Chapter XLIX, Section 1a

CHAPTER XLIX. Of Light, Colors, Candles and Lamps, and to What Stars, Houses and Elements Several Colors Are Ascribed . Light also is a quality that partakes much of form, and is a simple act, and also a representation of the understanding. It is first diffused from the Mind of God into all things; but in God the Father, the Father of Light, it is the first true light; then in the Son a beautiful, overflowing brightness, and in the Holy Ghost a burning brightness, exceeding all Intelligences; yea, as Dyonisius saith of Seraphims, in angels it is a shining intelligence diffused, an abundant joy beyond all bounds of reason, yet received in divers degrees, according to the nature of the Intelligence that receives it. Then it descends into the celestial bodies, where it becomes a store of life and an effectual propagation; even a visible splendor. In the fire it is a certain natural liveliness, infused into it by the heavens. And, lastly, in men, it is a clear course of reason, an innate knowledge of divine things, and the whole rational faculty; but this is manifold, either by reason of the disposition of the body or by reason of him who bestows it, who gives it to every one as he pleaseth. From thence it passeth to the fancy, yet above the senses, but only imaginable; and thence to the senses, especially to the sense of the eyes. In them light is a visible clearness; and is extended to other perspicuous bodies, in which it becomes a color and a shining beauty; but in dark bodies it is a certain beneficial and generative virtue, and penetrates to the very center where its beams, being collected into a small place, become a dark heat, tormenting and scorching, so that all things perceive the vigor of the light according to their capacity—and all light, joining to itself an enlivening heat, and, passing through all things, doth convey its qualities and virtues to all things. Great is the power of light to mar or make enchantments. So a sick man, uncovered against the Sun or the Moon, their rays become charged with the noxious qualities of the sickness and, penetrating, convey them into the body of another, and affect that with a quality of the same kind. So that from the sick should be covered deep from the light, lest its occult quality doth infect the well. This is the reason why Enchanters have a care to cover their enchantments with their shadow. So the civet cat makes all dogs dumb with the very touch of her shadow. Also, there are made, artificially, some Lights, by lamps, torches, candles, and such like, of some certain thing and fluids, opportunely chosen, according to the rule of the Stars, and composed amongst themselves according to their congruity, which, when they be lighted, and shine alone, are wont to produce some wonderful and celestial effects, which men many times wonder at. So Pliny reports, out of Anaxilaus, of a poison of mares which, being lighted in torches, doth monstrously represent a sight of horses’ heads. The like may be done with flies, which being duly tempered with wax, and lighted, make a strange sight of flies; and the skin of a serpent, lighted in a proper lamp, maketh serpents appear. They say that when grapes are in their flower, if any one shall bind a vial full of oil to them, and shall let it alone until they be ripe, and then the oil be put in a lamp and lighted, it makes grapes to be seen; and so with other fruits.