“A.V.” Ham. Lenglet du Fresnoy in his History of the Hermetic Philosophy repeats an old tradition: “Most alchemists pretended that Cham, or Chem, the son of Noe, was an adept in the art, and thought it highly probable that the words ‘Chemistry’ and ‘Alchemy’ are both derived from his name.” Lactantius, De Origine Erroris, II, says of the descendants of Cham: “Omnium primi qui Aegyptum occupauerunt; caelestia suspicere, atque adorare coeperunt.”
Réalité de la Magie et des Apparitions, Paris, 1819 (pp. XII–XIII), has: “Le monde, purgé par le déluge, fut repeuplé par les trois fils de Noé. Sem et Japhet imitèrent la vertu de leur père, et furent justes comme lui. Cham, au contraire, donna entrée au démon dans son coeur, remit au jour l’art exécrable de la magie, en composa les règles, et en instruisit son fils Misraim.
“Cent trente ans après le déluge, Sem habitait la Perse. Ses enfans pratiguaient la religion naturelle, que Dieu mit dans le coeur du premier homme; et leurs vieillards se nommaient mages, qui veut dire ‘sages’ en notre langue. Dans la suite, les descendans de Cham se partagèrent, et quelques-uns passèrent en Perse; Cham, qui vivait encore, était à leur tête. Il opéra tant de prodiges par ses charmes et ses enchantements, que les Bactriens lui donnèrent le nom de Zoroastre, c’est-à-dire, ‘astre vivant’; et transportèrent à ceux de sa secte le nom honorable de ‘mages,’ que les adorateurs du vrai Dieu abandonnèrent, dès qui’ils le virent ainsi profané: et c’est de là que nous est venu le nom de ‘magie,’ pour signifier le culte du démon.
“Cham, ou Zoroastre, fut encore l’inventeur de l’astrologie judiciaire; il regarda les astres comme autant de divinités, et persuada aux hommes que tout leur destin dépendait de leurs bonnes ou mauvaises influences. Ainsi l’on commença à leur rendre un culte religieux, qui fut l’origine de l’idolâtrie. La Chaldée fut le premier théâtre de ces égaremens; et alors, ‘Chaldéen, astrologue et magicien’ étaient trois mots synonymes.” ↩
S. Augustine, De Ciuitate Dei, XVI, 3, quotes: “Chus autem genuit Nebroth; hic coepit esse gigans super terram. Hic erat gigans uenator contra Dominum Deum.” Nebroth is the English Nimrod, who was considered a past master of magic, and even by later ages a demon. So we have: “Nembroth. Un des esprits que les magiciens consultent. Le mardi lui est consacré, et on l’évoque ce jour-là: il faut, pour le renvoyer, lui jeter une pierre; ce qui est facile.” Collin de Plancy (Dictionnaire Infernal,” sixième édition, 1863). ↩
In Ireland it was supposed that certain witches could cast a spell at a glance, and they were commonly called “eye-biting witches.” ↩
This is one of the smaller treatises connected with Aristotle’s great work On the Soul, περὶ ψυχῆς. ↩
Psalm 51:8: Uidebunt iusti et timebunt. ↩
For a very full discussion of the whole subject see Sinistrari’s Demoniality with my Commentary and glosses, Fortune Press, 1927. ↩
A series of famous writings attributed to S. Dionysius the Areopagite (Acts 17:34), who was also popularly identified with the Martyr of Gaul, the first Bishop of Paris. The writings themselves form a collection of four treatises and ten letters. These will all be found in Migne, Patres Graeci, III. The treatises are generally referred to under their Latin names, “De Diuinis nominibus”; “Caelestis hierarchia”; “Ecclesiastica hierarchia”; “Theologia mystica.” The main source from which the Middle Ages obtained a knowledge of Dionysius and his doctrine was undoubtedly the Latin translation by Scotus Eriugena, made about 858. There are ample commentaries by many great writers such as Hugh of Saint-Victor, Blessed Albertus Magnus, S. Thomas, and Denys the Carthusian. The works of Dionysius the Aeropagite and the identification of this writer with S. Denys were accepted by Saints and Schoolmen, and perhaps we should do well to follow them without curious questions and impertinent discussion. ↩
See my gloss upon this passage, Demoniality, Introduction, XXVI–XXVIII. ↩
Nider, Formicarius, IX, writes: “Incubi dicuntur ab incumbendo, hoc est struprando.” ↩
De Ciuitate Dei, XV, 23, where S. Augustine has: “Et quosdam daemones, quos Dusios Galli nuncupant, adsidue hanc immunditiam et tentare et efficere, plures talesque adseuerant, ut hoc negare impudentiae uideatur.” ↩
Jeremias 50:39, the desolation of Babylon, has: Propterea habitabunt dracones cum faunis ficariis: et habitabunt in ea struthiones: et non inhabitabitur ultra usque in sempiternum, nec exstruetur usque ad generationem, et generationem. Which Douay translates: “Therefore shall dragons dwell there with the fig fauns: and ostriches shall dwell therein, and it shall be no more inherited forever, neither shall it be built up from generation to generation.” The English gloss says: “ ‘Fig fauns.’ Monsters of the desert, or demons in monstrous shapes: such as the ancients called ‘fauns’ and ‘satyrs’: and as they imagined them to live upon wild figs, they called them ‘fauni ficarii’ or ‘fig fauns.’ ” Mirabeau, Erotika Biblion (pseudo-Rome), 1783, under “Béhémah” writes: “Les satyres, les faunes, les égypans, toutes ces fables en sont une tradition très remarquable. Satan
