DEMONS 49
ruptibJe God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things” . FIcino writes on this 1:
But are w e to suppose that the most learned high-pricsts of that religion worshipped such objects as if they were spirits {numina) ? Certainly not; but rather that they gave occasion to the common people for such an absurd kind of worship. Indeed, as we show in the Comment* aries on Plato and Plotinus and in the Third Book of the D t Vifat the ancient sages arranged certain long scries of mundane gods, as they call them, and of the demons and spirits {lutmind) who follow them in order; under each star certain demons, who dwell in that part of the heavens, and under them in the air various other demons, all endowed with the same quality and family-name as the superior ones—Saturnian ones under Saturn, jo v ia l under Jupiter, and the M artial, Phoebean and others likew ise; and also Saturnian and Jo vial men under the
1 Hcint), Op. Own., p. 440: “ Sed nunquid existimandum est, doctissimos illius Religionis Antistites pro numinibus talia coluisse? Nequaquam, Imo ram absurde adorationis ansas vulgo dedisse. Profecto quemadmodum in Gotruncntatijs in Plato- nem atque Plotinum, & in tertio de vita tractamus, sapientes antiqui mundanorum, ut aiunt, Deorum daemonumque, & numinum gradatim inde sequentium, suries quasdam longas disposuerunt. Sub qualibet stella certos ibi coelicolas, sub ifs in aere alios deinceps, aliosquu daemones, eadem scilicet proprietate cum superioribus cognomcntoquc praeditos. Saturnios sub Saturno, sub Jove Jovios, & Martius atque Phoebeos, cactcrosque similiter. Praeterea sub Sarurnijs, lovijsque daemonibus Saturnios homines atque Jovios. Animalia rursus praeter hominem ad hunc, νς[ alium coelestem, vel coelicolam, vel daemonem pertinentia, nec animalia ratitum, sed plantas etiam & metalla, & lapides quosdam superiorum proprietates saltem imaginarias habere putarunt, P.t ur in praesentia mittam, quomodo Magi per inferio rum electionem composmoncmque docuerint homines ad se superiora quaedam cum inferioribus congruentia opomme deducere. Certe religionis illius Antistites, qui ijdcm atque Magi fuerunr, ubi templa coelestibus St coelicolis daemonibusque dicaverunt, serie certa dispositas ibidem, St statuas hominum locaverunt, quos prae caeteris existimabant praecipuo quodam ejusmodi numinum influxu genitos, Si munere praeditos. Saturnumque hominem appellabant, tlut Jovem, sub Saturno, vel Jove coelesti, vel aerio constitutum. Adhibebant A: animalia, Sc ligna, &. metalla, St saxa characteresque simuiachra eisdem numinibus congruentia, fo rte vero animalia in primis quorum similitudines aliquis in coelo notaverant vel effinxerant. De his aurem in tertio libro Isuiiis disputamus. Praeterea voluerunt, ur arbitror, nimium iuduigere vulgo, & inferiorum bonorum cupido, & superstitionibus ejus
modi dedito. Qua quidem indulgentia caecum tniscrunique vulgus adorandis infimis subjecerunt, Mercurius ter maximus testis est religionis Aegyptiae patres statuas in templis arte magica fabricatas collocare consuevisse, & in eas daemones defuncto- rumque animas excitare. Inm vero Orpheus, magnus religionis illius author, hymnos quamplurimos non solum coelestibus, sed etiam daemonibus, dacmonicisquc homi nibus consecravit, certasque certis suhfumigatione* adhibuit. Superstitiones autem multo etiam magis aniles At iniquas, A; turpes introduxerunt Pontifices multi, civiles A Po£tae . . . Jure i tuque Varro, ubi tres Theologias enarrat, philosophicam Ai civilem atque poeticam, duns bic sequentes prima longe inferiores esse censet,
50 II. FI cinq's magic
Saturnian and Jovial dem ons; and then, as w ell as men, animals pertain ing to one or another celestial or other demon, and not only animals,
for they thought that even plants and metals and certain stones It ad the
properties of the higher beings, or at least im ages of them. For the present I w ill pass over how the M agi taught men, by selecting find putting together lower things, to draw down for their own benefit certain higher things corresponding to the lower ones. But undoubtedly the high- priests o f that religion, who were the same as the M agi, when they dedicated temples to celestial [gods] and heaven-dwelling demons, also placed there, arranged in certain series, statues of men whom they considered to be born, more than others, under a special influx of such spirits (tmmina) and endowed with their gifts. They called a man Saturn or Jupiter, who was subject to the heavenly or aerial Saturn or Jupiter. They added animals, woods, metals, stones and characters, as images corresponding to the same spirits {numtnd) ; probably chiefly animals of which they had noted or invented likenesses to certain [figures] in the heavens. But these things w e discuss more fully in the Third Book [of
theZ-V V ih i\ Moreover, they were w illin g, T think, to yield too much to
the common people, w ho are desirous of lower goods and given to such superstitions; by this indulgence they subjected the blind and wretched people to the worship o f the basest objects. Hermes Trism egistus is a witness that the fathers o f Egyptian religion were wont to place in their le tuples statues fashioned by m agic art and to attract into them demons and ihe souh of the dead. Indeed, Orpheus, the great rounder of that religion, devoted many of his hymns not only to celestial [gods], but also to demons and demonic men, and added particular fumigations for each. But much more foolish, wicked and abominable superstitions were introduced by many Pries is, both civil and poetic . . . Varro rightly, where he speaks o f three theologies, philosophical, civil and poetic, considers the latter two by far inferior to the first.
This certainly implies ibat Lhe De i \C\C\ .is really about planetary demons, as described in the Commtntarks o.:t Plato and Plotinus, and about methods of obtaining benefits front them; and that these methods, wdiicli include using the series o f planetary' objects, as listed in the De ! .C.C*., arc connected with the Orphic Hymns* .It also mentions two other dangerous themes of the De
V .C.C.: the demonic, man-made gods of the A stfepim and the
planetary guardian demons. We can see bete, I think, the complex ity, the eon diets and hesitations of Picino’s attitude, lie begins by
DEMONS
51
boldly defending pagan religion against St, Faults contemptuous condemnation 1—of course the learned ancients did not worship idols and animals—but at once admits that they may have led the ignorant into idolatry. Then follows the defence of good pagan religion explained as being astrological magic. The statues did not represent gods or demons, but men especially influenced hy a certain planet; the animals and other objects were talismanic. The wise and learned priests were not worshipping these; they were just using them for magical operations, by which, presu mably, they attracted good planetary demons. Then again he admits that these practices led astray the ignorant into idolatry and super stition, But finally even these superstitions are defended by
introducing, from Augustine, Varro’s three theologies 2: natural (which Ticino calls philosophical), civil or political, and fabulous or poetic; according to Ficino, the really bad superstitions derived only from the latter two, not from the “philosophical” religion he has just described.
It is clear that Ticino is strongly attracted by this kind of magic or theurgy, that he considers it valuable, and also it is clear that he is aware that it is dangerous. His conclusion seems to be that its dangers might be avoided if it remained within a learned, philosophical circle, and were kept secret from the ignorant
vulgus, who would distort it into idola try and superstition.
Other references by Ficino to the De V.C.C. show the same uncertainty and hesitation. Sometimes, as in the passage just quoted, he openly connects it with planetary demons3; sometimes he contrasts demonic magic with the magic of the De V.C.C. and asserts that the latter is truly natural h In a chapter of his Com
mentary on the Timaeus, having briefly expounded the theory that
the heavens, as the spirit of the anima mundi, cause all elemental changes, especially through the moon, he remarks that he will