n, at last, he had elbowed his way through them, he found his
book open, and the student lying dead upon the floor. He saw immediately
how the mischief had been done; and dismissing all the inferior imps,
asked the principal demon how he could have been so rash as to kill the
young man. The demon replied, that he had been needlessly invoked by an
insulting youth, and could do no less than kill him for his presumption.
Agrippa reprimanded him severely, and ordered him immediately to reanimate
the dead body, and walk about with it in the market-place for the whole of
the afternoon. The demon did so; the student revived, and putting his arm
through that of his unearthly murderer, walked very lovingly with him in
sight of all the people. At sunset, the body fell down again, cold and
lifeless as before, and was carried by the crowd to the hospital, it being
the general opinion that he had expired in a fit of apoplexy. His
conductor immediately disappeared. When the body was examined, marks of
strangulation were found on the neck, and prints of the long claws of the
demon on various parts of it. These appearances, together with a story,
which soon obtained currency, that the companion of the young man had
vanished in a cloud of flame and smoke, opened people's eyes to the truth.
The magistrates of Louvain instituted inquiries, and the result was, that
Agrippa was obliged to quit the town.
Other authors besides Delrio relate similar stories of this philosopher.
The world in those days was always willing enough to believe in tales of
magic and sorcery; and when, as in Agrippa's case, the alleged magician
gave himself out for such, and claimed credit for the wonders he worked,
it is not surprising that the age should have allowed his pretensions. It
was dangerous boasting, which sometimes led to the stake or the gallows,
and therefore was thought to be not without foundation. Paulus Jovius, in
his _Eulogia Doctorum Virorum_, says, that the devil, in the shape of a
large black dog, attended Agrippa wherever he went. Thomas Nash, in his
_Adventures of Jack Wilton_, relates, that, at the request of Lord Surrey,
Erasmus, and some other learned men, Agrippa called up from the grave many
of the great philosophers of antiquity; among others, Tully, whom he
caused to re-deliver his celebrated oration for Roscius. He also shewed
Lord Surrey, when in Germany, an exact resemblance in a glass of his
mistress, the fair Geraldine. She was repr
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