The
most innocuous of their charms was to make a heart of glowing ashes,
and then to pierce it while singing:
'Prima che'l fuoco spenghi,
Fa ch'a mia porta venghi;
Tal ti punga mio amore
Quale io fo questo cuore.'
There were other charms practiced by moonshine, with drawings on the
ground, and figures of wax or bronze, which doubtless represented the
lover, and were treated according to circumstances.
These things were so customary that a woman who, without youth and
beauty, nevertheless exercised a powerful charm on men, naturally
became suspected of witchcraft. The mother of Sanga, secretary to
Clement VII, poisoned her son's mistress, who was a woman of this kind.
Unfortunately the son died too, as well as a party of friends who had
eaten of the poisoned salad.
Next comes, not as helper, but as competitor to the witch, the magician
or enchanter--'incantatore'--who was still more familiar with the most
perilous business of the craft. Sometimes he was as much or more of an
astrologer than of a magician; he probably often gave himself out as an
astrologer in order not to be prosecuted as a magician, and a certain
astrology was essential in order to find out the favourable hour for a
magical process. But since many spirits are good or indifferent, the
magician could sometimes maintain a very tolerable reputation, and
Sixtus IV, in the year 1474, had to proceed expressly against some
Bolognese Carmelites, who asserted in the pulpit that there was no harm
in seeking information from the demons.
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