APENNINE SIBYL: THE BRIGHT SIDE AND THE DARK SIDE

MICHELE SANVICO THE APENNINE SIBYL A MYSTERY AND A LEGEND APENNINE SIBYL: THE BRIGHT SIDE AND THE DARK SIDE 1 1. Leandro Alberti and the «popular lore» The myth of an Apennine Sibyl has crossed many centuries, arousing the interest and fascination of very different people all around Europe. During its long journey, the legend has been the subject for a wide range of literary speculations. Among the plethora of quotes from a multitude of authors, we are going to highlight two special subsets of them: the excerpts written by those who scorned the accounts about the Apennine Sibyl as a silly tale for simpletons and morons; and - on the other side - the quotes from people we wouldn't like to meet at a solitary corner in the middle of the night: people who practised forbidden arts, and thought that the Sibyl's legend was everything but a mockery. Let's begin with one of the most skeptical descriptions of the Sibyl's lore ever written: an excerpt by Leandro Alberti, a Dominican friar who lived in the sixteenth century and was the author of a most renowned historical and geographical work, the General description of Italy, dating to year 1550. Alberti starts his description by depicting the magnificent, imposing nature of the Sibillini Mountain Range: «[...] where the Apennine is much elevated. Here is the area which divides the Picenum region from the mountains of Norcia: and in actual truth, 1 Released on October 18th, 19th,20th, 21th, 27th, 29th and 31st 2017 (http://www.italianwriter.it/TheApennineSibyl/TheApennineSibyl_SibylsFortune.asp) 1 above the place where Arquata lies, the Apennine raises to such a degree that it exceeds itself in elevation, in other words it overtakes all remaining adjacent peaks despite their considerable elevation. This is the reason why this mount is called Vettore». [In the original Italian text: «[...] ove è molto alto esso Appennino. Quivi si partisse questa parte de'l Piceno da i monti de i Norsini: Vero è che sopra quel luogo ove è Arquata, tanto si alza l'Apennino, che se istesso se supera in altezza, cioè che avanza tutti gli altri suoi continouati gioghi siano di quanta altezza possono. Et per tanto è addimandato questo monte Vettore. Quivi è partito il territorio Piceno da'l Norsino»]. Fig. 1 - An impressive vista of the Sibillini Mountain Range in Italy, a setting where legendary tales have flourished for hundreds of years The Dominican friar was a brilliant spirit, a man of learning and a talented preacher; so when it comes to the queer tales of the Sibyl's cave and the nearby lake, he is not easily convinced at all: «On the portion of this towering mountain facing eastward, it can be seen that most famous Lake of which tales are told about the conjuring of devils summoned by sorcerers, who would speak to them. If such accounts were true, it would certainly deserve severe condemnation, and such witchcrafts 2 should be hardly punished under both Canonical and Imperial laws: I believe those are but fairy tales and lies, as I will show later in my book when describing the Sibyl's Cave». [In the original Italian text: «Vedesi alla parte de quest'altissimo monte, (che riguarda all'oriente) quel tanto famoso Lago de'l quale se dice che vi appareno i demoni costretti dagli incantatori, & che qui vi parlano con essi. Che se così fusse sarebbe cosa molto biasimevole, & tali incantamenti meriterebbero gravissime punitioni secondo le leggi Canoniche & Imperiali: Io credo che siano tutte favole e menzogne, come poi dimostrerò descrivendo la Grotta della Sibilla»]. Fig. 2 - Leandro Alberti's General description of Italy, original edition published in 1550, with the excerpt dedicated to the cave of the Sibyl And here the cavern comes, a grim, forbidding place in its appearance, yet clad with what Leandro Alberti considered to be merely silly tales: «The lofty Apennine mountains are seen in this region, on one of those peaks stands the Castle of St. Mary in Gallo. Nearby, namely in the said Apennine, lies the huge, frightful, ghastly hollow which was named after the Sibyl: about which a popular lore (or rather a foolish rumour) maintains that it provides admittance to the realm of the Sibyl, who would be living in a beautiful Kingdom, adorned with magnificent Palaces, where many people would reside, enjoying themselves with lustful pleasures within the said Palaces and Gardens together with handsome maids...» . 3 [In the original Italian text: «Veggionsi in questo paese gli altissimi monti dell'Appennino, sopra uno de li quali appare edificato il Castello de'l Monte di S. Maria in Gallo. A cui è vicina (però in detto Apennino) la larga, horrenda & spaventevole spelunca nominata Caverna della Sibilla: De la quale è volgata fama, (anzi pazzesca favola) esser quivi l'entrata per passare alla Sibilla, che dimora in un bel Reame, ornato di grandi & magnifici Palaggi, habitati da molti popoli, pigliando amorosi piaceri ne detti Palaggi, & Giardini con vaghe damigelle...»]. In the next paragraph, we will see how the Dominican friar continues to depict the cavern and its fame: a renown which used to attract all sort of fools up to the very core of the Sibillini Range. 2. Leandro Alberti, «When I was a small child» If we look for an author of past centuries providing no endorsement to the Apennine Sibyl's lore, we need to address Dominican friar Leandro Alberti. As anticipated in our previous post, he shows no reluctance when it comes the time to demolish the illustrious myth. And his style of writing takes on a hue of playful mockery: «It comes as a bit of a surprise that so many years have elapsed, from the time when this Cavern was discovered and saluted as the Sibyl's abode, and no mention of it has ever been recorded at all, neither in the works by Strabo nor in Pliny's nor in the writings of any other inquisitive Author, in search of oddities and rarities. And yet every reader can consider by himself how scrupulously Strabo has provided a full description of the Caves and hollows that are to be found in Cuma, and Baiae, and Naples; and Pliny, as well, has written most accurate reports of the many wonders of Nature; however, no one of them ever wrote a single word about that Cavern, nor provided any accounts as regards the cave's folk tale [...]. In conclusion, all such tales being told about the said Cavern must be regarded as fables, and mere lies, an enjoyable narrative to be delivered to a thrilled and delighted audience». 4 [In the original Italian text: «In vero ella è cosa molto maravigliosa, che siano passati tanti anni, ne li quali si dice esser stata ritrovata questa Caverna, & esser quivi la Sibilla, & che mai non sia stato fatto alcuna memoria d'essa da Strabone, ne da Plinio, ne da altro curioso scrittore, & vestigatore delle cose rare. Vedemo pur esser stato molto diligente Strabone in discrivere le Grotti, & spelunche, che sono a Cuma, a Baia, & a Napoli, & parimente Plinio rammentando i miracoli della Natura, & mai pur una minima parola hanno scritto di quella Grotta, ò vero della favola volgare di essa [...] Et per tanto si deve tener essere favole & bugie tutte quelle cose narrate di detta Caverna, & Laghi, & cose da recitare per trastullo & piacere»]. Fig. 3 - Another landscape in the area of the Sibillini Mountain Range, where mysterious fairy tales are enshrouded amid cloudy mists And that's not all. He reports the quite humorous tale of the «learned and pragmatic Germans» who journeyed as far as the renowned Lakes of Pilatus «at their own significative expense» to consecrate their spellbooks to the evil spirits - totally nonexistent - so that they found themselves «downright cheated» and were forced to retrace their own steps to Germany «cursing both themselves and their fellow-men, the latter for 5 circulating such foolish tales, the former for having placed their trust in them so naively» («maledicendo se & gli altri, questi per haver divolgate queste favole, & se per haverle tanto facilmente credute»). «I am convinced», finally writes Alberti, with a jeering, scornful understatement, «that not much time has passed since the rumour about that Cavern has spread […]. For if the cave had been really known in antiquity, there is no doubt that its finding would have been duly recorded, as actually was the case for the Oracle at Delphi, and Podalirius, and Avernus, and the Hollow and Cave of the said Cumæan Sibyl, and many other places likewise, as well as caverns, Lakes, Trees, Rivers, Springs, Woods, Temples, Altars and further Oracles of the same kind, where evil Spirits are said to utter deceitful words to beguile men». [In the original Italian text: «Credo non esser molto tempo che siano state volgate queste favole di detta Caverna […]. Perché se fossero stati osservati dagli antiqui, non dubito che ne sarebbe stato fatto memoria, sicome e fatto dell’Oracolo di Delpho, di Podalirio, dell’Averno, & dell’Antro, & Spelunca della detta Sibilla Cumea, & parimente de molti altri luoghi, sicome di spelunche, Laghi, Alberi, Fiumi, Fontane, Selve, Tempii, Sacelli, & simili altri Oracoli, ove davano risposta i bugiardi Demonii per ingannare gli huomini»]. Fig. 4 - Another excerpt from Leandro Alberti's General description of Italy 6 That's how Leandro Alberti, a man of wit and experience, turns down the legend of a Sibyl in the Apennines. It is the year 1550 and Alberti has just stated the words that will become the fundamental yet still unsettled historical issue in our contemporary research on the Apennine Sibyl: her obscure, enigmatic lineage from classical Sibyls and the lack of any literary reference in authors from ancient Rome. However, the only concession made to the myth by the knowledgeable writer is not an insignificant one: it is actually a tribute to the might of the Sibyl's legend, to the power of a fairy tale. Alberti, too, was fascinated and bewitched by the legendary tale. He was but a child, and we can imagine his eyes open wide as he used to listen to the timeless tale of the Apennine Sibyl: «Such fairy tales, and the like are told by the peasants about the Sibyl's cave, as I myself happened to hear in my father's house, when I was a small child, for the thrilled entertainment of women» («Queste & altre simil favole si sogliono narrare dal volgo, di questa caverna della Sibilla, si come io ricordo havere udito narrare in casa di mio padre alle donne, (anchora essendo fanciullo) per trastullo & piacere»). Despite all his sharp, rational reasoning, he too had been enveloped by the magical spell of the Sibyl. 3. Flavio Biondo and «such foolish thing as necromancy» An author who did not express any appreciation for the legend of the Apennine Sibyl was Flavio Biondo, an Italian historian who lived in the first half of the fifteenth century and was a forerunner of modern archeology. In his Italia illustrata (“Italy illustrated”), published in 1474 in Latin and subsequently translated into Italian in 1542, he dedicated a few words to our Sibyl, showing no inclination at all for what he seems to consider a dull tale: 7 «Up amid the towering mountains at the very centre of the Apennines, facing the land we've just been talking about, there is another land whose name is S. Mary in Gallo, in the vicinity of which - in the very heart of the Apennines - is a huge cavern called 'the Sibyl's cave” by the populace; further above, in the territory of Norcia, there is that renowned lake where according to false rumours the waters would be replete of evil spirits rather than fish; and the fame of both the cavern and the lake has attracted a great number of lunatics committed to such foolish thing as necromancy, in search of knowledge and understanding of those sorcerous teachings; and a lot more in past centuries, as is reported, they were lured up to those lofty, imposing mountains, with great exertion, and utterly in vain». Fig. 5 - Flavio Biondo's Italy illustrated, a charming print of a Sibyl on the cover of 1542's Italian translation by Lucio Fauno [In the original Italian text: «Su nei monti altissimi nel colmo de l'Apennino, che è dirimpetto a queste terre, vi ha un'altra terra chiamata di S. Maria in Gallo, presso a la quale proprio ne l'Apennino è una gran 8 caverna chiamata volgarmente la Grotta de la Sibilla, e poco più su è quel lago famoso nel territorio di Norcia, dove dicono falsamente, che in vece di pesci, è pieno di demoni, e la fama così de la grotta, come del lago ha ne di nostri tirati molti pazzi dati a queste poltronarìe de la negromantia, et avidi di sapere et intendere di queste novelle magiche, e più ne secoli passati, come si raggiona, gli ha tirati dico a sallire su questi altissimi monti, et alpestri, con gran fatica, e vana»]. Fig. 6 - Flavio Biondo's Italy illustrated, the excerpt on the Apennine Sibyl from the 1542 Italian edition Thus, many prominent men of letters - though including the Sibyl's cave and lake in their literary works, for the mere sake of completeness regarded the two legendary tales as silly accounts which might be of interest only for dummies and candid simpletons. However, not all people in Europe thought the same. Some of them took the Sibyl's cave, and lake, very seriously. Dead seriously. For they did not disdain to practice what Biondo had marked with the words «such foolish thing as necromancy». 9 Fig. 7 - Flavio Biondo's Italy illustrated, the excerpt on the Apennine Sibyl from the original 1474 Latin edition Fig. 8 - Never published before: the same excerpt from the original manuscript written by Flavio Biondo (Ottobonian Latin n. 2369 from the Vatican Apostolic Library) And - as we will see in the next paragraph - they weren't people you would have liked to have business with. 10 4. Johannes Trithemius and the subterranean demon The legend of the Apennine Sibyl: a fairy tale, a mysterious journey, a chivalric dream of adventure and bravery, or even a silly narrative for simpletons and dupes. That's the bright side of it. However, there is also a dark side. A tale of magic and witchcraft, deceptive illusions and black arts. Ever since the tales of Guerrino the Wretch and Antoine de La Sale were told, the Apennine Sibyl has presented herself as an evil spirit, in search of souls to snatch and capable of transforming herself into loathsome snakes. The Sibyl's dark side was actually well known all across Europe, as attested in many quotes drawn from all centuries and countries. Fig. 9 - A gloomy, sinister view from Mount Sibyl's top during the enchanted moments ahead of dawn To understand the reason for the Sibyl's dark renown, we have to go to back to the roots of magical culture in the Renaissance age, and namely to Johannes Trithemius, a German Benedictine abbot who lived between the 11 fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and became a leading figure within a longlasting tradition in the mysterious and the occult. In his work Liber octo questionum ad Maximilianum Cesarem, a series of answers to questions put to him by Emperor Maximilian I, published in 1540, he dedicates the sixth answer (“Questio sexta”) to the power of black magic (“De potestate maleficarum”). In this section he provides a ranking scheme of fiendish demons according to the very spots where they originally happened to fall from heaven at the beginning of the world. A specific class is devoted to the “genus subterraneum”, the evil spirits who fell into the underground regions of the earth: «The fifth kind is called subterranean: they are the ones who reside in caverns and caves and hollows placed under remote peaks. The power of such demons is utterly evil: they especially seize those who dig tunnels to search metallic ore, and those who look for treasures hidden under the ground. They are most willing to harm human beings. They can cause wind and flames to erupt from holes in the ground. And they can shake the foundations of buildings». What has it to do with the Apennine Sibyl? Let's see the subsequent excerpt and we will find further resemblances to our legend: «At night, multitudes of them use to leave their dens in the mountains to perform the most amazing, spectacular dances in the fields: they vanish at once under the command of one of them whose authority they fear, and rush back into their subterranean trails. Sometimes small bells can be heard tinkling among their ranks». This strongly reminds us of the dancing fairies with goat-like feet that descended at night from Mount Vettore, according to local traditional lore in the Sibillini area. And there is more to it: «They ask for nothing more than raise terror and awe in the heart of men», continues Trithemius. «We know that at times they lead simple, gullible people down into their hidden recesses under the mountains to show them splendid illusory images, as if down there would lie the abode of blessed souls. [...] 12 [in the original Latin text: «Quintum genus subterraneum dicitur: quod in speluncis et cavernis montiumque remotis concavitatibus demorant. Et isti daemones affectione sunt pessimi: eosque invadunt maxime qui puteos & metalla fodunt, & qui thesauros in terra latentes querunt: in pernicie humani generis paratissimi. Hiatus efficiunt terrae ventosque flaminomos suscitant: & fundamenta edificiorum concutiunt. Noctibus aliquu de montibus turmatim egressi mirandas stupendasue in campis ducunt choreas: & quali uni ducis metuentes imperium, subito evanescunt ad signum: & ad sua diverticula revertuntur. Interdum nolarum inter eos auditur sonit [...] Nihil magis querunt quam metum hominum & admirationem. Unde habemus compertum quod simpliciores hominum quosdam nonnumquam in sua latibula montium duxerunt stupenda mirantibus ostendentes spectacula: et quasi beatorum ibi sint mansiones amicos se virorum mentiuntur.»] This is the most striking correspondence with the legend of the Apennine Sibyl: the magical, underground kingdom full of palaces and treasures, in the perfect bliss of an eternal life and the love of handsome damsels. Yet it is just an evil illusion, a deceptive trick played on men by a subterranean demon. Fig. 10 - Johannes Trithemius' Liber octo questionum ad Maximilianum Cesarem, with the section dedicated to the subterranean demons 13 Just a groundless misinterpretation of the Apennine Sibyl's lore? Not at all. Because we can retrieve a further mention to all this in a book written in the subsequent century. And this book, whose author is Martino Delrio, a Flemish Jesuit, will explicitly enroll the Apennine Sibyl within Trithemius' fifth class: nothing more and nothing less than a recognized “subterranean demon”. 5. Martino Delrio and the illusions «de Specu Nursino» Let's continue our journey into the dark side of the Apennine Sibyl's legend and lore: the black heart of a tradition which for centuries has conveyed European sorcerers and necromancers all the way to a remote mountainous land in Italy, the Sibillini Range. In a previous post, we saw that in 1540 Johannes Trithemius introduced a ranking of evil spirits, among which he defined a class of mean “subterranean demons”. Anything to do with the Apennine Sibyl? Yes indeed. It will be Martino Delrio, a Flemish priest who lived in the second half of the sixteenth century and was member of the Society of Jesus, who will place our Sibyl right into Trithemius' fifth category dedicated to underground fiends. Delrio wrote a ponderous treatise on black magic and sorcery, the Disquisitionum magicarum libri sex, published in 1599. In Book II, under Question 27 relating to evil apparitions, he reviews in detail the classification set by Trithemius. When it comes to the fifth class, he quotes Trithemius's words about the malicious habit of subterranean demons to lure people «down into their hidden recesses under the mounts to show them splendid illusory images». And here is what he writes next: «It is from such guiles that the fairy tales about Mount Venus arise, which is mentioned in a letter written by Pope Pius II and in the description of a Sibyl's Cavern placed in the region of Ancona as reported by Antoine de la Sale; in addition to that, we also have a mount of the White women near 14 Kempenfent and the “She-Elf mount” in the Netherlands; and in Italy the cave lying near Norcia with a Sibyl living in it, as recorded by Pius II in his letter n. 46». [in the original Latin text: «Ex huiusmodi ludibriis natae sunt fabulae de monte Veneris, cuius mentio apud Pium II in epistola et Speluncae Sibyllae quam in Ancona decsribit Antonius de la Sale; et montis Albarum foeminarum apud Kempenfent, et in Branbantia 'den Alvinnen berch'; et in Italia de Specu Nursino et de Sibylla illic degente, cuius meminit D. Pius II [in] epistola 46...»] Fig. 11 - The crests of the Sibillini Mountain Range enveloped in a suspended, supernatural light So the Apennine Sibyl - the same entity described by Antoine de la Sale in his Paradise of Queen Sibyl and whose cave was also referred in a letter written by a fifteenth-century Pope (we will see it in a subsequent article) became officially enrolled in a not-so-glorious troop of malicious demons: an evil spirit of the netherworld, associated to the fabled “mountains of Goddess Venus”, the mounts of enchanted love, of which a number of tales 15 were told in many northern-European countries (one of those tales was that of Tannhäuser). With Martino Delrio, the dark side of the Apennine Sibyl, dating back at least to two centuries earlier, was becoming apparent in the cultural debate on magic between the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries. Everybody - including disreputable people interested in black arts, and the Church as well - now knew that in the mountains of Norcia was to be found a cave which was the abode of some kind of supernatural being: a "hot spot", where a crevice in our material world afforded an entry point to an eerie, unearthly, uncanny world. Fig. 12 - Martino Delrio's Disquisitionum magicarum libri sex, the excerpt with the mention of the Sibyl of the Apennines And Martino Delrio provides further information on that. He quotes from another author, whose name is “Crespetus”. And this Crespetus, as referred by Delrio, says that someone had actually the incredible, extraordinary chance to meet the Sibyl: a personal, direct encounter with the Apennine 16 Sibyl of Norcia. This person had seen the actual semblance of the fiendish Sibyl. Who was Crespetus? What did he wrote exactly? And who was the mortal man who met the legendary Apennine Sibyl? The answers to such astonishing questions will be presented in the next paragraph. 6. Crespetus and the semblance of the Sibyl We are now entering the gloomiest side of the legend of the Apennine Sibyl. We are approaching the dark core of it, as it has been perceived throughout hundreds of years within a contemptible milieu of soi-disant magicians and wizards, in search of an unholy entry point to personal power, riches and success, bedazzled by the lure of evil and looking for an impossible, nightmarish help to be found amid the remote peaks of the Sibillini Range. «We know through a testimony from some famed Magicians who were arrested in Mantua in the year 1586, in November, with their spellbooks that they were bringing to the Sibyl to consecrate them with the aim we mentioned before...». This is the astounding beginning of a previously unpublished excerpt witten by Pierre Crespet, also known as “Crespetus”, a French Celestinian monk (1543 - 1594) who had travelled across Italy to visit the monasteries of the Celestines (possibly including the one in Norcia). In his 900-hundred page treatise De la hayne de Satan et malins esprist contro l'homme, published in Paris in 1590, he widely speaks about the Sibyl - not any Sibyl, but exactly the Apennine Sibyl from Norcia. Crespetus recounts a sinister occurrence, a criminal trial held in Paris against a self-styled sorcerer, who had been to Mount Sibyl in Italy: a unique document which provides the historians with a bounty of information on what the Sibyl's cave's significance was at that time. 17 Fig. 13 - An artist's vision of Mount Sibyl surrounded by dark vapours (composite image by Michele Sanvico) «I don't intend to overlook a remarkable testimony drawn from a criminal trial», says Crespetus, «held against a renowned magician whose name was Domenico Mirabelli, an Italian from Arpino, and his stepmother Marguerite Garnier, who were arrested in Mantua with their spellbooks that they were fetching to the Sibyls, the goddesses of sorcerers, to consecrate them so as to render their books more powerful. The said Mirabelli testified before the judges that another associate of him, named the Scottish, who for longtime had played in France as a famed Necromancer, and used to hold tours about his craft before the Princes and Lords who had received his teachings and had learned no good lessons from them, that he went to take advice from the renowned Sibyl about whom the travellers to Italy maintain she is to be found in a cave near the town of Norcia in Italy». [In the original French text (Livre I, Discours 6): «Je ne veux obmettre un notable discours tiré d'un procés qui a esté fait d'un insigne magicien nommé Dominique Mirabille Italien natif d'Arpine & à sa belle mere Marguerite Garnier, qui furent apprehendez à Mante avec leur livres de magie qu'ils portoient aux Sibylles deesses des magiciens pour etre consacrez, à fin d'avoir plus d'effet comme j'ay dit ailleurs, ledit Mirabille deposa devant les juges qu'un autre sien compagnon nommé l'Escot qui a long temps rodéen France fameux Necromantie, & a joué des tours de son mestier devant les Princes & Seigneurs qui ont esté à son escole & n'y ont rien appris de bon, qu'il avoit esté consulter la Sibylle fameuse que les voyageurs d'Italie asseurent etre en une grotte ou carriere proche de la ville de Nurse en Italie la quelle il dit estre de basse stature assise en une petite 18 chaise les cheveux pendans jusque à terre, laquelle luy donna un livre consacré, & luy meit dans un agneau qu'il avoit au doigt un esprit, par le moyen desquels livre & esprit il eust la puissance d'aller en tous lieux où il souhaittoit estre transporté moyenant que le vent ne fust contraire.»] Italy, Norcia, the Sibyl, the magical books, the sorcerers: all this was subject to debate before a French judge, in Paris, in 1586, under the rule of King Henri III. Seemingly, the legend of the Apennine Sibyl was being considered as an utterly sensitive issue, at least from a religious point of view, and not the least as a mere fairy tale. Fig. 14 - Pierre Crespet (Crespetus), De la hayne de Satan et malins esprist contro l'homme, reporting a mention of the Apennine Sibyl Let's continue with our reading from Crespetus. The judges are questioning the Italian sorcerer. Sure enough, he is enduring excruciating tortures. The court intends to thoroughly scrutinize him so as to apprehend everything about his sinister story. And here are the words of Domenico Mirabelli, the man who said he saw the Sibyl: 19 «... He [Mirabelli] said she was short in stature, she was sitting in a small chair, her long hair hanging down to the ground». The Sibyl. As she appeared to a tortured, agonizing witness, while she was sitting in her cave set amid the Italian Apennines, in the year 1586. These are the only words we can trace in centuries of literary works and essays as to the known semblance of the Apennine Sibyl. But why sorceres and wizards were so eager to travel as far as the Sibillini Range in Italy to meet the Sibyl? Crespetus provides the answer, based on the fact that the sorcerers' wish list was right at hand, at the disposal of the judges, positively written on a sheet of paper to be handed over to the Sibyl: «In the plea that was found on them addressed to the Sibyls who presided over Necromancy and Magic arts, the following requests were included, that they besought the Sibyls to consecrate their books so that the evil spirits shall fulfill their commanding spells without any harm for them, that they shall become visible in the form of a handsome man [...] and ready to appear at day or night, whenever conjured up. They also asked the Sibyls to mark their spellbooks, which were three in number, with their power, so that they would be able to summon the above spirits, and prevent any arrest by the Justice, and be lucky in all and every business, well received by Kings, Princes and Lords, always winners in games, and able to gather a rich wealth». [In the original French text (Livre I, Discours 15): «Toutesfois on sait par la deposition de quelques fameux Magiciens qui furent saisis à Mante l'an 1586, au mois de Novembre, avec leurs livres qu'ils portoient à la Sibylle pour consacrer aux fins que nous dirons ailleurs, que les cercles se font, afin que le diable n'ait entree ou force sur ceux qui l'invoquent & appellent à leur secours, & sont munis de croix & autres expiations que le diable redoubte. Car en la requeste qu'on leur trouva pour presenter au Sibylles qui president sur la Necromance, & Magie, ces choses estoient contenues, qu'ils supplioient les Sibylles de consacrer leur livres à tels effects que les mauvais esprits fissent tout ce que leur seroit enjoint par leur coniuration sans faire aucun mal, apparoissans en forme de bel homme, & qu'on ne fust contrainst de faire aucun cercle n'y en leurs maisons, ny aux champs, & qu'ils fussent prompts à venir de nuist & de jour, quand ils seroient 20 evoquez. Les supplioient aussi d'apposer à leurs dits livres de Magie, qui estoient trois en nombre, leur caractere, afin qu'ils eussent plus de puissance pour appeller lesdits esprits, & qu'ils ne fussent repris de Iustice, ains qu'ils fussent fortunez en toutes leurs entreprises, bien aymez des Roys Princes, & grands Seigneurs, ne perdissent jamais aux jeux, ains fussent chanceux & gaignassent quand ils voudroient, que leurs ennemis ne pourtassent nuysance».] According to the testimony, Domenico Mirabelli's wishes were fulfilled: «the Sibyl gave to him a consecrated book, and into a ring he had on his finger she put a spirit; by means of these book and spirit he would be able to travel any place he wished to be transferred to, provided the wind was not blowing against him». Thus, that's why Mount Sibyl was so renowned all across Europe. The fairy tale of a magical Sibyl, both a seer as in the romance Guerrino the Wretch and a powerful demon as in this gloomy report from a criminal trial, was widely known and attracted all sorts of travellers to the high peaks of the Sibillini Mountain Range. Did the Sibyl bring luck to her visitors? Not always, and not at all in the present case. Often the applicant's personal fate did not match his own expectation, as it actually happened to Domenico Mirabelli from Arpino and his stepmother Marguerite Garnier: «They also asked the Sibyl that the evil spirits shall not lie to them; however, they were all the same convicted and sent to the stake and burnt in Paris together with their books, so that everyone shall know that the devil is a true cheater & enchanter, & all who associate with him are heathens, and sentenced» («[...] à la charge aussi que les mauvais esprits ne seroient point menteurs, mais ils furent condamnez, au feu & bruslez à Paris avec leurs livres, afin qu'on sache que le diable est vrai trompeur & seducter, & tous ceux qui luy adherent sont Idoatres & reprouvez»). How many of such self-appointed wizards have been coming to Mount Sibyl, across many centuries, to ask for the same forbidden services? In the next paragraph, we will probe furher into Crespetus' words and find many significant connections to the legend of the Lake of Pilatus and other legendary tales. 21 7. The beast from deep underneath During our long ride through the Apennine Sibyl's dark side, we have come into half-forgotten works written by Johannes Trithemius (1540), Pierre Crespet (1590) and Martino Delrio (1599): according to them, the Sibyl was a sort of subterranean demon, an evil and treacherous spirit looking for souls to snatch and luring men into unknown underground recesses by the use of beguiling illusions. What more can we say about this highly-literary “demon”? First, we may recall another passage from Crespetus, where he says that «it seems that the said Sibyls enjoy themselves tending sheep and lambs, and talking to herds, this being the reason for shepherds to be more acquainted with them than others»: a confirmation of the rustic character of the sibilline tradition, possibly rooted into pre-Roman times and ancient preChristian lore. [in Crespetus' original text: «Il dist aussi que lesdictes Sibylles prennent plaisir à garder les brebis & agneaux, & à converser aux troupeaux, qui est la raison pourquoi les bergers en ont plustot cognoissance que les autres, si est-ce que le berger qui accusa ledictes magiciens apprehendé avec eux fut estouffé par le diable en prison & trainé avec eux au supplice sur une claye tout mort pour servir de spectacle ou on devroit mettre tous ceux qui gastent & perdent les hommes, les bestes, & les champs par leurs charmes & magie».] In the second place, Crespetus provides a further confirmation of a most remarkable fact described by a number of other authors: the cave's entrance was watched over to prevent necromancers from creeping in. Here is what Pierre Crespet reports in his book: «he [Domenico Mirabelli] added that the Pope has the cavern, where the said Sibyl lives, scrupulously guarded so at to hamper any attempt to get in contact with her; thus only sorcerers who are able to make themselves invisible can reach her». This is an official corroboration, reported by a member of the Church, that the Church itself feared the long, seemingly uninterrupted row of necromancers trying to attain the cave on the mountain-top. And we saw - from the excerpts we have read - that there were substantial reasons for concern. 22 [in Crespetus' original text: «Dit davantage que le Pape fait soigneusement garder la ditte carriere où est la ditte Sibylle, pour empescher la communication avec elle, & n'y a que ceux qui sont magiciens, & y peuvent invisiblement entrer qui la puissent aborder, à cause que quand on communique avec elle, soyt magicien ou autre, les tempestes & foudres s'esmouvent horriblement par tout le païs, & afin qu'on ne pense ceci estre fabuleux.»] However, the third and most important consideration is that «when a necromancer or other person talks to the Sibyl», says Crespetus, «storms and lightnings are stirred frightfully across the whole land». Because this sort of “subterranean demon”, as Trithemius says, «can cause wind and flames to erupt from holes in the ground. And they can shake the foundations of buildings». Fig. 15 - The Sibillini Mountain Range in Italy, a region frequently shaken by devastating earthquakes They can shake the buildings from below. 23 Now it is clear the direct connection, or more fittingly the exact superposition, of the two legendary tales, the Sibyl's and the tradition of the Lake of Pilatus, the latter raising devastating storms when spellbooks are consecrated by its shore, as reported by Antoine de La Sale and Arnold of Harff: the cave or the lake, there is no difference between them, as in both cases the waters, the skies and the ground seem to take part in a same violent disturbance. And such violent disturbance, such furious convulsion, which «shakes the foundations of the buildings» in a loathsome writhing of the gigantic body of the earth, a punishment for men when unholy attempts are made to address fiendish entities and attain forbidden powers - this convulsion has a name. Its name is earthquake. In this view, this is a further confirmation that the Apennine Sibyl's lore is nothing else than the terror dwelling in men's souls for the abominable, sudden destruction coming sometimes from deep underneath: from the mysterious, unfathomable darkness that lies beneath the Apennines. Michele Sanvico 24