Human Affairs

An Obsession with Feet

” So he asked her to show her leg and foot, and she promptly did so. And without doubt she had a beautiful leg and a beautiful foot, so that you could not ask for greater beauty. And when the master of the shop, who was as virtuous a man as I have described him, saw this woman’s leg and foot, her was forthwith tempted, because his eyes looked on them with pleasure.” […]

Greek and Roman

Choose Thy Fate Alone

“The other assented, and, by the direction of his friend, proceeded to draw blood from his right arm. “I,” said the latter, “will drink of thy blood, and thou of mine; so that neither in prosperity nor in adversity shall our covenant be broken, and whatsoever the one gains, shall be divided by the other.” The foolish knight agreed; and they ratified the treaty by a draught of each other’s blood.” […]

Britons and Celts

A Puissant Priest

Once, indeed, it happened that this pontiff, meeting with a repulse from the king relative to some petition which he had urged, angrily turned his back in retiring, and threatened him with a curse instead of a blessing. The king, unable to bear his displeasure, fell at his feet, entreating forgiveness, and promising amendment.” […]

Britons and Celts

No Respect in Death

“After every gentle shower, there exudes real, and as it were recent, blood, as though it were evidently proclaiming by this circumstance, that the voice of so much Christian gore still cries to the Lord from the ground, which hath opened her mouth, and drunk in that blood at the hands of Christian brethren.” […]

Britons and Celts

Demonic Efficiency

“When he left they questioned him closely and asked him who he really was. He said that he had been born to some rustic bedlam in the same parish, fathered on her by an incubus who had appeared in the shape of her husband.” […]

Medieval Mentality

Lucifer Makes His Move

“”Inasmuch as I am now an invisible spirit, I cannot visibly come to have speech with physical man, unless I adorn my ugly countenance with a certain corporeal beauty. I shall therefore enter this serpent which God has created with the face of a maiden and which most resembles man in beauty; and I shall speak with his tongue to Eve.” […]

Britons and Celts

The Archbishop Who Refused to Have Sex

“When confined by sickness, he was ordered by his physicians, as the sole means of removing his disorder, to partake of sexual intercourse. His friends pressed him to comply, alleging that God could not possibly be offended, as he did it merely as a remedy, and not for sensual gratification.” […]

Uncategorized

Origins of the Snake

“Thou shalt be a self-chosen vessel of venom and death as evidence that thou didst hide venomous envy in thy body. I declare the covenant sundered between thee and all mankind; thy head and neck shall be crushed under the heel and the tread of men in revenge for the treachery which mankind has suffered through thy slippery cunning.” […]