# An Examen of Witches/Chapter 61

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Chapter LXI.
If One Accused of Witchcraft be but Found Guilty of Assisting at the Sabbat, even though he has done no other Ill, the Secular Judge may Pass Sentence of Death upon Him.
The second question is this: whether, when he who is accused of witchcraft is found guilty only of having been to the Sabbat, without being charged with any act of witchcraft, the Secular Judge may pass sentence of death upon him. I discussed the former question ​because once, in my absence, the Holy Communion had been given to some who were detained in our prisons for this crime, so that I supposed that the same may have been done elsewhere. And now I deal with this second question because I know of Judges and Advocates so scrupulous that, when it appears that the accused has only been to the Sabbat, without having worked any witchcraft, they would send him back to the Ecclesiastical Court without sentencing him to death.
Abbas, c. 1. nu. 3. 4. de Sortileg. sul. Clarus referens Nunium de communi attestantem lib. 5. § hæresis num. 25.But I am of quite another mind. For since, as all the Doctors, both Canonical and legal, are agreed, the Crime of witchcraft is equally the concern of the Ecclesiastical and the Secular Courts, it follows that the trials of witches can be conducted by the Secular Judge even in the first place, as Julius Clarus says. This procedure is observed in France just as it is in this country, as I have noted in my Instruction.
Art. 1.Moreover, it cannot be denied that he who is present at the Sabbat, and dances there, and makes the customary offerings, is a witch, even though there is no evidence that he has practised witchcraft; for he could not be at the Sabbat but for his pact and intimacy with the Devil.
It remains, therefore, to discuss whether such a witch ought to be punished with death. I maintain that he should, and it is easy for me to support this view with several particular reasons, without delaying over the general provisions in this matter made by the Law of God and the Constitutions of the Emperors.Deut. 18. Tototit. de malefic. et mathematic. C. But I speak of those who have confessed that they have formed a pact with the Devil, and have afterwards been ​to the Sabbat, even if it is only once; or of those who, without confessing to the pact, admit that they have been twice or oftener to the witches’ assembly. There are also those who have at times found themselves accidentally, or out of curiosity, at the Sabbat: such must be judged quite differently. For some are free from guilt or deceit, and some are quite innocent: yet I think that even these last are deserving of some punishment, or at least some fine, seeing that their curiosity has evil consequences or, as the Jurisconsult says, is an evil example. It must always be understood that what I have said concerning such persons is conditional upon their having in no way acquiesced in the deeds of Satan or his subjects. But as for those who have confessed that they have formed a pact with Satan and have been to the Sabbat afterwards, or those who have been to the Sabbat twice, without confessing to the pact, there is no doubt that they all deserve death. I see no distinction between these last. For it is certain that those who go more than once to the Sabbat must have entered into some agreement with Satan, whether it be expressed or tacit, and that they conduct themselves in the same way as the other witches; for the Devil compels them to do so, even if they do not at once do it of their own volition. Covar. c. quam vis part 3. § si. nu. 6. Pinel. 1. 2. de rescind. venditio. Part 3. c. 1 nu. 36.This is quite clearly apparent from the daily trials of witches. Furthermore, the repetition of such acts is a clear proof of consent on the part or those who commit them.
Passing, then, to my reasons, I say in the first place that the pact of which we have just spoken is enough to condemn a witch to death, if it be ​considered that God expressly forbids us on pain of death to hold any communication with Satan or his subjects.Levit. 20. Deut. 18. But let us see of what this pact consists. The witch renounces God, Chrism, Baptism, and his part in Paradise: he gives himself to Satan and takes him for his sole master, and swears to him never to speak of God or the Virgin Mary or the Saints of Heaven, except in mockery and derision. What does all this prove but his Idolatry, his Apostasy, his Paganism, and his Atheism? And these are all crimes worthy of death, even in the case of one who, at his Baptism and for long after, has made a profession of Christianity. I say that the first pact of the witch with Satan shows his Idolatry, because he turns from the Creator to the creature; his Apostasy, because he bankrupts himself of his first and true religion and his first Baptism to hurl himself into a sea of superstitions; his Paganism, because he undertakes to serve and worship devils as true Gods; his Atheism, because the first three crimes easily lead to Atheism, especially the last, which is to serve and worship many devils as gods, since Polytheism is the same thing as Atheism.
Let us again set forth more particularly how a witch who makes this pact with Satan is worthy of death.
He renounces and deserts God, to turn to the Devil: a crime which God punishes with death,Deut. 13 & 18. so that He commands us not to spare the false prophets who turn the people from Him.
The witch further promises not to speak of God save in mockery and derision. Levit. 24.And yet God wills that he who has pronounced His Name in mockery or has blasphemed It shall be stoned; ​and the constitutions of the Emperors likewise punish this crime with death.
Again, let us consider what happens after the formation of this pact. Satan, binding those who have thus leagued with him, makes them go to the Sabbat where they worship the Devil, who sometimes appears as a man, sometimes as a goat;In auth. ut non luxur. contr. natur. sub. fin. and they offer him candles, and kiss him, some on the shoulder, some on the shameful parts. Now who does not know that this crime is altogether abominable and worthy of death in the sight of God? c. 32.For in Jeremiah He swears that He will punish with fire and the sword the town which has sacrificed to Baal and other strange gods. Exod. 20. Deut. 13. 27. Exod. 32.And in another place He commands that he who worships any other God but Him shall be put to death. This was indeed put into practice against the children of Israel; for at one time there died about twenty-three thousand who had worshipped the Golden Calf, Num. 25.and at another time twenty-four thousand who had sacrificed to Baal-phegor.
Again, when at the Sabbat, witches eat and feast with Satan. This is another crime worthy of death, since it is a capital crime merely to associate with Satan, as we have shown already. This may be more clearly proved by the example of the prophet spoken of in the Book of Kings,I Kings 13. who was slain by a lion for having eaten and drunk in Samaria against the commandment of God.
Finally, witches couple with Satan, who becomes a man for the women, and a woman for the men; and he usually couples with the women in the form of some beast, such as a goat or some such animal. This is a third crime no less ​worthy of death than the other two; Exod. 34. Deut. 7.seeing that God so abhors the copulation of the faithful with an infidel that He put to death twenty-four thousand Israelites because they had fornicated with the daughters of Moab;Num. 25. and greatly praised Phinees and rewarded him. But what are we to think when the Devil, in the form of a goat or some other beast, couples with witches, as there is no doubt that he does at the Sabbat? Is not this act worthy of death? Levit. 20. Deut. 23. Can. mulier. 15. q. 1. Pap. tit. 7. arrest. 1. lib. 22.The Law of God is very clear, which says that not only the man, but the beast too shall be put to death. This is also in accordance with what Boere and Papon say on the subject.
These, therefore, are my reasons for maintaining that those whom we have described in this chapter are worthy of death, and that they can be so punished by the Secular Judge without any need to refer them back to their Ecclesiastical Judge.
And if it is objected that, when the accused does not confess to the pact or the adoration or the banquets and couplings, he cannot be condemned for these actions, provided that there is no accomplice who accuses him of them: I answer that I have already said all that need be said with reference to the pact; and as for the adorations and banquets and couplings, we must admit them as soon as we have admitted the fact that the accused has been to the Sabbat two or three times.
Further, in all trials of witches it is made clear that, at their first, or at least their second, visit to the Sabbat they worship Satan and feast and couple with him. This is amply proved by what I have already written in several chapters. For ​the Evil One most often has carnal relations with the women the first time he approaches them; as it happened to Thievenne Paget, Antide Colas and others whom we have mentioned.
It stands to reason that, in such trials, we are chiefly faced with matters done secretly and at night, which are not capable of proof save through the mouths of those who have been present at the Sabbat. And therefore, according to common law, in the case of such a horrible and secret crime a less absolute proof is sufficient.Qua de re per Mascard. de probatio coclus. 1313. num. 2, etc., vol. 3. Moreover, it is necessary to assume that usual crime has been committed, and to act accordingly.
L. Nam ad ea de legib.Further, I dare to say that it is probable that those of whom we are speaking have beaten the water together with the others at the Sabbat in order to cause it to hail, and have like them taken the powder and the ointment which Satan gives them to use for causing the death of persons and cattle, or for making them ill; and I cannot doubt that they do so. For it is certain that Satan, who only seeks their ruin and that of the whole human race, continually urges and incites them to do evil; and this the witches all unanimously confess.