Diues [et] pauper

Caplm .xxi.

DIues. I haue often herde sayd that fendes in mannes lykenesse haue layen by wy∣men and made theym with childe. and that is wonderfull to me. For the fende is but a spyryte / and hath neyther flesshe ne bone / ne ony thyn∣ge of mankynde wherby y^t he sholde gendre with woman. ¶Pauper: The fende by suffraunce of god may sadde the ayer and make hym a bo∣dye of the ayer in what lykenesse god suffreth hym / in so moche y^t as sayth saynt Poule. He transfygureth hym¦selfe in to an angell of lyght. Moche more than he may transfygure hym in to lykenesse of man or woman by suffraūce of god / for mannes synne & womans. And the fendes that tempt folke to lecherye be moost besye to ap∣pere in mannes lykenesse & womans to do lecherye with folke & so brynge

them to lecherye. And in speche of fol¦ke they be called eluys. But in latyn whan they appere in mānes lykenes they be called Incubi. And whan they appere in lykenes of wymen / they be called Succubi. And for they haue no mater ne sede of themselfe to gendre therfore they gendre and take the su∣perfluyte of the mater & sede of man that passeth from man slepynge and other tymes / & with that mater they medle with wymen. Also they gadre mater and sede of woman / and with that medle with man in womans ly∣kenesse. And of suche medlynge as god suffereth comen somtyme good childern / somtyme wycked / somtyme well shapen / somtyme euyll shapen. But nedes one muste be man or wo∣man / for fende with fende may not gendre. Suche fendes be moost besye to shende wymen. And therfore it is peryllous to wymen that desyren mo¦che mannes companye / to be ouermo¦che solytarye without honest compa∣nye. And suche foule spyrytes do ther¦lecherye in this maner / not only with man and woman / but also with vn∣resonable bestes / and appere to them in lykenesse of bestes / as a bole to ky∣ne / and as a ram to shepe. And so by the fendes doynge come many of these mysshape thynges that be borne both of wymen & of bestes / as a calfe with an adders tayle / a childe with an adders hede / a childe borne of a shepe with wolle in the necke. All the∣se haue fallen in our dayes.