WEEK 7. CLASSICS, MAGIC AND WITCHCRAFT IN RENAISSANCE EUROPE
Compulsory Reading:
1. Primary sources
-Plotinus, Enneads IV, 2, 11, 1-6 (Text 1)
-Augustine, City of God X, 9-11 (Text 2)
-Ficino, Argument to the Apology of Socrates (Text 3)
-Ficino, De Vita III (Chapter 1 and Apology) (Text 4)
2. Secondary sources
-A. Grafton et al. (eds.), The Classical Tradition, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 2010 (entries ‘Hermes Trimegistus and Hermetism’, ‘Astrology’,
‘Magic’, ‘Neoplatonism’)
Further Reading:
-Br. Copenhaver, A Tale of Two Fishes: Magical Objects in Natural History from
Antiquity through the Scientific Revolution, Journal of the History of Ideas 52/3
(1991), pp. 373-398
-S. Clark, Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe,
Oxford, 1997, Chapter 10 (‘Witchcraft and Science’), Chapter 14 (‘Natural Magic’),
Chapter 15 (‘Demonic Magic’) and Chapter 19 (‘Witchcraft and the Scientific
Revolution’).
-G. Luck, Theurgy and Forms of Worship in Neoplatonism, in Religion, Science, and
Magic in concert and in conflict, ed. by J. Neusner et al., New York-Oxford, pp. 185225.
- Ph. Merlan, Plotinus and Magic, Isis 44 (1953), pp. 341-348.
-D.P. Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic, Chapter 2 and Introduction to Part 2.
—, Iamblichus, Synesius and the Chaldean Oracles in Marsilio Ficino’s De Vita Libri
Tres : Hermetic Magic or Neoplatonic Magic ?, in J. Hankins, J. Monfasani et Fr.
Purnell (eds), Supplementum Festivum, New York, 1987, pp. 441-455.
-Fr. Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, London, 1964, Chapter 2
and Chapter 4.
3. Research Questions to prepare before the class:
-Who is Plotinus? What is his main argument in this short passage (role of the Soul?
What are these ‘statues’ he refers to?)
-What is theurgy? Which ancient authors used theurgy? What does Hermetism refer
to?
-What is the fundamental difference between pagan demons (or daemons) and
Christian demons?
-Identify the passages in the City of God where Augustine criticises theurgy. Why is
Augustine so sharply opposed to theurgy?
- In what way does Ficino’s position towards pagan demons differ from that of
Augustine, and why?