that art, he fays it is only to be acquired by dint of experiment and pradtice, and cannot be conveyed to the underftanding by idle words and founds. He is the firft author I can find, who confiders alchymy exprefsly with a view to the univerfal medicine : but after him it became a popular purfuit, and the libraries were full of writings in that vein.
Lully , himfelf, befide what he wrote in the fcholaftic way, has a good many volumes wrote after his converfion : 'tis difficult to fay how many ; for it was a common pradtice with his difciples and followers to uffier in their perform- ances under their matter's name. “ I have perufed (J ays BoerhaaveJ the belt “ part of his works, and find them, beyond expedtation, excellent : infomuch, " that I have been almoft tempted to doubt whether they could be the work “ of that age, fo full are they of the experiments and obfervations which “ occur in our later writers, that either the books mufl be fuppofititious, or elfe
“ the
RAYMUND LULLY.
“ the ancient chymifts mull have been acquainted with a world of things which “ pafs for the difcoveries of modern pradlice. He gives very plain intimations “ of phofphorus, which he calls the Vejlal Fire, the Off a Helmontii, &c. and “ yet it is certain he wrote 200 years before either Helmont , or my Lord “Bacon.”
He travelled into Mauritania, where he is fuppofed to have firfl met with chymiftry, and to have imbibed the principles of his art from the writings of Geber : which opinion is countenanced by the conformity obfervable between the two. The Spanijh authors afcribe the occafion of his journey to an amour : he had fallen in love, it feems, with a maiden of that country, who obftinately refufed his addrefles. Upon enquiring into the reafon, fhe fhewed him a can- cered breaft. Lully , like a generous gallant, immediately refolved on a voyage to Mauritania , where Geber had lived, to feek fome relief for his miftrefs. He ended his days in Africa j where, after having taken up the quality of million- ary, and preaching the gofpel among the infidels, he was ftoned to death*.
* The hiftory of this eminent adept is very confufed. Mutius , an author, is exprefs, that that good man, being wholly intent upon religion, never applied himfelf either to chymiftry or the philofopher’s-ftone : and yet we have various accounts of his making gold. Among a variety of authors, Gregory of Thouloufe aflerts that “ Lully offered Edward III. king of England , a /apply of fix millions to make war againjl the Infidels Betides manufcripts, the following printed pieces bear Lully's name, viz. 1 he Theory of the Pbilofopber’s Stone'. The Prafiife : The Tranfmutation of Metals: The Codicil: The Vade-Mecum : The Book of Experiments : The Explanation of his Teftament ; The Abridgements, or Accufations : and The Power of Riches ,
i
B b
GEORGE
/
1 86
BIOGRAFHIA ANTIQVA,
GEORGE RIPLEY.
j^EORGE RIPLEY, an Englijhman by nation, and by profeffion a canon or monk, of Britlingthon. His writings were all very good jn their kind, being wrote exactly in the Ryle of Bacon , only more allegorical. As he was no pbyfician, he does not meddle with any thing of the preparations of that kind ; but treats much of the cure of metals, which in his language is the purification and maturation thereof. He rigoroufly purfued Geber s and Bacon's principles, and maintained, for inftance, with new evidence, that mercury is the univerfal matter of all metals ; that this fet over the fire, with the pureft fulphur, will become gold, but that if either of them be fick or leprous, i. e. infedted with any impurity, inftead of gold, fome other metal will be produced. He adds, that as mercury and fulphur are fufficient for the making of all metals : fo of thefe may an univerfal medicine, or metal, be produced for curing of all the fick ; which fome miftakenly underftood of an univerfal metal, efficacious in all the difeafes of the human body.
and wrote on the dry topics of chymiftry. They lived in the 1 3th century, but this is not allured. The whole art of enamelling is their invention, as is alfo, that of colouring glafs , and precious Rones, by application of thin metal
JOHN, and ISAAC HOLLANDUS.
were two brothers, both of them of great parts and ingenuity.
plates.
JOHN AND ISAAC HOLLANPUS.
187
plates. Their writings are in the form of proceffes, and they defcribe all their operations to the moft minute circumftances. The treatife of enamelling is efteemed the greateft and moft finished part of their works : whatever relates to the fufion, feparation, and preparation of metals, is here delivered.. They write excellently of dijlillation , fermentation , putrefaction, and their effedts ; and feem to have underftood, at leaft, as much of thefe matters as any of the moderns have done. They furnifti a great many experiments on human blood ; which Van Helmont and Mr. Boyle have fince taken for new difcoveries. I have a very large work in folio, under their name, of the conftrudtion of chymical furnaces and inftruments. Their writings are as eafily purchafed, as they are worthy of perufal, on account of valuable fecrets in them, which may pave the way for greater difcoveries. See Boerhaave, p. 21.
Bba
PHILIPPUS
BIOGRAPHIA ANT I QUA*
1 88
PHILIPPUS AUREOLUS THEOPHRASTUS PARACELSUS BOMBAST DE HOENHEYM,
THE PRINCE OF PHYSICIANS AND PHILOSOPHERS BY FIRE GRAND PARADOXICAL PHYSICIAN;
THE TRISMEGISTUS OF SWITZERLAND;
FIRST REFORMER OF CHYMICAL PHILOSOPHY;
ADEPT IN ALCH YMY, CABALA, AND MAGIC ;
NATURE’S FAITHFUL SECRETARY;
MASTER OF THE ELIXIR OF LIFE AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE ;
A NET THE
GREAT MONARCH OF CHYMICAL SECRETS;
Njw living in his Tomb, whither he retired difgufted with the Vices and Follies of Mankind, fupporting
himfelf with his own
OUINTESSENTIA VIT.E.
pARACELSUS was born, as he himfelf writes, in the year 1494, in a vil- lage in Switzerland called Hoenheym (q. d. ab alto nidoj two miles diilant from Zurich. His father was a natural fon of a great mailer of the Teutonic order, and had been brought up to medicine, which he pradlifed accordingly in that obfcure corner. He was mailer of an excellent and copious library, and is faid to have become eminent in his art j fo that Paracelfus always fpeaks of him with the higheil deference, and calls him laudatijjimus medicus in eo vico Of fuch a father did Paracelfus receive his firil difcipline. After a little courfe of iludy at home he was committed to the care of Trithemius , the ce- lebrated abbot of Spanheim, who had the character of an adept himfelf, and wrote of the Cabala , being at that time a reputed magician. Here he chiefly learnt languages and letters ; after which he was removed to Sigifmund Fugger to learn medicine, furgery, and chymiilry ; all thefe mailers, efpecially
the
PHILTPPUS AUREOEUS THEOPHRASTUS PAR A^ELSUS. I %
the la ft, Paracelfus , ever fpeaks of with great veneration ; fo that he was not altogether fo rude and unpoliihed as is generally imagined. Thus much we learn from his own writings, and efpecially the preface to his Leflfer Surgery,., where he defends himfelf againft his accufers. At twenty years of age he undertook a journey through Germany and Hungary , vifiting all the mines of principal note, arid contracting an acquaintance with the miners and work- men, by which means he learnt every thing relative to metals, and the art thereof : in this enquiry he {hewed an uncommon affiduity and refolution. He gives us an account of the many dangers he had run from earthquakes, falls of {tones, floods of water, cataracts, exhalations, damps, heat,, hunger, and third; j and every where takes occafion to inlift on the value of an art acquired on fueh hard terms. The fame inclination carried him as far as Mufcovy , where as he was in quelt of mines near the frontiers of Tartary he was taken priloner by that people, and carried before the great Cham ; during his cap- tivity there he learnt various fecrets, till, upon the Cham’s fending an em- bafly to the Grand Signior, with his own fon at the head of it, Paracelfus was font along with him in quality of companion. On this occafion he came to CanJlantiijople in the twenty-eighth year of his age, and was there taught the fecret of the philofophePs Jlone by a generous Arabian , who made him this noble prefent, as he palls it, Azoth . This incident we have from Helmont only; for Paracelfus himfelf, who is ample enough on his other travels, fays nothing of his captivity. At his return from Turkey he pradlifed as a furgeon in- the Imperial army, and performed many excellent cures therein ; indeed, it cannot be denied but that he was excellent in that art, of which his great fur- gery , printed in folio, will ever be a {landing monument. At his return to his native country he aflumed the title of utriufque medicines do Bor, or dodtor both of external and internal medicine or furgery ; and grew famous in both, performing fir beyond what the practice of that time could pretend to and no wonder, for medicine was then in a poor condition the practice and the very language was all Galenical and Arabic ; nothing was -inculcated but Arifotle , Galen , andthe^r^r; Hippocrates was not read ; nay, there was no edition of his writings, and fcar.ce was he ever mentioned. Their theory
confided
1 90
I
BIOGRAPHIA ANTIQUA.
1
confiftcd in the knowledge of the four degrees, the temperaments, &c. and their whole practice was confined to venefedlion, purgation, vomiting, clyf- mata, &c. Now, in this age a new difeafe had broke out, and fpread itfelf over Europe , viz. the venereal diforder ; the common Galenic medicines had here proved altogether ineffectual ; bleeding, purging, and cleanfing medicines were vain ; and the phyficians were at their wit’s end. Jac Carpus , a cele- brated anatomift and furgeon at Bologne , had alone been mafter of the cure, which was by mercury adminiftered to raife a falivation ; he had attained this fecret in his travels through Spain and Italy, and pradtifed it for fome years, and with fuch fuccefs and applaufe, that it is incredible what immenfe riches this one nojlrum brought him (it is faid upon good authority, that in one year he cleared fix thoufand piftoles) he acknowledged himfelf, that he did not know the end of his own wealth ; for the captains, merchants, governors, commanders, &c. who had brought that filthy difeafe from America, were very well content to give him what fums he pleafed to alk to free them from it. — Paracelfus about this time having likewife learnt the properties of mercury, and moft likely from Carpus, who undertook the fame cure but in a very different manner ; for whereas Carpus did all by falivation — Paracelfus making up his preparation in pills attained his ends in a gentler manner. By this he informs us he cured the itch, leprofy, ulcers, Naples difeafe, and even gout, all which diforders were incurable on the foot of popular practice, and thus was the great bafis laid for all his future fame and fortune.
Paracelfus , thus furnilhed with arts, and arrived at a degree of eminence beyond any of his brothers in the profelfion, was invited by the curators of the univerfity of Bazil to the chair of profeffor of medicine and philofophy in that univerfity. The art of printing was now a new thing, the tafte for learning and arts was warm *, and the magiftracy of Bazil were very induf-
* We feel oorfelves happy in being able to fay, that the taftc for learning and arts (notwithftanding the follies of the age) was never more prevalent than in the prefent time ; the year 1801 commences an age of flourifliing fcience, in which even our females feem to wifh to bear a part — inftance, a lady of quality, who went in her carriage the other day to Fofter-lanc, Cheapfide, and bought a portable blackfmith’s forge for her private amufement ; her perfon was ftrong and athletic, and very fit for the manual praftice of handling iron, and working other metallic experiments.
trious
PHILIPPUS AUREOLUS THEOPHRASTUS PARACELSUS. I 9 1
trious in procuring profeftors of reputation from all parts of the world. They had already got Dejid . Erafmus, profeflor of theology, and J. Oporinus profeflor of the Greek tongue ; and now in 1527 Puracelfus was aflbciated in the 33d year of his age. Upon his firft entrance into that province, having to make a public fpeech before the univerfity, he ported up a very elegant ad vertife- xnent over the doors inviting every body to his dodtrine. At his firft ledlure he ordered a brafs veflei to be brought into the middle of the fchool, where after he had cart in fulphur and nitre, in a very folemn manner he burnt the books of Galen and Avicenna y alledging that he had held a difpute with them in the gates of hell, and had fairly routed and overcome them. And hence he proclaimed, that the phyficians Ihould all follow him ; and no longer ftyle themfelves Galenijls, but Paraceljijls. — cap has more learning in it than ail your heads, my beard has more experience than your whole academies : Greeks,. Latins, French, Germans, Italians, I will be your king.”
While he was here profeftor he read his book De Tar taro, de Gradibus, and De Compojitiombus , in public ledtures, to which he added a commentary on the book De Gradibus ; all thefe he afterwards printed at Bazil for the ufe of his difciples ; lo that thefe muft be allowed for genuine writings; about the fame time he wrote De Calculo, which performance Helmont fpeaks of with high approbation.
Notwithstanding his being profefior in fo learned an univerfity, he un- derftood but a very little Latin y his long travels, and application to bufinefs, and difufe of the language, had very much difcjualified him for writing or fpeaking therein ; and his natural warmth rendered, him very un- fit for teaching at all. Hence, though his auditors and difciples were at firft very numerous, yet they very much fell off, and left him preaching to the walls..
- — In the mean time he abandoned himfelf to drinking at certain feafons y Oporinusy who, was always near him, has, the good nature to fay, he was never fober ; but that he tippled on from morning to night, and from night to morn- ing, in a continual round. At length he foon. became weary of his profeftor- fhip, and after three years continuance therein relinquifhed it, faying, that
no
1 92
BIOGRAPHIA ANTIQUA.
no language befides the German was proper to reveal the fecrets of chymiftry in.
After this he again betook himfelf to an itinerant life, travelling and drink- ing, and living altogether at inns and taverns, continually flufhed with liquor, and yet working many admirable cures in his way. In this manner he paffed four years from the 43d to the 47th year of his life, when he died at an inn at Saltzburg, at the fign of the White Horfe, on a bench in the chimney- corner. Oporinus relates, that after he had put on any new thing, it never came off his back till he had worn it into rags j he adds, that notwithftanding his excefs in point of drinking, he was never addidted to venery. — But there is this reafon for it : when he was a child, being negledted by his nurfe, a hag gelded him in a place where three ways met, and fo made a eunuch of him ; accordingly in his writings he omits no opportunity of railing againft women. — Such is the life of Paracelfus ; fuch is the immortal man, who fick of life retired into a corner of the world, and there fupports himfelf with his own Quinte fence of Life.
In his life time he only publifhed three or four books, but after his death he grew prodigioufly voluminous, fcarce a year paffing but one book or other was publifhed under his name, faid to be found in fome old wall, ceiling, or the like. All the works publifhed under his name were printed together at Scrajburg in the year 1603, in three volumes foIiot and again in 1616. J. Opo- rinusy that excellent profeffor and printer, before named, who conftantly at- tended Paracelfus for three years as his menial fervant, in hopes of learning fome of his fecrets, who publifhed the works of Vefalius , and is fuppofed to have put them in that elegant language wherein they now appear : this Opo- rinus; in an epiflle to Monavius concerning the life of Paracelfus , profefies himfelf furprized to find fo many works of his matter , for, that in all the time he was with him he never wrote a word himfelf, nor ever took pen in
j
hand, but forced Oporinus to write what he dictated ; and Oporinus wondered much, how fuch coherent words and difcourfe which might even become the wifeft perfons, fhould come from the mouth of a drunken man. His work
called
\
FHILIPPUS AUItEOLUS THEOPHRASTUS PARACELSUS. 1 93
called Archidoxa Medicines., as containing, the principles and maxims of the art, nine books of which were published at firft ; and the author in the pro- legomena to them, fpeaks thus I intended, to have publifhed my ten books of st Archidoxa but finding mankind unworthy of. finch a treafiure as the tenth , “ I keep it clofie in my occiput, and have firmly refiolved never to bring it thence “ till you have all abjured Aristotle, Avicen, and Galen, and have fiworn “ allegiance to. Par acelsus. alone.”
However, the book did at length get abroad, though by what means is not known it is undoubtedly an excellent 7 piece, and may be ranked among the principal productions in the way of chymiftry, that have ever appeared ; whe- ther or no it be Paracelfus's we cannot affirm, but there is one thing fpeaks in its behalf, viz. it contains a great many things which have fince been trumped up for great nofirums", and Pan Helmont's Lithonthriptic and Alcaheft are apparently taken from hence ; among the genuine writings of Paracelfius • are like wife reckoned, that De Ortu Rerum Naturalium, De Transformations Rerum Naturalium, and De Pita Rerum Naturalium . The reft are fpurious or very doubtful, particularly his theological works.
The great fame and fuccefs of this man, which many attribute to hia pofieffing an univerfial medicine may be accounted, for from other principles. It is certain he was well acquainted with the ufe and virtue of opium , which the Galenifis of thofe times all rejected as cold in the fourth degree., Oporinus relates, that he made up certain little pills of the colour, figure, and fize of moufe-turds, which were nothing but opium. Thefe he called by a barbarous fort of name, his laudanum q.d. laudable medicine ; he always carried them with him, and prefcribed them in dyffenteries, and all cafes attended with intenfe pains, anxieties, deliriums, and obftinate wakings ; but to be alone pofiefied of the ufe of fo extraordinary and noble a medicament as opium , was fufficient to make him famous.
Another grand remedy with Paracelfus was turbith mineral', this is firft mentioned in his Clein Spital Boeck , or Cbirurgia Minor , where he gives the preparation. — In refpedt of the philofopher’s ftone Oporinus fays, he often wondered to fee him one day without a farthing in his pocket, and the next
194
BIOGRAPHIA ANTIQUA.
day, full of money ; that he took nothing with him when he went abroad. He adds, that he would often borrow money of his companions, the carmen and porters, and pay it again in twenty-four hours with extravagant intereft, and yet from what fund nobody but himfelf knew. In the Theatrum Alchemic? he mentions a treafure, hid under a certain tree; and from fuch like grounds they fuppofed him to poifefs the art of making gold ; but it was hard if fuch noble noftrums as he polfeffed would not fubfift him without the lapis phdofophorum .
JOHN RUDOLPH GLAUBER.
J R. GLAUBER, a celebrated chymift of Amjlerdam , accounted the Para -> celfus of his time : he had travelled much and by that means attained to a great many fecrets. He wrote above thirty tradts, in fome of which he adted the phyfician ; in others, the adept ; and in others, the metal-lift. He principally excelled in the laft capacity, and alchymy.
He was a perfon of eafy and genteel addrefs, and, beyond difpute, well verfed in chymiftry : being author of the fait, ftill ufed in the (hops, called Sal Glauberi ; as alfo of all the falts, by oil of vitriol, &c. He is noted for extolling his arcanae and preparations, and is reported to have traded unfairly with his fecrets : the belt of them he would fell, at exceffive rates, to chymifts and others, and would afterwards re-fell them, or make them public, to increafe his fame ; whence he was continually at variance with them.
The principal of his writings are De Furnist and De Metallis , which, though wrote in Dutch , have been tranflated into Latin and Englijh. It was Glauber who fhewed, before the States of Holland , that there is gold contained in fand ; and made an experiment thereof to their entire fatisfadtion : but fo
much
DOCTOR DEE, AND SIR EDWARD KELLY.
195
much lead, fire, and labour, being employed in procuring it, that the art would not pay charges However he plainly demonflrated, that there is no earth, fand* fulphur, or fait, or other matter, but what contains gold in a greater or lefs quantity. In fhort, he pofTefled a great many fecrets, which are - at this time in the hands of fome of our modern chymifls.
DOCTOR. DEE, and SIR EDWARD KELLY,
jpOCTOR JOHN DEE, and SIR EDWARD KELLY, knight, being profeffed affociates, their ftory is belt delivered together. They have fome title to the philofopher’s flone in common fame Dee, befides his being deep in chymiftry, was very well verfed in mathematics, particularly geometry and aftrology : but Sir Edward Kelly appears to have been the leading man in alchymy. In fome of Dee’s books are found fhort memoirs of the events of his operations : as , Donum Dei, five ounces. And in another place, " This day Edward Kelly difcovered the grand fecret to me. Jit nomen Domini henediSlum AJhmole fays, abfolutely, they were mafters of the powder of projection, and, with a piece not bigger than the fmallefl grain of land, turned an ounce and a quarter of mercury into pure gold : - but here is an equivoque ; for granting them pofleffed of the powder of projection, it does not appear they had the fecret of making it. The ftory is, that they found a confiderable quantity of it in the ruins of Glajlonbury Abbey, with which they performed many notable tranfmutations -for the fatisfaCtion of feveral perfons. Kelly, in particular, is faid to have given away rings of gold wire to the tune of 4000I. at the
* It has been afferted by feveral eminent chymifts, that it might be performed to advantage, as the procefsi s very limple, and takes up but little time : all that is reqttilite is lilver, fand, and litharge.
> G c 2 marriage
196 BIOGRAPHIA ANTI QUA*
marriage of his fervant maid. And a piece of a brafs warming-pan being cut out by order of queen Elizabeth , and fent to them when abroad, was returned pure gold. Likewife Dee made a prefent to the landgrave of Heffe of twelve Hungarian horfes, which could never be expedited from a man of his circum- ftances without fome extraordinary means.
In the year 1591 they went into Germany , and fettled fome time at Drebona, in Bohemia ; the defign of which journey is ve.ry myfterious. Some fay their defign was to vifit the alchymifts of thefe countries, in order to get fome light into the art of making the powder. Accordingly they travelled through Poland , &c. in quell: thereof, and, fome fay, attained it; others fay, not. Others, again, will make them fent by the queen as fpies, and that alchymy was only a pretence, or means, to bring them into confidence with the people. But what will give moll light upon this fubjedt, is a book, now extant, wrote by Dee, entitled Dee's Conferences with Spirits, but fome conjedlure it to be with Trithemius's mere Cryptography ; which light Dodtor Hook takes it in. However, this book is truly curious in refpedl of the many magical operations there difplayed, it being wrote journal-fa lb ion by the Doctor’s own hand, and relates circumflantially the conferences he held with fome fpirits (either good or bad) in company with Sir Edward Kelly.
They were no fooner gone out of England, than Dee's library was opened by the queen’s order, and 4000 books, and 700 choice manufcripts, were taken away on pretence of his being a conjuror. That princefs loon after ufed means to bring him back again, which a quarrel with Kelly happening to promote, he returned in 1596, and in 1598 was made warden of Manchefer college, where he died*.
Some very curious manufcripts, with the chryfial he ufed to invoke the fpirits into, are at this time carefully laid up in the Britijh Mufeum\.
* Authors differ very much in refpecf of the place where Do&or Dee refigned his life : it appears from the molt eminent hiftorians that he died at his hottfe at Mortlake.
■f Although Dee's manufci ipts, and his Magic Chryfial, are to be feen at the Mufeum, there arc fix or fcven individuals in London who aflcrt they have the fione in their pofleffion ; thereby wifhing to deceive the credulous, and to tempt them to a purehafe at an enormous price.
As
THE CONCLUSION.
197
As for Sir Edward Kelly , the Emperor, fufpeCting he had the fecret of the philofophers in his poffeflion, clapped him up in prifon, in hopes to become a fharer in the profits of tranfmutation : however, Kelly defeated his intentions. After having been twice imprifoned, the laft time he was fhut up endeavouring to make his efcape by means of the fheets of his bed tied together, they happened to flip the knots, and fo let him fall, by which he broke his leg, and foon after loft his life.
THE CONCLUSION.
Having collected the molt interefting and curious accounts of the lives of thofe great men, fo famous for their fpeculations in philofophic learning, we draw to a conclufion ; having only to add, that we have fufficiently difcovered in this biographical fketch whatfoever was neceflary to prove the authenticity of Our Art , which we have delivered faithfully and impartially, noting, at the fame time, the various opinions of different men at different ages* likewife, we have taken fufficient trouble to explain what is meant by the word Magic , and to clear up the term from the imputation of any diabolical affociation with evil fpirits, &c. Alfo, how nearly it is allied to our religious duties, we refer the reader to the annotations under the article Zoroajler , where we have fpoke of the Magi, or wife men, proving the firft who adored Chrift were actually magicians. It is enough that we have fpoke of the principal characters renowned in pad ages for their laborious inquifition into the labyrinth of occult and natural philofophy ; there are many other philofophers {landing upon ancient and modem record. A copious and general biography falls not within the limits of our work. We have introduced fome characters (applica- ble to the fubjeCt before us) mofl diftinguifhed for occult learning; of which kind of fcience, whether by a particular influence of planetary configuration, which may have directed and impelled my mind and intellects to the obferva- tion and fludy of nature, and her Ample operations, as well as to the more occult,
I leave to the judgment of the aftrologers, to whofe infpeCtion I fubmit a figure *
of
iq8
THE CONCLUSION.
of my nativity, which I {hall annex to a fketch of my own hiftory, which I' mean to make the fubjed of a future publication, including a vaft number of curious experiments in occult and chymical operations, which have fell either, under my own obfervation, or have been tranfmitted to me from others. In? refped of the aftrologic art, (as we have already obferved) it has fuch an affinity with talifmanic experiments, &c. that no one can bring any work to a complete effed without a due knowledge and obfervation of the qualities and effeds of the conftellations (which occafioned us to give it the title of the Con- ftellatory Art ;) likewife, a man muft be well acquainted with the nature, qualities, and effeds, of the four elements, and of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; which knowledge cannot better be obtained than by chymical experience, for it does, as I may fay, unlock the fecret chambers of nature, and introduces the ftudent into a world of knowledge, which could not be attained but by chymical analyzation, whereby we decompound mixt bodies, and reduce them to their fimple natures, and comd to a thorough' acquaintance with thofe powerful and adive principles, caufing the wonderful tranfmutations of one compound body into another of a different fpecies, as is to be feen in the courfe of our operations upon falts and metals, giving us clear, and comprehenfive ideas of the principles of life or generation, and putrefadion : or death.
Finally, to conclude, we are chiefly to confider one thing to be attained as the ground of perfedion in the reft : /. e. The great Firft Caufe , the Eternal JViJdom , to know the Creator by the contemplation of the creature. This is the grand fecret of the philofophers, and the mafter-key to all fciences both human and divine, for without this we are ftill wandering in a labyrinth of per- plexity and errors, of darknefs and obfcurity : for this is the fum and perfedion of all learning, to live in the fear of God, and in love and charity with all men.
FINIS-
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