Note 173 — Chapter VIII

"Quid tua interest quod quatuor verba adjecerim? an hoc tantum crimen est! quid facerem absens absenti?" Cardan writes on in meditative strain: "Cœterum cum non ignorem maculatos fuisse codices B. Hieronimi, atque aliorum patrum nostrorum, ab his qui aliter sentiebant, erroremque suum auctoritate viri tegere voluerunt: ut ne quis in nostris operibus hallucinetur vel ab aliis decipiatur, sciant omnes me nullibi Theologum agere, nec velle in alienam messem falcem ponere."—Opera, tom. i. p. 112.

Johannes Wierus, one of the first rationalists on the subject of witchcraft, has quoted largely from Chapter LXXX of De Varietate in his book De Præstigiis Dæmonum, in urging his case against the orthodox view.