Margaret Cormack wrote:
> Is>there any literature on the motif of imbibing demons and the ill
>effects thereof? I am interested in a variant of this motif, in which it is
>not a demon, but a worm of some sort which is swallowed, and the result is
>physical ailment (typically the victim swells up) rather than possession.
Margaret, there are two tales which come to mind from the "Golden Legend" of
Jacobus de Voragine:
In the tale of St. James the Apostle, there's a scene where Albanus, an
envoy of Pilate's (of all people), is shipwrecked at the land of Vespasian,
who "since childhood he had had some kind of worms in his nose, whence his
name, Vespasian." Vespasian infers that Albanus is a physician and commands
Albanus to heal him; Albanus replies that it is beyond his knowledge and
power, but not beyond the power of Jesus of Nazareth. Vespasian announces
"I believe", and (guess what?) "as he said this, the worms fell out of his
nose". He was healed in body and spirit. Nothing is said, unfortunately,
about whether he changed his name to something like --- (Oriens, supply a
candidate, please).
Then, one of my favorites, in the tale of St. Peter the Apostle, there is a
wonderful burlesque-y passage about our Nero who wants in the very worst way
to experience what it feels like to be pregnant, and commands his physicians
to abet him under penalty of death. "So the doctors made up a potion in
which they put a frog and gave it to the emporer to drink. Then they used
their skills to make the frog grow in his belly, and his belly, rebelling
against this unnatural invasion, swelled up so that Nero thought he was
carrying a child. They also put him opn a diet of foods they knew would be
suitable for the frog..." He could not, finally, bear all this pain and
asked to be "delivered" of his suffering; so they gave him a potion to
drink, he (excuse the word) vomits; "and out came a frog horrible to see,
full of vile humours and covered in blood." When he asks if he looked like
this when he was born, the brave physicians (no doubt pausing a beat for
comic effect) reply, "Yes."
And then, incredibly, he commands "that the fetus be kept in a domed chamber
with stones in it." Characteristically of course, Jacobus adds in the midst
of his fine tale, "All this, however, is not contained in the chronicles and
is apocryphal", upon which (also characteristically) he continues his fine
tale - - Finally the city is overrun by Romans who come upon the fetusy
frog, "hurried it out beyond the walls, and set it afire. Some say that the
section of the city where the frog hid is called Lateran for that reason.
(Lateranus from latente rana, hiding frog)"
Now, what's this I hear about pious nonsense?
Respectfully submitted,
jmichael
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