Whether Witches can
Sway the Minds of Men to Love or Hatred.
It
is asked whether devils, through the medium of witches,
can change or incite the minds of men to inordinate love
or hatred; and it is argued that, following the previous
conclusions, they cannot do so. For there are three
things in man: will, understanding, and body. The first
is ruled by God (for, The heart of the king is in the
hand of the Lord); the second is enlightened by an
Angel; and the body is governed by the motions of the
stars. And as the devils cannot effect changes in the
body, even less have they power to incite love or hatred
in the soul. The consequence is clear; that though they
have more power over things corporeal than over things
spiritual, they cannot change even the body, as has been
often proved. For they cannot induce any substantial or
accidental form, except is as it were their artificer.
In this connexion is quoted what has been said before;
that whoever believes that any creature can be changed
for the better or worse or transformed into another kind
or likeness, except by the Creator of all things, is
worse than a pagan and a heretic.
Besides,
everything that acts with design knows its own effect.
If, therefore, the devil could change the minds of men
to hatred or love, he would also be able to see the
inner thoughts of the heart; but this is contrary to
what is said in the Book of Ecclesiastic Dogma: The
devil cannot see our inner thoughts. And again in the
same place: Not all our evil thoughts are from the
devil, but sometimes they arise from our own choice.
Besides, love
and hatred are a matter of the will, which is rooted in
the soul; therefore they cannot by any cunning be caused
by the devil. The conclusion holds that He alone (as S.
Augustine says) is able to enter into the soul, Who
created it.
Besides, it
is not valid to argue that because he can influence the
inner emotions, therefore he can govern the will. For
the emotions are stronger than physical strength; and
the devil can effect nothing in a physical way, such as
the formation of flesh and blood; therefore he can
effect nothing through the emotions.
But
against this. The devil is said to tempt men not
only visibly but also invisibly; but this would not be
true unless he were able to exert some influence over
the inner mind. Besides, S. John Damascene says: All
evil and all filthiness is devised by the devil. And
Dionysius, de Divin. Nom. IV: The multitude of
devils is the cause of all evil, etc.
Answer.
First, one sort of cause is to be distinguished from
another: secondly, we shall show how the devil can
affect the inner powers of the mind, that is the
emotions; and thirdly, we shall draw the fit conclusion.
And as to the first, it is to be considered that the
cause of anything can be understood in two ways; either
as direct, or as indirect. For when something cause a
disposition to some effect, it is said to be an
occasional and indirect cause of that effect. In this
way it may be said that he who chops wood is the cause
of the actual fire. And similarly we may say that the
devil is the cause of all our sins; for he incited the
first man to sin, from whose sin it has been handed down
to the whole human race to have an inclination towards
sin. And in this way are to be understood the words of
S. John Damascene and Dionysius.
But a direct
cause is one that directly causes an effect; and in this
sense the devil is not the cause of all sin. For all
sins are not committed at the instigation of the devil,
but some are of our own choosing. For Origen says: Even
if the devil were not, men would still lust after food
and venery and such things. And from these inordinate
lusts much may result, unless such appetites be
reasonably restrained. But to restrain such ungoverned
desire is the part of man's free-will, over which even
the devil has no power.
And because
this distinction is not sufficient to explain how the
devil at times produces a frantic infatuation of love,
it is further to be noted that though he cannot cause
that inordinate love by directly compelling a man's
will, yet he can do so by means of persuasion. And this
again in two ways, either visibly or invisibly. Visibly,
when he appears to witches in the form of a man, and
speaks to them materially, persuading them to sin. So he
tempted our first parents in Paradise in the form of a
serpent; and so he tempted Christ in the wilderness,
appearing to Him in visible form.
But it is not
to be thought that this is the only way he influences a
man; for in that case no sin would proceed from the
devil's instruction, except such as were suggested by
him in visible form. Therefore it must be said that even
invisibly he instigates man to sin. And this he does in
two ways, either by persuasion or by disposition. By
persuasion, he presents something to the understanding
as being a good thing. And this he can do in three ways;
for he presents it either to the intellect, or to the
inner perceptions, or to the outer. And as for the
intellect; the human intellect can be helped by a good
Angel to understand a thing by means of enlightenment,
as Dionysius says; and to understand a thing, according
to Aristotle, is to suffer something: therefore the
devil can impress some form upon the intellect, by which
the act of understanding is called forth.
And it may be
argued that the devil can do this by his natural power,
which is not, as had been shown, diminished. It is to
be said, however, that he cannot do this by means of
enlightenment, but by persuasion. For the intellect of
man is of that condition that, the more it is
enlightened, the more it knows the truth, and the more
it can defend itself from deception. And because the
devil intends his deception to be permanent, therefore
no persuasion that he uses can be called enlightenment:
although it may be called revelation, in that when he
invisibly uses persuasion, by means of some impression
he plants something on the inner or outer sense. And by
this the reasoning intellect is persuaded to perform
some action.
But as to how
he is enabled to create an impression on the inner
sense, it is to be noted that the bodily nature
is naturally born to be moved locally by the spiritual;
which is clear from the case of our own bodies, which
are moved by souls; and the same is the case with the
stars. But it is not by nature adapted to be directly
subject to influences, by which we mean outside
influences, not those with which it is informed.
Wherefore the concurrence of some bodily agent is
necessary, as is proved in the 7th book of the Metaphysics.
Corporeal matter naturally obeys a good or bad angel as
to the local motion; and it is due to this that devils
can through motion collect semen, and employ it for the
production of wonderful results. This was how it
happened that Pharao's magicians produced serpents and
actual animals, when corresponding active and passive
agents were brought together. Therefore there is nothing
to prevent the devils from effecting anything that
appertains to the local motion of corporeal matter,
unless God prevent it.
And now let
us examine how the devil can through local motion excite
the fancy and inner sensory perceptions of a man by
apparitions and impulsive actions. It is to be noted
that Aristotle (De Somno et Uigilia) assigns the
cause of apparitions in dreams through local motion to
the fact that, when an animal sleeps the blood flows to
the inmost seat of the senses, from which descend
motions or impressions which remain from past
impressions preserved in the mind or inner perception;
and these are Fancy or Imagination, which are the same
thing according to S. Thomas, as will be shown.
For fancy or
imagination is as it were the treasury of ideas received
through the senses. And through this it happens that
devils stir up the inner perceptions, that is the power
of conserving images, that they appear to be a new
impression at that moment received from exterior things.
It is true
that all do not agree to this; but if anyone wishes to
occupy himself with this question, he must consider the
number and the office of the inner perceptions.
According to Avicenna, in his book On the Mind,
these are five: namely, Common Sense, Fancy,
Imagination, Thought, and Memory. But S. Thomas, in the
First Part of Question 79, says that they are only four,
since Fancy and Imagination are the same thing. For fear
of prolixity I omit much more that has variously been
said on this subject.
Only this
must be said; that fancy is the treasury of ideas, but
memory appears to be something different. For fancy is
the treasury or repository of ideas received through the
senses; but memory is the treasury of instincts, which
are not received through the senses. For when a man sees
a wolf, he runs away, not because of its ugly colour or
appearance, which are ideas received through the outer
senses and conserved in his fancy; but he runs away
because the wolf is his natural enemy. And this he knows
through some instinct or fear, which is apart from
thought, which recognized the wolf as hostile, but a dog
as friendly. But the repository of those instincts is
memory. And reception and retention are two different
things in animal nature; for those who are of a humid
disposition receive readily, but retain badly; and the
contrary is the case of those with a dry humour.
To return to
the question. The apparitions that come in dreams to
sleepers proceed from the ideas retained in the
repository of their mind, through a natural local motion
caused by the flow of blood to the first and inmost seat
of their faculties of perception; and we speak of an
instrinsic local motion in the head and the cells of the
brain.
And this can
also happen through a similar local motion created by
devils. Also such things happen not only to the
sleeping, but even to those who are awake. For in these
also the devils can stir up and excite the inner
perceptions and humours, so that ideas retained in the
repositories of their minds are drawn out and made
apparent to the faculties of fancy and imagination, so
that such men imagine these things to be true. And this
is called interior temptation.
And it is no
wonder that the devil can do this by his own natural
power; since any man by himself, being awake and having
the use of his reason, can voluntarily draw from his
repositories the images he has retained in them; in such
a way that he can summon to himself the images of
whatsoever things he pleases. And this being granted, it
is easy to understand the matter of excessive
infatuation in love.
Now there are
two ways in which devils can, as has been said, raise up
this kind of images. Sometimes they work without
enchaining the human reason, as has been said in the
matter of temptation, and the example of voluntary
imagination. But sometimes the use of reason is entirely
chained up; and this may be exemplified by certain
naturally defective persons, and by madmen and
drunkards. Therefore it is no wonder that devils can,
with God's permission, chain up the reason; and such men
are called delirious, because their senses have been
snatched away by the devil. And this they do in two
ways, either with or without the help of witches. For
Aristotle, in the work we have quoted, says that anyone
who lives in passion is moved by only a little thing, as
a lover by the remotest likeness of his love, and
similarly with one who feels hatred. Therefore devils,
who have learned from men's acts to which passions they
are chiefly subject, incite them to this sort of
inordinate love or hatred, impressing their purpose on
men's imagination the more strongly and effectively, as
they can do so the more easily. And this is the more
easy for a lover to summon up the image of his love from
his memory, and retain it pleasurably in his thoughts.
But they work
by witchcraft when they do these things through and at
the instance of witches, by reason of a pact entered
into with them. But it is not possible to treat of such
matters in detail, on account of the great number of
instances both among the clergy and among the laity. For
how many adulterers have put away the most beautiful
wives to lust after the vilest of women!
We know of an
old woman who, according to the common account of the
brothers in that monastery even up to this day, in this
manner not only bewitched three successive Abbots, but
even killed them, and in the same way drove the fourth
out of his mind. For she herself publicly confessed it,
and does not fear to say: I did so and I do so, and they
are not able to keep from loving me because they have
eaten so much of my dung - measuring off a certain
length on her arm. I confess, moreover, that since we
had no case to prosecute her or bring her to trial, she
survives to this day.
It will be
remembered that it was said that the devil invisibly
lures a man to sin, not only by means of persuasion, as
has been said, but also by the means of disposition.
Although this is not very pertinent, yet be it said that
by a similar admonition of the disposition and humours
of men, he renders some more disposed to anger, or
concupiscence, or other passions. For it is manifest
that a man who has a body so disposed is more prone to
concupiscence and anger and such passions; and when they
are aroused, he is more apt to surrender to them. But
because it is difficult to quote precedents, therefore
an easier method must be found of declaring them for the
admonition of the people. And in the Second Part of this
book we treat of the remedies by which men so bewitched
can be set free.
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