ETRUSCAN ROMAN REMAINS


10     INTRODUCTION.

and could recall nothing relating to witchcraft, she became scornful, andthen excited, exclaiming:–

"And how should such a stupid fool, who is afraid of the priests and saints, know anything? I call myself a Catholic––oh, yes–and I wear a medal to prove it"–here she, in excitement, pulled from herbosom a saint's medal–"but I believe in none of it all. You know what I believe."
"Si ; la vecchia religione" ("the old faith"), I answered, by which faith I meant that strange, diluted old Etrusco-Roman sorcery which is set forth in this book. Magic was her real religion.
Much of this magic is mixed up with Catholic rites and saints, but these in their turn were very often of heathen origin. Some saints such as Antony, Simeon, and Elisha, appear as absolutely sorcerers or goblins, and are addressed with ancient heathen ceremonies in cellars with magical incantations. The belief in folletti, a generic term for goblins, and other familiar spirits, has not sunk as yet to the "fairy-tale" level of beings only mentioned for entertainment–as in Grimm's Tales–they enter into popular belief as a part of the religion, and are invoked ingood faith. There is actually in Tuscany a culture or worship of fetishes which are not Catholic, i.e., of strange stones and manycurious relics.

But there is, withal, as I have remarked, a great deal of mystery and secrecy observed in all this cult. It has its professors: men, but mostly women, who collect charms and spells, and teach them to one another, and hold meetings; that is, there is a kind of college of witches and wizards,which, for many good reasons, eludes observation. It was my chance to become acquainted in Florence with the fortune-teller referred to, who was initiated in these secrets, and whose memory was stocked to an extraordinary and exceptional degree with not only magical formulas but songs and tales. Such familiarity with folk-lore and sorcery as I possess, resultedin confidence–the end being that I succeeded in penetrating this obscure and strange forest inhabited by witches and shadows, faded gods andforgotten goblins of the olden time, where folk-lore of every kind abounded to such excess that, as this book shows, I in time had more thereof than I could publish. To do this I went to strange places and made strange acquaintance, so that if the reader will kindly imagine something much out of common life, and often wild and really weird–i.e., prophetic–when fortune-telling was on the cards, as the dramatic accompaniment of every charm and legend in this book, he will but do it justice. To collect volumes of folk-lore among very reticent Red Indians, and reserved Romanys is not unknown to me, but the extracting witchcraft from Italian strege far surpasses it. "I too was among the shadows."

There are many people, even Italians, who will say, "It is very remarkable


INTRODUCTION.     11

that we never heard of any association of witches nor met with anyof all this mythology or lore–we who know the people so well." Just the same might have been said of almost every respectable white native of Philadelphia when I was there a few years ago, as to the Voodoo sorcerers, who, silent and unseen, conjured and worked in darkness among the coloured people of that city. What did any of us know about even our own black servants in their homes? And the class which corresponds to the Voodoo acts in Tuscany, in opposition–unlike the American–to a powerful national religion which till of late ruled by the strong hand, and it fears everybody.

The extraordinary tenacity and earnestness with which the peasant Tuscanshave clung to these fragments of their old faith is quite in accordance with their ancient character. LIVY said of them they were "a race which excelled all in devotion to religious rites and in the art of cultivating them" (v.1.6). But as KARL OTTFRIED MÜLLER remarks in Die Etrusker–a work which has been of great use to me–"while the Greeks expressed their religious feelings with bold ness in varied forms … the Tusker (Tuscans) blended them in the most intimate manner with every domestic practical interest. Tuscan divination was consequently themost characteristic trait of the nation and the Hauptpunkt, or beginning of their intellectual action and education." And this spirit still survives. Among all the wars and convulsions of Italy the peasants of Tuscany have remained the same race. Englishmen and Frenchmen arethe result of modern mixtures of peoples, but the Italians, like HAWTHORNE'S Marble Faun, are absolutely ancient, if not prehistoric. There are families in Italy who find their family names in Etrurian monuments on their estates. And CICERO, TACITUS, LIVY, VIRGIL, and many more, testify that all their divination and religious observances were drawn from and based on Etruscan authority. "This," says MÜLLER, "was shared by the common people. There were in Italy schools, like those of the Jewish prophets and Gallic Druids, in which the system was thoroughly taught." And there is the last relic of these still existing among the Tuscan "witches." In later times the Chaldæan sorcerers took the upper hand in Rome with their astrology, but the Etruscan augures were still authorities, so late as the fifth century, A.D., since they were consulted at the birth of CLAUDIUS. In 408, they protected Narnia by invoking lightning against the Goths (MÜLLER).

The Etruscan books of magic were common among the Romans. In Cicero's time (Cic. de Div. i. 33), there were many of them. I have been assured that there is in existence a manuscript collection of charms and spells such as are now in use–in fact it was promised me as a gift, but I have not succeeded in obtaining it. I have, however, a large MS. of this kind which was written for me from collection


12     INTRODUCTION.

and memory, which I have used in writing this book. It is true that all I have is only the last sparks, or dead ashes, and coals of the ancient fire, but it is worth something.

I have freely illustrated my collection with instances drawn from reading, and have added to it certain tales, or stories, which have very curiousconnections with classic lore and superstitions. There are also a few records of certain plants, showing how the belief that many herbs and flowers have an indwelling fairy, and are in fact fairies themselves, still survives, with a degree of personification which has long since disappeared in most other European countries. There has been much collection of plant-lore of late years by many writers, but I am not aware that any one has observed this faith in the plant itself as a creature with a soul.

There is the same superstition as regards minerals, the reason being verycurious. For there are in the earth deep mysteries; the earth-worm and mole are full of them because the foot of the sorcerer passes over them, and gives power, the salagrana, or stalagmite, and different metallic ores are really holy, from being subterranean, and yet sparkling with hidden occult light when broken they meet the sun; and plants which send their roots deep down into the earth draw from it mystic force which takes varied magic forms according to their nature when brought up into light and air. Owing to the inability of my informant to express herself clearly, I had difficulty for a long time in understanding this properly chthonic theory; when I did master it, I was struck by its Paracelsian character–this belief in a "geomantic force" which Chinese recognise as Fengshui.

Should the reader be astonished at the number of incantations which occurin this work, I would remind him that among the peasantry in Italy, but especially in the Tuscan Romagna there is, or has been, till of late years, some formula of the kind uttered for almost every conceivable event inlife. And this is perhaps a proof of their antiquity. PRELLER, in his Roman Mythology, speaks as follows on this subject :–

"The belief in a fate in every form conceivable, such as Fortuna, the goddess of destiny, oracles, and all varieties of divination, was always very active in Italy, especially in divine omens, warnings, forebodings which developed themselves in the most varied phases and kinds, and itresulted in Rome in such a mass of marvels and superstitions running into every possible shape, as never was heard of in such a high stage of civilisation."

For every one of these fancies there was an incantation : if salt upset they said, "Dii avertite omen! " But the great source of it all was Etruria, from which the Romans derived the laws of their religion–that is to say, a divination which had a spell for almost everything which the heart of man could conceive. And it was from Etrurian Tuscany thatI took these spells, which, by comparison with those which remain from Roman times, all bear unmistakable marks of antiquity.


INTRODUCTION.     13

I would also observe that though I have spoken of these sorceries and superstitions as passing away rapidly, they are very far from having disappeared. While I was writing the foregoing, that is to say, on the second day of March, 1891, there was going on in Milan one of the most serious outbursts of a mob which had occurred for years. It being believed that a child had been bewitched by a certain woman, the populace in wrath pursuedthe sorceress with much abuse into a church. The details of this outrage, which occupy a column in the Secolo of April 3 and 4, 1891, will be given in the following pages. Milan, be it remembered, is "far away" the least superstitious city in Italy, and much in advance of Florence as regards such matters, while Florence is as light to darkness compared to the Romagna.

Since the manuscript of this work was put in my publisher's hands something has occurred which should properly have found an earlier place in thisPreface. It is this: Some years ago I published a work on the Algonkin Legends of New England. Within a few months a contributor to the English Folk-Lore Journal has made a remark to the effect that he had always doubted the authenticity of these Legends, while another has said in The American Folk-Lore Journal that Mr. Leland is throughout inaccurate when reporting what Indians had told him. This last writer had gone to the same tribe, though probably to other Indians, and taken down with a phonograph, in the original Indian tongue, the same tales. His contribution consists in a measure of comments on my stories, whichdo not suffer in the least by his subsequent collection.

When I began to collect those Indian legends, all that I knew of them wasthat a Catholic missionary, who had lived many years among the Penobscotor Passamaquoddy tribes, had succeeded in getting only one story, so reticent were the Indians towards white men regarding their myths. During an entire summer, I was very intimate and confidential with a very intelligent Abenaki, or Saint Francis, Indian, who, as he spoke and wrote well both French and English, might be supposed to have been superior to vulgarprejudice. I endeavoured constantly–sometimes by artful wiles or chance remarks–to draw from him something like a legend, but he constantly declared that he did not know one, or anything relating to old beliefs, and that all had long since perished. There was also a jolly old Indian woman, one of the same tribe, who told fortunes by cards, and she sang the same song. A year after I succeeded better with Tomah or Tomaquah, a Passamaquoddy, who not only related to and collected for me a vast number of remarkable legends, myths, and folk-lore items of all kinds, but who told me that my two Abenaki friends were noted repositories or livingchronicles of such learning. As for the authenticity of the legends, there is hardly one


14     INTRODUCTION.

which has not its close parallel, in some particulars at least, in the MS. folio of Mic Mac legends, collected by Rev. S. Rand, or among the cognate Chippeway records–of Schoolcraft and Kohl. As for accuracy, the pioneer who first makes his way into such a jungle, or cane-brake, has enough to do to keep the twigs out of his eyes and clear away the brush, without thinking of leaving a macadamised road for his followers.

After I had made a beginning, the Indians, finding that one or another had let out a cat, or told a legend, and also that the telling thereof was productive of dollars and tobacco and pounds of tea, did somewhat abate their ancient reticence, and the path having been cleared, several followers walked in it–among others the gentleman with the phonograph, who,as is usual, grumbled at the road. It was easy enough to collect stories then, and to detect inaccuracies in the first reported.

But the difficulties which I had in collecting Red Indian legends were but an inch of pin-wire compared to a crowbar with what I had to encounter in gathering these Italian relics. Very recently, as I write, I told my chief authority that I expected to publish all these accounts of spirits, tales, and conjurations in a book, and that if there was aught in it not perfectly authentic that I should incur un gran disgrazia.To which she with some excitement replied:–

"Signore, you know very well how difficult it has been for you to gather all this. I do not believe that any other signore in Italy could collectit among the people. For all the strange things of antiquity which you seek are mostly known only in a very few families, or to some old people or witches who are mortally afraid of the priests, and who are very timid, and conceal everything from their betters. And then there is the much greater number of those who really believe that when a learned man asks them for such things that he himself is a stregone, or wizard–oh, the people are very superstitious and fearful as to that! And you must remember that, as regards what I have told you, I have hadto go about among old people, and question many, and have been often seeking for weeks and months before I could answer many of your questions."

To which she might have added that much was only half-recollected or jumbled up, or, worse than all, restored by lively Italian minds gifted with the fatal gift of improvisation, as, for instance, when a sorceress retains only the idea or general features of an incantation, but proceeds to utter it boldly, believing that it is "about the thing." And bearing in mind what has been said in reputable journals of my work on Algonkin Legends, every fraction of which was honestly given from good authorities, every one of which I named, I would here declare that I received everything in this book from Italians who declared that all had


INTRODUCTION.     15

been derived from tradition, and that where it was possible–which was often not the case–I verified this as well as I could. But as regards possible imposture, or error, or lies, or mistakes, I hold myself responsible for nothing whatever, limiting everything to this simple fact-that I very accurately recorded what was told me by others. I believe that the names of the old Etruscan gods, as I have given them, still exist, because "Peppino" actually, with much trouble, verified them from the memories of old people, and if he, a contadino, and one of themselves, had to complain that he elicited this information with great trouble, because it was forbidden knowledge, and "accursed by the priests," it may be inferred how hard it would be for a superior to obtain it. As for theincantations, or aught else–bearing in mind the criticisms which I have received–I utterly disclaim all responsibility, and wash my hands clear of the whole concern, saving and except this, that I myself believe–unconscious errors excepted–that it is all honest, earnest,and true. In the main I propose it as a guide to be followed by other and more learned or better qualified scholars and seekers, who may correctits errors, only begging them to do so in civil language, and not accuseme directly or indirectly of recklessness or untruthfulness or carelessness.

And a nice time they will have of it if they walk the ways which I have walked, in the paths which I have trod. I have just heard that one old woman who is several times cited as authority in this book has died in a den of infamy, and that on the day of her decease¹ her son, who had been doing three years for a murder, "in the heat of passion," left prison.There has always been a dread sense of the existence of a Prefect and the police hovering like a dark shadow over me while pursuing my researchesamong my Etruscan friends; to them, unfortunately, these powers that be occasionally assumed a far more tangible form, and even the best and mostrespectable among them was once cited before the former, only escaping durance vile by a fine, which is recorded in my diary as "Expenses in collecting Folk-Lore." Feliciter evasit–and to this escape the recovery of three lost Etruscan gods is truly due! There are records of several great works written in consequence of their authors having been in prison–this portion of my book is; I

¹ The manner of her death was characteristic, as described to me by another. "She was all her life a very wicked old woman, believing nothing, and she died in extreme sin because she would hear nothing of priest orprayer; and what was more, had all my biancheria (underclothing),which I had asked her to keep, but which she would not return, and so I lost it utterly. And the night she died there was another old woman watching by her, and the other one fell asleep. After a while she was awakenedby Something on her chest, and thinking it was the little dog, grasped it and cast it from her, and slept again. And it came again, and this time, still thinking it was the old woman's little dog, searched all the roomclosely for it, but found nothing. And going to the bed she found that the old woman was dead. And it was her soul which had awakened the one sleeping." "Did she die a witch?" "Sicuro–certainly."


16     INTRODUCTION.

believe the only literary labour described which was due to the author's keeping out of the penitentiary, which–it must be candidly admitted–is a much cleverer and far more difficult feat.

That there are a few decent Italians who know something of this witch-lore is proved, for instance, by the shoemaker to whom I owe the legends of Ra and Bovo. But the sorceries, and all relating to them, are chiefly inthe hands of "witches," who tell fortunes and prepare spells and charms,and who, far from being desirous of fame, or "greedy for glory as authority," rather shrink from celebrity, albeit from no marked sense of modestmerit, but rather from a vivid sense of justice–that is, of the manner in which it may be meted out unto them. Therefore I, in this book, have made no great parade of my authorities. Something of this may be due to the fact that, as chief of the English gypsies––or at least as President of the English Gypsy-Lore Society, which amounts to the samething–I have a natural proclivity for ways that are dark and low society, et cetera; –it may be so, the spell was wrought by other hands than mine–but so far as I know, this manner of Folk-Lore cometh not from going among a poor but virtuous peasantry, or by collecting penny broadsides, or walking in the paths of grace according to the handbooks of criticism.


  I bring you not the metal, but rude ore;
I gathered as I knew–what would you more?
 


Now, to meet all queries from critics, I declare distinctly that, as regards all authenticity, I am one with the man of the tale told by Panurge in the Chronicles of Rabelais. This worthy, who was a beggar in Paris, went about with two little girls in panniers, one hung before and the otherbehind him. And he being asked if they were truly maids, replied, "As for the one whom I carry in front, I am not sure, but I incline to believethat she really is what you inquire; but as for the one behind, of her Iwill assert nothing." So I declare that, as for the names of the Etruscan gods which I have given in front, I believe they are authentic, but donot swear to it; while as for all the rest, I affirm nothing. If all the bishops in England had sworn to it, somebody would have denied it; and those from whom I obtained it were not even bishops' daughters, albeit they may have been those of priests.

For there has sprung up of late years a decided tendency in critics to utterly condemn books, no matter how valuable they may be, for smallfaults or defects, just as a friend of mine treated all the vast mass oflearning and ingenious observation in the works of De Gubernatis as worthless trash, because the Count has carried the Solar Myth too far. To all such I can only say that they need


INTRODUCTION.     17

read no further in this work of mine, for it is not written for them, norby their standard, nor to suit their ideas. It is simply the setting down of a quantity of strange lore as given by certain old women, living ordead (among which latter I class divers deceased antiquaries)–and further than this the deponent sayeth not.

The moral of all which is that if a work like the Algonkin Legends, whichis very accurate in all save, perhaps, in a few very trivial details, and whose absolute truth is confirmed by a thunder-cloud of witnesses, can be openly accused in the two leading Folk-Lore journals of Englandand America of sinning in these respects, what may not be alleged or said of this, which was compiled, collected, and corrected under circumstances where I had, so to speak, to feel my way in the lurid fog of a sorcerers' sabbat in a bewildering, strangely scented "witch-aura," misled ever and anon by goblins' mocking cries, the tittering cheeping of bats on the wing, the hoots of owls–yea, and the rocking of the earth itself–as the text abundantly witnesseth, seeing how often I init go blindly feeling my way from the corner of one ruined conjecture toanother, ever apprehending that I have found a mare's-nest–or, moreproperly, that of a nightmare of the most evasive kind? Now, as it is no light thing to be accused in high places before the world of folly and falsehood, when the author has done his work with very careful honesty, it may well be understood that as "the combusted infant manifests apprehension of the igneous element," so I, knowing very well that a craftyItalian is not in the same boat with an "honest Injun," naturally take precautions against the captious critic by admitting all possible imperfections. To which there will be others of these noble souls to cry,"Qui s'excuse, s'accuse." Certainly there will be, as ever.


  Ah well, and let them cry it an they will!
There never yet was castle built so fair,
So strong, or deeply founded, but some thief
Or petty spy did worm his way therein.
 






Title Page / Table of Contents / List of Illustrations /

Introduction / Introduction Part 2 /

Turn to Page / 18-30 / 31-43 / 44-60 / 61-75 / 76-90 / 91-104 / 105-118 /
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Index / Acor-Dion / Dion-Invo / Invo-Orph / Ovid-Tour / Tozz-Zumi /

Moon Magic
O:.B:.C:. Index / History / Essays & Articles / Spirit Visions / Research & Theories / The Ways & Teachings / Initiation O:.B:.C:. / The Elements / Traditional Ritual / Sacred Text /

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