Scotus Academicus, Tomus quartus: De Angelis

Note 1. From the Seraphic Doctor, in the second book, dist. 8, art. 1, qu. 2: that there is in the angels a twofold power, namely the Contemplative and the Administrative.

According to the Contemplative, he says, they are turned toward God, and thus they do not need the solace of an assumed body. According to the Administrative they descend to us and condescend to us, and in order to condescend to us more fittingly they need the solace of an assumed body. They need it, I say, 1. for exercising certain operations; 2. they need it for manifesting themselves; 3. they need it for gladdening or comforting us ourselves, and therefore they assume bodies as instruments, or organs for operating, as signs for manifesting, as coverings, or dwellings for conversing. Hence the assumed body is joined to them as instrument to mover, as sign to what is signified, as dwelling to inhabitant. Now this need on our part requires it more than their need does on their own: and because the end imposes necessity upon those things which are toward the end, and a body figured or organized with human figure especially befits the operations of a rational spirit, and signifies them more expressively, and in some way adorns them as a beautiful garment; therefore the angel assumes a body, not just any kind, but one marked with human figure.

Note 2. From the same place, art. 2, question 1: although the angels sometimes assume human bodies, yet they do not fashion for themselves perfectly organized ones,

because, he says, the angel cannot bring a natural form into being except when aided by the power of nature; now it belongs to the power of nature to produce the bodies of all animals; nevertheless in one way and in another. For to bring forth certain things the universal cause suffices without the help of a particular agent similar in species of nature, such as those animals which are generated by putrefaction; but there are certain things for which it does not suffice unless it is aided by an agent of similar species, such as the bodies of animals, which are produced only by propagation, and this is plain to sense. But if the reason for this is asked, the first is the divine institution according to which there is a limitation in the powers and natures of things: and this according to the law which he implanted in them from the beginning. Hence just as he said, Let the earth bring forth green herbs: he did not say that it should bring forth man; but to man he said that he should multiply himself; so the earth brings forth herb, and man generates man. Now this law, or institution, is not without reason; because certain animals are imperfect both in organization and in duration, while others are perfect in both ways; but since certain animal bodies are imperfect both in organization and in completion, they do not need an agent of such great power; rather the productive power of them could have been given to the earth, as to a mother, and to the Sun as to a father, with the help of other simple bodies, both elemental and celestial; but because they are imperfect in duration and at times perish, this had to be communicated to an agent of another nature, because for this the generative power was given to things, as the Philosopher says, that they might perdure in being. Contrariwise it is with animals perfect in both ways: and therefore their productive power demands a greater actuality, and the seminal ratio is brought into act with greater difficulty: therefore it needs greater help. Those animals, then, which belong to the first kind can be brought forth by the angels, by means of nature's help, quickly and almost suddenly; truly nonetheless, because by the force of nature. But animals and their bodies belonging to the second kind cannot be brought forth truly except with the aid of nature, and with long delay and time. And since the assumption of bodies by the angels is quick and almost sudden, they do not assume true human bodies, because they cannot form them of themselves truly, nor can they bring them into being quickly with the aid of another: and even if they were brought forth, they still would not befit, partly because of the appetite they would have for a rational soul, partly because of gravity: both of which are repugnant to the end of that body. For if it had a rational soul, it would not be a fitting sign for appearing: > if it had gravity, it would not be a fitting instrument for operating, especially for motion, nor would it even be a fitting habitation for inhabiting.

Note 3. From the same place, question 2: that there was variety of opinion among the weightier Authors concerning the resolution of the present question:

for some wished to say that the angels assume bodies from elemental nature, yet so that not from one only, but from all mixed together at once, though one of them predominating: hence they say that body assumed by the angel is truly a mixed body, although it is not truly a human body. And they say that that form of mixture is from the angel as from one preparing the ground, but from the Lord as from one giving — giving, I say, not by creation or infusion, but by intrinsic operation, inasmuch as he implanted in things nature and seminal powers, according to which all natural forms are produced into being with God cooperating.

— But since that body is formed and destroyed almost suddenly, it does not seem probable to others that it is mixed by full mixture: especially since in its resolution no length of time appears, nor corruption of putrefaction: and therefore they said that that body is of simple elemental nature, from which they say that assumed body is formed in this way. For the elemental nature from which the angel forms a body for itself is the element of air, which by its nature is capable of rarefaction and condensation, if there be a power able to do this. Hence just as we now see water solidify into crystal or ice in cold: if it happens that by some hidden power — which does not escape the angels — air can be condensed, but this according to more or less at the will of the angel operating: while this body is condensed it can take on figure and effigy: and thus become conformable to an organic body. Nevertheless it can be condensed more in one part, less in another, not at all in another, and thus be conformed to nerve, bone, and flesh. It can also intercept more of light in one of its parts, less in another, none in another, and thereby have various colors in itself: and thus become almost in all respects conformable to a human body, although it is not multiform in its principles; and thus be fit as instrument, sign, and habitation, to be assumed by an angel.

— But still, because it is difficult to understand how from air, without the admixture of another element, a solid body colored with diverse colors comes to be, since to produce colors is not within art's power except through nature's assistance, therefore the third way seems still more probable, namely that the body assumed by the angel is an elementary body, not because it is compounded of four elements mixed with full mixture, like a complexioned body, nor because it is formed of pure and simple element; but because it is formed principally from air, with some admixture of another element, as we see in a cloud, which is not a fully mixed body, yet has in itself the natures of several elements: in this way the body assumed by the angel is understood to be formed principally from air, with the nature of some vapor of earth or water concurring, which indeed contributes both to variety of condensation and to multiformity of color; and the angel has no need to beg this from afar, since air is for the most part mingled with vapors.

These things prenoted, four points remain here chiefly to be determined and proved: First, that in truth the angels sometimes assume bodies in which they appear sensibly to men, so that the apparition is not an illusion and mockery of the senses, but truly an outward sensible manifestation of a body. Second, that that assumed body is sometimes fashioned by the angels from sensible matter. Third, that that assumed body is sometimes a human cadaver delineated and moved in the manner of a living being. Fourth, that the angel is in that body only as an extrinsic mover and director.

First conclusion. — Truly the angels appear at times to men in bodies visible and perceptible to sense.

This is common opinion, against William of Paris, part two of the second part of De Universo, chapter 34 and following, where he proves that the angels do not assume bodies but only alter the imagination of those to whom they appear.

Proof of the Conclusion. by all those texts of Scripture in which such sensible apparitions of angels are related; for they were most frequent in the Old Testament. For Genesis 3: the demon appeared to Eve under the appearance of a serpent, and spoke; and ch. 18: three men appeared to Abraham; and ch. 19: two angels came to Sodom in the figure of pilgrims; and ch. 32: angels came to meet Jacob, whom when he had seen he said, These are the camps of God; and afterwards one of them wrestled with Jacob in the figure of a man until morning. And finally Raphael appeared to Tobias not only in passing, if I may so speak, but accompanied him through many days and over varied journeys. In the New Testament too the angel Gabriel appeared visibly and spoke to the Virgin Mary, and the Devil appeared visibly to Christ to tempt him: and in the Acts of the Apostles, ch. 5, and more clearly in ch. 12, similar apparitions of angels are narrated. Therefore this truth is certain, and taken generally no doubt or difficulty arises about it: but in the manner of explaining such apparitions there can be some.

The holy Fathers prove this same thing, Augustine above all lib. 15. De Civit. Dei, cap. 23. That angels, says he, appeared to men in such bodies that they could not only be seen but even touched, the same most true Scripture testifies. In which words he is little short of teaching that this is a matter of faith. The same Damascene openly holds in lib. 2 De Fide, cap. 3, speaking of the holy Angels: To upright men outstanding in virtue, to whom God has willed to grant the opportunity of seeing them, they appear not as they are, but assume now one form, now another, as he may be seen by men: and therefore further below, when he had said that the angels do not consist of three dimensions, nor are circumscribed in a bodily way, nor figured, he adds, as regards their nature, indicating that in assumed bodies they can receive those three things. Indeed even in cap. 4, On the evil Angels, he says: By power granted from God they prevail with forces, and are changed, and pass, as indeed appears, into whatever form they will; wherein, as Suarez says lib. 4 cap. 33, the phrase as indeed appears does not exclude a sensible, if I may so say, manifestation; but denotes either that they do not appear as regards their proper nature, but only as regards the assumed body; or denotes that those bodies in which they appear are not of that nature or species which they display, although they are truly sensible and external.

Hence St. Gregory, Homily 34 on the Gospels, distinguishes a twofold mission of the angels, namely invisible and visible, after the manner in which Theologians are accustomed to distinguish them in the divine Persons: and he refers that distinction in the angels back to Dionysius.

Finally Cyprian, lib. De cardinalibus Christi operibus, in the Prefatione: if, he says, the Angelic Spirits who are about him, although of invisible nature, make themselves manifest to hearing and sight in their embassies, we most often experience them as ministers of our salvation.

It is proved also by the arguments of the Seraphic Doctor praised above, qu. 2. First indeed: hospitality's lodging can be extended to no one unless he has a body naturally united or assumed: but these offices have at times been rendered to angels, as is said in the last chapter of Hebrews, that some pleased God, receiving angels to hospitality: therefore they either had bodies united or assumed: but they did not have naturally united ones: therefore assumed. Second, no spiritual substance offers solace to sense from its companionship unless it becomes visible through the indwelling of a body: but angels frequently offer solaces, not only according to spirit but also according to sense, as is plain in the angel of Tobias: therefore they inhabit bodies: but they do not always have them united: therefore voluntarily assumed. Third, no spirit can be visibly pointed out in demonstration of a body unless it be somehow joined to that body: but the angel who spoke to Tobias could be visibly pointed out, and truly called "this is Raphael," or "this is an angel": therefore he had that body joined to himself in some way: but not by natural conjunction: therefore by voluntary assumption.

You will say 1. There ought to be proportion of the assumer to the assumed: but angelic spirit is wholly incorporeal: therefore it has no proportion to a body: therefore it never assumes it. It is confirmed. the rational soul has greater conveniency to a body than angelic spirit has: but a separate soul does not assume a body: therefore neither does angelic spirit.

The Seraphic Doctor answers that that proportion must be attended to according to the mode of assumption: whence since assumption is not into unity of nature, it is not required that there be proportion there as of perfective to perfectible, but it suffices that there be proportion as of mover to movable.

To the confirmation. he answers that there is no parity between an angel and a separate soul, because it has not administrative power, nor the use of administering, and therefore neither assumes a body nor ought to have the power of assuming.

You will say 2. A body is assumed either on account of something, or on account of nothing: if on account of nothing: then in vain: if on account of something, it is either good or evil: if good: then by the assumed body he merits: if evil: then by the assumed body he demerits: therefore the angel must be able to be punished and rewarded together with the assumed body, which is inconvenient and plainly false.

The same Seraphic Doctor answers that that assumption takes place, not in vain, but on account of the reasons assigned in the first Notable. That for which he assumes, however, he says, he does not perfect through the body as the soul through its own body; but as an artisan through an instrument, and therefore just as an instrument through which one merited is not rewarded, so neither is the body assumed by an angel.

You will say 3. Wherever there is assumption, there is some union, either in person, or in nature, as is plain in the assumption of human nature by the Son of God: therefore if the angel assumes a body, he unites it to himself either in person or in nature: but he does not unite it to himself in nature: because no third thing results: nor in person, because there is no communication of idioms: therefore in no way is there union there: therefore no assumption.

The same Seraphic Doctor answers, denying the antecedent: for it does not comprehend every mode of assumption, because, he says, a man assumes clothing when he puts it on, yet he does not unite it to himself in person, nor in nature: therefore the antecedent is true only of that assumption in which there is perfect union, such as was the assumption of human nature by the divine Word. But that other similar objections of this sort may be solved, he cleverly admonishes in the same place, that when an angel is said to assume a body, this assumption is not to be so understood as if he merely moved it, or operated something upon the body; but because he takes it to himself, that in it he may operate, that in it he may be manifested, that in it he may converse: and because in that conjunction or reception the body follows rather the mode of the spirit than conversely, since it is formed, preserved, and ruled by it, therefore the angel holds the role of assumer and possessor; the body truly the role of assumed and possessed.

You will say 4. The angels sometimes appear to men by mere alteration of the interior senses and of the imagination, namely when they address sleeping men: thus e.g. an angel appeared to Joseph in dreams, saying: arise, and take the child and his mother, etc. Why then shall we not affirm that they always appear thus?

I answer. that this indeed truly happens at times, but I deny that it is always done in that manner. I acknowledge therefore that apparitions of angels are accustomed to take place in one or other of these three ways: First by mere alteration of the imaginative faculty: Second by a certain disturbance of the external sense, as happens in prestiges: Third by the external representation of a sensible object, whether meanwhile what appears is true or merely fictitious. It is indeed true that angels sometimes appear to men in the first way; they are also seen in the second way, namely when demons mock men with their prestiges: yet it must also be confessed that they are sometimes perceived in the third way, namely in assumed bodies duly presented to the visual faculty rightly disposed for operating.

You will say finally. with the aforesaid William of Paris, at the beginning of the Conclusion: if the angels appeared in bodies, they would either fashion those bodies or assume them formed elsewhere: but neither can be said. Not indeed the first, for the fabrication of such bodies would be either sudden or successive; if it were done suddenly: then by the mere nod and command of the assumers: but this belongs to the virtue of the omnipotent Creator alone: but if it were not done suddenly, but successively, part namely after part, then this fabrication would be generation, wherefore it would be from something which would be corrupted into the generated; since therefore it must be visible, it is necessary that such generation take place elsewhere than before the men before whom such apparition is made: since therefore it has never been seen anywhere in the whole world either taking place, or the matter from which it is made, it is necessary that it be made outside the dwelling of men: how then do they arrive into the sight of men with such velocity, and depart likewise with no less? and where do they lay down and store away those bodies of which no trace appears after their disappearance? Such are his words.

He confirms it from the fact that the angels sometimes appear in greatest number,

for, he says, their army seems greater than all the armies of all the Kings and Princes of the earth: whence then would the matter be assumed from which so great a numerosity of human bodies, and of new horses, shields, lances, helmets, and other things appearing was fabricated, when whole mountains and all other parts of the earth persist?

— Nor yet secondly, for if they were true bodies, he says in the same place, of the kind they appear, they would be truly tangible, truly palpable, and truly passible with every kind of passion: but nothing of this is found in them. Moreover, to be corrupted suddenly and reduced to nothing is not possible; for the corruption of a body, or its generation, does not seem possible to happen suddenly, as it is manifest of creation that it is instantaneous, and not done in any way by parts or succession: where then would that corruption take place, if not where also their apparition and disappearance? There therefore it is necessary that in truth appear and be that in which the corruption or resolution of such bodies is made; but it is manifest, since they leave nothing behind them that is body or corporeal.

He answers, that the angels sometimes appear in bodies fashioned by themselves, but sometimes in bodies formed elsewhere; how however, and from what matter, they can fashion or dismiss bodies with so easy and so sudden formation or resolution, will be opened up

Second conclusion. — The angels sometimes appear in bodies which they fashion out of matter, not celestial, nor purely elementary, but mixed.

This is the common view, according to the truth of the matter, among almost all Theologians, although some vary in the mode of explaining and proving the same; and the Subtle Doctor openly defends it, dist. 8, n. 3, whose words, since they lucidly explain the truth and proof of this resolution, I am glad to transcribe here.

I say, he says, that he does not assume a celestial body, nor an elementary body in which he may appear, because in the elementary he would not appear visibly, nor is an elementary body receptive of those accidents in which he appears. Mixed bodies, however, already generated by nature, he can assume, such as the corpse of the dead, or a stone, or something of that kind. And when he assumes some one which does not seem previously caused or formed by natural causes, but seems to be formed then and suddenly, and, the operation complete, to disappear, as happened with Raphael and Samuel; then it seems probable that it is a mixed body on account of the accidents which appear in the body; but not mixed with full mixture: both because from generation such a mixture could not be formed so suddenly, for it would not be born to generate except according to a determinate process of nature, which is not there, namely if he appear in the body of a man not previously generated by nature, that body would not be born, or apt to be generated, except in matter. It cannot be said that the angel suddenly induces that form into matter, because he cannot induce a natural form, but only the active and passive elements can he fittingly apply together, and approximate to bodies in a fitting situation, so that the particular form may be induced which is born to be induced by such particular agents.

Therefore the body which is thus so suddenly formed and resolved is mixed with imperfect mixture, such as can be induced by natural agents, the approximation of the elements having been made almost suddenly; so that such a body is more assimilated to an impression which is imperfectly mixed, and the sign of this is, that when such a body disappears, there does not remain anything of such a body into which the assumed body would naturally be resolvable by means thereof, if it had been perfectly mixed; for a human body, if it were a perfect mixture, is not born to return except to a cadaver: but such an imperfectly mixed one is resolved at once into the elements, just as it could at once be generated from them on account of their imperfect mixture.

By these arguments the Doctor concludes chiefly three things. First, that angels do not assume a heavenly body, because they would either assume a heavenly body already generated or produced before, that is, some part of the heavenly bodies, e.g., of the heavens or of the stars; but this would be stupid to think, since it would follow that those superior bodies would not remain intact, either, in place of the part assumed by the angel, another part would have to be produced anew; or there would be some body of the same species as the heavenly body; but this also would be absurd, since, bearing as it does the species of a sublunary body, it ought rather to be called sublunary than heavenly. Add that a heavenly body would not be a proportionate subject for those accidents which appear in bodies of this kind when assumed.

The Doctor concludes secondly that that body figured and assumed by angels is not formed out of any one of the four elements. For if any pure element served for this, especially air: yet air is not a proportionate subject of those accidents which are in bodies assumed by an angel, namely such solidity and density as there is in bones, or in those parts which appear as bones in those bodies. Then, too, since that body appears as a mixed body distinct from the elemental ones, and it would not seem easier for an angel to produce those external accidents which appear than a mixed body, it ought rather to be said that it is a mixed body than air, or some other element.

Hence I cannot assent to Alexander of Hales, q. 34, member 4, where, having said that there is a twofold part of air, namely the upper, which is purer and properly called air, and another lower, which is named Aether, and that on this basis two heavens are distinguished, the ethereal and the aerial, he concludes that good angels assume bodies from the ether, but evil ones rather from the air. This, I say, I can hardly prove, seeing that neither portion of air seems capable of being so condensed and compacted into a body as to display the softness of flesh and the hardness of bones.

Whence the Doctor concludes thirdly, that the body formed by angels should have as its matter some mixture, namely vapor, or a cloud: as St. Thomas also grants, affirming that angels sometimes fashion for themselves bodies out of a cloud, which Maro too was not ignorant of when he sang of the Devil disguised: Then the goddess in a hollow cloud, a slender shadow without strength, a marvel wondrous to behold, fashioned into the face of Aeneas, adorned with Dardanian arms, etc. The reason of this is that a mixed body can easily be condensed, and take on thickness and shape, as is evident in clouds, vapors, exhalations, and other meteors, some of which are so compacted by cold, or hardened by ethereal fire, that they can scarcely be dissolved, as appears in lightning and hail. I confess, however, that it can hardly be explained how bodies formed by angels out of vapors and clouds can be so hardened as to be felt or touched, so that to the touch they appear either solid or soft;

for who could explain, says St. Augustine in the Enchiridion, chapter 59, with what kind of bodies they appeared to men, so that they were not only seen but even touched? And a little later he adds, And they raise a most difficult question, how the Patriarchs washed their feet, how Jacob wrestled with the angel in so solid a contest; and in the same place he concludes:

When these things are inquired into, and each one handles them as best he can, minds are not unprofitably exercised, provided the discussion be moderate, and the error of those who think they know what they do not know be far away; for what need is there that this and the like be affirmed or denied or defined with risk, when they can be left unknown without fault?

and although Augustine said this about bodies in which he thought angels naturally subsist, the same judgment must be held, with stronger reason, of those which angels assume by will alone.

Nevertheless we can affirm that an angel, by the same power by which he assumes the body, can make it appear solid to the touch although in itself it is not solid; namely, by his own power resisting, lest the parts of such a body yield or be divided easily. Hence he can bring it about that some softer parts appear like flesh, and others denser like bone; for he can resist the touch more or less, yielding not at all in some places, somewhat in others; not so as to be divided, but so as to be somehow compressed.

I confess, however, that if the man with whom the angel converses in an assumed body considers attentively what he touches while the angel handles the body, he will easily judge that it is not true hardness, nor true softness such as is found in bones and flesh: for if he attended carefully, he would easily perceive that his touch is not affected by those bodies as by others which live and have real flesh and bones.

The opposite happens, however, when a man is persuaded that this is a true man with whom he converses and whom he sees; for then, since he judges with his eyes that he is a man, and touches his body with his mind, he thinks he is touching flesh and bones, nor does he discern whether it is a true body or only an apparent one. Thus I think it happened to Abraham and Lot when in Genesis 18 and 19 they washed the feet of the angels: for then they did not know that they were angels appearing in assumed bodies.

As for the colors which are fashioned by angels in assumed bodies, very many hold them to be merely apparent, like those which are repeatedly seen in clouds, or on the neck of a dove: but this seems difficult, since the same colors appear to many beholders and in different places, even when the sun is not shining, which does not happen with the rainbow, clouds, and other merely apparent colors: therefore they are real, arising partly from the blending of the elements and primary qualities, partly disposed by the work of the angel as though painting them with art.

Concerning the power by which these bodies are assumed and prepared, St. Thomas holds, question 51, that it is done by the power of God. But Alexander of Hales, question 34, member 5, says that the angel prepares the assumed body, while the ultimate formation is done by God himself. Yet I judge it more probable, with

the Doctor, that those bodies are made by the angel by his own power: for the Doctor holds, as we said above, that those bodies are shaped by condensation; and since condensation is brought about solely by a motion of compression, which the angel can effect by his own power, it follows that a body can be assumed by the angel by his own power. And although this is not always done by condensation alone, yet the angel can sometimes accomplish such bodies by applying other natural causes, so that they may be assumed. This I think more probable, for since evil angels also assume bodies for the worst ends, it is not likely that God forms them by his own power, using only the demon himself as instrument.

Moreover, it must be noted that when angels, especially demons, appear in a body figured by themselves and assumed, they can insert it into the body of the man with whom they speak, and also surround that man with their assumed body; so that the man thus surrounded and clothed with such a body may either bear the likeness of another man, or put on some other form: for this the subtlety of the aerial substance urges, being easy to dilate or rarefy, and to thicken and condense. Which Psellus rightly hands down as the cause why specters seem to grow and shrink in so short a space: for sometimes those specters represent a giant, at other times a dwarf or a pygmy; because the matter out of which they compacted the assumed body, being thin and soft, can easily be rarefied and condensed.

Third conclusion. — Demons for the most part appear in bodies either of men or of animals that have died.

This also is the common view among Theologians, as is proved by well-nigh countless examples, whereby it is established that demons have for the most part deluded men in assumed corpses of the dead: many examples of this kind Caesarius, Monk of Heisterbach, adduces in book 12 of his Miracles, chapter 3, where he relates above all that a demon bore about the body of a certain German Prince who had died, for a whole year before he was buried, as though quickening it: so that he truly seemed to have risen from the dead. He adds in the same place that similar things are read in the life of St. Patrick, Apostle of the Irish, concerning a certain man in whose body the Devil dwelling for many years as though he were the man's soul at length went forth at the nod of the holy man, and the body collapsed and was reduced to dust. And in chapter 4 he writes that a certain Clerk had so sweet a voice that to hear him seemed a delight, until a certain Religious conjured him; at whose word the corpse fell down flat, stenching horribly.

— So also clad in a corpse the Devil, whether incubus or succubus, has dealings with witches and fortune-tellers. Whence also in that kind of men a certain cadaverous stench of foulness is discerned.

So William of Paris, in the last part of De Universo, relates that once, having assumed the carcass of a beast, the Devil deluded a soldier who, thinking he had possessed a beautiful maiden, found himself lying in the embrace of a beastly carcass dissolved in corruption, stenching most foully.

So finally the demon at times raises up bodies already buried, and agitates them as though they were living, so that they may seem to have risen again; a thing of this stupendous kind Phlegon relates in the book On Marvels and Long-lived Persons, whose authority Origen uses in tractate 29 on Matthew, to prove the eclipse which had occurred at Christ's dying. That Phlegon, I say, testifies that he knew a certain man named Machates, who had loved Philinnium, the daughter of his host, against the will of her parents, and desired to lead her as his bride; during Machates' absence she, wasting away with grief, died, and was publicly buried. But when Machates returned six months later, Philinnium entered to him by night, and after long conversation with him passed the night there; which when her parents had heard, and had caught sight of their daughter sleeping with her guest, they rush into his embraces as though she were alive; but she, regarding them with fierce eyes,

O cruel parents toward your daughter! she said: could you not have grudged me, my Machates, even three full days of enjoyment in my father's house? Will this curiosity or hardness cost you great grief? You will renew past sorrows, and bury your daughter a second time.

These words spoken, she grew pale, and fell down, a corpse again like unto death, or rather truly dead: for when, at the command of the Magistrate, the tomb of that Philinnius had been opened, it was found empty of the corpse, and in it were only an iron ring and a gilded cup, which Machates had given as presents to her as though returned to life.

— It happens also that the daemon, enticed by the works of Magicians, at times steals living persons, and substitutes in their place dead corpses fashioned to the likeness of those persons, exhibiting them as though languishing, at length sickening unto death, then dying, and to be buried as dead, so that the persons withdrawn by him may be accounted truly dead. Two stupendous examples of this kind Thomas of Brabant relates in book 2 De Bono Universali, chapter 51, where he writes that in a village of Brabant named Gunerchena, a certain youth loved a virgin maiden; and when her parents anxiously pressed him for her marriage, and they refused, meanwhile the girl fell into an acute fever, under which growing worse, she seemed to all to die, and mourning being made, the bells were tolled as for one dead. Without delay, the young lover of the girl was passing at twilight from that village to another, and as he went through the thickets he heard a voice as of a woman lamenting anxiously: so running hither and thither, and seeking her whom he had heard, he found the girl whom he had judged dead; to whom he said, Your people mourn you as dead, and whence do you come here? Behold, she said, a man goes before me who led me here. Astonished at this, since he saw no one else but the girl, the youth boldly seizes her, and straightway hides her in a house outside the village. Thence entering the village he speaks with his friends, and with them comes upon the father of the girl sitting with his household at the funeral; he asks him whether he would give him his daughter, whom he was bewailing as dead? To whom the father answered in wonder, Are you God's envoy to me, that you should raise the dead and take her to wife? To whom the youth said: Only promise me willingly that I may have your daughter to wife, if I restore her alive and healed. To him the father consenting confirmed the word before all; presently the youth, lifting the linen with which the daughter was thought covered, they found a marvelous figment such as no man could make. It is said moreover by those who inspected these diabolical figments that they were inwardly like rotten wood, and outwardly wrapped in a thin skin: hence the girl restored...

But if you ask, how could the daemon accomplish these things? I shall answer that it is indeed done, God permitting, by magical power, which perhaps that youth had used, that he might lead the foresaid daughter to himself in marriage. Other things like these we shall relate in the last Disputation, when we speak of Magi and Witches.

It must be noted, moreover, first of all, that the daemon cannot truly organize those assumed corpses, nor restore life to them, since the vivification of the dead is the work of God alone. Yet he can, if permitted, render himself tangible in the assumed body of the deceased with true hardness and softness on the part of the body, external causes also conjoined, heat, and other sufficient qualities, so that it appears alive to the touch.

It must be noted likewise, that it must without doubt be believed that this is never permitted to the daemon with regard to the bodies of those who died just; because it is unfitting, nor is it consonant with divine friendship: but of others perhaps it sometimes happens; yet I think it rarely permitted to the daemon, because so great license is not given him, especially in the Church of Christ, for deceiving men.

However much he may wish to represent the fairest likeness of a man, which is of God's goodness, he is wont to assume only as much, and such, as God permits, as St. Chrysostom testifies, Homily 4 on Lazarus; and therefore we see it happen even against his will, that those who are not too dull of mind can always, if attentive, detect the fraud: for either the demons show themselves in a human body black, filthy, squalid, stinking, hideous, and dreadful, at least dark, black, and foul of face, with nostrils either deformedly flat or monstrously aquiline, with jaws gaping wide and deep, with eyes deeply sunken yet flaming, with hands and feet crooked and vulturine, arms and legs shaggy and exceedingly hairy, with calves goat-like or ass-like, one or both feet cloven and horny; sometimes solid-hoofed, sometimes maimed in one foot or both: finally, of a stature never comely and graceful, but always bearing something of unusual mark, betraying the deformity and perversity of the demon.

You will say. If the daemon could assume a true human body, it would follow that there was no argument of Christ the Lord, whereby in Luke 24, when the Disciples doubted of his true resurrection, he wished to persuade them that he was not a phantom, saying: Handle, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have; by which words he invited them to handle and see that he himself had flesh and bones, such as spirits have not even when they assume bodies: therefore he implies that a spirit cannot assume for itself a body that is palpable, and has the softness of flesh and the hardness of bones: but such would be a human body assumed by a daemon: therefore it cannot assume it, or else the argument of Christ did not seem to press much.

I deny the consequence. For the intent of Christ was only to persuade the Apostles that he was not a phantom, such as they thought him, because they had seen him enter through doors closed; which was repugnant to anything corporeal, whether living or dead, since penetration of bodies cannot naturally occur: therefore he wished to prove that by touch they could feel and judge that he had a true body, and not a phantastic one. And because by handling alone they could know that it was a body, but not whose body it was, therefore he commands them to see and touch the wounds imprinted on his body, whereby they were allowed to detect that he was the very one who had been crucified three days before.

Fourth conclusion. — An angel does not assume a body by way of an informing form, nor by way of hypostatic union, but as a mover ruling and directing it in the eliciting of certain operations.

Thus the Subtle Doctor, dist. 8, num. 2, where, having asked what it is for an angel to assume a body, he answers: This indeed, he says, is not to inform, nor even to unite it hypostatically to himself, but only to be the intrinsic mover of the body: for then he assumes, that is, takes to himself; because to discharge his proper operations he uses it as an instrument. Nor is that assumption said to occur when the assumed body is moved with progressive motion; because such motion does not suit the end for which such a body is assumed.

By these the Doctor resolves first that an angel is not united to a body as form, because otherwise he would be an incomplete substance, not complete, no less than the soul; nay, he would be a soul; because if he could inform some body, especially an organic body, seeing that it is fitter for information, he would thus be the act of an organic body.

He infers secondly that he does not assume a body hypostatically, since at least naturally such hypostatic union cannot occur; but demons assume bodies only by natural power: and in good angels a miracle does not seem admissible as often as they appear to men; for the matter is per se far too slight for establishing so great a miracle as hypostatic union itself.

He concludes thirdly, that for an angel to assume a body is nothing else than to assist it as a mover in the mobile, in order to exercise those operations truly or apparently, by which the angel may seem to inform the assumed body. In this the other Princes of Theology agree likewise, especially St. Thomas, 1, q. 51, art. 2, and the Seraphic Doctor, in 2, dist. 8, art. 3, q. 2. For nothing seems further required for that assumption of a body than that the angel intrinsically move the assumed body in such wise, which will plainly appear by assigning the reason of the individual parts of this dictum on assumption. First, we say that the angel is an intrinsic mover, because if he were an extrinsic mover he would not properly be said to assume a body to himself; likewise, if he were intimately present to the body, but not in order to move it, surely he would not be said to assume it; just as neither can the soul, present to a body, assume a body, nor is one body simultaneously penetrated with another body said to assume that other body, even if by its own power it placed itself penetratingly together with it. There is added, in order to exercise such operations, because it would not suffice that he be intimately present by way of local motion, otherwise an angel present to the Heaven and locally moving it would be said to assume the Heaven; likewise the angel who carried the Prophet Habakkuk by the hair to the den of lions, in which Daniel the Prophet was shut up, would be said truly to have assumed him, which nevertheless all Interpreters deny; for that translation was indeed a carrying of the body, but not an assumption. We said true or apparent operations, because some of those operations which appear are such not in the truth of the thing; for sensible hearing, bodily touch, and ocular vision, which we think the angels exercise in assumed bodies, are not true actions, but merely apparent.

Finally, the Doctor gathers that it does not suffice for that assumption of a body by an angel that he move it locally; for thus the motive Intelligences would assume the celestial spheres which they are said to move. Add that bodies remain assumed even when the angel ceases from all motion. Therefore, for him to be truly said to assume a body which he moves with progressive motion, it must be understood of progressive motion that either is a sign of life, or signifies the angel to be intimately present to the body and moving it intrinsically.