Henry E. Sigerist 543 



accepta benedictione ab episcopo vel a sacerdote, det sibi cpiscopus vcl sacer- 

 dos hunc versum profeticum scriptum in carta: Vox domini super aquas, 

 dominus magnus super aquas multas."' Deinde veniant domum et a copula- 

 cione per tres dies et noctes se custodiant, postea rem agant et sic omnis dia- 

 bolica virtus destruitur. 



Expletus est libellus de maleficiis. Deo gracias amen. 



Translation 



A short treatise about the people who, impeded by spells, are unable to have 

 intercourse with their wives. 



There are people who, impeded by diabolical spells, are unable to have 

 intercourse with their wives. We do not want to deprive our book of their 

 applause, for the remedy, if I am not wrong, is most sacred. 



Now, if this shoidd happen to somebody, he must set his hope in the Lord 

 and He will be merciful. Since, however, there are many kinds of spells, it is 

 necessary that we discuss them. Some spells are made of animated substances 

 such as the testicles of a cock. If they are put under the bed with blood of the 

 cock, they bring it about that the people lying on the bed cannot have inter- 

 coiuse. Some are made of letters written with the blood of a bat. Some are 

 made of inanimate substances, for instance if a nut or an acorn is divided in 

 two, and one half is put on one side, the other on the other side, of the road 

 along which the bride and bridegroom must proceed. 



There are others also which are made from beans which are not softened 

 with hot water nor cooked on the fire. This spell is very bad if four such beans 

 are placed on the roof or on the road or over or under the door. 



There are others also which are of metal, such as those that are of iron or 

 lead, for instance, the iron ones made of the needle with which the dead men 

 or women have been sewn. And because these spells are devilish and are par- 

 ticularly in women, they are sometimes cured by divine, sometimes by htmnan 

 measures. 



If therefore bridegroom and bride are disturbed by the above-mentioned 

 spells, it is better to talk about them than to keep silent, for if the victims are 

 not succored they are separated and thus disgraced, and doing this evil they 

 seem to sin not only against their relatives but also against the Holy Ghost. 



If we wish to extirpate the spell properly, we must look out: if the above- 

 mentioned spell is under the bed, it must be removed. But if the author of this 

 spell removes it in daytime and puts il back at night or vice versa, then bride- 

 groom and bride must acquire another house and lie down there. 



If the spell is made of letters, which is recognized by the fact that bridegroom 

 and bride do not love each other, one must search above and under the thresh- 

 old of the door, and if something is found it must be taken to the bishop or 

 priest. If not, one must do what is indicated below. 



If a nut or an acorn are the cause of this spell, the woman shall take a nut 

 or an acorn and divide it in two. And with one half the man shall proceed on 



