Latin — 1533, repaired
Passiones animae quae phantasiam sequuntur, quando vehementissimae sunt, non solum possunt immutare corpus proprium, verum etiam possunt transcendere ad operandum in corpus alienum, ita, quod admirabiles quaedam impressiones inde producantur in elementis et rebus extrinsecis, atque etiam morbos quosdam animi sive corporis sic possent auferre vel inferre: nam passiones animae sunt potissima causa temperamenti corporis proprii. Sic anima fortiter elevata et vehementi imaginatione accensa, immittit sanitatem vel aegritudinem, non solum in corpore proprio, sed etiam in corporibus alienis. Sic putat Avicenna, quod ad imaginationem alicuius cadat camelus. Sic qui morsus a cane rabido in rabiem incidit, apparent in urina eius figurae canum. Sic praegnantis mulieris cupiditas in corpus alienum agit, quando inficit fetum in alvo, rei desideratae nota. Sic multas monstrosas generationes producit ex monstrosis praegnantium imaginationibus, ceu quale refert Marcus Damascenus apud Petram sanctam, oppidum in Pisanis confinibus situm. Carolo Boemiae regi et Imperatori oblatam puellam, toto corpore ferae instar hirsutam et villosam, quam mater religioso quodam horrore, in imaginem divi Ioannis Baptistae quae ad lectulum erat, dum conciperet affecta, talem postea progeneravit. Atque id non solum in hominibus, sed etiam in brutis animalibus fieri persaepe testamur. Sic legimus Iacobum patriarcham, virgis in aqua proiectis, discolorasse oves Laban. Sic pavones et aliarum volucrum cubantium imaginariae vires penis colore imprimunt: unde et albos producimus pavones, cubantium habitacula albis linteis circumpendentes.
Iamque his exemplis patet, quomodo phantasiae affectus, ubi vehementius se intenderint, non modo corpus proprium, sed et alienum afficiunt. Sic etiam maleficorum nocendi cupiditas, fixis obtutibus, perniciosissime homines fascinat. Assentiunt istis Avicenna, Aristoteles, Algazel et Galenus. Manifestum enim est, corpus a vapore alterius corporis morbidi facillime infici, quod in peste et lepra palam videmus. Rursus in vaporibus oculorum tanta vis est, quod possunt proximum fascinare atque inficere, sicut regulus et catoblepas aspectu suo homines interimunt: et feminae quaedam in Scythia, apud Illyricos et Triballos, quem irate aspexerant, interimebant. Nemo ergo miretur corpus atque animam unius, ab animo alterius posse similiter affici, cum sit animus longe potentior, fortior, ferventior, motuque valentior, quam vapores ex corporibus exhalantes: nec etiam desunt media, per quae operetur: neque praeterea minus subiicitur corpus alieno animo, quam alieno corpori. Hoc modo ferunt hominem, solo affectu atque habitu, agere in alterum. Ideoque praecipiunt philosophi, consortium malorum atque infoelicium hominum procul fugiendum, horum siquidem anima noxiorum plena radiorum, calamitosa contagione propinquos inficit: contra, bonorum ac foelicium consortia praecipiunt appetenda, quoniam sua propinquitate multum nobis prosunt.
Sicut enim odor ex asa foetida, vel musco: sic ex malo mali, et ex bono boni, aliquid prosilit in proximum, ac diu quandoque perseverat infusum. Nunc vero si passiones supradictae tantam vim habent in phantasia, certe maiorem habent in ratione, quatenus ia ratio ipsa, phantasia est excellentior. Multo denique maiorem in mente: hic enim quando ad beneficium aliquod, tota animi intentione erga superos defigitur, saepe corpus tam proprium quam alienum, usu circa quod est affecta, divino aliquo munere afficit. Hoc modo legimus ab Apollonio, Pythagora, Empedocle, Philolao multisque prophetis, et etiam nostrae religionis sanctis, miracula facta fuisse. De his latius patebit inferius, ubi de religione differemus.
Close translation
The passions of the soul that follow imagination, when they are most vehement, can not only alter one's own body, but can even pass beyond it to act upon another's body, so that certain marvelous impressions are thereby produced in the elements and in things outside oneself, and so that they can likewise remove or bring on certain sicknesses of mind or body: for the passions of the soul are the chief cause of the temperament of one's own body. Thus a soul strongly roused and kindled by vehement imagination sends forth health or sickness, not only into its own body, but also into the bodies of others. Thus Avicenna holds that a camel can fall down through someone's imagination directed at it. Thus in one bitten by a rabid dog and fallen into rabies, the shapes of dogs appear in his urine. Thus the desire of a pregnant woman acts upon another body, when it marks the fetus in the womb with the sign of the thing desired. Thus it produces many monstrous births out of the monstrous imaginings of pregnant women, as, for instance, Marcus Damascenus relates concerning a case near Petra Santa, a town situated on the borders of Pisa. A girl was presented to Charles, King of Bohemia and Emperor, hairy and shaggy over her whole body like a wild beast, because her mother, affected with a certain religious dread, at the image of Saint John the Baptist that stood by her bed while she conceived, afterward bore such a child. And we attest that this happens not only in humans, but very often in brute animals as well. Thus we read that the patriarch Jacob, by casting rods into the water, made the sheep of Laban parti-colored. Thus in peacocks and other brooding birds, the imaginative power of the sitting bird imprints the color of the plumage: whence we produce white peacocks, by hanging white linens around the dwellings of the sitting birds.
And now by these examples it is plain how the affections of the imagination, when they strain themselves the more vehemently, affect not only one's own body, but another's as well. Thus too the desire of sorcerers to do harm, with fixed stares, most perniciously fascinates men. Avicenna, Aristotle, Algazel, and Galen agree with these views. For it is manifest that a body is very easily infected by the vapor of another, diseased body, as we plainly see in plague and leprosy. Again, there is such power in the vapors of the eyes, that they can fascinate and infect one nearby, just as the basilisk and the catoblepas kill men by their very gaze: and certain women in Scythia, among the Illyrians and Triballi, killed whomever they looked upon in anger. Let no one wonder, then, that the body and soul of one person can be similarly affected by the mind of another, since the mind is far more powerful, stronger, more ardent, and more forceful in motion than the vapors exhaling from bodies: nor, indeed, are means lacking through which it may operate: nor, moreover, is the body any less subject to another's mind than to another's body. In this way they say a man acts upon another by mere feeling and disposition alone. And therefore the philosophers advise fleeing far from the company of bad and unfortunate men, since the souls of such harmful people, being full of rays, infect those nearby with a calamitous contagion: on the contrary, they advise seeking out the company of the good and fortunate, since by their nearness they benefit us greatly.
For just as an odor from asafoetida, or from musk, so from an evil person something evil, and from a good person something good, leaps out toward the one nearby, and sometimes persists, once infused, for a long time. Now if the aforesaid passions have such great power upon imagination, certainly they have greater power upon reason, inasmuch as reason itself is more excellent than imagination. And greater still, finally, upon the mind: for here, when it is fixed with the whole intention of the soul upon some benefit from those above, it often affects a body, whether one's own or another's, with which it is engaged by use, with some divine gift. In this way we read that miracles were wrought by Apollonius, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Philolaus, and many prophets, and also by the saints of our own religion. Of these matters more will appear below, where we shall discuss religion.
Modern rendering
When the soul's passions follow imagination and run strong enough, they don't just change your own body — they can reach past it and act on someone else's body too, producing striking effects in the surrounding elements and world, and even removing or causing sicknesses of mind or body in another person. That's because the soul's passions are the main thing shaping the temperament of one's own body in the first place. A soul that's strongly stirred and set ablaze by intense imagination can send health or sickness not only into its own body but into other people's. Avicenna, for instance, holds that a camel can be made to collapse just by someone's imagination fixed on it. Someone bitten by a rabid dog and gone rabid ends up with the shapes of dogs showing up in his urine. A pregnant woman's craving reaches into another body — the fetus in her womb — marking it with a sign of the thing she craved. This is what produces many monstrous births, out of the monstrous imaginings of pregnant women — as Marcus Damascenus reports of a case near Petra Santa, a town on the border of Pisa: a girl was brought before Charles, King of Bohemia and Emperor, covered head to toe in hair like an animal, because her mother, gripped by a kind of religious dread at the image of Saint John the Baptist standing by her bed at the moment of conception, later bore a child marked the same way. And we can attest this happens not only in people but very often in animals too. Jacob the patriarch, by putting rods in the water trough, is said to have made Laban's sheep parti-colored. In the same way, the imagination of brooding peacocks and other birds stamps the color onto their plumage — which is how we breed white peacocks, by hanging white cloths around where they nest.
These examples show how imagination's effects, once strong enough, reach beyond one's own body into someone else's. This is also how sorcerers' desire to harm, through a fixed stare, does its worst damage to people — a view shared by Avicenna, Aristotle, Algazel, and Galen. It's obvious that a body is easily infected by the vapor given off by another sick body — we see this plainly with plague and leprosy. The vapors given off by the eyes carry similar force: they can fascinate and infect someone nearby, the way the basilisk and the catoblepas kill with a mere glance, or the way certain women in Scythia, among the Illyrians and Triballi, killed anyone they looked at in anger. So no one should be surprised that one person's body and soul can be affected the same way by another person's mind — since a mind is far more powerful, forceful, intense, and effective in its action than any vapor given off by a body, and the channels for it to act through are never lacking. A body is no less exposed to another person's mind than it is to another person's body. This is how, they say, a person can act on someone else through feeling and disposition alone. That's why philosophers advise steering well clear of the company of bad, unlucky people — their souls, full of harmful rays, infect anyone nearby through a kind of contagion. Conversely, they recommend seeking out the company of good, fortunate people, since their nearness does us a great deal of good.
Just as the smell of asafoetida or musk spreads to whoever's nearby, something of a bad person's badness, and a good person's goodness, leaps across to whoever's close by, and sometimes lingers a long while once absorbed. Now if these passions have this much power over the imagination, they have even more power over reason, since reason outranks imagination. And more still over the mind — because when the mind fixes its whole attention on some benefit from the powers above, it often channels some divine gift into a body — one's own or someone else's — through whatever it's engaged with. This is how Apollonius, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Philolaus, many prophets, and the saints of our own religion are said to have worked miracles. More on this below, when we discuss religion.
Editorial flags — draft status
- uncertain: Source name 'Marcus Damascenus' for the Pietrasanta monstrous-birth anecdote could not be confidently cross-checked against a known classical/medieval author; kept as printed rather than emended. Worth checking against page image and against parallel passages in later editions/translations of Agrippa (this anecdote also appears, with variant attributions, in period natural-philosophy literature on monstrous births).