Augustine, Saint, De diuinatione daemonum

Daemonum eam esse naturam, ut aerii corporis sensu terrenorum corporum sensum facile praecedant, celeritate etiam propter eiusdem aerii corporis superiorem mobilitatem non solum cursus quorumlibet hominum uel ferarum, uerum etiam uolatus auium inconparabiliter uincant. quibus duabus rebus, quantum ad aerium corpus attinet, praediti, hoc est acrimonia sensus et celeritate motus, multo ante cognita praenuntiant uel nuntiant, quae homines pro sensus terreni tarditate mirentur. accessit etiam daemonibus per tam longum tempus. quo eorum uita protenditur, rerum longe maior experientia, quam potest hominibus propter breuitatem uitae prouenire. per has efficacias, quas aerii corporis natura sortita est, non solum multa futura praedicunt daemones, uerum etiam multa mira faciunt. quae quoniam homines dicere ac facere non possunt, eos dignos quidam, quibus seruiant et quibus diuinos honores deferant, arbitrantur instigante maxime uitio curiositatis propter amorem felicitatis falsae atque terrenae excellentiae temporalis. qui autem se ab his cupiditatibus mundant nec eis se ferendos rapiendosque permittunt, sed inquirunt et amant aliquid, quod eodem modo semper est, cuius participatione beati sint, primum considerant non ideo sibi praeponendos esse daemones, quod acriore sensu corporis praeualent. aerii scilicet, hoc est subtilioris elementi, quia nec in ipsis terrenis corporibus bestias sibi praeponendas putant, quae acrius multa praesentiunt; uelut sagacem canem, quia latentem feram olfactu acerrimo sic inuenit, ut ad eam capiendam ducatum quendam homini praebeat, non utique prudentiore intellectu animi, sed acutiore corporis sensu; uel uulturem. quia proiecto cadauere ex inprouisa longinquitate aduolat: nec aquilam, quia sublimiter uolans de tanto interuallo natantem sub fluctibus piscem dicitur peruidere et grauiter aquis inlisa exertis pedibus atque unguibus rapere; nec alia multa animantium genera, quae inter herbas saluti suae noxias pascendo circumerrant nec aliquid earum, quo laedantur, adtingunt, cum eas homo uix experiendo cauere didicerit et multa innoxia, quod sint inexperta, formidet. unde conicere facile est, quanto possit in aeriis corporibus sensus esse acrior. nec ideo tamen daemones, qui eo praediti sunt, bonis hominibus praeponendos prudens quisque censuerit. hoc et de corporum celeritate dixerim. et hac enim praestantia non solum a uolucribus homines, uerum etiam a multis quadrupedibus ita superantur, ut in eorum conparatione plumbei deputandi sint; nec tamen ideo sibi haec animantium genera existimant praeponenda, quibus capiendis, mansuefaciendis atque in suae uoluntatis usum commodumque redigendis non ui corporis, sed rationis imperant.

The nature of demons is such that by the perception of their airy body they easily surpass the perception of earthly bodies, and in speed too, because of the superior mobility of that same airy body, they incomparably outdo not only the running of any men or wild beasts but even the flight of birds. Endowed with these two things as far as their airy body is concerned, that is, keenness of perception and speed of movement, they foretell or report things they have learned long beforehand, at which men marvel because of the slowness of earthly perception. Demons have also acquired, over the very long time through which their life extends, a far greater experience of things than can come to men because of the shortness of their life. Through these powers, which the nature of the airy body has been allotted, demons not only foretell many future things but also do many wonderful things. Since men cannot say and do these, some think the demons worthy to be served and to be paid divine honours, urged on above all by the vice of curiosity, out of love for a false happiness and an earthly, temporal eminence. But those who cleanse themselves of these desires and do not let themselves be carried and swept away by them, but seek and love something that is always the same, by sharing in which they may be blessed, consider first that demons are not to be set above themselves because they excel in keener bodily perception — of an airy body, that is, of a finer element — since even among earthly bodies they do not think that beasts, which sense many things beforehand more keenly, are to be set above themselves: for example the keen-scented dog, because with its very sharp sense of smell it finds a hidden wild animal in such a way as to give a man a kind of lead for capturing it — not, certainly, by a wiser understanding of mind, but by a sharper sense of body; or the vulture, because when a corpse has been thrown out it flies to it from an unexpected distance; nor the eagle, because, flying high, it is said to make out from so great a distance a fish swimming beneath the waves and, striking the water heavily, to seize it with feet and talons outstretched; nor many other kinds of animals which wander about grazing among plants harmful to their health and touch none of those that might hurt them, whereas man has scarcely learned by trial to avoid them, and fears many harmless ones because they are untried. From this it is easy to infer how much keener perception can be in airy bodies. Yet no prudent person would judge that demons, who are endowed with it, are for that reason to be set above good men. I would say the same about the speed of bodies. For in this advantage too men are surpassed not only by birds but also by many four-footed animals, so much so that compared with them they must be reckoned leaden; and yet they do not for that reason think that these kinds of animals are to be set above themselves, since they command them, in catching them, taming them and bringing them into the use and service of their own will, not by strength of body but by [strength] of reason.

Illam uero tertiam daemonum potentiam, quod diuturna rerum experientia quemadmodum praenoscant atque praenuntient multa didicerunt, ita contemnunt, qui haec uigilanter curant a uerissimae lucis ueritate discernere, ut nec malos senes plura expertos et ob hoc quasi doctiores ideo probi adulescentes sibi antecellere existiment nec medicos nec nautas nec agricolas,, quos prauae uoluntatis et iniquis moribus uiderint, ideo putent sibi esse praeferendos, quod illi de ualitudinibus, illi de tempestatibus, illi de arbustorum fructuumque generibus multa ita praenuntiant, ut harum rerum inexperto diuinare uideantur.

As for that third power of the demons — that by long experience of things they have learned how to foreknow and foretell many things — those who take vigilant care to distinguish these things from the truth of the truest light despise it, in the same way that upright young men do not think that wicked old men, who have experienced more and are for that reason supposedly more learned, surpass them on that account, nor think that doctors or sailors or farmers whom they have seen to be of depraved will and wicked character are to be preferred to themselves because the first foretell many things about states of health, the second about storms, the third about the kinds of trees and crops, in such a way that to one inexperienced in these matters they seem to divine.

Quod 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 foretell certain future things but also do certain wonders, owing of course to the very excellence of their body, why should this not be despised by the prudent, when many wicked and abandoned men so train their bodies and can do so much by various arts that those who do not know these things and have never seen them would scarcely believe them even when told? How many marvellous things have rope-walkers and other stage performers done, how many have craftsmen and above all engineers done? Are they therefore better than men who are good and endowed with holy piety? I have mentioned these things so that whoever considers them without obstinacy and without a vain passion for resisting may at the same time reflect: if certain men can do so much with the coarser matter that lies beneath them — whether each one's own body, or earth and water, stones and wood and various metals — that those who cannot do these things, gaping in amazement, often call them divine in comparison with themselves, though some of the former are more powerful in skills and some of the latter better in character, how much greater and more wonderful things demons can do through the capacity and ease of a most subtle body, that is, an airy one, even though by the depravity of their will, and above all by the arrogance of pride and the malice of envy, they are unclean and perverse spirits! But how much the element of air, in which their bodies excel, is capable of for invisibly contriving, moving, changing and turning many visible things would take long to demonstrate now, and I think it readily occurs to anyone who considers it even moderately.

Quae cum ita sint, primum sciendum est, quoniam de diuinatione daemonum quaestio est, illos ea plerumque praenuntiare, quae ipsi facturi sunt. 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. 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. aliquando autem non quae ipsi faciunt, sed quae naturalibus signis futura praenoscunt, quae signa in hominum sensus uenire non possunt, ante praedicunt. neque enim quia praeuidet medicus, quod non praeuidet eius artis ignarus, ideo iam diuinus habendus est. 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. 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.

Since this is so, it must first be understood, since the question is about the divination of demons, that for the most part they foretell the things that they themselves are going to do. For they often receive power both to send diseases and to make the air itself unhealthy by corrupting it, and to urge evil deeds on the perverse and on lovers of earthly advantages, of whose characters they are certain that they will consent when the demons urge such things on them. And they urge them in wondrous and invisible ways, through that subtlety of their bodies, penetrating the bodies of men who do not perceive it and mingling themselves with their thoughts through certain imaginary visions, whether the men are awake or asleep. Sometimes, however, they foretell not what they themselves do, but what they foreknow will happen by natural signs, signs which cannot come within reach of men's senses. For a doctor is not to be regarded as divine just because he foresees what someone ignorant of his art does not foresee. And what wonder is it if, just as he foresees future states of health, good or bad, in the disturbed or well-regulated balance of the human body, so a demon foresees future storms in the condition and arrangement of the air, known to him and unknown to us? Sometimes too they learn with complete ease the intentions of men, not only those uttered by the voice but also 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, of course, to others who did not know of these intentions. For just as a more agitated movement of the mind shows in the face, so that something that is going on within is recognised from outside even by men, so it should not be incredible if even gentler thoughts give some signs through the body which cannot be recognised by the dull perception of men, but can be by the sharp perception of demons.