§8Quod uero non solum quaedam daemones futura praedicunt, uerum etiam quaedam mira faciunt, pro ipsa utique sui corporis excellentia, cur non contemnatur a prudentibus, cum plerique iniqui ac perditi homines ita exerceant corpora sua tantaque diuersis artibus possint, ut ea qui haec nesciunt nec aliquando uiderunt, etiam narrata ut credant? quam multa funiambuli ceterique theatrici artifices, quam multa opifices maximeque mechanici miranda fecerunt? num ideo meliores sunt bonis et sancta pietate praeditis hominibus? quae ideo commemoraui, ut qui haec sine peruicacia et sine uana resistendi animositate considerat, simul cogitet, si de subiacenti crassiore materia uel sui quisque corporis uel terrae et aquae, lapidum atque lignorum metallorumque uariorum tanta quidam homines possunt, ut eos illi, qui haec non possunt, plerumque stupendo in sui comparatione diuinos uocent, cum quidam illorum sint artibus potentiores, quidam istorum moribus meliores. quanto maiora et mirabiliora pro subtilissimi corporis, hoc est aerii facultate ac facilitate daemones possint, cum tamen sint prauitate uoluntatis maximeque superbiae fastu et inuidentiae malitia spiritus inmundi atque peruersi! quantum autem ualeat aeris elementum, quo eorum corpora praeualent, ad multa uisibilia inuisibiliter molienda, mouenda, mutanda atque uersanda longum est nunc demonstrare et puto quod uel mediocriter consideranti facile occurrat.
But as for the fact that demons not only predict certain future things but also perform certain wonderful deeds, indeed in accordance with the very excellence of their body, why should it not be despised by the prudent, since many wicked and ruined men so exercise their bodies and can do such great things by various arts that those who do not know these things and have never seen them believe them even when they are only told? How many wonderful things have rope-walkers and other theatrical performers, how many have craftsmen and especially mechanicians performed? Are they therefore better than good men and those endowed with holy piety? I have mentioned these things so that whoever considers them without obstinacy and without empty animosity of resisting may at the same time think: if, from the underlying grosser matter, whether of each one's own body, or of earth and water, stones and wood, and various metals, certain men can do such great things that those who cannot do them, often marveling in comparison with themselves, call them divine—although some of the former are more powerful in arts, while some of the latter are better in morals—how much greater and more wonderful things can demons do by the capacity and facility of a very subtle body, that is, of an airy one, when nevertheless they are unclean and perverse spirits in the depravity of their will, and especially in the haughtiness of pride and the malice of envy! But how much the element of air, in which their bodies excel, is able to invisibly fashion, move, change, and turn many visible things, would be long to demonstrate now, and I think it easily occurs even to one who considers it moderately.
§9Quae cum ita sint, primum sciendum est, quoniam de diuinatione daemonum quaestio est, illos ea plerumque praenuntiare, quae ipsi facturi sunt.
Since these things are so, it must first be known, since the question is about the divination of demons, that they for the most part foretell those things which they themselves are going to do.
accipiunt enim saepe potestatem et morbos inmittere et ipsum aerem uitiando morbidum reddere et peruersis atque amatoribus terrenorum commodorum malefacta suadere, de quorum moribus certi sunt, quod sint eis talia suadentibus consensuri.
For they often receive the power both to send diseases and to make the air itself morbid by corrupting it, and to persuade wicked men and lovers of earthly conveniences to evil deeds, of whose morals they are certain that they will consent to them when they persuade such things.
suadent autem miris et inuisibilibus modis per illam subtilitatem corporum suorum corpora hominum non sentientium penetrando et se cogitationibus eorum per quaedam imaginaria uisa miscendo, siue uigilantium siue dormientium.
And they persuade in wonderful and invisible ways, by penetrating through that subtlety of their bodies into the bodies of men who do not perceive it, and by mingling themselves with their thoughts through certain imaginary visions, whether of those who are awake or of those who are asleep.
aliquando autem non quae ipsi faciunt, sed quae naturalibus signis futura praenoscunt, quae signa in hominum sensus uenire non possunt, ante praedicunt.
But sometimes they predict beforehand, not what they themselves do, but what they foreknow will happen by natural signs, which signs cannot come into the senses of men.
neque enim quia praeuidet medicus, quod non praeuidet eius artis ignarus, ideo iam diuinus habendus est.
For neither because a physician foresees what one ignorant of his art does not foresee, must he therefore already be considered divine.
quid autem mirum, si quemadmodum ille in corporis humani uel perturbata uel modificata temperie seu bonas seu malas futuras praeuidet ualitudines, sic daemon in aeris affectione atque ordinatione sibi nota, nobis ignota futuras praeuidet tempestates\'? aliquando et hominum dispositiones non solum uoce prolatas, uerum etiam cogitatione conceptas, cura signa quaedam ex animo exprimuntur in corpore, tota facilitate perdiscunt atque hinc etiam multa futura praenuntiant, aliis uidelicet mira, qui ista disposita non nouerunt.
But what wonder is it if, just as the former foresees in the disturbed or modified temperament of the human body either good or bad future health, so the demon foresees future storms in the state and disposition of the air, which is known to him but unknown to us? Sometimes they also learn with all facility the dispositions of men, not only those uttered by voice, but even those conceived in thought, when certain signs are expressed from the mind in the body, and from this they also foretell many future things, wonderful indeed to others who do not know these things that have been disposed.
sicut enim adparet concitatior animi motus in uultu, ut ab hominibus quoque aliquid forinsecus agnoscatur, quod intrinsecus agitur, ita non debet esse incredibile, si etiam leniores cogitationes dant aliqua signa per corpus, quae obtuso sensu hominum cognosci non possunt, acuto autem daemonum possunt.
For just as a more excited movement of the mind appears in the countenance, so that something of what is done within is recognized from without by men also, so it ought not to be incredible if even gentler thoughts give some signs through the body, which cannot be known by the dull sense of men, but can be by the sharp sense of demons.