" Schelhorn
declares that the book is remarkable for the brilliant learning displayed
in it, and for the very weighty testimony which it bears against the
errors and faults of the time.
Our author was released from his prison at Brussels, and wrote another
book, _De occulta Philosophia_ (3 vols., Antwerp, 1533), which enabled his
enemies to bring against him the charge of magic. Stories were told of the
money which Agrippa paid at inns turning into pieces of horn and shell,
and of the mysterious dog which ate and slept with him, which was indeed a
demon in disguise and vanished at his death. They declared he had a
wonderful wand, and a mirror which reflected the images of persons absent
or dead.
The reputed wizard at length returned to France, where he was imprisoned
on a charge of speaking evil of the Queen Mother, who had evidently not
forgotten his refusal to consult the stars for her benefit. He was,
however, soon released, and after his strange wandering life our author
ended his labours in a hospital at Grenoble, where he died in 1535. In
addition to the works we have mentioned, he wrote _De Nobilitate et
Proecellentia Faeminei Sexus_ (Antwerp, 1529), in order to flatter his
patroness Margaret of Austria, and an early work, _De Triplici Ratione
Cognoscendi Deum_ (1515). The monkish epigram, unjust though it be, is
perhaps worth recording:--
"Among the gods there is Momus who reviles all men; among the heroes there
is Hercules who slays monsters; among the demons there is Pluto, the king
of Erebus, who is in a rage with all the shades; among the philosophers
there is Democritus who laughs at all things, Heraclitus who bewails all
things, Pyrrhon who is ignorant of all things, Aristotle who thinks that
he knows all things, Diogenes who despises all things.
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