Latin — 1533, repaired
[†...] nunc vero narrabo quaedam veneficia, ut horum exemplo fiat parata via ad totam hanc considerationem. Ex eis igitur sunt sanguis menstruus, qui quantas in veneficio vires habeat, videamus: nam, ut dicunt, acescunt eius superventu musta, novellae vitis, eius tactu in perpetuum haeditur, sterilescunt tactae fruges, moriuntur insita, exuruntur hortorum germina, et fructus arborum decidunt, speculorum fulgor aspectu ipso hebetatur, et acies ferri in cultris tonsoriis, eborisque nitor perstringuntur, etiam ferrum rubigine protinus corrumpitur; aes etiam contactum grave virus diri odoris accipit et aeruginem: in rabiem aguntur, gustato eo, canes, atque insanabili veneno morsus infigitur; alvei apum emoriuntur, tactisque alvearibis fugiunt; linaque cum coquuntur, nigrescunt; quaeque si sint gravidae, contactu eo abortum patiuntur; abortum etiam facit illitu praegnantibus. Asinae non concipiunt tot annis, quot grana hordei eo contacta comederint. Cinis pannorum menstruosorum, si quis eum aspergat lavandis vestibus, purpuram mutat, floribus colorem adimit. Ferunt tertianas quartanasque febres fugari menstruo, in lana arietis nigri, in argento brachiali inclusso. Praeterea tertianis quartanisque efficacissimum dicitur, plantas agri cum eo subterlini: multoque efficacius, ab ipsa muliere etiam ignorante, sic et comitiales impetus morbosque sanari. Inter omnes autem convenit, si aqua potus vel formidetur a morsu canis, supposita tantum calyci lacinia menstruo tincta, statim metum eum discuti. Praeterea ferunt nudatas in menstruo segetem ambiant, erucas ac vermiculos, scarabeosque ac cantharides, et noxia quaeque decidere: cavendum vero, ne id oriente sole faciat, sementem enim arefacit. Similiter abigi grandines turbinesque, ac contra fulgura prodesse; horum plura Plinius ipse recitat. Illud scias, maius venenum esse, si decrescente luna accidat: sed vim eius maiorem esse, si in silente luna contingat; si vero in defectu lunae solisve evenit, irremediabile fieri: maximi vero ac potentissimi vigoris esse, quando purgatio illa primis annis evenit, atque in virginitate prima fit — id quoque convenit tunc ei; nam, tactis omnino postibus domus, irritum in ea fit omne maleficium. Praeterea fertur, quod fila veste contacta, igne quidem vincuntur, atque si in incendium proiiciatur, non dilatetur amplius. Dicitur quoque, quod si radix paeoniae, cum castoreo, et litura pannorum menstruosorum detur patienti, sanari morbum comitialem. Praeterea si stomachum cervi cremaveris vel assaveris, adiungasque de pannis menstruosis, iunctas eo balistas, nihil proficere ad venationem. Capillos etiam mulieris menstruosae, si sub fimo ponantur, generari serpentes: ac etiam si cremetur, fugari eorum odore serpentes; tanta vis eius veneni, ut etiam venenosis sit venenum. Est et hippomanes carunculam, inter veneficia haud parum famosa, cariei magnitudine, colore nigro, quae in fronte nascentis pulli equini apparet: quam nisi statim mater voraverit, animum a filio penitus aversum habet, et foetum non alit: ob hoc maximam vim eius ad amorem concitandum ferunt, quando in pulverem versa, cum amantis sanguine propinatur in poculis. Est et aliud veneficium, quod eodem nomine hippomanes dicitur, virus scilicet illud, quod ex equarum inguinibus defluit, quo tempore feruntur in amoris furore, cuius meminit Vergilius, ubi canit: [†verse, ~4 lines, Georgics 3 — hippomanes as a mare's virus used by evil stepmothers in love-potions, likely] De hoc et Iuvenalis Satyricus: [†verse, ~2 lines, Satire 6 — hippomanes and the poison given to a stepson] Narrat Apollonius, in suis Argonauticis, Promethei herbam, quam natam ait ex sanie ac cruore in terram stillante, dum iecur Promethei vultur in Caucaso laceraret ac depasceretur: cuius flos, inquit, assimilis croco, colore corycio, caule gemino, cubiti mensura prominens, radix sub terra velut caro recenter incisa, succum nigricantem tanquam phagi emittit. Quo si quis Proserpinae, prius re divina peracta, corpus illinat, illum nec ferro nec igne oblaedi posse tradit. Et Saxo Grammaticus scribit, Frotoni cuidam vestem fuisse, qua indutus nullo telorum acumine laedi poterat. Hyaena etiam multis veneficiis inficitur: nam, ut refert Plinius, sanguine eius tactis postibus, ferunt praestigiorum infestari artes, nec posse elici deos, nec colloqui quocumque modo, do tententur. Item talo sinistro cinere decocto, cum sanguine mustelae peruncto, omnibus odio evenire. Idem fieri oculo decocto. Rursus extremam fistulam intestini, contra ducum ac potestatum iniquitates administrari, et ad successus petitionum, iudiciorum ac litium eventus pollere, si omnino aliquantulum quis secum habeat, eiusdem quoque caverna, sinistro lacerto religata, si quis mulierem aspiciat, amatoriam esse tam praesentem, ut illico sequatur; frontis vero corium fascinationibus resistere. Basilisci quoque sanguine, quem etiam Saturni sanguinem vocant, tantas in veneficio vires habere ferunt, ut gerenti ipsum tribuat successus petitionum a potestatibus, tum etiam a diis precum, morborumque remedia et beneficiorum munera. Dicunt quoque ricinum, si evellatur ex aure laeva canis, cui non insit alius quam niger color, in augurio vitae vim magnam obtinere: nam si aeger respondeat ei, qui intulerit, a pedibus stante interrogante que de morbo, certam esse spem vitae: moriturum vero, si nihil respondeat. Dicunt quoque lapidem a cane rabioso morsum habere vim discordiae, si ponatur in potu, nec adlatrari a cane: linguam caninam in calceamento, subditam pollici, praesertim si iungatur cum herba eiusdem nominis, scilicet cynoglossa. Idem fieri membranam ex secundis canis habentem: sugere autem canes cor caninum habentem. Et narrat Plinius esse ranas rubetas, ut nomine, quae in vepribus tantum degunt, plenas veneficiorum, miranda de his fieri: nam officulo quod est in sinistro latere, deiecto in aquam frigidam, statim fervere, canum impetus eo cohiberi, amorem concitari et iurgia, addito in potione, libidinem adligatu stimulare: contra officulo quod est in dextro latere, refrigerari aquam ferventem, nec postea servere, nisi exemptum; quartanas cum eo sanari, adligato in pellicula agnina recenti, aliasque febres atque amorem libidinemque inhiberi. Lien vero atque cor ex his ranis, contra veneficia quae fiunt ex ipsis, efficaciter auxiliari, hoc Plinius recitat. Dicitur etiam ferrum ex quo homo occisus sit, miranda inter veneficia vim habere: nam si fiat ex eo morsus equi et calcaria, sistunt cum eis omnem equum vel ferocissimum facillime regi et superari. Et si ex eis ferrentur equi pedes, ferunt ipsum velocissimum fieri, nec ullo labore lassescere. Volunt praeterea characteres et nomina quaedam inscribi debere. Dicunt etiam, si quis gladium cum quo decollantur homines vino immergat, quicunque de hoc aeger biberit, liberatur a febre quartana. Dicunt etiam poculum ex urcino cerebro confectum, et ex eiusdem cranio propinatum, ursinam rabiem induere, ut homo ille qui biberit se in ursum transfiguratum putet, omniaque visa sub ursorum specie diiudicet, et sic in illa rabie perseverare, quousque poculi vis fuerit resoluta, nullo alio malo in complexione sua inde percepto.
Close translation
[†...] now I shall tell of certain sorceries, so that by their example a way may be prepared toward this whole consideration. Among these, then, is menstrual blood, whose powers in sorcery let us see: for, as they say, at its coming-upon new wine turns sour, at its touch the young vine is harmed forever, crops touched by it become barren, grafted plants die, the young shoots of gardens are scorched, and the fruit of trees fall off; the brightness of mirrors is dulled by the mere sight of it, and the edge of iron in barbers' knives, and the sheen of ivory, are blunted; even iron is at once corrupted with rust; bronze too, once touched, takes on a heavy poison of dreadful odor, and verdigris; dogs are driven into rabies by tasting it, and an incurable poison is fixed in their bite; beehives die, and, once touched, the bees flee the hives; and linens, when boiled, turn black; and if they [animals] are pregnant, by that contact they suffer miscarriage; it also causes miscarriage by anointing on pregnant women. She-asses do not conceive for as many years as the grains of barley they have eaten that have been touched by it. The ash of menstrual cloths, if someone sprinkles it on garments to be washed, changes purple, and takes the color from flowers. They say that tertian and quartan fevers are put to flight by menstrual blood enclosed, in the wool of a black ram, in a silver bracelet. Moreover it is said to be most effective for tertian and quartan fevers if the plants of the field are smeared underneath with it; and it is much more effective still, done by the woman herself even without her knowledge, and thus epileptic seizures and diseases are healed. Among all these it is agreed that, if there is fear of a drinking-water because of a dog's bite, merely placing under the cup a scrap dyed with menstrual blood at once dispels that fear. Moreover they say that women stripped naked, going around a standing crop during menstruation, cause caterpillars and little worms, beetles and blister-beetles, and every harmful thing to fall off — but one must take care she does not do this at sunrise, for it dries up the sown seed. Likewise hailstorms and whirlwinds are said to be driven off by it, and it is said to help against lightning; Pliny himself relates many of these things. Know this: that the poison is greater if it occurs while the moon is waning; but that its power is greater still if it happens at the new moon (the silent moon); but if it occurs during an eclipse of the moon or of the sun, it becomes incurable; but it is of the greatest and most potent force when that purging happens in the first years, and occurs in first virginity — this too suits it then; for, the doorposts of a house being merely touched by it, every piece of sorcery in that house is rendered void. It is furthermore said that threads touched by such cloth are not overcome even by fire, and that if thrown into a blaze, the fire spreads no further. It is also said that if the root of peony, with castoreum, and a smear of menstrual cloths, is given to a patient, the falling sickness [epilepsy] is cured. Moreover, if you burn or roast a stag's stomach, and add to it something from menstrual cloths, crossbows fitted with these are said to accomplish nothing in hunting. Also, the hairs of a menstruating woman, if placed under dung, are said to generate serpents; and also, if burned, to drive away serpents by their smell — so great is the force of this poison, that it is a poison even to poisonous things. There is also the hippomanes — a small growth, not a little famous among sorceries, the size of a dried fig, black in color, which appears on the forehead of a newborn foal: unless the mother devours it at once, she holds her mind entirely averted from her offspring, and does not nurse the foal; for this reason they say it has the greatest power to arouse love, when, ground into powder, it is administered mixed with the lover's blood in cups. There is also another sorcery-substance called by the same name, hippomanes — namely that fluid which flows from the flanks of mares at the time when they are driven by the frenzy of love, which Vergil mentions, where he sings: (verse, summarized — see flag: this substance, which shepherds call by the name hippomanes, drips slowly from a mare's groin — an ingredient stepmothers have too often gathered wrongly, mixing in herbs and words that are not harmless.) Of this, Juvenal the satirist also speaks: (verse, summarized — see flag: he says he will tell of hippomanes and the spell, and of the poison given to a stepson.) Apollonius relates, in his Argonautica, the herb of Prometheus, which he says grew from the discharge and blood dripping onto the earth while the vulture tore at and fed upon Prometheus's liver on the Caucasus: its flower, he says, resembles the crocus, of Corycian color, on a double stalk, standing a cubit's measure high; its root beneath the earth, like flesh freshly cut, emits a blackish juice like that of the beech-nut. With this, he relates, if one anoints the body — a rite to Proserpina having first been duly performed — that person cannot be harmed by iron or by fire. And Saxo Grammaticus writes that a certain Frotho had a garment, wearing which he could not be harmed by the point of any weapon. The hyaena, too, is charged with many sorcerous powers: for, as Pliny reports, when doorposts are touched with its blood, they say the arts of illusion are disrupted, and that the gods can neither be summoned nor spoken with in any way while this is done. Also, from the ash of its left ankle-bone, decocted with weasel's blood and smeared on, hatred befalls one from everyone. The same is said to happen with its decocted eye. Again, the far end of its intestinal tube is said, if one carries even a small piece of it on oneself, to be effective against the injustices of rulers and powers, and to have force toward the success of petitions and the outcomes of judgments and lawsuits; and its cavity too, tied to the left arm, is said to be so powerfully amatory, if one looks at a woman, that she will follow at once; while the skin of its forehead is said to resist fascinations [the evil eye]. The blood of the basilisk too, which they also call the blood of Saturn, is said to have such powers in sorcery that it grants the one carrying it success in petitions from the powers, and likewise in prayers from the gods, and remedies for diseases and the gifts of benefits. They also say that the tick, if pulled from the left ear of a dog that has no color but black, has great power in augury concerning life: for if the sick person, standing and questioned from the feet up about the disease, answers the one who brought it, there is certain hope of life; but that he will die, if he answers nothing. They also say that a stone bitten by a rabid dog has the power of discord, if placed in a drink, and that it prevents one from being barked at by a dog; a dog's tongue placed in a shoe under the big toe, especially if joined with the herb of the same name — that is, hound's-tongue [cynoglossa] — likewise has this effect. The same is said to happen with a membrane taken from a dog's afterbirth; and that dogs suck out a heart that contains a dog's heart. And Pliny relates that there are toads called rubetae, which live only among brambles, full of sorcerous powers, and that marvelous things are done with them: for the little bone that is on the left side, thrown into cold water, makes it boil at once, and restrains the attacks of dogs, and, added to a drink, stirs up love and quarrels, and, tied on, stimulates lust; conversely, the little bone on the right side cools boiling water, and it does not boil again unless the bone is removed; quartan fevers are cured with it, tied in fresh lambskin, and other fevers and love and lust are likewise checked. But the spleen and heart from these toads, Pliny relates, are efficacious as a help against the sorceries worked from the toads themselves. It is also said that iron with which a man has been killed has a marvelous power among sorceries: for if a horse's bit and spurs are made from it, they say that with these even the fiercest horse is most easily controlled and mastered. And if a horse's shoes are made from it, they say the horse becomes swiftest, and does not tire from any exertion. They also hold that certain characters and names must be inscribed on it. They also say that if one dips in wine the sword with which men are beheaded, whoever, being sick, drinks of this wine is freed from quartan fever. They also say that a cup made from a bear's brain, and given to drink from its skull, induces a bear's madness, so that the man who drinks it thinks himself transformed into a bear, and judges everything he sees to be under the form of bears, and persists in that madness until the power of the cup has worn off, with no other harm perceived afterward in his constitution.
Modern rendering
[†...] now I'll describe a few sorcery-substances, so that their examples pave the way into this whole topic. First among them is menstrual blood — let's look at how much power it's said to have in sorcery. According to the accounts, new wine turns sour if menstrual blood comes near it; a young vine is damaged permanently by its touch; crops it touches become barren; grafted plants die; young garden shoots scorch and wither; tree fruit falls off; mirrors lose their shine just from it being nearby; the edge of a barber's razor and the sheen of ivory are dulled by it; iron rusts immediately on contact; bronze that touches it takes on a heavy, foul-smelling stench and corrodes; dogs go rabid from tasting it, and the bite that follows carries an incurable poison; beehives die out, and bees flee a hive it has touched; linen turns black when boiled if it has been exposed to it; pregnant animals miscarry from its touch, and it induces miscarriage in pregnant women if smeared on them. A female donkey won't conceive for as many years as the number of barley grains it eats that have touched menstrual blood. If you sprinkle the ash of menstrual cloths on clothes being washed, it changes the color of purple dye and strips color from flowers. It's said that tertian and quartan fevers (recurring malarial-type fevers) can be driven off by menstrual blood sealed in black ram's wool inside a silver bracelet. It's also claimed to be very effective for those fevers if you rub it under the roots of plants in a field — and even more effective, done by the woman herself without her even knowing it, in curing epileptic seizures and similar illnesses. Everyone agrees that if you're afraid to drink water because of a dog bite, just placing a scrap of cloth stained with menstrual blood under the cup instantly banishes the fear. It's also said that if women go naked around a standing crop of grain during their period, caterpillars, worms, beetles, and blister-beetles, and anything else harmful, will all drop off — but she must not do this at sunrise, since that dries out the seed instead. It's likewise said to drive off hail and whirlwinds and to help against lightning; Pliny records many more examples like these. One thing worth knowing: the effect is a stronger poison when it happens during a waning moon, stronger still at the new moon, and becomes irreversible if it happens during a lunar or solar eclipse. It's at its strongest and most potent when the first period happens at a young age, in a girl's first virginity — and it works then in another way too: merely touching a house's doorposts with it cancels out every act of sorcery in that house. It's also said that threads touched by such cloth resist fire, so that if thrown into a blaze, the fire doesn't spread any further from them. It's said that giving a patient peony root along with castoreum and a smear from menstrual cloths cures epilepsy. Also, if you burn or roast a stag's stomach and add something from menstrual cloths to it, crossbows treated with the mixture are said to be useless for hunting. It's said that a menstruating woman's hair, buried under dung, generates snakes — and, if burned instead, drives snakes away by its smell. Its poison is so strong that it acts as a poison even to other poisons. Then there's hippomanes — a small growth quite famous in sorcery circles — the size of a dried fig, black, that appears on a newborn foal's forehead: unless the mare eats it right away, she stays completely indifferent to her foal and won't nurse it. Because of this, hippomanes is said to be extremely powerful for stirring up love when ground to powder and given, mixed with the lover's own blood, in a drink. There is also a second substance that goes by the same name, hippomanes: the fluid that runs from a mare's flanks when she is in heat, which Vergil mentions where he writes: (verse, summarized — see flag: shepherds have a name, hippomanes, for the slow-dripping fluid from a mare's groin — a substance that stepmothers have too often misused, mixing it with herbs and words that are anything but harmless.) Juvenal the satirist also mentions this: (verse, summarized — see flag: he says he will speak of hippomanes and a spell, and of a poison given to a stepson.) Apollonius, in his Argonautica, tells of the herb of Prometheus, which he says grew from the discharge and blood dripping onto the ground while a vulture tore at and ate Prometheus's liver on the Caucasus. Its flower, he says, resembles a crocus, colored like Corycian saffron, on a double stem rising about a cubit high; its root under the ground, like freshly cut flesh, gives off a blackish juice similar to beech-nut sap. If someone anoints their body with this — after first performing a proper rite to Proserpina — that person, he claims, cannot be harmed by iron or fire. Saxo Grammaticus likewise writes that a certain King Frotho owned a garment that made him immune to any weapon's point while he wore it. The hyena is also credited with many sorcerous properties: Pliny reports that touching doorposts with its blood is said to disrupt tricks of illusion, and that while this is in effect, the gods cannot be summoned or communicated with in any way. Also, the ash of its left ankle-bone, boiled down with weasel's blood and applied, is said to bring universal hatred on the person. The same effect is said to come from its boiled-down eye. The far end of its intestine, they say, works against the injustices of rulers and officials, and helps petitions, lawsuits, and court cases succeed, if one simply carries even a small piece of it. Its cavity, tied to the left arm, is said to make one so instantly attractive that any woman looked at will follow at once — while the skin from its forehead is said to protect against the evil eye. The blood of the basilisk, also called "the blood of Saturn," is said to have such power in sorcery that whoever carries it succeeds in petitions to those in power, and in prayers to the gods, and gains cures for illness and other benefits. They also say that a tick pulled from the left ear of an all-black dog has strong power for predicting whether a sick person will live: if the patient, questioned from the feet upward about the illness while the questioner stands there, answers, there is a sure hope of recovery — but if he says nothing, he will die. A stone that a rabid dog has bitten is said to cause discord if put in a drink, and to keep dogs from barking at you. A dog's tongue placed in a shoe under the big toe — especially combined with the herb of the same name, hound's-tongue — is said to do the same. The same effect comes from a membrane taken from a dog's afterbirth; and dogs are drawn to suck out a heart that contains a dog's heart. Pliny also describes a type of toad, the "bramble toad," found only in briar patches, credited with many sorcerous powers: the small bone on its left side, dropped into cold water, makes the water boil instantly, restrains aggressive dogs, and, added to a drink, stirs up love and arguments, while tying it on stimulates lust. The bone on the right side does the opposite — it cools boiling water, which won't boil again until the bone is removed; tied in fresh lambskin, it's said to cure quartan fevers and to check other fevers, along with love and lust. But the toad's own spleen and heart, Pliny notes, work effectively as a remedy against sorceries performed using the toads themselves. Iron used to kill a man is likewise said to carry remarkable sorcerous power: bits and spurs made from it are said to let a rider control and master even the wildest horse with ease. Horseshoes made from it are said to make a horse extremely fast and tireless. People also believe certain symbols and names need to be engraved on it. It's also said that if you dip in wine the sword used to behead men, anyone sick who drinks that wine is cured of quartan fever. A cup made from a bear's brain, given as a drink from the bear's own skull, is said to induce a kind of bear-madness — the drinker believes himself turned into a bear, perceives everything he sees as though seen by a bear, and stays in that state until the cup's effect wears off, with no other lasting harm to his health.
Editorial flags — draft status
- lacuna: Opening word(s) lost to dropcap damage before 'nunc vero narrabo quaedam veneficia' — marked [†...] at chapter start.
- verse: Lines 'Hinc demum hippomanes...Miscentes herbas, et non innoxia verba' — Vergil, Georgics 3 (hippomanes / mare's love-frenzy discharge, used in stepmothers' potions). OCR of verse unreliable; kept as OCR lines in latin, prose-summarized in close/modern per spec rule 2.
- verse: Lines 'Hippomanes carmenque loquar, coctumque venenum / Privigno datum' — Juvenal, Satires 6 (the stepmother poisoning her stepson with hippomanes). Prose-summarized per spec rule 2.
- list: Extensive catalog of sorcery-substances and their properties (menstrual blood, hippomanes, hyaena parts, basilisk blood, dog parts, toad bones, iron from an execution, etc.) — translated as legible but flagged per spec rule 3 for verification against page images, since misattributed virtues/materials are the highest-risk error type in this material.
- uncertain: The Apollonius/Prometheus-herb passage and the Saxo Grammaticus/Frotho anecdote are prose narration (not verse) in the source and were translated in full rather than summarized.